SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS FLEXIBLE
Fabrication of displays on plastic will allow future Soldiers to have electronics everywhere
by Dr. Eric W. Forsythe A
t the dawn of the 21st century, U.S. - ible displays, but nothing was showing up in the marketplace.
In 2004, the Army decided to change that, and partnered with industry and academia to create the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State Uni- versity (ASU). The Army’s goal was to get this amazing technology into the hands of Soldiers.
“We were starting to develop a lot of new kinds of electronic gizmos to help Soldiers,” said Nick Colaneri, Center Director. “The problem was, they all needed displays. Flat displays today are made out of glass. Glass is heavy, and it breaks. So, we’re all about getting the glass out of displays.”
Fast forward eight years. Teams of research- racked up more than 50 patents. The original goal of the program may soon be met. “The most
put conventional electronics onto plastic using existing electronics manufacturing equipment,” Colaneri said.
This manufacturing world of possibilities.
breakthrough opened a
With this process, plastic can be glued onto a carrier in a standard manufacturing fabrication facility and then de-bonded—kind of like a Post-it note. Literally the plastic peels off from the car- rier. This allows the Army to leverage traditional which then reduces overall entry costs for dis- plays while providing the capability to fabricate electronics on plastic. That is key for large-scale manufacturing of displays.
FIRST DELIVERABLE: WRIST-BORNE DISPLAY
“We’re going to unburden Soldiers by getting rid of a lot of the batteries that have to be car- ried today,” Colaneri said. “The nearest-term
MEDICAL APPLICATIONS SFC Timothy Alexander, Operations NCO in Charge, National Capital Region Information Operations Center, U.S. Army Reserve, looks at a prototype of a ruggedized flexible display packaged in a medical bag. Possible uses of this technology for a field medic would be to keep a database of unit members’ medical histories or first-aid treatment records. (Photo by Doug LaFon, U.S. Army Research Laboratory.)
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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