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com
 About the Author

Joseph A. Castellano (Ph.D.1 was born in

Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
Castellano began his professional career in
1959, and in 1965, joined RCA Laboratories
where he performed pioneering research in
liquid crystal materials and displays. He is the
founder of Stanford Resources where, as
President and CEO, was responsible for grow-
ing the company into a world leader in market research and
analysis of the rapidly growing electronic display industry over a
25-year period. He has managed numerous major custom market
research projects and multi-client studies, which often involved
visits to the major LCD manufacturers throughout the world.
Castellano is author and co-author of more than 50 scientific/
technical papers, and is the holder of 12 US. patents. He contin-
ues to be active in several international scientific and trade associ-
ations. In 2000, following the merger of Stanford Resources with
isuppli Corporation, he became a Senior Executive Advisor to the
newly formed iSu pplihtanford Resources.
Castellano retired in 2003 and currently resides in San Jose,
California with his wife Rose.

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 Liquid
GOLD
The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays
and the Creation of an Industry

Joseph A. Castellano, Ph.D.

We World Scientific
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Published by
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British Library Cataloguing-in-PublicationData

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

LIQUID GOLD
The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry
Copyright Q 2005 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereoj m y not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
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 DEDICATION
To Rose, my lifelong partner who stood steadfastly beside me through all
of my years in the display industry

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 Preface

Jt was late October in the year 2000 when I stepped out from the lobby of
the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, to walk across the
large outdoor plaza that connects this modern high rise hotel to Pacifico
Yokohama, a sprawling two-story exhibit hall where the LCIYPDP
Inlernational bkbibition was being held. This was my second trip to this
popular annual show in the beautifully redeveloped and revitalized section
of the port city of Yokohama along the southern shores of Tokyo bay. As
I walked through the exhibit hall to view the various electronic displays,
I paused to stop at a booth where a 20-inch diagonal, full-color liquid crys-
tal display (LCD) was in full view showing a World Series game between
the New York Yankees and New York Mets being held nearly 10,000 miles
away. A number of Americans were gathered around the display, more to
catch a glimpse of the game than the display, I suspected. As I admired the
high quality o f this display, its high contrast, excellent color fidelity, and
high brightness, I could not help thinking how technology had progressed
so rapidly during my adult life. Moreover, I concluded that the develop-
ment of the flat panel display was perhaps one of the most important tech-
nological achievements of the 20th century.
My thoughts then focused on how the huge liquid crystal display
industry developed over the four decades that elapsed since I first pre-
pared a vial of the turbid liquid in the unique medium that exists as a
hybrid of the liquid and solid states of matter. In a sense, it became “liquid
gold” as its value increased by orders of magnitude as the years pro-
gressed. Consequently, I thought it was time to tell the story of how and
why this interesting science and technoloby developed into a major indus-
try. Since I was involved in this industry from its beginning, I felt com-
pelled to tell this story. While there was a fine book, We WereBurning, by
Robert Johnstone (Ipasic Books, New York, 1999), its focus was mainly on
how various technologies became commercialized by Japanese scientists;
LCDs were only a small part of that account. Other books on the subject,

vii

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viii Preface

including my own contribution, 7be Hundboob of Display Ykchnology

(Academic Press, San Diego, 1992), primarily dealt with technical details.
My purpose in writing this book was to give a historical account o f liquid
crystal display development and the industry it created.
The motivation for the development of LCIh came from a desire to
create a flat, thin replacement for the conventional color picture tulle,
which was the only device used for television in the 1960s. David Sarnoff,
Chief Executive Officer of KCA Corporation, foresaw the fabled “TV-on-a-
wall” that would require a flat, thin display as early as 1956. However, the
path t o flat panel television was not a straight one, and it would not be
until the 1980s that small televisions would become available. It took yet
another 20 years for LCD televisions with larger screen sizes to reach the
market in any volume. In 2004, television sets with liquid crystal displays
were being sold by mass merchandisers throughout the world.
The development of the LCD coincided with the personal computer
revolution and by the mid-1980s, LCDs began appearing in laptop and
notebook computers, products that could not have been created without a
flat panel display, but are ubiquitous today. In addition, the technology
made possible the introduction of a whole host of consumer and industrial
products that we take for granted today in household appliances, automo-
tiles, airplanes and numerous personal electronic items.
The development of LCD technology from simple laboratory samples
to the more than 40-billion dollar industry that exists today, i s a story that
goes well beyond the technical aspects of the structures and mechanisms
of operation. It also involves the ideas, visions, struggles and ambitions of
the scientists and engineers who made it possible. This account then is a
personal, in-depth look at the evolution of an important high-technology
industry and the people who created it, from the eyes of one who watched
it grow from inception to ubiquity for more than a third o f a century.
Joseph A. Castellano
San Jose, California
March 2004

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 Contents

Preface vii

Chapter 1 The Early Years 1

Chapter 2 Discovery 14

Chapter 3 The Gathering 34

Chapter 4 The Secret Years 40

Chapter 5 Going Public 48

Chapter 6 New Explorations 57
The Search for New I’roducts 57
Spreading the Word 67
A New Breakthrough - The Twisted-Nematic Effect 71
Conclusions and Opinions 78
Chapter 7 Enter the Japanese 82

Chapter 8 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 91

The Optel S t o r y 91
Other RCA Spin-offs 95
Texas Instruments and Its Spin-offs 101
Start-lJp Fever Moves to the Midwest 104
Silicon Valley Iliscovers LCDs 105
Conclusions and Opinions 108

Chapter 9 Silicon Valley Calls 111

Fairchild Semiconductor Finds LCDs 112
Another New Venture 121
Moving in a Different Direction 125

Chapter 10 An Industry in Transition 127

New Materials Emerge 127

ix

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x Contents

The Shift Toward Polymer Sealing 131

The Digital Watch Industry Evolves 132
IHong Kong Manufacturing Expands 136
More American Companies Enter the Dusiness 140
Exit the American Semiconductor Firms 148
European Innovations 149
Korea Begins Development 154
Moving Behind the Iron Curtain 156
Chapter 11 View from the Sidelines 164
The First Liquid Crystal Conference in Japan 164
Moving to Market Research 167
Growth o f the LCI) Industry in the 1980s 170
Competing Ilisplay Technology Scrutinized 171

Chapter 12 The Elusive Transistor 175

A Thin Film o f Transistors 176
The Shift t o Silicon 3 78

Chapter 13 Television Arrives 190

I’ortable Color LCD Television Debuts 190
The Shift t o MIM Diodes for LCD I-’ortables 194
The Ilrive toward Larger Screens Intensifies 196
Hang-on-the-Wall LCD Television Approaches Reality 200

Chapter 14 The Personal Computer Revolution 205

The I-’ortablePC Opens the Way for LCDs 208
1,aptop Computers I-’rolifcrate 211
Enter the “SuperTwisted-Nematic” LCD and the Notebook 214
Active Matrix LCDs Appear 216

Chapter 15 Coming of Age 222

Computer Applications Abound 222
Wdll-MOUntCd LCD Television Finally Realized 224
The Cellular Telephone Explosion 226
’l’he Age o f Consortia 228
Industry Consolidations 230
Manufacturing Shifts t o Southeast Asia 231
Supplementary LCD Technologies Appear 236
 Contents xi

Chapter 16 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 242

Plasma Display I’anels 242
Organic Light Emitting Diodes 247
Electroluminescent Displays 249
Field Emission Displays 251
Chapter 17 Into the Future 255
Creation and Growth of a New Industry 255
The Impact of High-Definition Television 258
The Growth of IX:D Television Manufacturing 259
Probing the Future 260
Epilogue 264

Acknowledgments 266

Appendix I: Program of the First International 271

Liquid Crystal Conference -August 1965

Appendix II: A Chronology of LCD Developments 274

Index 287
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 Chapter 1

The Early Years

“There is a time in every human life when a decision one makes helps carve the
path to his destiny.”
Mario Puzo, “The Family, 2001
“

The history o f liquid crystals began more than 100 years ago in 1888 when
liquid crystallinity, also called by the technical term “mesomorphism,” was
first observed and characterized by Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer’ in
Germany. Reinitzer (1857-1927) observed an unusual melting characteristic
in cholesteryl benzoate - although the crystal melted at 145”C, the melt
was opaque instead o f clear as a normal or “isotropic” liquid. As he contin-
ued to heat the material further, the opacity disappeared sharply at 178°C.
Thus, it was apparent to Reinitzer that within this 33-degree range, a
unique state o f matter existed. His discovery of an intermediate state
hetween a crystalline solid and a normal liquid flew in the face of the cen-
turies’ old concept that matter existed in only three States: solid, liquid, and
gaseous. In 21st century parlance, this would be considered a “disruptive
technology,” so Reinitzer’s observations were most likely viewed with
some skepticism by his peers until the work was duplicated, most notably
by Otto Lehmann in 1890.2It was Lehmann who coined the term “Fliissige
Krystalle,” which translates t o fluid crystal or liquid crystal. According to
Gray,3 IZeinitzer and Lehmann both laid claim to the discovery of the new
phase of matter in papers published in 1908. Apparently, there was some
animosity between the two scientists as a result of these exchanges.
Ilowever, Reinitzer is generally considered to be the first to observe the
phenomenon.
Three years later, Charles 1-1. Mauguin4 discovered and described the
“twisted-nematic” structure, which became the basis for mainstream LCI)

1
2 Liquid Gold

technology some 60 years later. Mauguin’s elegant papers, published in both

German and French scientific journals in 1911, detailed his observations o f
the optical characteristics of liquid crystals. Mauguin sandwiched a nematic
liquid crystal compound between glass plates, which were previously
rubbed with paper. He then twisted the front plate 90 degrees to the direc-
tion of the hack plate and observed the cell between crossed light polarizing
crystals called Nicols. He referred to the rubbed surface as a membrane
because he theorized (correctly, as it turned out) that material froin the paper
was retained on the surface. He described the effect as follows:

For each homogenous liquid crystal layer there are two marked rectilinear oscilla-
tions, which, on penetrating the layer, will actually remain rectilinear, whilst at the
same time their direction is altered through the s a n e angle through which the lay-
ers hordering the ineinbranes are twisted from each other. These oscillations, which
advance with twisting o f the plane of polarization, have at all times, the direction of
the largest and smallest absorption. This last fact leads to the hypothesis that the
orientation of the liquid particles changes continually from the lower horder of the
orientation t o the upper one; the structure is thus a helical one whose pitch is
determined by the twisting of the two membranes against each other.

This landmark paper, published more than 90 years ago, taught one how t o
create a twisted-nematic structure and also formed the basis for the contin-
uum theory of liquid crystals. However, n o mention was made of attempt-
ing to use electric or inagnetic fields t o change the orientation o f the liquid
crystal molecules.
During the 1920s and 1930s, research work on liquid crystal materials
and the electro-optic effects that they produced was conducted in France,
Germany, Great Britain, and Russia (then the 1J.S.S.R.). An important
French paper published in 1922 by Georges F r i e d ~ lreported
,~ his detailed
optical studies on the new materials and established the nomenclature
of the fledgling scientific field, with terms to describe the various types of
phases. Friedel liked to use terms derived from Greek to identify the vari-
ous phases. For example, instead of liquid crystal, Friedel used the word
“mesophase,” which was derived from the Greek words me.sos, meaning
“intermediate” or “between,” and phasis, a “state” or “phase.” Friedel also
identified three distinct mesophase types: “smectic, nematic and choles-
teric.” The “smectic” mesophase is a turbid, viscous state similar to that
found in soap. The word is derived from the Greek word smectos meaning
“soap-like.”The “nematic” mesophase is also turbid, but mobile like any
normal liquid. Nematic comes from the Greek word nematos, meaning
 The Early Years 3

"threadlike," because under a microscope this phase appears to have

threads running through tlie liquid. The "threads" can also be seen when
the nematic liqiiicl is spread on a glass plate (see Fig. 1.1).Finally, the "cho-
lesteric" mesophase, which has the same opaque liquid-like properties as
the nematic, 1 x i t different optical characteristics, is primarily exhibited by
conipoiinds that are esters o f cholesterol. Changes in the color o f light
reflected from the surface o f these cholesteric liquid crystals occur with
changes in temperature, leading to their iise in today's temperature-sensing
devices and clecorative articles such ;IS mood rings.
Important pioneering work on tlie effect of electric and magnetic fields
on liquid crystal materials was also uncleway in Germany in the late 1920s.
Zocher and Hirstein" were perhaps the first t o examine these effects in
great detail. Their 1929 paper concluded that the unsymmetrical liquid
crystal molecules with their long, rod-like shape could he oriented with the
long molecular axes parallel t o the lines o f force o f electric and magnetic
fields. This w;is to liecome very important in later studies that led to the
use o f liqiiicl crystals in displays.
In lIiissi;i, Vsevolod Konstantinovich Frederiks (conimonly known
;IS Freeclericksz)-.8 and his colleagues pulilished important papers in the
s reported vxious changes in the optical properties o f liquid
n i i d - 1 ~ ~ Othat
crystal materials under applied electric fields. Horn in Russia in 1885,
Freedericksz otitainecl his graduate education at Geneva llniversity
in Switzerland and received his doctorate in 1909. After working f o r
nine years in Geneva with some o f the world's most prominent mathemati-
cims and physicists, including David Hilbert, lie returned t o Russia where

Fig. 1.1. Large drop o f nematic liquid crystal spreading ;ic'ross a glass plate.
4 Liquid Gold

he began research o n piezoelectricity and liquid crystals at the

Polytechnical and Optical Institute in Petrograd (later to be called
Leningrad, but known today as St. Petersburg).
In 1031, Freedericksz began to study the behavior of liquid crystals in
magnetic and electric fields. He was probably the first to discover the
appearance o f periodic hydrodynamic domains when liquid crystals were
subjected to electric fields.8 This effect became known as the Freedericksz
transition and was later investigated further by Richard Williams,
A.P. Kapustin and George Heilmeier. Unfortunately, at the height of his
career in 1936, Freedericksz was arrested and sentenced to ten years in
prison for allcgcd terrorist attacks against the Soviet regime and Josef
Stalin, the Communist Party’s General Secretary at the time. While in
prison, he continued to write letters to his colleagues in support o f their
continued work on liquid crystals. However, he was never able to return t o
his laboratory and in 1944, Freedericksz died in prison of pneumonia,
a lxilliant scientific career tragically cut short by a political regime’s mis-
guided agenda. Fortunately, Freedericksz’s reputation was restored in 1956
when his innocence was officially declared by the High Court of the
[J.S.S.R. He remains as one of the most important contributors to the devel-
opment of liquid crystal devices.
The first patent issued o n a n application of liquid crystals was a light
valve device that operated at about 50 volts and at elevated temperatures
using polarized light.9 The patent was awarded to Barnett Levin and
Nyman Levin of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company in England in
1936. The specification states: “Theinvention rehtes to light vulves and has
ftir its object, to provide improved light valves of greut sensitivity suitable f o r
I

use us optical trunshting devims i n lekevision,.facsimile tekgraph and other

systems. It is interesting that television was envisioned as an application
”

for liquid crystals as early as 1934 (the original filing date), although it
would be nearly 50 years before a commercial product would l x devel-
oped. Marconi’s laboratories in Chelmsford later became a major research
center for liquid crystal display development in Great Britain.
Then came a major war and the end of much of the research in this
field. However, some work did continue in France by Pierre Chatelain,lo
who did a great deal of work studying the orientation of liquid crystals on
rubbed glass surfaces using magnetic fields. Chatelain also believed that
the alignment of liquid crystal molecules was due to impurities or residues
deposited on the supporting surface as a result of the rubbing with paper.
 The Early Years 5

Shortly after World War I1 ended, research work in liquid crystals was
again begun in earnest at university research bdboratories all across Europe.
George W. Gray, who was to become one of the most important figures in
liquid crystal material research in the 20th century, began investigating
these materials in England during the late 1940s. George Gray was born in
1326 and graduated from the IJniversity of Glasgow in 1946. In 1947, he
was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer at University College, London,
where he went on to receive his Ph.L>.working on liquid crystals under the
guidance of Sir Hrynmor Jones. While working on his doctorate at London,
he was also teaching at the University of Hull and later took a permanent
post at I-Iull where he became a full professor. He and his students synthe-
sized many new materials that exhibited the liquid crystalline state. Most
importantly, however, his work led to a better understanding of how to
design molecules that exhibit the state as well as how to increase the “ther-
mal stability” o f the compounds. Thermal stability relates to the tempera-
ture at which the material loses its liquid crystalline properties and is
transformed into a normal or “isotropic” liquid; the higher this temperature,
known as the “transition temperature,” the higher the thermal stability.
According to his own account,l’ financial support for liquid crystal
research in England was practically nonexistent in the early 1960s. For sev-
eral years in fact, Gray worked alone in developing new compounds and
studying their structure-property relationships. I-Ie felt that his work in liq-
uid crystal research might indeed come to an end due to a lack of support,
so he decided to write a hook on the subject and in 1962, Molecular
Structure and the Properties of Liquid Cy.Ytu1.s was published by Academic
Press.3 This excellent book quickly became the definitive work on the
subject and opened the world’s eyes to this fascinating topic. George Gray
went on to perform a great deal o f important research including the devel-
opment of the very stable cyanobiphenyl compounds, which became the
mainstream material for LCns starting in the mid 1970s. He remained at
Hull for over 40 years rising to head of the chemistry department and pub-
lishing some 360 papers. He received many awards for his contributions
including the prestigious Queen’s Award and the Kyoto Prize.
It was not until the 1960s that serious studies of the materials and the
effects of electric fields on them were carried out in the United States. One
reason for this was that liquid crystals were little known materials.
However, as mentioned previously, Gray’s book stirred a renewed interest
in the materials. Before its publication, students of organic chemistry in
6 Liquid Gold

most U.S. universities were not taught about liquid crystals. One exception
was the IJniversity of Cincinnati, where a young chemistry professor, Glenn
FI. Brown, became fascinated with the study of liquid crystals.
Glenn H. Brown was born in Logan, Ohio, in 1915 and was educated
at Ohio University where he graduated with a B.S. in chemistry in 1939.
After receiving a Master’s degree from Ohio State [Jniversity in 1941, he
went on to teach at the LJniversity of Mississippi during the war years. After
the war, he attended Iowa State University, receiving his doctorate in 1951.
After teaching for two years at the University of Vermont, he moved to the
University of Cincinnati as an associate professor, where he taught chem-
istry and began his work on liquid crystals.
In 1960, he joined Kent State [Jniversity as a professor and head of
the chemistry department where he successfully built a 1’h.n. program.
He served as Chairman from 1960-1965 and Dean of Kesearch from
1963-1968. He became Kent’s only Kegent’s Professor in 1968. In 1965, he
founded the Liquid Crystal Institute and served as its director from 1965
through 1983. The institute, which now bears his name, started with one
graduate student and a budget of $21,000 per year. Other scientists at Kent
soon joined Hrown in seeking funding for liquid crystal research. Major
grants came from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation and the U.S. Army and Air Force.
This early funding helped establish the reputation of the Institute, but
Mity to attract world-class scientists such as Alfred Saupe, James
Pergason and William Doane to its staff greatly enhanced the high interna-
tional standing it enjoys today.
Glenn 13rown wrote numerous review articles, many of which were
particularly helpful for new researchers. His own research interest was
first in the structures o f liquid crystalline phases as determined by X-ray
crystallography. Later, he became convinced that the most exciting topics
were lyotropic and biological liquid crystals, with DNA being a prominent
example. However, he continued to be interested in display applications as
exemplified by the two papers on liquid crystal applications that he and I
co-authored . l 2 He also hecame editor-in-chief of Molecular Cy.stals and
Liquid Cy.stuls, the leading scientific journal in the field. He edited a series
of six volumes of Advances in Liquid Crystals (Academic Press).
As Brown stimulated interest in liquid crystals among scientists, it soon
became apparent that a forum was needed in order to exchange ideas and
information. Perhaps Brown’s greatest contribution was his successful
effort t o establish an International Liquid Crystal Conference. In 1965, he
 The Early Years 7

organized the first conference, which was held in Kent with about 100 o f
the world's top liquid crystal scientists in attendance. While the number o f
attendees seems small hy today's standards, this conference marked the
heginning o f a worldwide effort t o perform research in these unique mate-
rials, which soon led to the development of LCI>s. A photo o f Glenn
13rou.n presiding ;it the Fourth International Liquid Crystal Conference in
1972 is shown in Fig. 1.2. Unfortunately, hrkinson's disease prevented
I3rown from continuing t o work on liquid crystals; he reluctantly retired in
19% and passed away in 1995. The Glenn €1. Brown Award from the
International Liquid Crystal Society recognizes his contrilxitions and the
support and eiicoul'agenient lie extended to young scientists.
Meanwhile, in the late 1950s. James Fergason and his colleagues at the
Westinghouse liesearch Labordtories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were
working on cholesteric liquid crystals for use ;IS temperature sensors. James
Fergason was born in 1934 and received ;I B.S. in physics from tlie
IJniversity of Missouri in 1956. H e began his career at Westinghouse in 1957.
Due t o tlie helical structure that these materials adopt, Fergason's team stud-
ied the changes in the wavelength o f light reflected from thin layers of these
materials 21s the temperature was increased o r decreased. This group

Fig. 1.2. Glenn H. Hrown, o n the right, presiding o v e r the Fourth International
Liquicl Crystal Conference, Kent. Ohio, August 1972. George H. Heilmeier, o n the left.
~ v a staking questions f r o m the auclience. Photo taken from the author's collection.

