The Flat Panel Display News Source 3.23.2012

Barracuda Waterproof LCD Monitor "Designed to meet IP67 and NEMA4X standards, the Barracuda holds up against the assaults of complete immersion in liquids as well as exposure to humidity, dust, blowing sand and the like. These qualifications make it ideal for use in military and mining applications." via DisplayAllianceOpen

Aligning liquid crystal molecules "The compact size, ease of use and low power consumption of liquid crystal (LC) devices have made them popular for use in photonics products, such as displays for cellphones, televisions, and tablet computers. A typical LC device comprises a thin LC layer a few micrometers thick sandwiched between a pair of indium tin oxide (ITO) conducting glass substrates." via SPIE

TVs and Tablets to Get the "Retina Display" Treatment "Applied Materials, which makes electronics manufacturing equipment, has introduced machines that make it feasible to use an advanced approach for making displays—previously limited to R&D—at a large scale. This will enable consumer electronics companies to put screens with much higher resolution into many gadgets, Applied Materials says." via MITtechnologyreview

LCD Panel Market Shows Resilience after Japanese Earthquake "Only 5 percent of large-sized LCD panel manufacturing capacity and just 18 percent of small- and medium-sized LCD manufacturing capacity werelocated in Japan in the third quarter. In comparison, Taiwan accounted for 40 percent of large-size capacity and 55 percent of small and medium. Because of this, disruptions to Japan's manufacturing and shipments had only a minor impact on the global LCD market." via InformationDISPLAY

AMOLED penetration puts pressure on makers of small- to mid-size LCD panels "When comparing AMOLED and LTPS LCD in terms of response time, power consumption,weight, thickness and color performance, AMOLED outdoes LTPS LCD. However, AMOLEDS cost higher, but its production capacity is continually increasing, which makes it subject to price reduction in the future." via GlobalLEDs/OLEDs

China Increases its LCD Import Duty; Time to Move Fabs to China? "China’s Ministry of Finance has officially announced changes in import duties on certain products, among them LCD TV panels. As we discussed last December, discussions have been ongoing for some time about changing the LCD import dutycurrently 5% on all modules and 3% for 26” and larger TV open cells and cells (semi-finished modules). Effective April 1st, the duty on 32” and larger TV open cells and cells will be increased to 5%." via DisplaySearchBlog