ITRI has announced its roll-to-roll (R2R) process on 100um flexible glass substrates at FPD International. Drawing inspiration from the R2R process used to create newspapers, ITRI's manufacturing technique overcame previous R2R manufacturing facility and process integration difficulties. ITRI said it is the first in the world to successfully demonstrate a complete R2R process and ultra-thin glass touch module process developed for 100um flexible glass substrates.
ITRI and Corning have been working together since 2011 to develop the R2R technology for flexible glass. Using ITRI's development experience on R2R processing of plastic substrates, combined with Corning's expertise in glass handling, ITRI and Corning developed specially designed R2R machines that produce touch panel modules on Corning Willow Glass, a flexible display-grade glass substrate. ITRI is seeking companies that are interested in accepting a transfer of this technology for their own Willow Glass processing, with the expectation that this processing technology could extend to applications, such as flexible touch panels, flat panel displays, solar panels and OLED lighting.
When compared to plastic substrates, Corning's Willow Glass provides a flat, smooth, stable and optically clear surface. It does not stretch, scratch or degrade the way plastic does when subjected to the processes needed to make high-quality devices. ITRI's R2R technology is the first scalable device patterning process successfully developed for flexible glass. ITRI's stable transmission R2R technology produces precise alignment of 100um environmentally friendly Willow Glass, enabling touch patterning to be directly fabricated on the glass. Such a continuous R2R production replaces the traditional single-station sheet-to-sheet production, and it also eliminates the conventional grinding process from 400um to 200um thickness, ITRI said.
ITRI's R2R process technology using Willow Glass is capable of producing thinner and lighter designs that can be bent to a curve. This combination of continuous processing and flexible glass will make low-cost processing of thinner and lighter touch modules, smartphones, tablet PCs, notebooks, OLED lighting, solar cells and mobile touch-control devices a reality, ITRI added.
Article translated by Alex Wolfgram
