:: Official Monthly Publication of the Society for Information Display -=-~ .=. ~ ---~ -= ~ -~ iii------. Ulii•itll = iUii-----

February 1995 niCDI DU - -- - - ~ Vol. 11, No.2 - --~ -- ---=--=- = -- -.___.- - = ----~ ..._. - -=

AR-coated STN-LCDs EL display technology Other FPDs Color imaging conference Cover: When applied to a supertwisted­ 5 Official Monthly Publication of the Society for Information Display nematic liquid-crystal display (STN-LCD), a multilayer antireflection ( MLAR) coating not only reduces reflections, it also enhances con­ trast and makes colors more vivid. Tests were aiJTUiia•JIIIaUIJ conducted at Compaq Computer's Flat Panel Display Laboratory to see if the improvement FEBRUARY 1995 niCDIIIU is enough to make STNs an acceptable VOL. 11 , NO.2 replacement for AMLCDs in general-purpose =-=- =-- = ~~ ii == laptop applications. For the results, see the article beginning on page I 0. 2 Editorial Covering the World Ken Werner

4 The Display Continuum Let's Have Fun with Technology. Aris Silzars

10 Creating Higher-Contrast Color STN-LCDs Will test results encourage laptop-computer makers to replace AMLCDs with antireflection-coated STNs? Mark Parrish and Doug Arego Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. 14 The Other Flat-Panel Displays If Europe and North America want an appreciable piece of Next Month in the FPD pie, it is not likely to be with LCDs but with one of Information Display the other FPD technologies. SID '95 Preview Issue Steve Berry and Randall Sherman • SID '95 Preview • Field-Sequential Col9r 18 More Contrast and Luminance for EL • SMAU '94 Report A revised internal structure improves the image without external filters. Jerry Vieira

INFORMATION DISPLAY (ISS N 0362-0972) is pu bli shed te n times a year for the Soci ety for Information Di spl ay by Palisades Color Science Goes Commercial Institute fo r Research Services, Inc., 201 Varick Street, New York, 22 NY I 00 14; David Slater, Chief Executi ve Officer; Leonard H. Klein, Applications provided the excitement in Scottsdale - and sci­ President ; Laura Manga ni ell o, Secretaryffreasurer. EDITORIAL AN D BUSI NESS OFFIC ES: Pali sades In stitute for Research entists and engineers both seemed happy about it. Services, Inc., 201 Varick Street, New York, NY 100 14; telephone 2 12/620-337 1. Send manuscripts to the attenti on of the Ed itor, ID . Ken Werner DISTRICT SALES OFFICES: WEST/MID-WEST - Ted Lucas, 5428 N. W. Pinery, Newport, OR 973 65 : telephone 503/265-9 140. EAST- Erika Suresky, Pali sades Institute for Research Services, Inc., 201 Varick Street, Suite 1006, New York, NY 10014; 2 12/620- 3375. SID HEADQUARTERS, fo r correspondence on subscriptions 32 New Products and membe rship: Socie ty for Info rm ati o n Dis pl ay. 1526 Brookhollow Drive, Suite 82, Santa Ana, CA 92705·542 1; telephone 7 14/545- 1526; fa x 7 14/545-1547. SUBSCRIPTIONS: In fo rmati on Di splay is distributed with out charge to those qu ali fied and to SID 42 Industry News me mbe rs as a bene fit of me mbe rship (annua l dues $55.00). Subscriptions to others: U.S. & Canada: $36.00 one year, $5.00 single copy; e lse where: $72.00 one ye ar, $6.50 si ngle copy. PRINTED by Sheridan Printing Company, Alpha, NJ 08865. Third­ 48 Index to Advertisers class postage paid at Phillipsburg, NJ. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Society for In formati on Dis play , 1526 Brookholl ow Drive, Suite 82, Santa Ana, CA 92705-5421. PERMI SS IONS: Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Librari es are permitted to photocopy beyond the limits of the U.S. copyright law for pri vate use of patrons, providing a fee of $2.00 per article is paid to the Copyri ght Clearance Ce nter, 2 1 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01 970 ( re fere nce seria l code 0362-0972/92/$2.00 + $0.00). In struc tors are permitted to photocopy isolated artic les fo r noncommercial cl assroom use wi thout fee. This permission does not appl y to any special reports or lists published in this magazine. For other copyi ng, repri nt or republ ication permission, write to Society for Informati on Di splay, 1526 Brookhollow Dri ve, Suite 82, Santa Information Display 2195 1 Ana, CA 92705-5421. Copyright © 1995 Society fo r Information Di splay. All ri ghts reserved. = Olficiat Monthly Publication of the Society for Information Display iilfOniiiEiTiuil DlliDIIIU ~=~= ~=- ~

Editor: Kenneth I. Werner Covering the World Managing Editor: Jay Morreale Administrative Editor: Ralph Nadell You may have noticed Information Display's steadily Departments Editor: Joan Gorman increasing coverage of display-related conferences and Editorial Assistant: Dian Mecca trade shows. Providing that coverage consumes an appre­ Contributing Editors: Howard L. Funk, ciable amount of /D's resources, but we felt that making Alan Sobel, Ken Compton, Aris Silzars, this effort was one way we could be more useful to our Bryan Norris, Renee Mello-Robinett, readers. Joe Hallett As the year progresses, Contributing Editor Bryan Norris Advertising Manager: Jay Morreale .... will report on SMAU (Italy), CeBIT (Germany), and Com- District Sales Managers: Ted Lucas putex (Taiwan). In this issue, I report on the Second (West/Mid-West), Erika Suresky Annual Color Imaging Conference (Scottsdale, Arizona). Our April/May issue, which (East/Canada) is the SID '95 Show Issue, will also contain my report of the Second Display Manu­ facturing Technology Conference (Santa Clara, California). The SID International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition, being held this year May 21-26 in Orlando, Florida, is now far too large to be covered in depth by one per­ Regional Associate Editors son. Renee Mello-Robinett and Joe Hallett will join me to provide team coverage. Conrad A. Maxwell (Americas) In October, a team of volunteer Japanese technical experts will work with me to VLSI Technology provide coverage of Asia Display '95 (Act City, Hamamatsu, Japan). (The report will Tempe, Arizona appear early in 1996.) Covering the display world has become a serious commitment at Information Dis­ Shigeo Mikoshiba (Asia) play, and we want to make that coverage as useful and as interesting to you as we pos­ University of Electro-Communications sibly can. Please let us know which conferences you want to know about the most and Tokyo, Japan if there are any you would like us to add (or drop) from our list. Alan Mosley (Europe) Telephone communication at an editorial office is generally chaotic. Try reaching GEC Hirst Research Centre us by fax at 203/855-9769, by e-mail at [email protected], or on CompuServe at Wembley, Middlesex, U.K. 73447,2244. We look forward to hearing from you, and we will acknowledge all com­ Advisory Editors munications. Dennis Bechis - Ken Werner David Sarnoff Research Center Princeton, New Jersey Ken Compton Clinton Electronics Corp. Rockford, Illinois Peter Pleshko PEMM Services Kingston, New York Andras I. Lakatos Xerox Corp. Webster, New York William C. Schneider Vice President MRS Technology, Inc. Chelmsford, Massachusetts

2 Information Display 2195 SID Executive Committee President: A. I. Lakatos President Elect: W. E. Howard Regional VP, Americas: T. J. Nelson Regional VP, Asia: C. Suzuki Regional VP, Europe: J. N. Perbet Treasurer: A. C. Lowe Let's Have Fun with Technology ... Secretary: A. Silzars Past President: P. M. Heyman by Aris Silzars Directors Bay Area: H. Sherman Beijing: S. Ding In the fall of 1980, the editors of "Playboy's Guide to Belarus: A. Smirnov Electronic Entertainment" asked their life-style Canada: V. Angelo experts to take a look ahead at the decade of the 80s. Delaware Valley: J. W. Parker III France: F. Maurice Their assignment was to try to predict what changes Greater Dayton: R. Holmes we would all experience as the "eighties go elec- Japan: A. Iwamoto tronic!" Korea: C. Lee J Los Angeles: D. Pinsky My curiosity about these predictions and how we see the future was stimu­ Metropolitan Detroit: Z. Yaniv lated by a recent lunchtime discussion with several of my esteemed colleagues. Mid-Atlantic: D. Ketchum Mid-Europe: E. Lueder As is typical for this group, the day's lunch-table discussion encompassed many Minneapolis/St. Paul: V. Born important subjects. One of the topics was Virtual Reality. How would it likely New England: W. Hamilton develop over the next several years? One of the "regulars" of our highly sophis­ San Diego: R. Ruff Taipei: C. C. Shiue ticated and intellectually brilliant group mentioned Woody Allen's 1973 movie, U.K. & Ireland: N. Milward "Sleeper," which was intended as a humorous look ahead to 2173, when robots Committee Chairs do all the work, automation is all-pervasive, and the political climate is really Academic: C. J. Summers ugly. The virtual-reality connection was a pleasure machine that, as we seemed Archives/Historian: R. C. Knepper Bylaws: C. Infante to collectively remember, was called the "Orgasmatron." There was also the Chapter Formation: A. Kmetz "Pleasure Orb," which appeared to have a function one would associate with the Convention: P. M. Heyman Definitions & Standards: J. Greeson high-on-drugs culture of the 70s. JT-20-CRTs: B. Nott If Woody Allen could predict Virtual Reality way back in 1973, what else did JT-33-Flat Panels: J. Greeson he think would happen? If he or someone else could tell us what our future will Honors & Awards: B. Lechner IDRC: L. F. Weber be like, then we would know which technologies will succeed, which businesses Intersociety: Z. Yaniv will grow the fastest, and which investments we should make. And if I could be Long-Range Planning: W. F. Goede the first to figure all this out, I would become the richest and most powerful man Membership: L. Palmateer Nominations: P. M. Heyman on earth- even richer and more powerful than Bill Gates! Office Liaison: D. Pinsky With this motivation of riches and fame, I rushed down to my local video Publications: A. Silzars store, located a copy of "Sleeper" and also, for good measure, a copy of "200 1 - Journal Editor: A. Sobel Information Display Editor: K. I. Werner A Space Odyssey," released in 1968. Of the two, "2001" is the more serious Publicity: K. Middo and visually more spectacular look into the future. Chapter Chairs In just a few years, we will be living in the real 2001. Are we likely to see Bay Area: C. Curtin Beijing: H. C. Hu anything like the future predicted for us back in 1968? Not even close! There Belarus: E. Kaloshkin will be no space station, no moon base, no artificially controlled hibernation, Canada: A. Kitai and no manned spaceship bound for Jupiter. But what we will see are cockpit Delaware Valley: S. Kalatucka, Jr. France: J. Glasser displays, flat-panel displays, and computer processing capability startlingly Greater Dayton: J. Byrd close to that depicted in the movie. We may not quite get to HAL, the human­ Japan: H. Uchiike Korea: S. L. Hahn like spaceship computer named after IBM (minus one), but with neural nets and Los Angeles: E. Bernard parallel processing we are getting ever closer. (Pentium-based computers are Metropolitan Detroit: R. Pyles now playing and winning world-class chess matches.) Mid-Atlantic: E. Stupp Mid-Europe: B. Scheuble Electronics and displays have progressed at nearly the rate predicted in Minneapolis/St. Paul: V. Born "2001," while mechanical, electromechanical, and biological technologies New England: P. Breen didn't. We display technologists must be a pretty brilliant lot. San Diego: R. Ditzik Taipei: H. P. Shieh In Woody Allen's movie, in addition to pleasure-giving virtual reality, there U.K. & Ireland: R. Johnson are robots with interesting and sometimes dysfunctional personalities, technol­ Office Administration ogy that is always breaking down, and a world where politics is as bad (and Executive Administrator: Lauren Kinsey maybe even worse) than anything we have seen to date. But the overall vision is Membership Coordinator: Nancy Stafford one that looks very much like 1973. The cultural topics pervading the 70s are Society for Information Display the dominant themes of the future as depicted in this movie. While "Sleeper" 1526 Brookhollow Drive was obviously not intended as a serious look ahead, it is nevertheless striking Suite 82 Santa Ana, CA 92705-5421 continued on page 36 e-mail: [email protected]

4 Information Display 2195 Creating Higher-Contrast Color STN-LCDs

Will test results encourage laptop-computer makers to replace AMLCDs with antireflection-coated STNs ? by Mark Parish and Doug Arego

c 0 TRAST A D BRJGHT ESS are key One side of the display wa uncoated; the The Cause of Poor Contrast attributes that drive the selection of one par­ other side was identical except for a thin sheet Many LCD suppliers quote contrast levels that ticular liquid-crystal display (LCD) over of coated polyester laminated directly on top are measured in a dark room. Under such another. But a color flat-panel display (FPD) of the AG surface (Fig. I). An MLAR coat­ conditions, contrast and brightness are not is a major cost component of most laptop ing had been applied to the exposed surface of affected by reflected ambient light. However, computers. To save co t, product planners the polye ter by Optical Coating Laboratory, displays are normally viewed in daylight or often consider the alternative of using ale s­ lnc. The performance of each side of the dis­ other high-ambient lighting conditions. Here, ex pensive passive color su pertwisted-nematic pl ay was mea ured, and the contrast, lumi­ reflection of the ambient light (noise) from the (STN) display over a color active-matrix thin­ nance, and reflection differences were docu­ display surface can impair the viewer' ability film transistor (TFT) display. The cost advan­ tage of such a choice is gained at the expense mented. to accurately read information di played on of display contrast and response time. With the advent of active-addressed (AA) ST di - plays, response time ha improved signifi ­ cantly, but little ha been done to improve dis­ play contrast and brightness. In addition, users generally believe the ST display i more pallid and harder to view from an angle. The benefits of multilayer antireflection (MLAR) coatings as applied to CRTs are well known, and we wondered if these coatings could make the ST vs. TFT tradeoff more attractive. To find out, we set up a compara­ tive test at Compaq Computer' Flat Panel Di splay Laboratory in Houston, Texas.

The Test Our test vehicle was a standard commercial color STN-LCD with a standard diffuse antiglare (AG) surface on the linear polarizer.

