USDC Heats Up Summer of 2006—Helping Enable Significant Milestones in Both LCD and OLED Arenas

USDC kicked off the summer of 2006 with two significant milestones in the OLED and LCD arenas with the completion of R&D contracts with National Starch & Chemical Co. (NSC) and General Dynamics Canada, respectively.

Improving Lifetime and Reliability for OLED Devices

USDC announced in late June that its joint R&D project with NSC to explore packaging technology for OLED displays has yielded commercially viable sealants and packaging adhesives. The objective of this particular project was to develop sealants that have sufficient moisture-permeation resistance to enable the elimination of a discrete desiccant packet/material in OLED display devices.

One of the key challenges surrounding volume production and widespread adoption of OLED technology is that the introduction of moisture into the display will damage or destroy the organic materials. Improved sealing materials and processes are thus essential to optimizing OLED reliability and lifetimes—along with improving performance and reducing manufacturing costs.

NSC reports that it has commercialized several of these products under the Eccoseal™ brand name within its Emerson & Cuming division, and will continue to launch products derived from the program throughout 2006-2007. NSC is also continuing to pursue further improvements in barrier properties, desiccant-filled adhesives, transparent adhesives and flexible adhesives—both to progress further toward a desiccant-free package and to address developing package/substrate designs. In addition, the company was recently awarded a second USDC contract aimed at development of a temporary laminating adhesive that will advance flexible displays fabricated on glass or silicon-carrier plates.

Delivering Economical, Custom-fit Display Solutions for Military Ground Mobile Environments

Earlier in the month, another USDC-sponsored R&D program, this time with General Dynamics Canada, has yielded low cost, resizable LCDs validated for custom military applications.

This signals a major milestone for the display industry as resized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) display components provide high-performance solutions at a cost estimated at one-tenth the cost of equivalent custom displays.

Prior to the completion of this project, LCD resizing technology was unproven and considered to be an unacceptable risk element for military display solutions. USDC, General Dynamics Canada and other participating companies have taken a major step forward in enabling affordable COTS-based form-fit-function display solutions. This work is of vital importance to the U.S. Army in sustaining existing custom-format systems, as well as providing more economical custom-fit display solutions for new weapons systems.

Current commercial display components are available in fixed, “standard” sizes that in many cases do not match the needs of military and other rugged environment applications. Custom-manufactured solutions for “non-standard” military requirements, on the other hand, are expensive and can easily cost 10X the cost of a commercial product. The ability to cut and resize lower-cost commercial LCD components to match the needs of both new and established weapon systems is an important factor in minimizing the cost of integrating displays into military equipment. However, resizing commercial display components involve new manufacturing processes that introduce additional stress on the display during the electronics disassembly, glass cutting, resealing and electronics reattachment.

Under contract with the USDC, General Dynamics Canada produced and implemented a resized AMLCD equivalent of its custom-format Electroluminescent (EL) display product and subjected the resized LCD to the same performance, environmental and EMI qualification tests specified for displays used in the U.S. Army’s Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). The MGS is a multi-wheeled, lightweight armored vehicle that mounts a 105mm gun, and which operates in extreme conditions—offering an ideal test environment for the resized COTS display components.

USDC and General Dynamics Canada report that the resized LCD version of the MGS display yielded significant performance improvements and met all environmental and EMI test requirements. Working as a subcontractor to AMLCD resizing program, Interface Displays and Controls of Oceanside, Calif., undertook a companion study to qualify cut glass for airborne applications. Their results were similar and reinforced the conclusion that cut LCD glass is suitable for airborne applications. General Dynamics Canada plans to build on these findings and will offer display solutions that include resized COTS display components.