Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. on Monday said that it had squeezed a VGA-quality display into just 2.6 inches, providing a framework for delivering high-definition video content on a cell phone.
Samsungs TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD uses amorphous silicon, a technology that the company once expected would not be able to deliver the resolution needed. However, Samsung has made steady advances with the technology, which will enter production in December, company officials said.
LCDs can be manufactured using either amorphous silicon and polycrystalline silicon, or polysilicon, within the TFT, according to Samsung. The breakthrough lies in the resolution: The 2.6-inch display contains almost 300 pixels per inch. By contrast, many 20-inch LCD TVs deliver 640-by-480 resolution for displaying content, using displays with far fewer pixels per inch.
“Samsung has built its proprietary amorphous silicon gates into the LCD panel, maximizing the efficiency of LCD design, controllers and module processing,” said Kim Hyung Guel, vice president of Samsungs mobile display business team, in a statement. “This superior technology will be initially targeted for PDA phones and other top-end mobile phones that require high image quality.”
The displays will not immediately be used for smart phones, although Samsung said that will be the end target. The LCD is a transflective model (200:1 contrast ratio and 150cd/m(2) brightness), which will provide sharp images even in bright sun, according to the company.
Samsung Electronics engineers completed a 1.94-inch display with QVGA (207 pixels per inch) resolution in May.
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