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July 2008 
Volume 5, Number 4

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HEADLINES 

1. An Action-Packed Few Months

2. SID's New Leadership Team Set to Accelerate Display Technology Innovation on a Global Scale

3. Display Week 2008 Takes Hollywood by Storm-Premiering the Latest Innovations in Display Technology

4. SID Names Winners of Prestigious 2008 Display of the Year Award Winners 

5. 3D Displays: Commercial Success in Movie Theaters, Breakthroughs in Holographic and Volumetric Technologies 

6. OLED-A - Facilitating the Future

7. SID Mobile Displays Conference Announces Keynote Speaker: Mary Lou Jepson

8. 28th Annual International Display Research Conference Fast Approaching 

9. Mark Your Calendars for IMID/IDMC/Asia Display 2008

10. SID Moves Headquarters

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An Action-Packed Few Months 

SID has certainly turned up the heat over the last couple of months so we are pleased to provide you some updates on what's been cooking recently, including welcoming the new SID leadership team; recapping the success of Display Week; and honoring our 13th annual Display of the Year Award winners. We'd like to thank Brian Schowengerdt from the Univ. of Washington and Joseph Runde, of the OLED Association, for stepping up this month and authoring two very informative articles on 3D successes/breakthroughs and OLED achievements, respectively. 

We look forward to receiving more contributions from you, so please keep the articles rolling in. Not only is this a great way to connect with the SID member community, but it allows you the forum to promote some of the exciting things you might be cooking up within your organization that will help our dynamic industry grow to new levels. We are also now offering a special prize every month to one lucky SIDirect reader, but you'll have to read on to find the secret question. When you do, please respond with the correct answer to Marie Labrie at mlabrie@mcapr.com to be entered into a drawing to receive a complimentary pass to the upcoming Mobile Displays Conference in San Diego-which you'll learn more about later in this issue.

SID's New Leadership Team Set to Accelerate Display Technology Innovation on a Global Scale

In May, SID announced its new leadership team composed of distinguished industry veterans from around the globe. To this end, Dr. Paul Drzaic has assumed the role of president; Dr. Munisamy Anandan, president-elect; Brian Berkeley, treasurer; and Dr. Amal Ghosh, secretary. In addition, three regional vice presidents have also taken the reins-Tolis Voutsas (Americas), Jean-Noel Perbet (Europe) and Shohei Naemura (Asia). All of these one-year terms ensure the organization will continue to carry out its functions seamlessly and represent an orderly transfer of authority, as prescribed by the SID bylaws.

Display Week 2008 Takes Hollywood by Storm-Premiering the Latest Innovations in Display Technology

Display Week 2008 received rave reviews from attendees and exhibitors alike. More than 7,600 attendees converged on Los Angeles in late May to see and hear about the latest display technology innovations being developed around the globe. This year's conference featured more than 500 presentations and 250-plus exhibitors spanning industry giants to small, yet innovative startups showcasing the latest advancements in areas such as 3D, e-paper, LCD, microdisplays, OLED, plasma, projection, green display solutions and beyond.

This year's event proved once again that Display Week is the hotbed for showcasing the technologies that will shape the future. While some of the headliners were 3D, touchscreen innovations and the latest TV display technologies, e-paper and OLEDs also had starring roles. This year's event coincided with the Green West Conference and Exhibition, which was held simultaneously at the L.A. Convention Center. One of the hottest topics at the SID show was green (environmentally friendly) display technology. SID is committed to helping its members and the display industry at large accelerate innovation around more energy-efficient display technologies and greener manufacturing techniques. These approaches include developing new materials, lighting sources and system designs in order to lower energy consumption, reduce waste and toxic materials, and preserve our natural resources. Display Week's history of showcasing and promoting innovation in the electronic display industry makes it a natural home for this work. To this end, all three of the morning keynotes included a green element. But beyond the keynote addresses, a number of companies within the FPD industry supply chain showcased the significant strides they have made to manufacture or help enable the manufacture of more environmentally friendly display technologies and components and, ultimately, greener consumer electronic devices.