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8 LiauidGold

prepared various mixtures o f cholesteric esters that essentially changed

color with temperature. This led them to investigate various applications
Ixsed on this temperature ~ensitivity.l~,~* In the days before computer-aided
tomography became available, it was possible t o detect cancerous tumor
cells, which are always warmer than normal cells, by observing the color
changes in the material coated on the skin.15The technique was particularly
effective for breast cancer diagnosis and Fergason spent several years work-
ing on materials that could be used for this application. However, he also
began t o investigate the effects of electric fields on liquid crystals leading to
his role as a major figure in the development of 1,CDs.
James Fergason went on to obtain over 500 patents, numerous awards,
and ekction into the prestigious National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.
Gray and Fergason will be discussed in more detail later; their contri-
butions to the advancement of liquid crystal science and technology were
quite significant. 1 will further explain the differences among the various
liquid crystalline states, but it is important at this point simply t o under-
stand that there are many types o f mesophases, each having a specific
function and application.
In order to understand the reasons why LCII technology developed as
it did, it is important t o recognize that technology in general advanced rap-
idly during the second half of the 20th century and this advance had a pro-
found effect on development of the technological infrastructure needed for
liquid crystal science t o progress beyond the laboratory stage and into
practical applications. To put this into perspective, consider the type of
equipment that was available to the scientist working in the early 1950s.
Transistors had just been invented, so solid state electronics was in its
i n h c y . A typical electronic device consisted of vacuum tubes, hand-
wound transformers, capacitors made with rolled paper, and other compo-
nents, all wired and soldered by hand t o a circuit board. The most popular
electronic device of that era was the radio; black-and-white television was
just beginning to appear. Computers were electro-mechanical behemoths;
it took a room full of equipment to perform computations that can now be
done with a computer that can fit in the palm of one hand. Test equip-
ment, to the extent that it existed, used numerous needlepoint gauges,
rotary rheostats and toggle switches. Integrated circuits and digital electron-
ics were dreams of the future. Chemical laboratory equipment was likewise
rudimentary by today’s standards. I remember that the chemical laboratory
at the college I attended in the mid 1950s looked remarkably similar to that
adjoining Thomas Edison’s winter home in Fort Myers, Florida, a laboratory
 The Early Years 9

that he used 50 years earlier! Consequently, it took a great deal of effort

and dedication to perform scientific experiments during that time period.
The scientist had t o design and build the equipment as well as to tediously
measure the key parameters and finally write down his observations,
results and conclusions in a notebook.
The concept of interdisciplinary research and development was just
beginning to take hold during the early 1950s. The Manhattan Project, the
national effort to develop and Iluild the first nuclear weapons during the
period from 1941 through August of 1945, was probably the first time that
physicists, chemists and engineers worked together toward a common
goal. An excellent account of this effort, Atomic Qumt, was written by
Arthur Holly Compton, a Nobel Prize winning physicist who was an early
manager o f the project.16 By the 1950s, it became clear that major scientific
projects required the close cooperation of scientists and engineers from
many scientific disciplines; the emerging space program was a major driver
of this interscientific team concept. The development of LCD technology
was the result of such interdisciplinary research.
At about the time when Gray’s hook was published, I was a 25-year-old
research chemist developing exotic rocket propellants at the Reaction Motors
Division (KMI)) of Thiokol Chemical Company in Denvik, New Jersey,
a small town in the western part of the state about 30 miles from New York
City. While the parent company was building the Minuteman intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICRM), MI) was primarily engaged in the hsiness of build-
ing small rocket engines, known as the Bullpup, for U.S. military air-to-
ground missiles that were being used in the rapidly escakating Vietnam war.
The other part of its business was performing classified contract research for
various military agencies seeking new, more powerful, and more efficient
rocket propellants; this was the area that I worked in. We worked with such
exotic materials as difluoramine, tetrafluorohydrazine and perfluoroguani-
dine in an attempt to synthesize organic compounds with a large number of
difluoramino groups. The higher the number of these groups per molecule,
the more “energetic” the material became. In other words, the materials
could explode with little provocation, so most of the experiments were con-
ducted behind thick plastic shields using remote controlled handling devices.
During my tenure with RMD, I also attended graduate school at the
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn during the evening. This school (now
known as the Polytechnic University of New York) was world-renowned
lor its research in polymers. At that time, the university’s Polymer Research
Institute was headed by Herman Mark, who was world-famous as a
10 Liquid Gold

pioneer in polymer chemistry. Professor Mark worked as a chemist for

I.G. Farben in the 1920s, but was also a guest lecturer in the newly emerg-
ing field o f quantum mechanics in 1928 at the Karlsruhe Technical Institute.
According to Edward Teller,I7 it was Mark who sparked Teller’s interest in
quantum mechanics. I was privileged to take Professor Mark’s introductory
course in polymer chemistry in 1962. Ilis dynamic lectures prompted me to
take polymer chemistry as my Master’s degree major. His lectures were so
popular that you had to arrive early; it was the only time I ever took a class
where there was standing room only!
I was also fortunate t o have Charles G. Overberger as my Master’s
thesis advisor. Overberger, an excellent teacher and mentor, already had
established himself as one of the world’s leading polymer scientists, having
developed numerous techniques for co-poIymerization that altered and
improved the properties of many plastic materials. He was also President
of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at that time. My research was
geared toward the synthesis o f divinyl carbonate, a monomer that could be
used to prepare a cyclopolymer, and I received the Master of Science
degree in 1964 for my efforts.
One of Overberger’s postdoctoral students was Helmut 1lingsdorf, a
German national who taught me how to handle phosgene, a highly toxic
gas that was the starting material for the compounds I worked with.
Ironically, Ringsdorf would later go on t o become one o f the world’s lead-
ing developers of liquid crystal polymers. At the time, however, neither of
us knew anything about liquid crystals. Strangely though, I never again met
Helmut Ringsdorf after that instructional session in 1962.
In April o f 1964, I traveled to Philadelphka to attend the annual ACS
convention, a mandatory symposium for research chemists. During that
trip, 1 ran into Joel E. Goldmacher, a former classmate from my college
days at the City College of New York (CCNY). We first met in 1956 in a
general chemistry class. Both of us had taken chemistry in high school and
found the material t o be quite easy. Despite the fact that our personalities
were different, I being rather introverted at the time and him being quite
gregarious, w e became fast friends with our love of organic chemistry
being one common bond. In addition, there were other commonalities -
both of us grew u p in 13rooklyn, we were both from ethnic backgrounds
(he being Jewish and I of Italian descent), and we both came from the
lower middle class. Since we were both chemistry majors, we attended
many of the Same classes, so our friendship strengthened throughout those
college years.
 The Early Years 11

After graduation from CCNY, Goldmacher went on t o Purdue

LJniversity for graduate work and was awarded the Ihctor of Philosophy
degree in 1963. I lost contact with him until he showed up for an interview
at the Reaction Motors Division laboratories shortly before receiving his
doctorate. He mentioned at that time that he was going to accept a position
in the electronics industry with KCA kdh0rdtC)rieS. When I met Goldmacher
again at the ACS meeting in 1964, he was working on organic materials for
electronic devices and was very favorably impressed with the scientists and
engineers that he worked with on a daily basis. We traded business cards
and vowed t o keep in contact with each other.
Despite the Fact that I enjoyed the rocket propellant research work, my
future at IWI> was looking dim in the spring of 1965. The war in Vietnam
was intensifying and the company was issuing press releases touting its
role as the main supplier of engines for the air-to-ground missiles k i n g
used t o destroy bridges in North Vietnam. I recall seeing one of these press
releases on a bulletin board in the laboratory one day and thinking, “Why
am I supposed to be proud that my company’s products are being used. for
destructive purposes?” I certainly did not feel good about it. At the Same
time, government funds were being diverted from contract research to
material and equipment for the war effort. Consequently, our company’s
contracts were not being renewed, new projects were not being funded,
and a small number of people were released. As someone with a wife and
two young children to support, I could not envision being out of work, so
it was clearly time to look for another job.
One o f the first things I did was to contact Goldmacher to find out what
he was doing and to ask if there were any employment opportunities at RCA
Laboratories. As luck would have it, there was indeed an opening for an
organic chemist to work in the newly emerging field o f liquid crystals. I was
certainly interested, but 1 still had no idea what liquid crystals were all about.
Goldmachcr was very excited about the work he was doing and encouraged
me t o apply. He also mentioned that the company had a full doctoral fellow-
ship program for qualified employees who could earn their doctorate while
working at the laboratory. At the time, I had already passed my doctoral
qualifying exams, so I was very interested in this fellowship program. With
his encouragement and support, I applied and was granted an interview.
Meanwhile, I was also looking at other opportunities. Fortunately, the
economy in 1965 was quite good so numerous job openings for chemists
were available in various locations throughout the state of New Jersey,
which was home to both the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.
12 Liquid Gold

Consequently, I was able to obtain interviews at such pharmaceutical com-

panies as Ciba and Sandoz as well as Union Oil Company and Shell Oil
Company. The Shell interview went so well that I was offered a job right
on the spot. However, the job was not in research, but in the technical
service laboratory working directly with customers to solve technical prob-
lems. This was quite different from the research work I had been doing at
RMD, but not unlike the work I did in my very first job at Witco Chemical
Company during the years 1959-1962. I asked for and was granted a week
t o make a decision, but it put me in a quandary. I really wanted the job at
KCA because it would enable me to continue working in research as well
as t o complete my doctoral work. Fortunately, I received a call from IiCA at
the end of that week with a job offer, which I quickly accepted. This was
the decision that carved a path to my destiny.

REFERENCES
1. I:. kinitzer, Monatsh. 9, 421 (1888).
2. 0 . Lehniann, Z. Krist. 18, 464 (1890).
3. G.W. Gray, Molecular Structure and the Properties ofliquid Crystals (Academic
Press, New York, 1962).
4. C. Mauguin, “ S i r les cristaux liquides dc Lehmann,” Bull. Soc. Fr. Min. 34, 71
(1911); C. Maugnin, PhysikZeitschriji 12, 1011 (1911).
5. G . Friedel, Ann. Pkysique 18, 273 (1922).
6. H. Zochcr and V. Birstein, “Contribution t o the knowledge o f mesophases V.
Influence o f electric and magnetic fields,” Z. Physik. Cbcwz. 142A, 186 (1929).
7. V. Fredcrilts and V.N. Tsvetkov, “Orienting effects of electric fields on
anisotropic liquids,” Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. USSR 4, 131 (1935); V. Frederiks
and V.N. Tsvetkov, “Infliience of electric fields on anisotropic liquids I. Motion
o f liqiiids in electric fields,” Acta Physichem. 3, 879 (1936); V.N. Tsvetkov, Acta
Z%y.sichem. ILSR 6, 865 (1937).
8 . V.G. Chigrinov and V.V. Delyaev, Liquid Cy.stals Toduy 6(4), 11 (1996).
9. 1Varnet-tLevin and Nyman Levin, Marconi Wireless lelegraph Company, British
Patent 442,274 (19361, applied for July 13, 1934.
10. I? Chatelain, Compt. Rend. 204, 1352 (1937); Compl. Rend. 213, 875 (1941);
Cornpt. I&nd. 214, 32 (1942); Bull. Soc. Fr. Min. 66, 105 (1943).
11, George W. Gray, “Reminisccnces from a life with liquid crystals,” Liquid
Cy.sta1.q 24(1), 5 (1998).
12. J.A. Castellano and G.H. Brown, “Thermotropic liquid crystals,” Chemical
’lkchnology,Part I, January 1973; Chemical Technology, Purt II, April 1973.
 The Early Years 13

13. J.L. Fergason and Okwa Hanson, “Display of infrared laser patterns by a liquid
crystal viewer,” Appl. opt. 3, 8 (1964).
14. J.7’. Crissey, E. Gordy, J.L. Fergason, and R.B. Lyman, “A new technique for
the demonstration o f skin temperature patterns,” Journal of Investigative
Uermalology 43,89 (19641.
15. J.L. Fergason and J.M. Ikttenhausen, “Cutaneous thermography with liquid
ciystals,” Journal oflnvestigative Dermatology 45, 320 (1965).
16. Arthur H. Compton, Atomic Quest (Oxford University Press, New York, 1956).
17. Edward Teller, Memoirs (Perseus I’ublishing, Cambridge, MA, 2001), p. 45.
 Chapter 2

Discovery

"It will also give us brighter and bigger TV pictures, and ultimately replace the TV
tube altogether with a thin, flat-surface screen that will be hung like a picture on
a wall."
David Sarnoft 1956

The idea of building a television set with a thin, flat display was a dream
that David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Hoard of RCA, had for many years. In
fact, he had a conventional television set installed within the wall of his
office at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City with the screen flush with
the wall to show how a wall-mounted television might appear. I saw this
when I was privileged to tour the corporate offices in 1969. The above
quotation was taken from a speech he gave on September 30, 1956, at a
dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of his tenure at RCA.l" He was
actually referring to electroluminescence, which at that time was believed
t o be the technology that would emerge to accomplish his objective. In the
rnid-1c)bOs, there were a number of technologies that were being investi-
gated at RCA Laboratories to create a flat panel television display, and elec-
troluminescence was one of them. Researchers were also looking at light
emitting diodes, various cathodoluminescent concepts (flat, thin cathode
ray tubc4ke devices), and liquid crystals.
When I first arrived at RCA Laboratories in the late spring of 1965,
r was truly impressed with both the size and ambience of the Facility, which
was established in 1942 to consolidate all research activities in a central
location. This was done not only t o make the research more efficient, but
primarily to maintain security for many of the government-classifiedprojects
that were underway for the war effort. The complex, which was renamed
the David Sarnoff Research Center in 1951, was situated just off Route 1 in
Princeton, New Jersey, a short distance from the university, which formed
14
 Discovery 15

the centerpiece of the historic town. It was designed as a university cam-

pus much along the lines of Hell Telephone Laboratories located about
35 miles north in Murray Hill, New Jersey. The complex was situated on
numerous acres of land with well-manicured lawns and large shade trees.
The main building was a three-story structure with long corridors leading
to hundreds of laboratory bays. Each bay had laboratory benches and
desks to accommodate two or three persons. A fully illustrated history of
the David Sarnoff Research Center was recently published by Alexander
Magoun.’1’
In those days, the organizational structure was quite simple - there
were some four hundred scientists, all classified as members of the techni-
cal stdf (MTS). Nearly all held a doctorate degree, although there were
some who were at the Master’s level and others who were working on
their doctorate as part of a doctoral study program. In ad.dition,there was a
support staff o f about three hundred consisting of technicians, machinists,
draftsmen, clerical workers and maintenance personnel. The management
structure was designed to reduce bureducrdcy, so there were only a small
number o f laboratory directors and group heads, who were selected from
among the members of the technical staff. However, many projects were
managed by MTS personnel who acted as project leaders and who would
often assemble the needed experts to work on a particular project that
might lead to important products of the future for KCA.
In 1965, the research center was a Mecca for worlddass experts in
electrical engineering, optics, acoustics, optoelectronics, solid-state physics,
and the other physical sciences and engineering disciplines. For example,
James Hillier, who co-invented the electron microscope, headed the center.
Just down the hall from my lab was Alfred C. Schroeder, who developed
the three-electron beam, three-color phosphor element color picture tube
along with Edward Herold and Harold Law, both of whom were also still
active at the center. Other scientists who could be called upon for advice
included Jan liajchman, developer of electron multiplier tubes and mag-
netic core memories for the earliest computers; Neil Yocom, developer of
the color phosphors used in the first color television tubes; Paul Kappaport,
pioneer in the development o f solar cells for satellites and later the first
Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute; James Tietjen, developer of
gallium arsenide and related semiconducting materials who later became
head of the research center; George Taylor, world-renowned expert in fer-
roelectric and piezoelectric devices; Paul Weimer, developer of the first
thin-film field effect transistor; Henry Lewis, developer of optoelectronic
16 Liquid Gold

devices; Alex Ross, developer of electrophotography; Joseph Burns, expert

and developer of silicon-on-sapphire semiconductors; Sol Harrison, expert
on the physics of electro-optical processes; Zoltan Kiss, developer of
electro-optic storage devices and cathodochromics systems; and Albert
Rose, developer of the image orthicon tube (a television camera tube)
along with Law and Weimer. This is just a sample of the many top scientists
who worked at the center in those days, making it an outstanding place to
perform both basic and applied research and engineering in a true multi-
disciplinary atmosphere.
Research in organic chemistry was relatively new to the center. The
importance of organic materials in optoelectronic devices as insulators and
active elements was just being recognized; so hiring top notch organic
chemists was vital to keeping the center at the leading edge of scientific
research. In 1963,Joel Goldmacher was the first organic chemist to join the
staff. Others were soon added until there were four at the MTS level when
I joined in 1965. Goldmacher designed the first organic chemistry labora-
tory and fully equipped it with the latest instruments and apparatus. It con-
sisted of three rooms, which included numerous exhaust hoods for
conducting chemical reactions and performing various analytical opera-
tions. However, the lab had room for only two desks, which were used by
Gcjldmacher and his technician Leonard Korsakoff. Consequently, my desk
was in an adjoining lab, which was occupied by two solid-state physicists
who constantly argued about the nuances of tunneling in diodes. Since the
conversations were made using mathematical formulas on a blackboard, I
initially had no clue as to what the arguments were all about. One of these
physicists was John Shewchun, who would take time to explain the con-
cepts to me in physical rather than mathematical terms, so I had some early
lessons in solid-state physics. John left RCA about one year later and went
on to become a professor of physics at McMaster University in Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada.
The story of how liquid crystals became a topic of research into the
development of flat panel displays at RCA began in the summer of 1962
when Richard Williams began searching for a physical phenomenon that
could eventually lead to a flat panel display not involving a vacuum tube
concept.l According to Williams, there was no other work on liquid crystals
going on at RCA Laboratories at the time and he was not aware of similar
work being done at other labs. The idea of using liquid crystals was
entirely his own; he knew the general properties of liquid crystals and
believed they might be the right materials for a display.
 Discoverv 17

Born in 1927, Richard Williams earned the A.B. degree in chemistry

from Miami University of Ohio in 1950 and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry
from Harvard University in 1954. Following graduation, he served in the
U.S. Army for one year before joining the faculty of Harvard where he
taught chemistry for three years. In 1958, he joined KCA Laboratories and
worked on semiconductor-electrolyte interfaces, internal photoemission,
properties o f electrons on the surface of liquid helium, and crystallized sus-
pensions of polystyrene micro spheres, in addition to liquid crystals. Fluent
and self-taught in Portuguese, he was appointed as a Fulbright lecturer at
the Engineering School in S i b Carlos, Brazil in 1969. While teaching in
Brazil, he discovered a previously unknown meteorite crater. He also wrote
the first book on solid-state physics in Portuguese, now used as a textbook
in Brazil, and translated into Spanish for use in Mexico. In 1972, he became
a Fellow of the Technical Staff, the highest technical position available at
the Ihvid Sarnoff Research Center. Richard Williams published more than
120 technical papers and holds 14 patents. In addition to the Cullinan Prize
for insulator physics from the Electrochemical Society, he received numer-
ous honors and awards for his scientific contributions. He was a co-
recipient of the David Sarnoff Team Award in Science in 1969. Richard
Williams retired from the research center in 1991, but he continues to live
in Princeton, New Jersey, where he works as a consultant and lecturer.
The most readily available nematic liquid crystal material in 1962 was
pazoxyanisole, which had a melting point of 116°C. Consequently,
Williams needed to set up his experiments on a heated microscope stage.
He sandwiched the liquid crystal between transparent tin oxide electrodes
coated on glass plates and placed the cell on a microscope stage held at
125°C. When he applied an electric field of about 1,00Ovolts/cm, he
observed the formation of a regular pattern of long parallel stripes, which
he called “domains.”3These domains, shown in Fig. 2.1, were clearly
visible to the naked eye. Researchers would later refer to these as “Williams
domains.” When the field was turned off, the original structure was
reformed and the domains became invisible again. This suggested the idea
to Williams that this electric field ordering of a liquid crystal could be used
in a display or light modulation device, so he quickly filed a patent appli-
cation on the ~ o n c e p tTo
. ~ my knowledge, this was the first invention to
describe the basic structure of a liquid crystal display device, a configura-
tion that has been used ever since. It also shows the structure of an X-Y
matrix of electrodes that became the basis for future LCDs. The key fea-
tures that made displays possible were there: low voltage, rapid response
18 Liquid Gold

Fig. 2.1. Williams doni;iins in pazoxyanisole at 125°C. ’I’he vertical line is the edge
o f the transparent concliicting film. The electric field is applied t o the material o n
the left o f [his line; no field is applied t o the right o f the line.

and good contrast. However, Williams did not actually h i l d o r demon-

strate 21 clisplay.
Kichard Williams was aware that it would take a long time to develop a
television display using the concept. There were n o room temperature
materials; thin-film transistors were just beginning t o be studied, and inte-
grated circuits were in the conceptual stage. Consequently, he turned t o
other projects, but continued t o maintain a keen interest in liquid crystals.
He introduced George Heilnieier t o the field o f liquid crystals and they col-
laborated on the researchi while Williams worked on other projects. Hut
Willimis remained 21s a valuable advisor t o those o f CIS who worked on the
fledgling liquid crystal display project, which Heilmeier decided t o pursue
full-time instead o f the work he had previously heen doing on solid-state
microw;ive devices.
George I-Ieilmeier was horn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1936. He
received a txichelor o f electrical engineering degree from the IJniversity o f
Pennsylvania in 1958 and upon graduation was recruited by KCA t o join the
company‘s cloctol.al study award program in conjunction with I’rinceton
IJniversity. In the 196Os, scientists and engineers were in great deniand as
the world o f high technology evolved to meet the needs of both the cold
w i r and the space r x e . Talented indivicluals from top schools were actively
p~irsuedby IiCA and given full graduate school fellowships. This enabled
Heilmeier t o complete his 1’h.D. at Princeton in electrical engineering in
 Discovery 19

1962, while earning two master’s degrees along the way. His education pre-
pared him to tackle the challenge of developing a new technology, but his
inherent leadership abilities would enable him to assemble a multi-
disciplinary team and direct it toward the technical goals that were accom-
plished. These leadership qualities served him well in subsequent jobs as
Assistant Director of Research in the Defense Department, Director of the
Advanced Research Projects Agency, Senior Vice President and Chief
Technical Officer of Texas Instruments, President and CEO of Bellcore, and
finally Chairman Emeritus of Telcordia. He has received numerous awards
including the David Sarnoff Team Award in Science, Industrial Research
Institute Medal, the National Academy of Engineering Founders Award, two
Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medals, and the pres-
tigious National Medal of Science presented by President George H. Bush
for contributions to national security and competitiveness. He currently sits
on numerous boards and committees including the Defense Science Board,
the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee,
the National Security Agency’s Scientific Advisory Board, as well as the
board of directors of TRW.
In the fall o f 1964, Heilmeier, working in collaboration with Louis
Zanoni, began experimenting with methods to produce a color display
using liquid crystak It was Heilmeier’s idea to “dope” nematic liquid crys-
tals with what were known as “pleochroic dyes.” These dyes were called
pleochroic because crystals of the material would show two or more colors
depending upon their orientation with respect to the direction of polarized
light. The concept was to use the alignment characteristics of liquid crystals
to cooperatively align the dye molecules using an electric field. The most
effective dyes were dichroic dyes; these would show one color in one ori-
entation, but be colorless in another. The optical absorption spectrum (a
graphic that shows the amount of light absorbed as a function of wave-
length) of a dichroic dye molecule is a function of its molecular orientation
with respect to the polarization of the incident light. Materials that exhibit
dichroism are usually long, cylindrical molecules containing groups of
atoms known as chromophores, which give the molecule an ability to
absorb specific wavelengths of light. Thus, if the dichroic molecule is ori-
ented with its long axis parallel to the electric vector of the incident polar-
ized light, absorption of light by the molecule occurs and the characteristic
color of the dye is observed. Conversely, orientation of the molecule with
its long axis perpendicular to the electric vector results in little or no
absorption by the visible transition, and the incident light is transmitted
20 Liquid Gold

unchanged. It is fascinating to look at a blue dichroic crystal on the stage

o f a polarizing microscope. As you rotate the polarizer, the color of the
crystal changes from colorless to blue and kack to colorless again when the
polarizer returns to its original position.
In order to prove the concept, Heilmeier turned to Louis Zanoni to
construct experimental cells using the materials. Zanoni was one of the lab-
oratories’ top technical staff associates and he worked closely with
Heilmeier on the liquid crystal research project. Zanoni, born in 1933 in
‘I’renton,New Jersey, served in the 17,s.Navy from 1951 to 1955 as a radio
operator and base communications supervisor at the 1J.S.Naval base in
Naples, Italy. Upon his honorable discharge, he attended RCA Institutes
where he graduated with honors in 1957 and joined KCA laboratories as an
associate member of the technical staff. He also continued his education
with evening classes at Trenton Junior College, Rider College and Rutgers
University. During his 13-year tenure at RCA Laboratories, Zanoni received
two Industrial Research magazine IR-100 awards and was co-recipient of
the David Sarnoff Outstanding Team Award in Science. In 1970, Zanoni left
RCA to help form Optel Corporation where he worked on the world’s first
LCI> digital watches. He also developed instruments for in-process and
final inspection of the products. Zanoni left Optel in 1976 and formed
Zantech, to provide parts and service for digital and andlog electronic
watches. Eventually, Zantech became the leading [J.S. company for training
electronic watch repair professionals and it remains so to this day. Zanoni
sold his interest in Zantech and went on to establish a local IJHF television
station in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1993. Although Zanoni is officially
retired, he continues to participate in the growth and development of the
station. He has published a variety of scientific and technical articles,
papers and books. Zanoni has also been issued numerous patents in the
field of electro-optic devices and circuits. He has been a member of several
community service organizations and is currently on the board of the
David Sarnoff Collection.
In 1964, Zanoni fabricated a cell in the form of a parallel plate capaci-
tor with transparent electrodes and the liquid crystal material sandwiched
between the plates. The nematic liquid crystal material, which Heilmeier
called the “host,”contained a small amount of dichroic dye, known as the
“guest.” Alignment of the molecules with their long axes parallel t o the
electric vector of the polarized light was achieved by rubbing the tin oxide-
coated surface prior to cell fabrication. (This was a very important, but
complicated process that will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 10.)
 Discovery 21

This alignment procedure therefore resulted in a cell that had the color
characteristic of the dissolved dye. The very strong permanent dipole
moment operating along the long molecular axis enabled the molecules to
align in the direction of an applied electric field and in turn, to orient the
dissolved dye molecules with their long axes perpendicular to the electric
vector of the incident polarized light (Fig. 2.2). This experiment led to the
discovery that color could be “turned on and off” with an electric field.
Heilmcier clearly understood and explained the mechanism of this electro-
optic effect in his paper. Trnagine the excitement of being able to electroni-
cally control the color of light in a flat, thin display cell for the very first
time. Other staff members who were called over to see the demonstration
were equally impressed. Was this a breakthrough? Could this be the way to
fabricate a flat panel color television display? George Heilmeier certainly
felt that it h a d that potential, although much more work was clearly
needed. Heilmeier quickly coined the term “Guest-Host Effect”6to describe
the phenomenon.
After the effect was demonstrated to William Webster, the laboratory
director, it was determined that a larger effort to further develop liquid crys-
tal displays would I x undertaken. Because of the possibility that the devices
could indeed be used to produce a flat panel television display, the project

NentaticLlquld
Crystal Mnleailes

Crystd
Field

Alignel in Field
FIELDOFF FIELD ON

Fig. 2.2. Operation of “Guest-Host” liquid crystal display.

