Flexible Displays

Presentation Layout
Introduction to Flexible Displays Video of Product Advantages vs. Disadvantages Consumer Uses Business Application Military Applications Future of Flexible Displays and its Market

E-Paper

Also known as electronic paper or flexible displays Reflects light, similar to ordinary paper Capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later Capable of being crumpled, bent, or even rolled Lightweight and durable

Material as thick as three human hairs

Video of Sony prototype

History of E-paper

Technology Developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon

At Palo Alto Research Center First Application was called Gyricon

Second application was developed in 1990 by Joseph Jacobson who founded E-ink

How Does it Work?

The paper is comprised of millions of microcapsules, about the diameter of a human hair Each capsule contains a clear fluid that contains black and white particles carrying opposite charges An electric charge is applied moving the colored particles vertically within each capsule - charge moves white particles + charge moves black particles Black particles form image areas, while white particles form non-image areas

Advantages

Thin (3 times the thickness of a sheet of paper) Light (Around 3.5 grams) Flexible Plastic (Non-shattering) Scalable for large area High volume/Low cost Extraordinary readability (nearly 180 at any light) Battery life = Thousands of pages (Approx. 7500) Ultimately Take anywhere, read anywhere

Disadvantages
Lower processing temperatures Poor thermal stability Surface roughness Susceptible to chemicals

Consumer Uses

E-Maps E-newspaper Installed in laptops and Cell Phones (Sony) Textbooks, books Game board (Philips) Pull out travel guide (Philips) Wearables (Bracelet) Video Philips E Ink

Business Applications
Retail signage Advertisement/Billboards Memos Catalogs

Military and Flexible Displays

Contributed $100 Million in research and development ASU Flexible Display Center

The result of a $43.7 million, five-year cooperative agreement between the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and ASU The center will accelerate research, development and manufacturing of flexible display technologies, which will boost commercialization of flexible displays Real-time display unit

Future Applications

Credit card screens Pen size computers with pull out screens Text book replacement

Replaces stacks of books, reference materials or magazines

Newspaper replacement Sent by email and downloadable to device Libraries smaller than books

Market Size and Cost of Units

$2 Billion by 2012 $4 billion by 2014 Flexible display banners $79.00 Philips document reader $400 and up

Sources

Slide 3-http://wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/05/58765 Slide 4-http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/electronic_paper Slide 5- http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci53 5038,0 0.html Slide 6-7-http://www.usdc.org/resources/tutorials/Overview_Flex_Tech_Oct2005.pdf Slide 8-11- http://wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2001/03/42056
www.plasticlogic.com http://www.usdc.org/resources/tutorials/Overview_Flex_Tech_Oct2005.pdf http://www.asu.edu/feature/includes/spring05/readmore/flexdisplay.html k

Slide 12- optics.org/cws/article/industry/30548 http://wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2001/03/42056