Hitachi Previews MEMS Display Prototype

Though liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of, if not the most popular presence on the consumer display market right now, makers of all sorts of displays are already looking for alternatives, such as the promising MEMS technology, which Hitachi has just shown off at CEATEC.

MEMS stands for microelectromechanical systems technology and, while it has only shown up in small form factor prototypes, seems like quite a promising future alternative to regular LCDs.

Hitachi even implemented the PerfectLight MEMS display technology developed by Pixtronix and created a MEMS display prototype.

This prototype, or prototypes, in this case, were put on display at this year's CEATAC event, where Engadget says they drew quite the crowd.

There were two 2.5-inch QVGA screens on show, both LCDs featuring the aforementioned PerfectLight technology.

“The two companies recently completed the development of prototype displays, which leverage the Pixtronix proprietary technology and were built by Hitachi Displays,” states an official announcement.

One of them supported color, whereas the other one was monochrome and has a backlight that could be turned on or off, although visibility was not excellent in the latter mode.

Pixtronix's MEMS technology promises a color depth of 24 bits, a power reduction of 75 percent over equivalent LCDs and a viewing angle of 170 degrees.

"We are pleased to have jointly developed displays with Hitachi Displays that directly address the needs of high growth markets ranging from next generation smart phones to tablets," said Tony Zona, CEO of Pixtronix.

"Our rapid progress in delivering full speed video, ultra-low power displays built utilizing existing LCD manufacturing infrastructure demonstrates the key strengths of our PerfectLight display platform," he added.

Unfortunately, the technology is still in its beginning stages so it will take a while for actual marketing-viable products to start showing up on sale.