The partnership could open the door to adoption of flexible electronics technologies within the Asian electronics industry, where there is a high level of interest in the field and in potential applications.
ASU set up the Flexible Display Centre in 2004, through a cooperative agreement with the US Army Research Laboratory, to commercialise flexible display technology. There is a demand for lightweight, low-power, rugged displays and electronics in the defence industry that will also spin out into commercial markets, from consumer electronics to signage, and information systems.
Cooperation
In the US-Asian cooperation, ASU is able to provide pilot line manufacturing facilities and expertise in flexible microelectronics based on amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, and emerging metal oxide TFT technology; while City University of Hong Kong will bring to the table experience in flexible nanowires, which has potential in high-performance TFT arrays as scale-up challenges are worked through.
ASU and City University of Hong Kong's partnership will include the exchange of faculty staff, researchers and students. It is hoped the partnership will also open up funding opportunities from the US and Hong Kong side to support R&D into wider flexible electronic applications.
Asian displays
In Asia notable flexible display commercial progress includes the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan development of low-cost re-writable e-paper, internal work by Korean electronics firms Samsung and LG to develop backplane technology for flexible displays, and E Ink owner Prime View International (PVI), in Taiwan, which is working on a flexible backplane technology that leverages existing LCD fabrication processes.
The two institutes have already worked together on a pending proposal for an engineering research centre focused on large-area sensing arrays for detection in security, healthcare and other potential markets. The global proposal is led by University of Texas at Dallas and also includes Princeton University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Seoul National University in South Korea.
David Allee, director of Research for Backplane Electronics at the Flexible Display Centre, will lead ASU's side of the partnership, while Gregory Raupp, the centre's founder and former director, will manage the collaboration in Hong Kong in his current role as vice president for research and technology) at City University of Hong Kong.
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Flexible Display Centre
The technology development organisation is based at Arizona State University
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High-efficiency plastic OLED display developed
Researchers at the University of Toronto, Canada, have demonstrated high-efficiency plastic OLED displays. Device performance is equivalent to commercial glass-based OLED versions
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