Blog WE Facebook Twitter Linked in Youtube Careers Contact us Flex Enable Home About us Technology Applications Services Events Newsroom Blog Home Blog Sustainable manufacturing for displays Paul Cain, Strategy Director November 23, 2021 As the dust settles on COP 26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, we’re left with a staggering challenge ahead of us. While there are changes many of us can make on an individual level, from recycling to switching off lights and powering down PCs, organizations that manufacture products on a much larger scale are faced with a sustainability mission for potentially decades to come. Read more Designing dielectric performance Giles Lloyd, Head of Materials Business October 07, 2021 As many of us learnt during our school years, electronic systems contain three types or materials: conductors, semiconductors and insulators (also known as dielectrics). Read more The cost structure of flexible displays Paul Cain, Strategy Director September 06, 2021 LCD production has grown in both average size and volume over the past few decades, and today, remains the dominant display technology in use. During this time, there have been huge advances in LCD performance on almost every front – colour, contrast, luminance, resolution, pixel density, power efficiency and others. Read more The making of a plastic liquid crystal cell Mike Banach, Technical Director June 29, 2021 Liquid Crystal cells have been around for decades. The first work on electrically controlled liquid crystal cells for tuneable optical attenuation was done by George Heilmeier in the 1960s. This work inspired the development of flat panel display technology in the 70s and subsequently, the LCD industry; to this day, liquid crystal cells still dominate the $120Bn display market. Read more Enabling non-rectangular and curved form factors with conformable displays Joanthan Huggins, Senior Engineer May 26, 2021 Organic Liquid Crystal Display (OLCD) is a glass-free display technology developed by FlexEnable to enable the entire display to be manufactured on a rugged plastic substrate with excellent optical performance. OLCD is extremely thin, light and shatterproof, and provides a flexible display solution for applications beyond smartphone and smart watch use cases. Read more Developing an effective IP strategy Sarah-Jane Bowes, IP Counsel April 26, 2021 For many companies, their intellectual property (IP) portfolio is their largest asset. IP consists of many different areas, including company logos and corporate identity, as well as services, and products or processes, that together set apart a business offering from a competitor. While nearly all companies have benefitted from use of the internet to enable their products and marketing communications to reach the public worldwide, this has also been accompanied by an increased risk of IP theft, making protection of IP more important than ever. Read more Biosensors: a trend towards decentralisation May Wheeler, Principal Engineer April 19, 2021 For several years there has been a growing trend towards the decentralisation of healthcare and remote patient monitoring, which is being rapidly enabled by technological advances. The COVID19 global pandemic has now really highlighted the importance of rapid testing both in the UK and across the world, further increasing the need for more biosensing platforms that can be easily deployed. Read more Meet FlexEnable’s Chief Scientist: Q&A with Prof Henning Sirringhaus Prof Henning Sirringhaus, FRS March 17, 2021 Professor Sirringhaus is a renowned expert in charge transport physics of organic semiconductors and other functional materials processed at low temperature. He is the Hitachi Professor of Electron Device Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Sirringhaus has been awarded a Royal Society Research Professorship in 2020 and Faraday Medal in 2015. Professor Sirringhaus is FlexEnable’s Chief Scientist and sits on the company’s Board of Directors. Read more Conformed displays in any shape and size for tomorrow's car Josephine Socratous, Senior Research Engineer February 03, 2021 The number and size of in-vehicle displays has increased dramatically over the last few years. This trend is expected to continue as tomorrow’s car is ever more connected and automated. Furthermore, there is an increasing need for digital screens to seamlessly integrate into the curved surfaces of new vehicles. Flat, rectangular glass displays are a major design constraint, limiting design freedom from an aesthetic and ergonomic perspective. FlexEnable’s ground-breaking OLCD technology opens the door to novel design features that not only increase the vehicle aesthetics but provide additional safety and functionality. Read more Designing semiconductor performance Giles Lloyd, Head of Materials Business January 11, 2021 In previous blogs we’ve discussed the two main types of organic semiconductor materials (OSC) used in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), namely polymeric materials and small molecule materials. FlexiOM™ materials are polymeric organic semiconductors and dielectrics with world-leading performance in key parameters such as mobility, stability and processability. Read more Bringing OLCD to existing and new markets Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager December 07, 2020 The display industry is going through a period of innovation with many companies investing in improving existing or developing new technologies. While LCD is still the dominant technology, OLED displays have been adopted in mainstream small display products such as smartphone and smartwatches. More recently advancements have been made in the development of MicroLED, quantum dot OLED and dual cell LCD technologies which we’ve described in a previous blog. Read more Common myths about organic transistors Paul Cain, Strategy Director November 04, 2020 To the uninitiated, organic electronics might sound like something you would use to automatically water your vegetable patch. More commonly, it refers to devices and circuits that use carbon-based chemistry for the semiconductor in place of inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon. Different electronic components can be made with different organic semiconductors, with two common forms being switches (organic thin-film transistors or OTFTs), and light sources (organic light emitting diodes or OLEDs). Read more FlexEnable looks ahead to new opportunities and further growth Chuck Milligan, CEO of FlexEnable October 12, 2020 This year has and continues to provide new challenges for all of