Invisible Glass Could Be Display Dream Come True

Nippon Electrical Glass Co LTD, a company from Japan, may have just answered the prayers of consumers and corporations alike by inventing its new glass substrate.

The big problem that LCDs, and most every other display technology out there, ever had and still have is that they don't get along with bright lights.

It isn't that they become defective or anything of the sort, but that they lose their visibility in some measure, sometimes almost completely.

Obviously, the problem is that glass, any glass, has the habit of reflecting light in some measure or other.

Knowing this, Nippon Electrical Glass Co LTD set to work until it invented a glass substrate that almost completely eliminates this problem.

Called “invisible glass” at the FPD International convention, the glass left visitors somewhat perplexed because it took a while for them to realize that they really were looking at a glass pane and not empty space.

Of course, the glass does not completely eliminate reflection, but it still reduces it to such a great extent that the distinction barely matters.

Anti-reflection film is applied to the front and back of the substrate (30 or more layers were used for the anti-reflection films).

In the end, the glass panel reflected only about 0.5% of all light, instead of 8% like on normal glass.

One would think that even the 8% isn't much, but factored in the intensity of sunlight and particularly bright artificial sources, that is more than enough to render the display useless, or close enough.

Unfortunately, there was no word on when the technique will start to be adopted by display developers, despite the obvious advantages.

Either way, laptops, smartphones and tablets will be the first to give it a try, whenever that happens, since they are the likeliest to be exposed to bright environments like the great outdoors.