Bringing a new flexible display technology into mass production Chuck Milligan CEO, FlexEnable
Years of development and investment have made FlexEnable the clear leader in Plastic Large-area Electronics 2000 Spun out of Cambridge University 2009 OTFT, EPD process industrially proven and qualified in Dresden Gen 3.5 Fab 2010 Flexible EPD shipping 2013 World s 1 st all organic image sensor 2015 Colour, video rate conformable OLCD on plastic in partnership with Merck 2016 12.1 flexible OLCD prototype July 2017 OLCD adopted by first display maker 2002 2015 2018 2018 OLCD in mass production 2000 Plastic Logic Founded 2006 1.2m transistors on A4 substrate Feb 2015 FlexEnable founded 2014 Flexible AMOLED demonstrated 2015 Colour, videorate flexible plastic AMOLED 2016 World s 1 st large area flexible fingerprint and vein sensor @500ppi
FlexEnable at a glance Headquarters Cambridge, UK World s most experienced team of plastic electronics engineers with collective experience of over 700 engineering years, >600 patents Lowest cost and most flexible platform for bringing surfaces to life Focused on mainstream applications LCD, OLED and sensor arrays Proven volume-production technology and experienced tech-transfer 04 July 2018 3
Industrially-proven OTFT technology platform The lowest cost flexible electronics platform based on high performance organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) Enables ultrathin, ultra-lightweight, shatterproof and flexible displays and sensors Fully industrialised and easily transferred for mass production in existing facilities Long Lifetime Better stability than a-si 1.5cm 2 /Vs Better mobility than a-si High Yield Low-leakage Better leakage than a-si < 100 C Lowest transistor manufacturing temperature Low Cost Lowest cost flexible display 04 July 2018 4
Breakthrough Organic LCD on ultra low cost substrates 04 July 2018 5
Breakthrough organic LCD (OLCD) platform New display form factor: Fully Plastic: Like a standard glass TFT-LCD but without the glass Conformable: Display bend radius as low as 10mm Free-form: It can be easily laser cut to non-square shapes Lightweight: 130um thin glass-free stack 10x lighter than glass TFT-LCD 4.7 OLCD prototype (ROC=10mm) No Compromise on performances: Better than a-si TFT: Perform as standard TFT-LCD but without the glass Bright: High luminance with no compromise on lifetime (unlike AMOLED) Reliable: Stable at extreme temperature The ultimate low-cost solution for flexible displays: Supply chain: Compatible with existing automotive-qualified LCD manufacturing lines High yield: It can be made large area with a high yield manufacturing process 12.1 OLCD prototype (ROC=60mm) Cost: Lowest cost flexible display technology (3x less than flex-amoled display)
Advantages of plastic vs glass Property a-si Glass otft Plastic Benefit Weight (g/sqcm) 0.25 0.025 10x Thickness (mm) ~1.2 ~0.3 4x Radius of Curvature (mm) >1000 ~10 >100x Freeform Hard Easy - Mobility performance 0.5 1.5 3x Electrical Leakage 1e-13 <1e-17 1000x 04 July 2018 7
OLCD: A complementary flexible display technology Display Lifetime OLCD Auto / Industrialspec Digital signage Automotive Aero Automotive Digital signage OLED CE-spec Smart Home Appliances Digital signage Smart phones Smart watches Tablets Monitors TVs <6 >6 Flexible Display Size 04 July 2018 8
OLCD Applications OTFT / OLCD is particularly suited to applications that require: conformability, unbreakability, light-weight, AND large area, long lifetime & high brightness Automotive CE, Appliances, Wearables Digital Signage 04 July 2018 9
Plastic OLCD example: Flexible rear view screen Novares integrated FlexEnable s flexible OLCD in the design of the cockpit of their Nova Car #1 unveiled in March 2018. The flexible display feature, called FlexView, uses augmented reality to improve security. It is made with a plastic substrate which means it can be angled towards the driver or passenger seat, with a bending radius of almost 15mm. This innovation can be easily integrated into modern cockpits, and its flexibility means it is suitable for autonomous driving applications. https://www.novaresteam.com/ 04 July 2018 10
Many approaches for plastic LCD demonstrated Samsung LCD on FRP (220C), 2011 FlexEnable OLCD on TAC (100C), 2015 JDI LCD on Colourless PI (270C) AUO LCD on Colourless PI (220C) Most Display makers working on plastic LCD Most approaches involve either Inorganic TFT on CPI, or OTFT on TAC 04 July 2018 11