us, and we as a company have had to adapt like any other organisation. I have huge respect and admiration for how the team has handled this, and the major milestones we have hit during this period is a testament to the commitment, creativity and flexibility of the team. Now seems a good time to reflect on the progress and achievements made over the last year. Read more Conformable liquid crystal cells bring innovation to automotive smart windows Paul Cain, Strategy Director September 02, 2020 FlexEnable’s technology – high-performance organic transistor materials and complete manufacturing process - is the key to low cost large area flexible electronics, and allows almost any surface to be brought to life – displaying, sensing and controlling information to or from that surface. Read more Flexible OLCD – A complementary display technology to flexible OLED Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager August 10, 2020 Today the global display market is around $120Bn, comprising mainly LCD and OLED displays. For LCD the market is dominated by glass-based, rigid displays aside from a smaller number of curved monitors and TVs where the glass is gently curved to a radius of around 2 meters. Whilst flexible OLED displays are already manufactured in volume, they are presently costly and as a result focused on flagship smart phone and smart watch applications. Read more The role of curved screens in tomorrow’s connected car Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager July 14, 2020 The global automotive displays market is forecast to double between 2018 and 2025, reaching $30Bn by 2025 according to Global Market Insights. Although research suggests that car sales are only expected to increase by 25% over the same period, the increase in displays sales is driven by the incorporation of larger and more displays in the car interior. Read more TV trends and HDR Paul Cain, Strategy Director June 03, 2020 Premium TVs, defined by some analysts as those with a price tag over $1000, are often where new technologies to enhance picture quality start their product life. These new technologies present a window of opportunity for product differentiation, allowing higher margins to be accessed for the display maker and others in the supply chain. Read more How do you choose the most suitable display technology for your application? Jan Jongman, Senior Manager Technology Development May 18, 2020 In our everyday lives we are surrounded by devices with displays and spend a lot of time looking at screens - be it the screens of our smartphones, laptops or TVs. Apart from these high resolution active matrix displays, we are also accustomed to looking at low resolution displays such as those of our alarm clocks, smart thermostats and kitchen appliances. We even rely on displays when driving – from the car dashboard to the infotainment system, the surface areas devoted to displays in cars is growing rapidly. Read more Flexible and sustainable – low temperature display manufacturing Paul Cain, Strategy Director April 06, 2020 The manufacture of transistors has always been an energy intensive endeavour. There are many types of transistors, the majority of which are made from silicon. Whilst the manufacturing processes for different types of silicon transistors differ, they all involve multiple process steps that consume high amounts of energy - for example, high temperature and vacuum processes, such as Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), ion implantation and sputtering. In some cases this can involve processes up to 1000°C. Read more What are flexible OLCDs made of? James Harding, System Design Manager March 25, 2020 The dominant active-matrix display technology today is LCD. It is made with amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs) on a glass substrate. Glass is used as the substrate due to its ability to withstand the high process temperatures required to fabricate the a-Si TFTs and its excellent optical properties. However, glass can only be bent to an extremely limited extent and is difficult to cut to non-rectangular shapes. It is also relatively thick and heavy, and can shatter, as you’ve no doubt seen on a friend’s mobile phone – or perhaps on your own. Read more Production of high-performance OTFT materials for flexible displays and OTFT devices Giles Lloyd, Head of Materials Business March 02, 2020 With the acquisition of the world-leading OTFT materials from Merck – now branded as FlexiOM™ – FlexEnable acquired a fully developed and established product portfolio with applications for flexible displays and OTFT devices. We not only offer a complete package of an industrially-proven flexible electronics technology with process-optimised materials, but also have access to the established supply chain to ensure continued and uninterrupted supply of the FlexiOM™ high-performance organic transistor materials. Read more Five benefits of flexible electronics for displays and sensors Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager February 17, 2020 Flexible electronics isn’t a new technology, but it has achieved a remarkable progress over the past years and has become increasingly important to many sectors such as consumer electronics, automotive, retail and healthcare. IDTechEx analysts forecast that the total market for printed, flexible and organic electronics will grow from $31.7 billion in 2018 to $77.3 billion in 2029. Read more FlexiOM™: The best OTFT materials for OLCD Mike Banach, Technical Director February 05, 2020 The use of high-performance, high quality organic materials has always been paramount to the development of OTFT-based devices. Read more Bezel-less displays and their applications Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager January 07, 2020 When using the term bezel-less displays, most people are referring to less bezel rather than no bezel. We are yet to see a product design with zero bezel on all sides, but we probably won’t be waiting too long. Read more True pixel-level local dimming explained Paul Cain, Strategy Director December 10, 2019 With the TV market saturated, competition between TV makers becomes ever fiercer. Along with other properties, the contrast ratio of the display is one of the key features that relates to picture quality and therefore is a key selling point for TVs. Read more OLCD innovation – from large-area flexible displays to bezel-less screens Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager November 27, 2019 FlexEnable demonstrated an Organic Liquid Crystal Display (OLCD) for the first time back in 2015. Since then the technology