Rollable Display Coming to Reality Interviews with World s First 18-inch Flexible Display Developers Transparent displays and rollable displays are coming into our daily lives, just like science fiction movies and novels have. LG Display recently unveiled the world s first flexible display and transparent OLED display. LG Display's newsroom reveals exclusive interviews with the developers of the flexible OLED display and the transparent OLED display. LG Display met with the LG Display OLED Team 3, Chief Research Engineer Won Seo Park and Chief Research Engineer Min Gu Cho. Table of Contents 1. Rollable Display Coming to Reality Interviews with World s First 18-inch Flexible Display Developers 2. Displays that are See-through, Transparent Displays - Interviews with 18inch transparent OLED developers World s First 18-inch Flexible OLED Display Interview with Won Seo Park and Min Gu Cho, Chief Research Engineers of OLED Team 3 at LG Display
What s the biggest advantage of the new 18-inch flexible OLED? Chief Research Engineer Won Seo Park: With our current products, it was possible to bend the screen to a certain extent even with thickness and material limitations. Due to technical limitations, we set our final target to 100R only and did not expect to create a display that could be rolled up completely. We were able to achieve greater curvature radius results than what we had initially expected. The curvature radius of the 18-inch flexible OLED is the technical aspect that most distinguishes it from the previous product. I think that we could bend up to 30R with our current technology. This technology was more than just coming up with a prototype. We worked hard to develop mass production technology, and we were able to implement it for the new 18-inch flexible OLED display. It is advantageous that we can mass-produce flexible OLED displays with our current technology. Is this the world s first 18-inch Flexible OLED Display?
Chief Research Engineer Min Gu Cho: The released curved displays are 70-inches or greater in size. Curved displays use a thin glass substrate to create a curve instead of a flexible substrate. The 18- inch flexible OLED is the world s first technology to use PI (Polyimide) film not only to increase flexibility but also to reduce thickness. Rolling up thick flexible display will cause wrinkles on the display. What are you doing to solve this issue? Chief Research Engineer Won Seo Park: One of the most important factors for rolling up a display is the thickness of the panel. One of our current development goals is to minimize that thickness because it can also affect the difference in the curvature radius. When developing the flexible OLED, we came across the issue of scratches on the surface. During the manufacturing process, scratches are created when the panel bumps into something or simply when people handle the panel. As I mentioned earlier, I am focusing on minimizing the thickness of the display and creating a hard protective film. We encountered additional problems when we were separating the glass and plastic substrates, and we are constantly trying to solve these issues.
What was the hardest part of developing the flexible OLED display? Chief Research Engineer Won Seo Park: The hardest part of developing a flexible 18-inch OLED display was resolving the malfunctioning transistors on the glass and on the PI. Transistors worked just fine on the glass. However, on the PI, the transistors started malfunctioning. The changes in the substrate to resolve this issue also led us to redesign the manufacturing process, as well. Chief Research Engineer Min Gu Cho: During the manufacturing process, we have to coat the PI on the glass and separate the glass from the completed display. The separation process was not easy. The panel would start malfunctioning when the display was separated from the glass. We are optimizing the manufacturing process by evaluating different manufacturing technologies.
What s the future market outlook for OLED displays? Chief Research Engineer Won Seo Park: In the future, I can see some scenes from the movie "Minority Report" coming to life. Currently, transparent displays and flexible displays are being developed as the next-generation displays. In the near future, these products will dominate the display market. Moreover, in the mobile sector, flexible mobile devices like LG G Flex are being produced. In the future, we will see flexible display technologies implemented in lightweight and thin tablets and in automobiles and other installations that require displays to be installed on curved surfaces. Not only will we see these technologies in different products, but we will also see displays that are actually foldable like paper. When the flexible displays are produced in large sizes, I can see rollable TVs and Post-it TVs hitting the market as well. For commercial applications, these displays probably will be used for digital advertising which requires screens to be installed on curved surfaces. I can guarantee you that flexible display technology is the most suitable for future applications such as wearable products. Looking at the current technological situation, transparent displays will hit the market, followed by flexible displays. Lastly, do you have anything to add to this interview? Manager Won Seo Park: Thank you for having strong interest in the flexible display technology. I thank everyone who was so encouraging during the development stages. I will work hard to bring technologies that people dream of to reality. Thank you again for the strong interest! [Interview Footage on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqps-mea-r8] This was an exclusive interview with the developers of world s first 18-inch flexible OLED display. Please stay tuned for exclusive interviews with developers of world s first 18-inch transparent 18-inch OLED display.