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Fujitsu%squots Flat-Panel Monitors Sport New Technology

Wider viewing angle and higher contrast will make displays more attractive.

By Rob Guth, PCWorld   

The Tokyo-based computer maker has developed a technology for thin-film transistor LCDs that gives its screens one of the industry%squots widest viewing angles and highest contrast ratios, officials said. A 15-inch screen housing Fujitsu%squots Multi-domain Vertical Alignment technology provides a viewing angle of 160 degrees horizontally and vertically, officials said. The unit offers a screen resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels.

The company will begin shipping screens based on the technology next month but expects that initially most will be consumed by in-house demand, according to Shobu Orihara, general manager, LCD Technology Division at Fujitsu%squots LCD Group. As Fujitsu increases production next year, the screens will be gradually sold to other PC makers, he said. Pricing has not been set.

The screens are aimed at the emerging market for flat panel displays as replacements for CRT desktop monitors, Orihara said. Although the new screens will provide superior viewing angles compared to many competitors%squot screens, they currently consume too much power to be used in notebook applications, Orihara added. A 15-inch MVA screen, for instance, uses 15 watts of power--about three times that of conventional 15-inch active-matrix screens, officials explained.

But the technology is well positioned as a desktop monitor replacement, according to Johan Bergquist, technology analyst at the Asian Technology Information Program in Tokyo.

With a contrast ratio of 300:1, MVA is a step forward, Bergquist said. By comparison, the lead competing technology from Hitachi offers a contrast ratio of 100:1. (The contrast ratio is the dynamic range of dark to light that a screen can display. A ratio of 100:1 means that a screen%squots brightest area is 100 times brighter than its darkest area.)

In addition, the MVA monitor%squots power consumption is about one-tenth that of an average CRT, a characteristic shared by other flat panel displays that over time might justify their higher price tags, some analysts said.

But while the technology is promising, the real issue is price, Bergquist said. For years Japanese screen makers have been trying to push their wares onto the desktop but have been blocked by the high price on screens relative to CRTs. Currently a 12.1-inch thin-film transistor LCD is priced over $550, still well above a CRT with equivalent characteristics, according to Fujitsu%squots Orihara.

But Fujitsu officials argue that MVA technology--which requires fewer steps to produce than conventional screens--may offer Fujitsu better production yields than it achieves in its current plants. Better yields, they said, translate to lower prices.