has been further developed and perfected to reach a status where it is now primed for production. Read more Top five requirements to consider for automotive surface-integrated displays Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager October 21, 2019 The surface area devoted to displays in vehicle interiors is growing rapidly driven by increased vehicle automation and connectivity. In order to sustain this trend, displays and touch screens have to become much better integrated into the curved and shaped surfaces of the interior. At the same time, these new surface-integrated displays must meet strict automotive requirements some of which we discuss below. Read more Display technologies to watch in automotive Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager September 26, 2019 The automotive industry is increasingly one of the biggest adopters of new display technologies. Over the years we have seen analogue dashboards being replaced by digital dashboards, touch-screen infotainment systems being introduced and rear-seat entertainment displays becoming an add-on option for many models. Read more How LCDs work Paul Cain, Strategy Director September 17, 2019 You’re almost certainly reading this blog on a display, which is likely to consist of millions of pixels, each capable of displaying around a million colours. Read more Ultra-high contrast dual cell TVs Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager August 07, 2019 When it comes to TVs, display features such as resolution, colour, contrast and refresh rates are key considerations to consumers. Specifically, buyers may now be looking for high dynamic range (HDR) TVs, which are said to deliver more colours and better contrast levels compared with standard high definition (HD) sets. Read more Flexible displays – testing and reliability Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager July 29, 2019 The demand for flexible displays is growing as there are many existing and new applications that require displays that can be conformed and shaped to the product surface rather than the other way around. For example, smart speakers often have cylindrical shapes and need wrap around displays. Automotive interiors have many curved and shaped surfaces and require displays that are non-flat and non-rectangular to enable their seamless integration into the vehicle interior. Read more China’s rising dominance in flat panel display manufacturing Paul Cain, Strategy Director July 08, 2019 The growth in flat panel display (FPD) production capacity in China has been quite astounding over the past decade. Back in 2009 there was very little FPD capacity in China; Korea, Taiwan and Japan made nearly all of the world’s displays, with nearly half coming from Korea. This year, China’s capacity has risen to more than 153 million square meters according to IHS, representing just under half of the worldwide capacity for display production. Read more Flexible displays – a product differentiator or a gimmick? Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager June 12, 2019 Flexible displays have been much talked about in the last couple of years, but perhaps even more so in 2019 when some stunning applications of the technology were demonstrated for the first time. LG’s rollable OLED TV made a splash at CES 2019, followed by the launch of Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X foldable phones at MWC 2019. Read more Why certain plastic substrates are an ideal alternative to glass for LCD Paul Cain, Strategy Director May 29, 2019 Plastic substrates for flexible displays are well known for their mechanical benefits such as thinness, lightness and flexibility, but their optical advantages are less cited. This blog post aims to shed light on the optical advantages of using plastic substrates as an alternative to glass for LCD. Read more Reducing product weight with plastic OLCDs Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager May 01, 2019 When describing the benefits of plastic Organic LCDs (OLCDs) for end-user products, the focus is often on OLCD’s unique attributes such as conformability, shapeability and scalability which are required by many target applications such as consumer electronics, smart home appliances and automotive. As a matter of fact there are many applications for which the thinness and ultra-light weight of OLCD are equally or more important. Here I describe some of these applications. Read more Using active flexible displays for point-of-sale marketing Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager April 02, 2019 Have you noticed that when you enter a perfume shop you are often surrounded by free standing display units that promote the newest fragrances by popular brands? By giving perfume bottles a prominent place in the shop, or special packaging, brands are competing for the consumers’ attention and ultimately for more sales. You are likely to see a similar approach to product promotion in supermarkets and other retail shops. Read more What will make you trust your autonomous vehicle? Simon Jones, Commercial Director March 18, 2019 The time it will take for the majority of new vehicles to become fully autonomous is the subject of lively discussions within the automotive industry, with optimists and pessimists strongly debating the technical challenges. Read more Five technologies that are changing consumer electronics Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager March 12, 2019 In the fast-paced world of consumer electronics, new technologies are redefining the way we use our devices. Read more Breaking the glass ceiling for LCDs Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager February 26, 2019 We are all used to handling devices with glass displays and have accepted the limitations that are associated with their weight, breakability, rectangular shape and bulkiness. While some end-user applications may not be affected too much by these limitations, there are a lot of products for which a glass display creates design constraints and compromises the user experience. Luckily, new technologies are being developed which can eliminate those constraints and unlock design freedom, while also opening up new use cases – one such technology is plastic OLCD. Read more Breathing new life into existing LCD factories Paul Cain, Strategy Director February 05, 2019 The overall display market – a $120 billion industry, is primarily driven by smartphone displays and TVs, and new production capacity continues to be added to serve these segments. As a result of their very different requirements, these two display