Taiwanese display panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tube (CPT) announced today that the company has been working with FLEXENABLE, a flexible electronics technology platform provider, to manufacture a glass-free, full-colour, flexible active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) display unit.
FlexEnable had previously produced demonstration models, and it hopes this latest development will help it grab a share of the AMOLED market, which analysts at Swaffham Bulbeck-based research organisation IDTechEx predict will be worth $16bn globally by 2020.
Indro Mukerjee, chairman of FlexEnable, said "This display represents a breakthrough proving that FlexEnable's organic thin film transistor technology can be combined with mainstream organic LED (OLED) manufacturing infrastructures to create the most flexible and cost-effective AMOLED display technology.”
"Working together with display makers, FlexEnable supports the integration of our proven technology platform, enabling a full range of flexible display types, from LCD and OLED to electrophoretic displays at lower cost."
The new display combines FlexEnable's low-temperature process, which uses plastic transistors and CPT's RGB OLED technology. The resulting display operates at full video-rate (60 Hz) and is a mere 125 microns thick.
The partnership also shows that the FlexEnable process is compatible with factory equipment and techniques currently in use in the industry, with only minimal modification required.
Through FabEnable, a partnering package for manufacturers, FlexEnable is using its' team's experience of industrialisation techniques and processes to provide support to companies that are looking to scale up production of AMOLED displays.
"Truly flexible AMOLED panels are widely recognized as the most promising display infrastructure," said Sheng-Chang Lin, president of Chunghwa Picture Tubes.
"CPT has over a decade of professional experience in the development of AMOLED displays from structural design, material allocation and process to equipment. CPT has shown a number of AMOLED displays at several major exhibitions as well as to potential customers.”
