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flexibleoled posts

Video: Samsung's e-passport turns your head into a rotating government specimen

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:26AM

Samsung (and your local government) hasn't been shy with its plans for electrifying passports. Yet we still haven't seen video of its e-passport with flexible OLED display in action, 'till now. The 2-inch, 240x320 AMOLED displays a disembodied, rotating head in 260k colors and 10k:1 contrast when activated by an RF source reader. No details were provided as to when these might enter production but we have the icky feeling it'll be sooner than we want.

[Via OLED-Info]

Continue reading Video: Samsung's e-passport turns your head into a rotating government specimen

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

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 7:48AM

New mass-production technique for flexible OLED 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]

Samsung shows off latest, biggest, bendiest AMOLED prototype

by Tim Stevens, posted May 27th 2009 at 8:27AM

Today the flexible OLED is still a very rare thing, usually confined to dark corners of exhibitors booths at trade shows or grainy photos from some research facility. Sadly that doesn't look to change anytime in the immediate future, but Samsung is at least still making progress with the tech, demonstrating a new 6.5-inch flexible prototype at SID 2009 in San Antonio. It's bigger than the earlier examples we've seen from the company, and apparently a little bendier too, but beyond those juicy facts -- and knowing that it can display scenes from The Sound of Music -- we don't know a thing about it.

Resin replaces ITO in latest flexible OLED prototype

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 10th 2009 at 8:03AM

Make no mistake, wrapping your mind around the build of an OLED panel is mighty tough to do. Without getting you mired in technobabble, let's just say that indium tin oxide (ITO) has generally been a mainstay in every single OLED that was produced commercially. Now, a team of researchers from AGFA-Gevaert, IMEC, Holst Centre and Philips have prototyped a 12- x 12-centimeter flexible OLED lighting panel that swaps out the ITO for highly-conductive transparent resin electrodes. You see, it's been difficult for OLED builders to secure enough electrical conductivity of ITO in a low-temperature process, and this new methodology is perfectly suited for the coating method (which makes it ripe for printing). The resin itself is being dubbed Orgacon, and tests have shown it to have a 6x improvement over ITO in terms of electrical conductivity. Beyond that, the crews are keeping the secrets safe from the poachers of the world, but here's hoping this amounts to more than just jovial celebration in a far off laboratory.

[Via OLED-Display]

Modistech unveils flexible, ultrathin OLED light in Korea

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 18th 2009 at 8:14PM

We just heard that the OLED market was set to skyrocket in 2011, but don't tell Modistech. Said outfit has just revealed its own flexible, ultrathin OLED light module in South Korea, which honestly looks eerily similar to Samsung's "flapping" OLED panels from last fall. Details are pretty scant right now, but we're told to expect mass production within the next year, with public availability penciled in for -- you guessed it -- 2011. Hit the read link for a few more delightful looks.

[Via OLED-Display]

Sony shows off flexible OLED Walkman concepts on video

by Nilay Patel, posted Jan 13th 2009 at 9:02PM

Looks like Sony Insider caught some footage of those flexible OLED Walkmans in action during a CES promo video hidden away in the booth. Looks like a pretty sweet riff on the Cover Flow-esque interface that's due to arrive on the NWZ-X1000, but there's not much else to go on -- let's hope Sony's spending more time getting the X1000 ready to leave that impenetrable glass housing than it is mocking up videos of fantasy tech. Video after the break!

Continue reading Sony shows off flexible OLED Walkman concepts on video

Samsung shows off OLED display collection at CES

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 12th 2009 at 1:40PM

OLED displays were out in full force this year, with Samsung bringing plenty of its own to showcase to CES onlookers. We already had a chance to check out a snazzy folding OLED late last week, but CNET was able to capture a few more for good measure. The most notable were the 3.3-inch "3D" AMOLED display (with a WQVGA resolution) and the 7.01-inch AMOLED panel, which was seen sporting a 1,024 x 600 resolution and a 30,000:1 contrast ratio. Flip through the gallery below for a few more looks, but don't get your hopes up too high for any near-term release dates.

