Seoul (Korea) - Samsung today said that it has built the world’s thinnest LCD panel and developed a new technology that allows the creation of thinner LCD displays in cellphones.

The firm’s LCD screen is 0.82 mm thin - which matches about the thickness of a credit card. According to the manufacturer, the screen can display a resolution of 320x240 pixels and offers a brightness of 300 nits and a contrast ratio of 500:1. Samsung plans to mass-produce the panel in the second half of 2007 with screen sizes of 2.1" and 2.2".

The company also announced "i-Lens", a technology that allows a protective cover of the LCD panel - the surface we typically see and feel on a cellphone - to be mounted directly on top of a panel. Samsung said that today’s typical mobile phone screen leaves a 2 to 3 mm space between the panel and a reinforced plastic sheet to protect the LCD module.

Besides enabling thinner cellphone designs, i-Lens also results in a more shock-resistant and easier to read display, Samsung said.