The first practical demonstration of [...]]]> HP and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) have demonstrated a protoype flexible display fabricated using HP’s self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL). SAIL (3D resist mask on a multi-layer stack and several consecutive etching steps) enables the patterning of multiple layers without alignment issues in a roll-to-roll process.

The first practical demonstration of the flexible displays was achieved through collaborative efforts between the FDC and HP as well as other FDC partners including DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink. To create this display, the FDC produces stacks of semiconductor materials and metals on flexible Teonex® Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrates from DuPont Teijin Films.

HP then patterns the substrates using the SAIL process and subsequently integrates E Ink’s Vizplex™ imaging film to produce an actively addressed flexible display on plastic.

The researchers stretch the crystals by bonding them to an electroactive polymer that [...]]]> According to the NewScientist, full-colour photonic crystal displays could be on the market within two years. A team of Canadian researchers have developed a reflective display based on silica microspheres which can produce the whole visible spectrum without the need for colour filters.

The researchers stretch the crystals by bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it, causing a change in the crystal structure. “By gradually increasing the voltage, we can span the whole visible spectrum, and even the UV and IR ranges. Such full-colour tuning is unprecedented,” says Arsenault, who has co-founded a start-up company called Opalux to commercialise the technology.
The crystals could be used to make full-colour flexible electronic paper, small displays, and large roadside billboards, say the researchers. But this will involve scaling up the process, a task that has proven challenging for other display technologies.

The work was published in Nature Photonics.

[Update:]
The Opalux web page has a few more details on the P-Ink (photonic ink) display technology:

The materials are based on highly reflective synthetic opal. Colors produced are brilliant and pure. Other features:

1. Full color display from single material for low materials and production cost.
2. Meet signage needs in size from shelf edge to highway billboards.
3. High brightness, peak reflectivity up to 95%.
4. Low power consumption.
Low voltage and current during switching.
Minimal power consumption when image is static.
5. Sub-second switching speed.
6. Heat management through controllable IR reflectivity.
7. Applicable on rigid or flexible substrates.
8. Lightweight, rugged, durable, and damage tolerant.
9. Costs scales only linearly with size.

Further:

E Ink and PrimeView International (PVI), the pioneer and currently the world’s sole active matrix EPD maker, jointly [...]]]> E Ink announced the launch of a faster a brighter version of its electrophoretic display medium:

Further:

E Ink and PrimeView International (PVI), the pioneer and currently the world’s sole active matrix EPD maker, jointly announced TFT modules built with Vizplex, in an expanded size range that includes 1.9″, 5″, 6″, 8″ and 9.7″ diagonal displays available this summer.
[...]
E Ink also announced the sampling availability of the MetronomeTM Display Controller, which adds new functions at a lower cost.
[...]
Active Matrix Prototype Kits
To accelerate customers’ evaluation and product development, E Ink will offer EPD prototyping kits in more sizes and with both Metronome and Apollo display controller options.

Via Register Hardware.

Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will together transfer the process technology and finalise [...]]]> Polymer Vision (Eindhoven, NL) has announced its cooperation with Innos (Southampton, UK) to manufacture rollable displays:

Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will together transfer the process technology and finalise qualifications in Southampton, UK, where Innos has already started installing equipment in its newly built cleanroom. In line with their strategy to use mainstream Thin Film Transistor (TFT) equipment, Polymer Vision is confident that they will rapidly scale up to commercial volumes in 2007.

Philips™ Incubator activity Polymer Vision will become an independent company – Polymer Vision Ltd., focusing on products for the rollable display market. Technology Capital has invested €21 million in the company and will become the [...]]]> Polymer Vision, who presented the first functional device with a rollable display at IFA 2005, have announced their spin-out from Philips:

Philips™ Incubator activity Polymer Vision will become an independent company – Polymer Vision Ltd., focusing on products for the rollable display market. Technology Capital has invested €21 million in the company and will become the major shareholder. Philips will retain a 20% stake in the new company.

The transaction will allow Polymer Vision to push ahead with its commercialization plans to meet strongly growing market demand from the mobile device industry. Volume production of its 5-inch monochrome rollable display will start this year in cooperation with existing partners. The company will continue to operate from its location at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the [...]]]> Plastic Logic announced that it has raised $100 million to build a factory for flexible active matrix display modules in Dresden (Germany).

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the seed financing of Plastic Logic, Intel Capital, Bank of America, BASF Venture Capital, Quest for Growth and Merifin Capital also participated. The financing is one of the largest in the history of European venture capital. [...]
The facility will produce display modules for portable electronic reader devices – a product category that is predicted to grow to 41.6 million units in 2010. It will have an initial capacity of more than a million display modules per year and production will start in 2008. Dresden in the ‘Silicon Saxony’ region of eastern Germany has been chosen as the facility location following an extensive worldwide site selection process.

enables cardholders to generate and display a dynamic passcode for one-time use.

