Organic electronic materials specialist Merck and flexible electronics company FlexEnable claim they have reached an important stage in the development of plastic LCDs. Between them, the companies have created a demonstrator in what is said to be a 'very short timeframe' and which is said to show a route to low cost solutions for volume manufacturing.
"We are very happy about this step forward as it clearly shows the enormous innovation potential the LC technology holds for us to explore," said Inese Lowenstein, head of Merck's Display Materials business unit. "It also shows that plastic based bendable – or even flexible – displays are not a dream and encourages us to develop new LC modes especially, for this application. Now we can also imagine how the size of LC displays can grow even further, by making them lightweight, transportable and unbreakable."
Referring to the demonstrator, Indro Mukerjee, FlexEnable's chairman, added: "To achieve this within months, rather than years, is a testament to the depth of understanding and IP we have across our toolkit of industrially proven processes. Plastic LCDs bring clear benefits where weight and thickness is key – including volume consumer and industrial markets. It also offers a route to simpler, lower cost device stacks for display makers."
The project, cofunded by the seventh Framework Program of the European Union, also involved the University of Stuttgart, LOFO High Tech Film, Micro Resist Technology and Etkes and Sons.
