Displays on a Roll

Applied Materials’ Roll-to-Roll Technology was recently featured in Technology Review. Below is a brief excerpt of the article.

Displays built out of plastic instead of glass would be a gadget lover's dream: they'd be rugged and lightweight, and they should be inexpensive to make on "roll-to-roll" systems similar to those used for newsprint. But to develop prototypes for flexible tablet computers and other gadgets with plastic displays, the device makers have had to develop custom equipment. That could slow the arrival of flexible displays in the market and keep their prices high.

Applied Materials is trying to solve this problem--and get an early foothold in a potentially huge market--by standardizing equipment that makes flexible displays. The company, the world's dominant maker of equipment for manufacturing computer chips and liquid-crystal displays, is developing a process that could print flexible transistor arrays that perform just as well as those on rigid substrates. That would be required if flexible displays are to be viable.

Visit Technology Review’s web site to read the full article.