Shinoda Plasma Corp announced Oct 26, 2007, that it will begin volume shipment of 142-inch displays in the second half of 2008 (See related article).
Concurrently with the announcement, the company unveiled an 86-inch (2 x 1m) prototype display module to media for the first time. The prototype is composed of a total of four (two in lateral direction and two in horizontal) 43-inch panels attached with one another. This panel was exhibited at CEATEC JAPAN 2007 in October 2007.
One of the reasons the company unveiled the 86-inch display is to emphasize the unique advantage of the product, where large screens can be produced by seamlessly connecting a number of panels. In fact, Shinoda Plasma intends to employ this connection technique in mass production.
At first, the company plans to provide 3 x 2 m modules (equivalent to a 142-inch display) to device manufacturers. In actual shipments, six 1 x 1 m sub modules with drive circuits are joined together to form the 3 x 2 m panel. This facilitates the transportation of products as well as the panel production itself.
The distinctiveness in the structure of this panel allows the seamless connection. The existing panels, such as LCD and OLED panels, have a structure in which the light-emitting element such as the liquid crystal or organic EL material (or conversion medium from electricity to light) is sealed between two glass substrates.
These glass substrates are tightly sealed on the four peripheral sides to prevent moist and air from getting inside for the protection of light-emitting element. If the existing panels were to be connected, the joint line between them would be rather noticeable due to such sealed portions between the substrates.
In Shinoda Plasma's proprietary display, however, the light-emitting element is not required to be sealed in the panel as a whole. This is because a plasma tube, which serves as a light-emitting element, is sealed separately.
The panel is obtained by arranging the required number of plasma tubes so that the space for sealing is not required on the four sides of the panel. This is why the company features the seamless connection as the selling point.
A flexible substrate to drive the display is connected around the panel. When seamlessly connecting the panels, the flexible substrate is bent toward the backside of the panel before aligning the panels and attaching them with one another.
Although no special sealing portions are required on the panel as a whole, a thin joint line is formed at the connection with the substrate. The width of the joint line is less than 1mm in the 86-inch prototype, said the company.
"In the future, the joint line can be made less noticeable," said Tsutae Shinoda, president of Shinoda Plasma.
Although the advantage of providing a large screen by seamless connection is immense, the technique has a problem as well. The major issue seems to be the variation in display properties.
If the display properties of the connected panels vary from one another, the uniformity on the entire screen is deteriorated. Furthermore, if the luminances of adjacent panels are different from each other, the joint line may become apparent.
As described above, Shinoda Plasma intends to offer the product to device manufacturers in the form of a 3 x 2m module composed of 1 x 1m sub modules and a drive circuit. Regarding this sales method, Shinoda explained as follows.
"We decided to provide the complete module including the drive circuit because we wanted to ensure the quality of the product by reducing variations among other reasons," Shinoda said.
The company seems to be using this method in order to prevent variations in display properties resulting from the connection of panels.
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