22 Liquid Gold

was t o he considered company confidential for the foreseeable future o r at

least until patents had heen applied for. This meant that no papers could be
pu tdished reporting on any o f the developments relating t o liquid crystals.
This explains why the first puhlications did not appear until 1968.
Soon after the discovery of the Guest-Host effect, Heilmeier, Zanoni,
and Lucian “Luc” Barton discovered7,Hthat a cell containing a liquid crystal
material sandwiched txtween tin oxide transparent electrodes o n glass
could he made t o electrically switch from a transparent state to a highly
scattering, opaque state. In the first experiments, a black background was
~isedso that the cell appeared Mack with no field applied. When a field of
the order o f 5,000 volts/cm (corresponding to six volts f o r a 12-micron
thick sample) was applied, the liquid tiecame turbulent and scattered light,
nuking the cell appear white. It was also found that by increasing the field,
the brightness o f the cell increased, indicating that a gray scale could be
ol,tained. Furthermore, the bulk of the scattered light was forward scat-
tered rather than hack scattered (see Fig. 2.3). Thus, by using a specular
reflecting hack electrode, such as an aluminum mirror, the forward radia-
tion could he directed back through the liquid t o the viewer t o obtain the

Fig. 2.3. Operation o f dynamic scattering mode in a nematic liquid Crystal.

 Discovery 23

Fig. 2.4. George Heilmeier holding :I dyn;imic scattering liquid crystal disp1;iy
dio\\.ing :I static test pattern image. Photo t a k e n in I>ecemlxr 1966.

tiiaxiniuiii contrast in ;I reflective type display. Heilmeier understood the

mechanism o f this effect and clescrihed it in the puldished paper. An exmi-
ple o f one o f the first reflective liquid crystal clisplays is shown in Fig. 2.4.
Again, this was very exciting Ixcause it offered yet another way t o build a
flat pmel display. Heilmeier dul>l>edthe phenomenon "dynamic scattering"
and recognized the possitility that it could Ile ~isedto display information
for ;I variety o f applications, not only television. Thus, Heilmeier and his
group kil,ricated and demonstrated the first working liquid crystal display.
As the project leader, Heil~iieierwas given the authority to bring in other
staff memhers in addition t o Zanoni and Barton t o help with the project.
Initial studies o f the Guest-Host phenomenon were conducted with
24 Liquid Gold

pbutoxybenzoic acid and pmethoxycinnamic acid, but the high operating

temperatures required by these nematic compounds prompted a search for
other materials with lower melting points. Consequently, Heilmeier called
upon Joel Goldmacher to help develop liquid crystal material that could
operate at room temperature and over a wide temperature range.
Goldmacher was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937 and received a
13,s. degree in chemistry from the City College o f New York in 1959. He
then attended I’urdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, where he was
awarded a P1i.D. in organic chemistry in 1963. Upon graduation, he joined
RCA Laboratories and began working in the then-emerging field of organic
semiconductors. This involved complex, multi-step synthetic routes as well
as sophisticated purification processes leading to porphyrin and metallo-
porphyrin compounds. He also worked on other materials used to stabilize
metal oxide semiconductors, devices that were just beginning to be devel-
oped. In addition, he was involved in the synthesis of liquid crystal materi-
als and he prepared the first materials that Heilmeier and Zanoni used in
their experiments. As mentioned previously, he was responsible for recruit-
ing me t o join his research group and together we developed the world’s
first room temperature nematic liquid crystal^.^ In 1970, Goldmacher left
RCA t o help form Optel Corporation, where he served as Vice President o f
Research and Development working on the first LCD watches, calculators
and digital instruments. After seven years at Optel, Goldmacher co-
founded Springwood Electronics with two other principals. Springwood
was a rnarketing organization that was involved in the sales and distribu-
tion o f various consumer electronic products that used LCDs. He has puli-
lished numerous technical papers and holds 29 patents in the fields of
liquid crystals and optoelectronics. He is also a co-recipient of RCA’s high-
est award, the David Sarnoff Team Award in Science.
In 1965, Goldmacher began looking at ways t o synthesize liquid crys-
tals that could operate at room temperature. After the discovery of the
Guest-Host effect, this effort expanded and other chemists, including
myself, joined the team. In addition to us, this group of chemists also
included Jean Kane, Leonard Korsakoff, Frank Allan, and LUC Barton, who
had been working with Heilmeier and Zanoni, as mentioned previously.
Barton was an important member of the team; he was also the oldest
and most experienced. His legal name is Lucian Anthony Barton, but his
original name from birth was Lucjan Bartoszewicz. He was born in 1921 in
Warsaw, Poland. As a young man, he fought with the Polish Amy in
1939-1940 against the invading Nazis, who executed his Father. Barton was
 Discovery 25

captured by the Nazis and placed in a forced labor camp, where he nearly
died o f stamation; prisoners resorted to eating grass in order t o survive,
according t o his account.'" Fortunately, the Russian Red Army on their
relentless march through Eastern Europe liberated him, He was transferred
to Lithuania where he went underground and eventually fought with the
British against the Nazis. Barton was awarded three medals from Poland
and four medals from Great Britain for his bravery during the war. He left
the army in 1948 and went to Italy where he enrolled at the Polytechnic
Institute of Turin to pursue a doctorate in chemistry, although he did
not complete all the 1'h.D. requirements. Barton moved to the 1J.S. in 1951
and attended Rutgers Liniversity. From 1952 to 1955, he worked for the
Thiokol Chemical Corporation. He started working at RCA Laboratories in
1955 where h e first worked o n photoconductors for military research
programs, solar cells, electroluminescent materials, and penetration
phosphors for television tubes. Following his work on LCIls, for which he
was a co-recipient o f the David Sarnoff Team Award in Science, he worked
o n the video disc program, developing improved storage media for high-
density-recording. Barton retired in 1981 and moved to Fort Myers, Florida,
where he currently resides.
The chemistry team's strategy was twofold: (1) add small amounts o f
organic compounds to nematic materials to lower its melting point, and
( 2 ) synthesize individual compounds that had the potential to show
nematic mesomorphism at room temperature. Barton, who made numer-
ous mixtures of nematic and smectic compounds as well as other mixtures
that had low melting materials added to nematics with high thermal stabil-
ity, was pursuing the former strategy. While the melting points were
indeed reduced, the nematic-isotropic temperature also decreased dramati-
cally. In other words, the mixtures had short nematic ranges. My job was to
investigate the latter strategy.
When I joined the team, I had very little knowledge of liquid crystals;
whatever I did know was what Joel Goldmacher had told me. I can still
remember the amazement of seeing crystals held in a capillary tube, which
was immersed in hot oil, melt to form a turbid liquid that then became
clear sharply at a higher temperature. In my previous experience, crystals
always melted to form a clear liquid; the higher the melting point, the
purer the material. It was a well-known scientific fact that adding small
amounts of extraneous materials to a pure compound would lower its
melting point. Now I was looking at a material that was indeed pure, but it
exhibited this unique state of matter between the crystalline solid and
26 Liquid Gold

isotropic liquid states. Thus, I was anxious to learn as much as possible

ahout these fascinating materials.
It has always been my philosophy that one must learn as much as pos-
sible about a field before embarking on any research projcct that involves
some aspect of that field. For example, when I started working in rocket
propellant research at Thiokol, I read everything I could about rocket
propulsion and space flight to understand all the important factors and
parameters that determine the suitability of material for that application.
’l’his philosophy has served me well through the years, and I continue to
believe in it to this day. Consequently, my first task was to read Gray’s
book from cover to cover, as well as all other relevant papers and review
articles on the subject before doing anything else. The more I read, the
more I learned how the structural features o f a molecule determined
whether a specific compound would or would not exhibit liquid crys-
tallinity. Soon I became excited about going to the kdbOrdtOIy and synthe-
sizing some o f these materials, which I proceeded to do.
A l t h ~ ~ gnematic
li mesomorphism had been observed in a variety of
molccular structures, the large majority of compounds that exhibited the
phase at that time were known as aromatic Schiff base derivatives.
Aromatic compounds are based on benzene, which has a very distinctive
aroma, hence the name. The Schiff bases we used were prepared by con-
densation of benzene ring-substituted aldehydes with similarly substituted
amincs. These benzylidene aniline compounds were also referred t o by the
shorter name “anil.”
Our initial work involved the preparation of anils substituted with a
variety o f groups in the para positions of both rings.” However, only nine
o f the 21 new compounds exhibited nematic behavior. Another idea was
to substitute fluorine atoms for hydrogen atoms.12 Several compounds
showed very high nematic thermal stability, but the melting points were
also very high. IJnfortunately, the fluorine atoms in these molecules create
increased lateral interactions between nearest neighbors, which tend t o
impart smectic mesomorphism instead. of the nematic state that we sought.
On the basis o f a comparison with three-ring anils, it was concluded
that a critical balance of lateral and terminal intermolecular attractive forces
must be attained in order for mesomorphism to occur in two-ring anils. A
PdVordbk balance is created by the presence of alkyl (carbon and hydrogen
atoms), alkoxy (carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms, and one oxygen atom), and
acyloxy (carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms, and two oxygen atoms) groups in
the para positions of the rings, and a number of compounds containing
 Discovery 27

these groups were therefore prepared. Thus, all of the experiments pointed
us in the direction of smaller molecules, such as the two-ring anils, as a way
to achieve both low melting point and high nematic thermal stability, that is,
a wide nematic operating range that included room temperature. This led to
the synthesis of two-ring anils with the alkoxy and acyloxy groups having
different numbers of carbon atoms. This strategy was successful and led to
one compound that had a melting point of 50°C and a nematic range that
extended to 133OC. The structural formula of this compound is shown in
Fig. 2.5A. Two other compounds in this series (Figs. 2.513 and 2.5C) had
high nematic thermal stability, but their melting points were higher.
These experiments, which took place in August and September of
1c)65,'3 led me to the conclusion that in order to maintain high nematic ther-
mal stability while at the same time reducing the melting point, it would be
necessary to make mixtures of nematic compounds that differed only in the
number of carbon atoms in the terminal side chains. In this way, I theorized
that the disruption of the critical balance of lateral and terminal intermolecu-
lar forces would be minimized. Consequently, I started a systematic series of
experiments that involved making binary mixtures of compounds that

A
Nematic Range: 50- 113OC

Nematic Range: 81 - llO°C

C
Nematic Range: 82-113OC

Fig. 2.5. Structural formulas of two-ring a d s used to make the first room tempera-
ture nematic liquid crystal mixtures.
28 Liquid Gold

exclusively exhibited the nematic state and differed only by having one or
two more carbon atoms in the side chains. This concept worked and I was
excited to discover that while the melting point was significantly reduced,
the nematic-isotropic transition temperature of the mixture was only slightly
reduced from those of the individual compounds. I also discovered that
some of these mixtures would remain in the nematic phase at room temper-
ature for many hours in the so-called “supercooled” state. I felt I was now on
the right track, although I still had not achieved true room temperature oper-
ation, which we defined as a material having a melting point below 25°C.
If binary mixtures worked, why not try mixing three or more com-
pounds? Sure enough, in March of 1966,14I discovered that a ternary mixture
of compounds with the formulas shown in Fig. 2.5 resulted in a material that
had a nematic range of 22-105”C3 Operation at room temperature was
finally achieved and practical display devices would soon he possible. Our
team then proceeded to prepare numerous mixtures of nematic compounds,
many of which had even lower melting points. By building three-dimensional
phase diagrams, such as the example shown in Fig. 2.6, one could calculate
the exact composition that would give a specific temperature range. This
technique o f mixing nematic compounds t o obtain wide operating
temperature ranges eventually became the industry standard and is used to
this very day to tailor materials to meet specific applications.

40%C

Fig. 2.6. Illustration o f a ternary phase diagram.

 Discovery 29

I always believed we w e r e the first t o conceive the idea of mixing

individual nematic c o m p o u n d s t o obtain materials with w i d e nematic
temperature ranges. We were certainly the first to prepare materials that
w e r e liquid from below 25°C and to use such mixtures to make liquid crys-
tal displays. However, as mentioned previously, we were not permitted to
publish o u r results. Several years later,15 Dietrich Demus, working at the
LJniversity of H a k , in what was then East Germany, published a paper on
the concept of mixing t w o nematic compounds to obtain the same effects
that we observed in 1965. Demus is a very talented chemist who worked
on liquid crystals for many years at Halle, a place that was world-renowned
for liquid crystal research dating back to the early part of the 20th century.
' ~ me that he had been working on mixtures
A few years ago, I k r n ~ s told
of various types of liquid crystals since 1958. The relevant comments from
his message are as follows:

. . l'hank you for telling the story of the mixture development with many details,
I'.

which I did not know. The H a k story is different. We investigated the phase dia-
grams o f many binary systems, and in few cases ternary systems, in order to
achieve the now well-known classification o f liquid crystals (smectic A, U, C . . .>. In
1958, this work started and was continued using a broad substance basis. From
these phase diagrams we knew very well, that in general, the melting temperatures
can be non-linearly decreased in mixtures specially when eutectics are formed, but
the clearing temperatures in most cases showed nearly linear dependence from the
clearing temperatures o f the components. From 1959 to 1965, we have published a
lot o f examples showing this behavior. I already kiad experience with say 150 or so
phase diagrams of liquid crystals, when in 1965, colleagues making NMR investiga-
tions asked me if I would be able to produce liquid crystals for room teinperature
use. I checked the available materials and found some binary mixtures, which
could l x supercooled t o room tcinperatiire and I)elow, for very long periods with-
out crystallization. Part o f this work was published in January 1967, and I remenilier
having sent a sample t o Prof. Luclihurst in England, who used it for NMR investiga-
tions. From our side there was no more interest in low melting mixtures until
1969, when we started the development of materials for displays. In the beginning,
we ~ i s e dthe stock of old inaterials stemming from Vorllnder, and step by step, we
developed o u r own materials. Because Schiff's t m e s seemed to tie too unstatde,
we concentrated o n the synthesis o f esters. Tlie first members of the series o f
Schiff's bases, which you used in your patents h d been synthesized already by
Vorknder about 60 years ago."

Dietrich Demus
August 16, 2000
30 Liquid Gold

Therefore, according to Ikmus, the research group at H a k had been inves-

tigating liquid crystal mixtures for several years prior to the work we con-
ducted in 1965. However, none of that work appeared in any publication that
we were aware o f at the time, although we were certainly aware of the &as-
sical work on smectic materials that Dietrich Demus and Horst Sackmann
had done. Also, it is not completely clear from the Ilemw letter that the Halle
group was working on mixtures of nematic compounds prior t o 1965. In a
more recent communication, Demus mentioned that most o f their applied
research results were hidden in patents and never published elsewhere.
There is a myth that has been around for many years proclaiming that
these early Schiff base materials were somehow “unstable,” implying a
rapid breakdown of the structure. The fact is that pure Schiff bases are
quite stable as long as they are kept away from basic reagents und water.
The same is true of any compound that contains an ester linkage as part o f
its chemical structure. We tried to use esters to make LCDs in the early
1970s, but found them t o be more susceptible t o base-catalyzed hydrolysis
than Schiff bases.’8 A mixture of pure Schiff bases in a closed Pyrex vial
will retain its properties for many years at room temperature. Open to the
air, however, the compounds will oxidize slowly just like nearly all other
organic compounds. Also, moisture from the air can slowly cause hydroly-
sis o f the material if small amounts of base are present in the material or
enter from an adjoining source like so& lime gla In addition, Sorkin and
Denny’” found that small amounts of base and water can cause a mixture
of Schiff bases t o undergo “transanilization,” whereby the free amines and
aldehydes reform new liquid crystal compounds, changing the nematic-
isotropic transition temperature slowly over time.
For these reasons, it was so important to develop sealing techniques
that prevent air and water from entering the cell. This is as true today with
the current liquid crystal materials being used as it was in the mid-1960s.
Initially, we used epoxy sealing since these materials provide an excellent
harrier to moisture and air. Later, when the first 1,CDs were inanufactured
in high volume, the fledgling industry shifted over to all-glass sealing in
order t o obtain a true “hermetic seal.” However, the industry eventually
returned to epoxy seals because it afforded a much lower manufacturing
cost and higher production volume.
This will be discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters, but the
point is that Schiff bases were very successfully used in early manufactur-
ing of L U I S . The trick was to have a “passivating” layer o f material
between the soda lime glass and the surface alignment material. This
 Discovery 31

passivation prevented the migration of sodium and hydroxide ions from

the glass surface into the liquid crystal material even at elevated tempera-
tures. In the 1970s, Balzers in Liechtenstein produced glass that had
indium-tin oxide, the transparent electrode material, deposited over a layer
o f silicon dioxide, which coated the raw glass and acted as the passivating
layer. In the mid-l970s, this glass was the standard material used at
Fairchild Semiconductor’s LCD manufacturing plant in Palo Alto, California.
The display cells used Schiff base mixtures along with glass-to-glass seals
t o produce hundreds of thousands of reliable digital watches. I still have
the 100,000th watch made with these materials.
By the time epoxy sealing came into wide use, the world shifted over
to the biphenyls, which were much superior to Schiff bases because they
were not affected by hydroxide ions (unless they had ester groups pres-
ent), although sodium ions that migrate to the surface cause misalignment
by disrupting the attractive forces between the LC molecules and the sur-
face alignment material. Consequently, passivating layers are still in use
today for passive LCDs using current liquid crystal materials that are not
Schiff bases. However, displays based o n the use of thin-film transistors
(‘FTs), known as “active matrix LCDs,” use sodium-free glass because
sodium ions play havoc with the transistors’ operation.
Additional discoveries and refinements were made at IKA in subsequent
ycars and they will he discussed in the next few chapters. What I have tried
to convey in this chapter is that an atmosphere of high creativity and excite-
ment existed at the David Sarnoff Research Center during those early years.
We were a young group of scientists and engineers, all in our late 20s or
early 3Os, seeking t o make our mark in the world of new materials and tech-
nology. It seemed as though each week we would uncover some new phys-
ical phenomenon or new material that led us on the path of accomplishing
our goals, which were to develop new forms of displays for television and
other applications. It was truly an exciting and rewarding experience.
Some years ago, I read an article in which a Japanese researcher said
that RCA did not recognize that liquid crystal displays would be a technology
for flat panel television; he apparently assumed that all these developments
involved serendipity. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the very
beginning o f the research, the goal was to develop a flat panel television and
liquid crystal technology was believed to be one possible way to achieve
that goal. Science is not about blindly performing experiments and suddenly
finding some new discovery. True science is about studying a problem,
postulating ways to solve that problem, performing carefully-designed
32 Liquid Gold

Fig. 2.7. The original LCI) clcvelopment team ;it RCA 1alx)rxories. From left t o right:
I.ucim Ikulon. Joseph C;istellano, George Hrilmeier,Joel Golclmacher and Louis Zmoni.

experiments that may lead t o the solution, a n d finally interpreting the results
o f the experiments. This may lead t o more theories and more experiments
until the problem is solved. This conforms t o a n old saying, purportedly
attrilxited to Confucius,”’ that proclaims. ” N o experiment is a failure until the
last experinlent is 21 S L I C C ~ ’‘ We worked the problems until they were
solved and I ;in1 proud t o have Iieen part o f that effort.
While it took much longer than anyone would have drearned, you can
w d k into ;I store today a n d lxiy ;i flat panel color television set with ;I liq-
uid crystal display screen. In addition, a huge worldwide industry involving
hundreds o f other products Ixised o n liquid crystal displays evolved from
the work started at KCA Laboratories.
The research team (Fig. 2.7) that led the way was the most talented,
creative a n d dedicated g r o u p of colleagues I was ever involved with, a n d
they hecame lifelong friends o f mine.

REFERENCES
1. Eugene Lyons, Duziid Suvmif’(1’yramid Hooks, New York, 1966), p. 370.
(21)

Alexander 13. M a g o m , Duziid Sumc!flReseurch Center: RCA Luhs to Sur?io/f’

(13)

Coipomtiorr (Arcadia Publishing Company, Charleston, SC, 2003).

