Chasing the Flexible Nano-pixels Display Technology in Mobile Device Industry

1. Introduction

Since Mr. Steve Jobs announced first iPhone, touch screen mobile device has changed human’s lives for nearly a decade until 2015 Q1 it appears weak. Under the globalized economy, what is the next generation of mobile device industry innovation? High-performance CPU? Larger screen? Or the battery innovation, which has been controversy for a long time but unable to obtain a technological breakthrough.

Centuries ago, people have been dedicated to carry the technology with themselves. For example, the time. Engineers made the Big Ben smaller and smaller until it could wear on the hand, which is known as the watch. In the era of “Nano”, to wear more technology on our body and makes life more convenience would be the main concern of global mobile device companies and manufacturers. 

Wearable technology on 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has reached an unprecedented heat; many experts believe it will be the next revolution in mobile devices industry. The current wearable device is not good enough and lack of revolutionized innovation. Without special features, just monitoring body conditions and sleep quality, do we really need wearable devices? However, where is future of the wearable technology? What is the bottleneck that restricted the development of it?

From the perspective of usable time, the CPU and Screen are the main constraints that consume the most battery energy. However, a resent study from the University of Oxford has indicated that a new discovery with the nano-pixels display which contain ultra-low power consumption, flexibility and advanced static display could possibly be a good solution for the smart glass and other wearable device in the mobile device industry in the next few years.

Fig.1. Flexible Nano-pixels Display

2. Opportunities Presented by Globalization

Prospect of flexible screen is considerable according to IHS Inc. who professionally provides information and analysis to support the decision-making process of businesses and governments in industries (IHS, 2013). IHS indicates that the flexible screen contains a variety of applications with smart devices (mobile phones, smart watch and portable computers, etc.) and it will grow rapidly with approximately 250 time within the next 7 years (2013 - 2020).

Another forecast from Display Bank also support this point of view. The market of flexible display will continue in the dramatically increase speed from $1.1 billion in 2015 to exceed $42 billion in 2020, estimated 16% in the display market of tablets; the shipments will as well as grow from 25 million units (2015) to 792 million units (2020) and reach the 13% of the overall market.

(Source: Display Bank, 'Trend of Flexible Display Technologies and Market Outlook (2008~2020)' Report)

For years engineers have been developing flexible displays and committing to applying to real products. Known from the 2015 CES, large enterprises such as Samsung, LG and Intel have launched its own flexible display product. Youm screen, which belongs to Samsung, is implemented with the flexible-OLED technology. However, LG has started manufacturing of Plastic Electronic Paper Display (EPD) that first apply the electronic ink baseplate to replace traditional glass for the purpose of flexibility and transparence.

Statistics, up to 2013, related to global flexible display patents indicated that most of the flexible technology was owned by the United States, South Korea and Japan, and we could see from Figure 2 that this 3 counties contributed the 78% of the total quantities of patent application. On the other hand, Mainland China is only 4% (48 patents). In fact, Tsinghua University has started Organic Light Diode (OLED) program in year 2001 and successfully developed a flexible full-color display in 2003. Some other companies and research institutions have been dedicated to study of the flexible-OLED technology as well. On the contrary, there still have been a large gap of both quantity and quality comparing with United States, South Korea and Japan those developed countries.

(Source: Patent Analysis for Flexible OLED Technology, Television Technology, 2013)

3. Emerging Innovation Practices in Flexible Display 

Emil Venere, Zhihong Chen and Ruchi Mehta (2015) from Purdue University discovered a new process for coating copper nano-wire with graphene - an ultra-thin layer of carbon – lowers resistance and heating, effectively prevented the oxidation of copper and significantly reduced heat conduction and improved data transfer speeds. This composite material is promising to apply in the transparent and flexible display since it requires extremely low power but contains flexibility and transparence. The Hybrid nano-wires were tested in two width sizes: 180 nanometers - or more than 500 times thinner than a human hair - and 280 nanometers.

Figure 3 A Copper Nanowire Coated with Graphene

Led by Oxford University scientists, a research team has created a prototype device that features pixels measure just 300-by-300 nanometers. Compare this with iPhone5 326 ppi display, where each pixel is about 150 times larger (approximately 50 micrometers). The high-resolution potential of the technology was discovered while the team was exploring the link between the electrical and optical properties of phase change materials (PCMs) that can switch from an amorphous to a crystalline state.

Figure4 Still Images Drawn with the Nano-pixels Technology

(Source: University of Oxford: at around 70 micrometers across each image is smaller than the width of a human hair)

As outlined in a paper in Nature, the researchers made the images using a layer of “phase change” material-a material that can change properties in response to stimuli like heat or an electrical charge. By sandwiching a seven-nanometer thick layer of the PCM Germanium-Antimony-Tellurium (Ge2Sb2Te5 or GST) between two layers of transparent electrodes made of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), the scientists discovered they could "draw" still images within the sandwich "stack" using an atomic force microscope. They then found that the "nano-pixels" could be switched on and off electronically, creating colored dots that could be used as the basis for an extremely high-resolution display.

