Samsung Boosts Size of Flexible LCD

Samsung Electronics has improved on a flexible LCD panel it announced in January this year and produced a larger, higher-resolution version, the company said Monday.

The latest prototype is a 7-inch display with VGA (640 pixels by 480 pixels) resolution, said Chae Suyeon, a spokesperson for Samsung in Seoul. Both these specifications beat the previous prototype, which was a 5-inch model with 400 pixels by 300 pixels resolution.

New Technique

Like the earlier version, this newer panel is based on amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, which is a common manufacturing method for LCD panels. However unlike conventional LCD panels which are made on sheets of glass the prototype panel is made on a sheet of plastic. That means it can be bent into various shapes and is also more durable than a traditional panel.

For the new panel Samsung refined the manufacturing method so that the TFT panel and color filter--the two major parts that go together to make a display panel--were attached together. This minimizes distortion that can occur when the panel is bent should the layers not be attached, said Chae.

Samsung hasn't determined a schedule for commercialization of the panels.

"We're considering the market situation. We don't have a specific plan at the moment," said Chae.