applications typically use different display backplane and frontplane technologies. Therefore they require different factories for manufacturing, not only because of their size difference, but also because of the different requirements for pixel size and resolution, refresh rate, viewing angle and lifetime. Read more CES 2019 – display technology trends to watch Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager January 21, 2019 This year’s CES didn’t disappoint – there were plenty of new products to see with 4500 exhibiting companies showing their innovations to over 180,000 attendees. CES also proved that flexible technology is rising higher in the list of design priorities for consumer electronics and automotive applications – from notebooks and keyboards, to wearables, batteries and home entertainment. Curved, flexible, rollable and foldable displays (read our blog to learn about the differences) continue to attract the media’s attention. Read more Implantable biosensors enabled by truly flexible electronics Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager January 07, 2019 Biosensors can be broadly divided into those that are used in medical laboratory diagnostic equipment and those that are used by individuals for health monitoring which are more commonly referred to point-of-care (POC) devices. POC devices can be further broken down into those that are worn on the body and those that are implanted. It is critical that wearable biosensors not only provide accurate data but are also comfortable to wear. It becomes even more important when those devices are implanted. Read more Making flexible displays with holes Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager December 17, 2018 Flexible displays open up new dimension of design opportunities that aren’t possible with rigid glass-based displays. Nowadays, users have come to expect touch capability from almost any display-enabled device, but, many devices still need certain buttons or knobs – for example in cars. This becomes a limitation when using rigid glass displays - designers need to allow for additional space for knobs or buttons outside the display area. This can waste space, compromise aesthetics and result in a bulky non-optimised design. Read more Displays without borders Paul Cain, Strategy Director November 30, 2018 The trend to reduce the size of the bezel on mobile devices has been a strong driver of innovation in display technology over the past few years. These bezels exist because electronics circuitry and wiring is needed around the edge of the displays to connect the pixels to the outside world. Read more Low temperature processing – a key enabler for large area flexible electronics Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager November 15, 2018 Mass manufacture of large area flexible electronics continues to be a challenging milestone for many to achieve. Conventional silicon or oxide based technologies have inherently high processing temperatures and aggressive vacuum and annealing steps that require the base substrate on which the devices are made to be of a particular grade to withstand such processing. Read more 5 things you need to know about flexible displays on plastic Paul Cain, Strategy Director October 30, 2018 Flexible plastic OLCD displays will soon be a commercial reality, offering exceptional display integration potential for an almost limitless range of applications. Here are the key things you need to know about this exciting technology. Read more Digital side-view mirrors come to life Simon Jones, Commercial Director October 16, 2018 Today’s vehicle side-view mirrors are large and mechanically complex systems that extend the width of the vehicle even when folded away when parked. Conventional wisdom has it that they add up to 7% to the car’s drag coefficient and, if you break one, they cost up to $500 to replace. So, it is no surprise that the industry is busily working to replace them with “digital” side-view mirrors using cameras and displays. Read more Adding freedom to car design October 02, 2018 When you get into the driver’s seat of a car, you’re likely to be confronted with two things. The first is a steering wheel, and the second is the dashboard instrument display. In newer cars, these instruments are often built into LCD displays, which also offer a growing range of other functions, including climate control, navigation and fuel economy data. Read more Activating surfaces – the future of smart homes Rouzet Agaiby, Business Development Manager September 18, 2018 Do a quick internet search for ‘smart home’ and you could spend the rest of your life reading all the available articles. Many concepts involve taking already existing products and integrating sensors and internet connectivity, allowing you to control everything from your doorbell to a personal entertainment system with your smartphone. While this is obviously an exciting future to consider, we think there is one missing ingredient – curved displays. Read more Choosing the right display technology for your product Paul Cain, Strategy Director September 03, 2018 Since the development of flat panel displays, products have often been designed around the display, rather than the other way round. In a car, for example, the only remaining flat surface is usually the integrated display – every other surface is curved. It’s easy to forget what a major design constraint the glass display component is. Read more Challenges and solutions for fingerprint sensor integration into end-user applications Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer August 20, 2018 The integration of biometrics into devices is becoming a key requirement particularly in products that use multi-user authentication or in devices that need to run confidential user information like mobile banking and payment. Fingerprint authentication is one of the most popular authentication methods and one that users have begun to associate with convenience. Read more The future of LCD is flexible Paul Cain, Strategy Director August 07, 2018 I’ve been in the display industry for the past 17 years, and I never cease to be amazed by the ability of LCD to reinvent itself. Time and again, as alternative display technologies emerge, questions arise about LCD’s future, prompting new developments that defy expectations and demonstrate its versatility. Read more The digital signage revolution Vincent Barlier, Senior Business Development Engineer July 23, 2018 The Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX is definitely one of my favourite airport terminals, and it’s worth taking a look if