FlexEnable

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FlexEnable Ltd is a technology provider that develops flexible organic electronics technologies and OTFT materials (branded as FlexiOM™). The company launched in 2015, and is located on the Cambridge Science Park, just north of Cambridge city centre. It has more than 1,000 patents covering processes, designs and materials.^[1][2]

According to their website the company's technology and materials “enable low cost, glass-free flexible displays, sensors and optics that can be conformed and shaped to almost any surface”.

FlexEnable licenses its technology and supplies materials to display manufacturers. The company also provides product prototyping services.

History[]

In February 2015, Plastic Logic announced that the technology development and manufacturing parts of its enterprise would split into two independent companies [1]. FlexEnable became the technology provider, working to drive innovation across flexible video-rate displays and flexible sensors.

A week after this separation was made public, FlexEnable and Merck, a provider of liquid crystals and organic electronic materials, unveiled the first organic LCD (OLCD)[2]. Layering organic transistors on a plastic sheet instead of a glass substrate, this technology allows the development of thinner, lighter, shatterproof and low-cost displays. FlexEnable's organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology was combined with liquid crystal (LC) and organic semiconductor materials from Merck to create the OLCD demonstrator. In November 2019 FlexEnable acquired Merck's OTFT materials portfolio and now provides both the OTFT processes and related materials for OLCD manufacture [3].

In June 2015, FlexEnable announced a partnership with Taiwanese display panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tube (CPT) to develop a process for the manufacture a fully flexible, full-colour, glass-free active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display. This new display, which combines FlexEnable's manufacturing method and CPT's RBG (Red, Green and Blue) OLED technology, is 125 microns thick and operates at the full video rate of 60 Hz [4].

In September 2015 FlexEnable revealed the first conformed LCD in an integrated automotive application, with partner Flex. The demonstration showed how LCD (the most established display technology), can be applied to glass-free, ergonomically shaped displays in cars without incurring the cost and stability issues of flexible OLED [5].

In October 2015, FlexEnable completed work on a government project sponsored by Innovate UK to develop organic semiconductors [6]. They used their industrial process for making flexible electronics in the construction of a proof of concept organic LCD display for the Printable Organic Semiconductors for Highly Enhanced Displays Project (PORSCHED). They also collaborated with another tech company Flexink, as well as Imperial College London and Cambridge University, on the project.

In January 2016, ISORG, a French developer of organic photodetectors, worked with FlexEnable to fabricate a large-area flexible fingerprint sensor, based on plastic [7]. The companies claimed that the breakthrough has been designed for biometric applications, with the technology being able to measure fingerprints as well as veins.

In February 2016, FlexEnable revealed a wrist-worn, conformable OLCD for wearable applications that is based on the company's flexible electronics platform [8].

In December 2016 FlexEnable demonstrated a 12.1” OLCD showing that its technology can be scaled for large area displays [9].

In May 2018 Novares made an investment in FlexEnable totalling 5 million euros [10].

In June 2019 FlexEnable's conformable OLCDs were integrated into Novares demo car (Nova Car 2) [11].

In August 2019, FlexEnable demonstrated a bezel-less OLCD. It claimed that this innovation brings benefits to notebooks, tablets, TVs and monitors as it allows thin and light bezel-less displays [12].

Technology[]

FlexEnable's maximum processing temperature for organic thin-film transistors is below 100 °C. This low temperature allows for the use of lower-cost plastic substrates enabling low cost, high yield mount and demount approach to handling flexible substrates [13].

FlexEnable also state [14] that their transistors are the most flexible – and can be bent to a radius of 0.25mm thousands of times without affecting performance.

FlexEnable's OTFT technology and materials can be used for the manufacture of flexible LCD and flexible sensor arrays using existing flat panel display manufacturing lines.

The applications of FlexEnable's technology include flexible displays for consumer electronics, automotive interiors and digital signage.

References[]

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