OLED Displays on Flexible Metallic Substrates

While OLED displays today require the use of transparent rigid substrates, such as glass, the combination of Universal Display's TOLED and FOLED technologies enable the novel use of a thin, flexible metallic substrate as an alternative to glass. Along with providing added ruggedness for demanding military and consumer applications, the use of metallic substrates — which can withstand the high processing temperatures used in TFT manufacturing today — will accelerate the development of flexible TFT backplanes, currently a limiting factor for the commercialization of flexible active-matrix (AMOLED) displays. In addition, Universal Display's TOLED technology can enhance visual display performance by increasing the effective aperture area of the display in comparison to conventional bottom-emitting AMOLEDs.

The fabrication of the poly-Si TFT arrays at PARC builds on their long experience in developing novel TFT backplane technology for displays and image sensors, based on amorphous silicon, poly-silicon and polymer semiconductors. The PARC poly-Si technology has recently been demonstrated in image sensor arrays containing pixel amplifiers and shift registers.

The development of OLEDs on metallic substrates opens up a broader realm of futuristic applications.

Source: http://www.univers … display.com/