The new line, Sharp's third CG silicon LCD line, will use 730 by 920 mm glass substrates and begin operation next March.
Enjoying strong demand for LCD panels used in camera phones, Sharp Corp. said it is doubling its production capacity for continuous grain (CG) silicon system LCD panels with the investment of ¥42billion (about $380 million).
The new line, Sharp’s third CG silicon LCD line, will use 730 by 920 mm glass substrates and begin operation next March. The new line brings an additional capacity of 5.7 million units in 2-inch panels, giving Sharp a capacity of 12.2 million units.
Demand for camera phone displays has shifted to quarter VGA displays in Japan,where demand is growing for high-resolution displays.
CG silicon LCDs feature high-electron mobility about three times faster than low-temperature polysilicon LCDs, which enables designers to integrate drivers and peripheral circuitry together with pixel-driving transistors on a glass substrates.
Sharp has been pursuing new products to differentiate itself from competitors. CG silicon system LCD is one example, said Katsuhiko Machida, president of Sharp. “LCD will increase its importance as the window of ubiquitous society. Sharp will develop system LCDs to lead the ubiquitous society evolution,” he said.
Targeting demand for next-generation mobile phones, Sharp has also demonstrated a prototype of a 2.6-inch CG silicon panel with VGA resolution, or 300 pixels per inch resolution.
Source: EETimes, Sharp
