A flexible color display was demonstrated at Plastic Logic's Technology Open Day last month in the company's Russian center. The big news is that this flexible plastic display, developed by a company known for its leading research in plastic transistors, is now available in full color.
The previous generation display is 16-bit grayscale with a resolution of 150 dpi. This version is currently used in the Plastic Logic 100, an academic e-reader the company developed that's being tested in Russian schools.
The new display, like the previous generation, has a 10.7-inch diagonal screen, and is as thin as a sheet of paper at 0.8mm, or 800 microns. It displays 4,096 colors with a resolution of 112 dpi, and weighs 40gm. Its low resolution is explained by the fact that color is achieved by adding a filter on top of the grayscale screen.
Plastic Logic's flexible color display is daylight readable and has multiple applications. (Source: Plastic Logic)
Plastic Logic's flexible displays are remarkably robust: They can be cut with scissors or stomped with a boot and still tick. (Watch videos showing these demonstrations here and here.) Their stated life is five years, including 10 million page updates, or e-reader page changes. The displays are also easy to read in sunlight.
The screen technology is all plastic, based on organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), and the main structure of the backplane is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), said Peter Fischer, vice president of process engineering, in an interview. PET is a widely-used polyester material that's also present in most plastic water bottles. On top of that are the OTFTs, made of other plastics.
The backplane is then laminated to E Ink's frontplane, harnessing its electronic ink technology. Due to both the E Ink display and Plastic Logic's transistors, the display is also extremely low power, since it only draws power when the screen makes an update, said Fischer.
Flexible circuits have been around for several years. Electronic components are mounted on, or printed on, flexible plastic substrates, usually made of PEEK (polyether ether ketone), an organic thermoplastic, polyimide, or transparent conductive polyester film. They've been used in watches, cameras, cellphones, and several small and/or portable consumer devices, as well as automotive and aerospace applications.
Applications for flexible color plastic screen technology of various sizes may go beyond e-reader displays. For example, Plastic Logic is investigating industrial and commercial possibilities such as conformable signage or conformal screens in medical applications, said Fischer. The screens' daylight readability in bright and dim light would be a benefit in both of those applications, as well as in mobile electronics.
The company also makes other displays that are not flexible, and is working on several other applications for its OTFT backplane technology.
Many companies seem to develop technology ahead of actual demand. Companies like Siemens seem to develop technology based on customer needs. But a lot of technology gets developed without a clear customer need in mind -- tablets for instance. With tablets it worked out, but I'm not sure the market would have been significant if Apple hadn't demonstrated the technology's value.
I agree that an advocate for a specific technology platform, such as tablets, helps. But so many other factors have to be in place before that becomes the deciding factor. "Demand" is pretty evanescent and doesn't accomplish much without the other drivers. In the case of tablets, aside from a combination of the right technologies, materials and manufacturability thereof, market timing of competing platforms (notebooks and handhelds) was a big factor.
Good points, Ann. I have always thought customer demand was the most important driver for technology development. But mauybe not. when it comes to new materials, you've covered tons of technology development that had nothing to do with demand.
From my experience, market "demand" is a vague, often fluffy term, and not always a real driver, especially once non-technical consumers became customers. Your mom and my nephew can't demand what they don't know exists. Once they've seen what a cellphone or iPad can do, that's a different story. But that's way over at the end user link in the chain and the system phase of design, which so many different elements feed into. OTOH, engineers can certainly demand better design tools and more intelligent and capable manufacturing infrastructure, since those are real identifiable needs. And demand for products, designs or services certainly exists that never gets satisfied, as we've seen often in our comments sections.
I agree about kids being great beta testers, Rob. In this case, it sounds like the technology may be kid-ready, judging by the line in the story that says it can be cut with scissors and stomped with a boot, and still keep ticking.
"Market Demand" is one of those ongoing lies that marketing wonks use to drive the addition of features that nobody asked for and few would use. It is primarily used as a tool for "product differentiation", since most of that type of marketing has long ago abandoned quality as a product atribute. Note that I define a quality product as one that meets it's specifications long after the warranty has expired, even if it is a one year warranty.
The flexible color display is certainly in a position to find quite a few unanticipated applications, both graphic and text-based.
More information about the driving format and temperature range would be handy, as well as a link to the manufacturer or distributors.
Flexible displays, + clothing that generates electricity from temperature differentials : put these together and you have a military uniform that can do active camoflage. The soldier can "almost" disappear in the surroundings.
William, there's a link to the manufacturer, Plastic Logic, in the first line of the story. There are no distributors yet to my knowledge. I would have liked a lot more info on the technology, too. The website gives only a smidgen of information and I didn't get much else in the interview. The company is playing it pretty close to the vest.
It is certainly true that thereis a potential for some good camoflage clothing, and at least some very quickly changing covers. Not quite as good as shape-shifters, but certainly able to avoid identification, if not detection.
As for additional information about the product, I wonder if it is a bit like an air motor that I wrote about for this publication a few years back. There were to many details missing, and now the whole product is missing.
I would watch this company, but not invest a lot in them just yet, since it does sound just to amazing to be true.
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