news archive
SID and Information Display Announce 2001 Display of the Year Awards
San Jose, California, December 11 - The Society for Information Display (SID) and
Information Display magazine have announced the winners of the 2001 Display of the Year Awards. These prestigious industry awards will be presented to Rainbow Displays, Minolta, Alien Technology, IBM, and MOXTEK on May 22, 2002 at the Awards Luncheon of the annual SID Symposium and Exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts.
The winners were selected by an international committee of distinguished display technologists and technology journalists in a four-month process of nominations and voting. Awards are made in three categories, and there is normally a gold and silver award in each category.
In the Display of the Year category, which honors developments in display technology, the Gold Award went to
Rainbow Displays (Endicott, New York) for its Model 3750 37.5-inch AMLCD panel, which seamlessly - invisibly - tiles three 21.4-inch AMLCDs in a one-by-three array. Seamless tiling has proven to be surprisingly difficult; Rainbow is the first company to successfully implement the technology in a commercial product. The Silver Award went to
IBM Research Laboratories (Yorktown Heights, New York, and Yamato, Japan) for its Model T220 9.2-megapixel AMLCD - 3840x2400 addressable pixels on a 22.2-inch-diagonal screen for a pixel density of 204 ppi (80 pixels/cm). The T220 is the product of years of research by IBM exploring the technology and benefits of LCDs with nearly photographic quality.
In the Display Product of the Year category, which honors products that incorporate displays in ways that enhance or make possible the product's appeal, performance, and utility, the Gold Award went to
Minolta (Osaka, Japan) for pioneering the use of a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) microdisplay as the viewfinder in a digital still camera, replacing the optical viewfinder that has not changed in principle since its use on 35-mm film cameras of the 1930s. The Committee chose not to present a Silver Award this year.
The Display Material or Component of the Year category honors materials or components that are used in displays or display systems. The Gold Award in this category went to
Alien Technology (Morgan Hill, California) for its Fluidic Self-Assembly (FSA) process that automatically places small encapsulated integrated circuits called NanoBlocks™ into matching depressions in a display's backplane. This innovative approach to packaging display (and other) electronics has the potential for making very rugged and inexpensive devices. The Silver Award went to
MOXTEK (Orem, Utah) for its ProFlux™ polarizer, which is made of a very-fine-pitch wire grid. The wire-grid polarizer tolerates the high light intensities and temperatures found in projectors, and is capable of contrast ratios much higher than those produced by conventional polarizing beam splitters.
Information: Dian Mecca. Tel: (203) 853-7069, Fax: (203)
855-9769, dmecca@sid.org.
TFT-LCD Surplus Narrows, Equipment Spending to Rise Sharply in 2003
Austin, Texas, December 11 - The large-area TFT-LCD surplus, which has caused prices to plummet more than 50 percent in the last year, fell from 16 percent in Q2 '01 to 8 percent in Q3 '01, and is expected to reach just 2 percent in Q4 '01. This reduction is due to significant demand growth in the LCD monitor market, says market intelligence firm DisplaySearch in its latest Quarterly TFT LCD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report. In response to the narrowing of the TFT-LCD surplus, prices began rising in October and are expected to rise or remain flat each quarter through 2003 as the crystal cycle repeats itself. The large-area TFT-LCD surplus will remain at or below 6 percent on a smoothed basis and 8 percent on a seasonal basis over this period because of delays in equipment spending and increased allocations to the small and medium LCD markets.
After falling an estimated 22 percent in 2001 to $5.0 billion, TFT-LCD equipment spending is expected to decline 26 percent in 2002 to $3.7 billion - $1.15 billion below the prior forecast - as most TFT-LCD suppliers chose to delay new capacity-expansion projects while losing money through 2001. With large-area supply increasingly tight and most TFT-LCD manufacturers expected to regain profitability from the middle of 2002, numerous new fab projects are expected to begin in 2002, with equipment deliveries expected in 2003. As a result, 2003 spending is expected to rise 67 percent to $6.2 billion, nearly matching the previous high of $6.4 billion achieved in 2000.
Information: DisplaySearch. Tel: (512) 459-3126, Fax:
(512) 459-3127, info@displaysearch.com,
www.displaysearch.com.
Three-Five Demonstrating 2.3-million-pixel Microdisplay
Tempe, Arizona, December 10 - Three-Five Systems, Inc. today announced the first public demonstration of the company's Brillian 1920, a high-resolution, reflective, liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) microdisplay. The demonstration will be held in booth #43 at the 19th Annual Flat Information Displays Conference in Monterey, California, December 11-13, 2001.