Mark Parish is the Display Market Specialist for Optical Coating Laboratory, In c., 2789 Norrhpoint Pkwy. , Santa Rosa, CA 95407- 7397; 7071525-7038./ax -7841. Doug Arego OCLI is with Compaq CompLIIer Corporation, Fig. 1: As part of a test, an MLAR-coated polyester film was laminated to the AG surface of the Houston, TX. polarizer on the left half of this commercially available color STN display.

10 Information Display 2195 the screen (signal). Analogously, you could look to see if your car head lamp are on at hi gh noon on a bright su nny day. It can be Smooth (HC) Diffuse (AG) very difficult to observe the li ght from the head lamps due to the background brightness o.oos· { of the day. However, after the sun goes down. Thick it is very easy to observe the head lamps. The signal-to-noise ratio has improved becau e the background noi e (white light) ha been elimi­ nated. This analogy demonstrates that ambi­ Fig. 2: OCL/'s HEA ®2000TM, a contrast-enhancing Ml.AR-coared product, was used in the test ent li ghting mu t be considered a critical fac­ because it can be applied to an existing display. tor in the evaluation of a display's viewability. FPDs are generally used in an office or out­ door ambient where the light levels are 500 4.5 lux or greater. These are the lighting condi­ tions that must be used to realistically evalu­ ate the contrast and brightness of a display. 4.0 AG treatments on the triacetate cellulose (TAC) top surface of a linear polarizer are ----- widely employed for laptop computers to 3.5 ------reduce the reflection of external light. An AG treatment is typically a textured or roughened surface th at i u ed to reduce specular reflec­ z 3.0 L UNCOATED DISPLAY 0 ti on. All of the un wanted reflected light is still i= (.) present, but it is scattered rather than specu­ w larly reflected. This is why AG urfaces with­ -l 2.5 DISPLAY AFTER APPLYING out an MLAR coating can cause hazing or "whit­ u. w HEA®2QOO™ ing out," and it is why these surfaces unavoid­ a: 1- ably downgrade image resolution and contrast. z 2.0 w The result is images that are dim and pallid. (.) a: w Improving the Image with MLAR a. 1.5 Coating The refractive index of a hard-coated polarizer surface is about 1.48, while the index of the 1.0 surrounding air is 1.00. This difference in refractive index produces a reflection from that urface of about 3.75%. The reflection 0.5 can be specular or diffuse, depending on whether the surface has a smooth hardcoat (HC) or a textured hardcoat (AG). 0.0 There is now a broadband multilayer antire­ 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 flection (MLAR) coating that can be applied to thin hardcoated pia tic sub trates - uch as WAVELENGTH IN NANOMETERS LCD linear-polarizer material -with a low­ temperature process. The MLAR coating is designed to produce complete de tructive Fig. 3: Applying HEA ®200QTM to the outer surface of an LCD's polarizer reduces total reflec­ interference of all reflected vi ible light, caus­ tion by nearly a factor of 10. ing nearly all incident light energy to pas through the surface instead of being reflected There are two way of applying an MLAR with itto Denko, the world' leading manu­ back towards the viewer. Even when applied coating onto a color STN display. The pre­ facturer of polarizers and retardation films for to an AG-treated surface, the MLAR coating ferred method from the standpoints of perfor­ LCDs, to produce coated polarizers in exactly minimizes both diffuse and pecular reflected mance and cost is to directly coat the exposed this way. (OCLI applies its HEA® coating to energy, while it increa es visible tran mit­ polarizer surface before it is appli ed to the itto's linear polarizer to produce what has lance through the coated surface. di play. In fact , OCLT ha a strategic alliance become a very well-accepted product.)

Information Display 2195 11 antireflection coatings

But the same MLAR coating canal o be applied to an existing display. To accomplish 4.5 this, OCL! ha developed a product called HEA®20QQTM that is appli ed to the existing LCD usi ng an index-matching adhesive (Fig. 4.0 2). HEA®2000™ consists of an adhesive­ backed polyester film that incorporates an - --- MLAR coating on the exposed surface. It can 3.5 ------be supplied with either an HC or AG hard­ coat. HEA®20QQTM was selected for these tests z 3.0 because it could be easily applied to an exist­ 0 f= UNCOATED DISPLAY ing display. We used the ver ion with an 0 L AG hardcoat for direct comparison with the w ..J 2.5 u. tandard di play, whi ch al o has an AG hard­ w coat. II: / ANTIREFLECTION-COATED DISPLAY Applying HEA®20QQTM to the linear polar­ ..... z 2.0 izer's expo ed AG surface sub tantially w reduces the total integrated reflectance (Fig. 0 II: 3). The 0.50% photopic reflectance - inte­ w 0.. 1.5 grated visible reflectance as seen by the human eye- of the coated display represents a substantial reduction over the 3.75% of the uncoated display. However, this reduced 1.0 rff!ectance level is about 0.3% higher than that obtained by applying an MLAR coating directly to the polarizer prior to panel assem­ 0.5 bly (Fig. 4). The additional 0.3% reflection is caused by an internal refractive-index mis­ match between the AG hardcoat and the 0.0 polyester (PET). This mismatch is not present 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 on the directly coated linear polarizer because WAVELENGTH IN NANOMETERS the AG hardcoat's refractive index closely matches that ofT AC (the polarizer's outer material). The photopic reflectance of the directly Fig. 4: Appf_,·ing an MLAR coating direc1/v lo !he linear po/ari:;er prior 10 panel assembly coated surface measures 0.20% across the vis­ reduces display rejleclion bv nearly afaclor of20. ible spectrum, sli ghtly less than one-twentieth Setup. Viewing angle: X (horizontal) = oo MLAR coati ng has reduced the background the reflectance of the uncoated di. play. and (normal incidence). Y (vertical) = 15° below (black) signal, while the luminance of white, less than half that provided by the normal incidence. When light were on. illu­ red, blue, and green have been increased. The HEA®2000™ used in thi s te t. minance at the display is about 500 lux. contrast of the display is improved because Test Conditions When lights were off, the room was dark. black areas appear "blacker," while white and HEA®20QQTM was applied to one-half of a (There were no wi ndows in the room. but colored areas appear brighter. The measured commercially available color STN with an there was a very low light level from a small increase in luminance shown in Test 2 is due AG linear polarizer surface, a hown in Fig. de k lamp. The lamp was located about I 0 ft. to the increased transmi sion of the coated I. The exposed urface of the HEA®20QQTM from the display and the measurement equip­ LCD surface. The MLAR coating actuall y had an AG treatment like that of the linear ment, and wa directed away from them.) increases perceived display brightness. while polarizer and wa secured to the linear polar­ Measurements were taken at 5-nm intervals making colors appear less pallid and more izer with an index-matching pressure-sensitive over the wavelength range 370-720 nm. vivid, as shown by the increase in contrast for adhesive. Contrast measurements were taken Display. Color STN-LCD with backlight each color. Note that after application of the from each half of the di play. power of 3.14 W to the inverter. MLAR coating. there is virtually no change in Equipment. Pritchard I 98GB Photometer: the ClE color coordinates. SL-20 lens. D-filter. 3° spot. (A 3° pot Results and Discussion A com pari on of Tests I (lights off) and integrates an area of approximately I .2 in. in By comparing the tabulated data (Table I) Test 3 (lights on) shows that the luminance diameter at the surface of the display.) from Tests I and 2 (li ghts off). we see that the from a black area of the display has increased

12 lnformarion Display 2195 data indicates increased luminance from the Table 1: Test results show that MLAR coatings can be used to improve display when the lights are turned on. STN displays when viewed under lightning conditions of a typical office When contrast is low- say, for a contrast environment value less than 3 -increases in contrast on the order of 5% are apparent to the eye.' Im­ Test #1: Lights off, no MLAR provements in the range of 12--40%, as reported here, are substantial. Although con­ Black White Red Blue Green trast at various viewing angles was not mea­ 2 Luminance (cd/m ) 11.4 75.0 25.1 26.0 49.1 sured in this test, contrast improvements pro­ CIE/UCS 1976: u' 0.1947 0.1920 0.3001 0.1669 0.1509 vided by MLAR coating are known to remain CIE/UCS 1976: v' 0.3996 0.4775 0.4912 0.3834 0.5330 essentially constant over a viewing angle up Contrast= W, R, B, G/Black 6.58 2.20 2.28 4.31 to ±30° from normal incidence. It was reported earlie12 that MLAR coatings con­ Test #2: Lights off, HEA®2000™ tribute to the viewability of active-matrix TFf di splays used outdoors if a low-reflection Black White Red Blue Green black-matrix coating is also used to suppress

2 the display's internal reflections. The con­ Luminance (cd/m ) 10.5 79.0 25.8 27.2 51.2 struction of a color STN display does not pro­ CIE/UCS 1976: u' 0.1957 0.1914 0.3072 0.1653 0.1498 duce as much internal reflection as is found in CIE/UCS 1976: v' 0.4673 0.4823 0.4971 0.3902 0.5372 a typical active-matrix TFf, so an externally Contrast= W, R, B, G/Black 7.52 2.46 2.59 4.88 applied MLAR coating is all that is needed to % Contrast Improvement 14.4 11.6 13.6 13.2 significantly improve the performance of an STN display. % Increase in Luminance 5.3 2.8 4.6 4.3 with HEA®2000TM Conclusion These measurements show that MLAR coat­ Test #3: Lights on, no MLAR ings can be used to improve the contrast, brightness, and color vividness of STN dis­ Black White Red Blue Green plays when the di splays are viewed under the 2 Luminance (cd/m ) 120.3 184.5 135.1 135.2 158.4 type of lighting conditions found in a typical CIE/UCS 1976: u' 2.2685 0.2404 0.2813 0.2495 0.2382 office environment. Performance of a coated CIE/UCS 1976: v' 0.5233 0.4775 0.5227 0.4949 0.5310 display continues to improve relative to that Contrast= W, R, B, G/Black 1.53 1.12 1.12 1.32 of an uncoated di splay as the ambient light is increased. This feature makes the AASTN Test #4: Lights on, HEA®20001 M passive color display a more viable and cost­ effective alternative when choosing between it Black White Red Blue Green and the more expensive active-matrix TFf.

2 When the MLAR coating is deposited directly Luminance (cd/m ) 59.2 127.1 74.5 76.2 99.8 on the linear polarizer, instead of on an inter­ CIE/UCS 1976: u' 0.2685 0.2265 0.2927 0.2345 0.2177 mediate plastic film, even greater improve­ CIE/UCS 1976: v' 0.5146 0.4993 0.5 158 0.4699 0.5316 ment will be achieved than is indicated by the Contrast = W, R, B, G/B1ack 2. 15 1.26 1.29 1.69 data presented above because less light will be % Contrast Improvement 40.1 12.2 14.7 28.1 reflected from the display. with HEA®2000™

from 11.4 to 120.3 cd/m2 This increase is when white or colored areas of the display are Notes 1 due to the reflection of ambient light (noise) compared, we also find that a significant per­ R. L. Martin, D. E. Evanicky, and S. Lu, from the front of the display. In a comparison formance improvement is provided by the "Antireflection System for LCDs and Pen­ of Test 2 and Test 4, on the other hand, the MLAR coating. Note that as ambient lighting Based Computer Tablets," SID Inti. Symp. coated display exhibits a luminance increase is increased, the luminance of the displayed Digest Tech. Papers, 673 (1993). 2 2 from 10.5 to 59.2 cd/m - an increase of only image is not actually increased; rather, it is the H. Yoshida et al., "Development of LCD 2 48.7 cd/m . The substantially smaller noise light reflected from the front of the display Modules for Automobiles," SID Inti. Symp. increase when the lights are turned on is due that is increased. The photometer responds to Digest Tech. Papers, Applications Volume, 27 to the effect of the MLAR coating. Similarly, each source of light without favoritism, so the (1994) . •

Information Display 2195 13 The Other Flat-Panel Displays

If Europe and North America want an appreciable piece of the FPD pie, it is not likely to be with LCDs but with one of the other FPD technologies.

by Steve Berry and Randall Sherman

ET-PANEL DISPLAYS (FPDs) have been cap­ Gas Plasma by the application of a significant voltage. turing the attention of electronics-industry Plasma FPD technology is one of the more The PDP consists of two glass substrates, each participants, suppliers, OEMs, users, the interesting niche technologies because it has containing an array of electrodes, separated by press, and the public at large for many years the potential to produce large-area displays a 0.1-mm gap. In monochrome POPs, the now. These di splays represent a market that cost-effectively. Companies like Fujitsu and space between the substrates is hermetically sti ll holds much promise for additional Photonics have demonstrated large-geometry sealed and filled with neon gas. A discharge growth. It is a market that is constantl y in the (20-in.) full-color high-resolution FPDs at between the electrodes occurs when 100-200 making- and one that is evolving toward the around $5000 per unit. The forecast is that V is applied, causing the neon gas to emit the "hang-on-the wall" TV. costs will come down in general and that the panel's characteristic red-orange light. More than a decade ago, the Japanese rec­ cost of larger-size di splays will scale linearly POPs come in de and ac types. In the de ognized FPDs as an important part of the elec­ with screen di agonal -instead of exponen­ type, the electrodes are exposed to the work­ tronics industry and set about developing core tially, as is the case with LCD and other tech­ ing gas; in the ac type, the electrodes are cov­ technologies, principally for the manufacture nologies. But in medium sizes, plasma di s­ ered with protective insulating layers. The of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). Today, plays have been unable to displace LCD tech­ DC-PDP can operate with a lower driving after investing nearly $5 billion, Japanese nology except in the niche segments where voltage, but its luminance will diminish over companies dominate the FPD industry from plasma's superior shock resistance, perfor­ time because it lacks an insulating layer to consumer-electronics products to large-screen mance under extreme temperatures, and long prevent electrode deterioration. Furthermore, projection systems. life are of value. Plasma technology may be its luminance decreases markedly as the num­ Innovations are forthcoming from North one of the answers to the hang-on-the-wall ber of horizontal scan lines increases. American and European manufacturers, but TV concept of the future, but much develop­ In AC-PDPs, a protective magnesium oxide most can hope to compete only in niche-mar­ ment work is needed to make this a reality. layer insulates the electrodes and prevents ket areas or with leading-edge technologies. Plas ma-di splay panels (POPs), while show­ deterioration. The panel's memory function These leading-edge technologies are plasma, ing only moderate market success and pene­ stores the electric charge and allows addressed electroluminescent (EL), and field-emission tration over the last few years, are expected to pixels to stay on, even while another line is di splays (FEDs). This article examines the become prominent during the forecast period being modified. Therefore, an increased num­ markets for these technologies. for large-geometry color-display applications . ber of lines can di splay a greater volume of POPs have significant potential for large-size data with uniform intensity without sacrificing di splay screens (up to several meters), and the panel brightness. Recently, manufacturers Steve Berry, President of Electronic Trend large size can be coupled with high luminance have started adding memory functions to DC­ Publications ( ETP) of San Jose, California, and contrast. These displays are also inher­ PDPs as well. prepared this article, which was excerpted ently immune to electromagnetic interference PDP technology enjoys a simple basic from the much larger report entitled, The (EMI) and are therefore well-suited to appli­ structure and an abrupt voltage-breakdown Worldwide Flat Panel Display Market, pub­ cations such as aluminum and steel mills, characteristic for light emission. The emitted lished by ETP. Randall Sherman, senior electrical control rooms, and magnetic-reso­ light can be visible or ultraviolet (UV). The analyst for ETP, wrote the complete report. nance-imaging medical equipment. visible light can be used directly, which is the ETP is located at 1975 Hamilton Ave., Suite POPs are a unique form of di splay technol­ case with the familiar red-orange plasma dis­ 6, San Jose, CA 95124; 408/369-7000, fax- ogy because these displays rely on the emis­ plays. If significant UV is emitted, it can be 8021. sion of photons from a gas when it is ionized used to excite phosphors, which makes it pos-

