• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2007

The development of next generation displays such as flexible display is a major challenge. Most materials and processes in current flat panel display industry cannot be transferred to flexible substrates. Typically, indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films are brittle and need to be deposited at high temperature to achieve an optimal opto-electrical property, therefore ITO films cannot be used as a flexible electrode. Up to date, many alternative materials to ITO have been proposed such as conductive polymers, nanometals, solution deposited transparent conductive oxide(TCO) and carbon nanotubes(CNTs). CNT based transparent conductive films are fabricated on glass and polymer substrates. CNT thin films exhibit a sheet resistance ($R_s$) of nearby $10^3\;{\Omega}/sq$ with a transmittance of around 80% on the visible light range, which is attributed by excellent dispersion and interaction among CNTs, solvents and polymeric binders. This talk will present the current studies, opto-electrical properties, design criteria and its applications for CNT-based transparent conductive films.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 2012

Currently, active research is being performed on printing of electronic devices such as RFID devices, flexible displays, solar cells, and e-paper. This technique has several advantages over existing technologies such as lithography and etching. In particular, RFID devices, flexible displays, solar cells, and e-paper require flexibility and a mass production system. Thus, attention is being focused on the roll-to-roll process. High quality should be guaranteed in the roll-to-roll printed electronics systems, and good thickness and roughness qualities must be ensured. Experimental design was applied to this problem to analyze the main effects and interaction effects of various factors. Matching technology between the nip roll characteristics and the quality of the print pattern in roll-to-roll printed electronics systems was proposed to improve the printing quality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2010

Indium tin oxide (ITO) has been widely used as transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) for transparent electrodes of various optoelectronic devices, such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED). However, indium has become increasingly expensive and rare because of its limited resources. In addition, ITO thin films have some problems for OLED and flexible displays, such as imperfect work function, chemical instability, and high deposition temperature. Therefore, multi-component TCO materials have been reported as anode materials. Among the various materials, IZTO thin films have been gained much attention as anode materials due to their high work function, good conductivity, high transparency and low deposition temperature. IZTO thin films with a thickness of 200nm were deposited on Corning glass substrate at different substrate temperature by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering with a sintered ceramic target of IZTO (In2O3 70 wt%, ZnO 15 wt%, SnO2 15 wt%). We investigated the electrical, optical, structural properties of IZTO thin films. As the substrate temperature is increased, the electrical properties of IZTO are improved. All IZTO thin films have good optical properties, which showed an average of transmittance over 80%. These IZTO thin films were used to fabricate organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) as anode and the device performances studied. As a result, IZTO has utility value of TCO electrode although it reduced indium and we expect it is possible for the IZTO to apply to flexible display due to the low processing temperature.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.19-26
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• 2020

Flexible displays have been evolved into curved, foldable, and rollable as the degree of bending increases. Due to the presence of brittle electrodes (e.g. indium-tin oxide (ITO)) that easily cracked and delaminated under severe bending deformation, lowering mechanical stress of the electrodes has been critical issue. Because of this, mechanical stress of brittle electrode in flexible displays has been analyzed mostly in terms of bending radius. On the other hand, in order to make rollable display, various mechanical components such as roller and spring are needed to roll-up or extend the screen for the rollable display apparatus. By these mechanical components, brittle electrode in the rollable display is subjected to the excessive tensile stress due to the retracting force as well as the bending stress by the roller. In this study, mechanical deformation of rollable OLED display was modeled considering boundary conditions of the apparatus. An analytical modeling based on the classical beam theory was introduced in order to investigate the mechanical behavior of the rollable display. In addition, finite element analysis (FEA) was used to analyze the effect of mechanical components in the apparatus on the brittle electrode. Furthermore, a strategy for improving the mechanical reliability of the rollable display was suggested through controlling the stiffness of adhesives in the display panel.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2024

