TMCnet News

Samsung Electronics Introduces Advanced Mobile and Digital Information Displays at SID 2006
[June 03, 2006]

Samsung Electronics Introduces Advanced Mobile and Digital Information Displays at SID 2006


SEOUL, South Korea --(Business Wire)-- June 4, 2006 -- Samsung Electronics, the world's largest provider of thin-film transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, will introduce a 3.5" LCD with embedded touch screen, and the first-ever 7" LCD driven by a single chip, at the 2006 Society for Information Display International Symposium and Exhibition(SID) in San Francisco, California, USA.



Also at SID, one of the world's largest events dedicated to displays, Samsung is unveiling widescreen versions of 24", 27" and 30" monitors for specialty-market, digital information displays, as well as a 21.3" black-and-white monitor with clearer X-ray viewing for medical applications.

3.5" Panel


The new 3.5" LCD, referred to as the 3.5" hTSP (hybrid Touch Screen Panel), features qVGA resolution and a built-in touch screen. Normally, an LCD panel with touch screen must have a separate printed circuit board (PCB) attached to the top of the LCD panel that contains sensor circuitry. Now, Samsung has eliminated this requirement by including all sensor circuitry within the panel. As a result, mobile devices designed with the new 3.5" display can be thinner and lighter, while maintaining a bright, high contrast image.

Adding to production cost efficiencies, the company produced the touch screen circuitry inside the new panel using the same thin-film transistor (TFT) processing that it uses today in mass production at existing LCD facilities.

The new LCD panel can be applied to a wide range of portable applications that require a touch screen, such as navigation terminals for vehicles, and personal media players (PMPs). Future applications will include smart phones, PDA phones, ultra-mobile PCs and other multimedia mobile products.

7" LCD with single chip

Samsung also is showcasing the industry's first 7 inch single-chip LCD display at SID 2006. The new display, completed in May, boasts a high (WVGA) resolution of 800x480 pixels.

The display uses Samsung's proprietary amorphous silicon gate technology, which allows the gate IC function to be built directly onto the glass panel. The time controller function also is built into the driver IC, reducing the circuitry footprint and the number of parts by about one-third. This allows engineers to design finished mobile products that are simpler in how they function and thinner in shape.

The embedded digital LCD chip also simplifies the task of circuit design in the finished product. Seven inches is now the most common size LCD screen used for digital multimedia broadcasting handsets, PMPs and car navigation systems.

Wider, Larger Monitors

The new monitors that will be exhibited by Samsung at SID 2006 are wider than most of the standard-aspect-ratio panels available today and offer increased functionality, which is helping to blur the distinction between consumer electronics and IT network products.

The monitors have a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:10 in 24", 27" and 30" diagonal sizes.

Medical Monitor

Samsung also anticipates a great deal of interest at SID in a 21.3" black-and-white monitor that will be used in medical applications. Featuring greatly enhanced brightness and a 2000:1 contrast ratio, made possible by a unique Samsung pixel configuration, the medically applicable display can be used as an alternative to X-ray film. The new Samsung monitor, with its ultra-high resolution, provides clearer, easier to discern X-ray images than those produced today.

Other Highlights

Also at SID, Samsung is showing the world's largest (7") plastic LCD, using amorphous silicon. The flexible LCD suggests many possibilities for displays that are both wearable and fashionable.

Samsung will also provide the first public viewing of its prototype 8th-generation glass substrate at the SID exhibition, which runs through June 8 at the Moscone convention center in downtown San Francisco.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2005 parent company sales of US$56.7 billion and net income of US$7.5 billion. Employing approximately 128,000 people in over 120 offices in 57 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs.

For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

Terminology

-- Amorphous silicon gate (ASG): a system-on-glass technology that allows integrated circuit (IC) gate functions to be placed directly on a glass substrate.

-- Amorphous silicon (a-Si): non-crystalline silicon

-- Gate: an electrode that controls electrical flow in a TFT

-- Timing controller (T-Con): a component that synchronizes the output times of the source driver IC and gate drive IC

-- Display resolution

-- qSVGA: 300 x 400 pixels

-- VGA: 640 x 480 pixels

-- WVGA: 800 x 480 pixels

-- SVGA: 800 x 600 pixels

-- nit: unit of brightness equal to 1cd/m2

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]