14 Information Display 2195 sible to design a full-color di splay by pattern­ ing a surface with appropriate phosphors. Exhibit 1. Summary Market Forecast for Flat-Panel Displays PDP displays have two major di sadvan­ by Technology, 1993- 1998 ($M) tages. First, there must be enough gas to pro­ duce adequate brightness, since the light out­ 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 CAGR* put of a PDP pixel is a linear function of the (%) number of gas atoms present. This require­ ment defines the minimum size of a pixel and Plasma of a PDP screen having a given number of Computers 46 56 67 75 81 84 13.0 pixels. Second, the display's three-dimen­ Consumer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sional structure produces light that is emitted Commercial 17 18 18 19 19 19 3.0 in all directions, leading to crosstalk between Industrial 19 36 58 82 101 106 40.8 pixels. Obtaining a high dynamic range in Mi litary 38 76 115 152 175 184 36.9 luminance is a continuing problem, since Total 120 186 258 328 376 393 26.8 "off' pixels can glow from the ionization in an adjacent active pixel. EL The pricing of PDP technology is nearly Computers 40 47 53 59 64 70 11.9 twice that of LCD technology. It is almost as Consumer 4 4 5 5 6 6 8.2 much as the pricing of EL di splays in the Commercial 20 22 23 25 26 27 6.2 smaller sizes- approximately $25 per square Industrial 6 7 7 8 8 8 5.6 inch. Although prices have come down over Military 10 10 11 II 12 12 5.3 the past several years with improvements in Total 80 90 99 108 116 123 9.2 technology, it is forecast that costs for pl as ma di splays can still be significantly reduced­ FED particularly for large-size screens- over the next several years. Improvements in produc­ Computers 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 tion and technology should permit the manu­ Consumer 0.4 0.7 1.3 2.2 3.2 4.2 60.1 facture of di splays for $10-$20 per square Commercial 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.2 4.4 8.8 113.0 inch for screens of 25-50 in. as economies of Industrial 0.2 0.3 0.5 1.1 2.8 7.5 106.4 scale are realized and commercial applications Military 1.2 3.4 8.0 18. 1 37.9 72.8 115.8 become more feasible. Total 2.0 4.9 10.8 23 .6 48.3 93.3 115.6 *Compound annual growth rate. Electroluminescent Displays EL is an attractive solid-state FPD technology electrodes (in front) are transparent. The Up to eight colors can be produced with EL that will probably never be a general-purpose entire thin-film device is deposited on a single using filtering techniques simi lar to those used display solution. EL has found acceptance glass substrate. A circuit board containing the for PDPs. EL panels can achieve finer resolu­ despite its high cost- which is similar to control and drive electronics is connected to tion than PDPs- 20 vs. 50 mm. PDPs- because of its bright emissive color the back of the glass panel using conductive Efficiency problems with the blue phosphor and wide-angle viewability. This technology silicone rubber technology. Components are in EL color di splays have prevented their is a favorite among users in hospital and mounted on the circuit board within the same widespread commercial success to date. industrial environments, where its perfor­ area as the glass panels. The result is a dis­ Recently, Sharp announced that it is abandon­ mance features are superior. Still, this is a play device that is fl at, compact, reliable, and ing research efforts to develop a blue phos­ color-limited power-hungry technology that is rugged. phor and is instead concentrating on produc­ ill-suited to those product applications in EL technology creates light from the excita­ ing a white phosphor. Planar, on the other which LCDs have proved cost-effective. EL tion of phosphor dots. Since the phosphor hand, has developed a more efficient blue technology will remain a niche FPD solution material is deposited and patterned in pixel phosphor and a clever architecture that partly throughout this study's forecast period despite format, each pixel can be electrically compensates for the fact that this phosphor is advances in cost and performance and the addressed. As a voltage is applied across the sti II less efficient than the company's red and imminent introduction of a commercial full­ dot, the phosphor "breaks down" electrically green phosphors. Planar is introducing the color EL display in quarter-VGA size. and becomes conductive. The resulting "hot" world's first commercial full-color EL di splay TheEL glass panel is a solid-state device electrons in this breakdown current excite the during the first quarter of 1995. The small with a thin-film luminescent layer sandwiched phosphor, which is controlled solely by the size of Planar's color di splay and Sharp's deci­ between transparent layers and a matrix of electric current. The close spacing makes the sion to try to get to color without a blue phos­ row and column electrodes. The row elec­ EL structure hi ghly capaciti ve, making a fast phor reflect the difficulties in fabricating full­ trodes (in back) are aluminum; the column refresh rate difficult and expensive. color EL di splays.

Information Display 2195 15 display markets

Pricing for EL technology is admittedly rates. PIXEL, a French start-up company in small , but growth should proceed at a com­ expensive. Since there are only two major Aix-en-Provence, France, is commercializi ng pound annual rate exceeding 100%. Military suppliers to the marketplace today- Planar vertical metal field-emitter technology in col­ uses are predicted to dominate revenue from and Sharp- production is limited and is laboration with LETI. Another start-up com­ this technology over the period. Although focused on niche areas. Cost for a typical 6 x pany, FED Corp. out of Hopewell Junction, there is rich potential for thi s technology in 8-in. panel is approximately $25 per square New York, is concentrating on si licon field­ non-military areas, these other markets will inch, more than twice that of comparable LCD emitter technology for application-specific not underwrite the required development technology. As a result, EL technology is rel­ products. Honeywell , in Bloomington, Min­ efforts when much lower-cost LCDs are avail­ egated to those applications that are relati vely nesota, is pursuing field emitters fabricated able. Thus, military spending (or other price-insensitive and where its performance from the edges of very thin conducting films. directed funding) on this technology is neces­ and space advantages are paramount. These Texas Instruments and Raytheon are licensees sary for its growth to 1998, and even beyond. include medical environments and certain of PIXEL's technology. In su mmary, these "other" FPD technolo­ industrial process-control and military appli­ Interest in FED technology is growing gies appear to have a solid future. But com­ cations. throughout the world. Almost all of the major pared with LCDs, they will remain niche pl ay­ electronics companies in Japan have ongoing ers for the foreseeable future. • FEDs R&D programs in vacuum microelectronics Field-emission, or field-emitter, di splay directed toward FEDs. At least two national (FED) technology is an extremely exciting Japanese consortia of 20-30 institutions each and promising FPD technology, and it could meet several times a year. Moreover, Japan's have a substantial impact on the FPD market. MITI is sponsoring in-house research and FED uses a micro-emitter approach that pro­ development, which has already produced duces bright fu ll -range color and high-resolu­ simple prototype FED devices in collabora­ tion displays. It has great potential as a viable tion with commercial firms. alternative to LCDs in the full range of dis­ FEDs may turn out to be the best choice for pl ay sizes and product applications. The compu.ter monitors and HDTV screens in the major drawback of FED technology is that it future, assuming cost and production prob­ The Klein CRT is sti II 5-l 0 years away from mass-market lems can be overcome. Currently, FED tech­ Inspection Microscope commercialization, with many products sti ll in nology in the U.S. is being applied to helmet­ the prototype stage. mounted displays, radar screens, cockpit and Model Field-emitter arrays (FEAs) work by apply­ dashboard di splays for airplanes and automo­ Shown ing voltage between the field-emitter point biles, and virtual-reality eyepieces for elec­ measuring and the extraction gate. Electrons quantum­ tronic cameras. FED technology promises the CRT mechanically tunnel out of the emitter and are benefits of FPDs (thinness, light weight, high blemishes, drawn to a phosphor screen. The field-emis­ resolution, and low emi ssions) combined with attached sion current-voltage curve is nonlinear, which the advantages of CRT technology (lumi­ with its permits direct x-y addressing without the need nance, long life, and, eventually, low cost). suction cup for a transistor at each pixel. FEA cells can base. operate in parallel, providing inherent redun­ Market Projections dancy and low electronic noise. Their struc­ The market for POPs, EL di splays, and FEDs • SOx power """"'""""'....,..."--_._,_ tures also exhibit low capacitance, which is shown in Exhibit I. While these numbers allows FEDs to achieve high screen-refresh are small compared with today's multibillion­ Mode2 rates. dollar market for LCDs, the growth rates are Shown The main problem with FEAs is that fabri­ attractive. Plas ma di splays begin from a sub­ with its cation uses expensive and complex microma­ stantial base of $120 million (in 1993) and bench chining technology. The field-emitter tips are should grow at a 26.8% compound annual top base. astoundingly small- about 40 atoms wide­ rate. The rugged nature and bright emissive and must be made uniformly over the entire quality of gas-plasma displays should propel screen area. Much R&D is needed to develop industrial and military use of thi s technology. ~ new phosphors, which are needed so reliable EL displays begin from a smaller base of Klein Optical ~ Instruments and economical large-area FEAs can be pro­ about $80 million/year (in 1993) and are 8948 S.W. Barbur Blvd., Dept. 100 duced. expected to grow at a 9.2% compound annual Portland, Oregon 97219 U.S.A. Several designs for FEDs have been rate. The computer market for larger EL di s­ Phone: (503) 245-1012 demonstrated. The French Government labo­ plays will lead the growth of this technology. FAX: (503) 245-8166 ratory, LETI, in Grenoble, France, has already It is more difficult to project shipments of demonstrated the first FED to work at TV FEDs. At about $2 million, the base is very Circle no. 22

16 Information Display 2195 More Contrast and Luminance for EL

A revised internal structure improves the image without external filters.

by Jerry Vieira

WRLDWIDE SALES of electroluminescent rate is also exceeding 50% in the industrial structure that significantly reduces reflections (EL) displays were $100 million in 1993. market as manufacturers of operator interfaces of ambient and internal light from the di s­ That's modest compared with the sales of and industrial computers increasingly shift play's back electrode (Fig. I). This light­ CRTs and LCDs- the two biggest-selling from CRTs to EL. absorbing layer is deposited between the technologies - but there's another side to the But for some of the most demanding appli­ dielectric layer and the aluminum row elec­ story. EL sales have been growing strongly, cations in these markets, additional luminance trodes. The layer is a thin film with a graded and Stanford Resources projects that EL will and contrast were required. Now, a new man­ optical index. At the surface, the film exhibits grow at an annual rate of more than 20% over ufacturing process called Integral Contrast optical characteristics similar to those of the the next 5 years, which would make it the sin­ Enhancement (ICE™), along with some new EL structure. As we progress through the gle fastest-growing display technology. This drive schemes, has doubled the contrast and film, the optical constants slowly change so suggests that end users of display-based luminance of EL displays and made their that they are similar to those of the aluminum equipment in the non-consumer sectors of the pixel crispness better than ever by virtually electrodes. This graded-index transition elim­ market, where most EL sales are, increasingly eliminating blooming. (Blooming is the inates reflections from the metallic electrode perceive real benefits in EL technology -and growth in spot size when luminance is structure that degrade contrast and crispness are letting their original equipment manufac­ increased to high levels.) With blooming in conventional EL structures. turers (OEMs) know it. minimized, it is now possible to implement a At the pixel level, the process enhances the EL has found solid acceptance in medical, new pixel drive scheme that more than dou­ contrast ratio of adjacent lit and unlit pixels by industrial-control, test-and-measurement, bles the refresh rate. Since the luminance of preventing light emitted by a lit pixel from defense, transportation, and communications EL displays is proportional to the refresh rate, being reflected and exiting at an adjacent unlit markets, where the need for ruggedness, wide luminance is al so doubled. pixel (Fig. 2). temperature range, wide vertical and horizon­ The ICE Plus™ family of displays adds a tal viewing angles, long life, fast response What is ICE™? special display drive scheme that increases the times, and good contrast and luminance are ICE™ is an enhancement to the fabrication refresh rate of the di splay lines, thus produc­ 2 critical. Growth in the medical market alone process for monochrome EL flat-panel dis­ ing an average brightness of 65 cd/m . exceeded 50% per year over the last 3 years as plays (FPDs) that: care providers came down hard on equipment • Increases display contrast by more than Contrast in More Detail manufacturers to improve display image qual­ 100%. FPD images lose some of their contrast when ity and provide the largest possible viewing • Improves display luminance by more stray light from lit pixels in the display or angles. Some manufacturers of critical­ than 100%. ambient room light remains unabsorbed and patient-monitoring equipment now have prod­ • Improves crispness of display characters free to reflect back to the viewer. The two uct mixes that are as high as 90% ELand only by eliminating blooming. light sources are reflected light (RL) and light 10% LCD in product lines that give end users • Lowers overall cost to display users by emitted (LE) from the addressed pixels. the option to select their display. The growth eliminating the need for a separate con­ The contrast ratio of an EL display can be trast-enhancing polarizing filter (which represented by the following formula: Jerry Vieira is Director of Strategic Market­ can contribute from $25 to $1 00 to the Display Contrast Ratio ing for Planar Systems, 1400 N. W. Compton total system cost). = Drive, Beaverton, OR 97006; 503/690-1100, The technique incorporates a new light­ Light Emitted (LE) +Reflected Light (RLJ. fax -1541. absorbing layer in the EL display's thin-film Reflected Light (RL)

18 lnfonnation Display 2/95 play. ICETM technology dramatically reduces the reflected light that reaches the viewer by ICErm CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT absorbing nearly 90% of incident ambient light in the internal ICETM layer. STRUCTURE Typically. indoor light ambient ranges from 250 to 500 lux (ISO 9241. Part 3). A Planar Viewing Column direction ICETM display will provide the user with I electrodes twice the contra t of a non-ICETM display in a typical indoor application. Because so much f EL Ph6sphor of the incident illumination is absorbed. r layer ICET~ 1 di splays can be operated in an ambient that is 5-10 times greater than that for tradi­ - tional EL displays. while maintaining the - same contrast. • Lighted pixel Taking the Bloom off the Rose Blooming is wonderful for roses but incom­ patible with display quality. The ICETM layer enhance the crispness of display characters by eliminating blooming, which is the fuzzy appearance (or halo) that i sometime charac­ teristic of a bright pixel. The perception of crispness in a display is determined by the (a) abruptness of the brightness transition from a lit pixel to an adjacent unlit pixel. If a signifi­ cant amount of light from the lit pixel '·leaks" ICEtm ANTI-BLOOMING CRISPNESS out to an adjacent unlit pixel, characters and lines take on a hazy look. This problem becomes more exaggerated as customers demand brighter and brighter displays - Viewing direction Column unless the unwanted li ght is absorbed before it ~ electrodes can exit the di splay. With a conventional display, light leaks f EL Phosphor from the lit pixels to adjacent unlit pixels by r layer reflecting off the back electrode surface, resulting in a moderate but distinguishable - blooming effect in the written image (see Fig . ··~~-....~ .... Hght \ I 2). In an ICE™ display. this light is absorbed No blooming in the thin-film ICE™ layer, which inhibits light absorbed the multiple internal reflections.

