Hi. Found an interesting site on SIDT, Silicon Video, Pixtech and other flat panel display companies.
Check out nikkeibp.com
An excerpt:
Volume Production in 1997
"Though PixTech, Silicon Video, and SIDT have installed pilot lines, the investment for full-scale FED production, expected to start in 1997 or 1998 (Fig 4) , will come from other manufacturers. PixTech has licensed the technology to the "FED Alliance": Texas Instruments Inc (TI), Raytheon Co, and Motorola Inc, all of the US, and Futaba of
Japan. "We handle the research and development and small-scale production. The volume production we leave up to the major companies, like TI or Motorola," explains PixTech Executive vice president Francis G Courreges. Thomas D Petrovich of TI's Semiconductor Group Flat Display Products Development, amplifies, "PixTech makes
the recipe for FED, and we handle volume production based on that." TI has already begun prototype production of a 2.1-inch color FED.
PixTech's pilot line is located inside IBM Corp's fab in Montpelier, France. Borrowing unused IBM space, the firm invested about US$2 million to construct the line, which can produce up to 12-inch class FED panels.
Silicon Video is receiving development capital from Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) of the US, with three development objectives; superior image quality, lower power consumption and price. If Silicon Video can achieve these goals, then HP plans to use the new displays in its OmniBook notebook personal computers and workstations.
Silicon Video plans to begin volume production at the end of 1997, starting with 10 to 12-inch color FED panels.
SIDT has received US$10 million development capital over the last two years, from Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands. The two firms plan to establish a joint venture to begin volume production in the second quarter of 1997.
Beating TFT-LCD Performance
FED manufacturers plan to challenge the color TFT-LCD market monopoly head-on with 6-inch color panels for use in car navigation systems and similar applications, and 10-inch and larger panels for notebook PCs and desktop monitors.
FED performance has the potential to beat TFT-LCDs (Table 2), because it totally eliminates the major problems of narrow viewing angles and the slow response speed now faced by color TFT-LCDs. The viewing angle of an FED is 160ø in both up-down and left-right directions, and the response time is fast enough (several æs) to handle motion video images. Another advantage is the wider operating temperature range. Because the FED is completely solid state, it will operate across a temperature range from -45øC to +85øC."
I'd be interested in your comments.
Barb |
