January 2007

news archive

Samsung Develops Double-Sided LCD that Shows Separate Images on Each Side

SEOUL, Korea - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced on Jan. 4 the development of the first liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel that can produce independent images on each side of a mobile LCD display. While other conventional double-sided LCDs can only show a reverse image of the same video data, Samsung's new double-sided LCD can show two entirely different pictures or sets of visual data simultaneously on the front and back of the same screen, according to a company statement.

By replacing two display panels with one, Samsung claimed, this new LCD screen would reduce overall thickness of mobile products by at least 1mm.

"Our new double-sided mobile display underscores Samsung's commitment to equip our customers with advanced display technology that accelerates the trend toward slimmer mobile products," said Executive Vice President Yun Jin-hyuk, who is in charge of the Mobile Display Division of the Samsung Electronics LCD Business. "We anticipate high demand when we commence mass production in the first half of 2007."

The breakthrough LCD product makes use of Samsung's new double-gate, thin-film transistor (TFT) architecture. TFT gates are electronic components that convert the necessary voltage at the pixel level, which controls the liquid crystal alignment needed to reproduce on-screen images. Samsung's new double-sided LCD has two gates that operate each pixel instead of one, so the screen on the front can display different images than the one on the back, the company said. The double-sided display makes use of Samsung's proprietary Amorphous Silicon Gate (ASG) technology, which accommodates the increased number of TFT gates without increasing the size of the driver integrated circuits, as typically happens when more TFT gates are used.

The new display requires only one backlight, as opposed to the two backlights needed by competitive double-screen LCDs. One side of the panel operates in a transmissive mode, while the other operates in a reflective mode. By using a unique reflective design that utilizes the light trapped in the opposing screen's transmissive mode, the reflective mode does not solely rely on external light sources such as the sun. The double-sided, dual image LCD's efficient use of light to display images in both transmissive and reflective modes promotes slimmer, more cost-effective products, Samsung said.

The new double-sided LCD is 2.6mm thick and 2.22 in. wide, with QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution, and has brightness values of 250 nits for the front and 100 nits for the rear display. It will be exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show, which opens in Las Vegas on January 8.