No absorptive layer Adding Increased Luminance to Increased Contrast Tn ICE PlusTM displays, the luminance is dou­ bled compared to normal ICETM displays, while the conu·ast-enhancing structure is (b) retained. These displays have exhibited con­ trast of better than 50: 1 at I 000 lux. The drive technique that is used to increase the Fig. 1: Th e light-absorbing gradient-index thin-film layer in Planar's /C£T ~ 1 EL displays (a ) improves contrast by absorbing ambient light and (b) reduces blooming by absorbing lighT from luminance. which increases the display refresh liT pixels. rate, can be operated in an optional low-power mode. The reduced contrast and luminance in The higher the contrast ratio, the better the th at enters the front of a di splay. The brighter this mode is equivalent to that of ICETM dis­ di splay appearance and the easier it is to read. the ambient light, the lower the contrast ratio plays, and the power consumption is about The primary source of RL is the ambient light and the poorer the image quality of the di s- half.

InformaTion Display 2/95 19 EL display technology

The Klein Convergence Gauge

For simple, fast and accurate measurement of CRT convergence. Your engineers deserve the quality of the Klein Convergence Gauge.

Fig. 2: Blooming in EL displays occurs when light emitted by a lit pixel is reflected internally and exits at an adjacent unlit pixel (left). An appropriately designed internal layer can absorb ~ Klein Optical the stray light, suppress the blooming, and improve the crispness of the display (right). k:l Instruments 8948 S.W. Barbur Blvd .. Dept. 100 Portland, Oregon 97219 U.S.A. Conclusion normal lighting conditions, and low-power Phone: (503) 245-1012 Advances in EL display architecture have per­ operating modes for extended battery life. FAX: (503) 245-8166 mitted the fabrication of displays with double Production quantities of the most advanced of the brightness, five times the contrast under the e di play are now avai lable. • Circle no. 24 21 21 16 OCTOBER Getting the Best from State­ SID '95 Asia Display '95 - of-the Art Display Systems ORLANDO, FLORIDA International Display LONDON, ENGLAND MAY 21-26, 1 9 9 5 Research Conference FE B. 21 - 23, 1 9 9 5 • SID 's MAJOR ANNUAL EVENT ACT CIT Y, HAMAMATSU, JAPAN • 1 Day Tutorial & 2 Day Conference • An International Symposium, Seminar OCTOBER 16 - 18, 1995 • Full details available on Internet and Exhibition- Featuring : -From LISTSERV@CEARN SIDUK95 PS -Technical Sessions- Poster Session • An international conference on display SIDUK95 ZIP -Author Interviews- Evenin g Panels research and development aspects of" -From software.watson.ibm .com by - Short Courses- "How-to" Seminars -Display Fundamentals Display Devices anonymous ftp in the \pub\ifip\sid -Technical Seminars - Aoolications -Hard Copy & Storage Input Systems - Integrated Devices and Applicatio ns directorv siduk95. 0s siduk95 .psZ ~ siduk95.zip - Product Exhibits. -Image and Signal Processing -Or from SID office 714/545-1526 -Color Perception Human Factors

20 Information Display 2195 ii·'"'9t9;tflt9rt·'''

Color Science Goes Commercial

Applications provided the excitement in Scottsdale - and scientists and engineers both seemed happy about it.

by Ken Werner

A TTHE SECOND ANNUAL Color Imaging understanding of color science is now being why the CMYK subtractive color system is so Conference, jointly sponsored by the Society applied, so 'color engineering' really is more much harder to manage than the ROB additive for Information Display (SID) and the Society than just a newly coined word. However, this system used in displays. He observed that the for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T), trend is not universal. As an educator, it is sophisticated color-matching systems that are held in Scottsdale, Arizona, November 15- 18, disappointing, but that's the way things hap­ now coming on line will match the colorimet­ 1994, color science gave birth to its own engi­ pen." ric aspects- such as hue, value, and li ghtness neering di scipline. The new stature of color engineering and - of the original image on the reproduction. The attending obstetrician in the delivery color applications at the conference coincides This is a significant achievement, but it does room was James C. King, Director of with the imminent introduction of second­ not guarantee a match in the subjective Advanced Technology at Adobe Systems, generation color-management systems that appearance if, for example, the original image who assembled, named, and chaired the ses­ will, for the first time, reach a large body of is on an emissive di splay and the reproduction sion entitled, "Color Engineering." In intro­ users. Apple's ColorSync 2.0 will ship early is on reflective hard copy, if the surrounds of ducing the session King said, "Scientists look in 1995, and the similar color-matching mod­ the two images are different, or if the ambient for truth and beauty. Engineers use that truth ule in Microsoft's Windows '95 will ship illumination has a different intensity or color and beauty to make useful things. Many of us whenever Win ' 95 does. Agfa-Gevaert's temperature. One of the most widely dis­ do color engineering. I'd like to make that an impressive FotoTune 2.0 is geared to publish­ cussed topics throughout the conference was official discipline." With typical promotional ing applications and is avail able now. how to implement the step after color match­ elan, King distributed badges saying, "Color ing, which is appearance matching. engineers run the gamut" (Fig. 1). The badges The Tutorials were worn widely throughout the meeting. The Second Annual Color Imaging Confer­ Vision and Appearance Both color technologists and color scien­ ence kicked off on Tuesday, November 15th, The technical sessions began on Wednesday ti sts said the baptism of the new di scipline with five half-day tutorials. Joann Taylor's morning in a single-track format that most was significant. Gerald M. Murch, Vice Pres­ "Color Fundamentals" was a clear introduc­ regi strants seemed to appreciate and that the ident, Xerox Desktop Document Systems tion to color science, color vision, the interac­ organi zing committee vowed to preserve next Divisions, said, "Color engineering as a new tion of materi als with light, colorimetry, year. discipline is very exciting. At next year's color-measuring instruments, and color spaces Brian Wandell and E. J. Chichilnisky of the Color Imaging Conference, I would expect to and systems. Psychology and Neuroscience Department at see thi s new discipline being brought to bear Kodak's Majid Rabbani gave one tutorial Stanford University started the color-science on an increasing number of electronic imaging on image processing and another on image session by presenting a framework for predict­ appli cations." compression. Larry Tannas's "Color in Elec­ ing the color appearance of image data by Roy S. Berns, R. S. Hunter Professor of tronic Displays" focused on the color-generat­ using standardizing transformations to convert Color Science, Appearance, and Technology ing principles of the major display technolo­ image data into simpler stimuli with the same at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT): gies, and surveyed problems in color spec­ color appearance. Along the way, the authors "A significant trend at this meeting is that our trum, consistency, gamma corrections, gray commented that human beings don't perceive shades, and color variations with changes in patterns well under short-wavelength illumi­ ambient illumination. nation, an understanding that is built into both Ken Werner is editor of Information Display Finally, Apple's Gary Starkweather ~ ur­ the JPEG compression system and the NTSC Magazine. veyed color-printing technologies, explaining TV encoding system.

22 Information Display 2195 John J. McCann of Polaroid presented the A. P. Petrov of the Kurchatov Institute took a perceived color at each location by a results of experiments comparing human a unique approach to color appearance in "white" matrix. If the phere is colored. the image processing with photographic, hybrid, "Epiphenomenon of Color in Visual Percep­ mapping changes. The surface color is and electronic imaging systems. He con­ tion.'' Petrov defined color constancy as defined by a new matrix. One distinguished cluded that human vision nonnalizes to the "keeping unchanged the perceived color when U.S. color scientist in the audience expressed maxima in an image, but in a way that bending a surface," a formulation well-suited cautious admiration for the approach, which, depends on the spatial properties of the image. to the problem faced by automobile manufac­ he said, addresses some nagging analytical During his talk, McCann stated that in color turers. Petrov noted that the light that reache problems in an elegant way. However, he was appearance, the "radiance of the maxima the eye depends on the layout of reflecting not yet sure whether Petrov's approach was counts, contrast with the maxima counts. and surfaces, and that the human vi ual system also leaving out something significant by ignores contradictions in illumination. Since defining light sources and observers as being distance from the maxima counts." McCann "the inverse optics problem does not have a external to the basic problem. also commented that "imaging systems would unique solution in tenns of light ources," In "Using Color in Computer Applications: have improved color and tone-scale perfor­ Petrov eliminates the Light source from his A Psychophysical Perspective," Bernice mance if they mimicked human vision." analysis. He does this by moving a small Rogowitz of IDM's T. J. Watson Research In his paper, McCann mentioned a new white ball throughout the region of interest to Center discussed the challenges of using color consumer application of eye tracking. Some probe the incoming illumination and map it to effectively. The challenges certainly include camera viewfinders now contain an infrared light-emitting diode (LED) whose radiation is bounced off the pupil of the photographer's eye and sensed by a segmented photocell. The camera can thus determine what part of the cene the photographer is looking at and automatically focus on that part of the scene. Mark D. Fairchild of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory at RIT presented a description and evaluation of a color space called RLAB, which was developed for prac­ tical appearance matching. The Munsell Lab­ oratory developed RLAB so that it would have color-appearance predictors similar to tho e of the CIELAB color space: lightness, redness-greenness, yellowne s-blueness, chroma, and hue angle. Fairchild described simplified RLAB equations that produced even better results than the previou versions. RLAB performed as well as - or better than - more complicated spaces in matching color appearance from photographic print to photo­ graphic print, from CRT to print, and from print to slide. During hi s talk, Fairchild pre­ sented one of the week's tidiest descriptions of the distinction between color matching and appearance matching:

Device-independent color spaces allow you ro match what is physically appearing on rh e display. That solves part of the prob­ lem. Bur the appearance of Stimulus 1 may not match th e appearance of Stimulus 2 even if the two stimuli are the same. In

other words, we know the stimulus, but Adobe Systems what color does it appear to be? This is the Fig. 1: Color Engineering became afonnally defined discipline at the Second Annual Color arena of color-appearance modeling and Imaging Conference. "Color engineer" badges, supplied by Jim Kin g ofAdobe Systems, were measurements. widely distributed and worn throughout the conference.

Information Display 2/95 23 conference report

consideration of color appearance and color matching, but go beyond them to a considera­ tion of how color can be used to optimally code data for different purposes. ·'Please think about the task and application, not just color spaces and receptors. Higher-level mechanisms of color perception, such as image and color semantics, color memory, aesthetics. attention and emotion ... will fuel the development of future systems." Anyone who is using color or gray-scale coding for data visualization and does not have a back­ ground in the subject- and that's most of us­ would find the few minutes it takes to read about the specific approaches in the written version of Rogowitz's paper to be a good investment. In many applications, such as textiles and publications printing, determjning whether or not there is a difference between two colors is critical. Can such determination be made reliably on a display. or will we be eternally exchanging fabric swatches and color press Roy Berns. Munsell Color Science Laboratory, RIT proofs by Federal Express? ln "A Compari­ Fig. 2: Although this strategy from Munsell Color Science Laboratory for matching colors son of Color-Difference Perception on Soft­ between two different devices was specifically developed for the printing industry, the approach Display versus Hardcopy," King Choi throiVs light on the color-management problem in many different systems. described ongoing experiments at Kodak that are designed to answer this question. Hi s con­ color-space data - as an input for desktop­ overkjll for most business applications, but clusion is that, generally, you can use CRTs publishing systems. Since it is currently the system was designed to be usable for color for makjng color-difference determinations. impractical to do this directly, the authors proofing. Machines based on the new stan­ Choi's test subjects included experienced and developed an indirect approach to produce the dard will be backward-compatible with cur­ inexperienced color observers. ot surpris­ spectral data. Although the approach was rent binary Group 3 machi nes. The modula­ ingly, the experts were able to detect smaller specifically developed for the needs of the tion scheme is half-duplex and conforms to color differences than the novices. printing industry, the general strategy throws V.32bis and V.32 ( 14.4 and 9.6 kbits/s). light on the color-management problem in A one-page 24-bit 200 x 200-dpi image Color Measurement and Calibration many different systems (Fig. 2). And it contains II megabytes (MB) of data, wruch In the measurement and calibration session, should be quite a bit easier to spectrally char­ would take about an hour to transmit at 9.6 the eminent J. Rennilson reviewed the history acterize a CRT than it is to characterize a kbits/s. Tills is obviously unacceptable, so the of colorimetric and photometric measurement. transparency on a drum scanner. standard incorporates JPEG to compress the Among the interesting tidbits: James Clerk image to 150 kjlobytes (kB). Transmission Maxwell developed a portable colorimeter Color Engineering takes about 2 mjn at 9.6 kB/s, with excellent (for testing people with anomalous color In Jim King's color-engineering session, color rendition. vision) that used prisms and vari able slits in a Andrew Mutz and Daniel T. Lee of Hewlett­ ITU Study Group 8 intends to continue layout that is simjlar to that found in today's Packard Laboratories described the color-fac­ developing the color-fax standard. Extensions instruments ( 1860). Rennilson concluded by si mile standard for transmission of continu­ will include soft-copy gamut definition and a saying that after you make all your measure­ ous-tone color and gray-scale documents that recommendation for hard-copy/soft-copy ments, "The vis ual perception is the important was approved at the June 1994 meeting of the interchange. thing." ITU in Geneva. The standard will have Martin Maltz and Raja Balasubramanian ln ··colorimetiic Characterization of a received formal approval by the time you read addressed a subject clo e to Xerox's corporate Desktop Drum Scanner via Image Modeling,"' this; publication is scheduled for February. heart: multigeneration color copying. A Roy Berns and M. J. Shyu of the Munsell The standard uses CIELAB as its color ·'major enabler of the black-and-white copier Color Science Laboratory at RIT proposed space because it is a flexible, relatively uni­ business is the ability to make a copy of a that color accuracy could be improved and form, and device-independent color specifica­ copy;· said Maltz. But in black-and-white prepress time could be reduced if a scanner tion. The color default is 8 bits/channel (full copying, gray levels get distorted fast, and in could produce spectral data - rather than color) with a 12-bit option. This is massive color ·'grays" are what you're doing. The

