Philips Lcd Tv

PHILIPS has patented a new fabrication technology that it claims will allow it to make huge, ultra-thin LCD screens very cheaply.

Previously LCD screen manufacturers filled each glass cell with liquid crystal in a time-consuming process called vacuum suction.

Philips has replaced this with a process not unlike painting, which also does away with the need for a top substrate.

This means that glass can be replaced by cheaper materials, such as plastic, and that the panels can be made significantly thinner.

The company claimed that the reduction in the cost of manufacture and the flexibility of the new technology means that LCD screens will be larger and in irregular shapes.

A Philips Consumer Electronics spokesman said that "the breakthrough could have serious implications for both the LCD and plasma screen markets".

However he refused to be drawn as to when the first LCD screen made using this approach would reach the European market.

The spokesman added that "LCD wallpaper wasn't beyond the realms of possibility", and that "another potential new use for LCD screens could be LCD clothes, in which images or even a movie are constantly on display".

Initial demonstrations of the technique used an LCD screen made from plastic showing a mono image. However Philips is confident it will have a colour plastic LCD screen very shortly.

The breakthrough is a result of a completely new approach to LCD manufacture. Traditionally, LCDs are produced by so-called cell-technology, where two glass plates, containing electrodes, switches and colour filters are carefully connected using spacers, so that a cell of controlled thickness is formed.

Using vacuum suction, the cells are filled with liquid crystal.

With the new Philips technology, complete displays are built from the bottom up on a single substrate by subsequently coating all functional layers on top of each other.

COPYRIGHT 2002 DMG World Media Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

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