SBIR Phase II: Amorphous Metal Nonlinear Resistor Applications for Liquid Crystal Display Backplanes

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是简化显示器背板制造流程，从而为每年损失数十亿美元的显示器行业节省成本。作为这一二期项目的一部分，正在开发的技术有可能在功耗、图像亮度和质量以及色彩丰富等关键液晶显示器(LCD)性能领域超越当前的薄膜晶体管(TFT)背板技术。该项目的愿景是通过使用先进的材料和新颖的电子设备，重新定义显示器的成本、可制造性和性能。除了对LCD行业产生巨大的经济影响外，通过该项目开发的基于非晶态金属和金属氧化物的技术将使柔性玻璃显示器的卷到卷生产在技术和经济上都是可行的。启用卷到卷的“灵活”工厂可能会将显示器制造重新引入美国。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目通过消除半导体成分并依靠创新材料实现的量子隧道传导来控制LCD背板，挑战了传统的显示器行业实践。作为该项目的一部分开发的相对简单的隧道设备与行业对日益复杂的半导体和制造工艺的关注形成鲜明对比，以满足超高清电视的性能要求，同时降低成本。通过使用非晶态金属薄膜，可以在LCD背板中使用这些结构较不复杂的隧道器件。该二期项目的目标是开发一个包含非晶态金属薄膜隧道器件的原型显示器，并从灰阶控制、功耗和最大刷新率方面评估其性能。预计非晶金属隧道器件可以在这三个领域超越当前的TFT技术，实现12位灰阶精度，增加亚像素孔径比，并消除对半导体材料的需求。该样机的结果将证实该技术的核心价值主张，非晶态金属薄膜器件在降低制造成本和提高工厂产能的同时改善了超高清性能。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to simplifying the display backplane manufacturing process and thereby deliver cost savings to a display industry annually losing billions of dollars. The technology being developed as part of this Phase II project has the potential to outperform current thin film transistor (TFT) backplane technologies in key Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) performance areas such as power consumption, image brightness and quality, and color richness. The vision of this project is to redefine the cost, manufacturability and performance of displays through the use of advanced materials and novel electronics. Beyond dramatic economic implications for the LCD industry, the amorphous metal and metal oxide-based technologies developed through this project will enable a technically and economically viable path to roll-to-roll production of flexible glass displays. Enabling a roll-to-roll "flex" factory could reintroduce display manufacturing to the United States. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project challenges conventional display industry practice by eliminating semiconductor content and relying on quantum tunneling conduction enabled by innovative materials to control the LCD backplane. The relatively simple tunneling devices developed as part of this project contrast with the industry's focus on increasingly complex semiconductors and manufacturing processes to meet the performance demands of UHD TV while reducing cost. The use of these structurally less complex tunneling devices in the LCD backplane has been enabled through the use of amorphous metal thin-films. The objective of this Phase II project is to develop a prototype display incorporating amorphous metal thin-film based tunneling devices and to evaluate its performance in terms of gray-scale control, power consumption, and maximum refresh rate. It is anticipated that amorphous metal tunneling devices can outperform current TFT technologies in these three areas by enabling 12-bit gray-scale accuracy, increasing the sub-pixel aperture ratio, and eliminating the need for semiconductor materials. The results from this prototype will confirm the technology's core value proposition, amorphous metal thin-film devices improve UHD performance while reducing manufacturing cost and increasing factory capacity.