Search:      advanced  tips  News.com all CNET the Web

Click Here for D-Link.

ADVERTISEMENT Click, Bid, Win & Save $ BuyDirect.     Latest headlines display on desktop Enterprise Computing The week's news: Technicolor iMac Chip sales climb in November Microsoft witnesses begin testimony next week K6-2 comes to notebooks next week Dell leads the industry, group says Communications AirTouch weighs multibillion-dollar offers Analyst sees $60 billion IP phone market Lucent adds $1.3 billion in first quarter Challenges mount over AT&T, TCI pairing The Net Firmage steps away from USWeb/CKS More travelers use Net for planning SportsLine to report record revenues Suit over abortion doctors' IDs on Web How high can Net stocks fly? MarketWatch sets sights on IPO Force isn't with StarWars site Records all around on Wall Street Personal Technology Divx sales picking up E-Commerce U.S. e-tailers plan British invasion Amazon stock continues to soar Services and Consulting No new articles. Did you miss a day? > One Week View   News Options One Week View  Desktop News  News Alerts  My News.com  Advanced Search  Push    Special Offers from our sponsors •  Superstores & liquidation •  Great book gift ideas •  Auctions and liquidations •  Apply for 3.9% APR   FREE Newsletter sample >

Paper-thin PC in LCD promised
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
January 13, 1998, 8:35 a.m. PT

TOKYO--Japanese electronics firm Sharp and partners Semiconductor Energy Laboratory said today that they have developed liquid crystal display technology that will make possible the development of paper-thin computers.

The technology, called continuous grain silicon (CGS), would allow the development of a large glass panel that incorporates both chips, such as LCD drivers, and thin film transistor (TFT) LCD displays, Sharp said.

Sharp president Haruo Tsuji told reporters he expected products incorporating the new technology to begin contributing to its profits in the fiscal year that starts April 1.

The CGS technology also allows LCD displays and chips to be manufactured in the same process, a Sharp spokesman said. This would enable the development of high-speed multimedia terminals, including personal computers and credit card-sized communications tools, formed on a single glass sheet of any size, Sharp said.

The CGS panel can also produce high-resolution images because of high electron mobility, Sharp said. Under the new process, electrons travel through semiconductors in LCDs approximately 600 times faster than they do in the amorphous silicon TFT LCDs widely used at present.

Sharp said it used the technology to develop a prototype of a 60-inch video projector, incorporating LCD drivers with a speed of 13.8 MHz, the fastest in the industry.

Sharp plans to start mass production of such projectors within a year, vice president Atsushi Asada told a news conference.

Sharp and Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, a research firm, have applied for about 500 patents for the CGS technology in Japan and abroad, Asada said.

Story Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Do you want to know more?
View story in The Big Picture Go to Message Boards Search News.com