Toshiba unveils advanced displays
Irvine, Calif. — Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) demonstrates a host of next-generation displays and display technologies developed by Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. (TMD) for cellular phone, AV, automotive, mobile computing, and industrial applications.

Debuted at this week's 2006 Society for Information Display International Symposium, Seminar & Exhibition (SID), Toshiba showcases several product and technology prototypes. These include a 3-D display, which enables 3-D images to be viewed with the naked eye without the need for special glasses. Estimated commercialization is approximately two years.

Another prototype is the third-generation 32-inch optically compensated bend (OCB) low temperature poly silicon (LTPS) TFT LCD for HDTV with an ultra-fast response time of less than 5 ms and ultra-wide viewing angles up to 170 degrees in all directions. It's said to achieve near CRT-like front of screen performance.

Also demonstrating a fast response time and wide viewing angle, Toshiba's 9.0-inch field-sequential display with RGB LED backlighting, combined with OCB technology, is said to provide higher brightness and lower power than conventional LCDs, making them a good fit for mobile AV applications. Unlike conventional LCDs, field sequential LCD technology does not require color filters, said the company, and therefore enables high transmittance without any absorption loss. By combining the ultra-fast response time of OCB technology with field sequential technology, Toshiba was able to develop a LCD with high transmittance (2.6 times higher than its previous OCB panels), low power consumption, wide viewing angle (170 degrees up, down, left, and right), high-speed response (3.3 ms), high brightness and ultra-high resolution.

The company also demos its 14.9-inch wide-format display concept for a full-size automotive LCD instrument panel that displays electronic gauges, an alarm indicator, satellite navigation, a vehicle/engine indicator and other information. In this concept demo, the driver would be able to use the display to switch among normal indicator view, navigation view, or to a rear-view/blind spot camera view.

For mobile devices, Toshiba unveils a high-luminescent 2.2-inch and 3.5-inch LTPS organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for mobile phones and portable media players; a dual-input, high-resolution LTPS 2.4-inch VGA (480x640 pixels, at 333 pixels per inch) for cell phones; a LTPS 2.4-inch QVGA System-on-Glass (SOG) finger-shadow sensing display, and other novel mobile displays that feature thin 0.2-mm glass, light weight, and high resolution.

Toshiba said by improving and incorporating higher resolution LTPS technology, the latest generation LTPS TFT LCDs have achieved faster switching speeds, greater photo-sensor sensitivity, and more precise control of the input signal. In addition, the LTPS TFT LCD-based SOG technology enables the complete driving circuit required to operate the LCD to be fully integrated directly onto the glass. These prototypes, with fully-integrated circuitry, are expected to be used in mobile phone and various other applications.

In addition to the prototypes and technology demonstrations, Toshiba will also show a variety of commercially available displays for cell phone, mobile computing, industrial and automotive applications. The line-up includes a wide range of QVGA (240 x 320) displays for cell phone applications that use ultra-thin 0.2-mm glass, as well as landscape mode solutions for portable media players and other portable monitoring applications.

TFT active matrix cell phone displays include a high resolution 2.4-inch VGA (480 x 640) dual-input display, compared with a 2.4-inch QVGA, to show how much more content can be viewed on a small screen with better image quality. QVGA (240 x 320) displays in 2.0-, 2.2-, 2.4-, and 2.6-inch models provide a high pixel density ranging from 154 pixels per inch (ppi) for the 2.6-inch size up to 200 ppi for the 2.0-inch size. These will demonstrate the lightweight and ultra-thin form factor that can be achieved by using 0.2-mm thin glass substrates.

Two additional modules with larger viewing areas for small mobile displays will also be exhibited. These include a 2.8-inch wide-QVGA (240x400) format display in portrait orientation that provides a 15:9 aspect ratio that, when turned on its side, enables wide-screen movies and/or photos to be displayed. The other model includes 2.2- (on display at SID) and 2.5-inch displays with QVGA resolution in landscape mode, providing small, high resolution, landscape- oriented displays to enable a diversity of set designs such as portable media players and other portable display terminals.

Other new products include a selection of wide-screen, ultra-thin and lightweight notebook displays featuring LTPS modules using 0.3-mm and 0.2-mm glass with low-power LED backlight systems; high-brightness industrial displays that meet the RoHS directive, and wide-format displays for navigation and rear-seat entertainment automotive applications in sizes ranging from 7.0 to 9.0 inches, including an 8.0-inch VGA (800 x 480 pixels) display with a LED backlighting system.

The wide-screen displays include an 11-inch WXGA+ (1366 x 768), a 12.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800), and a 13.3-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) display for mobile PCs. These displays combine the inherent benefits of using 0.3-mm thin glass to reduce module weight and thickness, along with LED-based backlighting systems that are thinner, lighter and consume less power than CCFL backlighting systems.

Datasheets and pricing information for Toshiba's display prototypes are not available at this time.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., 1- 949-455-2000, www.toshiba.com/teac