A couple of press releases from AU Optronics caught my eye this morning. They covered four new displays AUO is showing at FPD International 2008 in Yokohama, which starts today and runs through Friday, October 31st.

Matt Brennesholtz
Insight Media Analyst

First, AUO showed what they say is the world’s thinnest cell phone display at 0.56mm. This includes not just the 1.9" LCD itself, but the backlight unit. Thinner cellphones anybody? Another AUO introduction is the 2.2" borderless-LCD. This panel, shown in the image, is said by AUO to "revolutionize mobile phone aesthetic design for the future."

Everyone is concerned about security these days. If you want security for your cellphone or PDA, AUO has what is said to be the world’s first 2.8-inch image/fingerprint scanning technology on a QVGA mobile device panel.

More concerned about health? A new 2.8-inch VGA UV-sensing mobile phone panel was shown that can not only sense UV rays but also alert users in real-time to their exposure to harmful UV.

AUO is, of course, not the only company at FPD International, nor is it the only innovative one. FPD International has 306 exhibitors, from ABA Co. of Japan to ZEUS Co. of Korea. ABA will be showing LCD panels developed together with iShantou Goworld Display Co. They are featuring a vertical alignment TN-LCD panel said to have 1000:1 contrast and a wide viewing angle. ZEUS will be showing their LCD inspection equipment and conveyer system.

LCDs aren’t the only technology on display. For example NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd. (regardless of its name) is showing A3 (297 × 420mm) and A4 (210 × 297mm) sized e-paper panels based E-ink technology. These panels have a TFT active matrix designed to provide16-step grayscale, white reflectivity of 43% and a contrast ratio of 10:1. The A3 panel is designed with especially narrow, 1mm wide, frames to enable nearly seamless tiling. The modules include NEC’s multi-tiling controller, allowing 8 panels to be easily tiled into a larger display.

Last May, Dupont and Dai Nippon announced a partnership to design and build an automated production line for large OLED panels (i.e. Gen 4 and larger). You can see details in our June Large Display Report edition. At FPD International, Dai Nippon presented the outline of the system and exhibited a 4.3-inch (480 x 272) OLED panel manufactured by the technology. The production system is expected to have a monthly throughput of 10,000 panels per line. Dainippon Screen plans to put the system on the market by the end of March 2009.

Insight Media’s Ken Werner is at FPD International this week. We can expect additional coverage in tomorrow’s Display Daily, plus expanded coverage of all the cool innovations in upcoming issues of Large Display Report and Mobile Display Report.