Press Release
                         Contact:-
                         Aston Bridgman
                         NEC Corporation
                         TEL    :81-3-3798-6511
                         FAX    :81-3-3457-7249
                         E-mail :aston@p10-22150.star.nec.co.jp

***** For Immediate Use October 17, 1996

NEC develops wide-view liquid crystal displays, ideal for use in notebook personal computers

The technology divides the picture element into four sectors to expand the field of view offered by the TN display, without affecting manufacturing processes and existing performance characteristics, such as aperture ratio or response times. Through the use of these four sectors and the mutual compensation between them for their optical characteristics, displays using the new technology demonstrate several benefits.

Firstly, the field of view is expanded considerably, whether viewed from above or below, or from either side of the panel. Secondly, there is no variation in the color tone, and the picture remains well balanced within this expanded field of view. Thirdly, there is no dissipation of light as a result of disclination, and the panel can retain a high degree of contrast. Fourthly, there is virtually no decrease in the aperture ratio.

The result is a display panel that offers no compromises in terms of performance characteristics like contrast, aperture ratio or power consumption, no matter where the viewer stands within the 100 viewing range. A 9.4" VGA panel has already been manufactured utilizing the technology, and these optical capabilities confirmed.

Background

TN LCDs are light, small, and have only low power consumption requirements, making them ideal for use in notebook personal computers. The problem with these screens has been, however, that the display panels offer a relatively narrow field of view. This has made it difficult, for example, for users to share information utilizing the screen on their notebook PCs.

Attempts to overcome this problem have divided the picture element into two units but this involved adding the resist process during manufacturing, which only raised costs and offered little increase in viewing angles. In recent years, advances in technology have expanded viewing angles offered by LCD panels but, compared to the TN LCD panel, these have not achieved the aperture ratio nor offered the brightness and portability required for notebook PCs.

Overcoming these problems, NEC discovered that by working on the alignment of the liquid crystals , there was no need to use the resist process to divide the picture element into four sections. Thus a display panel with the necessary capabilities was realized, and NEC is now further developing this technology to incorporate it in products.

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