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LG.Philips patents new flexible OLED display

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Jul 2007 4:41 User comments (14)

LG.Philips patents new flexible OLED display LG.Philips LCD has patented a flexible OLED screen technology that would use oil and water to produce images. This should help to produce OLED displays at a much lower cost.
One of the current problems with OLED flexible technology is the fact that it must be produced first on glass due to the fact that it is made at a higher temperature than the melting point of its plastic substrate. The extra glass step increases production costs as well as time spent.

LG. Philips LCD says the "new displays are designed by placing oil and water contained in tiny plastic cells connected to plastic electrodes."

The patent itself says the display uses reflective electrodes formed on the first substrate alongside a transparent insulation layer. The second substrate consists of an electrode and in between two is an electrode layer formed by water and a non electrolytic layer formed by oil.

According to Dailytech, "the oil, which is opaque, sits on the water and covers the colored surface beneath. By applying an electric field, the oil is forced away from the water, making the colored surface visible and changing the pixel color."



As usual, there are no details on manufacturing date or release date and it has so far only patented the technology.

Source:
DailyTech

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14 user comments

130.7.2007 17:16
OzMick
Inactive

Sounds blurry, I can't imagine getting an awfully high refresh rate. LCD crystals only need to make fairly short range local movements to form a helix sort of pattern, but even they suffer quite a bit from slow refresh, and this is relying upon bulk mass transfer. And what about orientation? How is this going to work horizontally as opposed to vertically? Sounds like an almost useless technology to me.

230.7.2007 17:54

glass displays are safer to clean

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 30 Jul 2007 @ 5:59

330.7.2007 17:56

Originally posted by jemaric:
glass displays are safer to clean

431.7.2007 02:08
Drango
Inactive

Quote:
And what about orientation? How is this going to work horizontally as opposed to vertically? Sounds like an almost useless technology to me.
Thats why they are creating amazing devices and you are chipping in your two cents on something i'm sure you have no real clue about(not that i do either)or else you would be patenting technology which is useful.

531.7.2007 02:08
Drango
Inactive

Quote:
And what about orientation? How is this going to work horizontally as opposed to vertically? Sounds like an almost useless technology to me.
Thats why they are creating amazing devices and you are chipping in your two cents on something i'm sure you have no real clue about(not that i do either)or else you would be patenting technology which is useful.

631.7.2007 06:11

there was a video of this on youtube a while ago... they were bending it - was so cool!

here it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1buy3N_Fvsg

731.7.2007 15:00
OzMick
Inactive

Quote:
Thats why they are creating amazing devices and you are chipping in your two cents on something i'm sure you have no real clue about(not that i do either)or else you would be patenting technology which is useful.
I've actually got a degree in Chemical Engineering with a Material Processing minor, and I had to do a report on LCD principles in my final year. The technology doesn't sound too dissimilar, and the description talks about oil and water, where the oil is behaving just like the liquid crystals.

The orientation thing is going to mean that the display constantly requires power draw, as you're going to be permanently fighting physics. At least LCD displays have a default off state (and technologies also exist that can lock an LCD on with no power once set). This display is almost by definition indeterminate in state when no power is applied, so is not good for portability. That is all I was trying to say.

81.8.2007 18:48

This is a bit blurry and confusing to understand i guess we will have to wait for an updated article to see what this is going to actually mean.

94.8.2007 17:21

Ozmick....thanks for the comments, it reads like you were thinking out loud. Been looking forward to flexible screens for some time, interesting to see them finally making some advances....no matter how strange it may seem. Appreciate your insight.

105.8.2007 19:03

Quote:
Quote:
Thats why they are creating amazing devices and you are chipping in your two cents on something i'm sure you have no real clue about(not that i do either)or else you would be patenting technology which is useful.
I've actually got a degree in Chemical Engineering with a Material Processing minor, and I had to do a report on LCD principles in my final year. The technology doesn't sound too dissimilar, and the description talks about oil and water, where the oil is behaving just like the liquid crystals.

The orientation thing is going to mean that the display constantly requires power draw, as you're going to be permanently fighting physics. At least LCD displays have a default off state (and technologies also exist that can lock an LCD on with no power once set). This display is almost by definition indeterminate in state when no power is applied, so is not good for portability. That is all I was trying to say.
You are contradicting your self. If the the OLED display requires power continuously it means that it is monostable display in which case it would be defaulting to off state when the power is removed.

It it DOES NOT require power to maintain its state - it means it is a bistable display - meaning power required would be much lower compared to currently available LCD displays not utilising the lockable on state technology.

In any case when the display id off there is no back light - so it should remain dark I suppose.

To jemaric.

Almost all touch screens on PDAs get scratched on usage with time. However I have also seen early models of Palm which were absolutely unscratched even after extended heavy use. The material used would be the determining factor.

To ozmick :

From the description of the device - as I understood it - there would be no real world liquid crystals in the display. So question of orientation + polarising screen - to achieve transparency/opacity should not arise.

It seems more like a take off from the Texas Instruments LDAP technology of reflective mirrors & LCOS. Except for the fact that they are using controlled transmissive rather than reflective properties.

1114.8.2007 17:06

So,what happens if something else in your house creates an electric field? Will this interferance affect the display?

1215.9.2007 11:04
zorb43
Inactive

Quote:
Originally posted by jemaric:
glass displays are safer to clean

1315.9.2007 12:32
zorb43
Inactive

Quote:
Originally posted by jemaric:
glass displays are safer to clean

Yes they most certianly R ... And if you have ever dropped one and it shattered into a million pieces you will know that they R NOT easier to clean up from all over the floor !

1416.9.2007 04:12

Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by jemaric:
glass displays are safer to clean

Yes they most certianly R ... And if you have ever dropped one and it shattered into a million pieces you will know that they R NOT easier to clean up from all over the floor !
If you gently touch any LCD display (I mean as used for the PC/Laptop use) you will feel a soft cushioning & translucent layer which should prevent shattering & covering your floor in the event of breakage. So one need not worry about that aspect.

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