2. K. Williams, personal communication, June 2002.
3. K. Williams, “Domains in liquid crystals,”.I. Chcm. 1’h.p~.39, 384 (1963); ~Vuture
199, 273 (1963).
 Discovery 33

4. I<. Williams, Electro-o$tical Elements Utilizing an Organic Nematic Compound,

1J.S.Patent 3,322,485 (19671, applied for Novemher 9, 1962.
5. I<. Williams and G.H. Heilmcier, “Possilde ferroelectric effects in liquid crystals
and rekated liquids,” .I. Chem. I’h-ys. 44, 638 (1966). G.H. Heilmeier, “Transient
behavior o f domains in liquid crystals,”J Chern. Ph.y.s. 44, 644 (1966).
6. G.11. Hcilmeier and L A . Zanoni, “Guest-Host interactions in nematic liquid
crystals, a new clectro-optic effect,” Appl. Pby.7. Lett. 13,91 (1968).
7. G.H. Hcilmeier, L A . Zanoni, and L.A. I3arton, A Flat Liquid Cystal KcfZectiue
Disp1a.y L3ase.d on Dynamic Scattering, RCA Laboratories Company Report,
dated Ikxember 1966.
8. G.H. Heilmeier, L A . Zanoni, and L A . I3arton, “Dynamic scattering in nematic
liquid crystals,” A]pL Phys. Lett. 13, 46 (1968); Proc. ZIEE 56, 1162 (1968).
G.H. Heilmeier and LA. Zanoni, Ikctro-opLical Devices, U.S. Patent 3,499,112
(1970), applied for March 31, 1967.
9. J.E. Goldmacher and J.A. Castellano, Electro-optical Cornposilions and Lleuicm,
U.S. Patent 3,540,796 (‘1970), applied [or June 9, 1966.
10. Lucian A. IVarton, personal communication, January 2003.
11. J . A . Castcllano, J.E. Goldmacher, L A . I3arton, and J.S. Kane, “Liquid crystals 11.
Effects o f terminal group substitution on the mesornorphic behavior o f some
benzylideneanilines,” ,I. Org. Chem. 33,3501 (1968).
12. J.R. Goldmacher and L.A. Barton, “Liquid crystals I. Fluorinated anils,” .I: Org.
Chern. 32,476 (1967).
13. KCA Laboratories, David Sarnoff Kesearch Center, Progress Report, October
1965. Ihvid Sarnoff Library, Princeton, NJ.
14. IiCA Laboratories, David Sarnoff Research Center, I’rogress Report, April 1966.
Ihvid Sarnoff Library, Princeton, NJ.
15. I). Demus, “Some near room temperature stable nematic liquids,” Zeitschrzft
,fur Natwfcmchung 22a(2) (1967).
16. 1). Demus, personal communication, August 2000.
17. I). Demus, personal communication, July 2002.
18. J.A. Castellano and M.T. McCaffrey, 1973, unpublished results. Work done at
I’rinceton Materials Science.
19. I-Ioward Sorkin and Arthur F. Denny, “Equilibrium properties of Schiff base
liquid crystal mixtures,” Proceedin<qsof the Wurth International Liquid C‘yslal
Conference, Kent, OH, August 1972, paper 140.
20. This quolation, preceded by “Confucius says . . . , ’ I was spoken by the actor
Sidney Toler in his role as Charlie Chan in a motion picture (circa 1942) that I
saw on television as a 15-year-old budding chemist. I doubt that Confucius
actually said this, Ixit I was so impresscd by this line that I pinned it up almve
the bench of the “lab” I set up in the cellar of my Brooklyn home in 1952.
Today, 1 use this quotation as ii screen saver.
 Chapter 3

The Gathering

”They (colleagues) do not share with one in the steps of one’s research, but they
can read the results, tell in a general way if they have been soundly reached, and
profit by them.”
Oliver La Forge, renowned ethnologist, 1942

The most important reason for attending international conferences is the

exchange of ideas, as so aptly expressed above by La Forge. Less than four
months from the time I began working on liquid crystal research, I was
privileged to be invited by George Heilmeier t o join him, Joel Goldmcher
and Richard Williams to attend the First International Liquid Crystal
Conference, which was being organized by Glenn Brown of Kent State
University. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about
what other scientists were doing in this fascinating field and t o meet
George Gray, Glenn Brown and the other top scientists from around the
world. Also, I was about to submit my first paper on liquid crystals to the
Journal of Organic <:hemistry, and I was hoping t o have it previewed by
George Gray, whom I respected as the leading research chemist in the field
at that time. In addition, Heilmeier invited George Gray to come to KCA
1,aboratories and provide one day of consulting following the conference,
so I was confident that I could get his advice.
The conference was held from August 16 through August 20, 1965
at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, which is located about 45 miles
southeast of Cleveland. Kent State, which was established in 1910 as
a teacher’s college, is part of the Ohio State TJniversity system. In the 1960s
it was undergoing a major expansion, so many o f the buildings were
modern and well-equipped. Glenn Brown and his staff did an excellent
job of providing comfortable accommodation for all the attendees in the

34
 The Gathering 35

Korb Hall dormitory building. All of the sessions were held in a large audi-
torium in the Speech and Music Building.
There were 129 attendees at this first conference. While a large majority
of the attendees were actually performing research in liquid crystals, a small
number were interested observers seeking to determine if any useful appli-
cations could evolve from these exotic materials. It is interesting that only 16
came from outside the 1J.S. - 14 from Europe and two from India. Any
international conference held today on liquid crystals o r displays would be
dominated by attendees from Asia and Europe and attendance would be in
the thousands. This is a testament to the expansion of science and technol-
ogy throughout the world as a result of the tremendous advances in global
communications and transportation,
The lectures’ were given by the top researchers in the field at that time.
After the opening remarks by Glenn Brown and Robert White, then
I’resident of Kent State University, George Gray presented the first talk, in
which he discussed the influence of molecular structure o n liquid crystalline
properties. Much of this was a reiteration of the principles discussed in his
hook, but nevertheless it was very helpful to me as 1 prepared my first
paper on liquid crystals. Later on that week, Professor Gray was kind enough
t o read my paper and make some useful suggestions. Gray’s talk was
followed by James Fergason’s review of the properties of the cholesteric
phase in which he explained how the color of these materials change with
temperature.
It is important to mention other notable presenters since they were
pioneers in the development of the materials and effects that eventually led
t o the industrial development of liquid crystal displays:
J.S. Dave, Ilepartment of Chemistry, M.S. University of Baroda, India,
discussed the structure-property relationships among various liquid
crystalline compounds. Dave had been working on liquid crystal mate-
rials since the mid-1950s.
Jean I3illard, Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, College of France, Paris,
described the formation of various patterns in twisted-nematic films.
J.H. Muller, U.S. Army R&D Laboratories, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, pre-
sented results o n the electric field effects in cholesteric liquid crystals.
George I-Ieilmeier, IiCA Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, reported
on the transient behavior of domains in nematic liquid crystals.
36 Liauid Gold

Gerhard Meier, Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Materials Research,

Freiburg, Germany and Alfred Saupe, Institute of Physics, Freiburg
University, Freiburg, Germany discussed the dielectric relaxation in
nematic liquid crystals.
Richard Williams, RCA Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey, presented
evidence for possible ferroelectric behavior in nematic liquid crystals.
Wolfgang Elser and Juergen I’ohlmann, 1J.S. Army R&D Laboratories,
Fort Helvoir, Virginia, described the mesomorphic behavior of choles-
teryl carbonates.
Horst Sackmann, [nstitute for Physical Chemistry, University of H a k ,
Germany, discussed the problem of multiple phases within the smectic
phase. He had previously identified and classified the various smectic
phases.
S. Chandrasekhar, Department of Physics, University of Mysore, India,
reported on the surfdce tension o f liquid crystals.
H. Kelker, Parbwerke Hoechst, Frankfurt, Germany, discussed the use
o f liquid crystals as stationary phases in gas chromatography. Four
years later, he and his colleague B. Scheurle synthesized the first single
compound to exhibit nematic behavior at room temperature.2
In addition to the papers on materials and electro-optic effects, there were
presentations on the use of liquid crystals for scientific measurements and
in biomedical research:
Gordon Stewart, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, a physician working in epidemiology and pathology,
reported o n his analysis of the plaque formed in human arteries. He
was one of the first to show that this plaque consisted. pritnarily o f
liquid crystalline cholesteryl esters of fatty acids. Stewart also suggested
that there were cholesterol esters in ovary and adrenal glands.
I h n a l d Small, I3oston University, Boston, Massachusetts, presented work
on the liquid crystalline behavior of lecithin and bile salts. At the time,
he was interested in understanding the pathophysiology of gallstone dis-
ease and how cholesterol was carried in membranes and the b i k 3
However, a few years later, he became interested in atlierosclero
discovered that some lesions had crystals of cholesterol monohydrate.
This led to his ground breaking research4 on the physical-chemical basis
of lipid deposition in atherosclerosis. This was the first major study t o
explain the physical states in which cholesterol and other lipids are
 The Gathering 37

deposited in the arterial wall. A review of his research in this field5

through 1987 is often cited in the biomedical literature.
Kolf I Iosemann, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max-Planck Society, Ikrlin,
Germany, discussed his theory of so-called paracrystals, which are thin,
regularly-spaced filaments that are often seen in the cytoplasm of vari-
ous cells. Paracrystals are generally considered to be liquid crystals.
E.J. Ambrose, Institute for Cancer Research, Royal Cancer Hospital,
London, England, described work on the study of liquid crystalline
structures in living cells.
Lawrence Snyder, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New
Jersey, discussed his work on the use of liquid crystals as solvents for
nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique which he pioneered.
Helena Selawry, Department of Medicine, Roswell Park Memorial
Institute, I3ufFdlo, New York, explained how liquid crystals could be
used for thermotroprographic measurements of inflammatory lesions
in humans. For a time, this was an effective way to detect breast cdn-
cer, although it eventually was replaced by X-ray mammography.
Anthony Skoulios, Center for Macromolecular Research, Strasbourg,
France, described his group’s studies of the liquid crystalline state in
various macromolecular systems.
Conmar Robinson, Courtaulds, Ltd., London, England, discussed the
cholesteric mesophase in polypeptides and biological systems. W e
suggested that liquid crystals provide a model for investigating self-
assembly and replicating structures in living cells.

Most of the scientists who presented papers at this conference spent their
entire careers working in the liquid crystal field, although not necessarily in
areas related to displays. Nevertheless, they were pioneers in the study of
these inaterials for applications that led to advances in electronics, chem-
istry, and medicine, as well as t o numerous consumer and industrial prod-
ucts that have benefited mankind.
This conference was my first opportunity to interact with scientists from
other countries and it gave me a new perspective on how other nations
view technological as well as political issues. It also enabled me to develop
friendships with many European colleagues; some of these have been life-
long relationships. This is in contrast to the comments made by Johnstone(‘
in which he stated that our small group from RCA was not “popular with

www.ebook3000.com
38 Liquid Gold

our peers.” This was apparently based on information he obtained in an

interview with one of the attendees. Johnstone also interviewed me and
quoted me out of context. I totally disagree with his comment that we
“strutted around with a superior air, not saying much and making jokes
about the work of other researchers.” Some of us did question several
speakers on specific issues raised in their presentations, but this is typical of
the peer review done at scientific conferences and in no way involved any
personal atVack on any individual. Through the years, I have attended many
scientific conferences and. seminars where debate and disagreement on var-
ious technical issues were far more rancorous than anything that took place
at this liquid crystal conference. In no way do these disagreements diminish
the respect that the participants in the discussions have for one another.
In addition to the technical sessions, there were many opportunities for
social contact among the various participants. For example, some of us
would go t o the local watering hole in Kent or to nearby Akron for pizza
and beer. These social gatherings created an opportunity for us to learn
more about each other’s personality and character as well as to discuss var-
ious technical issues. On several occasions, our group included George
Gray, Joel Goldmacher, George Heilmeier, Horst Sackmann, Wolfgang Elser
and Juergen I’ohlinann. One evening, a group of us drove to Cleveland
where we went to an old-time burlesque show, which included irreverent
male comedians as well as female strippers. The show was quite entertain-
ing and one of our European colleagues commented that this show was
hetter tlian anything he had seen in Paris. In the world of 1965, this type of
entertainment was presented only in the big cities and was considered
risyut.. Today, this type of inaterial is routinely shown on cable television.
The imporkant conclusion that I reached from attending this confer-
ence was that while many tdliant scientists were working in the field of
liquid crystals, applications to displays in general and television in particu-
lar had not yet become apparent.

REFERENCES
1. I-’rogram o f I’apers, First International Liquid Crystal Conference, Kent State
University, Kent, OH, August 1965 (Appendix I>.
2. 11. Kelker and €3. Scheurlc, Angewandte C‘hemie 81, 903 (19691.
 The Gathering 39

3. Ilonald M. Small, personal communication, January 2004. Dr. Small is now

Chairman of the Ikpartmcnt of Physiology 8: 13iophysics at Boston Iiniversity’s
School of Medicine.
4. Ihnald M. Small, “l’hysical-chemical basis of lipid deposition in atherosclero-
sis,’’Science 185,222 (1774).
5. Donald M. Small, “Progression and regression of atherosclerotic lesions,”
Arteriosclerosis 8, 103 (1988).
6 . Robert Johnstone, We Were Burning (Basic Books, New York, 1999, p. 98.
 Chapter 4

The Secret Years

"For there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest; nor anything concealed
that will not be known and come to light."
Luke 8:17

During the years from 1965 through 1967, research on liquid crystal displays
at KCA greatly intensified as it became apparent that this new technology
could be useful in many applications in addition to flat panel television, so
the company decided that the developments being made should be kept
secret. Thus, it was not possible for us to publish the exciting results of
experiments that were being carried out during those years. It is important
t o emphasize that this was not simply some casual experiments to examine
a ldbOI-dtOry curiosity, but instead represented a concerted effort to research
all aspects of what was believed to bc a new display technology that might
lie practical for manufacturing a flat panel television and other consumer or
industrkal products. This work was carried out by some of RCAs top scien-
tists and engineers; it was perhaps the largest group working in the liquid
crystal field at the time. This research covered a wide spectrum of technical
disciplines including: liquid crystal material development and purification;
device fabrication and testing; life testing; mechanistic studies; electrical
addressing schemes; diode and thin-film transistor development; product
prototype construction; and projection development. Some of these devel-
opments were previously discussed in Chapter 2, but other interesting mate-
rials, processes and electro-optic effects were also discovered that opened
new fields for further research, eventually leading to the development of
products that were commercialized many years later.
In the material area, for example, Joel Goldmacher discovered tkat a
mixture of cis-trans isomers of undecadienoic acid was nematic at room
temperature (a nematic range from 24°C to 49°C). This was probably the
40
 The Secret Years 41

first room temperature mixture of nematic material ever made.

Unfortunately, the material slowly polymerized at room temperature and
was deemed to be impractical for use in LCDS.’ At the same time, George
Heilmeier discovered that cholestcric liquid crystals, with their unique
property o f changing color with temperature, could be used to detect “hot
spots” o r possible failure points in solid-state production devices.’
However, it is not certain if he was the first to conceive of this appli-
cation since James Fergason was also investigating this approach at
Westinghouse2-4during this same time period..
In order to maximize the electrical performance of liquid crystal dis-
plays, it was found early on that the purity and resistivity of the material
must be very high. While we used all o f the state-of-the-art methods
known at that time to prepare the purest materials, low resistivity was still a
problem. However, we soon discovered that microfiltration of the liquid
crystal material was necessary in order to remove carbon particles that
were introduced into the material during the recrystallization process. This
technique enabled LIS to obtain materials with a resistivity that exceeded
the desired goal of 10“’ohm-cm at 85°C. Today, the use of this and newer
methods of purification result in materials with even higher resistivity.
The examination of field effects in chiral liquid crystals, those which
exhibit the cholcsteric mesophase, was first initiated in October of 1965.
These experiments used “optically active” compounds to produce an
electro-optic effect that made the cell turn from optically opaque to clear
by application of an electric field.
Even as early as 1965, Heilmeier and Zanoni were experimenting with
line-at-a-time television addressing schemes and demonstrated that they
could be used with a IXM-LCD. Ey early 1966, it was recognized that
electronic ad.dressing of liquid crystals using an “X-Y” matrix-addressing
scheme would require diode isolation for each pixeL5x6 Consequently,
additional researchers were needed to further investigate this approach, so
one group headed by Bernard Lechner and another under the direction o f
I>avid Kleitman were brought into the project.
T3ernard Lechner was a leading RCA scientist who had previously
worked on plasma and electroluminescent displays. He was one of the first
to conceive of using thin-film transistors to drive liquid crystal displays. At
that time, however, TFT performance was not adequate. To demonstrate
the concept of using active elements to drive the displays, Lechner’sgroup,
which consisted of Edward Nester, Frank Marlowe and Juri Tults, built
a two-line, 18-element dynamic scattering LCD using discrete MOS
42 Liquid Gold

(metal-oxide-serniconductor) transistors and an electromechanical shift reg-

ister to scan the electrode^.^ Iiow selection pulses were applied to the gate
tcrminals of the transistors while the column signals were connected to the
drain terminals. The liquid crystal cells, in parallel with storage capacitors,
were connected t o the transistors’ source terminals. The display was
addressed at television rates to produce a moving halftone image. In addi-
tion, worst-case disturb pulses were applied to simulate the environment of
a 525-line matrix. This was probably the first time that active elements,
although not integrated into the device, were used to drive LCDs. While
this work was done in early 1968, it was not published until the secrecy lid
was lifted.”) The first demonstration of an LCD using integrated TFTs is
attributed t o T. Peter I h d y , whose work will be described later in this
chapter.
Lechner’s group also built a test chip on a silicon wafer (no circuits,
just electrodes) with a liquid crystal sandwiched between the chip and a tin
oxide-coated glass plate.’ This was done for live testing to determine if
there were any interactions between the liquid crystal material and the sili-
con over a prolonged period under electrical activation; none were found.
Meanwhile, David Kleitman headed a group in the Display Systems
Laboratory directed by Alfred Harco. Kleitmdn was an interesting character
who would collect old cars in very poor condition and park them in his
front yard, sparking complaints from his neighbors, according to reports.
Ihwever, he was very creative and a technology visionary. One of his
ideas was a copying device the size of a pen. Another was the use of
holograms to create a moving three-dimensional picture. The latter became
a reality not long after, and I remember first seeing such a display at Walt
Disney World in the 1970s.
Kleitman began expanding his group in the summer of 1964 when he
hired five new Ph.11. scientists - Fred Spong, Mike Kaplan, Mike De Meis,
Istvan Gorog and John van Raalte - without having a clear idea of what
they were going to work on, according to van Raalte.“’ They were sent to
the Instrument Center in the basement to check out some “available and
useful equipment” and to start doing experiments based on the available
equipment. Van Raalte started working on electro-optic crystals and light
modulation, which was somewhat related to his 1’h.D. thesis. At Kleitman’s
suggestion, he then moved on to work on the problem of addressing liquid
crystal displays.
John A. van Raalte was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1938. He
lived in several European countries during his childhood, then moved to
 The Secret Years 43

the 1J.S. and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving

B.S.and M.S degrees in electrical engineering in 1960 and Ph.D. in solid-
state physics in 1964. He joined RCA Laboratories shortly after graduation
and rernaincd there for 26 years. By 1970, he took over as head of the
Display and Device Concepts liesearch Group. Later, he directed research
on video disk recording and ultimately became the Director of the
Materials and Process Technology Laboratory.
In 1990, van Raalte joined Thomson Consumer Electronics in Lancaster,
I-’ennsylvania,as General Manager of CRT Engineering and two years h e r
moved t o Genlis, France, to head up the company’s Electron Optics
Laboratory. Van Kaak left Thomson in 1999 and joined LG-Philips Displays in
Sitlard, The Netherlands, as ‘Technical Advisor to the General Manager. He
helped plan and structure new K&I) activities as well as to define new prod-
uct and process strategies for this joint venture between I’hilips and LG
Electronics. He also helped with the integration of the two companies until
his retirement in 2002. Van Wake also served as President of the Society for
Information 1)isplay for two years. He has published more than 20 technical
papers, holds 16 patents, and has received numerous honors and awards.
It was in early 1966 that van Raalte started working on the addressing
problem, building on the earlier work of Bernard Ixchner’s group, which
was mentioned above. Van Kaalte also recognized the need for a diode or
thin-film transistor (TFT) array to address a flat LCD for television purposes,
but TFT work was in its infancy at that time. At IICA, the leading researcher
in TFTs was Paul Weimer, who was working on TFT shift-registers using
tellurium and cadmium sulfide. With Weimer’s guidance, van Raaltc
worked briefly on cadmium sulfide TFTs, but that didn’t seem to work very
well, since they were marginally unstable and had rather poor rectifying
characteristics. He also made some “diodes” out of zinc sulfide (continu-
ous, evaporated layers) that seemed very promising. The beauty of this
approach was that the rectifier (diode-layer) was one continuous film that
exhibited strong (sharp) diode-characteristics by virtue of electron injection
from the zinc sulfide into the LCD. However, van Kaalte ceased this work
when he shifted his emphasis to projection technology.
The idea to use an electron beam to address liquid crystals at television
rates occurred to van R d t e , SO he managed to Set Up a demountable vac-
uum system to test the idea. He used a “wire-glass-mosaic”demountable
faceplate, which consisted of a fused glass plate with many thin copper
wires going through on 20.1 mm centers. A liquid crystal cell was mounted
on one side of this faceplate and the assembly was placed inside the
44 Liquid Gold

v;iciiiim chamber. It was then possible t o scan the faceplate from the back-
side with an electron beam, therehy creating a moving television image in
tlie liquid crystal cell. ‘I’liis was the world’s first demonstration o f an off-
the-air moving picture on a liquid crystal display. Details o f this device
\vere presented two years later.”,” A sketch o f the device and photos o f
off-the-air programming are shown in Fig. 4.1,
Excitedly, van Kaalte asked Barco, the Laboratory Director, t o see the
demonstration. but Harco had no interest for reasons that van Kaaltc could
never unclerstand. Perhaps it was because there was a shift in emphasis at
IiCA away from long term research projects t o applied research that would
give quicker returns on the investment o f research and development
dollars. This was a short-sighted approach that would ultimately lead t o
tlie decline o f KCA 21s 21 technology innovator.
Many years later. Tektronix researchers would develop a n electron l x m -
atlclressecl LCI) using 21 very thin glass plate instead o f van Raalte’s wire-glass
mosaic: they achieved impressive results in a television projector that was

Fig. 4.1. Sketch o f electron I,eam-addressetl system with dynamic scattering LCD
mosaic faceplate for projection application. I’hotos o f off-the-air programming are
also shown.
 The Secret Years 45

demonstrated at a Society for Information Display exhibition. However,

I'ektronix never commercialized a product based on the technology.
This display showed the potential o f LCDs for television if the address-
ing prohlem could be solved and showed that one could use LCDs either
f o r direct-view o r projection purposes. It would take another 14 years
I x f o r e Seiko demonstrated a TFT panel o f similar size (-1 sq. inch). The
projector van Kaalte used was similar t o the one used for a reflective, on-
axis deformal,le film projector. A projected image o f a television test
pattern is shown in Fig. 4.2. He later developed and patented an off-axis,
reflective optical system with Victor Christiano for a deformable film pro-
jector, that had much better contrast, and many similarities to some of the
optical systems used by Texas Instruments in their digital micromirror
devices. which were cleveloped many years later. Later, van Raalte worked
on a Schlieren light valve concept."
Meanwhile, George Heilmeier Ixgan attracting other scientists and tech-
nologists from within the Ilavid Sarnoff Research Center t o participate in the
research. For example, Philip M.' Heyinan assisted Heilineier in performing
detailed studies o f the electro-optic characteristics o f the devices in order t o
elucidate the mechanism o f their operation. In xldition, D.M. Perkins and
Edw;ird E'. Pasierl, were recruited t o investigate the electrical characteristics

Fig. 4.2. J o h n \':in Ilaalte c1emonstr:iting ;I projected image from the dynamic scat-
tering LCI).
46 Liquid Gold

of various semiconductor and thin-film transistor devices that could ulti-

mately be. used to drive liquid crystal devices in a television display. Perkins
and Pasierb tested such materials as thin-film polycrystalline gallium arsenide
and cadmium sulfide. Later, Pasierb joined Heilmeier’s group to exclusively
investigate the properties of thin-film devices for use with liquid crystals.
Another effort concerned the use of silicon-on-sapphire, a n emerging
technology that offered much promise for future high performance inte-
grated circuits. Joseph Burns, David Ilumin and li. Silver assisted with the
preparation of these devices.
Other laboratories, most notably Westinghouse, Bell Telephone
Laboratories, General Electric and Hughes were also investigating TFTs. The
idea to replace single crystal devices (i.e., silicon, germanium, gallium
arsenide), which at the time were limited to a few inches in diameter, with
thin-film circuits that could be applied over larger areas, was very compelling.
At Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
T. Peter Brody, encouraged by KCA papers o n cadmium sulfide TFTs,
began working on these devices in the early 1960s.The story of TFT devel-
opment and Brody’s pioneering work in using these devices to make LCDs
will be covered in Chapter 12.

