Samsung develops super-reflective LCD for cellphones

Seoul (Korea) - Samsung today said that it has developed a 1.72" super-reflective LCD that allows users to easily read screen content even in direct sunlight. The manufacturer claims that the prototype achieves a reflectance rate that is three times that of the usual qqVGA-resolution (128x160 pixels) available in mobile displays today.

The core of the new screen is a silver layer that is used instead of aluminum to achieve a higher reflectance rate. In addition, the company said it has developed a new reflective lens that greatly improves the rate at which light is concentrated into pixels. An improved polarizer and color filter also contribute to the display quality and enables Samsung to leverage the light that is entering the display.

Jin-hyuk Yun, executive vice president of Samsung's Mobile Display Business Team was quoted saying "Our new super-reflectance technology allows us to offer consumers a high-quality LCD that is very easy to read in bright sunlight." The SR technology demonstrated does not lower production yields and does not increase production cost, he said.

According to the company, the prototype combines "super-reflectance" technology with transflective rather than transmissive panel technology. The transflective mode, which illuminates the screen from front, makes more effective use of natural outside lighting than the transmissive mode, which provides illumination from behind the screen. Samsung claims that a transmissive mode would have required a brightness of at least 300 nit to sufficiently improve outdoor visibility, which would have resulted in a substantial increase in power consumption.

The 1.72" display demonstrated has a brightness of 100nit, a contrast ratio of 220:1/30:1 (transmission/reflection) and 50 percent color saturation, according to the specifications released by Samsung.