SIDirect is a free monthly e-mail newsletter that updates its readers on the latest news regarding the Society for Information Display (SID) and its events, including the annual International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition. To view the complete newsletter, visit http://www.sid.org/sidirect/sidirect.html.

subscribe to SIDirect - newsletter archive

July 2006 
Volume 2, Number 5

********************
HEADLINES 

1. SID 2006 Draws Record Crowds to San Francisco

2. Preliminary Program Announced for IDRC 2006

3. ADEAC 2006 to Help Complete Product-Development Puzzle

4. Abstract Deadline for Vehicle Display 2006 Papers Extended to July 17

5. Plasma TV Pioneer Dr. Larry Weber Becomes 25th President of SID

6. New Slottow-Owaki Prize to Honor Outstanding Contributions for Information Display Education

7. Help SID Boost Membership by Telling a Friend

********************

SID 2006 Draws Record Crowds to San Francisco

The SID 2006 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, which took place June 4-9, 2006 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, USA, was the most successful in the Society's history, drawing record crowds throughout its six-day run.

More than 8,500 people attended SID 2006, the most in the history of SID. The previous record was set in 2001 in San Jose, California, when 7,906 people attended. The attendance at SID 2006 represented a 12 percent increase from SID 2005 in Boston.

The increase can be attributed to several factors, most notably the outstanding quality of the papers presented, as well as the largest Exhibition in SID history.

The Symposium got off to a strong start with three fascinating keynote addresses. First, Bock Kwon, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of LG.Philips LCD, detailed how liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) will continue to drive the flat-panel display marketplace. He also discussed LG.Philips LCD's efforts to become more environmentally conscious, including the company's efforts to comply with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive.

Next, Dr. Takeshi Uenoyama, Director of Advanced Technology Research Laboratories and Image Devices Development Center for Panasonic and its parent company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., discussed the advantages that plasma technology brings to the flat-panel-display marketplace. He examined the potential for "super-large area" high-definition screens, citing research by Fujitsu in plasma-tube-array technology, the Advanced PDP Development Center Corp. (APDC) into discharges, and NHK into new protective layers that will help lead the way to the next generation of plasma displays.

Last, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO of mobile-phone giant Qualcomm Inc., presented his perspective on how displays fit into today's world of mobile and portable electronics. He detailed how power issues have become increasingly important as displays are asked to do more for these applications, and delivered an overview of Qualcomm's iMoD technology, which is a low-power, reflective, bistable technology that the company is developing for use in cellular phones.

Another highlight of SID 2006 was the luncheon speech by Dr. Greg Olsen, who in October 2005 became just the third private citizen to orbit the planet about the International Space Station. Olsen shared photos, video clips and anecdotes from his once-in-a-lifetime journey, including his training regimen (Russian language, physical, systems and zero-gravity training), what life was like aboard the space station from eating to sleeping to using the bathroom, and the experiments he conducted while in space.

"I taught physics and I thought I knew everything about mass and inertia, but when you get to be the experiment yourself, you learn a lot more," he said of the flight. "Moving was pretty easy (in zero gravity)-you just push off. Stopping was a little harder."

SID 2006 also featured the largest exhibition in the Society's history, with 300 companies exhibiting. The exhibitors were extremely happy with the turnout at SID 2006, according to Danielle Rocco, exhibition sales manager for Palisades Convention Management, which manages the show for SID. Rocco added that booths for next year's show at the Long Beach (California) Convention Center are almost completely sold out.

"Just about every exhibitor I spoke with said that SID 2006 was their best SID show ever," Rocco continued. "Many decided to increase the amount of booth space for SID 2007, which indicates just how good SID 2006 was for them."

SID 2007 will take place May 20-25, 2007 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Preliminary Program Announced for IDRC 2006

The preliminary program is now available for the 26th International Display Research Conference (IDRC), which will take place September 18-21, 2006, at the Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI) at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, USA, (about a one-hour drive from Cleveland). This marks the first time in its history that the IDRC will take place in a university setting, underscoring the conference's focus on research and allowing attendees to participate in laboratory-based workshops.

