April 1999

Displaytech Inks Manufacturing Deal

Following in the footsteps of a deal with Hewlett Packard (Palo Alto, CA) (see December, 1998 issue), Displaytech (Longmont, CO) announced a major new manufacturing partner at the end of March. Under the terms of the new agreement, Japan's Miyota Company, Ltd. (Nagano, Japan), a division of Citizen Watch Company, will set up a new production line for Displaytech's liquidcrystalonsilicon (LCOS) microdisplays.

Microdisplay Companies Seek Funding (with Table)

The USDC Investor Conference held in early March, was a great opportunity for private investors, institutional investors, as well and industry and financial analysts to hear about the US flat panel industry. Of the twenty or so presenting companies, about one third were microdisplay manufacturers. Here is what some of them were pitching.

Toshiba Ups LTPS Pixel Density

Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (Deerfield, IL) has introduced a 4inch low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) LCD with VGA resolution. Significantly, the device has obtained a 200 pixelsperinch density, about twice that obtained in traditional amorphoussilicon, directview displays.

TI Puts DMD Redesign on Roadmap

You had to be paying attention at the Economics of the Display Industry Conference held recently in Austin, Texas, and you had to stay until the very end if you wanted to catch a hint about some of Texas Instruments' (Dallas, TX) big plans. Buried in a presentation by Sherel Horsley, TI's Sr. VP in charge of their DLP program, was a nugget of information.

Canon Develops Transmissive LCOS Device

Canon (Tokyo, Japan) has just introduced a new video headset that will compete with those from Sony and Olympus. The GT270 is described in more detail in the HeadMounted Displays Section of this issue. What provides the image however, are two 0.6inch liquidcrystalonsilicon (LCOS) microdisplays that operate in transmissive mode. This is the first product to utilize the new display.

Hitachi Reorganizes

Hitachi Home Electronics America, Inc. (San Diego, CA), which manufactures, imports and markets consumer electronic products, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi America, Ltd. (Brisbane, CA). Previously, Hitachi Home Electronics America had been 60% owned by Hitachi America and 40% by Hitachi, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan).

Seiko Epson To Open R&D Lab On U.S. East Coast

According to the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Seiko Epson (Tokyo, Japan) is reported to be looking at locations in either Boston or South Carolina as the site of a new R&D lab.

Illumitech Works Projection Optics

Illumitech, Inc. (Chicago, IL), a three year old illumination system design firm, has been awarded a $720K contract to advance their nonimaging optical technology specifically for rearprojection microdisplaybased systems. The development effort is part of a previously announced USDC (San Jose, CA) and Welch Allyn (Skaneateles, NY) program in which each will contribute $2M, with Welch Allyn concentrating on making a 10,000 hour short arc lamp (See March Microdisplay Report).

Multicolor Organic EL Reaches Production

Last month we reported that Sanyo Electric Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) and FED Corporation (Hopewell Junction, NY) has signed licensing and development deals regarding Kodak's (Rochester, NY) small molecule organic EL technology. Now, another licensee, Pioneer Electric Corp. (Tokyo, Japan), has announced they will begin production of multicolor organic EL panels.

APPLICATIONS

Digital Cinema

March, 1999 may well be marked in history as the start of the digital cinema era. Not only did electronic projectors from HughesJVC (Carlsbad, CA) and Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) complete a high profile demonstration vs film, but George Lucas announced that his film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, would become the first major film to be shown using a digital projection system. Cool!.

HeadMounted Displays

Wrap-up of news from Kaiser ElectroOptics, FED Corporation, Canon, Microvision, and Vista Medical.

HDTVs

Wrap-up of news from Sony Electronics, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, and Sensory Science Corp.

Front Projection (with Table)

Wrap-up of news from 3M, Sanyo, Kodak, Boxlight, Sony Electronics, CTX Opto, and Acer America.

Simulation

Wrap-up of news from Evans & Sutherland and Fakespace.

Gaming

Wrap-up of news from Sony Computer Entertainment America (PlayStation II) and from The Wicked3D Board Company.

Market information from Strategy Analytics, Forward Concepts, Frost & Sullivan and EMC.

BOTTOM LINE

Financial information from Microvision.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Personnel changes at ThreeFive Systems, Microvision, JVC Professional Products Company, and Viewsonic Corporation.