Flexible Screens Finally Coming
Researchers have developed the first computer display that is both flexible and touch sensitive. They say that the breakthrough could lead to more practical and easier-to-use portable devices.
Over the past few years, there has been a drive to develop displays that more closely mimic the properties of paper.
E Ink, based in Cambridge, MA, already supplies displays that are easy to read in direct sunlight and require little power for both the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader, compared to LCDs and plasma screens. E Ink’s technology uses a layer of microcapsules filled with submicrometer black and white particles to create a low-power, reflective screen.
Ultimately, though, the goal is to make displays that are not only flexible, but that also respond to touch. The first flexible electronic-paper product, the Readius, is due to launch later this year. This electronic reader features a roll-out E Ink display made by Polymer Vision, based in the Netherlands.
the FDC team uses an alternative backplane material: a thin-film plastic material made by DuPont called Teonex polyethylene napthalate (PEN). This material is already widely used in thin-film transistor manufacturing. It provides support for the display while allowing the inductive touch layer to work, says Kaminski.
Peruvemba adds that the approach doesn’t degrade the quality of the image because the sensing is carried out behind the display. This is particularly important because E Ink products rely on the reflection of ambient light rather than on an energy-sapping backlight.
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