Winner of the 2011 SID Display Component of the Year award, ITRI’s inorganic hybrid plastic substrate claims position as the first technology enabling mass production of flexible and transparent displays in any size. The substrate rectifies many of the problems common to flexible display manufacture, i.e., overheating and cloudiness. An initial response to the overheating issue, adding about 30% of heat-resistant inorganic materials to existing PI material improves heat resistance. This solves the heating issue, but turns the substrate yellow and cloudy. In variation, ITRI’s process combines inorganic materials with traditional organic materials. Inorganic materials take position at the base of the substrate before adding organic materials. Proving successful, this strategy increases the proportion of silicon dioxide in the inorganic material from 20% to 40%, up to 60% total. The process significantly reduces thermal expansion of flexible transparent substrates under high-temperature conditions up to 300°C while also keeping them transparent.

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ITRI
www.itri.org.tw/eng