you have any interest in digital signage, or if you just want to experience what creative use of displays can do for advertising. Read more OLCD: A lower energy production process for displays Paul Cain, Strategy Director July 09, 2018 Most displays in our lives today are based on silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs), built onto glass substrates. Glass is used for several reasons: it is chemically inert, optically clear and extremely flat, but most importantly it can withstand the high temperatures (around 300°C or more) needed to build the silicon transistors. Read more Why conformable and shapeable Organic LCDs are a perfect fit for automotive HMIs Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager June 25, 2018 Automotive displays are one of the most important features of any car’s interior – they provide vehicle information to both drivers and passengers as well as being used for entertainment. Read more Smart home appliances: How flexible displays can add value to brands and consumers alike Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer May 30, 2018 Gone are the days when consumers were satisfied with their home appliances performing only basic functions and tasks. Now the average buyer is looking for more value and convenience, whether it’s multi-functionality or the ability to turn on appliances remotely via an app. Undoubtedly, the home appliances sector is undergoing a subtle transformation – state-of-the-art home appliances boast connectivity and interactivity features which aim to offer consumers an improved and more personalised experience. Read more Materials for flexible electronics – testing and qualification Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer May 02, 2018 The rise of the flexible electronics industry and the exciting applications it enables, continues to push the development of new materials that are inherently flexible while still matching or exceeding the performance of their non-flexible counterparts. Read more Flexible, conformable, rollable, foldable and shapeable displays explained Paul Cain, Strategy Director April 04, 2018 Last year I spoke at a panel session about flexible displays. One of the topics of discussion was the range of terminology used to describe “flexible displays”. In reality, when referring to flexible displays people use different terms which mean slightly different things. While there is no standard definition for each of these terms, this article explains their most common uses. Read more The technology that enables flexible, non-rectangular and shapeable displays Vincent Barlier, Senior Business Development Engineer March 05, 2018 With the exception of few circular displays mostly used in smartwatches, the standard display shape is rectangular and mainly suits products such as TVs, mobile phones and computers. There is a large range of rectangular display products where the same display format can be used for multiple applications. Display makers are forced to compete over display parameters such as resolution rather than introducing new display shapes that can enable new form factors. Read more The need for large area flexible displays in automotive interiors Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager February 06, 2018 The automotive industry has become one of the most dynamic industries today where innovation is key. In the past few years we have witnessed a real revolution in car digitalisation, connectivity and automation. With the advances in software and hardware, cars are changing in both function and design. Read more How smart home robots can shape the human-machine interaction Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer January 22, 2018 The hype around robots and the roles they will play in our lives is steadily growing. These roles can vary from being a digital personal assistant to doing our washing and cleaning. Read more 2017 highlights: Bringing flexible displays to market Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager December 18, 2017 It has been a busy 2017 here at FlexEnable and we have achieved some major breakthroughs. They have led to great engagement with clients and partners during the year, and have given us the opportunity to work on many exciting projects. Read more Five consumer electronics market segments that will benefit from flexible OLCDs Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer November 20, 2017 While the consumer electronics market is booming with new products being launched regularly, there seems to be a lack of diversity in terms of product designs and device form factor. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the designers’ toolkit hasn’t changed significantly over the past few years. Read more Seamless integration of fingerprint sensors into mobile phones Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer October 30, 2017 The adoption of biometrics in smartphones started with the introduction of fingerprint recognition technology in Apple’s iPhone 5 in 2013. Soon after many other smartphone OEMs started integrating fingerprint sensors, and more recently facial recognition, either as multi-modal or standalone user authentication solutions. Read more Flexible OLED display and flexible OLCD: How do these differ? Paul Cain, Strategy Director October 18, 2017 For most of us the first flat panel display in our lives was a TV or monitor. Ever since then the use cases have continued to grow, from smartphones and smartwatches to car dashboards and control panels, and new display technologies will only accelerate this. With the proliferation of smart home appliances, there are increasing number of new display applications, for example in voice-enabled devices and white goods. In the future, we can imagine displays being embedded into almost any object, bringing surfaces to life in ways not possible before. Read more Unlocking greater design freedom with flexible display technology Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager August 14, 2017 A flexible display is probably one of the most exciting applications of flexible electronics. Unlike many other components which remain hidden (e.g. driver electronics, batteries, memory), the display is visible and therefore forms an important part of the overall product appearance and aesthetic. Of course, this is linked to its main function which is to show content whether text, images or video. Read more Three key drivers for the adoption of biometrics in automotive Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer July 25, 2017 The way we access our cars today has shifted from the