Samsung Electronics Co Ltd announced the development of "Blue Phase," an LCD panel with a new mode that eliminates the needs for the rubbing process and liquid crystal alignment layers.
The Blue Phase LCD panel can be driven at a speed higher than 240Hz and can be manufactured at a low cost, according to Samsung. The company is planning to unveil a 15-inch Blue Phase LCD panel at Society for Information Display (SID) 2008, which runs from May 18 to 23, 2008, in Los Angeles.
The main feature of the Blue Phase mode LCD panel is that it requires no liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA) and in-plane switching (IPS) modes, which are presently pervasive. All of these existing modes require a mechanical alignment process called "rubbing," which is composed of a number of steps. The rubbing process is one of the factors to increase the production cost.
In the Blue Phase mode LCD panel, however, alignment layers are automatically formed without a mechanical processing. This reportedly results in less damage in the interface between liquid crystals and more uniform luminance on the panel surface.
In contrast to existing LCD TVs, which are driven at double speed of 120Hz, the Blue Phase mode LCD panels allow images to be reproduced at 240Hz or higher without the need for an overdrive circuit because the mode features a shorter response time, the company said.
The name "Blue Phase" is derived from the fact that the new mode panel looks bluish when it is in operation.
A number of universities and corporate institutions are conducting research on this mode, but Samsung is reportedly the first to develop a commercially viable prototype. Samsung expects to begin mass producing the Blue Phase LCD panels as early as in 2011, targeting at TVs that require high-speed video reproduction.
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