The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP and Von Ardenne will intensify their cooperation in the field of the coating of flexible glass. Due to its properties, this new material is ideally suited as a substrate for various applications in flexible electronics. Since October 2016, the two partners have been operating the roll-to-roll coating system FOSA LabX 330 Glass.
 
This new machine was developed for processing flexible glass by the equipment manufacturer Von Ardenne. It is the first of its kind worldwide. As all the components of the system are working very precisely, the sensitive glass can be wound, heated and coated. As the material is thinner than one-tenth of a millimeter, enormous technological expertise is required to guarantee the reliability of the process.
 
Within the KONFEKT project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (funding reference number 13N13818), the two partners seek to open up new fields of application and to demonstrate the efficiency of the system. Schott AG and Tesa SE, who are also involved in this project, provide, optimize and ensure the further processing of the substrate material.
 
LOPEC 2017 will take place on March 29-30, 2017 in Munich. There, Fraunhofer FEP will present coating samples of the FOSA LabX 330 Glass for the first time. Von Ardenne will introduce the machine at its booth.
 
“We have achieved excellent results on this system already during the first tests with transparent electrodes,” said Dr. Matthias Fahland, deputy manager of the business area Flat and Flexible Products at the Fraunhofer FEP.
 
The high quality of the coatings reached with the FOSA LabX 330 Glass is the basis for high-quality electrodes for organic light emitting diodes (OLED). These electrodes power organic light emitting diodes (OLED) with a size of up to 30 cm × 30 cm in a steady manner.