REFERENCES
1. KCA Laboratories, David Sarnoff Research Center, Progress Reporl, October
1965. David Sarnoff Library, Princeton, NJ.
2. James 1,. Fergason, “Cholesteric structures 111: thermal mapping,” New York
Acudemy of Sciences, Series ZI 29, 26 (1966).
3. James L. Fergason, “Liquid crystals plot the hot spots,” Electronic Design 15
(1967).
4. James 1,. Fergason, “Liquid crystals in non-destructive testing,” Appl. Opt.
7, 1729 (1968).
5. KCA T.aboratories, David Sarnoff Research Center, Progress Report, January
1966. 1)avid Sarnoff Library, Princeton, NJ.
6. RCA Laboratories, 1)avid Sarnoff Research Center, Progress Report, February
1966. Ihvid Sarnoff Library, Princeton, NJ.
7. 13ernard J. Ixchner, personal communication, June 2003.
8. 13ernard J. Lechner, Frank J. Marlowe, Edward 0. Nester, and Juri Tults, “Liquid
crystal matrix displays,” Proceedings qf the 1969 IEEE International Solid-Sate
Circuits Conference (February 1969), p. 52.
9. 13crnardJ. Lechner, Frank J. Marlowe, Edward 0. Nester, and Juri Tults, “Liquid
crystal matrix displays,” Proc. Proc. IEEE 59, 1566 (1971).
 The Secret Years 47

10. John A . van Kaalte, personal communication, January 2003.

11. John A. van Kaalte, “lieflective liquid crystal television display,” Proc. U?EE 56,
2146 (1948).
22. John A. van Kaalte, “Reflective liquid crystal television display,” International
I<lectronDevices Meetiq, October 24, 2968.
13. John A. van liaalte, “A new schlieren light valve for television projection,”
.I. Appl. O p . 9, 2225 (1970).
 Chapter 5

Going Public

"The Radio Corporation of America has announced that it has developed a new
technology - liquid crystals -that could have a major effect on the electronics
industry."
Chicago Tribune, May 30, 1968

Sometime in the early spring of 1968, HCA management decided that it was
time to reveal the results o f its liquid crystal research to the general public.
I3y this time it was clear that building a television set with devices based on
these materials would not be forthcoming for many years and, in any case,
KCA believed that it had a big lead in the development of the technology.
Since KCA's legal staff was processing many patent applications, the com-
pany felt safe in "going public" with its developments.
In preparation for the public announcement, Heilmeier, Zanoni and
other staff members designed and built prototype displays that would be
used t o demonstrate the potential applications for the devices. The idea
was to emphasize the fact that the technology could be applied to many
different applications, not only television. Among these were a numeric
indicator, a small electronic window, a television test pattern, and a fully
functional, solid-state digital clock, the first of its kind.
Photos of these early devices are shown in Fig. 5.1 through Fig. 5.4. In
addition, a two-line, 18-element dynamic scattering LCD was built by
Bernard Lechner's group (see Chapter 4). This device used individual field
effect transistors hard-wired to the display and an electromechanical shift
register to scan the electrodes.
And so, on T~iesday,May 28, 1968, a press conference was held in
New York City at a small auditorium on the ground floor of 30 Rockefeller
Center, then known as the KCA Building (now the GE Building). Some 60
reporters from the major newspapers, magazines, and news services that
48
 Going Public 49

Fig. 5.1. A seven-segment numeric indicator with ;I dynamic scattering I.CD k i n g

held Ronald Friel.

Fig. 5.2. An electronic window that Ixcanie opaque when the author applied a n
clectric field t o the dynxnic scattering LCI).

had their headquarters located in the New York metropolitan area attended
the conference. In addition, top executives from KCA and members of the
liquid crystal display research group were present.
After presentations by George H. Brown, RCA’s vice president o f
rese:irch and engineering, and James Hillier, vice president o f KCA
Lilioratories, George Heilmeier presented the details o f how the devices
work and descrilxd some o f the potential applications for the displays.
This was followed by an extensive question-and-answer period. At the
luncheon reception that followed the formal meeting, some of the
50 Liquid Gold

Fig. 5.3. A television test pattern shown o n ;I clynxmic scattering LCI) in reflected
light ;IS George Heilmeier activated it.

Fig. 5.4. K o l x r t 120hm:in. KCA Scientist, compares his mechanical \vristwatcli \\it11
a n all-solid state clock t h a t uses ;I dynamic scattering I,CI).

reporters interviewed inclividual memhers o f the staff. For example, Joel

Goldmacher and I spent quite a hit o f time with William K. Stevens, a
reporter f o r 7'he IYL'ZL~York 7imcrs, and David Francis o f the Christian
Science Morzitor explaining the operation o f the display as well as its
 Going Public 51

potential applications. The article by Stevens was syndicated to many other

papers and in the next few days following the press conference, newspa-
pers in more than 30 cities reported the story across the country.l
Nearly all of the stories discussed the possibility of liquid crystal dis-
plays being the answer to the long-awaited thin television screen that
could be hung on a living room wall like a painting. Also of interest was
the application to all-electronic clocks and wristwatches with no moving
parts as well as pocket televisions, auto dashboard displays, and electronic
window shades. The publicity generated by these stories sparked a flood
of inquiries to KCA’s public relations office and within the next few
months, a number of major magazines also featured articles about the
development.2 Eventually, newspapers in other countries picked up the
story. The secret was out - liquid crystals had great potential for use as an
electronic display medium.
The impact o f this announcement was truly remarkable. Suddenly,
researchers around the world realized that liquid crystals were more than an
interesting inaterial to probe in a laboratory - they might indeed he impor-
tant for advanced electronic display devices. One of these was James
Fergason, who was then working at Kent State IJniversity’s Liquid Crystal
Institute. On the day following the RCA press conference, The N i York
Times reported that he said the RCA disclosure was of practical importance
because, to his knowledge, it was the first one showing success at room tem-
perature and the first one suggesting specific devices. Fergason soon shifted
his research to displays, leading to the “twisted-nematic display” about 18
months later. The discovery of the twisted-nematic display is a fascinating
and controversial story, which will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.
Meanwhile, back in Princeton, the RCA liquid crystal group intensified
its efforts to further develop the new technology. One of the early devel-
opments was that of an optical storage effect, which Heilmeier and
Goldmacher discovered in the spring of 1968, just prior to the public
announcement.j A device that could store an image indefinitely and
change it at Some later time was compelling because it would enable the
development of extremely low power displays and perhaps make possible
some unique applications. This concept was realized by using a mixture
consisting of 90% anisylidene-paminophenykdcetate,a nematic liquid crys-
tal, and 10% cholesteryl nonanoate as the active material sandwiched
between two glass plates coated with tin oxide. The researchers found that
by applying a DC or AC field less than 100Hz to the cell, the appearance
changed from transparent to opaque. The appearance to the naked eye
52 Liquid Gold

was very similar to that shown in DSM cells, but the milky-white opales-
cence remained even after the field was removed. The cell could be
returned to its clear state by applying a higher frequency (>700 Hz) signal.
1Jpon removal of the high frequency AC signal, the sample remained in its
clear state. These early samples were held at 90°C and over several hours
the stored image began to fade. However, to my knowledge, this was the
first dcmonstration of “histability” (two stable states that could be inter-
changed liy electrical activation) in a liquid crystal cell. In later years,
improvements in materials and techniques would result in images that
could be stored almost indefinitely. Also, the work inspired more detailed
studies of the effect by Werner Haas, Joseph Wysocki, and James AddmS at
the Xerox Research Center in Webster, New York. Haas gives an excellent
review of this early work.4
While histability or optical storage seemed like concepts that would
lead to interesting commercial products, the technologies, whether they
were 1,CD or others, did not make it much beyond the laboratory stage for
many years. Now, more than 30 years later, bistable devices of various
types (not necessarily l m e d on liquid crystals) are beginning to appear in
some commercial products such as electronic window shades and automo-
bile rear view mirrors. There is much talk about their use in electronic
books, cell phones, and personal digital assistants, but time will tell if these
will become major market segments for bistable displays given the low cost
of the conventional I,CI>s now being used.
After having developed room temperature mixtures for the dynamic
scattering mode (DSM), we turned our attention back to the Guest-Host
effect, which we felt would have great potential for color display applica-
tion. One of my tasks was to prepare dichroic dyes in the primary colors
(red, blue, green). These dyes also had to be compatible with the liquid
crystal material and they had to show good alignment (a high order
parameter) in the medium under electrical excitation. For the dye work, we
initially selected dyes with molecular structures that mimicked the size and
shape of liquid crystal molecules and were available commercially. Such
dyes as methyl red, indophenol blue and isolar green M gave reasonably
good results, but we also synthesized other dyes that gave us a variety of
colors. In this way, we were able to make high contrast displays in many
colors (Fig. 5.5).
The materials used in these color displays had different characteristics
than those for the I X M . The DSM material had the technical feature of neg-
ative dielectric anisolropy while the Guest-I-Iost effect, which I liked to call
 Going Public 53

Fig. 5.5. Panel showing a variety o f small “Guest-Host” color displays Iiacklit by a
fluorescent lamp.

electronic color switching, required molecules with positive dielectric

anisotropy Liquid crystal molecules by their very nature are long, rod-like
in shape making them anisotropic (a perfectly spherical molecule would
be called isotropic). When the dielectric constant in the vertical direction is
greater than that in the horizontal direction with respect t o the long axis of
the molecule, the net dipole moment is at an angle t o the long axis of the
molecule (Fig. 5.6A); this is known as negative dielectric anisotropy.
However, if the dielectric constant parallel t o the molecular axis is greater
than the clielectric constant in the perpendicular direction, then the mole-
cule possesses positive dielectric anisotropy (Fig. 5.6I3).
In order t o obtain the latter feature f o r color displays, we introduced a
cyano group (carlmn-nitrogen group) into the para position o f one of the
Ixmzene rings in various Schiff base compounds. The initial studies of the
effect were conducted with petlioxy1,enzylidene-~’-aminobenzonitrile as
the liquid crystal host material. We theorized correctly that the terminal
cyano group, ;I strong electron withdrawing group, would give the mole-
cule ;I high positive dielectric anisotropy. ‘This produced the desired result
and we achieved room temperature operation by using mixtures of coin-
pounds with similar structures.j
This early work was published the following year,6 but first it was
presented as a paper at the Second International Liquid Crystal Conference
held at Kent State IJniversity during the week beginning August 12, 1968.
That the liquid crystal field had attracted much attention from the scientific
54 Liquid Gold

Fig. 5.6. Illustration o f the direction o f the net dipole moment in materials with
( a ) neg:itive dielectric anisotropy ;ind (b) positive dielectric misotropy.

community was exemplified by the significant increase in attendance from

the first conference held three years earlier. The 200 attendees at this confer-
ence included the world’s top scientists a n d engineers working in the field at
the time. The group o f speakers a n d attendees were the xime people w h o
participated in the first conference. In addition, however, there were others
w h o presented papers o n theories and effects that shaped the technology for
the future. Among the more prominent from this group were:

Pierre Chatelain, Institute o f Crystallography, Montpellier, France.

Edward F. Carr, Liniversity o f Maine, Orono, Maine.
Igor G . Chistyakov, Pedagogical Institute, Iwanowo, LJ,.S.S.R.
Frank M. Leslie, [Jniversity o f Newcastle u p o n Tyne, England.
Georges I h r a n d , liniversity o f Paris, Orsay, France.
Geoffrey I<. Luckhurst, LJniversity o f Southampton, England.
Pierre G . d e Gennes, LJniversity o f Paris, Orsay, France, w h o went o n
t o receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991 for his theories o n the
structure o f liquid crystals.

In adclition t o myself, the group from KCA Laboratories attending the con-
ference included George IIeilmeier, Joel Goldmacher, Louis Zanoni, Alan
Sussman a n d Wolfgang Helfrich. Both Sussman a n d Helfrich had recently
joined the liquid crystal development g r o u p a n d they both went o n to d o
work that c o n t r i h t e d t o the advancement o f the technology. Although
I~Ielfrichwas primarily ;I theorist, h e uncovered the twisted-nematic effect
 Going Public 55

along with Martin Schadt, who was then working at F. Hoffmann-La Roche
in Base], Switzerland, at about the same time as James Fergason. The issues
of who did what first and where is still a matter of some controversy and
will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter.
The organizers o f the conference arranged for the attendees to be
housed in one of the university’s new dormitory buildings. The accommo-
dations were quite good, consisting o f suites, so each person had his own
bedroom that connected t o a larger, common study area. The group o f
Germanhorn scientists who were working at the U.S. Army’s Night Vision
Laboratory in Fort Iklvoir, Virginia, set up their study room as a reception
area where beer was served. Wolfgang Elser, one of the NVL’s top
chemists, invited Joel Goldmacher and me t o attend the evening “meet-
ings” where we met with the NVI, group as well as the prominent German
scientists who came over from Europe for the conference. It was strictly a
social event, but it enabled us t o become familiar with some of Europe’s
top liquid crystal chemists. And, I must say, the beer was also quite good!
In my view, the year 1968 marked a clear turning point in the develop-
ment of liquid crystal displays for useful applications. l’rior t o the press
conference in May of that year, liquid crystals were a fascinating laboratory
curiosity with limited, if any, commercial potential. After RCA’s public
announcement, which demonstrated the use o f liquid crystals in displays,
research in the field intensified dramatically and within a few short years,
organizations in Europe and Southeast Asia as well as the U.S. begran seri-
ous development efforts to fabricate practical commercial products.

REFERENCES
1. Newspapers that reported the story included: Boston Herald Traveler, Chicago
Sun Yimes, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Electronic News,
Guinsville Sun, Hackensack Record, Home Furnishings Dailj, Los Angeles
Times, Michigan Ba.y City Times, New York Dui& News, New York Times,
Newark Stur L e d g q Omaha World IIerald, I-’hibde@hiaBulletin, Suginaw
N e u ~ &It
, Luke City Desert News, San FPuncisco Chronicle, Sun ,Jcise Mercu y,
Seallle I’ost-I~itelligencer, Sioux Cily journal, S t . Petershurg Evening
IndependenL, 1bcomu Neux Tribunej Trenlon 1i‘mes, Trentonian, Wall Slreel
,Journal, Wushington Post, WushingtonDai[y News, Winston Salem,Journal.
2. Some of the magazines that featured stories about the RCA development in the
next few months following the announcement includecl: Aerospace
Technolo~qy,Chemical
Technology, C’hemicul & Engineering News, IEEE Spectmm,
6 Bngineering Spectrum, Machine
Machine Design,
Design,
Marl, Newsweek, Science Neu/s, Time.
56 Liquid Gold

3. George H. Heilmeier and Joel E. Goldmacher, A New Electric Faeld Controlled

Optical Storuge effect in Mixed Liquid Crystal Systems, KCA Technical Report
PTK-2467, May 14, 1968; also see Appl. Phys. Lett. 13, 132 (1968).
4. Werner E. Haas, “Liquid crystal display research: the first fifteen years,” MoE.
Cyst. Liq. Cyst. 94, 1 (1983).
5. J.A. Castellano, Electro-optic Light Modulator, L J S . Patent 3,597,044 (19711,
applied for September 3, 1968.
6. G.H. Heilmeier, J.A. Castellano, and L.A. Zanoni, “Guest-Host interactions in
nematic liquid crystals,” Mol. Cyst. Liq. Cryst. 8, 293 (1969).
 Chapter 6

New ExpIo ratio ns

”In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to
whom the idea first occurs.“
Sir Francis Darwin, noted botanist and son of Charles Darwin, April 1914

By the end of 1968, the scientific world was certainly persuaded, if not con-
vinced, that displays based on liquid crystal technology offered great poten-
tial for future products. This is evidenced by the proliferation of research
and development programs that sprung up throughout the world over the
five-year period following RCA’s announcement. This led to a remarkable
period of exploration and discovery, which resulted in improved materials
and new device concepts as well as the first commercial products. It was
also a time of intense competition, not only between commercial organiza-
tions, but also among scientists and engineers who were looking to be the
first to make a breakthrough that would lead to “the next big thing.” For
those of us who were fortunate enough to be working in this new field, it
was certainly quite an exciting time. This chapter presents my perspective
on how these events and developments unfolded.

THE SEARCH FOR NEW PRODUCTS

At liCA Laboratories, further research was performed on development of
optical storage and “Guest-Host” color displays, while the work on
dynamic scattering was aimed at product development. It was clear that
television based on LCDs would require many years of development (the
commercialization of integrated circuits was in its infancy), so the focus
shifted to products that could become marketable in the more immediate
future. Among these were clocks, wristwatches, electronic window shades,

57
58 Liquid Gold

compact calculators a n d digital test instruments. The first compact desktop

calculator was developed by Sharp Corporation. However, that unit used a
i x x i u n i fluorescent display (VFD) that was invented in 1966 hy Tadashi
Nakamura o f Ise Electronics ( n o w Noritake Itron Corporation) in Japan.'
This first Sharp model was purchased by KCA in 1767 a n d the VFD w a s
replaced by a dynamic scattering I,CD with eight seven-segment characters
(Fig. 6.1). While Sharp went o n t o produce the world's first commercial
truly portalde calculators using LcIls. I helieve this was o n e o f the first
demonstration models o f a n LCD in a working calculator. Almost at the
same time, Rockwell International also h i l t a calculator with a dynamic
scattering LCD. As clescribed in more detail in Chapter 10, the Rockwell
product was the first LCD calculator t o be sold o n the o p e n market. The
first working digital voltmeter using a liquid crystal display was also I x d t in
1069 (Fig. 6.2) at RCA Laboratories. Louis Zanoni h i l t these models,
although other staff m e m l x r s were also involved.
O u r efforts w e r e rewarded in the spring o f 1767, w h e n t h e David
Sarnoff Outstancling Team Award in Science was presented to our group,
which included George Heilmeier, Richard Williams, Joel Goldmacher,
Lucian Barton, Louis Zanoni a n d m e . This a w a r d w a s RCA's highest
technical h o n o r ; it w a s estaI,lished in 1756 t o commemorate David

Fig. 6.1. Eight-digit liquid crystal dynainic scattering display retrofitted into Sharp's
first compact desktop calculator. I'hoto courtesy o f Louis Zanoni.
 New Explorations 59

Fig. 6.2. First \\orking digital test meter t o LISC ;I liquid crystal display. This mock1
LVLIS I x i i l t i n 1969. I'hoto coiii-tesy of Louis Zanoni.

Sarnoff's 50th anniversary in the industry. At this time, Kobert Sarnoff,

Ihvicl's son, was President and CEO o f RCA, so he personally pre-
sented the award t o our group at a ceremony held at the company's
30 Rockefeller Center headquarters in Manhattan. Each of us was presented
with ;I gold medal, 21 bronze replica, a cash award, and a framed citation
that stated: ". . . f o r basic studies of liquid crystals with imaginative ideas for
their application to practical displays.'' It was truly a huge honor to receive
:I medal with the embossed image o f David Sarnoff, a man me Nezii Yo&
Times' called ". . . a man o f astounding vision who was able t o see with
remarkahle clarity the possibilities of harnessing the electron." This medal
still sits on a shelf above my desk. Heilmeier and other members o f his
group, including myself, were developing improved materials as well as
performing fundamental studies on the operating mechanisms behind the
various liquid crystal electro-optical effects that had been discovered.
LJnfortunateiy, the time t o perform the number of experiments required far
exceeckd the nutidier o f hours in a day, so new staff members were added
t o the team. Among these were chemists Michael McCaffrey, Chan Soo Oh
and Alan Sussman. In addition, Edward I'asierb and Konald Friel, Iwth of
60 Liquid Gold

whom carried out detailed electro-optical measurements as well as fabricat-

ing devices and prototypes, provided technical support. On the lighter
side, we always had time to enjoy ourselves when we took a break from
LCD research as shown in Fig. 6.3.
Wolfgang Helfrich, a solid-state physicist, also joined the team to per-
form fundamental studies and refine the theories of device operation.
Helfrich's contrilxitions in these areas will be discussed later in this chapter.
During this period, KCA secured contracts from various government
organizations to further pursue research that might lead to products for mil-
itary and/or civilian use. Among the agencies that funded this research
were the Air Force Materials Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force h s e ,
Dayton, Ohio, The Air Development Center, Rome, New York and the
Langley Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), Hampton, Virginia. The Air Force work involved
research on liquid crystals for electro-optical storage systems that might be
used in military aircraft,j while the NASA project was aimed at developing
electronically tuned optical filters..i To assist with these projects, additional
physicists and electrical engineers joined the group. This included Deitrich
Meyerhofer and Lawrence Goodman.

Fig. 6.3. During ;I break from doing LCD research, several members of the "licluid
crystal mafia" posed for the camera. From left t o right: Chan Soo Oh, Michael
McCaffrey, the author, Ronald Friel and Edward l'asierb.
 New Explorations 61

As part of the work on the Air Force contracts, the RCA team built the
first prototype aircraft instruments to use liquid crystal displays. Among
these were a simulated airborne ground position locator and an engine
monitoring display. These prototypes used the cholesteric-nematic phase
change (storage) effect as well as the dynamic scattering effect.
For the NASA project, we built a three-layer display using the Guest-
Host effect with a subtractive color scheme to maximize light transmis-
ion.^,^ Each layer could change the transmission of polarized white light in
response to an electric field. The concept was to have one layer change
from colorless to magenta, a second layer from colorless to cyan, and the
third layer from colorless to yellow. In principle, by modulating the electric
field o f each layer, it would be possible to obtain substantially all the colors
o f the visible spectrum when starting with light that passes in tandem
through all three layers.
Many years later, in the 1980s, Steven Hix, founder of In FOCUS
Systems, working with Terry Scheffer, A r k Conner and Paul Gulick, used
this concept (with considerable improvements in material and device oper-
ation) to h i l d a stacked color LCP) panel that could be mounted on an
overheard projector to present computer generated graphics on a large
screen. At that time, 'I'elex, Chisholm, Proxima and several other companies
in addition to In Focus were working on similar products. According to
A r k Conner,6 the first In Focus product used a yellow-blue SuperTwisted-
Nematic LCD (the invention o f this effect will be discussed in a later chap-
ter) with 640 X 200 (horizontal X vertical) pixels. This was soon replaced by
a 640 X 480 pixel (VGA format) panel in black and white. Eventually, the
display panels were manufactured in Japan by Kyocera, a company that
developed a Chip-on-Glass (COG) technologT that enabled the panels to
'ne instantly transmissive since all of the panel was open to light. Conner
was asked to develop a full-color system shortly after he joined In Focus in
Ilecember 19x8, and he immediately thought of using a subtractive color
scheme. Steve Hix considered stacking of the panels, but wondered how it
could lie done. Conner began working on the stacking method and
demonstrated a crude prototype in January 1989. His design really was
optimal if one could change the rubbing angles for each layer. After a day
of meetings with Kyocera in Japan, Hix, Gulick and Conner convinced the
company to make a custom panel set with specified rubbing angles, but
without the polarizers, something which In Focus would do later. Conner
spent many hours trying various film combinations, but the real improve-
ments came when he found better color polarizers from Sanritsu and
62 Liquid Gold

convinced Kyocera to improve the contrast of its ten-inch diagonal VGA

displays. Later, In Focus commissioned Kyocera to build a five-inch diago-
nal set and put it into the first true data-grade VGA portable, the In Focus
LitePrc).
In 1996, researchers at Toshiba developed improved yellow, cyan and
magenta dyes and by using the tri-layer concept, built one o f the best
reflective color displays shown up to that time.’
Another device built at RCA Laboratories was a display with side-by-
side electrodes on only one substrate; these were called interdigitated elec-
trodes.8 The reason we chose to develop such a display was to reduce the
relaxation time and to eliminate the need for two substrates coated with
transparent conductive coating. By using this type of electrode structure, it
was possible to use very small spaces between the electrodes (limited only
by the photolithographic process used to pattern the electrodes). This
resulted in a reduction in relaxation time of more than an order of magni-
tude. My colleague, Konald Friel, built several animation displays in 1970 to
demonstrate the concept with the dynamic scattering effect, but we envi-
sioned that the concept could. apply to any type of L C D . ~
Shortly thereafter, others independently investigated the idea of inter-
digitated electrodes for LCDS.~In June of 1971, for example, Anthony G .
Genovese, working at Kockwell International, built an interdigitated LCD
that operated at less than 3 volts.od The device used chromium electrodes
instead o f I T 0 because the chrome version had higher transmittance
than I’I’O. Then, in 1972, Shunsuke Kobayashi and his students T. Shimjo,
K. Kasano and I. Tsunda at the Tokyo Ilniversity of Agriculture and
Technology, published a paper describing the use of interdigitated elec-
trocles for a dynamic scattering display.9’”Kobayashi was unaware of the
KCA patent, so no reference was made to it.
Two years later, Kichard Soref published a paper describing the use of
interdigitated electrodes for field-effect LCUs. Soref was working at Heckman
Instruments when he performed the work and he obtained a patent,1° which
cited the RCA patent.8 However, he made no reference to our work in his
paper. The concept bay dormant until 1992, when scientists at the Institut
Angewandte Feskorperphysik in Freiburg, Germany, which was led by
Guenter I3aur and included K. Kiefer, B. Weber, F. Windscheid and
H. Kkausmann, described the use of interdigitated electrodes in a twisted-
nematic display to widen the viewing angle of TFT-LCDS.~’J~ Baur’s group
coined the term “in-plane switching” to describe the method and it turned
out to be a very effective technique. In 1995, M. Ohta, M. Oh-e and K. Kondo
 New Explorations 63

