From the category archives:

Liquid Crystal

Sharp UV2A Technology

September 17, 2009

UV2A Sharp announced on September 16, 2009 the development of a new method of precisely aligning liquid crystals (LCs) used in LCDs to improve contrast and save energy. UV2A is a photo-alignment technology that will be a world’s first and will be incorporated into Sharp’s next-generation ASV (Advanced Super View) TFT LCD panels that will [...]

George Heilmeier: LCD Inventor

May 1, 2009

George Harry Heilmeier was born May 22, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to receive his M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in solid-state electronics from Princeton University. Heilmeier joined RCA Laboratories’ David Sarnoff Research Center in 1958 and worked on many [...]

Merck High Margins in Liquid Crystals

April 26, 2008

On April 23, 2008, Merck, a pharmaceutical and chemical company based in Germany, announced net profits of €239.1 million in Q1′08 after posting a loss of €8.3 million (US$13.2 million) a year earlier. The Q1′07 loss was mostly due to high interest payments on debt and Serono acquisition-related write-downs. Growth was driven by all divisions [...]

Sharp AQUOS Vision

April 9, 2008

Sharp has a very well-made video about its AQUOS Vision. The latter parts are a bit too zen-like for me. One of the more impressive parts are right in the beginning. Understanding how light is polarized and then “twisted” via the liquid crystals have been hard at best. There have been many drawings and animations [...]

Merck: Dominant Liquid Crystal Supplier

March 10, 2008

According to Walter Zywottek, head of Merck’s chemicals business, Merck’s Japanese competitors have not made substantial enough investments to have a major impact on the company’s liquid crystal business. Zywottek also forecasted that LCs prices will stabilize as flat panel display TVs has largely shifted toward LCD technology instead of plasma.

Merck’s competitor in Japan is [...]