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Samsung declared that they were experimenting on how to increase the performance
of LCD TVs by adding carbon nanotubes while cutting costs.
The following was reported by CNET News (credit due to Michael Kanellos):
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“The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the laboratory arm of the South
Korean industrial giant, has come up with a 15-inch prototype LCD (liquid-crystal
display) screen that employs an array of carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes replace
more-conventional light sources, such as bulbs or light-emitting diodes, to illuminate
images on the screen, said Jin Taek Han, a senior researcher at the lab.
The prototype essentially represents the marriage of two separate avenues of TV
technology and could help dramatically lower the cost of LCD TVs in the future.
Samsung has already been experimenting with carbon nanotube TVs called fieldemitter
displays, or FEDs.
In such TVs, thousands of nanotubes shoot electrons onto a phosphorescent screen
to illuminate images. Carbon nanotubes are hollow molecules of intricately arranged
carbon atoms that that have fairly remarkable properties. They conduct electricity
better than metal, are stronger than steel and can emit light.
These nanotube TVs are actually similar in concept to traditional CRT (cathode-ray
tube) TVs, and advocates claim that they will provide better resolution and picture
quality than LCD TVs or plasma TVs. Toshiba and Canon will bring out a similar
nanotube set known as SED TV late next year. (SED stands for surface-conduction
electron-emitter display.)
SED TVs, however, require new production lines. This means higher prices, at least
initially. Some analysts have also said that SED TVs may have a hard time
competing in the market because prices on LCD TVs and plasma TVs are dropping so
quickly.
By combining carbon nanotubes with LCDs, Samsung could leverage its expertise in
LCDs. The company is the largest maker of LCD panels in the world.
Nanotubes could also help cut LCD costs. Current light sources are costly and have
to be carefully placed in a TV. The backlight on a 37-inch LCD currently represents
38 percent of the device's cost, and 50 percent of the cost for a 40-inch LCD, Han
said.
Companies are trying to reduce the cost of the light source by switching to LEDs and
experimenting with lasers as a light source. Carbon nanotubes could work out even
cheaper, as it may be possible to grow them in a substrate, the material on which a
circuit is created.
"We think carbon nanotubes have a strength in cost," Han said.
Additionally, the nanotubes could lower energy consumption and improve picture
quality, he said. It takes traditional LCD 15 milliseconds to render a picture. It
takes the LCD with carbon nanotubes as a backlight just four milliseconds to do so.
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