Is This The Dashboard Of The Future? Flexible See Through Electronics

A new dashboard made of flexible plastic and oxide layer could in the future be integrated into the car front window to give the driver direct information

In the MULTIFLEXIOXIDES project scientist have developed new cost-efficient, long lasting, light, flexible and transparent devices which can display information directly on the windscreen. This is only possible by using small glass pads with a transparent substrate of nano-sized flexible oxides, which act as a basis for organic LED (light-emitting diode).  

The MULTIFLEXOXIDES project aims to address these materials and processing challenges so as to retain Europe's status at the forefront of flexible electronics, developing so radically new ceramic thin films,(amorphous or nanostructured) which can be utilised as flexible and transparent conducting, semiconducting and insulating device components. Their inorganic nature should result in environmentally stable and long lifetime devices and systems.

The aim of the scientists is to integrate the new developed chip LED displays on the windscreen of a car. These new lights have a higher luminance compared to traditional bulbs and they also last up to ten times longer and cost less. With this innovative technology it will be possible to display the information of the dashboard directly onto the windscreen.

Credit:  youris.com

The transparent lights will not only revolutionize the design of windscreens and dashboards of the cars, they will also improve the safety on the road. That will be only possible because of the flexibility of the used material and its transparency

Features such as transparency and flexibility promise the emergence of a plethora of new application spaces in sectors ranging from the automotive to computer based industries, where applications will be based on the discreetness of the devices as much as the electronic functionality. The flexible nature of devices will have impact on both the device application space and also on the manufacturing of flexible electronics. The use of flexible plastic substrates will facilitate a migration away from fab based batch processing to large area, roll to roll manufacturing technology which is perceived as offering a significant advantage in terms of reduced cost with increased throughput due to fewer manufacturing steps and as such will have tremendous industrial impact. 

There are significant challenges to overcome in order to enable the vision of low cost, environmentally friendly manufacturing and to achieve high performance electronic devices with the required mechanical and optical attributes. The technology barriers to be overcome include: the development of radically new materials which can offer the electronic, mechanical and optical properties required: the development of novel deposition techniques which enable low temperature, large area processing on flexible substrates: the development of non‐fab based low temperature patterning techniques on flexible substrates. 

 

Contacts and sources:
by Corinna Luecke

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