FOLEDs : The Next Big Thing in Displays

In the near future, you might just wrap your television in your briefcase and take it to your office. Or probably you might want to sew your wristwatch on your t-shirt sleeve. The FOLED or foldable OLED displays are going to revolutionize the whole experience of display screens. The foldable light emitting diodes use extremely thin and flexible metal or plastics as their substrate. This makes them very lightweight and durable. Such displays will also make the devices like mobile phones, music players, portable computers and wall mounted television sets using them much lighter, rugged, impact resistant and obviously less breakable. Glass breakage is a major concern for displays hence FOLED is a highly desirable alternative. The FOLED screens are the next best thing to shape shifting; they can be bent, flexed, folded and conform to various shapes.

The potential flexibility of FOLEDs may also enable the realization of Universal Display Corporation’s proprietary Universal Communication Device. In the meantime, earlier-generation FOLEDs may provide limited conform-ability for applications that include a mobile phone that conforms to the shape of your hand or a portable media player that has a curved surface to enhance the audience’s viewing experience.



Many electronics giants like Sony, LG, and Phillips LCD have ventured into this territory and have unveiled a few prototypes. In May 2008, Sony unveiled its vivid 2.5-inch OLED flexible displays. Around the same time, LG. Philips LCD also announced that it has developed a 4-inch full-color flexible active matrix (AM) OLED. LG. Philips LCD has developed this display in cooperation with Universal Display Corporation (UDC). The 4-inch full-color flexible AM OLED display features 320×240 QVGA resolution and can reproduce 16.77 million colors.