LG Display said on July 10 that it has successfully developed the world’s first rollable 18-inch flexible OLED panel as well as an 18-inch transparent OLED panel. (image:LG Display)
SEOUL, July 11 (Korea Bizwire) – What if you can roll up your tablet computer and put it in your pocket like a scroll? How would you like if your car navigator is embedded on the windshield? This is not something you see on movies like Avatar or Minority Report. These futuristic devices are already with us.
LG Display said on July 10 that it has successfully developed the world’s first rollable 18-inch flexible OLED panel as well as an 18-inch transparent OLED panel. With these new panels, LG Display has already secured fundamental technologies to lead the large-sized flexible and transparent display market.
The flexible OLED panel has a high-definition resolution of 1200 x 810 with almost 1 million megapixels. The panel’s curvature radius is 30R, which means that the panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3 centimeters without affecting the functioning of the display.
With this technology, LG Display can bring rollable TVs of more than 50 inches to the market in the future. The flexible OLED panel the company unveiled in the past was 6 inches with the curvature radius falling short of 700R.
LG Display uses high molecular substance-based polyimide film as the backplane of the flexible panel instead of conventional plastic to achieve the maximum curvature radius. The polyimide film also helps reduce the thickness of the panel to significantly improve its flexibility.
As for the transparent OLED panel, it boasts 30 percent transmittance, which was achieved by adopting the company’s transparent pixel design technology. LG Display has successfully lowered the haze of the panel which is generated by using circuit devices and film components to a level of 2 percent.
The transparent flexible display technology development project has been led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology. With LG Display as the principal R&D entity, a total of 36 private and public organizations has taken part in the project. The consortium seeks to develop a 60-inch transparent, flexible display panel by 2017.
Flexible OLEDs
OLED is an emerging display technology that enables beautiful and efficient displays and lighting panels. Thin OLEDs are already being used in many mobile devices and TVs, and the next generation of these panels will be flexible and bendable. While LG and Samsung seem to be leading the race towards flexible OLEDs, many other display makers such as AUO, Sony, Toshiba, Philips and others are also developing this technology. (OLED-Info)
Written by Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
Technology (Follow us @Technews_Korea)
