Motorola Labs has unveiled a working 5-inch color video display prototype based on proprietary
carbon nanotube (CNT) technology, a breakthrough technique which could create large, flat panel
displays with superior quality, longer lifetimes and lower costs than current offerings.
Optimized for a large screen high-definition TV (HDTV) less than 1-inch thick, this first-of-its-kind
nano emissive display (NED) 5-inch prototype harnesses the power of CNTs to fundamentally
change the design and fabrication of flat panel displays.
The development of such a flat panel display is possible due to Motorola Labs' NED technology, a
scalable method of growing CNTs directly on glass to enable an energy efficient design that
excels at emitting electrons. Through this cost-effective process and design, Motorola showcases
the potential to create longer-lasting NED flat panel displays with high brightness, excellent
uniformity and color purity.
"We look forward to aligning with display manufacturers and enabling them to further this
technology and develop commercially available solutions," Jim O'Connor, vice president, Motorola
technology incubation and commercialization, said.
Motorola's proprietary CNT growth process provides high 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's working prototype demonstrates:
- operational full color 5-inch video section of a 1,280 x 720, 16:9, 42-inch HDTV;
- high quality brightness;
- bright, vivid colors using standard cathode ray tube (CRT) TV phosphors;
- display panel thickness of 3.3mm (about 1/8th of an inch);
- low cost display drive electronics (similar to LCD, much lower than plasma);
- display characteristics meet or exceed CRTs, such as fast response time, wide viewing angle,
wide operation temperature.