The IDRC is unique in the world of technical display conferences because it is a hands-on event that focuses on the research behind display technologies that are in use now and will be used for years to come. In 2006, those topics include 6 sessions covering liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), 3 sessions examining flexible displays, and single sessions on each of the following topics: electronic paper and reflective devices; organic/polymer- light-emitting-diode (OLED/PLED) devices; emissive color filters and organic TFTs; backlights; novel active-matrix devices; and emissive displays.

"Other conferences put a heavy emphasis on what's available now and what's going to be available a year from now, whereas at IDRC, you have the underlying work that is pointing toward the future of displays," explained Conference General Chair and LCI Associate Director Philip Bos. This theme will be established on Tuesday, September 19, when Jun H. Souk, executive vice president and director of the LCD Research and Development Center for Samsung Electronics, delivers the Keynote Address, entitled "Flat-Panel Display World in 2012." The other part of the Keynote Session will be a Plenary Lecture entitled "Displays and OLEDs, Perfect Together?" by Professor Stephen Forrest of the University of Michigan.

In addition to the 15 technical sessions, there will be a Poster Session on Tuesday, September 19 that will feature 50 paper presentations.

A highlight of IDRC 2006 is sure to be its one-of-a-kind participatory workshops on Monday, September 18, during which attendees can see first-hand how LCD prototypes are made and even build their own basic display devices. These 3 Workshop Tracks are targeted to attendees at all levels of involvement in the display industry, and will take place at the LCI, a center for basic and applied liquid-crystal research. It is home to a 2,500-sq.-ft. clean room for LCD production, a characterization facility featuring 2,000 sq. ft. of lab space, and a 2,000-sq.-ft. synthesis facility. The 3 Workshop Tracks are:

• Display Fundamentals and Basic Fabrication (morning lectures, afternoon in LCI laboratories)
• Prototyping and Printing LCDs (morning lectures, afternoon in the LCI laboratories)
• Contemporary Topics in Display Technology and Innovation (lectures only)

In addition, there are events scheduled for each evening at IDRC. On Monday and Tuesday nights, there will be a two-part lecture examining the Display Pioneers at the legendary RCA Laboratories. On Wednesday evening, there will be an open house/author demos at the LCI's cutting-edge facility.

To learn more about IDRC 2006, including how to register for the conference, visit http://www.sid.org/conf/idrc2006/idrc2006.html.

ADEAC 2006 to Help Complete Product-Development Puzzle

At the third-annual Americas Display Engineering and Applications Conference (ADEAC), electronics developers will not only identify the display application or component that completes their product-development puzzle, but also learn how to make the pieces fit. Organized by SID and the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), ADEAC is the premier applications-based display technology event in North America. ADEAC 2006 will take place October 23-26, 2006, at the Crown Plaza Ravinia Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

What makes ADEAC unique is its focus on current display components and applications. This allows attendees to learn about displays that can be incorporated into their electronics products today.

ADEAC is essentially a clearinghouse of display information, where attendees with any level of experience with displays can come, learn, network and make deals. The conference kicks off with a series of informative seminars on the fundamentals of display technology. The main segment of the conference is the technical program, in which leaders in the display field will present papers on today's most state-of-the-art display technologies and how they are suited to various industries. After hearing about these possibilities, attendees can then see them in person at the ADEAC Exhibition, where 60-plus display technology providers will showcase their products.

The ADEAC 2006 program is still being finalized, but the following subjects are expected to be session topics:

October 23 (Workshops):

• Overview Of Display Markets & Trends
• Overview Of Display Technologies
• How To Design An LC Display
• LED Backlights
• Displayport Product Development
• Test & Measurements
• Mobile Displays
• Projection Displays
• Human Factors
• 3D Technology

October 24 (Sessions)

• Keynote Session (See Below)
• Measurements & Standards
• Military & Avionics Displays
• Backlight Technology
• Virtual reality; HUD &HMD

October 25 (Sessions)

• Display ID & Control
• Emerging Technologies
• Video Interfaces (1)
• Portable Displays
• Video Interfaces (2): Display-Port
• Vision & Human Factors (1)
• Panel & Mounting Standards
• Kiosk & Gaming Displays

