Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends
How new technologies are modifying our way of life


vendredi 23 janvier 2004
 

We already discussed here roll-up screens for televisions or for computers. Now, researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T) say that, sooner or later, "powering up your laptop may require that you unroll it first."

Engineers at the University of Toronto are the first Canadian team to construct flexible organic light emitting devices (FOLEDs), technology that could lay the groundwork for future generations of bendable television, computer and cellphone screens. "It opens up a whole new range of possibilities for the future," says Zheng-Hong Lu, a professor in U of T's Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Today's flat panel displays are made on heavy, inflexible glass that can break during transportation and installation. Lu, working with post-doctoral fellow Sijin Han and engineering science student Brian Fung, developed FOLEDs made on a variety of lightweight, flexible materials ranging from transparent plastic films to reflective metal foils that can bend or roll into any shape.

Here is a picture of Lu showing a FOLED (Credit: Zheng-Hong Lu, U of T).

A demonstration of a FOLED

And what about costs and availability?

FOLED technology could be manufactured using a low-cost, high-efficiency mass production method, Lu says. The team, which is already commercializing some related technology, hopes a marketable device could be created within two to three years.

In fact, the researchers are also working with the Nortel Institute for Telecommunications who said last December that they reached a major breakthrough in flexible displays.

The FOLED technology potentially offers the ability to use roll-to-roll processing, much the same as newspapers are currently printed. This has tremendous implication for the realization of very low-cost and yet high-efficiency mass production cost to produce these types of displays.

Now, let's hope that FOLEDs will soon be available.

Source: Nicolle Wahl, University of Toronto, January 20, 2004; and various websites


12:47:08 PM   Permalink   Comments []   Trackback []  


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © Copyright 2004 Roland Piquepaille.
Last update: 01/11/2004; 08:55:25.


January 2004
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Dec   Feb


Search this blog for

Courtesy of PicoSearch


Supported by
BigFitness.com

If you're tired to read about technology, it's time to take a break.
Try their exercise and fitness equipment.
Read more


Personal Links



Other Links

Ars Technica
Bloglines
BoingBoing
Daily Rotation News
del.icio.us
Engadget
Feedster
Gizmodo
I4U News
Mindjack Daily Relay
Nanodot
Slashdot
Smart Mobs
Techdirt
Technorati


People

Paul Boutin
Dan Gillmor
Lawrence Lessig
Jenny Levine
Karlin Lillington
John Robb
Dolores Tam
Jon Udell
Dave Winer


Drop me a note via Radio
Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

E-mail me directly at
pique@noos.fr

Subscribe to this weblog
Subscribe to "Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends" in Radio UserLand.

XML Version of this page
Click to see the XML version of this web page.