In the rapidly advancing information society, electronic devices, including smartphones and tablets, are increasingly digitized and equipped with high-performance features such as flexible displays. This study focused on optimizing the manufacturing process for Transparent Conductive Films (TCF) by using the cost-effective conductive polymer PEDOT and transparent substrate PET as alternatives to expensive materials in flexible display technology. The variables considered are production speed (m/min), coating maximum temperature (℃), and PEDOT supply speed (rpm), with surface resistivity (Ω/□) as the response parameter, using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Optimization results indicate the ideal conditions for production: a speed of 22.16 m/min, coating temperature of 125.28℃, and PEDOT supply at 522.79 rpm. Statistical analysis validates the reliability of the results (F value: 18.37, P-value: < 0.0001, R²: 0.9430). Under optimal conditions, the predicted surface resistivity is 145.75 Ω/□, closely aligned with the experimental value of 142.97 Ω/□. Applying these findings to mass production processes is expected to enhance production yields and decrease defect rates compared to current practices. This research provides valuable insights for the advancement of flexible display manufacturing.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.821-825
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• 2009

Recently, transparent ZnO-based TFTs have attracted much attention for flexible displays because they can be fabricated on plastic substrates at low temperature. We report the fabrication and characteristics of ZnO TFTs having different channel thicknesses deposited at low temperature. The ZnO films were deposited as active channel layer on $Si_3N_4/Ti/SiO_2/p-Si$ substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at $100^{\circ}C$ without additional annealing. Also, the ZnO thin films deposited at oxygen partial pressures of 40%. ZnO TFTs using a bottom-gate configuration were investigated. The $Si_3N_4$ film was deposited as gate insulator by PE-CVD at $150^{\circ}C$. All Processes were processed below $150^{\circ}C$ which is optimal temperature for flexible display and were used dry etching method. The fabricated devices have different threshold slop, field effect mobility and subthreshold slop according to channel thickness. This characteristics are related with ZnO crystal properties analyzed with XRD and SPM. Electrical characteristics of 60 nm ZnO TFT (W/L = $20\;{\mu}m/20\;{\mu}m$) exhibited a field-effect mobility of $0.26\;cm^2/Vs$, a threshold voltage of 8.3 V, a subthreshold slop of 2.2 V/decade, and a $I_{ON/OFF}$ ratio of $7.5\times10^2$.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.4-4
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• 2008

The progress in flat panel displays over the last two decades has been astonishing. In just 20 years, the LCD-TV grew up from a 2-inch curiosity, to an industry that will sell about 120 million flat panel TV's this year, with viewing area up to 4000 times larger. That success is based on continuous innovation, especially in manufacturing processes. For the next decade to bring another doubling of the business, progress will need to continue in four major areas: Human factors, ecological impact, visual quality, and of course continued drive towards affordability. This talk will detail the technology advances that can allow this industry to meet those challenges. Human factors. Today, we adapt our lifestyle to our technology. People organize their offices, and their homes, around displays. We pass around mobile phones to share images, rather than experiencing them as a group. Billions of newspapers continue to be sold daily. Advances in flexible displays can lead to large portable displays. "New era projection" includes the handheld Pico Projectors that are already on the market, and will ultimately appear integrated in mobile phones the same way cameras do today. "Eco" impact. Today TV's are one of the top energy consumers in a U.S. home, and the fastest growing. Watching a large flat panel TV can cost twice as much as running a large refrigerator. With today's concern about energy consumption, regulations are starting to emerge worldwide to limit TV electrical use. Fortunately, good solutions exist in using light management films to eliminate bulbs, saving power without increasing cost. Going forward, LED backlights will drive another step downward. OLED displays might be the ultimate solution. Visual quality. The color of an LCD-TV is still often considered inferior to a far less expensive CRT. And almost all displays suffer from representing a three-dimensional world on a two dimensional surface. The technology to improve color is available today, and will likely move from premium sets into the mainstream as costs come down. 3D is now arriving in movie theaters worldwide, and that will drive up the demand for similar realistic images in home theaters. And the technology is emerging today for 3D representation to move beyond specialized applications into everyday use, on screens large and small. Affordability. The world takes cost-down miracles for granted in consumer electronics. Each of these other advances will be balanced with a drive for affordability, especially as the market grows in emerging countries. The other three challenges must be met without increasing cost. Putting this all together, the next few years will emphasize "eco friendly" designs, and enhanced images such as 3D. By 2013 we will start to see serious penetration by emissive technologies (OLED, high efficiency plasma, or other), with the "ultimate display" likely not in the market for a decade. Lots of opportunities for innovation remain ahead of us.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.198.1-198.1
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• 2016

