Fabrication of high aspect ratio nanostructures for reflective display

现代显示器，如LCD和OLED显示器是发射显示器，这意味着它们必须发射和操纵自己的光才能显示图像。这是他们的问题的根本原因：它需要大量的电力来不断产生光，显示器可以消耗高达约50%的电池寿命;如果显示器在户外使用，从屏幕反射的日光会降低显示器的可实现对比度，甚至使其无法读取。反射式显示器是这些问题的答案。因为它们反射当前环境中的光，所以反射式显示器不需要浪费能量来产生自己的光。 此外，由于反射式显示器的亮度与有多少光落在其上成比例，因此这些显示器即使在阳光直射下也很容易阅读。然而，迄今为止，大多数反射式显示器具有高制造成本和差的颜色质量。 最近，一种新颖的显示器架构由支持公司Thalo Inc.设计。考虑到成本、亮度和色彩质量。高反射背板提供所需的高亮度，对反射光谱的额外控制提供高色彩质量。这将是理想的设备，具有低电池消耗和/或用于各种照明，包括智能手表和其他可穿戴设备，以及摩托车和飞机的车辆性能读数。 当前项目的目标是建立一个彩色层，用于验证Thalo显示器设计的概念。该层由纳米级光栅结构组成，每个像素的顶部都有电极图案。这个合作研究项目将在滑铁卢大学的研究小组和Thalo Inc.之间建立第一个和潜在的长期联系，一家总部位于滑铁卢的公司。该项目的成功将有助于加拿大公司通过开发和实施新技术加强其市场地位。

Modern displays such as LCD and OLED displays are emissive displays, meaning they must emit and manipulate their own light in order to display an image. This is the root cause of their problems: it takes a lot of power to constantly be producing light and a display can drain up to about 50% of the battery life; and if the display is used outdoors, the daylight reflecting from the screen degrades the achievable contrast of the display or even make it unreadable. Reflective displays are the answer to these problems. Because they reflect the light that is currently in the environment, reflective displays do not need to waste energy producing their own light. Furthermore, because a reflective display's brightness is proportional to how much light is falling on it, these displays are easy to read even in direct sunlight. However, most reflective displays to date have suffered from high manufacturing costs and poor color quality. Recently, a novel display architacture was designed by the supporting company Thalo Inc. with cost, brightness and color quality in mind. A highly reflective backplane provides the high brightness needed, and additional control of the reflection spectrum gives high color quality. It would be ideal for devices which have low battery consumption and/or which are used in varied lighting, including smart watches and other wearables, and vehicle performance readouts for motorcycles and airplanes. The objective of the current project is to build one color layer for proof of concept of Thalo's display design.The layer consists of nanoscale grating structures with electrode patterned atop for each pixel. This collaborative research project will establish a first and potentially long-term linkage between the research group at the University of Waterloo and Thalo Inc., a Waterloo-based company. The success of this project will help Canadian companies to strengthen their market position through the development and implementation of novel technologies.