Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics claims to have achieved the feat of developing the ‘world’s slimmest’ active-matrix LCD panel. According to an announcement made on Tuesday, the consumer electronics giant has created a new transistor LCD (TFT-LCD) barely 0.82mm thick - which is almost as thin as a credit card.

In creating the new LCD screen, Samsung has surpassed Toshiba’s (News - Alert) 0.99mm LCD, which held the distinction of being the slimmest until now. Samsung’s designers have achieved the deed by redesigning the light-guide-plate sub-assembly and the glass substrate, which forms a bulk of the total thickness.

The wafer-thin LCD display does not compromise with other features; it is as good as its rivals in brightness (300nit), contrast-ratio (500:1) and resolution (240x320). In fact, the new screen is even more shock-resistant than its competitors. Plus, Samsung claims that the screen is anti-glare which makes it easy to view outdoors.

The record-breaking slimness is not the only novelty in the LCD; it is also the first screen to be based on Samsung’s ground-breaking ‘i-lens’ technology which allows a protective layer, which would otherwise have to be added separately, to be integrated with the LCD module.

The i-Lens LCD, when used in mobile phones and other electronic devices, will ensure a 1.4mm to 2.4mm reduction in thickness. For this purpose, Samsung plans to manufacture LCD panels in 2.1" and 2.2" diagonal screen sizes. Portable music players can also sport the super-slim LCDs in case the company decides to make bigger screens.

Every now and then manufacturers seem to be making the probable possible by creating screens that are thinner than the thinnest. Just a few years ago LCD screens used to be several millimeters thick and now it has become more convenient to measure their thickness in microns.

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Divya Narain is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.