Emerging Display Technologies Conference- Day 2

By Bayle Emlein

The Changing Landscape of Mobile PCs, What will Drive Demand, session moderated by Richard Shim, Senior Analyst, DisplaySearch. It's no secret that notebooks are losing market share to tablets. User focus is moving from productivity and performance to convenience. Instant-on, long battery life, and extreme portability are driving forces. UltraSlim notebooks fit in between. A new round of product development and diversification is anticipated after the next generation of Intel processors is available  (middle of 2013?)

OLED technology . Oxide TFT enables smaller transistor size, leading to smaller backlight or battery resulting in thinner/lighter and/or brighter displays.

Dr. Jürgen Rawert, Director of Business Development for adt GmbH, outlined the current development of Droplet Driven Displays--Bistable Reflective Electrowetting Displays. The ability to modify a liquid with an electrical force has been known and used for over a century. Adt technology differs in using multiple droplets and in requiring no refresh cycle. They are looking to a near term future that moves beyond a glass substrate. Electrowetting is more cost-effective than LCD technology and uses less device power and is readable in sunlight.

Ken Dean, CTO of Gamma Dynamics talked about Electrofluidic Displays. It uses the same physics as electrowetting. Light weight and low power are are synonymous. Viewing angle and readability in sunlight are features missing in current technology. LCD/OLED are not readable in bright light, are heavy and hog power.  Electrophoretic displays have marginal color and limited viewing angle. Bright light and vivid color indoors, video, low power, zero power fixed image, and expanding. Backlighting increases power demand by about 10% over reflective displays. Gamma Dynamics looked at the 400 million years of color-changing practiced by squids to develop a display system. When the carrier fluid moves with the pigment molecule, demand for power is reduced, as is response time. Backlighting increases power demand about 10%.

Mike Banach substituted for Peter Fischer of Plastic Logic. Plastic Logic evolved from Cambridge University research, similar to Gamma Dynamics' development from a University of Cincinnati project.  They are capable of high-yield manufacturing. They use solution processing and direct-write whenever possible. Keeping process temperatures low permits use of inexpensive flexible substrates. Developing processes for handling of large sheets, depositing film uniformly, and cleaning interfaces were keys to their ability to move from prototype development to the manufacturing space. Much attention to quality control has resulted in a product that has both eInk and color capabilities. Flexible displays are available now with paper-like finish, excellent power and color management.

OLED Displays: Replacement Technology or Market Creator?
 

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, Vice President of Display Technologies at DisplaySearch provided an overview of the state current and projected OLED, AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode), and PMOLED (Passive Matrix), which enables a large display by tiling display components. Screen size, operating temperature, color display management are all factors that affect development of OLED products for market. Some companies are developing flexible OLED displays, addressing substrate and moisture problems. Korea, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are the leaders in OLED manufacture. OLED lighting is a new form factor: a light surface. It is quiet and efficient, and does not emit in the IR or ultraviolet ranges, qualities that will be of interest to museums and other owners of fine art.

Dr. G Rajeswaran, CEO of Moser Baer Technologies, reviewed Advancerds in OLED Technology for Displays and Solid State Lighting. He is excited working on a project on to reduce the cost of OLED lighting so that it becomes competitive in the consumer market. OLED research began 25 years ago. Dye doping to add color was a major breakthrough. Dr. Rajeswaran developed prototypes of commercial OLED display and began trying to market it in 1999. Quality control in manufacturing addressed the impact of pixel circuit complexity on consistent background and display clarity.  Backplane technology, OLED technology including management of white color display, and Encapsulation technology each pose particular problems which must be addressed, especially for large displays. The OLED lighting market beckons.

David Flattery, Director of Operations at DuPont asked, "Why isn't everyone using solution OLED?" The greatest challenges have been in developing high-performance materials at marketable volume and pricing. Key process challenges are to reduce waste, work more efficiently, and pattern a s few layers as possible.

Emerging Technologies in Related Segments
 

Matt Mazzuchi, Vice President for Market and Business Development at QD Vision introduced the company, a venture-backed company that started at MIT. It is the only quantum dot company focused solely on displays and lighting. Quantum dots are a new type of light-emitting semiconductor. The native response is in blue ranges, though the dots can be tuned to other colors. Backlighting display technologies have evolved and the color is pretty good. QD can be tuned to provide 100% of NTSC color standard rather than the 70% or so.  QD is moving to production, where the technology will improve color quality without major investments in refabrication

Darrell Benke, Senior Marketing Manager at ams, a new company formed from Austrian Microsystems and TAOS. They are an analog company focusing on precision and energy efficiency. They make ambient light sensors, proximity sensors, linear array sensors, and color sensors. Their devices appear in smartphones, tablets, cameras and TVs. Energy Star is the US standard for energy conservation, part of a world-wide effort to improve energy consumption. Version 6 will be out soon and further define allowable power use. Most light sources emit a lot of light in ranges beyond those detectable by the human eye. Limiting that will save power by responding to changes in ambient lighting, as will a proximity sensor that will turn a device on only if a person is within viewing range. With different light sources, the color of illumination can be controlled--warm or cool, depending on how you want your environment. In the grocery store, produce will be displayed in its best light.

 
Malcolm Thompson of the FlexTech Alliance added some final words regarding Flexible Displays, Lighting and Solar Cells: Developing Underlying Technologies and Building the Supply Chain. The FlexTech Alliance tries to build alliances and collaboration. Traditionally they focused on manufacturing and the supply chain. They are working on identifying the Next Big Thing. Flexible enables human scale products, such as wearable health monitors. New, distributed manufacturing moves manufacturing close to the customer and allows for localization. An industry depends on a reliable supply chain to have materials available. FlexTech seeks to identify technology gaps and encourages development of solutions. Focusing on flexible materials, they coordinate the strengths of member companies and provide real, financial backing for projects and equipment. "Today's collaboration Builds the Infrastructure for Tomorrow's Products. . .  Tomorrow, the world will be healthier, safer, simpler, and smarter because of advancements in flexible electronics."