AmorphousSilicon
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AUO's flexible e-paper to take on Stretch Armstrong in battle of the bendiest
There's nothing better than unplugging on a Sunday afternoon with a newspaper and a cup of Joe, which is exactly what AU Optronics hopes to facilitate with its 6-inch Rollable Organic TFT E-paper. We've heard rumblings about the foldable photovoltaic device before, but the company has finally delivered a working prototype that is completely solar powered and elastic enough to make even Gumby jealous. Made of organic TFTs, the SVGA e-paper has an amorphous silicon PV battery, which turns natural or indoor light into solar energy without requiring a power plug. The only downside? Unlike the dead tree variety, wrapping presents in this stuff is a no-go. Check out the extended PR after the break.
Hitachi's 4.5-inch IPS HD display delivers 329ppi on the cheap courtesy of amorphous silicon backplane
It's been awhile, but earlier this year Hitachi unveiled a beautiful new 4.5-inch IPS LCD sporting 1280 x 720 resolution, a 1,100:1 contrast ratio and a retina display-like 329ppi. Well, in the time since, Hitachi's been hard at work on a virtually identical version of that screen that uses amorphous silicon instead of low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) as its backplane material. What's the difference? Well, amorphous silicon's much cheaper to produce than LTPS, and the company figured out a way to use it in its new panel with only a scant drop in performance -- the new one's got a lower 1,000:1 contrast ratio, but all the other specs are the same. So, the screen's a comparative bargain while still providing 4.5 inches of 500-nit HD goodness. Thanks, Hitachi, we always did like eating our cake and having it too.
RiTdisplay begins producing inexpensive a-Si AMOLED displays for smartphone makers
Sure, you'd expect to find an amorphous silicon backplane behind your LCD, but RiTdisplay has now begun producing a-Si AMOLED displays that, according to the company, are a world's first. Developed in conjunction with Ignis Innovation, the 3.5-inch panel was first unveiled at last month's SID Display Week, where it beamed images in 320 x 480 resolution. RiT says its a-Si-based AMOLED screens are relatively inexpensive to produce, potentially posing an alternative to its LTPS-backplaned brethren. The company has already begun manufacturing the displays for undisclosed smartphone makers, though there's no word yet on when we can expect to see them pop up in commercial devices. But if the technology proves to be as cost-effective as RiT claims, it could go a long way toward patching up that AMOLED shortage -- as long as you're not too picky about resolution. Brief PR after the break.
Samsung & LG HDTV prototypes battle for supremacy
Samsung and LG are locked in a tight race for "best HDTV you won't be buying this year or next" this week at the International Meeting on Information Display 2008, trading shots with OLEDs, LCDs and more. Samsung brought along an upgraded version of its true 240Hz 15-inch Blue Phase LCD panel with improved image quality, some fresh carbon nanotube-based color electronic paper, plus slimmed-down versions of its 40- and 50-inch LCDs. Then it got busy with the OLEDs, dropping in a 14-inch HD display, 31-inch 1080p display and 5-inch VGA panel, to which LG could only respond with the above 19-inch OLED powered by amorphous silicon TFT. More stills of the carnage exist beyond the read link, but in the battle of display tech streeting in 2011 at the earliest, we just hope LG is holding back a few surprises for CES.[Via OLED-Display, thanks Erik]
NEC busts out "world's highest resolution" LCD
The leapfrog game played by manufacturers wanting to hold that oh-so-coveted "world's largest" claim has spread from megapixels to HDTVs, and now onto resolution. This time around, however, NEC is simply outdoing itself, as its latest 21.3-inch a-Si (amorphous silicon) LCD rocks an astounding 2,800 x 2,100 resolution. The previous "record" holder was NEC's NL256204AM15-01/01A, whose sesquipedalian model number was only trumped by its prodigious 2,560 x 2,048 pixel count. The panel also sports the company's own "super-fine TFT (SA-SFT)" technology, which enables a brightness of 1000 cd/m2 and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. If you're mulling over picking one of these up to really show off that kilowatt-burning quad SLI setup, you should probably know that this uber-fine monitor comes in monochrome only, as its sole purpose (for now) is to examine detailed medical imagery such as digitized X-rays. It's probably for the best, though, as we don't envision these black and white bad boys coming in cheap at any rate.[Via TGDaily]
