Active Matrix Flexible OLED and.......Apple?
If you all remember my rantings from several months ago about my prediction of the infamous MacTouch tablet as really being an altogether new type of device utilizing flexible oled tech then you need to read this.
If you've dismissed my rantings of that of a lunatic then you need to read this as well.
And if you remember that cool flexible oled mockup of a mactouch recently then you really want to read this below.....
original link: http://www.defensereview.com/super-t...ture-soldiers/
Read the article carefully before you comment and tell me what you think.
EDIT: Oh yeah, MACTOUCH FTW!!!
If you've dismissed my rantings of that of a lunatic then you need to read this as well.
And if you remember that cool flexible oled mockup of a mactouch recently then you really want to read this below.....
Quote:
Super-Thin, Super-Light, Durable and Cheap Bendable/Flexible OLED (FOLED) Display Technology on the Way for Future Soldiers?
By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com
June 30, 2009
Flexible display screens for tactical applications, including military applications, may have just taken another giant leap forward, according to a number press releases and articles from various news outlets. Universal Display Corporation (UDC) has teamed up with researchers at Arizona State University?s (ASU) Flexible Display Center (FDC) to create ?the first a-Si:H active matrix organic light-emitting diode [AMOLED] display to be manufactured directly on DuPont Teijin?s polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate?. The resulting is a super-thin flexible OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) a.k.a. FOLED display that utilizes Universal Display?s PHOLED (Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology and materials, thus achieving the same level of brightness while consuming less power.
It?s being reported that the new active-matrix flexible OLED display?DefenseReview presumes this could be called an ?AMFOLED? display??is capable of converting 100 percent of its energy into light versus 25 percent for standard OLEDs, making UDC?s PHOLED tech four times as efficient as conventional OLED tech. An alien Predator/ Future Warrior-type wrist band communicator/display for military operators (i.e. soldiers) is reportedly a primary application being envisioned for flexible OLED display technology, although the display would have to be appropriately ruggedized for military applications.
However, as big as the military market might be, the commercial consumer market is most likely significantly larger. On this note, it?s being reported that while it?s perhaps too late to apply the technology to the new Apple iPhone 3G S cell phone, it?s possible the new FOLED display tech could find it?s way onto the Apple iPod Touch portable media player (MP3/Video player) before the end of the year (2009).
DefenseReview sees a whole bunch of uses for super-thin flexible/bendable full-color displays, including cheap, durable ultralight/ultrathin roll-out laptop computers and portable media readers (imagine downloading all of your favorite newspapers, magazines and books via WiFi or WiMax to one portable color flexible-display device), standard cell phones/PDAs, wrist cell-phones/PDAs, wall televisions (TV) and computers, clothing, etc.
Nicholas Colaneri, FDC?s director, thinks they can make the new flexible displays almost as inexpensively as current LCD displays through a proprietary manufacturing process that combines the plastic substrate with the electronics behind it. This manufacturing process employs the same equipment that?s currently used to make electronics on glass screens for LCD electronics. The FDC researchers use amorphous silicon to make the requisite organic semiconductors and mobile transistors.
LCD electronics are processed at temperatures above 300 °C, which is too high. Plastic will melt at those temperatures. By contrast, the Flexible Display Center?s manufacturing process works at a relatively low temperature of 180 °C. This brings up an interesting temperature conundrum. Amorphous silicon transistors (AST) typically don?t perform well at such a low temperature, and plastic tends to melt, stretch, or wrinkle at temperature above 100 °C. So, the FDC team had to figure out a way to get good-quality amorphous silicon transistors AND good plastic displays at 180 °C, which they seem to have accomplished. Mark Hartney, chief technical officer at the FlexTech Alliance, a display-industry consortium, states that this accomplishment is unique in the industry. And, Jennifer Colgrove, an analyst with the consulting firm DisplaySearch, classifies FDC?s ability to build amorphous silicon transistors on plastic with virtually no distortion as a signficant accomplishment.
?Amorphous silicon is a mainstream tech for LCD manufacturing around the world today,? Hartney says. ?This opens the doors to being able to utilize any LCD fabrication facility. There has been billions of dollars of investment in LCD manufacturing capacity. You could go into any other LCD fab around the world and do the same process to get a flexible OLED product.?
