In March 2012 at Kameyama Plant No. 2, Sharp began producing the world's first high-performance LCD panels incorporating IGZO oxide semiconductors.

Sharp is expanding production scale through April to meet market demand.

Kameyama Plant No. 2 first started operations in August 2006, manufacturing advanced LCD panels for TVs. Since then, Sharp has reorganized its production systems to focus on producing small and medium - sized LCD panels, aimed at smartphones and tablets.

In collaboration with Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd., Sharp has developed a thin-film transistor using a new material, InGaZnO. High energy performance LCD panels will be made possible by downsizing the transistor and by increasing the light transmittance for each pixel. Employing IGZO oxide semiconductors enables Sharp to produce LCDs with smaller thin-film transistors and increased pixel transparency, thus allowing for lower energy consumption. In addition, Sharp's UV2A technology will achieve high display quality small- and medium- size LCD panels. UV2A is a photo-alignment technology that can precisely control the alignment of LCD molecules in a simple LCD panel structure.



Sharp will promote its new high-resolution LCD panels as appropriate to be used in high-definition notebook PCs, LCD monitors and mobile devices.

According to sample specifications released by Sharp, the company's IGZO LCD panels for monitors will be 32 inches with a resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution and a pixel density of 140ppi. The company will also offer 10-inch IGZO LCD panels (2560 x 1600, 300ppi) for notebooks and 7-inch (1280 x 800, 217ppi) panels for tablets.