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By David Rothman

More details in the New Scientist:

The most flexible electronic display yet developed has been revealed by researchers at electronics giant Philips. The company says it plans to begin mass producing such displays within a few years.

There are many projects aiming to develop “electronic paper”. Such a display could, for example, be used create a fully updatable newspaper which could rolled up into a coat pocket. Flexible displays could also be used to create new mobile phones and other easily collapsible gadgets.

Philips’s new display was made possible by the development of a way to print organic electronics onto a thin plastic film – previously, it was only possible to print these components on glass. However, after experimenting with various different plastics, Philips now has a technique that works on polyimide film.

Precise details of the fabrication method have not been revealed due to their commercially sensitive nature, says the company. But the process has enabled the company to produce a screen that can be rolled into a tube just two centimetres in diameter – the most flexible electronic display ever made. The use of organic electronics should also make the device cheap.

The square display measures 12 centimetres diagonally and consists of 80,000 pixels. It produces a greyscale image and can refresh in about a second – far too slow to display moving images…

Via Matthew J. McBride of CInC, Inc. and Gizmodo.com. Also see earlier info.

 
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