Display Week's first-ever 3D in Cinema Special Session was also one of the stars of this year's event and provided audience members with a look at what 3D innovations have come or are coming soon to theaters. The highly anticipated 3D in Cinema session rocked the house, literally, with clips of recent 3D projects, including the band U2's 3D concert film. Attendees also viewed other 3D illustrative clips, including excerpts from the movie Beowulf and even 3D tests of Kung Fu Panda. The technical seminar and symposium tracks of the conference were heavy with 3D content, and several exhibitors demonstrated their latest 3D wares. Read on to learn more about the 3D session in Brian T. Schowengerdt's article later in this issue.

SID's Display Week 2008 proved once again that it is the ideal venue for showcasing the display technology of the future-technology that one can expect to see in several years at leading consumer events such as the Consumer Electronics Show. More information on what was specifically launched or showcased can be found on SID's very own Information Display magazine, which launched some exciting new features during the show as well. 

Beyond the exhibits, information-rich technical symposium, keynotes and 3D in Cinema session, there were a number of other events that proved to be show-stoppers. This included an evening panel on TV titled, "AMLCD World Domination: Does Anything Stand in the Way?" Panelists from some of the world's most prominent display technology companies represented different camps and numerous perspectives on what technology will emerge as the TV heavyweight. Display Week 2008 was also the venue for a Display Applications Special Session, co-hosted by Avnet. The intent of this session was to create a better understanding of how to choose the best display for a particular application, how to enhance the performance of a display through various additional features, and how to optimize the electronic interface of a display with the core product. 

While SID certainly set the bar high this year, the Society is already looking ahead and feverishly working on raising it up another notch for next year. Mark your calendars-Display Week 2009 will be held in San Antonio, Texas, May 31 - June 5. More information can be found at www.sid2009.org.

SID Names Winners of Prestigious 2008 Display of the Year Award Winners 

SID recently unveiled the winners of its 13th annual Display of the Year Awards, all of whom represent exciting advances in providing consumers with a superior viewing experience, whether handheld, in the home, or on the big screen. 

Dick McCartney, Chair of SID's Display of the Year Awards Committee, noted that collectively, the 2008 award recipients have excelled at transitioning innovative products and technologies from 'hot' buzzword to 'cool' reality. In fact, the significant number of nominations SID received around the world speaks to the mounting prestige associated with these accolades across the global display community. 

To qualify for consideration for a 2008 Display of the Year Award, a product had to be available for purchase during the 2007 calendar year. The six winners, two in each of three main categories, were chosen by a distinguished panel of experts who evaluated the nominees for their degree of technical innovation and commercial significance, in addition to their potential for positive social impact. This year's winners were:

Display Component of the Year
Gold Award: Luminus Devices PhlatLight LED Backlight Unit
Silver Award: FUJIFILM Corp. WV-EA Film

Display Device of the Year
Gold Award: Sony Corp. XEL-1 OLED TV
Silver Award: Samsung SDI 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED Display

Display Application of the Year
Gold Award: Apple Inc. iPhone
Silver Award: RealD Stereoscopic 3D Cinema Technology

SID commends this year's award recipients' ongoing commitment to innovation and to shaping the future of today's display arena. Congratulations to one and all!

3D Displays: Commercial Success in Movie Theaters, Breakthroughs in Holographic and Volumetric Technologies 
By Brian T. Schowengerdt, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, Univ. of Washington 

3D display technology is coming of age and appears to have reached the tipping point for widespread commercial adoption. Nowhere was this more apparent than during SID's Display Week this May, where a "Special Session on 3-D in Cinema," organized and co-chaired by Brian Berkeley (Samsung Electronics) and myself, featured six speakers at the forefront of the growing 3D movement. Phil McNally (Dreamworks Animation), Rob Engle (Sony Pictures Imageworks), John Modell (3ality Digital), and Norman Rouse (Quantel) focused on content creation and showed stunning 3D clips from their bodies of work, projecting them in stereo on a 25-ft.-wide screen with equipment provided by RealD. Jeff McNall (Dolby Labs) and Rod Archer (RealD) described the technical advances that are enabling the widespread conversion of theaters to 3-D. 