physical use of a key to keyless entry. But this does not guarantee that the person gaining access to the vehicle has the permission to do so. In addition to improving security, there is also a drive to personalise the user experience and this is possible with the use of biometrics. Read more Flexible organic LCD - Large area, high brightness and long lifetime Paul Cain, Strategy Director June 13, 2017 This year at SID Display Week, the industry was celebrating “30 years of OLEDs”, with several display makers showcasing latest versions of OLEDs, both glass-based and flexible. Alongside this it was also clear that LCD, continues to reinvent itself to maintain its dominance. BOE, JDI, AUO and Samsung showcased new LCDs as described in Sweta Dash’s article for Display Daily. Read more A beginner’s guide to fingerprint sensors Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer June 05, 2017 Prior to the iPhone 5s, consumers used to associate fingerprint imaging primarily with law enforcement and high security applications. As the adoption of fingerprint imaging in smartphones grew, users started to perceive fingerprint scanners as a useful and convenient feature from a security point of view. This article examines the dominant fingerprint sensor technologies and discusses some of the key trends in their use. Read more Scaling flexible plastic LCDs to volume production Mike Banach, Technical Director May 22, 2017 The dominant display technology for the last 20 years has been amorphous silicon-based liquid crystal displays (a-Si LCDs) on glass. Most of the customers for our organic LCDs (OLCDs) on plastic already source a-Si LCD modules for other products, so our messaging often focuses on the key differentiator between the two technologies. The key differentiator is the ability to conform the OLCD to the curved surfaces that are naturally present in cars, buildings, consumer electronics and wearable devices which is something that cannot be done with a-Si LCD. However, this is not the whole story. Read more Flexible displays: Three ways FlexEnable can help you with your product concept Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager May 08, 2017 Product companies often contact us because they need a solution for a new product design that incorporates an active display. While glass-based LCDs - the most popular display technology today - are available off-the-shelf in different sizes, they are flat and rigid so they cannot meet designers’ evolving requirements for next generation product designs. Read more Making X-ray detectors thin, light and flexible Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer April 18, 2017 Several market segments depend on X-ray imaging for non-destructive analysis. Read more Flexible electronics: Meet FlexEnable at leading industry events Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager April 03, 2017 Being at the forefront of innovation in flexible electronics means that FlexEnable’s experts actively participate in leading industry events across the globe. These events are a great platform for our team to exchange updates and ideas with supply chain and business partners. They are also an opportunity to showcase our latest developments in flexible displays and flexible sensors. Read more Five industries that will benefit from flexible fingerprint sensors Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer March 13, 2017 With security becoming a key concern for individuals and companies alike, biometrics will be playing an ever increasing role for identity verification. Read more LCD technology is here to stay, and now it’s plastic Paul Cain, Strategy Director March 07, 2017 I’m old enough to remember the transition to active matrix LCDs – which for me started in the mid 90’s when my CRT was upgraded to LCD in my office. Today, LCD is the most widely used display technology – with around 90% of the overall displays market (and even higher proportion for large displays such as TVs). Read more OTFT – Challenges and opportunities Paul Cain, Strategy Director February 08, 2017 I recently took part in a panel session at CADTFT 2016 in Beijing, discussing the topic of ‘organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) – challenges and opportunities’. Read more Bringing innovation to fingerprint sensors Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer February 01, 2017 Last year FlexEnable exhibited at Trustech - one of the largest events dedicated to payment, identification and security technologies. Read more The evolution of consumer electronics: Autonomous vehicles and digital assistants Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager January 25, 2017 When it comes to consumer electronics, there is an endless opportunity for innovation. Changing consumer behaviour and needs are providing both an incentive and a challenge for companies to redesign existing products, and create new concepts and use cases. Read more 2016 highlights: Our award-winning flexible displays and sensors Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager December 05, 2016 As 2016 is coming to an end we take a look at our company’s achievements in the past 12 months. Read more The evolution of smartcards Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer November 14, 2016 The two key criteria for smartcards are secure identity verification and ease of use. Having one at the expense of another is not acceptable. Read more Five flexible technologies that will bring greater design freedom November 07, 2016 The very idea that devices, specifically wearable devices, can be flexible means that some of the key component parts also need to be flexible. Read more Macro trends in automotive drive demand for conformed and shaped displays Simon Jones, Commercial Director October 10, 2016 Attending the SID Vehicle Displays event in Detroit recently brought home to me just how much change is coming to the auto industry. Read more Flexible fingerprint sensors: a game-changer for biometric applications Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer September 26, 2016 A large percentage of existing fingerprint sensors on the market use silicon technology due to its maturity as well as its established supply chain. Read more Flexible sensors: Expanding the reach of the Internet of Things September 19, 2016 As devices become more connected, consumers are presented with new use cases and levels of utility that weren’t possible until recently. Read more Taking flexible displays from lab to fab Paul Cain, Strategy Director August 22, 2016 Taking new technologies from lab to fab is never easy. Producing