A transmissive liquid crystal display capable of VGA resolution has been developed by Samsung, with a view to attacking the mobile digital TV market.

At seven inches diagonal, Samsung said the 640x480 pixel display is the biggest yet developed using a flexible plastic substrate to produce the transmissive format.

Challenges to producing the display included overcoming heat sensitivity of the substrate and maintaining its thickness when flexed or heated through the commercial temperature grade.

Samsung said it also developed a low-temperature (under 130°C) processing technique for the amorphous TFTs, colour filters and liquid crystals. Colour saturation is said to be 60 per cent of NTSC.

Transmissive displays are very good in indoor lighting situations, but not quite so good outdoors as their reflective counterparts. A transmissive unit can be combined with a mirror to produce a transreflective display, which is a good compromise, but at the expense of contrast ratio.

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