26 Informarion Display 2/95 authors explored ways of maintaining color James R. Sullivan, Program Manager for suppliers of information on the Web. This is fidelity through practical ways of processing Kodak's Image Processing Business Unit, the ultimate Jeffersonian medium. Freedom the signal. The techniques are promising, and spoke on "Color and Image Management for of the press extends only to those who own a the authors now wish to extend them to the Telecommunication Applications." The infor­ press. On the Net, everyone can own a press. multigenerational copying of halftones. mation-highway infrastructure will evolve to "Copyright law is interesting. Electrons Rob Cook described the strategy behind support "a wide range of imaging applications don't know about international boundaries. If Light Sources' development of a low-cost from low-resolution entertainment such as you get an image from a country with weak spectrophotometer: video-on-demand to the high-resolution image copyright laws and import the image into the exchange of the medical and graphics arts U.S., which law applies? You may not know "As people increasingly send files and not industries." The huge diversity and volume of where the image comes from yourself." proofs to printers, unambiguous color info applications for color management in Jim Sullivan: "It's retail business and on the original becomes increasingly telecommunications will probably exceed advertising that will drive the mass-market important. So, low-cost spectrophotome­ even that for desktop management. information highway- and that's not the Inter­ ters for the desktop are important things to net. The Internet is uncontrollable, insecure, have. Color-management systems will be Color Imaging on the Highway and it's difficult to implement transactions on incomplete until spectral data is available. About 75 people attended the evening panel it." Our prediction is that color science will be session, which was unusually lively. The Brian Reid: "Wrong. There are lots of lurking behind every desktop. " good spirits may have been stimulated by the transactions now." premium beverages supplied by the organizers Jim Kasson: "The biggest issues are pri­ Building Color Systems and the complimentary copies of "Acrobat vacy, security, and developing mechanisms Gerald Murch of Xerox led off this session Reader" di stributed by Adobe Systems. for how suppliers get paid for their informa­ with an invited paper, "Cross-Platform Image The session, chaired by Jim King, started tion. These wi ll have solutions." Fidelity." He said, "Color management offers with an on-line demonstration of surfing on Jim Sullivan: "The model is not the com­ the means of transmitting color images and the Internet's "World Wide Web" by Adobe's puter. Examples of interactive TV are now in documents containing color across local and Michael Bourgoin. While Michael was surf­ trial over wide-area cable in which notable wide-area networks and between diverse oper­ ing, Jo Kirkenaer of Kodak Color Manage­ personalities model clothes. The viewer can ating systems and applications while main­ ment Systems said to me that at the first Color pull down still images of different items of taining the fidelity of the colors of the original Imaging Conference last year, people were clothing and can push a button to talk to a real image or document." Point and application still talking about color issues. This year they person. If people are going to buy products in "color-management solutions came about due want to manage color with the tools that have this way, reliable color-appearance matching to a lack of color-management support at the become available in the last few months. This over the network is essential." level of the desktop operating system. This is a major change. lack is changing rapidly as all of the major Kodak's Jim Sullivan kicked off the pan­ The Last Day manufacturers of operating systems, with the elist comments by saying that the user inter­ Friday was devoted to two color imaging exception of IBM, have announced color face has to get very much better before regular applications sessions and a nicely presented management as an integral part of the OS ." people will use an information highway in poster session. M. Wolski and hi s colleagues Apple's ColorSync 2.0 and Microsoft's Kodak large numbers. "If it looks like a computer from Purdue began the regular session with an ColorSense-based module in Windows '95 interface, it won't fl y. It has to be easy and invited paper on gamut mapping- mapping will both ship in 1995. But the problem of fun." Brian Reid, Director of Digital Equip­ the color gamut of one device to the gamut of cross-platform color portability still remains. ment Corporation's Network Systems Lab, another- which is an important component of Apple, Microsoft, SUN, SGI, Taligent, said, "We spend a lot of time studying the low device-independent color. The authors con­ Adobe, Kodak, and Agfa formed a consortium end. How bad can it get and still be useful?" clude that a gamut mapper that can vary its (to which new members are now being added) James M. Kasson, an IBM Fellow at the mapping technique depending on the color's to develop a color-profile format based on IBM Almaden Research Center, had a differ­ location in color space can offer substantially ColorSync 2.0 that would solve this problem. ent point of view. "When I think of the infor­ improved image quality, but a lot of work This format has now been named Inter­ mation highway , I think of the Internet grown remains to be done. Color™. An important element of the format up, not a fancier TV set. Think of accessing Those of us old enough to remember color is the notion of embedded device profiles. information seamlessly from the Web into TV before the advent of automatic flesh-tone The format outlines the requirements for the your document (Insert/Object/WWW/Clipart ). and blue-sky correction circuits may have file headers and formats to carry profile infor­ It will be a more democratic, less-top-down wondered at the scarcity of discussion con­ mation with images or for multiple images way of interacting with information." cerning automatic color correction for com­ within compound documents. PICT, EPS, Brian Reid: "99.9% of the information on puter monitors. Pekka Laihanen and a team and TIFF formats are supported now, and the Internet is garbage. The editorial function from the Laboratory of Graphic Arts Technol­ additional formats will be added in future is badly needed, but editors will need power­ ogy at Helsinki University of Technology, releases. ful tools. There are already one-third million along with Pekka Kekolahti of Grafimedia/

lnformarion Display 2195 27 conference report

ICL, were apparently wondering the same uations of groups of observers. All members conference is that the color-matching problem thing. They have developed a fully automatic of the audience I spoke with thought the work is being handled, but it turns out to be just one algorithm that corrects color balance, tone had substantial practical significance. layer. The next layer is appearance matching. rendering, and skin colors of a 24-bit RGB Binh Pham of Griffith University, Brisbane, The gamut-matching- or gamut mis-match­ monitor image. The algorithm improved most presented a method based on regression analy­ problem still has not really been addressed." test images. The authors expect to be able to sis for making seamless composites of many Gerald Murch (Xerox): "The formal cre­ improve the software further using neural-net­ color images. The method provides a gradual ation of 'color engineering' as a discipline work techniques. Demo versions of the soft­ transition with minimum changes to the origi­ legitimizes the application of conventional ware are available. nal data. Sample images were impressive. color-science values to new media. The right In the poster session, Jan De Clippeleer of Future work will be devoted to allowing users thing to do now is to bring to future editions Agfa-Gevaert discussed second-generation to specify the seam along which images will of this meeting the color problems people are color-management systems, particularly be combined, along with other parameters. A having with displays- such as color changes Agfa's FotoTune 2.0. member of the audience commented that the with gray level. This group can be very help­ Atsushi Takaghi and a team from Toyota work seems applicable to remote sensing and ful with such problems." Motor Corp. presented the results of a project satellite imaging. It would be interesting to Jim King (Adobe Systems): ''I'm pleas­ to do computer printing with a dye-sublima­ see if the work might also be applicable to the antly surprised at the degree of interest in the tion printer and an increased number of inks tiling of displays. activities of the International Color Commit­ to attain a wider color gamut. Printed images In "Putting Color Displays to Work," David tee (ICC). I'm disappointed that smart devices of Toyota automobiles had such depth of Travis of BT Labs developed a simple user­ have not come along more quickly. For color that they appeared photographic until centered method for color calibration that example, scanners can deliver L *a*b* data the viewer got close enough to see the usual should be accurate enough for mass-market and printers and displays can accept L *a *b* printer artifacts. applications. Along the way, he mentioned data, but the characterization still needs to be David L. Spooner of rhoMetric Associates that the draft of ISO 9241 , Part 8, contains supplied externally." Things must get simpler. presented an anthology of color-measurement psychophysical tests for monitors that are We have to get the characterization to be in errors in "Why Do Measured Values Taken badly flawed. Specifically, the tests fail mon­ the device. with Different Color Instruments Usually Dif­ itors that are entirely acceptable to users. Andras Lakatos (SID President and Advi­ fer?" Among these is lateral diffusion error, Travis proposed a revised test method that sory Board Co-Chair for the conference): gave more appropriate results. the failure of an instrument to measure all the "The Color Imaging Conference has quickly Finally, Joann M. Taylor of Color Technol­ light reflected from a sample because some of established a unique and valuable personality ogy Solutions and Lawrence D. Picciano of the light penetrates the surface and is scattered that is very much appreciated by the atten­ ECRI di scussed color imaging in endoscopy - laterally before re-emerging from the surface. dees. There is very significant participation the medical technique in which imaging and The error can often be eliminated by making from Europe and Asia, as well as from North surgical procedures are performed via a tube the area viewed by the measurement system America. In the planning meeting for next inserted into a body orifice or, in the closely much larger than the illuminated area, but year's conference, it was noted that registrants related technique called laparoscopy, a surgi­ many instruments can not practically imple­ like the single-track format and appreciate the cal incision. Early endoscopes presented an ment this technique and the errors persist. interactivity. Registration is up to about 170 image directly via optical-fiber bundles. N. M. Moroney and Steve Viggiano of the from about 150 last year, and the conference Images are now generally provided via video, RIT Research Corporation showed the output is more than supporting itself. but there are virtually no color-management of a developmental variable-dot thermal wax­ "Next year we will cover the same central facilities. Therefore, the color the physician transfer printer, which brings gray levels to topics, which were clearly appreciated this observes is not well-correlated with the color year. In addition, we will attempt to bring in wax-transfer printing. The image quality seen viewing the site directly, nor is it well­ more coverage of color engineering and bring approaches that of dye-diffusion printers, and correlated with what would be seen on together the color problems encountered in the technique offers substantial advantages in another manufacturer's system (or even di splay design and applications with the cost, speed, and energy consumption. another unit made by the same manufacturer). The second color image applications ses­ There are clearly opportunities here for color expertise on color problems possessed by sion began with an invited paper by the leg­ science and engineering to contribute to better many of the attendees at thi s meeting. There endary Robert Hunt of City University, Lon­ medical diagnosis and image communication. will be more coverage of second-generation don, and Michael Pointer of Kodak, Ltd. The color-matching systems, which are rapidly authors attempted to do what might seem to Analysis maturing, and we intend to combine many be impossible: develop a single metric - a What did the experts have to say about the demonstrations of these systems and products color-reproduction index- that would Second Annual Color Imaging Conference containing them with the poster session. embody differences in hue, lightness, and and the plans for the third conference sched­ "Scottsdale is proving to be a good 'home' chroma to come up with a measure of fidelity uled for November 7-10, 1995, in Scottsdale? for the Color Imaging Conference. Next year, in color reproduction. Remarkably, their Mark Fairchild (Munsell Color Lab, RIT): we are making the conference a week earlier index correlates well with the subjective eval- "The most important trend to be seen at this so it will not conflict with COMDEX." •

28 Information Display 2/95 Edited by JOAN GORMAN Designed for CAD/CAM, computer graphics, 21-in. (12.5 x 16.5 in.) 90' CRT with a unique and desktop-publishing applications, both electron-gun design that enables excellent models feature Panasonic' s state-of-the-art focus at 150-fL light output. The monitor also digital technology to achieve a high 160-Hz incorporates electronic geometry- and focus­ scanning rate for enhanced viewing of 3-D correction circuitry which allows the image 10.4-in. SVGA color LCD images with stereoscopic glasses. The C- quality to be fully optimized. The DR110 is 2192P has a 0.25-mm dot pitch, a factory pre­ designed to meet ultra-high-performance module set display area of 380 x 285 mm, and a full imaging requirements with excellent scan setting of 402 x 301 mm. The C-1792P price/performance in mind. The DR90 moni­ Sharp Electronics Corp., Camas, Washington, has a 0.27-mm dot pitch, a factory preset tor utilizes a 21-in. 110' flat CRT with 34% has introduced the LM80C03P, a high-resolu­ active display area of 300 x 225 mm, and a glass transmission, which provides very high tion 10.4-in.-diagonalliquid-crystal display full scan setting of 325 x 240 mm. Both contrast for easy viewing of gray-scale (LCD). With an array of 800 x 600 pixels, the include eight preset timing modes and fre­ images. With a maximum light output of 65 LM80C03P conforms to the SVGA standard, quency ranges of 30--82 kHz horizontal and fL, it is suitable for consultative or referral bringing exceptional resolution, clarity, and 50--160Hz vertical. They are compatible with applications. contrast to notebook PCs, information kiosks, VGA, SVGA, VESA, and high-resolution Information: Data Ray Corp., 12300 Pecos, and other electronic devices. SVGA displays video boards of 1280 x 1024lines at 76Hz. Westminster, CO 80234. 303/451-1300, can clearly show an entire page of text and a Suggested retail prices are $1999 for the C- fax -1143. larger segment of a detailed spread sheet. The 2192P and $1099 for the C- 1792P. Both dual-scan passive color display features a models carry a 3-year CRT warranty. large display area in a package with the same Information: Panasonic Communications mechanical dimensions as Sharp's existing 8.4-, 9.4-, and 10.4-in. displays. This break­ & Systems Co., Two Panasonic Way, Secau­ through in viewing area is made possible by cus, NJ 07094. 1-800-742-8086. innovations in connection technology, back­ lighting, and packaging. The LM80C03P is equivalent to a 12-in. CRT monitor in screen size and definition, and delivers a 25 :1 con­ trast ratio. The LM80C03P's mechanical compatibility with other active and passive color displays will save computer manufactur­ ers significant tooling and manufacturing costs. The single-tube backlight design also yields a lighter and thinner overall package. Power consumption is 3.5 W. Information: Sharp Electronics Corp., 5700 N.W. Pacific Rim Blvd., MIS 20, Camas, WA Circle no. 2 98607. 1-800-642-0261. Circle no.l