Figure 5 How the Thickness of the Bottom ITO Layer (t) Affects the Pixel’s Reflected Color

Depending on the thickness of the bottom layer of ITO, a different wavelength of light is reflected (the researchers have already worked out how to create R, G, and B pixels). By changing the phase of the GST layer, the nano-pixel can be turned on or off. Importantly, because PCMs “stick” until another current/laser is applied, these nano-pixel displays are very power efficient - much in the same way that e-ink displays don’t need to constantly refresh their pixels and can thus last days on a single charge. Finally, because the ITO and GST layers are so thin, and because they can be deposited on very thin substrates (such as 200nm Mylar), the nano-pixel displays are very flexible.

4. Stunts or Revolutions?

Emerging technology is always under the pressure of criticism, even for the most successful one. Gao Hongling, the Deputy Secretary General of China OLED Industry Alliance, argued that flexible OLED screen is one of the development trend of the mobile phone screen but not the only one trend. However, the existing technology is not able to achieve the softness of the chips, capacitance or other electronic components. From the perspective of consumers, a grandstanding product possessing a flexible screen but wrapped in a hard shell could not provide a subversive user experience. Moreover, immaturity mass production process makes uncompetitive price of the flexible display, whether the market is willing to pay the bill is debatable.

Form author’s point of view, whether the flexible display is stunts or revolutions is built on the basis of whether the technology is able to enhance the user experience. LIM (2007) suggested that end-users will sample the product in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. The idea behind this technique is that the end-user will have as positive as possible an interaction with the given brand thereby leading to word-of-mouth. However, every rising technology contains two sides, neither following it blindly nor staring at the disadvantages is acceptable.

Recalling the emerging technologies (Big Data, Cloud Computing and the Nanotechnology of the electronic device) that have been discussed during the lectures of MGT5516, Managing Innovation and Technology Globally, the author have always believed that there are some interior relations between them.

Transparent Computing relates to Cloud Computing. The former is the emerging technology that nonetheless caused great concern in the world. It streamlined computing capability and rational utilizing of storage space by combining the CPUs, GPUs and other device to a single space while all the users need is different sizes of displays to meet the portable demand or on the office desk, and the display performance is enhanced by the nanotechnology (The Flexible Nano-pixels Display) which the author have mentioned above.

The real charm of taking part in the lecture is not only to realize or analyze the existing technology, but also to come up with the ideas of the future trends.

Reference

HIS Inc. (2013, June 5). Flexible Display Market to Reach Nearly 800 Million Unit Shipments by 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from the World Wide Web: http://press.ihs.com/press-release/design-supply-chain/flexible-display-market-reach-nearly-800-million-unit-shipments-20

Display Bank. (2014, December 5). Special Reports for OTFT/e-Paper/Flexible Display (Display Bank). Retrieved April 27, 2015, from the World Wide Web: http://www.touchuserinterface.com/2014/12/special-reports-for-otft-e.html

Joseph T. Smith, Barry O’Brien, Yong-Kyun Lee, Edward J. Bawolek, & Jennifer Blain Christen. (2014, June). Application of Flexible OLED Display Technology for Electro-Optical Stimulation and/or Silencing of Neural Activity [Electronic version]. JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY. IEEE, 514-520.

Emil Venere, Zhihong Chen, & Ruchi Mehta. (2015, March10). Hybrid nanowires eyed for computers, flexible displays. Purdue University News. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q1/hybrid-nanowires-eyed-for-computers,-flexible-displays.html

Haider R. Khaleel, Hussain M. Al-Rizzo, & Daniel G. Rucker. (2012, February). Compact Polyimide-Based Antennas for Flexible Displays [Electronic version]. JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY. IEEE, 91-96.

Oxford University scientists. (2014, July 10). 'Nano-pixels' promise thin, flexible high-res displays. University of OXFORD News & Event. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-07-10-nano-pixels-promise-thin-flexible-high-res-displays

Hong-Ki Kim, Seung-Gun Lee, Ji-Eun Han, Tae-Rim Kim, Sung-Up Hwang, Seong Deok Ahn, In-Kyu You, Kyoung-Ik Cho, Tai-Kyong Song, & Kwang-Seok Yun. (2009, June). Transparent and Flexible Tactile Sensor for Multi-touch Screen Application with Force Sensing [Electronic version]. IEEE, 514-520.

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DARPA. (2015). TRANSPARENT COMPUTING. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from the World Wide Web: http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/I2O/Programs/Transparent_Computing.aspx