Defense Review will be keeping an eye on this AMFOLED technology, as it most likely prove to be an extremely important technology for military/tactical and civilian applications (and perhaps an integral part of daily living) in the coming years.
Company/Organization Contact Info:
Universal Display Corporation (UDC)
375 Phillips Boulevard
Ewing, NJ 08618
609-6710980 Phone
609-6710995 Fax
http://www.universaldisplay.com Website
Nick Colaneri
Flexible Display Center (FDC)
Arizona State University (ASU) Research Park
7700 South River Parkway
Tempe, Arizona 85284
480-727-8941 Office
480-727-8957 Fax
[email protected] Email
http://flexdisplay.asu.edu Website
Super-Thin, Super-Light, Durable and Cheap Bendable/Flexible OLED (FOLED) Display Technology on the Way for Future Soldiers?
By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com
June 30, 2009
Flexible display screens for tactical applications, including military applications, may have just taken another giant leap forward, according to a number press releases and articles from various news outlets. Universal Display Corporation (UDC) has teamed up with researchers at Arizona State University?s (ASU) Flexible Display Center (FDC) to create ?the first a-Si:H active matrix organic light-emitting diode [AMOLED] display to be manufactured directly on DuPont Teijin?s polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate?. The resulting is a super-thin flexible OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) a.k.a. FOLED display that utilizes Universal Display?s PHOLED (Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diode) technology and materials, thus achieving the same level of brightness while consuming less power.
It?s being reported that the new active-matrix flexible OLED display?DefenseReview presumes this could be called an ?AMFOLED? display??is capable of converting 100 percent of its energy into light versus 25 percent for standard OLEDs, making UDC?s PHOLED tech four times as efficient as conventional OLED tech. An alien Predator/ Future Warrior-type wrist band communicator/display for military operators (i.e. soldiers) is reportedly a primary application being envisioned for flexible OLED display technology, although the display would have to be appropriately ruggedized for military applications.
However, as big as the military market might be, the commercial consumer market is most likely significantly larger. On this note, it?s being reported that while it?s perhaps too late to apply the technology to the new Apple iPhone 3G S cell phone, it?s possible the new FOLED display tech could find it?s way onto the Apple iPod Touch portable media player (MP3/Video player) before the end of the year (2009).
DefenseReview sees a whole bunch of uses for super-thin flexible/bendable full-color displays, including cheap, durable ultralight/ultrathin roll-out laptop computers and portable media readers (imagine downloading all of your favorite newspapers, magazines and books via WiFi or WiMax to one portable color flexible-display device), standard cell phones/PDAs, wrist cell-phones/PDAs, wall televisions (TV) and computers, clothing, etc.
Nicholas Colaneri, FDC?s director, thinks they can make the new flexible displays almost as inexpensively as current LCD displays through a proprietary manufacturing process that combines the plastic substrate with the electronics behind it. This manufacturing process employs the same equipment that?s currently used to make electronics on glass screens for LCD electronics. The FDC researchers use amorphous silicon to make the requisite organic semiconductors and mobile transistors.
LCD electronics are processed at temperatures above 300 °C, which is too high. Plastic will melt at those temperatures. By contrast, the Flexible Display Center?s manufacturing process works at a relatively low temperature of 180 °C. This brings up an interesting temperature conundrum. Amorphous silicon transistors (AST) typically don?t perform well at such a low temperature, and plastic tends to melt, stretch, or wrinkle at temperature above 100 °C. So, the FDC team had to figure out a way to get good-quality amorphous silicon transistors AND good plastic displays at 180 °C, which they seem to have accomplished. Mark Hartney, chief technical officer at the FlexTech Alliance, a display-industry consortium, states that this accomplishment is unique in the industry. And, Jennifer Colgrove, an analyst with the consulting firm DisplaySearch, classifies FDC?s ability to build amorphous silicon transistors on plastic with virtually no distortion as a signficant accomplishment.