Hi-res monochrome monitors Circle no. 3

CAD/CAM monitors Data Ray Corp., Westminster, Colorado, has introduced its new line of ultra-high-resolu­ Panasonic Communications & Systems Co., a tion monochrome monitors, designed specifi­ Passive-matrix LCD panel division of Matsushita Electric Corp. of cally to meet the demanding requirements of America, Secaucus, New Jersey, is entering high-performance medical-i maging applica­ Telex Communications, Inc., Minneapolis, the high-end color-monitor market with the tions. The DR80 and DRliO models can dis­ Minnesota, has expanded its MagnaByte® introduction of the PanaSync™/Pro Series of play resolutions up to 2048 x 2560. The LCD line to include a dual-scan passive­ ultra-high-resolution monitors. The 21-in. C- DR80 utilizes a high-contrast 25-in. CRT with matrix model offering 640 x 480 resolution. 2192P and 17-in. C-1792P qualify for the a magnetic focusing system that allows supe­ The MagnaByte® M1p is the LCD solution CAD/CAM category of monitors, with their rior focus over the entire display area. The for small-busi ness and education presenters, 1600 x 1280 resolution, Panasonic's patented monitor is capable of displaying more than a where value is as important as quality color DQ-DAF™ (double-quadrupole dynamic full 14 x 17 -in. image at a light output of 150 output. With 1.4-million colors on its palette, astigmatism and focus) electronic gun tech­ fL for primary diagnostic and viewing appli­ no other passive panel in the industry offers nology, and a full-featured on-screen display. cations. The DRllO utilizes a high-contrast more color flexibility. The M1p can also sup-

32 Information Display 2195 port Apple's QuickTimeTM and Microsoft's Information: Melissa Hein, WinTron, 250 Video for Windows™. The Mlp weighs 5 Runville Road, Bellefonte, PA 16823. Industrial touch monitor lbs. (2.3 kg) and is compact, li ghtweight, and 8 14/355- 152 1, fax -1524. very portable. The panel incorporates a full­ Circle no. 5 Nortech Engineering, Inc., Medfield, Mas­ function control feature on the panel or via an sachusetts, has announced the CM1510, a 15- optional IR remote control. Controls include in. industrial video monitor available with focus, inverse video, image alignment, con­ resistive or capacitive touch screens. Housed trast, picture, tint, palette, contract, expand, 3-D graphics chips in a sheet-metal enclosure, with the front brightness, text di splay select (nine settings) panel sealed to NEMA-4 ratings, the CM 1510 mode (text adjustment for IBM VGA users Yamaha Systems Technology Division, San is available in either a rack or panel mounting only), and reset. Other features include simul­ Jose, California, has introduced their first two configuration. Controls are normally mounted taneous monitor and panel support and a light­ "virtuality" high-performance 3-D graphics in the front of the monitor for convenience, activated cooling system for quiet operation chips. The rendering polygon accelerator but may be optionally mounted in the rear for when the overhead is turned off. The M 1p is (RPA) Yamaha YGV61 1, and a lower-cost full NEMA-4 compliance. Featuring on­ designed for IBM compatibles and Macintosh system version, provide high-quality 2-D or screen display (OSD), which displays all of computer platforms. Power supply (110-240 3-D performance on PCs and low-end work­ the adjustment functions directly on the V, 50/60 Hz) and all necessary cables are stations at unmatched low cost. Graphics screen, and digital controls, the monitor's included. boards designed with these graphics con­ video modes can be easily preset or changed Information: Telex Commun ications, Inc., trollers wi ll bring sophisticated drawing, shad­ and the quality of the video image readily 9600 Aldrich A venue South, Minneapolis, ing, texture mapping, and video capture to optimized. The CRT display has a resolution of 1280 x 1024 non-interlaced and uses a 15- MN 55420. 6 12/884-4051 , fax -0043. animation, presentations, modeling, in. flat square CRT, allowing image adjust­ CAD/CAM, and virtual reality. The YGV611 ment to the edge of the screen. It is compati­ performs Gouraud shading and texture map­ ble with all of the IBM and VESA standards, ping at 21OK polygons/s (50-pixel polygons), the Apple Macintosh II family, and Sun work­ and also performs bidden smface removal, station standards. A model without a touch video capture, and bit block transfer (Bit- screen is also available for $895; prices are BLT) . The frame-buffer interface is 128 bits $1785 for touch-screen models. Delivery is wide (64 bits interleaved), providing high-per­ 2-4 weeks ARO. formance graphics. The 16- or 32-bit-wide Information: Mel Silverstein, Nortech host bus interface operates up to 33 MHz. Engi neering, Inc., 19 Wichita Road, Medfield, The chip supports resolutions up to 1280 x MA 02052. 508/359-6063, fax -7746. 1024 16-bit color. CMOS processing is used for lower power consumption. The YGV611 Circle no. 4 evaluation boards are available now. Engi­ neering samples will be available in Q1, 1995. Production quantities are scheduled for Q2, 1995. Price is expected to be $80/1000 Mini high-voltage power supply pieces. forHUDs Information: Henry Choy, Yamaha Sys­ tems Technology Division, 100 Century Cen­ WinTron, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, has intro­ ter Court, Suite 800, San Jose, CA 951 12. duced a mini regulated high-voltage power 408/437-3133, fax -8791. supply for miniature head-up and helmet­ mounted displays. The small 3.0 x 0.7 x 1.5- in. unit weighs less than I 00 g. The anode vo ltage can be as hi gh as 8.5 kV, the cathode output as hi gh as 750 ]lA with an adj ustable G2 (150-550), and focus outputs to 1500 V. The power supply operates with +12 Vdc (±2 V) input with a low ripple on all outputs. The anode is 0.025%, providing power for the best resolution and overall performance in minia­ ture CRT displays. Custom variations with a wide range of electrical parameters can be manufactured for similar or other applications. Circle no. 6 Circle no. 7

Information Display 2/95 33 new products

Pump VGAPCI™, a dual-channel accelerated through Electrohome's North American and Fine-grain titanium target VGA board for 3-D stereoscopic personal international dealer network. The ACON simulator, games, and visualization applica­ upgrade kit for installed projectors is priced at Tosoh SMD, Inc., Grove City, Ohio, has tions. The advantages of the RPI unit over $2495. introduced a new fine-grain titanium target competitive units include lower cost ($950), Information: Jeffrey Brum, Electrohome that provides greater consistency, reliability, higher resolution (1600 x 1200), two indepen­ Limited, 809 Wellington Street North, Kitch­ and repeatability in sputtering processes. dently programmable VGA channels in one ener, Ontario, Canada N2G 4JG. 5191744- Designed for use in large planar systems, it is PCI slot, feature connectors, video-display 7111. also available in low oxygen for titanium memory, and GUI accelerator functions con­ nitride applications. In response to customer tained in the hardware. The boards are in requirements for a finer grain size, Tosoh stock and ready to ship immediately. They SMD, with its controlled metallurgy and tar­ come with support for OS/2, MS-DOS, Unix, get fabrication processes, has cut the average NT, and Windows applications. grain size in hal f. The result is an ultrafine Information: Howard Prestidge, RPI microstructure throughout the Ti target, ensur­ Advanced Technology Group, P.O. Box ing consistent film performance through target 14607, San Francisco, CA 94114. 415/495- life and from target to target. Tosoh's new 567 L, fax -5124. proprietary nondestructive ultrasonic testing Circle no. 9 procedures help to achieve a more homo­ geneous grain size for more consistent perfor­ mance in the customer's sputtering process, Circle no. 10 thereby reducing manufacturing costs. Projectors with automatic Information: Steve Bardus, Product Man­ convergence ager, Semiconductor Planar Systems, Tosoh SMD, Inc., 3600 Gantz Rd. , Grove City, OH Electrohome Limited, Kitchener, Ontario, Finally, color monitors 43123-1895.614/875-7912. Canada, has introduced the Marquee 8001 and 9001 data graphics projectors with patented Nokia Display Products, Inc., Sausalito, Cali­ automatic convergence (ACON) capabilities. fornia, has announced that its recently intro­ ACON is a hardware/software system that duced Valuegraph™ 447L line of low-cost automatically accurately aligns CRTs in 3 speaker-equipped 17-in. monitors is now minutes after four keystrokes on the keypad. available in stylishly colored Europalette™ The patented photodiode sensor system is enclosures, including red, blue, teal, gray, and more accurate, reliable, and consistent than beige. The flat square monitors feature 0.28- camera-based convergence systems. The mm dot pitch, a maximum ergonomic resolu­ Marquee 8001 and 9001 projectors with tion of 1024 x 768, and a refresh rate of 75 ACON deliver optimal display quality while Hz. Front-panel digital screen and volume eliminating time-consuming manual adjust­ adjustments and stereo speakers mounted ments. Intended for applications such as pre­ invisibly under the bezel make Valuegraph™ sentation graphics, status display for control 447L monitors ideally suited for the graphics­ rooms, and multimedia, both the 8001 and rich multimedia entertainment software that is 9001 offer scanning rates of up to 130 kHz. driving growth of the home market. Brightly The Marquee 8001 uses three 8-in. electro­ colored Europalette™ enclosures bring added magnetically focused CRTs; its horizontal excitement to the home environment. The scanning range is unmatched by any projector European ergonomics of these monitors in its price range. The Marquee 9001 features reduces eyestrain and fatigue, making them three 9-in. electromagneticall y focused CRTs more comfortable to view for extended peri­ combined with liquid-coupled lenses with true ods. The monitors are manufactured in Fin­ Scheimpflug adjustment for optimum top-to­ land and feature the Nokia-pioneered emis­ Circle no. 8 bottom and side-to-side focus along with sions standards that have been broadly exceptional contrast. In addition, the Marquee adopted in the industry, earning them Swe­ 9001 is the first projection system to include den 's MPR-II certification. Valuegraph™ 64-bit card for PC simulators electronic astigmatism correction. The sug­ 447L monitors offer as standard many other gested U.S. list price of the Marquee 8001 is Nokia-pioneered features and picture-quality RPI Advanced Technology Group, San Fran­ $24,995 and $36,995 for the Marquee 9001 . enhancements not found on most monitors: cisco, California, has announced the Pixel- Both projectors are available immediately antiglare and antistatic coatings, dynamic auto

34 Infonnation Display 2195 focus, and VESA DPMS power-saving tech­ cal production option for large-area litho­ Use our nol ogy. The Europalette™ 447 monitors graphic processing. In the automated process­ carry a 3-year parts-and-labor warranty. Val­ ing sequence, a pick-and-place arm lifts a fl at Database Expertise uegraph™ 447L monitors also include panel from the start position and loads it on for Nokia's FullScreen™, which eliminates the the scanning chuck, where it is automatically black border found on most monitors, expand­ aligned and exposed by hi gh-speed scanning Market Research ing the viewable application area by up to projection. The panel is then unloaded by a Competitive Intelligence 10% without di stortion. European research secondary arm and pl aced in the finished posi­ Patent Searches has shown that this solution reduces eyestrain. tion while the first arm is loading the next Patent Trend Analysis The suggested retail price of the Value­ panel. Technical Literature graph™ 447L is $699. Information: Tamarack Scientific Co., Inc., Demographics Info rmation: Mike Tomko, Nokia Display 1040 North Armando St., Anaheim, CA Products, Inc., 1505 Bridgeway Blvd., Suite 92806. 714/632-5030, fax -1455. Database Training 128, Sausalito, CA 94965. 415/331-0322, fax -0424. Avoid costly errors. Get the facts before you act. H.L. Funk Consulting is a subscriber to major electronic database providers and has over twenty years of experience in their use. A brief discussion with us determine if your information requirements can be satisfied by H.L. Funk Consulting.

Circle no. 12 • H.L. Funk Consulting 7 Diane Court Please send new product releases or Katonah, NY 10536 Telephone: (914) 232 3530 news items to Joan Gorman, Depart­ FAX: (914) 232 3530 ments Editor, Information Display, c/o Palisades Institute for Research Circle no. 30 Circle no. 11 Services, Inc., 201 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014.

