People's Choice Awards

Attendees voted for their favorite exhibits and technologies in the Second Annual People’s Choice Awards, held during virtual Display Week 2021 in May. The winners, AUO, BOE, LG, Samsung, TCL, Tianma America, and Visionox, appear below. 

People's Choice Awards

In 2019, Display Week rolled out the People’s Choice Awards, an exciting new show program that enabled attendees and exhibitors to vote for their favorite exhibits and products on the show floor. The program was a big success and was reinvented for our virtual exhibit floor in 2021.

 

Voting took place through a survey during Display Week in the following categories:

 

  • Best New Display Technology
  • Best New Display Component
  • Best Technology Demonstration
  • Most Interactive Booth

The People’s Choice Awards will return in 2022. Check this space in Q1 of 2022 for information about that next round of awards. And congratulations to our 2021 winners!

People's Choice Award Winners

2021 Award Winners

Best New Display Technology

BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. for its 0.9mm-pitch chip-on-glass active-matrix miniLED display

Samsung Display Co., Ltd. for its S-Foldable display

 

Best New Display Component

 

 

AUO for its ART (Advanced Reflectionless Technology) film/glass display

LG Display for its automotive 1CG MD (one cover-glass multidisplay) P-OLED

TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. for its 14-in. 2.8K notebook display

 

Best Technology Demonstration

 

 

AUO for its integrated vehicle cockpit with microLED displays

BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. for its slidable OLED

LG Display for its 83-in. OLED with 20% improved efficiency

Visionox for its flexible HIAA through-hole technology

 

Most Interactive Booth

Samsung Display Company

Tianma America, Inc.

2019 Award Winners

 

Best Major Booth:

 

LG Display Co., Ltd.

 

BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Best Large Booth:

 

Nanosys

 

AUO

Best Medium Booth:

 

CLEARink Displays

Best Small Booth:

 

Beijing STONE Technology Co., Ltd.

 

PlayNitride, Inc.

Best New Display Technology:

 

Tianma America, Inc. 7.56-in. microLED (The world's first transparent microLED display with more than 60 percent transparency

 

BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. 65-in. UHD BD cell

 

LG Display Co., Ltd. 88-in. 8K OLED

Best Display Component:

 

Tianma America, Inc. LTPS AM MiniLED HDR (AM-TFT MiniLED with super-fine local-dimming HDR liquid-crystal display and ultra-performance)

Best Display Component:

 

Tianma America, Inc. LTPS AM MiniLED HDR (AM-TFT MiniLED with super-fine local-dimming HDR liquid-crystal display and ultra-performance)

Best Display Technology Demonstration:

 

BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. Smart Cockpit

Best in Show Award Winners (2011-2018)

2018 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category: Tianma received a Best in Show award in the large exhibit category for its HDR LCD for mobile applications. Tianma’s 6.46-in. panel, based on LTPS technology, is a WQHD fullscreen display for smartphones, with a resolution of 498 ppi (Fig. 3). The display uses miniLED backlight technology to achieve multi-zone local dimming. The display offers excellent performance for smartphones, with peak luminance above 1,000 nits and maximum local contrast greater than 3,000,000:1. The display also features 10-bit gray-code signal input and output with DCI-P3 color gamut. The company says that the prototype performs competitively with AMOLED displays in terms of contrast ratio, response time, resolution, and luminance. The display is scheduled for production by the end of 2019.

Large Exhibit Category: Visionox received a Best in Show award in the large exhibit category for its multiple innovative applications using flexible OLED displays. At Display Week, Visionox was showing its flexible and foldable AMOLED technology in a number of formats, including a 7.2-in. panel that can achieve a 1.6-mm folding radius. Visionox’s flexible AMOLED display panels also offer high contrast ratio, wide color gamut, and wide viewing angles. In its booth at Display Week, Visionox was also showing new display application concepts for flexible AMOLEDs, such as a smart cup, a smart speaker, and an e-Book (Fig. 4). Visionox says it created these novel display application demonstrations in part to validate its own technology, but also to bolster the display industry ecosystem by suggesting new kinds of applications.

Medium Exhibit Category: AU Optronics received a Best in Show award in the medium exhibit category for its multiple advanced display technologies, including µLEDs. The latter product category was represented by a full-color, TFT-driven, high dynamic range (HDR) 8-in. µLED display, which debuted on the exhibit floor at Display Week 2018 (Fig. 2). AUO’s µLED technology employs a LTPS-TFT backplane, which allows each pixel to be lit independently to realize more refined images with high dynamic range and power saving. AUO achieved a 169-ppi density with µLEDs that were less than 30 micrometers in size. AUO also demonstrated a suite of new miniLED-backlit LCD panels with high luminance and high dynamic range that are designed for gaming monitors and notebooks as well as virtual reality headset applications. And it highlighted its LTPS technology with several displays for mobile devices, including a 13.3-in. ultra-high definition (UHD) 4K narrow-border LTPS LCD that supported the use of a stylus. Exhibition highlights also included a 13.2-in. freeform car display with gate circuit-in-active (CIA) area and a 13-in. transparent AMOLED display.

