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Samsung Stretchable OLEDs Paving the Way for a New Class of Wearable Sensors
The clothing industry is one of the oldest in human history dating back to the first uses of animal skins to keep man warm. Despite how far technology has come, there are still some fundamentals behind clothing and biology that make integrating electronics extremely difficult.
Samsung have recently announced the development of a fully flexible OLED display that can be stuck to the skin and conform to its surface. To create a flexible display, Samsung created individual OLED pixels which themselves are ridged, but sit on a flexible elastomer surface. Connections between the OLEDs are made using a flexible material as are the traces that connect the display to the driver system.
The creation of “ridged islands” that connect on a flexible sea enables the display to flex and stretch with little to no damage. In fact, the research team at Samsung demonstrated the capabilities of the display by stretching it over 1,000 times with the display still operating.
The clothing industry is one of the oldest in human history dating back to the first uses of animal skins to keep man warm. Despite how far technology has come, there are still some fundamentals behind clothing and biology that make integrating electronics extremely difficult.
- Wearable devices need to conform to the wearer. This is easily done for worn fabrics which can stretch and compress to fit around different body shapes, but electronics are fundamentally inflexible. This means that electronic circuits are almost always ridged by design, and thus cannot conform to skin.
- Ridged objects are generally not comfortable to wear, and large ridged devices such as watches are arguably falling out of fashion in favor of smartphones. The comfortability of a device is further impeded when trying to improve the functionality of that device. Large displays and big processes are great for creating a powerful device, but if that device is too rigid and uncomfortable, then the resulting device will be unpopular.
- Wearable clothing devices must support movement, stretching, and washing. A device that can conform to the human body while remaining functional is only practical if it can be used many hundreds of times with little to no damage.
Samsung have recently announced the development of a fully flexible OLED display that can be stuck to the skin and conform to its surface. To create a flexible display, Samsung created individual OLED pixels which themselves are ridged, but sit on a flexible elastomer surface. Connections between the OLEDs are made using a flexible material as are the traces that connect the display to the driver system.
The creation of “ridged islands” that connect on a flexible sea enables the display to flex and stretch with little to no damage. In fact, the research team at Samsung demonstrated the capabilities of the display by stretching it over 1,000 times with the display still operating.
Samsung took the new design further and integrated basic medical sensors. The result was a medical monitoring device that can pick up signals 2.4 times stronger than typical devices thanks to its ability to get right up to the skin (similar to a plaster).
Are There Practical Applications of The Display?
Samsung’s display is far from a commercial device due to its low resolution, but its existence proof demonstrates real candidate for a future commercial device. The initial application is likely to be medical monitoring applications, where sensors can obtain good adhesion to the skin surface to measure medical data accurately, for example in wearable smart devices such as smartphones that can conform to a forearm. Coupled with touch screen technology, interactive wearable devices would be comfortable to wear while providing applications such as calls, texts, and internet browsing. Wearable technologies have a long way to go, and most devices designed by researchers are generally just for inspiration and proof-of-concept. However, as wearable screen resolutions improve and wearable processors become more powerful, the devices could become part of our everyday life.
The Indian Institute for Technology has developed an optical sensor using graphene, which has excellent optical characteristics. The ability for graphene to flex, while also remaining strong, makes the optical sensor ideal for use in flexible applications. A heterojunction is the interference caused when two layers of dissimilar semiconductor are in contact with each other. A classic example of a heterojunction semiconductor device is the Bi-Polar Junction Transistor (BJT). Another feature expressed by the sensor is its ability to interact with a wide range of light from infra-red to visible (something that neither graphene layer can accomplish themselves). The creation of the sensor was done at ITT-Bs’ Nanofabrication Facility while the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research verified the results of the experiment. Combining the sensor with a stretchable flexible display would be the next step in making the device practical for human use.
Are There Practical Applications of The Display?
Samsung’s display is far from a commercial device due to its low resolution, but its existence proof demonstrates real candidate for a future commercial device. The initial application is likely to be medical monitoring applications, where sensors can obtain good adhesion to the skin surface to measure medical data accurately, for example in wearable smart devices such as smartphones that can conform to a forearm. Coupled with touch screen technology, interactive wearable devices would be comfortable to wear while providing applications such as calls, texts, and internet browsing. Wearable technologies have a long way to go, and most devices designed by researchers are generally just for inspiration and proof-of-concept. However, as wearable screen resolutions improve and wearable processors become more powerful, the devices could become part of our everyday life.
The Indian Institute for Technology has developed an optical sensor using graphene, which has excellent optical characteristics. The ability for graphene to flex, while also remaining strong, makes the optical sensor ideal for use in flexible applications. A heterojunction is the interference caused when two layers of dissimilar semiconductor are in contact with each other. A classic example of a heterojunction semiconductor device is the Bi-Polar Junction Transistor (BJT). Another feature expressed by the sensor is its ability to interact with a wide range of light from infra-red to visible (something that neither graphene layer can accomplish themselves). The creation of the sensor was done at ITT-Bs’ Nanofabrication Facility while the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research verified the results of the experiment. Combining the sensor with a stretchable flexible display would be the next step in making the device practical for human use.