FEBRUARY 20--During the recent Flexible Microelectronics and Displays Conference (Phoenix, AZ, Feb. 3-4), sponsored by the United States Display Consortium (USDC; San Jose, CA), industry-critical information emerged about the next major innovation for the flat-panel-display (FPD) industry--flexible displays and microelectronics. Commercialization will be contingent upon the industry's ability to resolve key hurdles in materials and manufacturing technology.
More than 200 technologists and executives participated in this year's two-day summit, cosponsored by the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Natick Soldier Systems Center, Cambridge Display Technology, DuPont Displays, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, and Universal Display Corp. Thirty-four experts from throughout the global display industry and from related industries that apply flexible substrate manufacturing technologies covered topics ranging from materials and manufacturing technologies to projected flexible display markets, products, and applications. The consensus was that while the flexible display market does hold tremendous potential for commercialization within the next five to 10 years, only realistic expectations and strong collaboration between private, public, university, and government sectors will enable the industry to meet the desired timelines for both military and commercial applications in an efficient, cost-effective manner.
During the 34 presentations and four breakout sessions, the issues that garnered the most attention and discussion included barrier/encapuslant layers; polymer substrates; transparent/printable conductors, backplane semiconductors (organic and inorganic) and the viability of a roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing paradigm. Throughout the discussions, it was clear that needs vary widely for each technology earmarked as a candidate to provide flexible display products--including organic light-emitting diodes, electronic paper, and conventional and alternative-technology approaches for liquid-crystal displays.
The ARL announced the formation of the Flexible Display Initiative (FDI)--an Army Transformation R&D effort aimed at speeding commercialization of this new display technology. The FDI is chartered with researching and developing flexible display technology designed for military applications in the Army's Objective Force Warrior and Future Combat Systems programs. Focusing on available display technologies that are amenable to being manufactured on a flexible substrate, the FDI will target development of thin, conformable, compact, rugged displays that are less power hungry and can be used in a variety of lighting conditions--essential for military field applications, where lighting conditions vary greatly. Applications would include command and control, display-embedded uniforms, vehicular displays, conformable/rollable maps, and portable communicators.