The application subsequently landed the companies the Display Application of the Year Award from the Society for Information Display (SID). [...] SiPix Microcup Electronic Paper is the key [...]]]> Gizmag is reporting on SiPix and SmartDisplayer’s recently announced payment card with a flexible electrophoretic display, which

enables cardholders to generate and display a dynamic passcode for one-time use.

The application subsequently landed the companies the Display Application of the Year Award from the Society for Information Display (SID). [...]
SiPix Microcup Electronic Paper is the key enabler for the DisplayCard solution, specifically designed for the application’s requirements – flexibility, impact resistance, extreme thinness, and ultra-low power consumption. The result is a flexible, 0.25-mm thin e-paper display [...].
To meet demand by merchant banks, SiPix will complete expansion of its automated high-volume module production line before the end of 2006.

Amazon, the world’s biggest bookseller, is in talks with Cambridge company, Plastic Logic, about the end of books as we know them. [...] News of the Amazon/Plastic Logic link was given to a Cambridge audience on Thursday night when Hermann Hauser delivered the RSA Lecture at Magdalene College. [...] “The reason [...]]]> The Cambridge Evening News is reporting that

Amazon, the world’s biggest bookseller, is in talks with Cambridge company, Plastic Logic, about the end of books as we know them. [...]
News of the Amazon/Plastic Logic link was given to a Cambridge audience on Thursday night when Hermann Hauser delivered the RSA Lecture at Magdalene College. [...]
“The reason why Amazon doesn’t sell e-books at the moment is because people don’t like reading on a screen, but now they can curl
up with an e-book,” Dr Hauser said.

This past week, Plastic Logic has been showing off its new product concepts at a trade show in San Francisco, under the heading ‘Life is Flexible‘.

Markets for OLED and Paper-Like Displays to Total $10.2 Billion by 2011:

According to PrintWeek, the company claims it has created the “first production quantities”:

The US firm said its paper features an electronic display that can be printed on ordinary paper, board or plastic. [...] President Michael Feldman said: [...]]]> Quantum Paper Inc. (nothing on their website yet) appears to be a relatively new player in the electronic paper business.

According to PrintWeek, the company claims it has created the “first production quantities”:

The US firm said its paper features an electronic display that can be printed on ordinary paper, board or plastic. [...]
President Michael Feldman said: [...] “The technology is prototype, but we hope to roll out licences for printers to make electronic paper-based displays later this year. “It is made on paper by standard printing presses, with no need for specialised gear.”
Chief technology officer Dr William Ray said: “It is one of the most important developments in printing in more than 10 years. “The paper is a unique marriage between the relative simplicity and low cost of printing and the high technology of pixel-based electronic displays.” He claimed it had the potential to replace mobile phone and computer screens, interactive billboards and high-definition TVs at a “fraction of today’s cost”.

Unfortunately no technical information yet, but some more PR at package printing:

“This technology has the potential to transform printing as we know it,” says Dr. William J. Ray, the principal inventor and Quantum Paper’s chief technology officer. “It is no exaggeration to call Quantum Paper’s electronic paper as one of the most important developments in the printing industry in more than 100 years.”
The technology can also be used to create the equivalent of television on paper. Quantum Paper has fully addressable, high-quality dynamic color displays under development with the potential of replacing conventional cell phone and PDA screens, computer monitors, interactive billboards, electronic wallpaper, and high-definition televisions at a fraction of today’s cost.
“Quantum Paper’s electronic paper is a unique marriage between the relative simplicity and low cost of conventional printing and the high technology of pixel-based electronic displays,” said Ray. “The performance of our displays meets or exceeds that of competing technologies but our electronic paper can be manufactured at such a low cost as to be considered disposable.”

[via MobileRead]

to develop the process technology and know-how to produce amorphous silicon thin film transistors (a-Si TFTs) on a clear, high temperature-capable polymer foil substrate.

[...] organic substrates cannot withstand typical TFT semiconductor on [...]]]> The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) has been awarded a $1.7M R&D contract by the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC)

to develop the process technology and know-how to produce amorphous silicon thin film transistors (a-Si TFTs) on a clear, high temperature-capable polymer foil substrate.

[...] organic substrates cannot withstand typical TFT semiconductor on glass processing temperatures of >300°C. The Princeton program is based on a new type of clear, flexible polymer substrate that is capable of use at these “glass-like” processing temperatures.

The two-year program has several important milestones. For example, by the end of Year 1, a best effort will be made to demonstrate an electrophoretic test array and an OLED test array on the plastic substrate. [...]
The principal investigators, Wagner and PRISM director Dr. James Sturm, have been working on experimental substrates for some time and have made a-Si TFTs at 280° C with performance nearly identical to typical TFTs made on glass. Applied Materials’ subsidiary, AKT, will collaborate to investigate the scale up of these materials using industry-standard fabrication tools.