OLCD can achieve same performance as glass a-si LCD displays Property Colourless PI TAC Thickness (µm) 30 40 Light Transmission (%) <90% >94% Birefringence R th (nm) 135 <10 Haze (%) ~1 <0.5 Yellow Index (b*) ~2 <0.07 Cost, Supply Chain High Cost ~$1/m 2, Ubiquitous TAC film: Ideal optical performance, ultra-low cost, even compared to glass No compensation film required for TAC-based OLCD 04 July 2018 12
Coat-Debond, versus Mount-Demount Typical low yield (De) bond process required for high temperature AM FlexEnable high yield (De)mount process used for low temperature OTFT TAC Film TAC Film Low-temp OTFT process enables maximum yield at the most critical release stage
Low Temperature enables low cost, high yield mount/demount Enables unique (non-rectangular) display shapes to be easily cut High yield process for flex based OLCD displays Only possible with low-temperature OTFT processing 4 July, 2018 14
Partnering to bring OTFT Technology to displays and sensors FlexEnable OTFT platform Product Companies Production Display Makers 04 July 2018 15
Truly and FlexEnable sign License Agreement to bring low-cost, scalable flexible display production to China Truly and FlexEnable signed a technology transfer and license agreement in July 2017 Truly Semiconductors is the first display maker to adopt OTFT/OLCD Truly will implement the process into its existing production lines in Shanwei, China Volume production is expected in 2018 Chuck Milligan, CEO of FlexEnable (left) and Dr James Wong, Chief Operation Officer (COO) and Group Executive Director of Truly (right) FlexEnable's OLCD technology is a breakthrough in the TFT-LCD industry and with its characteristics of thinness, lightweight, and more durability it is going to create lots of possibilities for innovative product design. We have been receiving many enquiries for flexible display from the market, specifically, wearable devices, smart home appliances, electric cars and self-driving cars etc. This is a pretty exciting display technology and we do believe there is a considerable potential market size. KK Ho, General Manager, R&D center, Truly Semiconductors Ltd 04 July 2018 16
Re-defining Display Module One Display format Flexible Organic LCD (OLCD) is manufactured in a flat state using conventional FPD techniques One assembly process Components Backlight + TFT- LCD lamination Rigid window assembly Final Display module Flexible OLCD is assembled into a rigid Display Module using a unique lamination process which conforms the OLCD to a curved shape Rigid Chassis Flexible Backlight Flexible OLCD Rigid Window One unique shape The same flexible OLCD can deliver multiple display modules with shape driven by the design of the chassis,,,
4.68 OLCD Evaluation Kit
Best route to borderless OTFT array can be bent the BLU Current display cell construction could result in thickness <1mm Border will be defined by edge seal and thickness of backlight 04 July 2018 19
OLCD for Tablets and Laptops Vision OLCD Front view OLCD Back view Worlds thinnest and lightest LCD made possible with FlexEnable OLCD technology Near Borderless on all 4 sides: Integrated gate drivers Source driver and routing folded Attribute underneath FHD 4K Roadmap to MP in 2021 Size 15.6 15.6 Resolution 1920 x 1080 3840 x 2160 Pixel Density 141PPI 282PPI Cell Thickness 0.1mm in active area 0.1mm in active area Module thickness BLU+0.2mm at folded edge BLU+0.2mm at folded edge Border size 1mm 1mm Cell Mass* <10g <10g Refresh rate 120Hz 120Hz * Includes polarizer, excludes IC, BLU 04 July 2018 20
Mobility Mobility Performance Progression 10 EPD Focus Diverse Applications 1 a:si TFT Mobility 0.1 Production Materials Projection instructed material vendors 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016.. 2020 04 July 2018 21
Technology Roadmap 04 July 2018 22
Summary OTFT is widely recognized as the best technology to enable fully-flexible, low-cost and ubiquitous displays. OLCD is complementary to flexible AMOLED with marketable advantages in terms of potential production scale, display size, reliability, brightness and cost. Volume manufacturing of OLCD will be available from Truly in the second half of this year. We are excited to work with like-minded companies to bring these exciting concepts to market as well as extending our technology to new applications 04 July 2018 23
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