Small Exhibit Category: Ares Materials received a Best in Show award in the small exhibit category for its mechanical lift-off technology. Ares, an optoelectronic materials design company based in Texas, launched the new material used in the lift-off process under the name of Easybond (Fig. 1). This material is designed to temporarily bond a flexible substrate to a carrier to enable microfabrication on the substrate. The substrate can then be released from the carrier using a simple, mechanical peel process. Easybond is designed specifically for attaching a polymer substrate to a carrier in order to build on thin film transistors (TFTs) to create color filters and touch panels for displays. The major target market is flexible OLED panels used for major smartphone brands. The material provides a high surface energy for improved wettability and is compatible with high-temperature processing in excess of 500°C. Mechanical peel of the display module can be done with forces below < 5 cN/cm. A major benefit of the Ares process is that it enables manufacturers to use their current microfabrication processes for flexible substrates. They can, for example, continue to use polyimide or Pylux (a polysulfide thermoset film also made by Ares), eliminating the need to purchase additional equipment or to implement new micropatterns and setups.

2017 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category:

Samsung Display for its stretchable AMOLED display

JDI for its highly transparent full-color LCD and narrow-bezel LCD

Samsung Display for its stretchable AMOLED display

Medium Exhibit Category:

Leia for its light-field-based multi-view display

Small Exhibit Category:

CLEARink for its video-capable e-paper display

2016 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category:

LG Display for its high-dynamic range 77-inch UHD OLED TV

Medium Exhibit Category:

E Ink for its breakthrough color e-paper display

Asahi Glass Co. for its unique booth presentation showcasing integrated display technologies

Small Exhibit Category:

DigiLens for its unique presentation of highly efficient, holographic head-up display technology

MY Polymers for its low-refractive-index liquid optically clear adhesive with high-bonding strength

2015 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category: BOE Technology Group for its 82-in. 10K display BOE Technology Group won an award in the Large-Exhibit Category for its 82-in. 10K display. This is the second year in a row the company has won in the large exhibit category – last year BOE received the award for an 8K display. According to Information Display Contributing Editor Steve Sechrist, this year’s 10240 × 4320 pixel display (in 21:9 format) was a one-off created to demonstrate the cutting edge of high-resolution capabilities. The panel uses a direct-LED-backlit scheme. Pixel addressing is done from both top and bottom, using a standard a-Si backplane. The end result, notes Sechrist, is stunning imagery. BOE says work is on-going to modify the technology and prepare it for commercial release in the (not too distant) future.

Medium Exhibit Category: AUO for its 1.4-in. full-circle AMOLED AUO won an award in the medium-exhibit category, also for the second year in a row, but this time for its 1.4-in. full-circle AMOLED. This ultra-slim and light display, which features a resolution of 400 × 400, wide color gamut, and low power consumption, was acknowledged for its ability to meet upcoming trends in wearable devices. AUO has successfully mass produced these circular displays, applying special cut and driver-IC designs to create a full circular shape. To help meet demand for low power consumption in wearable devices, AUO is leveraging the self-emissive nature of AMOLED displays in combination with its self-developed driver circuit to achieve more than two times the duration of other smartwatches currently on the market. AUO has also designed 1.5- and 1.6-in. square AMOLED displays as well as many other types of LCD products to meet ongoing wearable demands.

Medium Exhibit Category: Also winning in the medium-exhibit category was Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) for its ultra-thin G-Leaf glass. G-Leaf is less than 0.2 mm (200 μm) thick. It is created through overflow technology and maintains the advantages and reliability of glass but in a film state. By reducing thickness and weight, NEG has created an environmentally friendly design option in terms of material conservation, smaller carbon footprint, and green processes. This is a material with a great deal of potential for the next generation of applications including electronics, energy, medical supplies, and lighting.

Small Exhibit Category: Fogale Sensation for its simultaneous touch and high-range hovering technology Fogale Sensation won an award in the small-exhibit category for its simultaneous touch and high-range hovering technology (Fig. 5). This technology brings additional functionality to the human–machine interface by adding multi-hovering capabilities (detection of fingers above the screen) and edge interaction capabilities (detection of fingers on the side of devices) to state-of-the-art multi-touch technology, without the need for any extra sensor. By combining the power of an integrated circuit with extremely accurate signal-processing software, the Sensation platform enables a new world of interactions, first with portable devices such as smartphones and tablets and soon with any connected surface. This z-dimension works up to 5 cm away (10 cm for hand gestures) from the touch screen or pad.

Small Exhibit Category: Nanosys for its quantum-dot TVs.Nanosys’s Display Week demonstration included three matched 65-in. UHD TVs. Each of the sets used the same color filters, underlying LEDs and direct-lit backlight structures. They were also driven at the same settings from the same content. The only difference was in the phosphor used to create white light in the backlight. These were: conventional white LEDs, Nanosys’s Quantum-Dot-Enhancement Film, and Nanosys’ Cadmium-Free Quantum-Dot- Enhancement Film. The differences in color performance without noticeable brightness loss were striking. Rec.2020 color-gamut coverage ranged from <60% for the white LED set to ~75% for the set with cadmium-free quantum dots to >90% for the set with quantum dots. This demonstration showed that cadmium-based quantum dots have a significant performance advantage over other phosphor materials and that Rec.2020 is achievable today.

