Flat-Panel Displays
This Explorer technology area has been discontinued.
Viewpoints
2015
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November:
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October:
Augmented Reality for Medical Procedures
Samsung's Safer Trucks -
September:
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August:
Fujitsu Unveils Industrial Smart Headset
Lenovo Projector Smartphone -
July:
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Developments in 4K Television Devices
Janus Particle E-Paper Displays -
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Nonrectangular Displays
Interactive Flat Panels for Meeting Rooms -
March:
Progress in Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing
Augmented-Reality Eyewear -
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2014
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December/January:
2014: The Year in Review
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Digital Delivery on the Small Screen
Opening Worlds: Implications of the Oculus Rift -
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2013
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2013: The Year in Review
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2012
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2012: The Year in Review
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2011
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2011: The Year in Review
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2010
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2010: The Year in Review
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2009
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2009: The Year in Review
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Cleaning Screens: Environmental Influences on the FPD Market
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2008
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2008: The Year in Review
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AMOLED Displays: Commercial Status and Manufacturing Challenges
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2007
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2007: The Year in Review
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Apple to Adopt LED Backlighting in Large-Area Displays in 2007
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2006
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2006: The Year in Review
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E-Paper Displays See More Commercialization, Part 2: Cholesteric Liquid-Crystal Displays
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2005
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December/January:
2005: The Year in Review
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November:
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October:
2006 Launch of 50-Inch SED TV, Part II: Manufacturing Methods
OLED Displays Shipment -
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Recent Developments: New Motorola CNT Display | Scratch-Resistant Displays
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May:
Recent Developments: Philips Improves Roll-Up Displays | Samsung's Relentless Progress Continues
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2004
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December/January:
2004: The Year in Review
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Wearable, Near-Eye Displays
Recent Developments: World's Largest High-Definition LCD TV -
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Recent Developments: New Liquid Crystal Structure | LCD Industry Dynamics
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May:
Carbon-Nanotube Display Technology
Recent Developments: Seamless Display -
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Philips: Developing Innovative Display Concepts
Players: Plasma Display Manufacturing Business
2003
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2003: The Year in Review
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Opportunities in Display Materials and Processing: An Example of an NABC Analysis
2002
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2002: The Year in Review
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November:
All I Want for Christmas Is a PDP
Recent Developments: New Large TFT-LCD TVs Come to Market -
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SID 2002 Shows OLED Technology on the Cusp of Commercialization
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2001
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2001: The Year in Review
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2000
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2000: The Year in Review
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1999
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1999: The Year in Review
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Before August 1999, the Explorer service was called TechMonitoring, and Viewpoints were TechLinks.
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Impressions from SID '99
Recent Developments: dPix Business Resolution -
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1998
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1998: The Year in Review
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1997
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1997: The Year in Review
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3-D Displays
Recent Developments: Plasma-Addressed LCD Boost? -
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Beyond the Publicity for Plasma Displays | Flexible Displays
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The Future of Cholesteric Liquid Crystals | Hot New Display Technology? | Questionable Market Growth
1996
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December/January:
1996: The Year in Review
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October:
The Photoluminescent Liquid-Crystal Display | Plasma-Addressed LCD Boost?
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TI's Changed Outlook on Field-Emission Displays | Xerox Spin-Off | Ultralarge Passive-Matrix LCD
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December/January:
1995: The Year in Review
Look for These Developments in 1996
About This Technology
June 2014
Flat-panel displays are ubiquitous and form an essential part of the modern world. Well over 1 billion people use online social-networking sites, which they ostensibly access using a device with an FPD. Liquid-crystal-display technology has displaced CRTs as the choice for televisions and computer monitors and has enabled the rapid development of lightweight portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices. Few competitive technologies exist, but organic-LED-display technology is commercially viable in small FPDs and premium televisions. Niche FPD technologies include electrowetting, electrophoretic (e-paper), and micromirror.
Use of flat-panel displays has spread across multiple industries, thanks to their thin profiles, low energy consumption, and portability. For example, one of the foremost applications for FPDs is the television, because flat-panel televisions are thin and lightweight. Also, the demand for ever-larger televisions has helped to drive down production costs because the capacity to produce one large glass panel can also cheaply produce several smaller ones. FPDs are prevalent in many areas, to the extent that hundreds of millions of people now carry smartphones with them each day. The dominance of LCD technology, which is relatively inexpensive to produce, has led to rapidly increasing sales of tablet computers with street prices of less than $100. In addition, FPDs are partly responsible for enabling computing in parts of society traditionally frozen out because of high cost.
The increasing adoption of OLED displays by mobile-handset and handheld-device manufacturers will help to push technology development forward, leading to a large-area OLED display. In addition, the emergence of e-paper displays in applications such as electronic signage, smart cards, retail-counter tags, electronic-document readers, and other paper replacements adds to the diversity and will be a boost for the overall FPD industry. These developments, along with complementary research into fundamental display electronics, will ensure that FPDs become an increasingly familiar and important part of people's business, entertainment, and daily lives.