FlexTech allies with HP
22 October 2009
The FlexTech Alliance has announced a multiple phase project with HP Labs to develop a process for creating imprinted and jetted colour filters for reflective displays.
Colour filter technology is a key element of both emissive and reflective displays, and is an area of significant interest within the flexible display and printed electronics industry.
Methods for extending colour filter technology to flexible substrates, as well as lowering the manufacturing costs, are crucial elements to be addressed for successful product commercialisation, especially for roll-to-roll (R2R) electronics manufacturing.
"This new process is expected to offer more benefits than current all-ink jet methods being used today," remarked Michael Ciesinski, CEO of FlexTech Alliance, focused on developing the electronic display and the flexible, printed electronics industry supply chain. "HP's imprint method should provide a lower cost and higher quality product, as filtered ink jetting is only used to dispense, not to precisely pattern the filter pixels. Additional cost reductions are anticipated through HP's use of the additive application of inks, only where required."
Other benefits of this development are expected to include higher resolution and wider availability of inks. The objective of the project is to produce a 6.4in QVGA flexible colour demonstrator using the new method.
"Our approach to addressing industry's need for roll-to-roll manufacturing of colour filters is to imprint a template and then fill the cells with colour dyes via an inkjet process that combines the economics of additive inkjet dispensing with the high speed and high resolution of roll-to-roll imprinting,” explained Carl Taussig, Director of HP Labs in Palo Alto, California. "This process can also be used to add additional features, such as embedded electrical bus-bars, optical structures, such as diffusers, polarizers and waveplates, and surface features for alignment of liquid crystal structures."
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