Sharp Creates Switchable 2D-3D Screen Technology for Mobile Devices

From X-bit Labs: Sharp Corp. said Friday that it had developed a stereo 3D touch-screen LCD featuring the industry’s highest brightness that can switch between 2D and stereo 3D modes. Users can view 3D images without the need to wear special glasses, making this LCD ideal for mobile devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, and smartphones.

The newly developed 3D LCD uses a parallax barrier system to display 3D images. This parallax barrier, which has a series of vertical slits, is incorporated into an ordinary LCD to control the path of light reaching the right and left eyes, thus creating a sense of depth. Another name of this technology is called lenticular lenses tech. However, the conventional 3D LCD with this system had difficulty in displaying high-quality images in 3D mode.

The 3D LCD developed by Sharp at this time significantly improves image quality by achieving both high brightness and low crosstalk thanks to advances in crystalline silicon with improved electron mobility (CG-Silicon in Sharp’s terminology) technology and optimization of the parallax barrier, according to the company. Advances in the CG-Silicon technology have shrunk the wiring width within the LCD panel, allowing more light to pass and doubling the brightness (to 500 cd/m²) compared to the conventional model. In addition, optimizing the parallax barrier design has increased the efficiency of light, thereby reducing crosstalk. Also, the thickness of the LCD module is about the same as conventional 2D displays even though it is a touch-screen display. As 3D images can be displayed in both portrait and landscape screen orientations, it is ideal for sophisticated mobile devices such as smartphones.

Sharp has also developed a non-touchscreen 3D LCD and will start its mass production in the first half of fiscal 2010. Timeframe for mass production of touch-screen 2D-3D screens was not touched-upon.

Although no actual announcements have been made so far, Sharp’s new technology can be used to make screens for Nintendo 3DS game console, which is due by March, 2011.

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