Chris Chinnock
When it's time to make a computer-based presentation on a screen, most people turn to projection systems that display images in the 20- to 40-inch-diagonal range. Users who want this size of a picture at their desktop computers have to use a big and bulky CRT display. But soon, a new breed of
large-area flat displays
will be available, and you can have some of your desk space back.
Three major Japanese companies recently announced they will spend billions of yen to begin large-volume production of plasma-based displays by 1996. The primary market for these displays will be high-end televisions. But computer users should benefit, too, as volume production will drive prices down and let flat displays replace CRTs. Already, bulky displays of more
than 20 inches are used for engineering and desktop publishing applications that require large viewing areas. Flat displays will free up desktop space, which is at a premium in Japan and in many U.S. offices.
Plasma displays are manufactured with low-cost/high-yield printing techniques instead of the expensive photolithographic methods used to make LCDs. These electrode printing techniques can be readily scaled to larger-size displays. Fujitsu (Tokyo, Japan) already sells a 21-inch display and recently announced it would soon have a 42-inch variety. NEC and Fujitsu recently announced they both plan to build new production facilities to manufacture AC-driven plasma displays.
These devices work in a way that's similar to fluorescent light bulbs; they use voltage to ignite a gas, forming a plasma. To make a plasma display, manufacturers segment gas pockets into pixels, which are individually addressed. To form a full-color display, colored phosphors are deposited at each pixel site. Says Larry Tannas
, an analyst who covers the flat-panel-display industry, "Most users would be happy with the picture quality of these flat displays, and they are brighter than standard TVs."
A third major player, Sony (Tokyo, Japan), announced it will commercialize another technology: plasma-addressed liquid crystal displays (PALCDs). Sony has licensed the technology from Tektronix (Beaverton, OR) and is working with Technical Visions (Beaverton, OR). According to Tom Buzak, president of Technical Visions, PALCDs are not plasma displays but active-matrix LCDs that use a different type of transistor. "The difference is that you replace the silicon transistor with a gas, or plasma switch," Buzak says. PALCDs use the same polarizers, backlights, and color filters as active-matrix LCDs.
Today's 21-inch display from Fujitsu is still expensive: about $8000. But with high-volume production, prices should drop. Fujitsu, for example, expects its 42-inch display to initially cost about 1M yen (roughly $10,000) in 1996, th
en fall to half that as they reach full production.
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COMPANY PRODUCTS/PROTOTYPE STATUS MANUFACTURING PLANS
============================================================================
SONY 25-inch plasma-addressed LCD 10,000 units in first year;
in prototype no mass-production plans
40-inch prototype rumored announced
Plasatron TV in Japan in late '96
NEC 20-inch AC plasma TV in '96 Investing 10 billion yen
29-inch prototype
to produce 10,000 plasma
40-inch prototype displays per month
Plans to spend 80 billion yen
to produce 150,000 units per
month by 2000
FUJITSU 21-inch AC plasma monitor/TV Investing 60 billion yen in
in production plasma-display manufacturing;
42-inch prototype; production expects to produce 10,000
expected in '96 units per month in '96 and
55-inch display in '97 or '98 100,000 units per month
by 2000
MATSUSHITA 26-inch DC plasma display in No decision announced yet
prototype; production planned
for Q2 '96
40-inch DC plasma display
in prototype
MITSUBIS
HI 20-inch AC plasma display No decision announced yet
ELECTRIC in prototype 40-inch prototype soon
Flat Displays Squeeze Bulky CRTs
