Brian H. Berkeley

New technologies for advanced LCD-TV performance

Samsung intends to be the world leader in LCD-TV through a combination of superior product technology, advanced process execution, and aggressive capitalization. This paper explores and updates Samsungs latest developments toward its goal of ultimate LCD-TV performance and market leadership. Samsungs development of Super PVA (S-PVA) represents a key performance achievement. S-PVA is a new technology which enables screen quality advantages over S-IPS and MVA, including high transmittance, >1000:1 contrast ratio, and wide angle of view with no off-axis image inversion. This new technology is described in detail. This paper also addresses the other remaining performance issues facing LCD-TV, including Samsungs plans for addressing these challenges. Until recently, inter-gray response time and associated motion blur were significant issues for achieving quality LCD-TV images. Samsung has invented DCC-II technology to achieve sub-10-msec response time, and this achievement is described. Other technology advancements, including next-generation color performance and ultra-low black performance, are discussed. Samsung has announced the development of a 57-in. full-HD (1920 x 1080) LCD-TV panel, the worlds largest, based on S-PVA technology. This product represents the culmination of many technical breakthroughs, and is discussed herein. Samsungs LCD manufacturing strategy, which includes the worlds first generation 7 LCD fab, is also described.

Novel 120-Hz TFT-LCD motion-blur-reduction technology with integrated motion-compensated frame-interpolation timing controller

— Samsung has developed a high-resolution full-HD (1920 × 1080) 120-Hz LCD-TV panel using a novel pixel structure and a motion-compensated frame-interpolation (McFi) single-chip solution. Our latest work includes launch of a 70-in. full-HD panel, the worlds largest LCD TV in mass production, with a 120-Hz frame rate. A serious problem involving the charging time margin has been completely overcome through the use of a new alternative 1G-2D pixel structure and a new driving scheme. Compared with conventional dot-inversion driving, our new dot-inversion method, which is a spatial averaging technique, can save power because the column drivers are operated using vertical inversion driving. In addition, McFi, which merges individual ME/MC and timing-controller (TCON) ICs and memories, has been developed and applied in a mass-production product for the first time ever. The McFi solution provides 120-Hz driving with the lowest possible system cost. Motion-picture response time (MPRT) has been reduced from 1 5 to 8 msec. Moreover, for the case of 24-Hz film source mode, motion judder has been completely eliminated. As a result, a lineup consisting of 40-, 46-, 52-, 70-, and 82-in. LCD-TV panels with high quality and manufacturability has been made possible.

51.1: Novel Simultaneous Emission Driving Scheme for Crosstalk‐free 3D AMOLED TV

A novel driving scheme based on simultaneous emission is reported for 2D/3D AMOLED TVs. The new method reduces left-right crosstalk without sacrificing luminance. The new scheme greatly simplifies the pixel circuit as the number of transistors for Vth compensation is reduced from 6 to 3. The capacitive load of scan lines is reduced by 48%, enabling very high refresh rate (240 Hz).

31.1: Invited Paper: World's First 240Hz TFT‐LCD Technology for Full‐HD LCD‐TV and Its Application to 3D Display

FHD) liquid crystal display TV (LCD-TV) has been enhanced by increasing the panels frame rate to 240Hz, and this 240Hz driving technology has been applied to 3D TV. Compared to a 120Hz LCD, the 240Hz LCD has two challenges: 1) half of the available pixel charging time, and 2) three times as many interpolated frames. A new architecture has doubled the available pixel charging time by means of a half-gate two-data (hG-2D) driving scheme and a charge-shared super PVA (CS S-PVA) pixel structure. Additionally, a 240Hz ME/MC algorithm has been implemented on the LCD module to convert 60Hz incoming frames into 240Hz frames. Motion picture response time (MPRT) of the new LCD-TV has been measured as 4.7msec, which is similar to the MPRT for a cathode ray tube (CRT) TV. 1. Introductionblur in LCDs mainly arises from the LCDs inherent hold type driving method, and is considered to be one of the most significant causes of moving picture image degradation. Recently, due to rapid advances in image processing and LCD driving technology, double speed (120Hz/100Hz) driving with motion estimation (ME) and motion compensation (MC) has became popular as a means of improving motion image quality (1). However, the MPRT of 120Hz LCDs is on the order of 7-8ms, which is similar to that of plasma display panels (PDPs). Motion image quality of LCDs has still been considered to be inferior to other display devices, especially CRTs. As a result, the need for high speed driving beyond 120Hz has been noted. In this work, we report the worlds first 240Hz LCD-TV panel, which has been developed by adopting a half-gate two-data (hG-2D) and charge- shared super PVA (CS S-PVA) pixel structure and advanced driving scheme (2-3). The concept of 240Hz ME/MC driving is shown and compared to conventional 120Hz ME/MC driving in figure 1. With 240Hz driving, three interpolated frames are inserted between the two original 60Hz frames. The extra frames result in hold time which is half that of a 120Hz-driven LCD, which should result in further reduction of motion blur. However, it is not enough to simply send twice as many frames to the panel. To benefit from this extra data, the LCD module must be completely re-architected from its input interface to the pixel structure.

