FlexEnable (which was spun-off from Plastic Logic in February 2015) has joined the Graphene Flagship, the European $1 billion graphene research project. Last year Plastic Logic demonstrated the world's first display based on a graphene backplane (a 150-PPI active-matrix E Ink panel), and now we have some more details on the company's graphene OTFT goals.
That 2014 E Ink display used graphene as a transparent electrode. FlexEnable is still developing the technology, and now wants to use it in OLED displays and organic LCDs.
FlexEnable also wants to use the highly conductive graphene material to make display backplanes. OTFT backplanes offer several advantages over silicon or Oxide-Metal TFTs - they are easier to process in lower temperatures and are highly flexible. Graphene has the potential to create a step change in the performance you can achieve with flexible transistors.
FlexEnable is looking into two alternatives to create transistor behavior in graphene (which does not have a bandgap in its natural state). One is using other two dimensional materials that do have a bandgap (Molybdenum disulfide is one example). The other solution is to introduce a bandgap to graphene, which can be done for example by using graphene ribbons or by doping the material. Now that FlexEnable is part of the graphene flagship, they seek to find development partners that will enable them to develop these graphene-based OTFTs.