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have promising potential to replace liquid crystal displays (LCDs) due to their advantages of low power consumption, fast response time, broad viewing angle and flexibility. Organic light emitting materials are vulnerable to moisture and oxygen, so inorganic thin films are required for barrier substrates and encapsulations.[1-2]. In this work, the silicon-based inorganic thin films are deposited on plastic substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at low temperature. It is necessary to deposit thin film at low temperature. Because the heat gives damage to flexible plastic substrates. As one of the transparent diffusion barrier materials, silicon oxides have been investigated. $SiO_x$ have less toxic, so it is one of the more widely examined materials as a diffusion barrier in addition to the dielectric materials in solid-state electronics [3-4]. The $SiO_x$ thin films are deposited by a PECVD process in low temperature below $100^{\circ}C$. Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) was determined by a calcium resistance test, and the rate less than $10.^{-2}g/m^2{\cdot}day$ was achieved. And then, flexibility of the film was also evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.190-193
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• 2002

The processing technology of organic thin-film transistors (Ons) performances have improved fur the last decade. Gate insulator layer has generally used inorganic layer, such as silicon oxide which has properties of a low electrical conductivity and a high breakdown field. However, inorganic insulating layers, which are formed at high temperature, may affect other layers termed on a substrate through preceding processes. On the other hand, organic insulating layers, which are formed at low temperature, dose not affect pre-process. Known wet-processing methods for fabricating organic insulating layers include a spin coating, dipping and Langmuir-Blodgett film processes. In this paper, we propose the new dry-processing method of organic gate dielectric film in field-effect transistors. Vapor deposition polymerization (VDP) that is mainly used to the conducting polymers is introduced to form the gate dielectric. This method is appropriate to mass production in various end-user applications, for example, flat panel displays, because it has the advantages of shadow mask patterning and in-situ dry process with flexible low-cost large area displays. Also we fabricated four by four active pixels with all-organic thin-film transistors and phosphorescent organic light emitting devices.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2011

Single-well carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have been proposed as a promising candidate for various applications owing to their excellent properties. In particular, their fascinating electrical and mechanical properties could provide a new area for the development of advanced engineering materials. A transparent conductive thin film (TCF) has increased for applications such as liquid crystal displays, touch panels, and flexible displays. Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films, which have been traditionally used as the TCFs, have a serious obstacle in TCFs applications. SWNTs are the most appropriate materials for conductive films for displays due to their excellent high mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. But, a bundle of CNTs has different electrical properties than their individual counterparts. In this work, the fabrication by the spraying process of transparent SWNT films and reduction of its sheet resistance on PET substrates is researched. Arc-discharge SWNTs were dispersed in deionized water by adding sodum dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant and sonicated, followed by the centrifugation. The dispersed SWNT was spray-coated on PET substrate and dried on a hotplate at $100^{\circ}C$. When the spray process was terminated, the TCF was immersed into deionized water to remove the surfactant and then it was dried on hotplate. The TCF film was then treated with ionic doping treatment, rinsed with deionized water and dried. The surface morphology of TCF was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The sheet resistance and optical transmission properties of the TCF were measured with a four-point probe method and a UV-visible spectrometry, respectively. Results, we show that 97 ${\Omega}$/> sheet resistance can be achieved with 81% transmittance at the wavelength of 550 nm. The changes in electrical and optical conductivity of SWNT film before and after ionic doping treatments were discussed.