October 26 (Sessions)

• Home Theaters & Digital TV
• Medical Displays
• Stereoscopic & 3D Displays
• Display Electronics & Image Processing
• Projection Displays
• Vision & Human Factors (2): Colors
• Digital Signage/Large-Area Displays
• Touch Panels & Enhancement Films

Once again, the evening panel promises to be an entertaining and informative discussion. This year's panel, "Ripples from the HDTV Ship," will bring together a stellar lineup of technologists to explore what follow-on applications and display technologies are being spawned by HDTV and its supporting infrastructure. The panel is being organized by Chris Chinnock of Insight Media.

For more information on ADEAC 2006, including how to register, visit www.adeac2006.org.

Abstract Deadline for Vehicle Display 2006 Papers Extended to July 17

The deadline for submitting abstracts for the 13th annual Symposium on Vehicle Displays, organized by SID's Detroit Chapter, has been extended until to July 17.

The symposium, which will take place October 12-13, 2006, at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in Dearborn, Michigan, is entitled Vehicles and Photons 2006 and will focus on the intersection of vehicular display technology and photonic devices and systems.

Submission of abstracts in any of the following symposium topics is encouraged:

• Display technologies applied to vehicular applications

• New developments in display technologies and FPD Components (includes, but not limited to OLED, LCD, VFD, ELD, MEMs, HUD/transparent/flexible displays, etc.)

• Modifications of commercial FPD technologies to achieve automotive compliance

• Optical components and issues (optical coating, haze, high ambient contrast, luminance & color uniformity, optical modeling)

• Human factors and metrology issues (display legibility, visual information issues, driver distraction)

• NEW THIS YEAR! Lighting technologies applicable to vehicular implementations

• NEW THIS YEAR! Organic- and flexible-electronics opportunities and developments, including both display and non-display technology

• NEW THIS YEAR! Nano-materials including nanotechnology for device development and potential applications of nano-materials to display- and vehicle-related applications

• System solutions for in-car visual information interface (includes but not limited to Heads Up Display, Night Vision, Telematics, Multi-Media, Video communication and interface).

While the program has yet to be finalized, the Keynote Speaker has been announced: Professor Stephen Forrest, Vice President of Research at the University of Michigan, who was the 2006 recipient of SID's Jan Rajchman Prize for outstanding scientific or technical achievement in, or contribution to, research on flat panel displays.

All interested authors are invited to submit extended one-page abstracts for presentations, particularly in the areas noted above. To download the Call for Papers, visit www.sid.org/conf/13thvd/call.pdf. For more information on the Symposium, visit the conference Web site at http://www.vehicledisplay2006.org.

Plasma TV Pioneer Dr. Larry Weber Becomes 25th President of SID

Dr. Larry F. Weber, one of the pioneers of plasma television technology, has become the 25th president of the Society for Information Display (SID). Dr. Weber was inaugurated during the SID 2006 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, which took place June 4-9, 2006 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, USA. He replaces Dr. Shigeo Mikoshiba, who had served as President of SID since 2004, and now assumes the position of Past President.

Dr. Weber received BS, MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he began his research on plasma display panels (PDPs) in 1969. In 1987, he co-founded Plasmaco Inc. in Highland, N.Y., serving as vice president and chief technology officer until 1993, when he became the company's president. In 1996, under the leadership of Dr. Weber, Plasmaco became a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese electronics giant Matsushita. From 1996 until his retirement in 2004, Dr. Weber served as president and CEO of Plasmaco.

Although he is currently retired, Dr. Weber still works as a private consultant. He has published more than 40 technical papers and holds 15 patents in the field of plasma displays, including the patents for the energy-recovery sustain circuit and the ramp set-up waveform used in color plasma display TVs. Prior to his inauguration as President of SID, Dr. Weber served as Secretary, Treasurer and President-Elect of the Society.

SID announced three other changes to its Board of Directors.

