Seiko Epson Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) announced two new wide-format HTPS microdisplay panels last fall and will soon begin sampling these to lead customers. They are aimed squarely at the home entertainment market. At the same time, it revealed the achievement of a production milestone - shipment of its ten-millionth HTPS panel since volume production began in 1994. Epson expects to reach the twenty-million-unit plateau within two years.
Driving this growth will be several new wide-aspect panels for use in front- and rear-projection systems. They include a new 0.7-inch device with 960 x 540 resolution and a 0.9-inch device with 1284 x 724 pixels. These panels use Epson's "Dream III" process, which features higher aperture ratio, an improved device interface and higher contrast.

The 540p panel features a 16-micron pixel pitch and achieves a 52% aperture ratio with 500:1 contrast. A similar 0.7-inch panel released previously offers an 18-micron pixel pitch, 858 x 484 pixels, 50% aperture ratio and 400:1 contrast, so Epson has added some value at this size.

Also new is a redesign of the 0.9-inch panel, which features a 15-micron pixel pitch, contrast of 500:1, and an aperture ratio of 52%. The previous version offered a 42% aperture ratio and 400:1 contrast.
In 2003, the company will expand its offerings to include a 1.4-inch 1400 x 1050 panel and a 1.65-inch 1920 x 1080 panel as well.

Seiko Epson, Mitsuo Maeda, [81] 425-87-5812, maeda.mitsuo@exc.epson.co.jp

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Insight Media, Annmarie Gabisch, 203-831-8464, Annmarie@insightmedia.info