Samsung Creates Foldable, Crease-Free AMOLED Display

Samsung has succeeded in creating foldable AMOLED displays and showed mankind that the future belongs to non-rigid screens. We informed you about #-Link-Snipped-#in past. Now get ready for better AMOLED aka Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes. Samsung Advance Institute Of Technology in South Korea designed & created the first prototype that easily folds in the middle and show no crease even after 1000 attempts. The consumer electronic industry is rapidly advancing towards smaller & flexible devices and there has been a great interest in the development of flexible displays. Researchers have already succeeded in developing displays which can be rolled and bent. Such screen provide the portability factor to large screens. However the biggest problem associated with the flexible displays is the development of crease in the middle. Samsung's new technology eliminates that problem to a great extent.

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The foldable AMOLED display without a visible crease. Image credit: Kwon, et al. ©2011 American Institute of Physics.

Samsung's AMOLED display consists of two panels, silicone rubber (very elastic in nature), glass cover for protection and a module case. The panel has a tiny folding radius of 1 mm which makes the two panels completely lay over each other when folded in 180°. The glass cover serves the dual purpose of touch screen and preventing the scratches. The testing results of these displays have been astonishing. Scientists performed about 100k rapid, continuous folding and unfolding operation on these displays but there was no sign of crease. After the completion of cycles, the brightness at the junction showed reduction in brightness only by 6%. The difference between the brightness at the junction and the rest of the screen is barely noticeable to human eyes and the display looks uniform.

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(a) The structure of the foldable AMOLED display. (b) The display folded at 180°. Image credit: Kwon, et al. ©2011 American Institute of Physics.

Samsung's researcher said that the displays can soon be commercially produced. The elastic silicone rubber is commercially available for mass consumption by manufacturers. Researchers are now focusing on development of larger foldable displays. Once the technology is fully developed, foldable displays would be integrated in mobile devices, handheld gaming devices, tablet computers and so on. We welcome any crazy ideas about applications of these flexible, foldable AMOLED displays.

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