[Via OLED-Display]

Sony's flexible OLED mockups

by Paul Miller, posted Jan 12th 2009 at 11:36AM

Sony hasn't gotten very far along with these units -- they're really just plastic shells -- but we like we're they're headed with it. They showed off a full-screen laptop (pictured), bendable e-reader, and Walkman bracelet concepts, all based around flexible OLED technology and built with "flexible bioplastics," along with the flexible display that going to power them all when they hit the market... in the year 2000.

Gallery: Sony's flexible OLED mockups

Wrist-worn flexible OLED prototype is for the military, but kids like it too

by Tim Stevens, posted Jan 6th 2009 at 10:18AM

Flexible OLED displays are becoming more and more commonplace (and festive), despite not actually being available in any devices you can buy just yet. When that day finally comes, Universal Display Corporation thinks one of those gadgets will be something like the above: a wearable, flexible, 4-inch prototype screen that CES attendees will be able to check out and maybe even try on -- albeit uncomfortably. It's been developed with military applications in mind (they always get the cool stuff first), but bendy consumer devices are naturally envisioned as well. There's no word on when we'll start seeing them in passports or flexi-phones, but we're thinking we have a while to wait yet.

[Warning: PDF link; via OLED-DISPLAY.net]

GE builds an OLED Holiday Tree, makes mistletoe out of disused RAM

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Dec 17th 2008 at 3:04PM

The R&D-types at GE have high hopes for their roll-to-roll OLED manufacturing process, but it looks like we have a couple years to wait before the tech is cheap enough to really catch on. In the meantime, what do we have for you? How about some super-expensive digiframes and a YouTube video of the world's first ever "OLED Holiday Tree?" Man, we hope those "War on Christmas" people don't catch wind of this one...

[Via OLED Display]

Continue reading GE builds an OLED Holiday Tree, makes mistletoe out of disused RAM

Samsung concept phone unfolds to hypnotize onlookers with flexible OLED

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 24th 2008 at 2:01AM

Cellphones are caught in this awkward spot where they've got to be small -- like pocketable, doesn't-look-ridiculous-on-your-face small -- and yet somehow big enough to pack an expansive, pretty display that's capable of displaying a lot of stuff at once. That's a paradox that has forced manufacturers into some curious form factors over the years, but ultimately, if you want to somehow cram the desktop viewing experience into a device the size of a pack of cigarettes, you're probably going to need something that projects, rolls, or folds. That's where Samsung's new concept phone shown off at the FPD International show in Yokohama comes into play, opening like a book to reveal a flexible OLED big enough to handle those cute puppy videos that no plain-vanilla, 2.5-inch display can do justice. There's no word on when a so-equipped handset might see production -- but we think it's appropriate that it's being shown off in Japan in all places, if you catch our drift. Follow the break for a video of the display in action.

Continue reading Samsung concept phone unfolds to hypnotize onlookers with flexible OLED

European ROLLED project promises to print OLEDs on the cheap

by Donald Melanson, posted Oct 31st 2008 at 11:25AM

Printed and flexible OLEDs aren't exactly uncharted territory, but a group of European organizations led by Finland's VTT Technical Research Center look to be taking things a bit further than most, and they're saying their material could eventually be cheap enough to be used in everything from product packaging to business cards. Helping things on that front is the use of regular roll-to-roll printing technology, which both lowers the cost of manufacturing the material and speeds up the production. The resulting material, which is still a tad mysterious, is apparently about as thick as three of four sheets of paper, and consists of organic sensors encapsulated in a moisture barrier film. According to the researchers, it could also be attached to sensors to measure the freshness of food contained in the packaging, or even be used as a copy protection measure. If all goes as planned, the researchers say the material could be put to commercial use in a "couple of years," and cost just a few cents for some applications.

[Via OLED-Display.net]

ETRI's Flexible OLED prototype

by Thomas Ricker, posted Nov 17th 2006 at 9:03AM

Korea's ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) is here to remind us that they, and others, are still working hard to bring Flexible OLED to market. This and other FOLED prototypes are on display right now at the Next Generation Computing Show in Korea. Ok, you can't knit a sweater with it or anything, but Flexible OLED technology is certainly progressing beyond the staid FOLED displays seen thus far. Ready for the Nokia 888 communicator? Certainly not, but definitely a step in the right direction. More prototypes after the break.

Continue reading ETRI's Flexible OLED prototype