a flexible display requires a complex set of processes where throughput, yield, reliability and supply chain are all critical to a successful scale-up into mass production. Read more Enabling flexible electronics from the roll Mike Banach, Technical Director August 17, 2016 Roll to roll printing has been long considered the ultimate approach to the cost-effective manufacture of electronics over large and small areas. Read more How a new kind of tech will advance digital fashion August 01, 2016 It began many years ago with mood rings – jewellery whose appearance could magically change depending on the wearer’s mood. And do you remember Hypercolor T-shirts that changed colour with heat? Of course, there wasn’t any magic involved - both inventions worked by 'sensing' body temperature, and changing what was 'displayed' depending on those heat flutuations. Read more A beginner’s guide to flexible displays Paul Cain, Strategy Director July 11, 2016 A lot of scientific zest and engineering effort has gone into developing full-colour, video-rate flexible displays in the past few years. Truly flexible displays that can fold and roll may still be only available as concepts or prototypes, but curved and conformable displays are already a real option for product designers. Read more The evolution of digital signage – from flat displays to active surfaces Paul Cain, Strategy Director June 15, 2016 If we look around us on the street, in the shopping centre or at the airport, there are many cases where digital signage is already in use today. We are familiar with seeing large TV screens on buildings displaying videos, advertisements on buses, and flashy installations in malls - all competing for the consumer’s attention. Read more Improving interactivity with flexible displays Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager June 06, 2016 Foldable phones may still be a thing of the future, but thanks to flexible electronics a steady progress is being made in bringing new exciting hardware features to existing mobile technology. Bendable, glass-free screens like the organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) demonstrated by FlexEnable are now a real option for product designers. Read more High-performance OTFT technology – the way forward for flexible displays and flexible sensors Mike Banach, Technical Director May 23, 2016 Flexible electronics have captured the imagination of product designers for decades, but the transition from the drawing pad to reality has often left customers underwhelmed. Until now product makers and system integrators have been forced to compromise between performance and flexibility leaving the most attractive designs abandoned at the concept phase. Read more Bendy, rolled up, flexible displays - concept or reality? May 18, 2016 In this blog we take a look at three inspirational videos featuring visions on how flexible displays will change our lives and ask whether they will remain as concept designs or will technology actually help to turn them into reality. Read more Reshaping identity verification with flexible sensors Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer April 11, 2016 We are all required to go through identity verification processes several times a day in order to get access to things, be it our computers, our bank accounts or the ability to move across borders. Read more Activating surfaces with flexible displays March 21, 2016 ‘The rise of plastic and flexible displays will be accompanied by a shift from glass substrates to plastic substrates’* according to industry experts. Flexible displays bring a new degree of design freedom for product designers and we’ve been working with partners to develop the industrial process that will make them a mainstream technology. Read more Staying healthy with wearables March 08, 2016 Wearables have the potential to completely change the way we manage our own health, as well as improve how healthcare is delivered to us. Read more Organic LCD technology - paving the way to flexible displays Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager February 29, 2016 The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is over, but we expect that some of the new tech showcased at the event will be still talked about in the coming months. At FlexEnable, we are delighted that the wrist-worn, conformable OLCD we demonstrated has proven a hit and has challenged the conventional perceptions about flexible displays. People have been curious and intrigued by this bendable accessory and even the sceptics had to admit that it’s ‘oddly attractive’. Read more Weaving technology into your clothes February 08, 2016 Recently, we published a blog post in which some members of our management team shared their views on the future of flexible electronics. According to one of the predictions “wearable displays will spread beyond the wrist, inspiring new creative form factors and functions of wearable technology”. In this blog, we take a closer look at how flexible electronics is already being used in clothing and fashion. Read more The weird and wonderful world of wearables February 01, 2016 Amidst the fitness trackers and disease treatment gadgets are a range of wearables that are just starting to penetrate the market. CES 2016 was a global platform upon which many designers and producers showcased their latest wearable offerings. Read more Flexible electronics will drive new trends in 2016 and beyond January 18, 2016 The CES 2016 show is done and dusted, but it doesn’t mean that we won’t see more technology innovations as the year progresses. As experts in flexible electronics, we are naturally excited as to how our industry will change in 2016 and how advancements in flexible electronics will impact on other technologies such as wearable and mobile devices, automotive, packaging, healthcare and TV. Read more A year in organic electronics December 21, 2015 As is traditional at this time of year, we thought we would take a look back at our year in organic electronics and highlight a few key moments for the company as well as the industry. Read more The future of electronic displays: flexible, foldable and stretchable Mike Banach, Technical Director December 15, 2015 As we come to the end of another year, we thought we’d reflect on what we see as one of the fundamental developments due to hit the electronics industry in a few years’ time. Our focus lies in flexible electronics leading to a future with full colour, ultra-flexible, foldable, and even stretchable displays. Read more 5 innovative products that can be manufactured using flexible electronics