AU Optronics Develops World's First Curved LCDs

Remember the curved plasma display we've talked about yesterday? Well, it would seem that bendable panels really are the next best thing in displays, as the people from AU Optronics have just announced that they've developed the world's first Curved Display Technology on glass substrate, which might bring some pretty interesting developments to the market of mobile products.

According to the company's own statement, this technology is developed and produced by AUO with TFT-LCD process on glass substrate. The curved radius is 100mm and therefore requires a special thinning technology. The specially designed curved backlight unit maintains uniformity in brightness and contrast on the curved surface (0.63mm in thickness, 2.1 grams in weight and 400nits in brightness).

Unlike the existing e-paper on a flexible substrate, AUO's new curved display technology can bring TFT-LCD technology into play in terms of both color performance and image quality. Therefore, it could represent the centerpiece of some curved display applications in the future, such as watches and dashboards etc.

"In recent years the small- and medium-sized display market has become increasingly competitive, fostering the depth and width of its technology. In addition, the 3 major trends - human interface, system integration and thin-and-light eco products, are still dominating the market", said Dr. CT Liu, AUO Vice President & GM of Consumer Product Display Operations. "Being an industry leader, AUO will be leveraging the advantages of its TFT-LCD manufacturing process integration with the aim to produce value-added TFT-LCDs and deliver customer- and consumer-oriented products and technologies."

Of course, it remains to be seen just how soon this very innovative technology will actually be applied in real life, but at the rate of technological development we're witnessing nowadays, it's very likely that the first products to employ this technology will arrive in stores in just 2 or 3 years' time.

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