In this project, a novel approach to flexible displays based on a unique combination of polymer and electronic technologies is investigated.  Honeycomb structured porous films self-organise into distinctive regular hexagonal arrangements that are easily aligned with display pixels. The uniform pores in the polymer material act as receptacles for optical dyes and electronic materials, enabling the development of high-quality flexible colour front planes, solving an important technical problem in flexible displays. This technology has the potential to address other shortcomings of existing flexible frontplane technologies, including the limited angle and ghosting associated with electrophoretic displays. Furthermore, by eliminating the need for expensive lithographic processing, the self-organising materials promise significant reductions in manufacturing cost. When combined with flexible polymer-based backplanes printed on plastic substrates, this technology is capable of producing extremely thin, light and robust displays using a manufacturing process that is simpler and significantly less expensive than conventional amorphous silicon based processes.

The project is supported by a DEST grant, and is a research cooperation between:

• The Photonics and Optical Communication Group at the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications
• The School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering
• Plastic Logic Ltd
• University of Cambridge