The recent successes of 3D movies (Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour set Hollywood records by averaging more than $45,000 per screen during the opening weekend) and the decision of prominent moviemakers such as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and James Cameron to make 3D movies have provided an impetus for more movie theaters to convert to digital 3D. The number of 3D capable theaters in the U.S. is expected to increase from the current 1,500 to more than 4,000 by the end of 2009-which, in turn, is encouraging moviemakers to make more 3D movies. 

In addition to these commercial successes, 3D display technologies are being rapidly advanced by research and development groups. In this month's issue of SID's Information Display magazine, we feature four articles on efforts to push the envelope to create holographic and volumetric displays that more perfectly re-create the experience of viewing real 3D objects. We will also be highlighting cutting-edge developments in a special section on 3D display technologies in the Journal of the SID, to be published in early 2009. If you are working in 3D R&D, this will be a great forum in which to share your progress with the community. Submission details can be found in the online call for papers.

This is an exciting time to be working in 3D. The broad adoption of today's stereo displays, coupled with the advances in holographic and volumetric displays, promises to herald a new age of 3D display. As DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has proclaimed, 3D is "the single most revolutionary change since color pictures."

OLED-A - Facilitating the Future 
By Joseph Runde, Associate Director, OLED Association

Active-matrix OLED displays seemed to take over Display Week 2008 as Samsung SDI, CMEL, AUO, TMDisplay, Epson Imaging, eMagin and MED showed the beauty and functional design capabilities of this new technology. Display Week also marked the formal announcement of the OLED Association and the first meeting of its board. 

This year's show demonstrated that OLEDs are moving into the mainstream of the display industry:

• Sony's new XEL-1 OLED television was hailed in the New York Times as incomparable and then awarded the Product of the Year by SID;
• Estar Displaytech Co., Ltd., announced that it will use MicroEmissive Display's (MED's) OLED microdisplays in its Eyescreen personal display for mobile TV, video and 3D cinema;
• Samsung SDI is producing approximately 1 million AMOLED displays per month; in addition, CMEL, LG Display and Sony are also making AMOLED displays.
• Also, in early April, Rohm and Haas paid $40 million for Gracel, a manufacturer of OLED materials. 

At Display Week, Samsung SDI demonstrated a foldable AMOLED display, a transparent display, a 31-inch television, and a concept laptop thinner than Apple's MacBook Air. DuPont showed brilliant displays manufactured through its linear slot coating approach, and Ignis Innovations demonstrated highly efficient pixel-level correction for burn-in issues. In the weeks since SID, LG and Panasonic have both announced plans for large (30-inch-plus) OLED television monitors.

These technology advances, design innovations and acquisitions highlight the "newness" of OLED technology. While mature enough to support commercial and consumer products, there are still areas for improvement. The OLED Association is chartered with bringing the industry's leaders together to accelerate the growth of the technology and lay the foundation from which it will challenge LCD through all display markets. 

Much needs to happen: the industry needs to develop a set of standards for testing and measuring performance throughout the manufacturing chain, and the language of OLED needs to move from high-tech to consumer-friendly. Fostering these activities is OLED-A's mission; the organization's vision is the widespread adoption of OLED displays, from personal display systems to large-screen televisions.