at Hitachi Research Laboratories, working with state-of-the-art materials and

fabrication processes, used the concept to build a 13.3-inch color TFT-LCD
with a very broad viewing angle;13Hitachi called the new device a “super
TF’I’-LCD.” Ilnfortunately, the RCA patent* was not cited in any of these
papers, so until this writing, it was not recognized that the KCA group was
the first to conceive of a liquid crystal display using side-by-side electrodes.
This technique, commonly called IPS for in-plane switching, is widely used
today by many companies to produce high image quality color LCIls.
In addition t o the government-sponsored research he directed,
Heilmcier was busy making the case t o IICA’s management that LCDs should
be manufactured for various portable consumer and industrial applications,
even while research toward flat panel television continued. He was success-
ful in this endeavor and KCA management decided to transfer this technol-
ogy to the Solid State Division (SSZ)) located in Somerville, New Jersey. It
was expected that the first products would be digital displays for wrist-
watches, calculators and industrial test instniments. All of us in the LCD
group were elated that our research efforts woidd soon lead to products that
would be useful to consumers. However, it was not long before we learned
that the process of transferring the technology from essentially a laboratory
setting t o a manufacturing environment would be a long and arduous task.
‘I’lic first problem to overcome was the “NIH (Not Invented Here) fxtor.”
Initially, the SSD inanagement was interested in fabricating semiconductors
and integrated circuits using processes they were familiar with and resented
being directed t o engage in a totally new and untested technologv.
Fortunately, there were engineers at SSD who looked forward to the
challenge of taking a new technology to market and were eager to cooper-
ate with us to achieve that goal. Thus, after numerous meetings and train-
ing seminars, the SSI) engineers became convinced that this would be an
exciting technology to be involved in from the ground. up. This was due
primarily to the persuasive powers o f George Heilmeicr, who spent quite a
bit o f time as a liaison between the Sarnoff labs and SSII.
The second problem was to decide which product would be the target
for use with an LCI>. At the Sarnoff labs, we felt it should be a digital display
for a wristwatch since patent applications had dready been submitted,
enabling KCA to have an early lead and possibly a dominant market position.
Also, RCA had a strong early position in CMOS (Complirnentary-symmetry
Metal Oxide Semiconductor) integrated circuit development; these low
power devices would turn out to be ideal for digital watch drivers and timing
circuits. I~Iowever,one of the managers at SSD felt that the upper operating
64 Liquid Gold

temperature limit of the liquid crystal material that was being used at that
time was not high enough for this application. His comment was that if
someone put the watch in his shoe at the beach, the display would turn clear
at the high temperature. Not realizing that improvements in material operat-
ing temperature range would be forthcoming very quickly, SSD decided not
to pursue the wristwatch application at that time. Instead the company
decided that point-of-purchase displays would be the ideal application.
In 1970, a point-of-purchase display was simply a colorfully printed
advertisement display on cardboard that was located in a retail store; these
still exist today. The idea to have a moving image display instead o f a static
picture seemed very compelling. Consequently, SSD embarked on a project
to build a pilot line to manufacture displays that would be about 12 inches
on a side. These displays would be hermetically sealed using the same
glass-to-glass and metal-to-glass seals that were being used to manufacture
cathode ray tubes, a technology that RCA pioneered and refined to a high
degree. Engineers Herman Stern and Henry Schindler were heavily
involved in developing this packaging for LCDs. It would ensure high reli-
ability and long life, but it was an expensive manufacturing process that
required large, high-temperature furnaces and other handling equipment.
In addition, there were no sources for the larger quantities of material
needed to fill these panels, so SSD set u p a small liquid crystal production
facility under the direction of senior chemist Howard Sorkin. Therefore,
through the imaginative and dedicated work of the engineering team at
SSD, as well as the personnel from the research center, the pilot line was
successfully completed and hundreds of working panels were made.
The moving images on these displays were created by sequentially
activating the segments o f the picture, an idea that was originally con-
ceived in 1969 by Louis Zanoni.14 A production prototype was designed
and built in 1970 by Richard Klein, Sandor Caplan and Ralph Hansen at
SSD.15 This device used copper conductors on a rotating drum that was
hidden in the base o f the panel. One of these panels was set up in our lab-
oratory at Princeton and in October 1972, I was privileged to show it to the
first scientific delegation from the People’s Republic of China’‘ to tour the
1 1 5 , after President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing earlier that year.
The display was so impressive that these visitors initially thought it was a
fully operational flat panel television. Fortunately, I was able to explain
how it actually worked through a translator.
A number o f different advertising displays were made and sold to
Ashley-Butler, a company that installed point-of-purchase displays in
 New Explorations 65

various retail establishments. While the LCD point-of-purchase display was

a technical success, it was not the type of product that could generate hun-
dreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The advertisers liked the concept,
but wanted new designs every three months o r so. Therefore, this was not
the kind o f high-volume, high-revenue product that RCA was accustomed
t o manufacturing.
After abandoning point-of-purchase display manufacturing, RCA’s SSD
began looking at manufacturing LCD digital displays for instruments and
eventually wristwatches. One of the first products the company built was a
single-digit, seven-segment dynamic scattering LCD that it sold commer-
cially. The display glass was 1.25 inches wide by 1.5 inches high and the
character size was 0.5 inch wide by 0.75 inch high. The display used a mix-
ture of Schiff base-type liquid crystals and was constructed using hermetic
glass-to-glass and glass-to-metal seals. One of these units is still in the pos-
session o f Sun Lu, President o f Landmark Technology and an early LCD
pioneer whose exploits will be discussed in Chapter 8. Sun LU was work-
ing f o r Riker-Maxson in 1971 when he purchased the unit from RCA. In
September 2003, Sun Lu activated the display in my presence t o show that
it is still in perfect working condition. A photo of the display is shown in
Fig. 6.4. The fact that it works now does not say anything about its operat-
ing lifetime since it has been dormant for many years, but it does show that

Fig. 6.4. Photo of a working single digit dynamic scattering LCD taken in
September 2003. This device, built by RCA’s Solid State Division in 1971, is believed
to be one o f the first LCI) digital display models sold o n the open market. Photo
and demonstration courtesy of Sun Lu.
66 Liquid Gold

the hermetic seal packaging provided long shelf life. When sealed properly,
LCDs have tremendously ,long operating lifetimes as well. I still have work-
ing 1,CD watches that were made with Schiff base liquid crystals and the frit
sealing method in 1976 at Fairchild. And, I have two continuously operat-
ing Casio LCT) watches made with polymer seals, which I bought in Japan
some 15 years ago. I wear them all the time, changing the lithium Ixtteries
every three or four years.
While the Solid State Division was working o n point-of-purchase
displays, those o f us in central research were busy looking at other
applications and some were looking at other opportunities outside of RCA.
Most members of our group saw great promise for LCDs in digital displays
and we all felt that RCA was going in the wrong direction with the point-
of-purchase display effort at SSD.
11 was about this time that 1 saw an article in Chemical i; Engineering
News, the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, which
announced that applications were being accepted for the White House
Fellowship Program. The program was relatively new, having been formally
adopted in 1965. It has since become America’s most prestigious program for
leadership and public service. The purpose of the program was to provide
gifted and highly motivated young Americans with some first-hand experi-
ence in the process o f governing h e Nation and a sense of personal involve-
ment in the leadership of society. White House Fellowships, which are
awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis, offer exceptional young people first-
hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government.
I thought this was an interesting opportunity for someone like George
Heilmeier, whom I believed had the credentials to qualify, so I showed
him the article and he seemed very interested. He may have seen it else-
where before this, but I am not sure. I do know that before long, an agent
from the Federal Bureau o f Investigation came to the laboratories asking
lots of questions about Ileilmeier, so that was when I found out that he did
actually apply. Soon thereafter, he was accepted into the program. This
was indeed quite a n accomplishment since less than 20 people were
selected from more than 1,500 applicants.
With the departure of Heilmeier, the LCD project lost its great cham-
pion, as he was the main interface and promoter of the technology to RCA
management. Meanwhile, other members of the staff were also looking to
go elsewhere. Joel Goldmacher left to become Director of Research for
St. Regis Paper Company and Louis Zanoni joined Optel, a company that
was being formed by Zoltan Kiss, another one of RCA Laboratories’ top
 New Explorations 67

scientists. (‘l‘he story of Optel is important t o the history of LCns and will
I x discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.) Thus, in a rather short period of
time, 1 saw three of my closest friends depart for new ventures.

SPREADING THE WORD

As a result of these changes, some members of the group were assigned to
other areas while the smaller LCI) group continued to work on liquid crys-
tal materials and devices. As the project leader, I spent a good deal of my
time traveling to various government agencies to secure contracts and/or
report on the results of our research activities. Through the diligent efforts
of the research center’s marketing group, which included George Hennessy
and William Iknnehy, IiCA obtained over $500,000 in LCD research con-
tracts during the period from 196s through 1972.
At one meeting with the head of the U.S. Army’s procurement group in
St. Louis, Missouri, we learned that the engine monitoring displays installed
in helicopters then being used in the Vietnam War had a very high MTBF
(Mean-Time Between Failure). These displays were electromechanical
devices that used a moving tape to show the engine’s condition. After see-
ing the LCD prototype that Dennehy and I demonstrated, this procurement
officer, whose name I do not recall, was extremely interested in having
RCA build instruments based on this technology. While we very excited
that a new product line for RCA could be developed, it was impossible to
convince RCA management to pursue this further. There was reluctance to
engage in product development with such a new technology. In retrospect,
it was prolxhly the right decision because it did take many years o f
LCD development before the displays could meet the stringent require-
mcnts of military systems. I3y the 19XOs, such firms as General Electric,
Rockwell-Collins and Honeywell were investing in developing LCDs for
military systems. Today, LCD instrument displays are commonplace in both
military and civilian aircraft.
In addition to visiting government agencies, I was also traveling around
the country to various KCA divisions presenting seminars on the new tech-
no log^. At KCAs large television production facility in Indianapolis, Indiana,
for example, I discussed the possibility of replacing the rotary mechanical
tuner with a digital LCD, an idea that originated with Heilmeier and Zanoni.
While there was interest in this idea, it would be several years before digital
displays came into wide use for T V tuners. However, emissive displays
based on LEI)s and later VFns were selected instead of LCDs.

www.ebook3000.com
68 Liquid Gold

At another seminar I presented at RCA’s electronic component assem-

bly facility in West I’alm Beach, Florida, the idea to build a handheld
calculator came up. The idea was so intriguing to the engineers at this facil-
ity that they built a mock-up of a handheld calculator to demonstrate how
it might look. In fact, two of the senior engineers visited our laboratory
shortly thereafter and discussed the concept with Larry Goodman and me.
We came u p with a plan whereby the displays could be built at SSD and
the assembly of the calculator would take place in West Palm Reach.
Again, RCA management was not interested in pursing this further. I tried
to make the case that these products would soon replace the slide rule, but
was told that they would never be cheap enough to appeal to the mass
market. At that time, w e were unaware that Rockwell had already devel-
oped a commercial LCI) calculator for the d e ~ k t o p . ~ ”
Soon, a number o f other companies including Texas Instruments,
IIewlett-Packard, Sharp and Casio saw the potential of the handheld calcu-
lator and became major players in that business. Today, these products are
so inexpensive that they are often given away free as promotional gifts.
In the 1960s, RCA was heavily engaged in negotiations with television
manufacturers around the world t o obtain licensing and technology trans-
fer agreements for RCA’s patents on the color picture tube manufacturing
process known as the “shadow mask” technology. By 1972, most of these
companies had signed licensing agreements and I was told by a manager
in the Patents and Licensing Division that RCA was receiving on the order
of $85 million in royalties and fees from these and other contracts on KCA
inventions. In most cases, licensees were entitled t o receive information
about new technologies that KCA was developing. As a result, representa-
tives of k e n s e d companies from Japan and Europe would regularly visit
the Sarnoff laboratories to Vake advantage of this technology exchange pro-
gram. I was often selected to demonstrate the various LCD prototypes and
explain the technology to these groups; other staff members would do the
same for the new technologies they were developing. This gave me the
opportunity to meet people from most of the major television manufactur-
ers in Japan and some from those in Western Europe as well.
As a result of these meetings, I also became well-acquainted with the
personnel in RCA’s Patent and Licensing Division. On o n e occasion,
Monday, March 20, 1972 to be exact, we met with a large contingent o f
representatives from the Soviet IJnion at RCA’s headquarters in Manhattan.
Negotiations between RCA and this group of Russian engineers had just
 New Explorations 69

entered its seventh year and the hope was that they would finally sign a
licensing/technology agreement.
In addition to myself, several staff members from the Sarnoff laboratories
were selected to make presentations. Due to standard protocol, the presenta-
tions had to he translated into the native langxage of the visiting delegation;
in this case it was Russian. This required us to stop after every few sentences
to allow the translator to present the information in Russian to the group;
thus, each talk took about twice as long as it should have. Following the for-
mal meeting, there was an elaborate luncheon reception with food supplied
by one of New York's finest restaurants and of course quite a seleczion of
spirits to relax everyone. It was then t h t we realized every member of the
Soviet delegation spoke fluent English! 'rhe Soviet Union did eventually sign
a licensing agreement with KCA for the color picture tube and the Russians
would also go on t o develop LCD technology on their own.
During this time frame, RCA also had a contract with the Walt Disney
Company to provide electronics for the many exhibitions at Walt Disney
World then being built in Orlando, Florida. Consequently, we had a visit
one day from Roy E. Disney, son of Walt's brother Roy 0.Disney, who co-
founded the company. We were told to show Disney the work we were
doing on LCDs, so we placed a picture of Mickey Mouse behind a DSM-
LCI) window to demonstrate the electronic window shade concept. While
Disney liked the demonstration o f the technology, his main concern was
that the copyright be prominently displayed in Mickey Mouse's picture,
which fortunately it was. This gave me an early appreciation of how the
entertainment industry valued intellectual property above all else.
In addition to licensing manufacturers of color picture tubes, KCA had
cross-licensing agreements on technology with other companies including
IT3M and AT&T. As a result, I spent quite a bit of time making presentations
to memllers o f the technical staff from IBM, both at the Sarnoff laboratories
and at IHM's Thomas Watson Kesearch Center in Yorktown Heights, New
York. IRM was early to recognize the importance of this new technology
and in later years, the company did its own very successful development
and manufacturing of L C I k
With A"&T, the situation was somewhat different in that the manage-
ment o f this company took longer to embrace the technology; the com-
pany believed it was too early to consider manufacturing products because
not enough was known about the fundamental mechanisms of the device's
operation. A vice president from Bell kaboratories expressed this opinion
70 Liquid Gold

to me. Nevertheless, I3ell Lab scientists were quite interested in the science
of liquid crystals as well as the potential for LCDs. One day I had a visit
from Fredcric Kahn, Gary Taylor and Dan Maydan who were very inter-
ested in the prototypes that I showed them. Shortly thereafter, these scien-
tists did their own independent work on advancing the technology,
including the development of projection systems, which Kahn later pur-
sued himself.
While it took some time, ATCLT eventually made several forays into dis-
play manufacturing in the 1980s, before abandoning its efforts and resort-
ing to dependence on outside vendors for its displays. 1 had additional
interactions with both IHM and AT&T in the 1980s in my later capacity as a
consultant; these will be discussed in a later chapter.
In 1971, RCA Corporation was having financial difficulties as a result o f
the huge investment it had made in attempting to compete with IBM in the
mainframe computer business. Combined with the problems of ahsorbing
several large acquisitions that were outside its traditional mainstream con-
sumer electronics business (I-Iertz, Banquet Foods, etc.), the company was
incurring large financial losses. Most important to those of us in the central
research laboratories, was the announcement of a work force reduction at
the Sarnoff center for the first time in its history. Several key members of
the X I ) group were released while others were assigned to other projects,
making our small group even smaller.
By the suriimer of 1972, things went from l a d to worse, prompting
inanagement to completely close down the LCD project. Obviously, this
was a devastating blow to those of us who had heen involved in the
research nearly from the project’s inception. I was given the opportunity to
find another area of research “that I would find suitabk.” I did not have
much time to think about a change in direction because within two days,
our colleagues in the Patents and Licensing Division rescued the project
from extinction. They persuaded management of the need for technical
support to help secure licensing agreements that were then in final
negotiations. As a result, the project was reinstated and I was able to
continue my research activities as well as supporting the efforts of our
patent group.
In August of 1972, the Fourth International Liquid Crystal Conference
was held at Kent State IJniversity in Ohio. As exemplified by the more than
170 papers given at the conference by authors from all over the world, the
world had finally discovered the importance of liquid crystals for displays
and other uses. A photo of some of the participants is shown in Fig. 6.5.
 New Explorations 71

Fig. 6.5. S o m e o f [lie pirticipants ;I[ the Fourth International Liquid Crystal
Conference, Kent. Ohio, August 1072. F r o m left t o right: Edward I’asierh, George
Heilmeier. Pierre I>e Gennes, Alan Sussnxin and Hou,ard Sorkin. Photo from the
xiitlior’s collection.

A NEW BREAKTHROUGH -THE TWISTED-NEMATICEFFECT

As mentioned earlier. Wolfgang Helfrich was another important member o f
I K A ‘ s ILX) research team. €Ielfrich \vas Imrn in 1932 ;ind stuclied physics
a t the Irniversities o f Munich, Tiihingen, and GOttingen, where he received
the doctorate in 195%.These universities were world-renowned for the-
oretical physics. having spawned numerous Nobel Prize winners during
the 20th century. After spending several years teaching and doing research
a t the Ilniversity of Munich, he joined the National Research Council in
OttaLva, Canacla in 1964, where he txcatne a fellow and assistant research
officer. Helfrich moved t o KCA Laboratories in 1967 when he joined the
L(:D group and Ixgan looking at the mechanisms behind the operation of
the Eirious effects from ;I physicist’s point o f view. Soon he Ixgan devel-
oping models and mathematical expressions to explain inany o f the physi-
cal phenomenon that occurred when various liquid crystal materials were
su1,jectecl t o electric fields. The results were published in a series o f
papers’--” and internal reports 23--25 that appeared in 196%1971.
72 Liquid Gold

During this period, Helfrich and I shared the same laboratory/office, so

we would sometimes discuss the interesting effects that each of us was
working on. Some of the equations he developed would take up an entire
blackboard and I remember that the mathematical expression for the
threshold voltage of dynamic scattering was one such example.
Occasionally, Helfrich would perform experiments to confirm certain
concepts that he was examining and would sometimes ask me to look at a
liquid crystal cell under the polarizing microscope if he thought it was
particularly interesting. On one occasion, he showed me a cell that went
from clear to dark in transmitted light under crossed polarizers when an elec-
tric field was applied to the cell. It had a low contrast between the O N and
OFF states and was therefore not very impressive. The material he used had
a positive dielectric anisotropy and was most likely pethoxybenzylidene-
p’-aminobenzonitrile (a compound we called PEUAB), and one that he had
heen working with for other studies.21It was also one that was part of the
family of alkoxy and acyhxy cyano Schiff bases that we were then using for
our Guest-Host experiments. These compounds were used in the room tem-
perature mixtures that we had developed and already described in the
patentz6we applied for in 19668; Helfrich was also well aware of the chemical
nature of these materials from internal reports and discussions.
This cell may have been constructed as a twisted-nematic device or it
may have had another configuration (i.e. the internal surfaces of both
plates rubbed parallel to each other instead of perpendicular), I am not
certain. I am also not certain if this was done in 1969 or 1970. However,
Helfrich claimed that he explained the idea of electrically activating a
twisted-nematic structure to Heilmeier in the summer of 1969, according to
Hirohisa K a w a m ~ t owho
, ~ ~ interviewed him several years ago.
This would indicate that Helfrich conceived of the twisted-nematic
effect at RCA Laboratories, although there are no written documents or
notebook entries to confirm the actual demonstration of the effect and its
reduction to practice. In any case, Helfrich ceased to explore this concept
when our group, including myself, showed little interest in any effect that
used two polarizers because of the large amount of light absorption by the
resulting device. Consequently, KCA lost a great opportunity to develop
what would become a valuable piece of intellectual property.
In the fall o f 1970, Helfrich decided to return to Europe and he
accepted a position with Hoffmann-La Koche, a large pharmaceutical com-
pany that was engaged in research on liquid crystal materials. There he
 New Explorations 73

teamed u p with Martin Schadt, a solid-state physicist who joined

Hoffmann-La Roche at about the Same time. Both Helfrich and Schadt had
backgrounds in electro-optics and organic semiconductors, so it was an
excellent match for a research team in LCDs.
Martin Schadt was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1938, and was edu-
cated at the [Jniversity of Easel, receiving the doctorate in solid-state
physics in 1967. He received a two-year post-doctoral fellowship from the
National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada, where he developed and
patented the first blue, organic light emitting diode. In 1969, he moved
back to Europe and ticcame a research scientist at the Laboratoire Suisse
de Rechere I-Iorlog&c in Neuchstel, Switzerland. He joined the physics
department of Hoffmann-La Roche in 1970.
According t o his account,28the company decided to start a liquid crys-
tal research program because of the biological relevance o f lyotropic liquid
crystals in m i c e k s and cell membranes as well as by the prospects for flat
panel displays in medical instrumentation. At that time Hoffmann-La Roche
had a joint venture with I h w n Doveri & Company (now Asea Brown
Uoveri, Ltd.), a Swiss electrical equipment manufacturer, to develop med-
ical electronic equipment.
The two scientists were searching for a novel concept and so focused on
field effects. Since I-Ielfrich was already aware of Mauguin’s twisted-nematic
structure (Chapter 1, reference 41, from his work at RCA, he suggested to
Schadt that they investigate the possibility of electro-optical switching in
such a device. And so, Schadt decided t o build a cell with electrodes and
Mauguin’s twisted-nematic structure using the liquid crystal material called
PEBAB (vide supra), a high melting material that Helfrich had reported in
prior studies2’ when he was at RCA. Apparently, Helfrich did not mention t o
Schadt that RCA had already developed room temperature mixtures o f Schiff
bases using compounds that were part of the PEBAB family, so Schadt’s
original experiments used only the single high melting compound.
After extensive experimentation with different surface treatments, dif-
ferent cell gaps, and different driving conditions, the surface alignment was
improved to the point where a weak effect became visible under the polar-
izing microscope. Excerpts from Schadt’s comments28 on the events that
subsequently occurred are as follows:

“It was on a Saturday in November 1970 when some areas in TN-samples started t o
exhibit switching from a more or less bright off-state into a darker on-state upon
74 Liuuid Gold

application o f only :I few v o l t s . The excitement of the two scientists ~ v a sgreat

To improve the initi:illy p o o r electro-optical performance and t o suppress the high
inelling tempel-atures, Schaclt soon started t o comliine different positive dielectric
liquid c.r)lst:il components in eutectic mixtures such t h a t nematic phases occurred at
root11 tcniperatiire. 'l'his improved surface alignment, reprodiicil>ility a n d contrast o f
the cclls. I n p a d c l . nc\\' Schiff Ixise licliiicl ciystals \\ere syntliesizecl Iiy Roche
chemists which \vere sensitive t o moisture Iiut ~ v e r efound t o align \\.ell o n Iirusliecl
sl1l~str:lteS >It 1'00111 telllpcl-atLlrc."

