Thomas M. Brown

A scalable manufacturing process for flexible active-matrix e-paper displays

— A scalable manufacturing process for fabricating active-matrix backplanes on low-cost flexible substrates, a key enabler for electronic-paper displays, is presented. This process is based on solution processing, ink-jet printing, and laser patterning. A multilayer architecture is employed to enable high aperture ratio and array performance. These backplanes were combined with E Ink electrophoretic media to create high-performance displays that have high contrast, are bistable, and can be flexed repeatedly to a radius of curvature of 5 mm.

3.4: Flexible Active‐Matrix Displays

Plastic Logic has developed a process for organic TFT backplane deposition that is fully compatible with low glass transition temperature, inexpensive plastic substrates. We have combined backplanes made with this process with microencapsulated electrophoretic imaging films to make 50 and 100PPI displays that are flexible down to a radius of curvature of 5mm. This process is scalable and is being implemented in a pilot line for substrate sizes up to 350mm × 350mm.