Plastic and flexible displays as well as carbon nanotube-based devices will be on the cards when nanotechnology is used in flat panel displays. Currently, manufacturers and consumers are forced to make a number of compromises with regard to LCDs, but all of this should change when nanotechnology provides improved visual quality and even thinner screens. All of this should become mainstream within 5 years.
Nanomarkets expects plastic and flexible displays as well as carbon nanotube-based devices to have a substantial impact on the industry.
The new breed of thin displays is currently available in very limited numbers for example in LEDs, book reader devices in Japan, and in-car dashboard applications. The time frame between 2006 and 2008 will bring flexible displays in notebooks, CNTs for TVs, cellphones and PDAs, and advertising screens. Nanomarkets expects the devices to become mainstream for virtually all screens 2010.