PHOENIX, Feb. 7, 2006-- A substrate system for flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) being developed by GE Global Research will be the topic of a presentation at the Flexible Displays & Microelectronics Conference, being held this week in Phoenix, Ariz. The system features a developmental high-temperature Lexan polycarbonate film from GE Plastics combined with a transparent, ultrahigh-barrier coating to help protect the OLED device against oxygen and moisture. GE said the research, which is jointly funded by the US Display Consortium (USDC) and GE, is designed to address the critical need for plastic substrates that can enable cost-effective, lightweight, flexible organic displays. Min Yan, GE materials scientist, will give a presentation on the new substrate system, which is being produced in batch mode and will ultimately be moved to a roll-to-roll process for cost efficiency. In addition, GE Plastics is featuring a variety of plastic films for electrical/electronic display applications during the exhibition. Fabricating an OLED on a plastic substrate instead of glass offers a number of design and usage benefits, GE said in a statement. "A plastic substrate is rugged, lighter in weight, easier to transport and suitable for high-volume manufacturing that can lower systems costs. And this flexibility enables new display designs and configurations not currently envisioned in current rigid displays," the company said. The GE system uses the high-temperature resistance and clarity of transparent Lexan film -- properties that enable the 125-micron-thick substrate to withstand the heat involved in OLED fabrication and to allow optimal light transmission from the device. The unique graded organic/inorganic barrier coating, which is applied using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, meets the stringent requirements for fabricating OLEDs. The transparent coating prevents degradation of the device from oxygen, moisture, chemicals and electrical conductivity while promoting light transmission. In 2006, with funding from USDC, GE said it will focus on optimizing roll-to-roll barrier coating processes and will evaluate the economic feasibility of its coated plastic substrate system in a wide variety of display applications. For more information, visit: www.geplastics.com