SID Mobile Displays Conference Announces Keynote Speaker: Mary Lou Jepson

Mary Lou Jepson, founder and chief executive officer of Pixel Qi, a spin-off company of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), will serve as the keynote speaker for SID's annual Mobile Displays conference. The conference is taking place from September 23-24, 2008, at the Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa in San Diego, Calif. Jepson's keynote, "The Case for Displays: A Way to End World Hunger?" will focus on the important role the display industry must collectively play around the globe. Recently, Jepson was named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world for her work at OLPC as co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO). While at OLPC, Jepson was the lead innovator and architect of the greenest, lowest-cost and most power-efficient laptop ever made-making it possible to distribute millions of computers to children in developing countries worldwide. 

"The most expensive component in a portable computer is the display; it is also the most power-hungry," said Jepson. "If we can drastically reduce both the price and power consumption of these screens, we can literally allow billions of people to cross the digital divide. Their lives can be transformed by the ability to get a basic education with a low-cost laptop-or the access to information that allows them to find another vocation, or better access to health information," she added. 

Through her new company, Pixel Qi, she contends that at the end of the day, the computer is the display. Her company is specifically focused on creating innovative displays with a fabless ASIC approach, using standard LCD manufacturing processes and materials (now and as they evolve), which allows a rapid ramp into high-volume mass production. Prior to Pixel Qi and OLPC, Jepson was the CTO of the Display Division at Intel and co-founder and CTO of MicroDisplay Corporation. 

For more details on SID Mobile Displays 2008, please visit www.sidhottopics.org. A discounted rate for registration can also be found on the website.

28th Annual International Display Research Conference Fast Approaching 

The International Display Research Conference (IDRC) is highly regarded as the global forum for covering the fundamental technologies for advanced electronic displays. The 2008 IDRC returns to the United States this year, where it will be held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Nov. 3 - 6, 2008. 

This year's conference will emphasize one of today's hottest and most important topics: energy efficiency. IDRC's central focus will be on energy-efficient displays, and attendees will learn about research, physics, devices, optics, materials and technology aspects for enhancing LCDs, LEDs, OLEDs and PDPs that lead to higher display efficiency and the reduction of global warming.

IDRC offers a more intimate look at topics being actively researched in universities and the display industry at large. This year, the conference will be broken up into the following 14 technical sessions focusing on some of the most relevant display research topics of today:

• AMLCD Devices 
• Flexible FPDs 
• Electronic Paper and Reflective Displays 
• Advances in OLED/PLED Devices 
• Advances in AMLCD Materials and Alignment 
• AMLCD Compensation Films/Backlights/Color Filters 
• Advances in Projection Devices 
• Active Substrates 
• Nano-Science and Technology in Displays 
• New Display Materials and Applications 
• Advances in Plasma, FED and CRT Devices 
• MEMS 
• Ink-Jet Processing of Displays 
• Research in Medical Displays 
• 3D Displays 

More information on the conference itself can be found at: http://www.sid.org/idrc2008/idrc2008.html.

SIDirect Question of the Month: 
Who is the new SID president? Send your answer to mlabrie@mcapr.com.

Mark Your Calendars for IMID/IDMC/Asia Display 2008

The 8th International Meeting on Information Display (IMID 2008) is slated to be held at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) at Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, October 13-17, 2008. IMID 2008 will be held in association with International Display Manufacturing Conference 2008 and Asia Display 2008 (IMID/IDMC/ASIA DISPLAY 2008).

This year's conference will focus on new advancements in display technologies and applications, manufacturing technologies, display electronics, materials and components of major displays through tutorials, workshops, technical conference sessions and an exhibition. Of special note this year, IMID/IDMC/ASIA DISPLAY 2008 will be held in conjunction with the Korea Electronic Show (KES). KES features exhibitions and seminars on semiconductors, consumer electronics, and telecommunications, so the new format will provide IMID 2008 participants with greater opportunities to experience and discuss state-of-the-art information display technologies.

More information can be found at: http://www.imid.or.kr/

SID Moves Headquarters

SID has officially moved its international headquarters from San Jose to Campbell, Calif. The new headquarters is located at:

1475 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 114
Campbell, CA. 95008
Phone: 408.879.3901