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Flexible Displays: TFT Technology: Substrate Options and TFT Processing Strategies

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Handbook of Visual Display Technology

Abstract

TFT Technologies developed for fabricating active matrix (AM) backplanes on rigid glass substrates for conventional flat panel displays cannot readily be used for fabricating active matrix backplanes on flexible substrates and displays. In addition to mechanical handling issues, flexible substrates impose many additional constraints such as process temperature limitation and thermal stress issues due to CTE mismatch with the TFT thin films for fabricating backplanes for flexible displays. In this chapter, we discuss the flexible substrate options and TFT processing strategies for fabricating flexible backplanes and flexible displays using a various display media. Current status on TFT fabrication by printing and roll-to-roll fabrication for flexible displays is also discussed.

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Abbreviations

AM EPD:

Active Matrix Electrophoretic Display

AM LCD:

Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display

AM OLED:

Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Display

a-Si:H:

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

CNT:

Carbon Nanotubes

ELA:

Excimer Laser Annealing

EPD:

Electrophoretic Display

LCD:

Liquid Crystal Display

LTPS:

Low-Temperature Polysilicon

MEMS:

Micro-Electromechanical Systems

MOSFET:

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor

OLED:

Organic Light Emitting Diode

OSC-TFT:

Oxide Semiconductor Thin Film Transistor

OTFT:

Organic Thin Film Transistor

PEN:

Polyethylene Naphthalate

PI:

Polyimide

RTR:

Roll-to-Roll

TCE:

Thermal Coefficient of Expansion

TFT:

Thin Film Transistor

ULTPS:

Ultralow-Temperature Polysilicon

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Suggestions for Further Reading on Poly-Si TFTs

  • Wong WS, Salleo A (eds) (2009) Flexible electronics: materials and applications. Springer, New York. ISBN:978-0-387-74362-2

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Honeywell, 21111 N. 19th Ave, Phoenix, AZ, 85036, USA

    Kalluri R. Sarma (Senior Research fellow)

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  1. Kalluri R. Sarma
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Correspondence to Kalluri R. Sarma .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Janglin Chen

  2. Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Wayne Cranton

  3. Veritas et Visus, Texas, USA

    Mark Fihn

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Sarma, K.R. (2012). Flexible Displays: TFT Technology: Substrate Options and TFT Processing Strategies. In: Chen, J., Cranton, W., Fihn, M. (eds) Handbook of Visual Display Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79567-4_62

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