Matching Application-Specific Frontplanes With Generic Backplanes

Beyond displays, large-area flexible electronics face a fragmented market. To explore new applications even only in the laboratory their fabrication must be simplified. One route is to interface application-specific frontplanes, commercially available or custom-fabricated, with generic active-matrix backplanes. This survey identifies applications that can be demonstrated by this approach, at least at the laboratory level. The feasibility of such demonstrations depends much on the technique that is available for frontplane-to-backplane alignment and attachment. If alignment tolerances are unimportant or generous lamination often is a straightforward technique. Applications that need accurate alignment, or interfaces that contain thin layers, demand fabrication as fully-integrated structures.