It had been annoiunced as early as 2003, when Motorola Labs, the applied research division of Shaumburg Ill giant (NYSE: MOT), had anticipated that their Nano research (the so-called carbon nanotubes or CNTs) would soon transform the world of flat panels. Well..., it took some time, but this week's announcement is thrilling.
The company has developed a technolgy dubbed “nano emissive display” (NED), which "enables manufacturers to design large flat panel displays that exceed the image quality characteristics of plasma and LCD screens at a lower cost".
And yes, they have unveiled a "working" 5-inch color video display prototype based on proprietary Carbon Nanotube (CNT) technology which theyclaim is "a breakthrough technique that could create large, flat panel displays with superior quality, longer lifetimes and lower costs than current offerings".
Actually, this story goes back 15 years ago (and over 160 patents) at the Motorola Nano Research Division. What is it exactly? The company says that it uses a technology called Nano Emissive Display (NED) which is a scalable method for growing CNTs directly on glass. This technology "excels at emitting electrons" and is energy efficient. Motorola emphasises much on the cost-efectiveness and the potential to create longer lasting NED flat panel displays.
Motorola intends to tie up with manufacturers to develop a commercial future for this breakthrough technology.
“Motorola’s NED technology is demonstrating full color video with good response time,” said Barry Young, VP and CFO of DisplaySearch, a leading flat panel display market research and consulting company. “And according to a detailed cost model analysis conducted by our firm, we estimate the manufactured cost for a 40-inch NED panel could be under $400.”... Which looks appealing.
Motorola’s proprietary CNT growth process provides excellent precision in designing and manipulating a material at its molecular level – enhancing specific characteristics – and, in the case of flat panel displays, producing high-definition images. The electron emission performance demonstrated by the Motorola technology exceeds that achieved to date with the application of the CNT to the cathode via an organic paste, the process used by other companies.
“Motorola has proven its NED technology to be fully video capable,” said Kimberly Allen, Director Display Technology and Strategy for analyst firm iSuppli. “CNT direct growth on glass appears to have advantages over CNT paste/printing approaches and has potential for larger and more sophisticated displays.”
More on this soon, but you can visit their site here