FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS AND MICROELECTRONICS ON THE HORIZON-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION NEEDED TO BRING COMPETITIVE SOLUTIONS TO MARKET
Growing Industry Interest Toward Commercialization of Exciting New Technology In Evidence at Recent, Highly Attended USDC Flexible Displays Summit
The next major innovation for today's flat panel display (FPD) industry-flexible displays and microelectronics-is within sight, but commercialization will be contingent upon the industry's ability to resolve key hurdles in materials and manufacturing technology. This industry-critical information emerged during the second annual Flexible Microelectronics and Displays Conference, sponsored by the United States Display Consortium (USDC), a public/private partnership chartered with developing the FPD industry supply chain.
More than 200 technologists and executives-an impressive twofold increase from 2002-converged in Phoenix, Ariz., Feb 3-4, to participate in this year's two-day summit, co-sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Natick Soldier Systems Center, Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), DuPont Displays, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and Universal Display Corp. Thirty-four experts from throughout the global display industry and from related industries that apply flexible substrate manufacturing technologies, such as the printing, PCB and photovoltaics industries, covered topics ranging from materials and manufacturing technologies to projected flexible display markets, products and applications. The consensus was that while the flexible display market does hold tremendous potential for commercialization within the next five to 10 years, only realistic expectations and strong collaboration between private, public, university and government sectors will enable the industry to meet the desired timelines for both military and commercial applications in an efficient, cost-effective manner.
Flexible display technology offers a host of potential benefits-much sought-after reductions in weight and thickness, a high degree of ruggedness, non-planar form factors and the opportunity to open up new markets once deemed unobtainable. The USDC summit highlighted both current and future market drivers fueling the industry shift toward this flexible display revolution, while identifying the gating factors inhibiting the technology's mainstream adoption.
During the 34 presentations and four breakout sessions, the issues that garnered the most attention and discussion included barrier/encapuslant layers; polymer substrates; transparent/printable conductors, backplane semiconductors (organic and inorganic) and the viability of a roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing paradigm. Throughout the discussions, it was clear that needs vary widely for each technology earmarked as a candidate to provide flexible display products-including organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), electronic paper, and conventional and alternative-technology approaches for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
The forum also identified and offered potential solution pathways for the major flexible manufacturing processes-registration control (dimensional stability), patterning, cleaning and metrology-that pose the greatest challenges to producing displays on flexible substrates, from both capability and cost perspectives. Defect inspection is considered a major hurdle, since without real-time inspection to manage process improvements and process control to minimize yield losses, these new display technologies cannot be manufactured cost effectively. This is the case for both R2R and sheet-to-sheet manufacturing. For the manufacturing and application of flexible backplanes, the ability to achieve a suitable bending radius and to withstand multiple flexing are key issues. Most envision early applications as "conformable" or "moldable," and not necessarily dynamically flexed. Resistance to cracking for the fundamentally brittle materials used as transparent conductors and semiconductors is key.
New materials can enable revolutionary manufacturing methods. The conference featured several presentations on R2R, or web-based processing, imparting lessons learned from industries where this manufacturing process is already in use. Clearly, these production processes hold much promise in their ability to reduce manufacturing costs-but the presenters made it clear that the display industry is not there yet. Despite R2R's potential, the prevailing question remains as to whether display demand will be sufficient to provide an adequate return on investment for R2R manufacturing with its inherently large production capacity.
Military Backs Industry to Propel Commercialization
During the summit, the ARL announced the Flexible Display Initiative (FDI)-an Army Transformation R&D effort aimed at speeding commercialization of this new display technology. The FDI is chartered with researching and developing flexible display technology designed for military applications in the Army's Objective Force Warrior (OFW) and Future Combat Systems (FCS) programs. Focusing on available display technologies that are amenable to being manufactured on a flexible substrate, the FDI will target development of thin, conformable, compact, rugged displays that are less power hungry and can be used in a variety of lighting conditions-essential for military field applications, where lighting conditions vary greatly. Applications would include command and control, display-embedded uniforms, vehicular displays, conformable/rollable maps and portable communicators.
Commenting on the FDI effort, Dr. John Pellegrino, director of ARL's Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD), stated that the initiative is an important program for the Army Transformation in both OFW and FCS. "Through FDI, the Army will provide additional stimulus and focus for flexible display research to accelerate product development. The Army needs provide 'early adopter' applications with a well-defined set of targets and requirements. It is our intent to have demonstrators available for OFW and FCS applications, enabling new forms of military communications and, ultimately, strengthening the U.S. defense technology base."
Dr. Robert Pinnel, USDC chief technical officer, noted that, while this technology offers significant challenges, it also offers great opportunity and is likely to gain momentum in military and civilian sectors over the next several years. In his introductory remarks, he stated, "FDI provides the visibility, foundation and direction to develop flexible display capability. We recognize the similarity between military needs and future commercial applications. Leveraging existing technology and applying lessons learned from earlier R&D, we will take the next steps to meet future Army requirements for thinner, lighter, more rugged displays. Since demonstrations are targeted for four to five years out, we have ample time to determine how we can bring this technology to fruition." While ARL's overall investment in FDI is still being worked out, Pinnel added, ARL and USDC will fund R&D projects in the most critical areas of technology development, especially materials, advanced manufacturing technology and technology insertion.
Pinnel concluded, "What's clear from this year's summit is that we must all begin to collaborate much more aggressively for this technology to successfully realize mainstream market adoption. It is encouraging to see the significant progress that has been made and the potential solutions that are emerging in just the last year, and to be able to better understand and gain consensus on the remaining hurdles we are facing. Clearly, the display industry needs to join forces and optimize synergy with the broader electronics and imaging industries to bring this exciting technology to market."
A CD-ROM containing the complete findings unveiled during the Flexible Microelectronics & Display Conference, including all presentations, may be ordered via e-mail usdc website at www.usdc.org. The purchase price is $250 (U.S).
The USDC sponsors summits throughout the year to gain industry consensus on impediments to the deployment of new display technologies, and to identify critical supply-chain projects that can speed product development and implementation. Its next event, the Eighth Annual Display Industry Investors Conference (co-sponsored by Needham & Co.), will be held March 17 -18, 2003, at the Grand Hyatt in New York, N.Y. More information on the conference agenda, site and registration process can be found at www.usdc.org. The Third Annual Conference on High Resolution Displays will be held in September, 2003.
For more information, please contact:
US Display Consortium
Heidi Hoffman
84 W. Santa Clara Street, Ste. 790
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 993-8111
heidi@usdc.org
About the U.S. Display Consortium
The U.S. Display Consortium is an industry-led public/private partnership providing a common platform for flat panel display and flexible microelectronics manufacturers and developers, FPD users, and the supplier base. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the consortium’s primary mission is to fund supply-chain projects and share the results with USDC member companies. The USDC also provides a communication channel among industry, government and the financial communities for display issues; sponsors workshops to broaden the impact of technological developments; and educates consumers on the importance of displays in providing access to information technology. More information about the USDC can be found at www.usdc.org
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