[Courtesy of LG Display]
SEOUL -- LG Display, a major flat panel maker affiliated with South Korea's LG Group, unveiled the prototype of the world's first 12-inch full-color stretchable display that implemented high resolution and can stretch its screen by up to 20 percent. Bendable, foldable and rollable panels have been developed, but the next-generation product is stretchable to all sides without affecting the quality of displays.
Stretchable displays, which are seen as the final phase of flexible display technologies, will revolutionize everyday life by enabling the era of IT devices that dress like clothes or can be attached to the body. LG Display claimed to have overcome technical challenges for the commercialization of "free-form" displays that can be freely transformed into any form, such as stretching, folding, or twisting.
LG Display said that the prototype implemented red, green, and blue (RGB) colors as well as a high resolution of 100 pixels per inch. A flexible film-type substrate made of special silicon materials used in contact lenses was developed to increase flexibility.
Durability was secured to prevent changes in image quality even in external impacts by using micro light-emitting diode (LED) light sources of less than 40 micrometers. By changing the existing straight wiring structure to an S-shaped spring structure, LG Display said that the stretchable display maintained its performance even if it is repeatedly bent or folded.
Because stretchable displays are thin, light, and attachable to irregular curved surfaces such as skin, clothing, and furniture, they can be widely applied to various industries such as wearable devices, mobility, smart devices, gaming, and fashion, LG Display said, adding that stretchable displays applied to special clothes of firefighters or paramedics at disaster sites can provide real-time information for safe and rapid response.
LG Display was selected for a state project in 2020 to develop stretchable displays as well as relevant materials, components and equipment following the successful commercialization of rollable TVs that received positive feedback from critics. The project involved a group of 21 entities, including companies, research institutes and universities.
The company aims to improve the completeness of stretchable display equipment, materials and technology by 2024. "We will successfully complete the national project to raise the competitiveness of domestic display technology to the next level and lead a new paradigm in displays," LG Display's chief technology officer Yoon Soo-young said in a statement on November 8.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