46.1: Invited Paper: Integrated a‐Si:H TFT Gate Driver Circuits on Large Area TFT‐LCDs

Integrated a-Si:H TFT gate driver circuits on large area TFT-LCDs are reviewed. A novel AC-biased holding circuit to stabilize the floating node of the shift register on the gate drivers is proposed to improve the driver reliability. Experimental confirmation validates that the new a-Si:H TFT gate drivers are highly reliable

16.2: Advanced TFT-LCD Data Line Reduction Method

A new multiplexing technique has been developed which eliminates 2/3 of the TFT-LCD data lines and column drivers by rearranging horizontally-placed RGB pixels vertically. The method requires three times the number of gate drivers, which in turn are integrated in α-Si silicon onto the glass substrate. This new method has been successfully tested and verified on a 12.1-inch WXGA TFT-LCD panel using only two data driver ICs.

69.1: Invited Paper: Advancements for Highest-Performance LCD-TV

Samsung continues to pursue state-of-the-art performance to propel the LCD-TV market. Past issues for LCD-TV have included achievement of high contrast ratio, preservation of low light detail, color tracking and color accuracy, high luminance and color uniformity, and high performance over a wide angle of view. As these are now legacy issues, Samsung has turned its attention to the last major performance challenge for LCD-TV, which is faithful motion image reproduction. This paper will consider the various approaches being taken to address this issue, then will describe new technology to counteract the problem, including a new panel structure to enable high speed driving. Additionally, Samsung has just announced groundbreaking of its 8th generation LCD-TV panel facility. This new development, which will enable highly efficient mass-production of >50″ screens, will also be reported.

60.1: Response Time Compensation for Black Frame Insertion

Black frame insertion has been widely adopted for better motion quality in LCDs. In order to maximize the blur reduction effect, fast temporal response is also critical. In this paper, the special behavior of LC molecules in a black insertion environment has been analyzed, and we propose an effective means to implement Response Time Compensation (RTC) with black insertion.

An 82‐in. ultra‐definition 120‐Hz LCD TV using new driving scheme and advanced Super PVA technology

— An ultra-definition (UD or 3840 × 2160) resolution 82-in. product with 120-Hz high-frame-rate driving has been developed for LCD-TV applications. The resolution increase from full HD to UD greatly reduces the available charging time. This problem has been overcome by employing a half-gate two-data-line design (hG-2D) for Super PVA pixels. Additionally, cost-effective single-bank driving has been achieved by adopting a vertical-quarter-partitioned (VQP) driving scheme. A viewing angle of 180°, contrast ratio of 2200:1, and brightness of 550 nits have been achieved while maintaining all of the other advantages of the Super-PVA structure.

18.1: Distinguished Paper: Novel TFT‐LCD Technology for Motion Blur Reduction Using 120Hz Driving with McFi

Samsung has launched a 70-inch Full HD (1920×1080) LCD-TV panel which, on a commercial basis, is the worlds largest size so far. This size is the maximum that can be achieved using a single polarizer sheet. Its features include 600 nits luminance, dynamic control using LED local dimming, 100,000:1 contrast ratio, and a color gamut of 105%. Also, it is the worlds first high speed FHD 120Hz frame rate panel, accompanied by a newly developed pixel structure and driving scheme. This totally new driving method concept includes an alternative pixel structure developed from the 1G-2D cell structure that we announced last year. Also, new product and design technology, optimized for larger sized LCD-TV products, was adopted. This technology overcomes severe charging margin requirements, enabling manufacturability and high quality in Samsungs FHD line-up (40″, 46″, 52″, 57″, 70″).