2014 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category: BOE Technology Group for its 82-in. 10K display BOE Technology Group won an award in the Large-Exhibit Category for its 82-in. 10K display. This is the second year in a row the company has won in the large exhibit category – last year BOE received the award for an 8K display. According to Information Display Contributing Editor Steve Sechrist, this year’s 10240 × 4320 pixel display (in 21:9 format) was a one-off created to demonstrate the cutting edge of high-resolution capabilities. The panel uses a direct-LED-backlit scheme. Pixel addressing is done from both top and bottom, using a standard a-Si backplane. The end result, notes Sechrist, is stunning imagery. BOE says work is on-going to modify the technology and prepare it for commercial release in the (not too distant) future.

Medium Exhibit Category: AUO for its 1.4-in. full-circle AMOLED AUO won an award in the medium-exhibit category, also for the second year in a row, but this time for its 1.4-in. full-circle AMOLED. This ultra-slim and light display, which features a resolution of 400 × 400, wide color gamut, and low power consumption, was acknowledged for its ability to meet upcoming trends in wearable devices. AUO has successfully mass produced these circular displays, applying special cut and driver-IC designs to create a full circular shape. To help meet demand for low power consumption in wearable devices, AUO is leveraging the self-emissive nature of AMOLED displays in combination with its self-developed driver circuit to achieve more than two times the duration of other smartwatches currently on the market. AUO has also designed 1.5- and 1.6-in. square AMOLED displays as well as many other types of LCD products to meet ongoing wearable demands.

Medium Exhibit Category: Also winning in the medium-exhibit category was Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) for its ultra-thin G-Leaf glass. G-Leaf is less than 0.2 mm (200 μm) thick. It is created through overflow technology and maintains the advantages and reliability of glass but in a film state. By reducing thickness and weight, NEG has created an environmentally friendly design option in terms of material conservation, smaller carbon footprint, and green processes. This is a material with a great deal of potential for the next generation of applications including electronics, energy, medical supplies, and lighting.

Small Exhibit Category: Fogale Sensation for its simultaneous touch and high-range hovering technology Fogale Sensation won an award in the small-exhibit category for its simultaneous touch and high-range hovering technology (Fig. 5). This technology brings additional functionality to the human–machine interface by adding multi-hovering capabilities (detection of fingers above the screen) and edge interaction capabilities (detection of fingers on the side of devices) to state-of-the-art multi-touch technology, without the need for any extra sensor. By combining the power of an integrated circuit with extremely accurate signal-processing software, the Sensation platform enables a new world of interactions, first with portable devices such as smartphones and tablets and soon with any connected surface. This z-dimension works up to 5 cm away (10 cm for hand gestures) from the touch screen or pad.

Small Exhibit Category: Nanosys for its quantum-dot TVs.Nanosys’s Display Week demonstration included three matched 65-in. UHD TVs. Each of the sets used the same color filters, underlying LEDs and direct-lit backlight structures. They were also driven at the same settings from the same content. The only difference was in the phosphor used to create white light in the backlight. These were: conventional white LEDs, Nanosys’s Quantum-Dot-Enhancement Film, and Nanosys’ Cadmium-Free Quantum-Dot- Enhancement Film. The differences in color performance without noticeable brightness loss were striking. Rec.2020 color-gamut coverage ranged from <60% for the white LED set to ~75% for the set with cadmium-free quantum dots to >90% for the set with quantum dots. This demonstration showed that cadmium-based quantum dots have a significant performance advantage over other phosphor materials and that Rec.2020 is achievable today.

2013 Award Winners

Large Exhibit Category:

3M for its quantum dot color enhancement film

Medium Exhibit Category:

E Ink for its three-pigment electronic-paper display

Small Exhibit Category:

Cima NanoTech for its self-assembling silver nanoparticle mesh technology

Universal Display Corporation for its borderless flexible OLED lighting

2012 Award Winners

Dimenco for its unique eye-tracking, auto-adjusting stereo 3D display and large-area, multiple-view 4Kx2K display

Fraunhofer IPMS-COMEDD for its AMOLED microdisplay with integrated photosensor

LG Display for its 55-inch AMOLED TV with white OLEDs and oxide backplane in a thin form factor

Ocular LCD Inc. for its 17.0-inch Crystal Touch: TRUE Multi-Touch projected capacitive touch panel that supports 16 simultaneous touch points

Samsung for its 55-inch AMOLED TV with RGB OLEDs and LTPS backplane, and Smart DualView feature

2011 Award Winners

Samsung for its 70-inch ultra-definition 240Hz 2D-3D LCD panel

RealD for its RDZ 3D displays that deliver full-resolution HD 3D images utilizing passive 3D glasses

Nanosys for its display demonstration comparing a 47-inch quantum dot-enabled display against a standard TV (sRGB)