After Iia\.ing successfiilly demonstrated the effect, Schadt and Helfrich

filed ;i patent o n the t\visted-nematic display on I)eceml>er 4. 1970 in
S\vitzerIancI.'" Se\,eral months later, they published the results of their
experi~iients~~' and suggested that the twisted-nematic effect promised inter-
esting device applications. The authors reported using a r o o m temperature
mixture coinposed o f the same alkoxy and acyloxy cyano Schiff Ixises that
\\.ere clescrihecl in K A ' s earlier patent."' Since the patent did not issue until
the siiiiinier o f 1971, the information was still not in the public domain.
1 fou.ever, as mentioned alx)ve, Helfrich was aware o f the chemical striic-
tiires o f the materials k i n g used :it I K A . In order t o demonstrate the fexi-
M i t y o f the new effect for displays, Schadt worked closely with Optical
Coating Iiiboratory, Inc. in Santa Rosa, California, t o develop hermetic glass
se:iling techniques that were subsequently used to I>uilcl ;I 3.5-digit display
p;ineI in 1972 (Fig. 6.6).prol>al>lyone o f the first, fully-functional twisted-
nematic ILDs ever macle. The aim w;is to provide :I clemonstration t o
the management o f Hoffniann-La Roche on the applical>ilityo f the effect t o

Fig. 6.6. I'lioto o f one o f the \vorld's first fully-functional twistecl-nematic LCIIs.
I'hoto courtesy o f Martin Schadt.
 New Explorations 75

practical displays. This early prototype was operable between - 10°C and
65°C. It showed 24 picture elements (pixels) and exhibited a maximum con-
trast ratio o f 151. The display was made with a liquid crystal mixture that
consisted of just two similar liquid crystal compounds with a response time
o f 140 milliseconds.
Despite this impressive demonstration, Hoffman-La Roche manage-
ment was still not convinced that this was a technology for the future.
Excerpts of Schadt's commentsz8on these events continue:

"In the early 1370s the term liquid crystal was unknown to the general public and
most physicists displayed deep-rooted skepticism towards fhctional organic inate-
rials, such as liquid crystals, in electronic devices; they considered them unreliable.
This attitude was partly a result of the rather poor perforinance of some of the early
dynamic scattering ICDs, as well as of their unawareness of the fascinating and
almost unlimited design potential of organic materials. Moreover, there existed
strong competition from existing and emerging solid-state display devices,
especially from inorganic light emitting diodes, but also from other potential display
technologies, such as electroluminescence and electrochromism. Therefore, and in
view of the many scientific and technological problems still to be solved in the
infant liquid crystal field, it was not obvious for quite a number of years that TN-
LCl>s would survive and initiate today's field-effect LCD technology.
Sometimes the opponents of TN-LCDs expressed their skepticism in sarcastic
cartoons. This skepticism also infected Roche management at the time, and the
project was shelved until the end of 1973. Wolfgang Ilelfrich left the company and
the field of thennotropic liquid crystals and became professor at the Freie
Universitdt in Berlin. Martin Schadt stayed with Roche and focused his research
efforts on biophysical problems related to macroscopically ordered artificial lipid
bimolecukir (nM)-membrane

Thus, the very company that supported its invention stopped continuing
research into the twisted-nematic LCII, which turned out to be one of the
most successful technologies in the field of electronic displays. However,
events taking place in Japan would reverse this decision by the end of 1973.
Japanese researchers became aware of the twisted-nematic effect and saw its
potential for portable electronics liecause of its low power consumption and
low driving voltage. This prompted a visit by Masakatsu Hamamoto, legal
advisor of the president of Seiko Epson and a graduate of Harvard law
school, to visit Hoffmann-La Roche in 1973 and initiate licensing negotiations
under the Swiss patent.29A s a result of this meeting, Schadt developed a plan
for Iloffmann-La Itoche to offer non-exclusive licenses for the TN-LCD patent
76 Liquid Gold

worldwide as well as to manufacture liquid crystals on a larger scale. He also

convinced management to establish a n interdisciplinary research and
development team o f physicists and chemists whose aim would be to investi-
gate, develop, and transfer into manufacturing, better liquid crystals that
would improve the performance of LCDs and lxoaden their applications.
Another o f Schadt’s plans, which he implemented quite successfully,
was to continue research that would establish correlations between ekctro-
optical effects, material properties, and molecular structural elements such
h a t new effects requiring specifically designed liquid crystal materials
could be developed. This resulted in the development of a large number of
new liquid crystals, promising new devices, and many important scientific
contributions as well as a large number of patents and fruitful collalxx-
tions with LCD manufacturers and Universities worldwide.
Martin Schadt left Hoffmann-La Roche in 1994 to form Rolic, an inde-
pendent research and development company. Currently, he is chief technol-
ogy officer and continues to develop improved methods t o fabricate
displays. Hc received many awards for his contributions t o the advancement
o f displays including the Karl Ferdinand I3raun Prize, the highest award from
the SocieLy for Information Display, and the Robert-Wichard-Pohl Prize of
the German Physical Society, together with Wolfgang Helfrich. After leaving
Iloffmann-La Roche, I Ielfrich joined the Free LJniversity of Berlin, where he
is currently Research Group I’rofessor in the Institute for Theoretical I’hysics
working on fluid memliranes and liquid crystals. Helfrich also received
numerous prizes, including the Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize, the
Ostwald Prize of the Colloid Society, and the Prize for Technology and
Applied Natural Science with Martin Schadt.
Meanwhile back in the United Sates, John F. Dreyer, who was working
at I-’olacoat, a developer of polarizing materials based in Blue Ash, Ohio
near Cincinnati, built an optical device in 1969 based on the twisted-
nematic structure.32This device, which could rotate the plane of polarized
light, had all the elements of the twisted-nematic cell except for the elec-
trodes. However, Dryer’s patent deals only with a polarizing/depolarizing
cell, not a display. It was essentially a modern refinement o f the Mauguin
cell. This patent was important because attorneys for LCD manufacturers
later cited it in their unsuccessful attempts to invalidate the patents of
James Fergason and Hoffmann-La Roche.
At about the same time, Fergason and his colleagues Sardari Arora and
Alfred Saupe at Kent State’s Liquid Crystal Institute were doing their own
research on the twisted-nematic effect. A year earlier, the three researchers
 New Explorations 77

reported33 experiments using the twisted-nematic phase. According to

, ~ ~was well aware o f Mauguin’s twisted-nematic orientation
F e r g a ~ o n he
from prcvious research and he planned experiments to apply electric fields
to that structure in 1969.
In the fall o f 1969, Kent Sate IJniversity was reorganizing and decided
to reduce its funding of the Liquid Crystal Institute. As a result, Fergason
left the IJniversity, although he would continue to work o n contracts that
the Institute was committed to fulfilling. In late Ikcember 1969, Fergason
began experimenting with electrically activated twisted-nematic cells and
on 1)ccember 30, 1969, he demonstrated the concept to both Ted Taylor
and Thomas Harsch. Fergason was careful to document this event in his
notebook with Taylor and Harsch as witnesses. This would prove to be
important later, when a prolonged court battle with Hoffman-La lioche
ensued over the rights to the invention.
In January 1970, the group published an articlej5 that essentially
described the twisted-nematic field effect as it might be used in a Guest-
Host type structure. Within the next few months, Fergason’s group con-
ducted further experiments and built a working device on April 5, 1970. At
about the same time, Fergason formed a new company, the International
Liquid Xtal Company (ILIXCO), which would go on t o develop twisted-
neniatic displays for digital wristwatches. However, it was not until
February 9, 1971, that Fergason filed the first U.S. patent application.36This
was two months after the Swiss patent29 was filed by Hoffmann-La Roche
and set the stage for the legal confrontation that would soon follow.
Complicating matters for Fergason was the claim by Kent State
IJniversity that it had full ownership o f the patent. Consequently, Ferg’ason
sued the university for rights to the patents. Meanwhile, Hoffmann-La Roche
decided t o license its patent to the electronics industry and also t o defend it
against the numerous appeals that were filed against it as well as settle the
interference with Fergason in the 1J.S.A. As a result, the case became quite
complicated with the teams of Hoffinann-La 12oclic and Urown Boveri,
Fergason, and Kent State University each arguing its case for the patent
rights. Fergason successfully defended his patent in both Gerlnany and
Japan, but the lJ.S.case lasted from 1973 t o 1976 when it was finally settled
out of court with Fergason’s company assigning its patent rights t o
Hoffmann-La Koche in exchange for a share of the royalties. After the settle-
ment, Hoffmann-La lioche received 30% of the royalties, while 30% went to
Fergason’s ILIXCO, 300/0to Brown k v e r i and 100/0to Kent State University.
So, despite all the claims of who invented the twisted-nematic LCD first, in
78 Liquid Gold

the end, all the parties received a fair share of what would become many
millions of dollars in royalties over the life o f the patents.
After the settlement, Hoffmann-La Roche aggressively pursued licens-
ing from all LClI manufacturers worldwide. Arguments against opposition,
especially in Japan, were thoroughly prepared and required elaborate sci-
entific work. According to Schadt,28this intensive, but psychologically and
technologically interesting patent defense in different countries extended
over 15 years and ended in May 1986 with the granting of the twisted-
nematic LCI> patent in Japan.

CONCLUSIONS AND OPINIONS

When RCA management realized several years later that digital displays
were indeed the wave of the future, they developed a manufacturing line
for digital watch displays. However, by that time, numerous competitors
had already established themselves in the fledgling industry, so RCA lost its
early advantage and never became a major LCD supplier.
This was to become a Familiar theme with RCA, where numerous tech-
nologies were spawned, but few reached the marketplace successfully as
RCA products that were manufactured internally. In addition to liquid crys-
tal displays, pioneering research was being conducted in such technologies
as thin-film transistors, charged-coupled devices, electrophotography, light
emitting diodes, video tape recordedplayers, video disc recorders/players,
and flat panel television.
For a number of years after I left the company, I believed that IICA’s
failure t o capitalize on these technological developments was due to lack
of vision and commitment on the part of its management during the 1960s
and 1970s, when its main focus was on mainframe computers (which it
eventually abandoned) and corporate acquisitions unrelated to its core
electronics busine While there is some truth to this, my subsequent
25 years of experience working as a consultant to many different compa-
nies has altered my opinion. I now believe that the entrepreneurial spirit of
the individual researcher ultimately prevails over the corporate hierarchy,
making it very difficult for any large corporation to develop future products
from all the technologies coming out of its laboratories. In fact, history
shows that most successful companies are typically built on one o r two
major technologies, which are then refined and enhanced further, allowing
the companies to grow and prosper. .And, those companies that veer into
unrelated areas often run into serious trouble.
 New Explorations 79

The important point is that corporate research centers continue t o play

a very important role in creating an environment that gives birth to new
products for the betterment of humanity. In addition to RCA Laboratories,
important high-technology products that are commonplace today have
found their origins in places like Bell Laboratories, IBM, Xerox, Texas
Instruments, Fairchild, Hewlett-Packdrd, and Philips, to name just a few
examples. However, in many cases, these companies never manufactured
or inarketed the products that evolved from their pioneering research. Yet
in the end, consumers everywhere benefited because others took the tech-
nology from the kaboratory to the marketplace.

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 New Explorations 81

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their applications,” Electro-Technology,January 1970, p. 41.
36. James L. Fergason, Display Devices Utilizing Liquid Crystal Light Modulation,
1J.S. Patent 3,731,986 (1973), filed April 22, 1971 as a continuation in part of
the first application, filed February 9, 1971.
 Chapter 7

Enter t h e Japanese

"I knew w e needed a weapon to break through to the U.S. market, and it had to be
something different. Something that nobody else was making."
Akio Morira, co-founder of Sony Corporation, 1971

A major objective of nearly all Japanese electronics companies starting in

the 1950s was to penetrate the U.S. market with new products. This was
exemplified by Sony's decision to build the transistor radio as stated by
Morita in a 1971 Time interview.
It is important to understand how the Japanese Ixcame interested in
the development of products l ~ s e don liquid crystal displays. Superficially,
the Japanese have always welcomed and copied new thoughts and ideas
from abroad. 1-Iowever,close inspection reveals that in almost every case
they have adapted and improved the import. Rarely was an alien idea
accepted at the expense of local concepts. If the new idea conflicted, it had
short-lived popularity, but it was likely to be modified. In the early 1950s,
as Japan was being reconstructed, the Japanese would stay aloof from for-
eign influences until they had been thoroughly digested and assimilated
into the Japanese system. However, new product concepts, which
appeared t o be potentially beneficial t o the Japanese, often gained rapid
acc:eptance.
Through the centuries, the Japanese developed a high degree of man-
ual dexterity that has led to skill in fashioning miniature objects. The
Japanese garden, f o r example, is a miniature landscape designed to give a
feeling o f spaciousness in a confined area. The tiny farm, the tight living
quarters, the use of every inch of space explains their penchant for sulitle,
small things such as the portal,le radio, the pocket calculator, and ulti-
mately, the handheld television set.

82
 Enter the Japanese 83

The politeness of the Japanese, so agreeable to visitors from abroad,

stems from the suppression of individuality and the necessity of living
together in close quarters. This gives the Japanese a rare intuitive ability to
sense the feelings o f others. Since it would be impolite to say “No,” the
Japanese avoid saying it if at all possible.
The Japanese work ethic is also worthy o f note. After centuries of
feudal isolation from the developing world, industrialization came from the
West only over a hundred years ago. The Japanese seized the new system
and inade it their own subject, of course, to modification t o local ways. up
until the early 1990s,lifetime employment in a single firm was the way of
life. Working people accepted a paternal pattern of industrialization know-
ing that their jobs for life meant security as well as obligations. Young grad-
uate engineers and scientists who joined a company at the same time
txcaine like a family. If one of the members of the group was promoted to
a position o f authority, he would look after his “fainily.” As an example,
Yasuo Moriguchi, a research group leader at Kobe Steel, Ltd. whom I met
in 1980, attended to the personal problems of a member of his group. The
idea was t o help members of the group solve their problems so that they
could concentrate their thoughts and energy on their work. At the same
time, the company provided extensive fringe benefits and conveniences to
its workers in order to foster the general feeling of loyalty t o the company
and dedication t o their jobs. At Sharp Corporation’s Nara Kesearch Center,
for example, attractive apartments for both single and married personnel
were within walking distance. Identifying themselves with their firm and
their nation, the worker took a keen interest in output. Hence, the drive to
continuously increase production levels as well as product quality.
While things changed during the 1990s because of the economic prob-
lems that Japan encountered, along with stiff competition from companies
in Korea and ’Iaiwan, Japanese companies in the early 1970s were capable
of developing technical concepts into inanufacturable products in high vol-
ume through dedication and tenacity.
Two scientists w h o recognized the importance of the 1968 RCA
announcement of its LCD developments were Dr. Tomio Wada and his
supervisor Ilr. Tadashi Sasaki, who were working at the central research
laboratory o f Sharp Corporation (then known as Ilayakawa Electric
Company) in Nara. In late 1968, a television crew from NIIK, the Japanese
national broadcasting company, visited RCA Laboratories and produced a
short television program on the work then being done on LCDs at the
Sarnoff laboratories. While Heilmeier was the main spokesman, I recall that
84 Liquid Gold

most members of LCD team were televised briefly. However, I never saw
the final version of the program, nor did I recognize its significance.
Wada watched this program in Japan when it was broadcast in January
1969 and immediately brought it to the attention of Sasaki, who was already
convinced that the handheld calculator would be the next big product for
his company. Sasaki traveled around the world looking for companies to
supply the circuits and displays needed to make the product a rea1ity.l Both
Wada and Sasaki envisioned the use of LCDs in electronic calculators and
by 1970, Sharp started a research program to accomplish that objective.
According to one account,2 Sasaki visited KCA’s Solid State Division in
Somerville, New Jersey, in late 1968 where he saw dynamic scattering LCI)
prototypes. Another account3 infers that it was later, probably closer to
1971, when Sasaki negotiated a $3 million patent license with RCA for LCD
technology. In any case, a group of Japanese engineers from Sharp, includ-
ing Wada and Sasaki, visited KCA Laboratories where I showed them the
prototypes we had built. At the time, I viewed it as a visit from yet another
KCA licensee and did not realize how serious Sharp was to further develop
LCDs. While the exact date eludes me, I believe it was after Heilmeier
left, probably in 1971. I3y this time, Wada had already built his own dynamic
scattering LCD prototypes. When I went to Japan in 1980 to visit Sharp’slab-
oratories, Sasaki told me he remembered me from this visit to RCA.
Wada’s group went on to synthesize liquid crystals and prepare mix-
tures that would enable operation o f LCDs at room temperature, using the
same strategy as the RCA team had used several years before. By 1972, the
team of scientists and engineers from the central research laboratory work-
ing on the handheld calculator project had grown to 20 members. Their
work culminated in the development of the ELSI Mate EL-805, the first com-
mercial handheld calculator, which was introduced in 1973 with a dynamic
scattering LCD. Kawamoto gives a detailed history of this development.2
Meanwhile, another Japanese researcher, Yoshio ydmasaki, who was
working at Suwa Seikoshd (popularly known as thc Seiko Watch Company),
was searching for ways to build digital wristwatches with LCDs after he read
the 1968 KCA announcement in a Japanese newspaper. Yamasaki was suc-
cessful in convincing his management to form a group to design and build
LCD watches./’ His team started with LCDs using the dynamic scattering
mode, much the same as Optel, the company that designed and built the
first commercial LCD watches. However, when it became clear that
the twisted-neinatic field effect of LCDs offered significant advantages over
the DSM types, he switched over and the company introduced its first
 Enter the Japanese 85

digital watch, the 06LC in October of 1973. Although not the first company
to build TN-LCD watches, Seiko went on to become one of the world’s
leading producers of these watches.
After having successfully built their first LCD digital watch, Seiko formed
another group to develop a wristwatch television. For the next nine years,
this group worked diligently to develop this product, with much of the effort
aimed at producing suitable CMOS transistors on a silicon wafer to drive the
display. In 1982, the company reported on its development5 and shortly
thereafter, introduced the first wristwatch television with a blue-and-white
display using the Guest-Host effect. While the wristwatch TV drew lots of
attention: it was not a commercial success and was soon discontinued.
Research on developing LCDs for television was also going on at other
companies in Japan during the 1970s. Among these were Sharp, Toshiba,
Hitachi, Matsushita, Casio, Canon and Fujitsu. In 1977, for example, Hitachi
demonstrated a six-inch diagonal black-and-white television that used a
field effect LCD.7 The panel had 82 X 109 pixels and was driven using
15-volt unipolar pulses. While the display had 16 gray levels, its response
time was 200 milliseconds, too slow to eliminate smearing in fast moving
scenes. Although this would be considered a “passive matrix” display, it
was an early working LCD television.
In 1971, at the same time that Yamasaki’s group was developing the
Seiko digital watch, Shinji Morozumi, a recent graduate in electrical engi-
neering from Tohoku University, one of Japan’s top schools, began work-
ing at Suwa Seikosha designing integrated circuits for watches. Soon, he
became intrigued with the research work that was being done on a wrist-
watch television and joined that effort. For much of the 1970s, Morozumi
worked to develop CMOS transistors on silicon wafers and later thin-film
transistors using polycrystalline silicon (“poly silicon”).
A s will be discussed in subsequent chapters, work on amorphous sil-
icon and poly silicon was in its infancy in the late 1970s and nobody had
succeeded in building a commercial “active matrix” display using these
materials. But through the tenacious efforts of Morozumi and his team, a
working color television model (Fig. 7.1) with a 2.1-inch diagonal screen
was demonstrated in 1983 at the annual SID symposium.* When
Morizumi presented his talk, I was sitting in the audience alongside
Robert Durbeck of IBM and we were both amazed at the progress that
the Seiko team made. We both questioned if such products could be
made cost effectively in volume, given the state-of-the-art in TFTs at
that time. The answer came quickly as Seiko introduced its first “pocket
86 Liquid Gold

Fig. 7.1. First LCI) color television driven by an active matrix of polycrystalline sili-
con TFTs. The display had 240 X 240 pixels and was 2.13 inches diagonal. Photo
courtesy of Shinji Morozumi and the Society for Information Display.

television” using this technology later in 1983. More importantly, it

prompted the Japanese companies to intensify their efforts to build large
screen color LCDs driven by TFTs.
Another effort to develop LCDs was begun in 1970 at Matsushita’s central
research laboratory in Osaka where a digital clock with a dynamic scattering
display was demonstrated. Two of the pioneers who were developing LCDs
at that time were M. Yoshiyama and T. Ohtsuka, both of whom held Ph.D.
degrees. Later they were joined by Isao Ohta, whom I met at KCA
Laboratories in 1972 when he made his first visit to the U.S. to review work
on the development of light valves for projection TV based on the dynamic
scattering mode. Ohta was also the inventor of the electrophoretic display
and showed the first color displays made with that technology one year
Matsushita’s scientists made rapid progress in applying LCDs to con-
sumer products.1° In 1971, for example, the company introduced a radio
with a world clock that used a dynamk scattering LCD. By 1978, the com-
pany built a prototype black-and-white television with a dynamic scattering
LCD formed on a silicon wafer with MOS circuits in a 240 X 240 pixel struc-
ture. The group also built a unique full color TFT-LCD, called a multi-gap
display, which used a different thickness for each primary color filter layer
in order to optimize the display’s viewability.” And, in 1985, the company
began selling a full color TFT-LCD with a three-inch diagonal screen.
 Enter the Japanese 87

Another important figure in the development of LCD technology in

Japan was Shunsuke Kobayashi. Kobayashi received a Bachelor of Science
degree from the Science Liniversity of Tokyo in 1955. He went on to obtain
a Master of Arts in applied physics in 1961 and a 1’h.D. in electronic engi-
neering from University of Tokyo in 1964. Upon graduation, he became a
member of the research staff at the Institute for Physical and Chemical
Research (IZIKEN) and in 1973 took the position o f Associate Professor
in the department of electronic engineering at the Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology. He remained at this university for 23 years,
retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1996. Kobayashi has received numerous
awards including the prestigious Jan Rajchman Prize from the Society for
Information Display and the Tokyo Metropolitan Governor’s Prize. He con-
tinues to perform research in LCDs at the Science University of Tokyo,
Ydmaguchi, where he is also the Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute. In
1972, Kobayashi and his associate Fumio Takeuchi, who later joined
Toshiba, Fabricated a defect-free twisted-nematic LCD using one of the first,
if not the first, mechanical rubbing machines. This display was perhaps the
first to demonstrate multiple colors using selective polarizers. This work
was reported in a paper presented in 1973 at the SID symposium in New
York City.12 It was at this meeting where I first met Kobayashi and we
remain good friends to this day.
Kobayashi went on to publish over 200 papers, contribute to 26 books,
and obtain more than 20 patents in the field of liquid crystal devices.
Among his many developments were: multiplexing of Guest-Host LCDs
using highly twisted materials;13 a full-color field sequential LCD using a
modulated ba~k-light;’~ materials and processes for obtaining high pre-tilt
orientation of liquid crystals on polyimide surFaces;15 and, improvements
in the viewing angle characteristics and gray scale capability of twisted-
nematic LCDs by forming multi-domain structures using non-rubbing
techniques.I6Japanese LCD manufacturers later adopted many of the tech-
niques that were developed by Kobayashi and his students. In addition, he
was responsible for the education and training of many of the en&’ meers
and scientists that went on to create Japan’s LCD industry. In my opinion,
he was and continues to remain one of Japan’s great ambassadors of liquid
crystal technology to the world at large.
Professor Fatsuo Uchida from Tohoku University was another impor-
tant researcher who pioneered the development of advanced Guest-Host
(GH) color displays. IJchika and his students reported” the use of double
layer, negative and positive image color displays in 1980. The so-called
a8 Liquid Gold

DGH displays (Double Guest-Host) did not require a polarizer. The oper-
ation of a negative image DGH device is as follows: in the “OFF” state (no
field applied) the first layer, that is the layer closest to the incident white
light, absorbs 50% of the light only at the wavelength of maximum
absorption, while the second layer absorbs the balance of the light at this
wavelength (the neutral polarizer used in a GH display absorbs 50% of
the light over nearly the entire spectrum). When an electric field is
applied to both halves of the DGH cell, the dye molecules become ori-
ented in the direction of the field and the incident light is transmitted
unchanged. The DGH cell is much brighter than the GH cell because the
light being transmitted through the “ON” segments is nearly 100% of the
light incident on the cell instead o f 50% as in the case of the GH device.
These devices offered excellent contrast and brightness as well as low
voltage operation (1.5-5 volts). A few years later, Stanley Electric
Company, Tokyo, Japan, introduced products using this concept. A small,
digital travel alarm clock that used a negative Guest-Host display was
given to the author as a gift in 1983 by K ~ Z U OAriga and Toru Toshima,
who went on to become president of the company in 1985. A photo of
the clock is shown in Fig. 7.2.