?Amorphous silicon is a mainstream tech for LCD manufacturing around the world today,? Hartney says. ?This opens the doors to being able to utilize any LCD fabrication facility. There has been billions of dollars of investment in LCD manufacturing capacity. You could go into any other LCD fab around the world and do the same process to get a flexible OLED product.?
Defense Review will be keeping an eye on this AMFOLED technology, as it most likely prove to be an extremely important technology for military/tactical and civilian applications (and perhaps an integral part of daily living) in the coming years.
Company/Organization Contact Info:
Universal Display Corporation (UDC)
375 Phillips Boulevard
Ewing, NJ 08618
609-6710980 Phone
609-6710995 Fax
http://www.universaldisplay.com Website
Nick Colaneri
Flexible Display Center (FDC)
Arizona State University (ASU) Research Park
7700 South River Parkway
Tempe, Arizona 85284
480-727-8941 Office
480-727-8957 Fax
[email protected] Email
http://flexdisplay.asu.edu Website
original link: http://www.defensereview.com/super-t...ture-soldiers/
Read the article carefully before you comment and tell me what you think.
EDIT: Oh yeah, MACTOUCH FTW!!!
Comments
If you all remember my rantings from several months ago about my prediction of the infamous MacTouch tablet as really being an altogether new type of device utilizing flexible oled tech then you need to read this.
If you've dismissed my rantings of that of a lunatic then you need to read this as well.
And if you remember that cool flexible oled mockup of a mactouch recently then you really want to read this below.....
.......
Read the article carefully before you comment and tell me what you think.
EDIT: Oh yeah, MACTOUCH FTW!!!
I don't think you are crazy, the R&D that has been going into OLED displays is massive. I read Photonics/Spectra regularly and it is surprising what is being developed and the variety. So flexible displays will be here soon. The more interesting question is how to deliver such a display in a device; will in be a clam shell, a roll out device or something different again.
Dave
I don't think you are crazy, the R&D that has been going into OLED displays is massive. I read Photonics/Spectra regularly and it is surprising what is being developed and the variety. So flexible displays will be here soon. The more interesting question is how to deliver such a display in a device; will in be a clam shell, a roll out device or something different again.
Dave
Your right on that. The success of such a device will depend on how the technology is delivered. What form will it take?
Really though, I've been relaxing about that because I figured Jonathan Ive would solve the design problem for us. But perhaps that is being careless and I should try to think about it myself. Ok, some ideas...
Personally, while I liked that clamshell flexible oled mockup we saw recently I don't think a clamshell is the answer. And neither do I think a simple roll up is the answer.
And while a simple slider might be the way to go, I think the real answer to how flexible displays should be implemented in a handheld computer is something no one has thought of yet.
Perhaps a one handed device that when activated switchblades out a flexible display screen into a stable form for viewing and interacting with.
See, we all know that desktops are fading from importance. We're still going to need the big box for raw power at home but they're going to act like home servers in my opinion. Laptops/notebooks are really just small desktops when you think about it and are not really portable when you think even further. You still need to take the notebook somewhere, place it there, then work with it. It's a portable desktop.
What the world needs now is a device with the power of a notebook that you can WEILD in your hand.
The cell phone form factor mind you is NOT the answer.
The only way to solve this conundrum of a problem in my opinion is with (at least with the current state of the art tech near ready for the market) active matrix flexible OLED displays using some form of multi-touch for input.
Even if Apple has the raw AMFOLEDs from a supplier for the super device it is still going to be up to the designers (both hardware and software) to make the device a success.
I know Apple can pull it off.
So worse performance and more expensive but a good buzzword: just the thing I can imagine Apple designing in.
It's not like people haven't been talking about OLEDs for years and Apple haven't had the chance to evaluate them. Or that the OLED makers would have been targeting Apple hard.
They just don't think they are the right technology. Do you seriously think that Microsoft understand hardware better than Apple?
Seriously, go out and buy a Sony OLED walkman and come back if you think it's actually a usable proposition.
My guess is that all the people having this OLED love fest have never actually used one.
OLEDs are not suitable for any product you use outdoors, are not that much better than good LCDs indoors any longer and are a lot more expensive.
I'm not sure where you get your info but one of the points of OLEDs is that they would actually be better outside. As to indoors well that is a debate that will go on as long as the glossy vs matte debate.
