Daimler Benz AG and Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG have pooled resources to fund a flat-panel joint venture – LDT Laser-Display-Technologie GmbH & Co KG. The company will be run by Temic, the microelectronics division of AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie which includes Telefunken Semiconductors and Siliconix Inc. LDT will develop laser display technology originally developed by Schneider to enable large-scale television images to be projected by laser. Schneider will transfer its expertise, industrial property rights and patents to LDT. Both companies said they had no intention of entering the consumer electronics market but would instead concentrate on the manufacture of laser display equipment components including integrated circuits, microsystems, sub-assemblies and optoelectronic components, and license these parts and sell them OEM. Initially the company plans to produce professional large scale laser projection units by the middle of next year. It will integrate this technology in personal computers and television sets. The main difference between laser technoogy and traditional television tubes is that a conventional television set uses a magnetically-controlled electron beam to excite phosphors on the screen whereas laser technology uses a laser beam moving at 56 miles a second to trace lines onto a projection surface. The rapidly moving light is perceived as an entire television picture by the human eye. The consortium said that laser technology is superior in colour and resolution and is therefore capable of producing higher definition television images. The newly-founded company is now working on new types of semiconductor lasers and miniature laser beam units.
Content from our partners
