The Impact of Thermal Stress, Mechanical Stress and Environment on Dimensional Reproducibility of Polyester Film during Flexible Electronics Processing

DuPont Teijin $Films^{TM}$ (DTF) have developed engineered substrates specifically for the flexible electronics market. $Teonex^{(R)}$ Q65, $Melinex^{(R)}$ ST506 and ST504 are biaxially oriented crystalline polyesters with the option of planarised surfaces. These films are emerging as competitive materials for the base substrate in OLED displays and active matrix backplanes. Given the demanding dimensional reproducibility requirements in the display applications, it is critical to control the several factors that can influence the film distortion in order to achieve the ultimate performance. This paper will discuss the impact of thermal stress, mechanical stress and the processing environment on dimensional reproducibility of polyester film and give examples of how this impacts on the film in device manufacture.