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Flexible, Stretchable LEDs Promise Better Displays

Eric Bland, Discovery News

The scientists created the super skinny LEDs by same way LEDs have been manufactured for years, but with one change. Starting with a wafer, the scientists deposited the light emitting materials onto the hard surface. Between the LED layers and the wafer the scientists inserted a "sacrificial layer," according to Rogers.

The wafer template, which is usually destroyed in the process, can then be reused, which should make cheaper inorganic LEDs to manufacture.

The middle, sacrificial layer can be dissolved away and the LED lifted off with a rubber stamp and deposited on plastic, rubber or glass substrates.

"The fact that they can put the LEDs on almost any substrate is very exciting," said Ali Javey, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

"This technology is probably scalable (to mass production). It needs to be demonstrated, but I don't see any show-stoppers in that regard."

One of the first uses of the material could be as a brake light in car bumpers. Part of the funding for the research came from car manufacturer Ford to develop a flexible red inorganic LED.

The Science paper only details red inorganic LEDs, but Rogers said he has unpublished data where he has produced blue, white, infrared and other colored inorganic LEDs.

There are a multitude of other potential applications for flexible and colored LED. Televisions, roll-up computer screens, light emitting elastic headbands and much more could be possible during the next few years, according to Rogers.

Discovery Tech

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