San Jose, California-based Samsung Semiconductor Inc has introduced a family of flat panel displays based on a patented thin film transistor design that it claims delivers the highest quality image available on the market. Seoul, South Korean-based Samsung Electronic Co has invested heavily in flat panel display technology over the last few years, backed by considerable South Korean government incentives. The research funds, tariff reductions for importing equipment, and easier access to land for factories in South Korea have all played their part in encouraging South Korean companies to take on the might of the Japanese. In 1992, Samsung, plus Hyundai Electroncs Co, Handuk Industries Co and Taesuk Industries Co committed a combined $114m to a three-year joint eff-ort to upgrade their technology flat panel display technology (CI No 1,987). For Samsung one of the products of all this effort is an active matrix colour flat panel liquid crystal display that is claimed to produce at least 20% more light than competitors’ products by providing a 70% aperture ratio. Samsung’s design moves the capacitor outside the display pixel and reduces the size of the transistor, decreasing the amount of light blocked in each display cell by the transistor and capacitor. Samsung says the result is unmatched brightness and colour saturation. The products were specifically designed for low power consumption and depending on size, the dis-plays draw only between 2W and 3W, including back light and inverter. Samsung also makes colour filters, semiconductor display drivers and cold cathode display tubes and can customise a display for a given customer’s needs. The company says its design enables it to correct any line defect in a display, meaning fewer units need be discarded. Samsung is now shipping the displays to betatesters at a rate of 1,000 a month, with volume set for early next year. There are four displays in the line – a notebook-sized 10.4 display capable of displaying 262,144 colours to a subnotebook-sized 7.8 display that does just 4,096 colours.
