Flexible Displays: Key Emerging Trends and reliability challenges

In 2007, Apple introduced the first smartphone based on LDC displays. These LDC displays have multiple rigid layers which add thickness to the product. Later on, glass OLED was introduced with fewer layers that could help to decrease the product thickness. Now with the help of plastic/flexible OLED curved edges are possible and now even different form factors like foldable and rollable products are in the market. Recently, foldable/flexible consumer electronic devices are becoming popular; however, the reliability of these devices are still not as mature as conventional (rigid) devices. With incorporating thin cover window film/glass for curved and foldable devices, new failure modes (Crease, delamination, buckling, scratches, low energy impact, …) have been highlighted and consequently new reliability tests should be defined to correctly assess the performance of foldable/flexible displays.