Abstract
Displays
Helena Gleskova
Department of Electrical Engineering and Center for Photonics and
Optoelectronic Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Novel display applications, like electronic paper, smart labels, and
automotive displays, require flexibility. Therefore, the traditional
rigid glass substrate must be replaced with foils of plastic or metal. A
new flexible display media that provides the optical image needs to be
developed. The thin-film transistors that drive the individual pixels of
the display must tolerate the strain induced by the bending of the
display.
We will start by describing the structure and function of the active
matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) that are currently used in
laptop computers. Even though this is a very successful and mature
technology, AMLCDs are rigid, fragile, and cannot be easily, if at all,
transferred into flexible displays. Next, we will describe current
approaches to flexible display media. Finally, we will discuss the
performance of amorphous silicon thin-film transistors (a-Si:H TFT),
often used as pixel switches, under compressive or tensile strain.
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