Vancouver, B. C.; May 20, 2013. Samsung Display will be showcasing mobile to extra-large-sized display prototypes at the Society for Information Display’s Display Week 2013, May 21-23, 2013, in the Vancouver Convention Centre. These include a Full HD (1920 × 1080) mobile AMOLED display with what the company claims is the world's broadest color gamut, and an 85-inch Ultra HD (3840 × 2160) LCD TV panel with extremely vivid color and low power consumption.

The 85-inch ultra HD TV panel showcases a LCD technology that enables local-dimming control in a direct LED-based LCD panel. The panel can save 30 percent of typical LED BLU power consumption. Its local-dimming control enables vivid color rendering including incredible black images, 80 percent brightness uniformity, and a remarkably-enhanced contrast ratio.

In addition, Samsung Display will show its new Diamond Pixel™ technology at the show. This technology, based on the idea that the human retina reacts more...

Seoul, Korea; May 20, 2013. LG Display will showcase the latest TV, mobile, and other products representing the future of display technology at the Society for Information Display’s Display Week 2013. The company will introduce both a curved 55-in. OLED TV and a 5-in. plastic OLED panel. Also exhibited will be mobile panels based on oxide thin film transistor (TFT).

Based on the same WRGB OLED technology as LG’s standard OLED TV set, the new curved 55-in. OLED TV is designed to offer a glimpse into the future of TV design. In addition, the company will unveil an unbreakable and flexible 5-in. plastic OLED panel for mobile devices. The development comes at a time when smart devices are being used more than ever and are at increased risk for damage from drops, hits, and other accidents.

LG Display will also introduce 5-in. and 7-in. HD LCD panels based on oxide TFT, widely seen as the next generation TFT technology. Oxide TFT offers high investment efficiency in producing thin, high transparency, and low power consumption displays. LG Display, which utilized this technology in its large-sized OLED displays, will now be expanding this expertise to LCD panel development.

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El Segundo, CA; May 9, 2013. On the outside, the U.S. and South Korean versions of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S4 smartphone look alike. But on the inside, according to a press release from IHS iSuppli, there are major differences in key components—including the apps processor, the wireless subsystem and the user interface. All of these permutations result in significant variations in the capabilities and pricing of the two versions of the two smartphones—as revealed by a physical dissection of the devices conducted by the IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service.

The U.S. version of the Galaxy S4 with 16 gigabytes (GByte) of NAND flash memory carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $229.00, which rises to $237.00 when the manufacturing cost is added. The Korean edition with the same memory configuration has a BOM of $244.00 and a combined manufacturing...

Baltimore, MD; May 2013. Pixelligent Technologies, a producer of nanocrystal dispersions for demanding applications in the electronics, semiconductor, and industrial markets, recently announced that it closed $5.1 million in new equity funding.The funds will be used to further accelerate the scaling-up of its manufacturing capacity and to hire application, engineering, and business development staff.

This round of funding included expanded participation from both new and existing investors. The lead investor was once again the Abell Foundation and the company continued to receive strong support from its investor base with a follow-on investor participation rate of more than 85%. During the past five years, Pixelligent has raised $14 million in equity funding and has been awarded more than $9 million in U.S. government grant programs.

 “During the past 12 months we have seen a tremendous increase in demand for our...

Late last year, instrumentation companies around the world began consolidating at the speed of light, or so it seemed if you happened to be following their announcements. Most of the action occurred in Germany. In December 2012, Konica Minolta Optics (KMOP) in Japan announced that it had bought Instrument Systems, a lighting, LED, and displays metrology company with facilities in Munich and Berlin, for an undisclosed sum.  In January 2013, Instrument Systems disclosed that it had purchased all development and production rights from Autronic-Melchers GmbH in the previous year. Autronic-Melchers is a display measurement systems company formerly based in Karlsruhe, Germany. And in March, photometric test equipment maker Optronik Berlin GmbH announced...

The current flat-panel active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display market is dominated by low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) backplane technology on rigid glass plates. LTPS as a backplane for larger display sizes, such as TVs, has some drawbacks. The excimer laser used for LTPS does not scale to larger sizes. LTPS is fairly costly to implement, and also requires relatively high processing temperatures (>300⁰ C). These temperatures limit the integration of LTPS directly onto desirable, lighter weight substrates such as flexible foil or plastic, which degrade in high heat.

In order to create a backplane technology that could accommodate fabrication on flexible foil at a low post-annealing temperature, a multidisciplinary, cross-organizational student research team from Europe demonstrated the use of high-performance solution-based n-type metal oxide thin-film transistors. These were fabricated directly on polyimide foil at a post-annealing temperature of only 250⁰ C. This work, as detailed...

Santa Clara, CA; April 10, 2013. Demand for larger screens, higher resolution, and advanced touch functionality on smartphones and mobile PCs, in particular tablet PCs, will boost small/medium flat panel display market revenues to $71.5 billion by 2016, up 100% Y/Y, according to NPD DisplaySearch’s recent Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report. Competition among top smartphone brands has driven flat-panel display (FPD) makers to produce more high-grade technologies, such as AMOLED displays for Samsung’s Galaxy S and retina displays for Apple’s iPhone.

“The majority of demand for active-matrix flat-panel display (AMFPD) technology is coming from smartphone manufacturers, and other smart devices with similar functionalities, such as tablet PCs,” said Hiroshi Hayase,...

Munich, Germany. March 2013. Optronik Berlin GmbH has merged with parent company Instrument Systems GmbH. Since 2010, Optronik and Instrument Systems have been working closely together on joint product developments and production operations. These joint projects will now continue under one roof following the merger.

The Optronik location in Berlin will be retained, with all the employees working as a team of experts specializing in goniophotometry and in equipping turnkey photometric laboratories. All existing product lines will be marketed under the Optronik Line label.

 “Instrument Systems and Optronik Berlin have been working successfully together for the past 3 years. Meanwhile, close integration has developed in various areas of the company. The step towards merging the two companies and simplifying many processes was therefore logical,” according to President and CEO Richard Distl. “Our customers...

Munich, Germany. Instrument Systems GmbH recently announced that in 2012, it purchased all development and production rights from Autronic-Melchers GmbH, a display measurement systems company. This move enables Instrument Systems, a manufacturer of solutions for light measurement, to strengthen and expand in the high-growth area of display metrology.

The primary products of Autronic-Melchers GmbH, which has closed its operations in Karlsruhe, include the DMS Series of display measurement systems. These instruments are based on goniometric setups for analyzing the angle-dependent electro-optical properties of LCDs and OLED displays in emission, reflection, and transmission. Displays can be characterized excluding or including the influence of ambient light. ConoScopes represent another product series designed to facilitate very fast measurements of displays. This product range is complemented by control electronics and signal generators for displays,...

Earlier this year, news media outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The Japan Times reported that Panasonic Corporation was closing its plasma-television assembly plant in Shanghai, China. Panasonic media representative Jim Reilly later confirmed this news with Information Display. The Shanghai operations have been relocated to Panasonic AVC Networks Shandong Company Ltd., an existing LCD monitor-making facility in Shandong, China, said Reilly. "The plasma and LCD operations will both be consolidated at that location."

Panasonic's move to streamline operations is not surprising in the face of steadily declining plasma TV sales. "In the great scheme of things, it's not that big of an impact," says Paul Gagnon,...