With over 2.3 million pixels on a 0.85-inch diagonal, the Brillian 1920 is Three-Five' highest-resolution microdisplay. It is designed to meet the requirements of high-resolution front-projection and monitor applications. The device can address the 1280x720 and 1920x1080 HDTV formats in progressive scan.
Additional information on the 18th Annual Flat Information Displays Conference can be found on the Stanford Resources website at
http://www.stanfordresources.com/conf_2001.asp.
Information: display@threefive.com,
www.threefive.com.
Financial Woes Now Hit eMagin
By Chris Chinnock
Norwalk, Connecticut, December 4 - eMagin Corporation (Hopewell Junction, New York) has laid off about two-thirds of its 26-employee work force in a bid to conserve cash and keep its manufacturing operations running. The company has just started to ramp up production of its OLED-on-silicon microdisplays for a variety of near-to-eye applications.
Last summer eMagin received a $3 million infusion of capital, but has been seeking to
raise an additional $20 million to fund its production ramp. "We have been negotiating with several potential investors, but discussions have dragged on and on," said eMagin CEO Gary Jones. "We have a loyal and enthusiastic customer base that is ready to commit to sizeable production orders. But we need the funds to produce these orders, and thus far, we have been unable to close a deal."
He noted that some larger customers have agreed to help with up-front cash payments, but only if eMagin can guarantee delivery of displays. Smaller customers may be willing to help too, as long as the bigger customers jump in. "But until we have all the funds we need, we can not give a guarantee of delivery," continued Jones. "We need to be honest with our customers."
As a result, Jones decided he could not wait any longer and prudently laid off some staff. All options, including a merger, buy-out, or a new infusion of capital are still on the table. And if these don't work out soon, Jones has said he and the Board of Directors may decide to seek protection in bankruptcy court.
"We believe we are taking the best possible action in the interest of all the stakeholders," continued Jones. "These are difficult financial times. We believe that our OLED display technology has breakthrough possibilities, but we will need to properly fund the company to realize that potential."
The company is liable for three large convertible notes, that will apparently convert to stock with a new financial deal. Besides that, it has few other liabilities. Since eMagin is a publically traded company on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX: EMA), the company's share price plunged nearly 70% down to $0.41 by the end of the day's trading.
The lower valuation of the company may well be the spark that hesitant investors have been waiting for. Were they dragging their feet in the hopes of gaining a more favorable bargaining position as eMagin's cash situation deteriorated? It is hard to say, but the last 12 hours have seen several new suitors emerge - "Some I would never have thought would have been interested," notes Jones.
The reduced staff will be able to keep the line running at a minimum level. Most orders will be filled but there may be delays.
The eMagin statement follows closely upon announcements from LCoS manufacturer Zight (Boulder, Colorado) of financial difficulties and reorganization.
Information: Chris Chinnock, Sr. Editor, Microdisplay Report.
Tel: (203) 831-8404, chinnock@mdreport.com,
www.mdreport.com.
Kodak and SANYO Form JV to Make OLEDs
Rochester, New York and Gifu, Japan, December 4 - Eastman Kodak Company and SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. have announced the formation of a global joint venture, the SK Display Corporation, to manufacture organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays for consumer devices such as cameras, PDAs, and portable entertainment machines.
Today's announcement represents the next step in the companies' joint development of OLED technology: the manufacture and sale of active-matrix OLED displays. Beginning with a pilot facility in early 2002 and graduating to a full-production facility in early 2003, the SK Display Corporation will offer the world's first full-scale manufacturing facility dedicated to full-color, active-matrix OLED displays.
The market for OLED displays, a key product line within Kodak's newly formed Components Group, is expected to range from $900 million to $3.6 billion by 2005, according to the market intelligence firms Stanford Resources and DisplaySearch. Demand for these displays is being driven by the growing consumer interest in hand-held electronics and the excellent performance of OLEDs in these products. "…we expect to generate $500 million in OLED display sales by 2005," said Daniel A. Carp, Kodak's chairman and chief executive officer.
The terms of the agreement between the two companies include the following:
- Kodak will hold a 34 percent stake in the company and make available its OLED
manufacturing technology and OLED patent portfolio. Kodak will commit about $125 million in cash and loan guarantees over the next two years.
- SANYO will hold a 66 percent stake and make available its low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) TFT technology and manufacturing capabilities. SANYO will commit about $225 million in cash and loan guarantees.
- Manufacturing will be based at a new plant in Japan dedicated to active-matrix OLED displays.
- Each company will market and sell the displays.
The SK Display Corporation will begin production of displays ranging in size
from one to six inches in early 2002. The venture combines SANYO's
technology in fabricating driver circuits on a glass substrate with Kodak's
OLED material and device technologies.
Information: www.kodak.com,
www.sanyo.co.jp.
