Direct Fabrication of a-Si:H Thin Film Transistor Arrays on Plastic and Metal Foils for Flexible Displays

In this paper we describe solutions to address critical challenges in direct fabrication of amorphous silicon thin film transistor TFTs arrays for high information content active matrix flexible displays for Army applications. For all flexible substrates a manufacturable handling protocol in automated display-scale equipment is required. For metal foil substrates the principal challenges are planarization and electrical isolation, and management of coefficient of thermal expansion induced stress CTE mismatch during TFT fabrication. For plastic substrates the principal challenge is dimensional instability management.