US-based glass manufacturer Corning has announced a 20 per cent reduction in the thickness of the glass substrates in LCD TV screens, which could lead to LCDs becoming even thinner.
The news comes with the launch of the company’s Eagle XG Slim line at the Display Taiwan 2010 show.
The new glass shaves a full millimetre off the current slimmest panels, reducing it to just 4mm and while the company says it initially plans to use the technology for portable devices, it will be adding larger sizes for TVs in the near future.
Not resting on its laurels, Corning says that once the 4mm screens are on the production line, it intends to follow them with 3mm glass panels.
Corning president James Clappin said that in addition to its exceptional thinness, the new glass will also be more environmentally-friendly since it will be cheaper and requires less processing: “Currently, most panel makers begin with 0.5 mm thick substrates for portable devices, and then employ a costly thinning process that uses chemicals to reduce the thickness of the glass. Corning’s proprietary fusion process forms thin glass of pristine surface quality, ready to use as-formed. Thin input glass requires no additional panel thinning to achieve weight and thickness targets. Benefits include a lower total cost, a simplified supply chain, and reduced energy consumption.”