CES 2007: Samsung develops double-sided LCD

Pre CES 2007 coverage - Seoul (Korea) - Samsung said that it has developed the first "truly" double-sided LCD. The device can simultaneously visualize different sets of data on the front and the back of the screen.

According to the manufacturer, the prototype display makes use of Samsung’s new "double-gate, thin-film transistor (TFT) architecture". The company explained that the double-sided LCD has two gates that operate each pixel instead of one, so the screen on the front can display different images than the one on the back. TFT gates are devices that convert voltage to control the liquid crystal alignment needed to reproduce on-screen images.

While the display can show different content on either side, it only requires one backlight - instead of the two backlights that are used in current double-screen setups (which typically show only one image on the front and back). Considering the fact that Samsung’s technology potentially could replace two display panels with one, the thickness of mobile devices using two displays would be reduced by about 1 mm.

Samsung double-sided LCD

The prototype display will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is 2.6 mm thick and 2.22 " wide and is capable of displaying QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution and 265,000 colors on either side. According to Samsung, the front side achieves a brightness of 250 nits (60% color saturation) and the backside 100 nits (10% color saturation). Mass production is expected to begin in H1 2007.