The high contrast ratio and fast response time of a liquid crystal display lit by a carbon nanotube field emission backlight unit

Young Chul Choi et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 235306 (5pp) doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/19/23/235306

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Young Chul Choi, Ji Won Lee, Su Kyung Lee, Mun Seok Kang, Chang Soo Lee, Kyu Won Jung, Ji Hong Lim, Jong Woon Moon, Myung Ick Hwang, Il Hwan Kim, Yun Hee Kim, Byong Gon Lee, Hyung Rae Seon, Sang Jin Lee, Jong Hwan Park, Yong C Kim and Hun Soo Kim
Display Laboratory 3 Group, Corporate R&D Center, Samsung SDI, 428-5, Gongse-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi 446-577, Republic of Korea
E-mail: hs88.kim@samsung.com

Abstract. We report on the fabrication of a carbon nanotube field emission backlight unit (CNT-BLU) and its application for liquid crystal displays (LCD). The CNT-BLU was operated with locally controllable luminance and impulse-type scanning. The local luminance control, which is based on a very small block size of 1 cm², consisted of local dimming and local brightening. This resulted in the contrast ratio of the LCD-TV to be as high as 300 000:1. A fast response time of ~5.7 ms was also achieved from the LCD-TV lit by CNT-BLU, originating from the impulse-type scanning. In addition, the CNT-BLU showed long-term emission stability and high luminance uniformity.

Print publication: Issue 23 (11 June 2008)
Received 7 March 2008, in final form 10 April 2008
Published 6 May 2008

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Conclusion - from PDF:

4. Conclusion
We have developed an FE-BLU using a CNT emitter (CNTBLU), and then analyzed its field emission characteristics including emission current, stability and uniformity. Well distributed CNTs were precisely integrated into gate holes through simple photolithography and a surface treatment process. The CNT-BLU generated high emission current with long-term stability and the observed emission uniformity was high enough to be used for an LCD-TV. The image characteristics of an LCD-TV lit by the CNT-BLU were evaluated and compared with those by a CCFL. Compared with a CCFL backlight, at least 200 times enhanced contrast ratios and three times improved response times were demonstrated by using the CNT-BLU. These were achieved by fine local luminance control and impulse-type scanning, respectively. Achieving these technologies using CNT emitters is believed to be very promising for the next-generation LCDs with excellent image characteristics.