Projection exposure systems

Tamarack Scientific Co., Inc., Anaheim, Cali­ fornia, has introduced a new series of fully 21 21 automated high-speed projection exposure systems for processing flat panels up to 20 x FEBRUARY 24 in. for displays, color filters, MCMs, and Getting the Best from State­ SID '95 ultra-high-density PCBs. The automated Series 300A's exclusive scanning projection of-the Art Display Systems ORLANDO, FLORIDA technology is ideally suited for many standard LONDON, ENGLAND MAY21-26, 1995 lithographic-process steps requiring 4-J.lm res­ FE B. 21 - 23, 1 9 9 5 • SID 's MAJOR ANNUAL EVENT olution. Special optical design provides a • 1 Dav Tutorial & 2 Day Conference • An International Symposium Seminar large depth of field to accommodate thickness • Full details available on Internet and Exhibition- Featuring : -From LISTSERV@CEARN SIDUK95 PS -Technical Sessions- Poster Session variations in films and MCM substrates. The SIDUK95 ZIP -Author Interviews- Evening Panels Series 300 eliminates stitching errors, pro­ -From software.watson .ibm.com by -Short Courses- "How-to" Seminars vides faster processing, and is substantially anonymous ftp in the \pub\ifip\sid -Technical Seminars -Applications lower in cost than stepper systems. With a directorv siduk95.ps siduk95.psZ ~ -Product Exhibits. typical total process time of 59 s from pick-up siduk95 zip -Or from SID office 714/545-1526 to return of a 360 x 465 x 1.1-mm panel, the Series 300 offers a totally new and economi-

Information Display 2195 35 display continuum

continued from page 4 how strong the influence of current events can With this grounding in practical technology from now, but in the very immediate future of be when one tries to imagine what the future forecasting, I returned to the review of what I to 9 years ahead - the decade of the 80s. may hold. Apparently, paradigm shifts are no the folks at Playboy thought would happen­ Looking back from 1994, the predictions are easier for movie creators than for us. not 200 years from now, not even 30 years amazing- by how far they missed what really happened. Many of the predictions made then are still being made today· of technologies that are "just around the corner." And, perhaps, some of them actually are. Improve the cost /performance So, let's look at the future as seen from 1980. If nothing else, I think you will find some of these predictions quite entertaining. ratio of your system to gain If I were to ask you to make your predictions for 1995, 1996, or 1997, how many of them would you mention? Or do you have some of the competitive edge your own not found here? If you like, please send me your thoughts for a possible follow­ up column. Whether you're designing a new system or trying to improve the performance 1981 -Video-text broadcasting begins as of an existing one, DISCOM can custom-tailor components to extract maximum a commercial service, bringing still pic­ performance from your system design. tures and printed data to the nation's TV screens. Two systems appear: Teletext, High-performance custom yokes at off-the-shelf prices sending limited amounts of information Using our extensive experience with deflection by broadcast TV signal, and Viewdata, yokes, DISCOM engineers can design and build a using phone lines to carry a greater vari­ ety of information. prototype stator yoke that maximizes your system • The French begin substituting com­ design. Then, by combining our unique mass­ puter terminals for printed phone production techniques with rigorous statistical directories. • AM stereo broadcasting, proposed to quality control, we can maintain custom specs the FCC in 1980, is finally approved. throughout production at a non-custom cost. 1982 - Growth of home-computer use Thirty-two years of high-voltage power supply experience and inter-computer networks leads to strong competition for the U.S . Postal For years, we've been building high-voltage power supplies for the leading Service, as millions gain ability to trans­ manufacturers in the industry. They know that mit written messages electronically. Postal rates are raised to compensate for DISCOM power supp li es provide superior reduced volume. performance and re liability in a smaller size and • First flat TV picture tube reaches footprint. Our designs can be customized to market - small, black-and-white, and expensive. TV can be hung on the any system requirement for maximum wall. performance at a minimum cost. • Appliances now include built-in DISCOM builds high-performance components for the world's most demanding decoders that react to remote-control signals sent over house wiring. manufacturers - for avionics, radar, imaging, CAD, projection, medical and laser 1983- Reference books fade from mar­ applications. Call us at 508-692-6000. We'll help you increase the performance of ket, gradually supplanted by data banks your system to give you the competitive edge. accessible from home computers for small fees. • Two-way cable-TV systems become widespread. Viewers can participate .=... • ® DISCOM Incorporated, 334 Littleton Road in opinion polls, vote from an on­ ------Westford MA 01886 FAX 508-692-8489 screen "menu" for specific programs - _ _ _ A subsidiary of TDK U.S.A. Corporation and films, order goods seen in com­ mercials, and call for emergency Circle no. 31 assistance, all via cable.

36 Information Display 2/95 1984- Picture-phone service arrives. 1988 - High-resolution video arrives. projectors, newsy terns receive 2100- After orne embarrassments. service i following year of viewer complaints line pictures. revi ed o that neither camera nor view about coar e 525-line pictures on wall­ o Flat- creen wrist televi ion arrives. creen become active until turned on by size screens. ing multiple blocks of 1989 - Flat peaker share wall space user. cable-TV channel . special tuners and with flat video creens. o First flat-tube color-TV creen arTives. small and expensive. o Bookstores stock only the biggest sel lers: books in low demand are avai lab le on microfiche sheet We've Closed The Gap ! "printed'' by a computer in the . tore. o Game playing by computer network Tamarack's Model 300 LGPX Scanning becomes a national mania; players all over the counu·y match wits in Projection Exposure System closes the gap fast-paced games that end in min­ utes. and extended games that con­ between contact printers and expensive steppers! tinue for days or weeks. 1985- Facsimile printers tied into home video ystems give instant printout of newspapers and other information. U ers can scan headlines and request printouts of the stories that intere t them. System put available stories in order of viewer's priority.

o Appliances, while till sporting con­ trol panels, now almo t univer ally respond to vocal commands. o Hi gh commuting costs lead to "'dis­ tributed office ." which means workers stay home and communicate via home-computer terminal . o Flat color-TV screens grow in size, shrink in price. gain in popularity. 1986 - Bookstores begin printing "instant books·· on recycled paper. a well as in tant microfiches. ew books can be printed in the user's choice of type size - bigger size for easier read­ Jim ing. maller ones for easier carrying. Now you can expose 20" x 24" panels with 4 resolution!

o Total ambience control for home • Automatic Alignment - 2 pm Accuracy. audio systems lets a listener dial in • 1 to 1 Projection Exposure precisely the room acoustics he • No Mask to Substrate Contact - No Mask Damage! wants. either according to per onal taste or by calling up the name of the Tamarack's Model 300 LGPX - Accurate and Affordable! concert hall whose ound he wants to duplicate. For more information, please call: • TV screens grow to wall size. mak- ing movies into MOVIES! ~TAMARACK Anaheim, CA 92806 1987 - Hi-Fi systems linked to com­ puter-data networks conquer "music ~ scientific co., inc. 1040 N. Armando St. lover's itch ... Whistle a tune, and the y tern will identify it and play a record­ Phone: (714) 632-5030 FAX (714) 632-1455 ing of it. o Pattern generators project fixed or Visit us at DMTC '95 - Booth #402 moving patterns on wall-size TV , turning them into "wallpaper." Circle no. 32

Informa/ion Display 2/95 37 display continuum

• The kitchen computer arrive ; not keeps an inventory, and uggest After reading these prediction , don't you just the long-predicted recipe bank, menus on the ba is of food on hand, feel like the world hit a bump in the time-con­ but a ystem that checks groceries as diet preferences, food prices. tinuum and went off in a completely differen t they enter and leave kitchen shelves, • Holographic (3-D) TV appear . direction? Over a period of just a few year , virtually nothing happened as predicted. Can we learn anything from these missed experi­ ences to help guide our next attempts at the future? One immediate observation is that bringing technology to market almo t always happens at a significantly slower rate than those involved with the technology are likely to pre­ dict. It eem that technologists are great at conveniently forgetting about such "minor details" as manufacturing process develop­ ment, manufacturing scale-up, development of a supplier infrastructure, and time to achieve market acceptance. However, of equal importance to the imple­ mentation of technologies are the political, social, ecological, and economic environ­ ments. For example, sending a man to the moon was first a political decision and only then was the technology called on to make it happen. That the permanent moon base is not going to happen in 2001 is similarly a political decision. But, it is also an economic and social one. A a society, we have decided that we do not wish to spend our resources on such a project. Look at another example. The lim­ itations placed on the growth of nuclear power plants are social and ecological, not techno­ logical or economic. And clo er to our own ()d~1Jeld3k- fPD deJm~ 1CCUI'llte interests, the fact that we don' t have an step height and long scan surface HDTY standard today is not a problem of texture measurements on large flat technology but one of the political, social, and panels up to 720mm. economic deci ions that low the process to a near- tandstill. 3-D Surface Renderings Whatever our current environment, it nar­ The programmable stage enables rows our vi ion o that it i difficult to see a T any portion of the substrate to be I future significantly different from the present mapped out as a detailed, color - until it is nearly upon us. It' s a sneaky combi­ coded, 3-D image of the surface. . I nation of an evolutionary and revolutionary process in which the many concepts of what Robotic Substrate Handling the world should look like mix in a virtually Cassette loading of flat panels unpredictable way- and out of the many, a along with pattern recognition are few of the most useful and desirable combina­ available for automated operation. tions become accepted. This surviving et Dt 'aak FPD-650 then determines the next direction and so on. flat Panel Sm face Profiler It' s like a drive down a very foggy road. We can see what is immediately in front of u , but the distant vision fade quickly and what looks like a lamppost may instead turn out to We Make The Process More Productive be a tree.

Oel«ak 11 a regtStered tra

Information Di play 2/95 39 display continuum

marked for TFEL. The Administration' s $10- Dahl. In addition, R. Edward Koskie, previ­ million request for advanced lithography was ously President, was elected Vice Chairman, LCD!Fiat Panel increased by $50 million to a total of $60 mil­ also reporting to Dahl. Surjan, who joined lion. The $ 100-million Administration Crystaloid in 1982 as Vice President, Inspection !Test/Repair request for Multi-Chip Modules was increased Sales/Marketing, was previously with Bull by $ I 0 million, with $5 million earmarked for HN Information Systems. Crystaloid is a diamond and $5 million for superconducting manufacturer and supplier of liquid-crystal materials. The buy-America provision for displays for commercial and avionics applica­ advanced ceramics and FPDs was removed in tions. The company is known for specialized BB the final legislation. custom-designed twisted-nematic, super­ Integrated Circuits Testing GmbH of twisted-nematic, and dichroic displays. Munich, Germany, and MRS Technology, Carolyn Russell has been named Director nTiml • Visual Inspection Inc., of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, have of Marketing Communications for Brite • line/Pixel Probing signed an agreement for a strategic partner­ Voice Systems, Inc., of Wichita, Kansas, • Metal Deposition ship to develop and introduce an electrical test which provides voice processing systems and • Elimination of Shorts system for active-matrix liquid-crystal dis­ services worldwide. She was previously pub­ • Trace Cutting plays (AMLCDs). ICT has developed lic relations manager for Boeing Defense and • Panel Testing focused electron-beam-probing technology for Space Group, Product Support Division. Her • ITO Scribing IC testing and is now developing an electrical work at Boeing included all national and • Glass Marking, Fritting tester for flat-panel displays (FPDs) based on international media-relations activity for the The overwhelming choice of this e-beam technology. Under the agree­ new "Air Force One." display makers around the world! ments, MRS will develop materials-handling Gus Ligthart has been named Northwest­ Full product line: tabletop, semi­ systems and high-level user interfaces for the ern Regional Sales Manager for Karl Suss automatic, full production and tester, and wi ll distribute test systems in all America and will be located in San Jose, Cal­ large-area (1 m x 1 m) systems. markets except Europe. ICT will handle the ifornia. Prior to joining Suss, he was Call today for further information. European market. ICT will deliver two testers employed by Canon USA as District Sales FREE SAMPLES! to MRS in 1995. In addition, MRS will Manager, handling wafer steppers. Karl Suss Lasers for Microelectronics acquire a 10% equity position in ICT. America, Inc., of Waterbury Center, Vermont, ..1"2.FLOROD Brooks Automation of Lowell, Mas­ is a supplier of mask ali gners, flip-chip and u- CORPORATION sachusetts, has delivered its second HER­ anodic bonders, spin coaters, and probe sta­ 17360 S. Gramercy Place CULES 6500 platform for the production of tions. The company develops and produces Gardena, CA 90247-5212 flat-panel substrates up to 600 x 700 mm to machines in Vermont, Munich, Germany, and 310/532-2700, 800/323-7691 , FAX: 310/329-1015, E-Mail: [email protected] Leybold AG of Alzenau, Germany. Leybold Saint Jeoire, France. has already taken delivery of one HERCULES NuVision Technologies, Inc., the newly Circle no. 35 6500 for the purpose of process development. created spi n-out of the Tektronix liquid-crys­ Visit us at DMTC '95 - Booth #303 This unit will ship to a third-generation tal color-shutter technology, has leased space AMLCD fab in Japan in early 1995. The in the Twin Oaks Center in Beaverton, Ore­ HERCULES 6500 is a high-throughput ultra­ gon. NuVision wi ll hire many of the employ­ clean cluster tool that will allow the world 's ees who worked in the Tektronix Display leading FPD producers to accommodate third­ Products Division. Rich Hockenbrock, who generation substrates. The transition to third­ wi ll head up the new operation, reports that generation substrates should allow FPD pro­ they will begin with 12 employees and expand ducers to increase fab capacity by 50% and as business warrants. reduce display costs. Ross Young, FPD As always, I enjoy hearing your thoughts Product Manager at Brooks Automation, about this column. However, this month I am recently hosted a visit by Dr. Kenneth particularly interested in having some of you Flamm, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary respond with your own thoughts and predic­ SID '95 of Defense for Dual Use Technology, who tions of where display technology is heading Symposium, Seminar was interested in seeing first hand the capabil­ between now and 200 I. You may reach me and Exhibition ity of this new fabrication equipment. by e-mail at [email protected] Edward D. Surjan, Jr., has been elected or by fax at 6091734-2127 or by phone at Walt Disney World President and Chief Operating Officer of 6091734-2949. As a last resort, you may wish Dolphin Hotel Crystaloid of Hudson, Ohio. He will con­ to use the pony express and send your infor­ Orlando, Florida tinue his responsibilities as Vice President, mation to Jay Morreale at Palisades Institute Sales/Marketing, and report directly to the for Research Services, 201 Varick Street, May 21-26, 1995 company's Chairman and CEO, Robert R. Suite 1006, New York, NY 10014. •

