Samsung's Youm Flexible AMOLED Displays by Mid-2013

Samsung plans to incorporate Youm flexible AMOLED displays in its devices in the first half of 2013. Youm flexible displays will be constructed on a plastic (polyimide) substrate that will have the ability to resist high temperatures of up to 350 to 400 degrees, according to Oled-Info. The main advantage of a polyimide substrate is its flexibility and thinness.

YOUM is said to be thinner, lighter and unbreakable than the typical AMOLED display. The technology is employed to create wraparound displays which would include two or more surfaces. Thereby, the device will have a regular front screen which will continue around to the side.

The technology will be flexible, robust and non-breakable making it stand apart from the rest of the crowd.

The DDaily reports the company has plans to implement a hybrid patterning process that includes fine-metal-mask (FMM) technology for producing blue pixels and laser induced thermal imaging (LITI) for red and green pixels.

According to DDaily, an industry official claims that if Samsung is able to solve the yield issue by the end of 2012, then there could be a possibility of its first smartphones featuring Youm flexible AMOLED displays to arrive sometime in the first half of 2013.

"However, there are only a limited number of products that have been produced in the pilot (pilot production) line," said an industry official, according to the report.

In May, Samsung claimed that it was getting huge orders from electronics goods makers for its futuristic line-up of flexible OLED displays.

"We will be mass producing flexible OLED displays from the latter half of this year as the demand from our clients is significant,'' Samsung Electronics Vice-Chairman Kwon Oh-Hyun is quoted as saying.

The company reportedly plans to produce 960,000 OLED sheets but it is not clear if the figure is monthly or yearly capacity.

Samsung is not the only company to produce flexible displays. It is reported that LG plans to produce unbreakable OLED displays by the end of 2013. It is said to use the same technology as Samsung's flexible prototypes.