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Flexible Displays is about to become Reality by US Army

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 12:30 PM


Imagine a screen so thin, light and flexible that can be rolled up and carried in the pocket, while consuming almost zero power.

Technology that could become reality in two or three years, thanks to the U. S. Army-supported research conducted at Arizona State University Flexible Display Center. According to Army investigators, which can be displayed in field trials with soldiers as early as 2010 or 2011.

"The motivation is to make the best soldiers of change", said David Morton, U. S. Army research laboratory manager for the center. "Flexible display technology will allow us to provide information in ways that can not be soldiers."

Flexible displays has been the dream of science fiction authors, wearable-computer and the display industry nearly a decade. LG Philips, Sony and Fujitsu have shown off-screen prototypes of flexible systems, while creating a company like Plastic Logic E-Ink and spoke of the possibility of putting ink flexible digital media. But until now still has more ideas in Minority Report of the real world.

Flexible_display_cover11_3

Research Center, created through a partnership between the Army Research Laboratory and the university has been working to develop flexible screens from 2004. So far, the U.S. Army has invested nearly $ 44 million for research.

"We are now at the point where we make high quality tech demonstrative panels," says Gregory Raupp, director of the center.

Army is interested in small displays that can be folded up, have little weight and will not be damaged. Allowing the military to send greater information to replace the army and many more devices that are at this time.

For example, a soldier in the field can learn about the environment, the position of the enemy or building a model that may be planning to enter. Other applications may include the use of flexible displays as maps.

Flexible - upon arrival - will be a big leap from today's liquid crystal display (LCD) and organic light-emitting diode-based displays (OLED).

Consider the difference between energy consumption. Flexible displays that consume 100 times less energy than LCD. Furthermore, OLED, which is two to three times more efficient than the LCD can not match the type of efficiency.

Center focuses on electrophoretic ink displays are based on very low power and flexbile, Raupp said.

There is a thin-film display transistor array and a special polymer in the thin stainless steel substrates using electrophoretic ink (E Ink), among other technologies, to create characters.

E Ink, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology derived, is composed of small microcapsules, each of whom has been charged white particles of positive and negative charged black particles suspended in a clear liquid.

After polarization of the electric field is applied, the particles move to the top or the bottom of the microcapsules, depending on the polarity of the costs. Alternating between black and white helps make the particles of the characters and images on the screen.

To form a display, e-ink is printed on the plastic sheet that is laminated to control circuitry.

The first prototype has a soldier holding a flexible PDA weighs just 13 ounces and with an E Ink frontplane and low temperature amorphous silicon TFT backplane.Stainless_steel_foil_display

Currently, the center saw two types of flexible displays a screen of reflection (which depends on ambient light) known as "zero energy", since that version is almost ignored, and the energy consumption of a low emissions energy that emits its own light. In comparison, an LCD depends on the background.

A more promising of the screen, since you only need to activate the power transistors in the pixel array to update the images and do not have, so that the power to view the image remains very low.

"We have to see that technology is far enough along the road to commercialization," said Morton.

This is also evaluating additional materials and manufacturing issues for the sample in the devices, says Morton. He hoped that in their limited field trials in two or three years, and working with companies such as LG to commercialize the technology.

"Our goal is to accelerate the development of the sample and make them available for commercial manufacturing soon," he said.

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