Sharp Demonstrates Family of CG-Silicon TFT-LCDs For Smart Phones
BALTIMORE, Society for Information Display International Symposium, Booth #326, and CAMAS, Wash. – May 20, 2003 – Sharp Corporation, along with its North American components group Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, announces today the availability of a family of transflective TFT-LCDs based on Sharp’s proprietary Continuous Grain Silicon (CG-Silicon) technology. The CG-Silicon product family features a standardized 2.2-inch QVGA LCD cell, ideally suited for next-generation smart phones and other mobile applications. With the addition of custom flexible printed circuits (FPC), light guides, and bezels, Sharp is able to offer semi-custom CG-silicon display modules in support of smart phone manufacturers.
The new displays feature higher resolution and brightness, lower power consumption and greater functionality than other TFT-LCDs on the market today. CG-Silicon displays also provide exceptional image quality indoors or outside.
“As smart phone manufacturers continue to design smaller, lighter and more feature-rich devices, we’ve seen an increased demand for color display modules that can deliver razor-sharp images with remarkable clarity and outstanding performance,” said Joel Pollack, Vice President of the Display Business Unit at Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas. “By designing our CG-silicon displays into smart phones, electronics manufacturers are assured the best possible display technology on the market today, at a price point that delivers maximum return on investment.”
Unlike amorphous silicon and polysilicon, CG-Silicon aligns its silicon grains with continuous atomic-level continuity at the grain boundaries. This continuity permits electrons to travel across the semiconductor at a carrier mobility of 300 square centimeters per volt–second (cm²/Vs), which is approximately 600 times faster than that of amorphous silicon and approximately three times faster than the best low-temperature polysilicon. Using this manufacturing process, the liquid crystal motherglass is then manufactured for small form factor display modules in a transmissive or transflective (AD-TFT) module.
Prior to the launch of this CG-Silicon display for OEMs, Sharp introduced an impressive line of Sharp-branded consumer products designed with CG-Silicon displays. These include a Sharp SL-C700 Zaurus PDA and a new family of Sharp digital Viewcam camcorders, equipped with 2.5-inch color CG-Silicon screens, being introduced in the United States in the first half of 2003. Sharp’s 2.4-inch CG-Silicon display has also been designed into the Sharp-manufactured J-Phone, a highly popular mobile phone in Japan.
Features of the LS022Q8xxxx Display
| Size: |
39.84mm (W) x 55.92mm (H) x 4.2mm (D) |
| Viewing area: |
33.84 (W) x 45.12 (H) |
| Colors: |
262,144 |
| Brightness: |
200 nits |
| Contrast: |
100:1 (transmissive); 7:1 (reflective) |
| Dot Pitch: |
0.47 (W) x RGB x 0.14 (H) |
About CG-Silicon Technologyre now offering to the market.”
CG-Silicon technology is a new substrate manufacturing process that is capable of ushering in a new era of lighter weight, more compact and a feature-rich liquid crystal displays. The CG-Silicon manufacturing process also provides the core methodology to achieve System LCDs, or System-on-Glass. System LCDs combine digital logic, including LCD driver and power supplies, I/O interfaces, and signal processing circuitry, to be integrally formed on the same glass substrate as an LCD display. This achievement is expected to lead to dramatic reductions in component mounting area and the number of external parts. These displays will also contribute to lighter weights and thinner profiles as well as greater reliability in assembled systems. Applications for small form factor CG-Silicon LCDs include other next-generation PDAs, mobile phones, portable PCs and TVs as well as handheld gaming devices.
In October 2002, Sharp announced that it had succeeded in forming an 8-bit CPU on a glass substrate, a world first. This achievement is based on further improvements in the level of crystallinity of the CG-silicon and the introduction of innovative process technology, and opens up the possibility of integrating on the same glass substrate not only functional peripheral components, but also a wide range of data processing circuit logic, including CPUs, memory and image compression/decompression circuitry. This new success, based on CG-Silicon technology, represents the first step on the road toward the development of futuristic ultra-thin “sheet computers.”
About Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, Camas, Washington, is a U.S.-based company and a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, which is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Sharp is a worldwide developer of core digital technologies that are playing an integral role in shaping the next generation of electronic products for consumer and business needs. Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas offers breakthrough memory, LCD, opto, CCD, RF/IR, microcomputer and system-on-chip components, along with packaging and integration skills that help design engineers throughout North and South America bring their ambitious ideas to market. Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas is dedicated to improving people’s lives through the use of advanced technology and a commitment to innovation, quality, value and design. For more information, call 1-800-642-0261 or visit www.sharpsma.com.
Contact:
Marion Margiotta
Young & Roehr Group
503.222.0626 ext. 715
mmargiotta@young-roehr.com
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