December 08, 2015 At FlexEnable, we’re in the very fortunate position to have developed a strand of technology that has versatile applications. Our technology platform brings electronics to plastic sheets enabling the creation of a thin, light and robust backplane system. This flexible organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplane, just like any amorphous silicon-based backplane, is then combined with other elements in order to create a functional product. Read more Health monitoring – the importance of making wearable sensors ‘unawareable’ Paul Cain, Strategy Director December 01, 2015 The ability of wearables to offer real time monitoring could revolutionise the way the healthcare industry operates – with pre-emptive measures saving lives. Read more The future of X-ray technology Rouzet Agaiby, Senior Business Development Engineer November 23, 2015 Most of us have had an X-ray, whether it be for a broken leg, or just a quick snap of our teeth – the premise is fairly straightforward and mostly unchanged since the technology’s invention in the 19th century. Read more Uncovering the true potential of wearables – increasing users’ safety and productivity Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager November 19, 2015 Companies are becoming more inventive with wearable technology. Read more Bringing wearables to the mainstream with organic electronics technology November 16, 2015 We’ve all heard and read the hype around wearables. Whether you’ve developed a device, own one, are financing one or are considering buying one, it’s hard not to believe market analysts’ predictions that the wearable electronics business will grow from $20 billion in 2015 to almost $70 billion in 2025. Read more How wearable technology can keep you healthy November 11, 2015 Forget about workout phenomenon ‘Insanity’, or ‘hot yoga’, and put your newest running shoes back in their box – the latest fitness trend is most definitely the fitness wearable. Read more New trends: Flexible electronics and wearable technology Desi Aleksandrova, Marketing Communications Manager November 09, 2015 As our team prepares for the IDTechEx show in Santa Clara on 18-19 November 2015, I am taking a look at the wearable technology market that undoubtedly will be in the spotlight at this popular event. Read more Organic transistors (OTFT) - the key to flexible electronics Mike Banach, Technical Director November 03, 2015 Today, the use of the word 'silicon' is almost synonymous with the electrical device that has made the material ubiquitous, namely the field effect transistor. Read more How wearable technology is changing the workplace October 29, 2015 You'd be forgiven for thinking that wearables in the workplace is a recent occurrence but early adopters have been utilising the tech for over 20 years. Some of the first applications included belt- and wrist-mounted PCs for remote workers enabling more efficient working, and eventually devices became smaller, thinner and focused on wearer safety. Read more Technology that changed our lives: from touchscreens to flexible displays October 27, 2015 We’ve trawled through the invention timeline and have compiled what we think are the key tech advances that have shaped our lives today. Read more Was the future of ‘Back to the Future’ all it was cracked up to be? October 22, 2015 Back in the '80s, 2015 really did seem like a futuristic world away. In a brand new millennium, we expected flying cars, 'Beam me up Scotty' type transporters, and of course, hoverboards. 'Why?' you ask, are we talking science fiction? - well yesterday was Back to the Future Day, and news streams were filled with the media frenzy that surrounded 21 October 2015 so we thought we'd see what all the fuss was about. Read more Not waiting for OLED: Conformed, plastic LCDs coming to your car soon! Simon Jones, Commercial Director October 12, 2015 We have had a fascinating few weeks talking to leading automotive brands and their tier 1 suppliers about plastic conformable displays for car interiors. The trend in car displays is ever increasing size, and this is one of the factors that is making this an interesting, high-growth segment for display manufacturers. Read more To conform or not to conform? Breaking away from the constraints of glass Paul Cain, Strategy Director September 23, 2015 In my world, flexible displays are the key enabling component for the next generation of techie gadgets. In order to unlock the full potential of new markets such as wearables, we need thinner, lighter and more robust electronics, and today, organic transistors are emerging as the winning ingredient. Read more Changing the manufacturing paradigm for electronics Mike Banach, Technical Director August 25, 2015 One of the things that has been so striking about my time in the electronics industry has been the number of conversations I have had about the art of manufacturing. Read more Taking the ‘weight’ out of a plane journey Paul Cain, Strategy Director August 07, 2015 Flexible displays will undoubtedly change the face of the next wave of electronics (as well as the face our watches), and there are countless applications enabled by the flexibility, ruggedness or thinness of the display - that bring subtle but significant benefits to the user. Read more Making wearables wearable Paul Cain, Strategy Director June 22, 2015 Do you own a wearable? Is it a fitness bracelet? Or perhaps a smartwatch? I had one. I used it for a few weeks before it was left in the place where technology goes to die – the bottom of my sock drawer. It seems I am not alone. Read more The beginning of our flexible future Paul Cain, Strategy Director June 10, 2015 Last week, anyone who's anyone in the displays industry descended on San Jose to convene for this year's annual SID Display Week event. Read more You’ve heard of wearables but what about everywhereables…? Indro Mukerjee, Chairman May 26, 2015 Recently I was invited to give a keynote at the Printed Electronics Europe in Berlin, an important, well-attended industry conference with a high proportion of attendees being technology users and developers from major companies. Read more Taking the wonder material from Lab to Fab Indro Mukerjee, Chairman May 13, 2015 Graphene has been known as the wonder material for some years now. It’s very strong, very flexible and very conductive, which is a pretty fantastic combination, all in all. Read more The time is now for wearable technology Indro Mukerjee, Chairman April 27, 2015 What do you think about wearable technology? Love it? Hate it? 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