September, 1998

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Displaytech Signs Distribution Agreement

Microdisplay maker Displaytech (Longmont, CO), penned a major distribution agreement recently with Nissho Electronics Corporation, a major value-added reseller, systems integrator, and distributor in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, Displaytech’s LightCaster ferroelectric liquid-crystal-display (FLCD) panels will be sold to manufacturers throughout Japan for integration into consumer electronics products.

Three-Five Sampling Microdisplays

Three-Five Systems (Tempe, AZ) has begun sampling a digital microdisplay that was jointly developed with Siliscape (Sunnyvale, CA). The Optiscape I is a reflective liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) device that features SVGA resolution and an interface incorporated within the silicon backplane. It is being targeted toward cellular telephones, personal digital assistants and other portable, microprocessor-based devices.

Iridigm Display Takes The Road Less Traveled

Emerging soon from development labs at MIT, is a new Micro-Electrical-Mechanical-System (MEMS) display technology. The second-generation prototypes will not be microdisplays, however. Instead, the Iridigm Display Corporation (Boston, MA) will look to use the technology for direct-view displays in the 3 to 10-inch size range.

Kopin/Motorola Offer Prize Money For Virtual Display Ideas

Give the folks at Motorola and Kopin credit for coming up with a novel way to generate a lot of potentially good application ideas for microdisplays for a very modest fee. They’re doing a design contest for new virtual-display applications, with prizes totaling $20,000 for the four winners.

Vacuum Fluorescent Microdisplays May Offer Price Advantage

Display Research Laboratories, Inc. (Los Altos, CA) is currently designing their next vacuum-fluorescent (VF) microdisplay. By the first quarter of next year, they hope to be offering 300-by-400 pixel devices in the $40 price range to major OEMs. This price, they believe, should make them very attractive to their target applications: headsets for game platforms and digital still cameras.

USDC Forms Microdisplay Working Group

The United States Display Consortium (USDC) (San Jose, CA) has formed a working group on microdisplays. According to Norman Bardsley, director of roadmaps and standards at USDC, the new working group is focused more upon projection rather than virtual display applications.

VESA Starts Standards Work For Microdisplays

VESA, the Video Electronics Standards Association (San Jose, CA), has organized a Microdisplay Special Interest Group (SIG). To start things rolling, they have set up an online discussion group, called the Microdisplay Reflector.

"Image-Warping" Chip Set Under Development

Genesis Microchip, Inc. (Markham, Canada) has teamed up with Kaiser Electronics (San Jose, CA) to develop a new chip set designed, at least initially, to improve visual performance in head-mounted-display (HMD) applications. Under the $2-million development program, Genesis will design and develop a new graphics chip set that incorporates "image-warping" capabilities. Kaiser will use the technology in a military head-mounted-display system.

Power Budget Worries Motorola

Now that Motorola (Tempe, AZ) has qualified both a monochrome and color version of Kopin’s (Taunton, MA) QVGA microdisplay, they appear ready to start looking at larger-sized displays. Up next is a VGA design, says a source at Motorola.

More LED Backlight Options Coming

Teledyne Electronic Technologies (Hawthorne, CA) says they plan to offer a standard family of LED-based backlights for use in projection and virtual display products.

Sharp Moves CGS Toward Production

Sharp (Osaka, Japan) and partner Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Company, Ltd. (SEL) (Atsugi, Japan) appear to be moving ahead with the commercialization of their advanced polysilicon processing technique referred to as continuous grain silicon (CGS).

Mitsubishi Moves Toward Low-Temp Poly Production

Advanced Display, Inc. (Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan), the joint venture between Mitsubishi Electric (Tokyo, Japan) and Asahi Glass (Yokohama, Japan), is reported to have spent about $20 million converting one of their two amorphous-silicon TFT lines to low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) processing.

Sanyo Electric Adds Low-Temp Poly Capacity

Sanyo Electric (Tokyo, Japan) will launch volume production of low-temperature, poly-silicon TFT LCDs this fall. The company has shown a 4-in. prototype that uses a vertically aligned liquid crystal to achieve a viewing cone of 160 . Production is set to begin with a panel under 4 in. for viewfinder applications.

APPLICATIONS

HDTV Debuts

Web Content Moving onto Cell Phones

Immersive Gaming Gets 3D Software Boost

Military Gets New Simulation HMD

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Market news from Stanford Resources, DisplaySearch, Frost & Sullivan, and Semico Research.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Financial news from Universal Display, Three-Five Systems, and Microvision.

MOVERS & SHAKERS