A South Korean university research team has developed technology that could lead to mass-produced wearable computers or flexible displays.

The research team, led by professor Noh Yong-young of Dongguk University, developed bar-coating technology that helps produce thin-film organic semiconductors more easily, according to a statement from the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning.

The technology is likely to be applied to flexible lighting and displays, as well as wearable computers such as watches or eye glasses. Currently, global display makers like Samsung and LG have not been successful at mass producing flexible OLED TVs and smartphones due to low profitability.

“When you use the bar-coating process, you can produce flexible displays or wearable computers at a lower cost,” the professor said. “It has opened up new possibilities for mass production in printing electronics.”

As the conventional manufacturing process of flexible displays is similar to that of rigid electronics products, it was costly and time consuming. Engineers put flexible plastic over glass for manufacturing, and then removed it later.

Noh’s printing method, however, uses roll-to-roll continuous manufacturing processes, which enables fully printed large-area electronic and optoelectronic devices. It is reported to be effective for producing high-performance devices and circuits.

The process is reported to be ten times more efficient than the existing process.

This research has been supported by the global frontier business initiated by the Science Ministry. The paper was published in Advanced Materials, a Germany-based scientific journal covering materials science on Wednesday. Related technologies were patented in Korea last year, and they are pending at the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)