New mass-production technique for flexible OLEDs could make them cheap

Getting tired of flexible OLED prototypes that are about as ready for retail as that cold fusion reactor your uncle Harry is building in his garage? Yeah, we are too, but it seems the industry is getting a little closer to reality, the latest step coming courtesy of Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center and Universal Display. Researchers at the pair have managed to produce flexible OLED displays using the same production techniques used to create standard, rather less bendy LCD displays, enabling the transistors that control the pixels to be applied to plastic, rather than the glass they typically find themselves embedded within. They glue a piece of plastic onto glass, feed it through the LCD manufacturing process, then peel the two apart like a high-tech Fruit Roll-Up. That technique was used to create the 4.1-inch monochrome display shown above -- which is for now just another prototype that won't be showing up in any devices any time soon. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Technology Review]

[Crazy_maniac @ Jun 8th 2009 7:55AM]

Do want!

[Wwhat @ Jun 8th 2009 7:57AM]

Peel it off eh, say hello to dead pixel world?

[Tarnation @ Jun 8th 2009 7:59AM]

Hey, I would rather they get it right than have a ton of buggy useless products on the market.

[216 @ Jun 8th 2009 8:02AM]

COULD make them cheap......but it wont

[Phylop @ Jun 8th 2009 8:03AM]

YES! Now I can unroll a big screen outta my pants!

[Carl @ Jun 8th 2009 8:03AM]

At least you can watch Cars on it.

[pofc @ Jun 8th 2009 8:05AM]

Looks like a Pip-Boy 3000 to me. I'd take it as it is.

[superhobo @ Jun 8th 2009 8:25AM]

Damnit, now I want.

[nighttime__ @ Jun 8th 2009 8:50AM]

beat me too it!

hopefully sans three-dog.

[infernus @ Jun 8th 2009 11:11AM]

Oh good, I'm not the only one who instantly thought, "this would make an excellent PipBoy screen."

[General_Trelane, (retired) @ Jun 8th 2009 8:24AM]

Marvelous!

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 8th 2009 8:24AM]

I wanna see that prototype with the screaming Sirius Black moving mugshot on it.

[erich.strasser @ Jun 8th 2009 8:35AM]

Hi! There is some great video about this flexible OLED at:
http://www.oled-display.net/fdc-and-udc-make-breakthrough-in-flexible-display-manufacturing-process

[Emmanuel @ Jun 8th 2009 8:49AM]

"high-tech Fruit Roll-Up"

+1 for Stevens!

[Brian @ Jun 8th 2009 9:03AM]

If you didn't think of the Pipboy, please hand in your nerd cred now.

[CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 8th 2009 9:07AM]

STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW COOL THEY ARE AND BRING THEM TO MARKET ALREADY!!!

[pavlindrom @ Jun 8th 2009 9:40AM]

Is it supposed to look green-ish? Or is it just the image they pushed to the screen? If there is a bending screen coming to my house, it better show all colors as they should show...

[Brian @ Jun 8th 2009 10:21AM]

Because OLED's are for hackers' wristband computers. Duh. Don't you watch Chuck?

Sure, you could have full color on your wrist... but why would you want it? Everyone wants a terminal on their wrist.

[ragetek @ Jun 8th 2009 11:37AM]

that pic... it kinda reminds me of the old nokia morph concept!!

[MacBandit @ Jun 8th 2009 11:40AM]

How come every time I see one of these bent there are dead pixels and lines running through them. Maybe because they don't bend that well and it's an f'ing pipe dream to think you could actually roll one up since they can barely bend. Yeah you heard it here first I'm going to say roll up screens are VAPORWARE!!