Sharp and NHK jointly develop rollable OLED screens to compete with LG?

After LG debuted its rollable OLED TV screen, Sharp was not to be outdone and jointly developed a 30-inch, 4K resolution rollable OLED screen with NHK.

The rollable OLED screen jointly developed by Sharp and NHK has a size of 30 inches, a resolution of the mainstream 3840×2160, a refresh rate of 60Hz, and a thickness of only 0.5mm and a weight of 100g, which is less than half the weight of an iPhone 11 Pro Max. It can be rolled into a cylinder with a diameter of 4cm and can be integrated into various home appliances.

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In the cooperation between the two parties, Sharp's Japanese factory is responsible for producing the screen using the vapor deposition method. In order to make it rollable, a thin-film substrate and IGZO driving technology are used. Each pixel is composed of RGB sub-pixels. NHK is responsible for image processing technology to improve the brightness uniformity and clarity of moving objects in the picture. According to the plan, Sharp and NHK will exhibit the rollable OLED prototype at Intel's 2019 BEE trade show held in Chiba, Japan from November 13 to 15.

Sharp said that by using a thin film substrate, the thickness of this 4K OLED panel is only 0.5mm, and the screen can be stored in the base like a roll of paper (the radius after rolling up is about 2cm). This 4K OLED panel uses IGZO thin film transistors, and by utilizing HNK signal processing and panel driving technology, it can improve the uniformity of screen brightness and the clarity of animation.

Sharp pointed out that the company became Japan's first OLED panel manufacturer for mass-produced smartphones in June 2018, and will continue to promote the research and development of more advanced technologies and explore the future of panels.