Paul S. Drzaic, the former Treasurer of SID, will now serve as President-Elect of the Society. Drzaic is currently vice president for advanced development at Alien Technology Corp., and also serves as a consultant in the display community. His professional career has focused mainly on the development of novel display technologies. He holds 35 U.S. patents and is the author of the 1995 book Liquid Crystal Dispersions, a comprehensive review of polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal technology.

Dr. Munisamy Anandan, who spent the past year serving as Secretary of SID, has become its Treasurer. Anandan has a Ph.D. in coplanar plasma display and has more than 30 years of experience in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays, PDPs, LCD backlighting, field-emission displays (FEDs), vacuum fluorescent displays and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. He is the author of 21 research papers and holds 20 U.S. patents.

The newest addition to SID's Board of Directors is Brian Berkeley, who will serve as Secretary of the Society. Berkeley is the vice president for advanced technology for Samsung's LCD business. His display innovations include the first use of in-line gun CRTs in a monitor application, putting color into the Apple Macintosh computer platform, development of the world's first high-volume LCD monitor, and the first implementation of wide-format notebook and desktop LCDs.

For more information on SID's officers and board of directors, visit www.sid.org/about/directors.html.

New Slottow-Owaki Prize to Honor Outstanding Contributions for Information Display Education

During SID 2006, the Society announced the designation of a new award to honor outstanding contributions to information-display education. The Slottow-Owaki Prize will be bestowed upon an educator-including a professor, a researcher, an engineer, or manager etc.-who has made outstanding contributions to personnel training in the field of information display.

The award is named for two late professors-Prof. H. Gene Slottow and Prof. Kenichi Owaki-who were leaders in the field of information displays.

Slottow was a professor at the University of Illinois, where he was an inventor of the plasma display panel (PDP) in 1964. Slottow received the Frances Rice Darne Memorial Award from SID in 1974 for outstanding technical achievement or contribution to information displays. He was honored as a Fellow of the SID and served SID in many capacities, including: Symposium Chairman, Honors and Awards Chairman, Academic Committee Chairman and Seminar Chairman.

Owaki worked with Slottow to transfer and license plasma display technology to Fujitsu Ltd. in 1967-1968. Owaki invented the Traveling Wave cathode ray tube (CRT) in 1950, and in that same year, he was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal from the Japanese government for notable achievement in scholarship. He was granted a SID Special Recognition Award in 1974, and served as a professor at the Hiroshima Institute of Technology beginning in 1975. He published three books in Japanese: Plasma Displays (1983); Creative Approach to R&D (1983); and Bright and Dark of an Engineer who Survived the 20th Century (1991).

Winners of the Slottow-Owaki Prize will receive a $2,000 stipend, made possible through a grant of 5 million yen (about $44,000 USD) from Fujitsu Ltd. and 5 million yen from Dr. Tsutae Shinoda of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. About $50,000 will be used to endow the award in perpetuity, while the remaining amount will be given to the SID Educational Endowment Fund to provide SID Scholarships to students and SID Grants for education.

The award joins the lineup of prestigious honors bestowed by SID to outstanding innovators in the field of information displays, including the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize for outstanding technical achievement in or contribution to display technology; the Jan Rajchman Prize for outstanding scientific or technical achievement in or contribution to research on flat-panel displays; and the Otto Schade Prize-awarded for the first time in 2006-for outstanding scientific or technical achievement in or contribution to the advancement of the functional performance and/or image quality of information displays.

The deadline for nominations for 2007 awards is October 13, 2006. For more information on any of the SID Honors and Awards, including how to submit nominations, visit www.sid.org/awards/awards.html.

Help SID Boost Membership by Telling a Friend

Do you have friends or colleagues who should be a part of the Society for Information Display, but aren't? Now is the perfect time to get them to join. No one knows the many professional and technical benefits of SID better than our members, so the Society is inviting everyone to spread the word and recruit peers and coworkers through the Member-Get-A-Member (MGM) program. With your help, SID's membership and professional network will continue to grow for years to come.

As a token of the Society's appreciation for your participation in this year's MGM program, you'll receive an SID credit certificate good for $10. This can be used toward 2006 dues or SID products or services.

For more information on the Member-Get-A-Member program, visit www.sid.org/members/membergetmember.html.