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Electronics

LG "rolls out" latest flexible and transparent OLED panels

By Darren Quick
July 10, 2014
LG "rolls out" latest flexible and transparent OLED panels
LG Display's new flexible OLED panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3 cm
LG Display's new flexible OLED panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3 cm
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LG Display's new flexible OLED panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3 cm
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LG Display's new flexible OLED panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3 cm
LG Display's 18-in rollable OLED panel boasts 1,200 x 810 pixel resolution
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LG Display's 18-in rollable OLED panel boasts 1,200 x 810 pixel resolution
LG Display's transparent OLED panel boasts transmittance of 30 percent
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LG Display's transparent OLED panel boasts transmittance of 30 percent
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After unveiling the world's first flexible OLED TV at CES earlier this year, LG has gone a step further with the unveiling of two new 18-inch OLED panels: the first is a transparent display, while the second can be rolled up. Although both fall short of the 77-inch flexible TV on show at CES, the company says the new panels prove that it has the technology to bring rollable TVs with screens in excess of 50 inches to market in the future.

LG Display's 18-in rollable OLED panel boasts 1,200 x 810 pixel resolution
LG Display's 18-in rollable OLED panel boasts 1,200 x 810 pixel resolution

Unlike the aforementioned 77-inch flexible TV that has a fairly limited range of changeable curvature, LG Display's latest flexible OLED panel boasts a curvature radius of 30R. This means the 18-inch panel can be rolled up into a cylinder with a radius of 3 cm (1.18 in) without the function of the 1,200 x 810 pixel display being affected.

The company says this impressive flexibility was achieved by using a "high molecular substance-based polyimide film" as the backplane rather than conventional plastic. This polyimide film also allowed the thickness of the panel to be reduced, further improving the panel's flexibility.

LG Display's transparent OLED panel boasts transmittance of 30 percent
LG Display's transparent OLED panel boasts transmittance of 30 percent

The transparent OLED panel, on the other hand, was created using LG Display's transparent pixel design technology. With transmittance of 30 percent, the company says the panel is superior to existing transparent LCD panels that generally achieve around 10 percent transmittance (although rival Samsung unveiled a transparent color LCD panel in 2011 boasting transmittance of over 15 percent). LG Display claims to have also reduced the haze of the panel, caused by circuit devices and film components, to just 2 percent.

"LG Display pioneered the OLED TV market and is now leading the next-generation applied OLED technology," says In-Byung Kang, Senior Vice President and Head of the R&D Center at LG Display. "We are confident that by 2017, we will successfully develop an Ultra HD flexible and transparent OLED panel of more than 60 inches, which will have transmittance of more than 40 percent and a curvature radius of 100R, thereby leading the future display market."

Source: LG Display

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ElectronicsLGOLEDDisplayFlexible
9 comments
Darren Quick
Darren Quick
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continues as Managing Editor of New Atlas.

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9 comments
windykites
I'm not sure why we need to have flexible screens. Can someone give me some reasons?
Jay Finke
Great a new way to text and drive, hope it don't have any sharp edges.
f8lee
And so I shall await the availability of the 60" TV that role down like a window shade!
StWils
I do not especially care about large flexible screens although that obviously has tremendous value and design freedom for large public sites, concerts, advertising, etc. However I do want to know how quickly this shows up in a roll-up or fold-up form factor for an phone-to-tablet flexible conversion device. You would have a closed package that is compact enough to fit in as a phone and provide a useful small scale screen that can be unrolled or unfolded, etc. to expand the screen to tablet size. The software would detect the action, adjust display size & function and then rescale again as the user collapsed the device back to it's phone format.
Paul Anthony
Can this be used in motorcycle helmets and glasses?
Koolski
@windykites1 - How about a blood pressure cuff that has a digital readout directly on the cuff? Pr a heart monitor. I can think of multiple medical or athletic applications right off the bat. Any sort of wearable digital device that has to either be removable or adjust to different size wearers. How about a digital tatoo that can be altered at any time?
These also look extremely light weight. I could see using them in a fixed position, but just for their light weightedness.
oldguy
In the future flexible moving pictures could be so cheap that they could be printed on toilet paper. Thus allowing us to do what we always wanted to, to advertising.
yrag
windykites1 well the first obvious benefit that leaps to my mind is that any portable device would be much lighter and thinner than they are now.
And as Paul Anthony already implied, very useful for the inside motorcycle helmets and glasses—and I would add windshields for heads up displays.
Also large screen displays could curve around a viewer giving a sort of iMAX like effect.
Just curious windykites1 , did you ask the same question when the first articles came out about flat screens versus cathode ray tube (CRT)s TV and monitors?
godscountry
I see lots of uses as the technology becomes cheaper,advertising is one area.I see ordinary objects displaying information and then disappearing by projecting a imagine of the surrounded area.