If you’re a fan of the television program ‘CSI’, you must have noticed the translucent display screens the investigators always use in the labs. However impressive, it does look a little futuristic doesn’t it?
Well, it may be futurisic no more, because TDK have developed a flexible and translucent organic display that can be used in mobile phones and other gadgets, also allowing these display screens to be able to bend.
The displays use OLED technology which means very little energy is used because they are self illuminating. And get this… the displays are exremely thin – imagine this – just 0.3 mm thick.
That’s one third of a millimeter. That’s THIN. As you can imagine, because it is so thin and manufactured using a film substrate, it is also extremely lightweight.
The current flexible screens have a resolution of 256 x 64, can be up to 10 cm long and may be installed on curved surfaces. Could this possibly be an open door to manufacture cellphones that are wearable on the wrist? Obviously being flexible should increase lifespan and resistance to breakage or scratches.
The translucent display has a slightly bigger resolution at 320 x 240, and is 50 percent translucent. An interesting aspect of these displays are that although they are translucent, anyone standing behind the display is not able to see the image or text, but still be able to see through the display.
A film transparent display is planned for production in 2012. Although there are other companies that have rolled out this technology, TDK’s flexible display is expected to reach the mass market by the end of 2011, thus being the first company to mass produce the flexible displays. The translucent screens are however already being mass produced.