In any event you are way off on the cost part of the equation, OLED screes should be much cheaper once in mass production. Even now though OLED screens are surprisingly cheap considering where we are in the development cycle.
So worse performance and more expensive but a good buzzword: just the thing I can imagine Apple designing in.
Obviously you have the issue of performance wrong as OLEDs offer better performance using any number of measures.
It's not like people haven't been talking about OLEDs for years and Apple haven't had the chance to evaluate them. Or that the OLED makers would have been targeting Apple hard.
How do you know they haven't. Further have we even seen the fruits of some of Apples investments in this area.
They just don't think they are the right technology. Do you seriously think that Microsoft understand hardware better than Apple?
Microsoft, from what I can see, has gone with an off the shelf screen; I doubt very much that Apple will take this route.
Seriously, go out and buy a Sony OLED walkman and come back if you think it's actually a usable proposition.
My guess is that all the people having this OLED love fest have never actually used one.
Well have you? Further have the ones you have used been bleeding edge screens or something available on the market for years? Never judge a book by its cover and never judge a technology by the first example you see.
Dave
One of the problems with flexible displays is finding an application for them that makes sense. This however is an example of a unique possibility. A phone with a folding screen is another example. I'm not yet convinced that Apple is interested in a folding screen in an iPhone but a large screen Touch is a possibility. In the end I think the big advantages for Apples are that OLEDs are thiner, lower power and produce a better image under a variety of conditions.
Dave
Some examples:
How many people really wear their MP3 players around their neck like a necklace?
How many original iPod Shuffle users did that? I knew a few who had such a shuffle, but none used a lanyard to wear it around their neck. Why? It looked a bit strange. And many felt it would attract robbers.
So how about a big, 4-5 inch wide bracelet, like the army prototypes?
Can anyone seriously imagine a huge number of people wearing such a bracelet within a year? I can't. I'm sure many would feel dorky or simply think it looks stupid - regardless how useful.
And again, some will worry about attracting robbers, flashing expensive gear like that.
IMHO it's much more likely to see foldable screens of some sort initially.
Either giving small phone like devices twice the screen when unfolded, or even laptops expanding to medium sized desktop AIOs like this MacBook Touch concept.
The latter will be a while since large OLED displays are rare, but a small phone like device that unfolds to twice the size for movie watching or eBooks could be very useful.
Apart from being really low power, very thin and perfect in contrast OLEDs can also be produced in any shape, not just square.
I think this is really the biggest advantage to designers in the long run. Circular, triangular or teardrop shaped displays could work really well in many personal items.
I posted it before and I'll post it again.
Looks cool, but in reality it's not going to work - at least for quite a while.
Current OLEDs can be bent no smaller than a curvature radius of 15 mm minimum (that's ca. 1 1/8 inch diameter).
Yet for such a huge image to roll into such a small compartment (like the part that he's holding in his right hand) the screen would effectively have to be rolled around a pencil. Much too small a curvature radius.
No current OLED display would survive being bent around such a small radius.
OLEDs are made of several layers and with a pencil sized curvature those layers would sheer so much that this would break the compound.
I think if the right hand part would be roughly 1 1/2 the diameter of a toilet roll then we might have a chance.
Although that'd be pretty huge IMHO and not really a small 'roll up' display anymore.
Perhaps in 5-10 years.
Certainly is a cool idea.
Looks cool, but in reality it's not going to work - at least for quite a while.
Current OLEDs can be bent no smaller than a curvature radius of 15 mm minimum (that's ca. 1 1/8 inch diameter).
Yet for such a huge image to roll into such a small compartment (like the part that he's holding in his right hand) the screen would effectively have to be rolled around a pencil. Much too small a curvature radius.
No current OLED display would survive being bent around such a small radius.
OLEDs are made of several layers and with a pencil sized curvature those layers would sheer so much that this would break the compound.
I think if the right hand part would be roughly 1 1/2 the diameter of a toilet roll then we might have a chance.
Although that'd be pretty huge IMHO and not really a small 'roll up' display anymore.
Perhaps in 5-10 years.
Certainly is a cool idea.
They said 5-10 years.......5-10 years ago!