40 lnformotion Display 2195 Edited by JOAN GORMAN The price of plasma

Fujitsu's 21-in. color pia rna display panel (PDP) is currently priced at approximately $8000, and the sample price in Japan for Mit- Restructuring at Plasmaco ubishi' new 20-in. full-color PDP is $10,800. According to an unnamed source Pia maco. Inc .. Highland, New York, has quoted by Yoshiko Hara in an article in the announced a major restructuring of its opera­ ££Times of October 24. 1994, it should be tion as a first step towards enabling the com­ possible to reduce the price to $100 per diago­ pany to pur ue the commercialization of its nal inch within 3 years. That, says Hara, indi­ recently demonstrated full-color flat-panel rectly quoting hi source. is ·'a price point that display. The total financing, which included will cause demand for plasma displays to explode:· debt restructuring and new equity, exceeded $6 million. The working capital infusion wa provided by a new group ofU.S.-based pri­ vate investors. which now own a majority of Thin-CRT alliance the outstanding stock of Pia maco and will become active participant in the fmancing Silicon Video Corp., Cupertino, California, and operation of the company. The new has been selected to receive the U.S. Flat equity financing and restructuring were spear­ Panel Display Initiative's Technology Rein­ headed by Atlantic Venture Group. Inc., a vestment Program (TRP) funding for its fLrst ew York City-based merchant banking firm. two phases of a three-phase program. Total together with a group of new hareholders led costs, distributed over 18 months, are 67.2 by Samuel Schwartz. the Chairman of Sono­ million; TRP will contribute about a third. Tek Corp. (SOTK), a Milton-based manufac­ This TRP award enables the company to turer of ultrasonic spray products. Stephen E. receive its second $250,000 matching-fund Globus, Chairman of Globus Growth Group, award from the State of California's Gold- Inc .. a ew York City-based investment firm. trike Program. The e awards will help Sili­ will become the Chairman of Plasmaco, with con Video complete the development of cu - John J. Antrener (President of Atlantic Ven­ tom-manufacturing equipment, tooling, and ture Group) as uming the positions of Acting factory-automation testing for the company's Chief Executive Officer and Director. Dr. pre-production facility. Founded in 1991 , Sil­ Larry F. Weber, a founder of Plasmaco in icon Video's goal is to engineer and produce a 1987. was named President and a Director of new clas of flat-panel display called a thin the company; Donald F. Neville (Vice Presi­ cathode-ray tube ('"Thin CRT"). Hewlett­ dent of Atlantic Ventures) wa named Chief Packard Co., Compaq Computer Corp., Financial Officer and a Director; and Michael Advanced Technology Materials, Wyse Tech­ J. Sprague was elected a Vice Pre idem of the nology, Planar Advance. Accu-Fab Systems, company. Additional Directors include Wolf­ Spectrum Science, and Lawrence Livermore gang Drescher, Samuel Schwartz, and Jame ational Laboratory all confirmed their co­ development support and invol vement with L. Kehoe. According to Dr. Larry F. Weber, Silicon Video· technology program. "The combination of a significantly cleaned­ up balance heet, the infusion of new working capital, and the resources of the new board of directors should position Pia maco to pursue Restructuring at Motif all of the business and engineering activitie required to get our state-of-the-art full-color Motif, Inc .. Wil sonville, Oregon, ha display to market." Plasmaco was founded in announced that it is restructuring its operation 1987, when it acquired production equipment in order to focus greater attention on its core and technology from illM. The company i Active Addre ingTM technology. Its LCD­ located in Highland, ew York, and currently manufacturing operation will be shut down a employs approximately 30 people. a result of the restructuring. As previously announced, Motif has been working toward AND delivery of its first Active Addressing Inte­ grated Circuits (AAICs). Motif, a joint ven­ ture between Motorola and In Focu System , HELP will continue to establish Active Addre - ing™ technology in the marketplace through it panel partner alliances. YOU

ARPA award to Photon GET Dynamics Photon Dynamic , Inc. (POI). Milpita , Cali­ OUT forni a, has been awarded an ARPA contract to continue work on its test equipment for flat­ panel di play (FPD) manufacturing. The $4.2 million co-development contract i to develop OF POI's next-generation In Process Test System (IPT-MPSH 1), designed to test and character­ ize fl at panels during the more critical array THEM. stage of FPD mas production. Testing dur­ ing the array stage of manufacturing i e sen­ ti al to reduce manufacturing costs and improve production yields. The contract will enable the development of feature including enhanced test-sy tern throughput and maxi­ mum reliability, coupled with a smaller equip­ ment footprint and a complete robotics sys­ tem. The IPT-MPS will also give process and characterization information to the FPD man­ ufacturer, allowing them to manage line fai l­ ures during production. 'This co t-sharing method allows Photon Dynamics to expand its competitive edge while sharing its expertise with ARPA," said Francoi Henley. POI' chief technical officer. "The improvements funded by ARPA will peed the availability of IPT-MPS technology, allowing it more rapid introduction into the on-line manufacturing of flat-panel di play . This effort builds on the basic in-process test technology recently developed with ARPA support and will advance FPD-testing capability to meet the demanding testing and throughput needs of high-volume manufacturing." stated ARPA program manager, Dr. David Slobodin. According to Slobodin, "This contract i a key element of the ARPA program to trengthen the U.S. equipment and materials infra truc­ ture and to further advance the domestic FPD industry.''

continued on page 45 industry news

continued from page 43 California, has introduced a series of fully Partnership to develop FPD Grant to LCI automated high-speed scanning projection tester exposure systems for processing flat panels up Technology developed at Kent State Univer­ to 500 x 600 mm. With very large depths of Integrated Circuit Testing GmbH (ICT), sity's Glenn H. Brown Liquid Crystal Institute field and resolutions down to 4 J.lm, this new Munich, Germany, and MRS Technology, (LCI) is another step closer to revolutionizing technology offers a completely new produc­ Inc., Chelmsford, Massachusetts, have signed the multibillion-dollar display industry. "The tion alternative to many process steps in the agreements for a strategic partnership to display industry is looking for a flat-panel dis­ manufacture of flat-panel displays, color fil­ develop and introduce an electrical test system play screen that is purely reflective, so that it ters, MCMs, and ultra-high-density PCBs. for active-matrix liquid-crystal displays looks just like a piece of paper, but has the Compared with steppers, the new systems (AMLCDs). ICT has developed focused elec­ potential for full-color," said LCI Director, process large areas faster, eliminate stitching tron-beam probing technology for IC testing Dr. J. William Doane. LCI researchers have errors, are substantially lower in cost, and are and is now developing an electrical tester for developed a technology capable of playing a fully compatible in mix-and-match configura­ flat-panel displays (FPDs) based on this e­ pivotal role in the development of just such a tions. beam technology. Under the agreements, display. Supported by a $1.93 million 3-year Information: Tamarack Scientific Co., Inc., MRS will develop materials-handling systems grant from the Advanced Research Projects 1040 N. Armando St., Anaheim, CA 92806. and high-level user interfaces for the tester, Agency (ARPA), LCI will pursue the devel­ 714/632-5030, fax -1455. • and will distribute test systems in all markets opment of this functional display. With the except Europe. ICT will distribute test sys­ production of a reflective flat-panel display, tems in Europe and will deliver two testers to the advent of interactive electronic news­ MRS in 1995. In addition, MRS will acquire papers, magazines, and books whose pages a 10% equity position in ICT. appear on a lightweight tablet-size viewer could be about 3 years away, said Dr. Roger 16 Fidler, Director of Knight-Ridder's Informa­ tion Design Laboratory, during a recent lec­ OCTOBER Boxless TV sets ture at the University. Asia Display '95- Living up to its name for one-of-a-kind ser­ International Display vice, the new Concierge Series color-TV Research Conference product line from Zenith Electronics Corp., New EL-lamp plant ACT CITY, HAMAMATSU, JAPAN Glenview, Illinois, includes unique "boxless" OCTOBER 16 -18, 1995 Durel Corp., Tempe, Arizona, has announced sets that offer compatibility with any of the • An international conference on display three major in-room pay-per-view (PPV) ser­ the construction of a new plant in Chandler, research and development aspects of: vices. The line was introduced at the 1994 Arizona, to be completed in April 1995, - Display Fundamentals Display Devices -Hard Copy & Storage lnout Systems HoteVMotel & Restaurant Show in New which will accommodate its growing business in electroluminescent (EL) lamps. The com­ - Integrated Devices and ApPlications York. The Concierge Series' most significant - Image and Signal Processing new breakthrough is a software upgrade in the pany is currently based nearby in Tempe, Ari­ -Color Perception Human Factors multiple protocol interface (MPI) or "smart zona, and operates a second manufacturing plug," in two of its models (H2015Y and facility in Chandler. Durel has experienced H2522A/Y). This enhancement gives the tremendous growth, with sales volume tripling during 1993 as production volume in units Concierge Series a unique position in the mar­ Please send new contributions or note­ increased nearly sevenfold; 1994 volume is up ketplace- compatibility with any of the worthy news items to Aris Silzars, 60%. "The new facility will allow Durel industry's three largest PPV services: Spectra­ Contributing Editor, Information Corp. to increase volume production to sup­ dyne, LodgeNet Entertainment, and On Com­ Display, c/o Palisades Institute for port our rapidly growing domestic and mand Video. Zenith will enter the interna­ Research Services, Inc., 20I Varick international sales," said Durel President, tional lodging industry with its introduction of Street, New York, NY I0014. the Passport Series color-TV product line. It Robert Krafcik. offers MPI compatibility, operates with PAL­ MIN and NTSC broadcast systems, and Please send new product releases or includes a "universal plug" to support interna­ Alternative to steppers and news items to Joa11 Gorman, Depart­ tional line cords. Both the Concierge and ments Editor, Information Display, c/o Passport Series are part of Zenith's new color­ contact printing Palisades Institute for Research TV product lines designed to serve the lodg­ Services, Inc. , 20I Varick Street, New ing, health-care, education, and international Utilizing new and innovative technology, York, NY 10014. markets. Tamarack Scientific Co., Inc., of Anaheim,

Information Display 2194 45 · Ad-Vance Magnetics, Inc. Lora! Librascope Barco, Inc ...... 31 Optrex America, Inc ...... 41 AEG Corp. Magnetic Radiation Labs., Inc. Dale ...... C3 Oxford Instruments ...... 31 Arconium Specialty Alloys Micron Display Technology DISCOM, Inc ...... 36 Panelight Display Systems ...... 46 Babcock Display Products Microphase Laboratories Dolch Computer Systems ...... C2 Photo Research ...... C4 Brewer Science, Inc. Microvision Corp. ELDIM s.a ...... 3 Plasma-Therm, Inc ...... 30 Canon, Inc. Minolta Corp. H. L. Funk Consulting ...... 35 Rantec Microwave & Electronics ...... 6 Capetronic USA (HK), Inc. Motif, Inc. Florod Corp...... 40 RGB Spectrum ...... 3 Celco MTLSystems lntevac ...... 5 SID ...... 24,25,44 Klein Optical Instruments ...... 16,20 Cherry Electrical Products Nippon Seiki Co., Ltd. Sony Electronics, Inc ...... 42,43 Kurdex/CPA ...... 47 Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. Norden Systems Westinghouse Stanford Resources, Inc ...... 47 Leybold ...... 8 Clinton Electronics Corp. nView Corporation Tamarack Scientific Co...... 37 Coming Inc. LCD Lighting, Inc...... 6 TEAM Systems ...... 17 OIS Optical Imaging Systems, Inc. Coming Japan K.K. Microphase Labs ...... 31 Timeline, Inc ...... 46 OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Microvision ...... 39 Dale Electronics, Inc. Three-Five Systems, Inc ...... 7 Optical Coating Lab., Inc. n & k Technology ...... 46 David Sarnoff Research Center Veeco/Sioan Technology .... 38 Optrex America Nikon Precision Inc ...... 29 Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, Inc. Yamaha Systems Technology Div .....21 Photon Dynamics Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc ...... 9 Dickey-John Corp. Photonics Systems, Inc. DISCOM/Display Components, Inc. Planar Systems, Inc. EG&G Gamma Scientific Plasmaterials, Inc. Electro-Plasma, Inc. Polytronics Endicott Research Group, Inc. Quantum Data Inc. Business and Editorial Offices District Sales Office - East F-P Electronics Q.C. Optics, Inc. Recruitment Advertising Palisades Institute for Research Futaba Corp. Rank Brimar, Ltd. Palisades Institute for Research Services, Inc. Graseby Optronics Raytheon Co. Services, Inc. 20 I Varick Street 201 Varick Street Grimes Aerospace Company Regisbrook Group, Ltd. New York, NY 100 14 New York, NY 10014 Erika Suresky Hewlett-Packard Co. Schott Corp. Jay Morreale, Advertising Manager 212/620-3375 Fax: 212/620-3379 F. Hoffmann-La Roche Semiconductor Systems, Inc. 212/620-3371 Fax: 212/620-3379 Honeywell, Inc. Sony Corp. of America Hoy a Corporation USA Sony Corp./Corporate Research District Sales Office- West/Mid-West Hughes Aircraft Co. Labs Ted Lucas ffiMCorp. Standish Industries, Inc. 5428 N.W. Pinery Imaging & Sensing Technology Stanford Resources, Inc. Newport, OR 97365 Incom, Inc. Supertex, Inc. 503/265-9140 Fax: 503/265-4225 Industrial Electronic Engineers, Inc. Syntronic Instruments, Inc. Industrial Technology Research Tamarack Scientific Co., Inc. Institute TEAM Systems Infodex, Inc. Techneglas, Inc. lnnotec Group, Inc. Teledyne Electronic Technologies Interface Products, Inc. Terapixel, Inc. Interserv Corp. Thomas Electronics, Inc. Interstate Electronics Corp. Thomson Components and Tubes ISE Electronics Corp. Corp. Kent Display Systems Toshiba America, Inc. Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. Viratec Thin Films Inc. Litton Systems Canada Ltd. (2) WinTron

48 Information Display 2/95 measurement versatility. For brightness, , and CRT frequency, the PR-880, our next generation, fully-automatic filter photometer is the brightest star in the sky. Equipped with patented Pritchard optics, for benchmark through-the-lens viewing accuracy, its built-in automatic attenuators, colorimetry filters, and apertures provide illuminating value, speed, and precision. Fully automatic, the PR-880 masters space and time with ... Auto Measure­ ment and Calculation. One-key, programmable calibration. Full on-board CPU control. And a brilliantly backlit supertwi t LCD display. And, its advanced Auto data logging, RS- 232 Remote operation, and universe of accessories, deliver stellar application performance in: • AMLCD Display Measurement • Automotive Lighting • Aircraft Panel Luminance & Color • Electroluminescent Panel • Color Temperature Determination Evaluation • CRT Luminance & Contrast Fittingly, the PR-880 weighs less, co t less, and takes less to operate than any photometer in its class. And, its rugged , single-component design does more of the work, while you do less. The PR-880 ... ·ueaiJ cl.ueau .. .' Lu lliLuuct:Le ven;ct:WlLy'Jit'ut'lgmness ana cowr measurement. ''Ahead- PHOTO RESEARCH Automatically." Circle no. 44 (Please send literature) Circle no. 45 (Please have salesman call )

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