Plastic Logic to Manufacture Flexible Plastic Displays

Plastic Logic will be the first company to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale. Plastic Logic are confident that their radically simple process of printing plastic electronic circuits will dramatically transform the nature of the world’s electronics industry. Their production process has attributes allowing large area, high volume and low cost production of plastic electronic circuits. Independent experts from IDTechEx forecast plastic electronics will be a $30 billion industry by 2015, and could reach as much as $250 billion by 2025.

Finance market confidence in their plastic electronics technology has allowed Plastic Logic to raise $100m of equity finance to build a plastic electronics production facility. The company’s initial target is what they believe is a market opportunity for flexible active-matrix displays for ‘take anywhere, read anywhere’ electronic reader products. It will utilize Plastic Logic’s unique manufacturing process to fabricate active-matrix backplanes on plastic substrates which, when combined with an electronic-paper frontplane material, will be used to create display modules that are thin, light and robust. They will provide a digital reading experience very close to that of reading paper.

Dresden in the ‘Silicon Saxony’ region of eastern Germany has been chosen as the factory location. It is scheduled to begin production of display modules in 2008.

Plastic Electronic Production

The driving advantage pushing the adoption of plastic electronics is the simplicity of its printing-like process compared to conventional amorphous silicon based processes. It also uses standard production equipment from the display manufacturing and other industries.

As an example, consider Plastic Logics initial target market of active matrix displays. In an active-matrix display, each dot on the display is controlled by an active switching element, usually a thin film transistor (TFT), and by the signals on an array of intersecting row and column electrodes. Up to now, the TFTs have been fabricated with amorphous silicon deposited at high temperature on a rigid glass substrate. This requires a complex process of multiple mask-based photolithography steps. The array of switching elements and the row and column electrodes are fabricated on a substrate to create an active-matrix backplane.

While initially combining their active matrix backplanes with electronic paper, such as that produced by E-Ink, there is potential to combine them with a range of other display frontplane technologies such as LCD or OLED to make a display.

Some attributes of the initial flexible-matrix electronic paper displays that will be produced are:

size of 10” diagonal
resolution of 150 pixels per inch
16 grey levels
flexible to 5mm radius of curvature

Market Drivers

Plastic Logic’s research shows that consumers are very reluctant to read on laptops, phones and PDAs. Yet, their research is also showing that people are making less room in their lives for the weight and bulk of paper and are becoming more sensitive to the environmental impact of printing to read.

Plastic Logic believe that the thinness, lightness and robustness of their displays being as comfortable and natural to read as paper will change the medium by which we share information. Consumers are also expected to embrace the wireless connectivity allowing them to purchase and download a book or newspaper in a similar fashion to which they embraced downloading mp3s for their audio players. Electronic readers even have an advantage over music players with their batteries able to last for thousands of virtual page turns.

Future Plans

Plastic Logic have a research and development roadmap encompassing backplane developments for a range of frontplane technologies including next generation colour and video capable electronic paper. It is expected that the initial 2008 product of 10 inch, 150ppi, 16 greyscale displays will evolve by 2010 to 10 inch 100ppi (200dpi) 4096 colors and by 2012 to 10 inch video displays.

An electronic ink frontplane technology supplier, E Ink, has already announced an advanced 400 x 300 pixel, 12-bit color, electronic paper display prototype with 83 pixels per inch.

Plastic Logic will be continuing looking for partnerships with established consumer electronics companies to produce other new products enabled by their plastic electronics technology.