Royole Corporation, a pioneer and the global leader in flexible electronics, presented new research findings at the 2021 Display Week Symposium, demonstrating the world’s first micro-LED based stretchable display technology compatible with industrial manufacturing processes.
This marks another significant milestone in flexible electronics for Royole, which developed the world’s thinnest full-color, fully flexible display (FFD) in 2014, as well as the world’s first FFD mass production facility and brought the world’s first commercial foldable smartphone with flexible display to market, FlexPai in 2018.
Stretchable electronics are the bleeding-edge of flexible technologies, building electronic circuits with stretchability and elasticity that can not only fold or roll, but are also capable of 3D free form shaping, including pulling, twisting, convex and concave deformations. This will inspire a world of new form factors that require elastic qualities across a variety of industries, such as health and fitness, sports and fashion, and smart transportation.
“The development of stretchable display technology compatible with existing industrial manufacturing processes is a signal of the exponential growth the flexible electronics industry is experiencing,” said Dr. Bill Liu, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Royole. “Royole continues to lead in flexible innovation, with stretchable technologies marking the next frontier in technical progress that will enable unprecedented applications and form factors across augmented and virtual reality, wearable electronics, biomedical applications, vehicle design and beyond.”
To experimentally verify the process and design method of this research, Royole implemented a 2.7-inch stretchable demo panel in 96×60 resolution. Royole was then able to demonstrate that its micro-LED stretchable display technology is capable of 130% stretchability, transmittance as high as 70%, convex bending up to 40 degrees, while reaching a resolution up to 120 pixels per inch (PPI).
The breakthrough was achieved with the use of micro-LEDs, which are gaining attention as a promising next generation technology for various display applications. With this research, Royole shows that micro-LEDs demonstrate higher stretchability, finer pitch and higher transmittance as compared to stretchable AMOLED and LED prototypes exhibited previously in the display industry, making it highly applicable for smart solutions requiring transparency, such as in car windshields or sunglasses.
This research also demonstrates that techniques used to develop stretchable displays can be applied in existing flexible display panel manufacturing processes, such as Royole’s industry leading proprietary Ultra Low Temperature Non-Silicon Semiconductor Process (ULT-NSSP), which will accelerate the scalability of this nascent technology. Royole has filed over 80 patents globally on stretchable technologies and micro-LEDs.
With these findings, Royole takes a strategic leap into stretchable micro-LED solutions, leading in innovation in the highly competitive flexible electronics industry.