Fig. 7.2. Travel alarm clock using a negative image Guest-Host color LCD made by
Stanley Electric Company. The clock measures 67 mm (2.6 inches) X 48 mm
(1.9inches) X 1Omm (0.4 inch) thick. The clock has been operating continuously
since it was given to the author as a gift in 1983. Photo taken in December 2003.
 Enter the Japanese 89

During the early years, many Japanese firms followed and copied the
developments coming out of the United States. However, they quickly
k g a n striking out on their own by developing improved fabrication and
packaging techniques that resulted in greater reliability and lower manufac-
turing cost. They envisioned that a large market for electronic products
made with low power, highly legible LCDs would be forthcoming and they
dedicated themselves t o pursuing that goal. Companies in the United States
lost their early leadership position in LCD technology to those in Japan
because many American firms were not convinced that the LCD would have
adequate viewability to meet the needs of equipment makers. However, the
Japanese firms believed that only a passive display technology such as the
LCD could provide the characteristics that would make miniaturization and
portability a reality. Ry focusing on that concept, they became the leaders.

REFERENCES
1. Robert Johnstone, We WereBurning (Hasic Books, New York, 19991, pp. 23-60.
2. Hirohisa Kawamoto, “The history of liquid crystal displays,” Proc. ZEEE 90(4),
468-470 (2002).
3. Robert Johnstone, We Were Burning (Hasic 13ooks, New York, 19991, p. 105.
4. Robert Johnstone, We WweBurning(Hasic Books, New York, 1999), pp. 108-112.
5. T. Yamdzdki, Y. kiwahard, S. Motte, €1. Kaindmori, and J. Nakdmura, “A liquid
crystal TV display with panel drivers,” SID International Symposium Digat of
Technical Papers (1982) 48.
6. The watch was worn by actor Kogcr Moore in his famous role as James Bond
in the motion picture “Octopussy,” a John Glen film produced by Albert K.
Broccoli, 1983.
7. “Japanese show off liquid crystal televison screen,” Electronics, May 26,
1977, p. 4.1.
8. S. Morozumi, K. Ogmchi, S.Ydzawa, T. Kodaira, H. Ohshima, and T. Mano, “B/W
and color I,C video displays addressed by poly Si TFTs,” SID Inlernational
Symposium Digest ef Technical Papers (1983) 156.
9. Isdo Ohta, et al., Proc. Z E E 61, 832 (1973); also, Proc. SID 18, 243 (1977).
10. ~ s a o~ h t a personal
, communication, September 2003.
11. S. Nagata, el al., SID International Symposium Ui‘qesst oj”‘Ikchnical Papers
(1985) 84.
12. S. Kobayashi and F. Takeuchi, “Multicolor field-effect display with twisted
nematic liquid crystals,” Proc. SID 14, 40 (1973).
13. Y. Nara, S. Kobayashi, and A. Miydji, “Multiplexing the guest-host mode using a
nematic cholesteric mixture with a long pitch,”J. Appl. Phys. 49(7),4277 (1978).
90 Liquid Gold

14. H. Hasebc and S. Kobayashi, “A full-color field sequential LCD using modu-
lated backlight,”SID Inlernational Symposium Digest of Technical Papers
(1985) 157; S. Kobayashi, T. ’I’anaka, and S. Shirnada, Flat Punel Field
Sequentid LCD, Japan Patent 2,519,429 and 2,518,625 (1996).
15. H. Fukuro and S. Kobayashi, “Newly synthesized polyimide for aligning
nematic liquid crystals accompanying high pretilt angle,” Mol. Cvst. Liq. C v s l .
163, 157 (1988); H. Fukuro and S. Kobayashi, Japan Patent 1,832,763 (1994).
16. Y . Toko, T. Sugiyama, K. Katoh, Y. Iimura, and S. Kobayashi, “Amorphous
TN-LCDs hhricated by non-rubbing and showing wide and homogeneous
viewing angle characteristics accompanying excellent voltagc holding ratio,”
J . Appl. Phys. 74, 2071 (1993); S. Kobayashi, Y. Toko, and T. Sugiyama, Japan
Fatcnt 5,210,320 (1999).
17. T. Uchidd and M. Wada, Proceedings of the Eighth International Liquid Cystul
CbZf~?“e?ZCe,Kyoto, Japan (1L)80), pp. 330 & 429.
 Chapter 8

Risky Business: Spin-offs

and New Ventures

“Happiness is positive cash flow. Everything else will come later.”

Frederick Adler, Venture Capitalist, circa 1970

‘l’he research and development activities at KCA and several other large
companies werc previously discussed in Chapter 6. During the period from
1970 through 1975, many companies throughout the world saw the poten-
tial of LCI) technology and initiated programs to manufacture the displays
and/or products that used them.
In the [J.S.A., several start-up companies were formed on the east coast
as “spin-offs” from KCA to develop LCD-based products. In the midwest,
enterprising scientists and engineers from Kent State [Jniversity established
ncw ventures to exploit the technology. Soon, start-ups were created in
California’s “Silicon Valley,” Texas, and other parts of the country as well.
There was a remarkable expansion of interest in the technology over a
very short period of time. This chapter traces the history of many early
start-up firms as well as the activities of Some major companies attempting
to develop new products based on LCDs.

THE OPTEL STORY

One o f the first start-up companies to engage in the development and
manufacture of LCUs and LCD watches was Optel Corporation. Zoltan
J. Kiss, who left RCA Laboratories where he was a research group head,
founded the company in 1969 as Quantel. Kiss escaped from communist-
controlled Hungary in 1950 at the age of 18 and emigrated to Canada
where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University

91
92 Liquid Gold

of Toronto. He went on t o receive a Ph.D. in physics from that university,

then did postgraduate work at Oxford University for one year before join-
ing RCA Laboratories in 1960. In 1969, he received the individual David
Sarnoff Award in Science for contributions to the advancement of pho-
tochromic and laser materials.
I first met Kiss at RCA when he put together a task force that I joined to
develop non-magnetic video recording using photo-imaging techniques.
He was very knowledgeable and persuasive - an excellent motivator of
researchers. In addition to working on LCDs, I was also doing research in
photochemistry for my doctorate, which I completed in 1969, so I was
interested. in his project. At the time, RCA had three main approaches to
replace magnetic recording: (1) laser imaging o f holograms on tape or disc;
(2) using photochemical or photochromic reactions to store images at the
molecular level; and, (3) producing microscopic pits in a plastic film or disc
using a laser. Based on the demonstrations I saw at the time, I thought the
first approach was the best, but the third technique was the one finally
selected and RCA was the first to introduce the “video disc” as a consumer
product. Unfortunately, the world was not ready for this product in the
1970s and by the time it was, KCA no longer existed as an independent
company. After many years of development, it was Philips and Sony that
developed the now popular Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Video Disc
(DVI)) products using laser addressing.
Kiss recruited most of the founding managers of Quantel from KCA, so
it was considered to be the first “spin-off’from that company. In addition
to Joel Goldmacher and Louis Zanoni, my close friends from the Sarnoff
laboratories, other RCA alumni included Nunzio A. (“Tony”) Luce, DoUgldS
R. Bosomworth and Edward Kornstein. Soon additional scientists and
engineers from RCA joined the company. Quantel was started with a ven-
ture capital investment of $1 million. It began operations in a building
close’to the FMC research center that housed an old chemical laboratory,
which was rumored to be the place where Penicillin was first made in the
U.S.A., although Peoria, Illinois is generally regarded as the first location.
(Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin in London in 1928. By 1943,
some 21 companies in the 1J.S.A.were supplying 400-million units of the
drug for the military’s need in the various war zones and perhaps FMC
was one of them.) Soon it was discovered that another company had
rights to the Quantel name, so the company name was changed to Optel.
The company initially planned to develop two products, cathodo-
chromic storage tubes, aimed at displays for computer terminals, and LCDs
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 93

for various applications. Since Kiss had his expertise in the former, most of
the resources were directed towards that technology. However, by the mid-
dle of 1970, it was clear that the market for cathodochromic devices was
not developing, while customers were interested in LCDs. This created a
dispute among the executives as to the company’s direction; most felt they
should focus on LCDs. According to a story in Fortune,1some of the direc-
tors attempted to oust Ki s the CEO because of this disagreement. In the
end, Kiss successfully fended off the coup and ultimately shifted all of
Optel’s resources toward I L X S .
’Ibny Lute was leader of the LCD team at Optel and was responsible
for the development of the world’s first LCD digital watch. Born in 1934, he
received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Ohio University and joined
IiCA upon graduation. After working at several RCA plants around the
country, he transferred to RCA’s microwave development group in
Burlington, Massachusetts, where he worked on lasers. In early 1970,
Zoltan Kiss offered him a job at Optel (then Quantel). In a rather short
period of time, he came to the conclusion that a digital wristwatch would
be ideal as the first .commercial product to use a liquid crystal display.2
Luce designed the first integrated circuit chip based on CYMOS tech-
nology for LCD watches and convinced Solid State Scientific, a semicon-
ductor company located near Philadelphia, t o manufacture the devices.
‘The first chips were delivered in December 1970 and were assembled into
a watch-size package by Luce, Zanoni, George Graham and Amilcar
Gumares while a Christmas party for Optel employees was in progress.
Upon completion, the watch was taken to the party and shown to the
employees.2,jWhile all of the segments of the display didn’t work, the fea-
sibility was proven. Later, refinements were made to the system design“
and the coInpany began producing dynamic scattering LCDs and digital
watches. A diagram showing the major components of the first LCD digital
watch designed by Luce is presented in Fig. 8.1. A photo of the watch is
shown in Fig. 8.2.
In 1972, Optel moved to a much larger facility and in June had its
initial public offering of stock. The company then began hiring more
people and buying more equipment to reach a goal of manufacturing
5,000 watches per month in 1973. IJnfortunately, as with all new technolo-
gies and new products, many problems prevented the company from
delivering the promised numbers of watches t o its customers. Ikliveries of
many key components, includ.ingthe vital IC chips, miniature switches and
cases were d.elayed. In retrospect, this is not surprising since all these
94 Liquid Gold

Fig. 8.1. Sketch on the left shows the front view o f Optel’s LCII digital watch mod-
ule designed by Nunzio Luce in 1970; the back o f the module is shown on the
right. Courtesy of Louis Zanoni.

Fig. 8.2. First LCI) digital watch model with dynamic scattering display. Nunzio
LLIW at Optel designed the module in 1970. With the case cover removed, the out-
side dimensions are 1.375 inches wide by 1.625 inches high. This particular unit,
Ixiilt in 1972 o r 1973, is still operational as shown in this photo taken from a video
made on January 5, 2004. Courtesy of Louis Zanoni.
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 95

components were new designs that were put into production for the first
time. ‘l‘o make matters worse, technical problems with LCD manufacturing
reduced the yield and slowed output. This resulted in delivery of only
about 10,000 units in 1973 instead of the 50,000 to 60,000 units planned.
Nevertheless, the company’s revenue jumped to $2.5 million from just
$170,000 in 1972 and it became a viable manufacturer of LCD digital
watches. The team at Optel was also responsible for introducing innova-
tions into watch manufacturing that survive to this day. Among these were
the flashing colon and the use of the flexible connector (a flexible strip of
material consisting of alternating layers of conductor and insulator) to
replace soldering of the display to the printed circuit b o a d 2
After 1973, the company experienced severe competition and went
through several management changes. Kiss left the company to form
Chronar, and Luce was named President in 1977. Although Optel was a pub-
lic company, its stock was trading at a very low price, below one dollar.
However, the company had a large tax loss carry fonvard (something like
$24 million according to LuceZ),which could be used in a buy-out situation.
h c e saw this as an opportunity to buy a company called Levitt Industries by
offering that profitable company the low value Optel stock in exchange for
Levitt shares. This resulted in a tremendous boost in the bottom line for
optel and a dramatic increase in the price of its shares, enabling all the
shareholders to receive a profitable return on their original investment. After
this transaction was completed, Luce left the company to form Springwood
Electronics, a manufacturer of digital watches in China that exists to thb day.
Optel was sold in 1979 to Refac Electronics, a company that was pri-
marily interested in Optel’s intellectual property from which it ultimately
made millions of dollars in licensing fees and royalties.

OTHER RCA SPIN-OFFS

Soon after Optel had been established, sometime in late 1970 as I recall, I
was approached by venture capitalist Frederick Adler who was interested
in possibly starting a company to develop and manufacture LCDs. Adler
had been responsible for arranging venture capital financing for a number
of new companies including Intersil, a semiconductor company that was
headed by Jean IIoerni, a former member of Fairchild Semiconductor’s
founding group. IIoerni invented the planar process, which enabled
Fairchild Semiconductor to produce the first integrated circuit. Adler
encouraged me to develop a business plan for the proposed company.
At that time, I had no experience or knowledge of what it took to start a
96 Liquid Gold

company, let alone to run it. However, Adler was very helpful in guiding
me through the process and for the first time I began to understand the
importance o f market research. The plan called for the new company to
develop and manufacture LCns for digital watches and test instruments.
Adler’s plan was to establish the company, then merge it with Intersil in an
exchange of stock whereby Adler and I would receive Intersil stock, which
was publically traded. At Adler’s expense, he and I made a trip to visit
FIoerni at the Intersil plant in Cupertino, California. This was my very first
visit to “Silicon Valley” and 1 was surprised that Intersil was already doing
some exploratory LCII research at Intersil. Hoerni was interested in the
tcclinology and thought it had great potential, but he felt it was not mature
enough for Intersil to invest in, although the company did later go on to
make integrated circuits and digital watches under the Chronus name. As a
result, Adler lost interest and the company was never formed. However,
I was now bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, which infected me with
a desire t o develop a start-up company.
About one year later, Joel Goldmacher, then working at Optel, put me
in touch with Norman Zatsky, a vice president of l‘imex who wanted to
establish LCD manufacturing either internally or through a subsidiary com-
pany. Over a period of months, I had several meetings with Zatsky, includ-
ing a visit to the l’imcx headquarters then in Westchester County, New
York, where I met other Timex executives. I was mainly interested in start-
ing a subsidiary company with Timex backing and this was discussed at
length. In the end, however, Timex decided to develop the technology
internally. Since I was not interested in working directly for Timex, we
parted ways amicably.
By the fall of 1972, a few months after the LCD project at KCA
Laboratories was canceled then quickly reinstated, as described earlier in
Chapter 6, I began thinking seriously about leaving the Sarnoff labs. It was
about this time that George W. ?DylOr, a former member of the technical
staff at RCA Laboratories, asked me t o join a company called Princeton
Materials Science, which he had formed with Issai “Lef” Lefkowitz in 1969.
About one year earlier, I had written an article on liquid crystals5 for the
journal, Ferroelect?”ics,which Taylor and Lefkowitz, his co-editor, had
founded in 1970. Both Taylor and Lefkowitz were world-renowned experts
in the field of ferroelectric materials and devices. During the preparation of
that article, I became friends with both of them.
Taylor, a native Australian, has a Ixchelor’s degree in electrical engi-
neering from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. from the
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 97

[Jniversity of London; he also received an honorary Doctor of Science

degree from the University of Western Australia. Currently, he is President
and CEO of Ocean IJower Technologies, a company that develops systems
for converting ocean wave energy into electricity.
Lefkowitz received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brooklyn
College and a 1’h.D. from Cambridge University, where he worked in the
world-famous Cavendish Laboratory. After returning to the U.S.A. in 1965,
he joined the Army research and development facility at Frankford Arsenal,
near Philadelphia, Iknnsylvania. Unfortunately, a terminal illness took his
life in 1983. However, his contributions to science and his warm relation-
ships with colleagues from around the world are well-chronicled in a spe-
cial commemorative issue of Fe’t.rroelectrics6
Over a period of several months in late 1972, I met with both Taylor
and Lefkowitz and by early 1973 decided that I would make the move to
join the company in March. A few months later, we leased a building that
had been abandoned by the Plasma Physics Laboratory o f Princeton
Ilniversity. The build.ing was ideal for installing laboratory and limited
manuflacturing facilities. Our objective soon became to manufacture not
only LCDs, but digital watches as well. Looking back on this some 30 years
h e r , I realize what an audacious decision that was in view of the many
problems we encountered. Since Optel, which was located nearby, had
already developed the digital watch with a dynamic scattering display, it
did not take us long t o build a few prototype models, which were essen-
tially copies of 1,uce’s design and nearly identical in operation to Optel’s
first product. However, Optel’s executives, who were friends from our RCA
days, knew that if we did succeed, we would become a second source for
customers that might be nervous about using an infant technology made by
only one company. Also, after the Optel patents were issued, our company
would be subject to payment. o f royalties to Optel. Consequently, we never
had any legal issues with Optel to my knowledge.
From the very start, Princeton Materials Science had limited funds, so
Lefkkowitz, who was then President and CEO, spent a great deal of time
trying t o convince Wall Street venture capitalists t o invest in the company.
IIe also used the watch prototypes to attract potential customers. One of
the interested companies was Longines-Wittnauer and Lefkowitz per-
suaded one of its vice presidents, Bertram Lowe, to invest his own money
in the company and to join it as President and CEO while Lefkowitz
remained as Executive Vice President. with Lowe’s many contacts in the
watch industry and Lef‘s considerable ability as a salesman, we soon had
98 Liquid Gold

an order to deliver 50,000 pieces over a one-year period. Unfortunately,

we did not have the funds to buy enough electronic components to build
that many watch modules, but we did build several thousand units during
the summer of 1973. Two key managers who made this possible were
George Colantonio, who had previous experience at Optel and was
responsible for LCD manufacturing, and Rodney Hlose, who managed the
watch module production line. By the fall of 1973, it was clear that addi-
tional financing was needed to keep the company operating. Lefkowitz
worked long and hard to find investment groups or corporations that
might invest in the company. By October, he and Lowe had convinced
Robert C. Sprague, founder and CEO of Sprague Electric Company of
North Adams, Massachusetts, to buy a majority of the company’s shares
for $300,000,
Shortly thereafter, Sprague, who was in his 70s at the time, and his
son John, joined the board of directors. At that time, Sprague Electric
Company was one o f the world’s leading producers of capacitors and
was also engaged in semiconductor manufacturing. Sprague soon put
the resources o f his company at our disposal and we received much-
needed equipment and production know-how. It was not long before
the decision was made to cease watch manufacturing and focus on dis-
plays only.
Meanwhile, other companies such as ILIXCO and Optel were introduc-
ing watches with twisted-nematic field-effect LCDs and customers were
beginning to like the new displays better than the dynamic scattering types
we were producing. For one thing, the field-effect LCDs needed lower
voltage, eliminating the need for the small transformer that was required in
our watches. For another, the displays used less current, thereby increasing
battery life. 130th factors led to the possibility of smaller, thinner watches,
something that customers desired. I recognized the importance o f this
requirement when I visited the Gmen watch company with Lefkowitz in
Manhattan. The IJresident of Gruen showed us a watch with a TN-LCD and
asked if we could make the same type of display. If so, he was ready to
place a large ord.er for the displays; Gruen would have another company
build its watches. I boldly promised we would get back to him in several
weeks with a sample. This led to a major disagreement with Lowe, who
thought we should not change our LCD process. Fortunately, we were able
to convince him of the necessity of the change, since our survival
depended on it.
 Risky Business: Spin-offsand New Ventures 99

I had made some TN-LCDs when I was at KCA, so in a short time and
with the help o f Lefkowitz and a few other staff members, we had a good
working sample, which we showed to the Gruen executives. By January
1974, Gruen placed an order for 100,000 displays. Although manufacturing
them in high-volume would be a major challenge, we did succeed in pro-
ducing thousands of field-effect LCns and digital watches using them.
A few months later, Bertram Lowe resigned his position, but remained
as a director. Robert Sprague asked me to take the position of Chairman of
the board and CEO with Lefkowitz as President and Taylor as Executive
Vice President. Now I was in the hot seat. However, Robert Sprague was
very helpful and taught me a great deal about the fundamentals of operat-
ing a business.
In addition to the fact that the equipment used was not designed
specifically for LCD manufwturing, many problems were encountered in
attempting to reach acceptable production levels. The first was to make the
change from dynamic scattering to twisted-nematic LCDs. This involved a
new deposition technique that required the evaporation of silicon monox-
ide at specific angles to the patterned glass plates. This was a process that
greatly limited the production flow. It also led to the problems of “reverse
twist” and “reverse tilt.” Thanks lo a paper by Peter Kaynes,’ which was
brought to our attention by Lefkowitz, adding a small amount o f a chiral
component to the liquid crystal mixture as well as rubbing the plates after
the silicon monoxide deposition solved these problems. Another problem
was that the patterning of the electrodes on the indium-tin oxide coated
glass was done with screen printing equipment designed for making
hybrid electronic components and could not provide the registration accu-
racy needed for a high-yield LCII process. Finally, there were problems
with the process for attaching the polarizers needed for the twisted-nematic
LCDs; many of these related to the adhesives that were used, but the
process itself was cumbersome.
Needless to say, all these problems hampered our ability to meet pro-
duction schedules, resulting in negative cash flow. In August 1974, Sprague
Electric Company provided a $250,000 loan to keep the company afloat. At
this point in time, Princeton Materials Science had over 50 employees, so
payroll was a major expense. While we continued to make progress in
improving yields and production output, our financial situation did not
improve, so by October we were forced to release most of our staff and by
the end of 1974, we had only 1 2 employees. At the Same time, Sprague
100 Liquid Gold

Electric Company itself was having financial problems due to the downturn
in the electronics industry. Consequently, I was summoned to attend a
meeting with Robert Sprague at his office in North Adams in January 1975.
At this meeting, which took place only between the two of us, Sprague
told me his company could no longer fund Princeton Materials Science, so
Sprague Electric would write its investment off as a tax loss.Obviously, this
was devastating news t o all of us.
I3y February 1975, we were out of business and I began looking for
another job. IJnfortunately, there was a major recession in 1975 and jobs
were hard t o find in the New York Metropolitan area. Lefkowitz, on the
other hand, was convinced that a large company would be interested in
buying I-’rincetonMaterials Science and he was able to set up meetings with
I Iewlett-Packard and Fairchild Semiconductor. I was skeptical, but attended
the meetings anyway. Eventually, Fairchild offered to buy the assets, but
only if I joined the company. Fairchild management also made it clear at the
outset that the operation might eventually be moved to Palo Alto, California,
although it would be restarted in the Same facility in Princeton at a much
lower level of manpower. After a trip to California to visit Fairchild head-
quarters and much family discussion, I decided to accept the position.
However, after about five months of operating in Princeton, Fairchild
decided that it would be best to move the operation to California and con-
solidate it within the company’s Optoelectronics division. In the end, the
only person from the original staff of IJrinceton Materials Science that joined
me in moving west was Rodney IYose. George Taylor went on to form
Princeton Resources, which became a successful consulting company that I
would work with in later years. Lef Lefkowitz returned to research and
development with the U.S. Army Research Office in Durham, North
Carolina, where he reinained until his untimely death.
Another KCA spin-off was created by Ashley-Butler, an advertising
company that was buying LCns for point-of-purchase displays from RCA’s
Solid State Ilivision in Somerville, New Jersey, not far from Princeton.
When KCA decided to shift its emphasis to digital displays for watches and
instruments, it sold the technology to Ashley-Butler and a number of KCA’s
engineers, led by Sandor Caplan, joined the new venture to set up produc-
tion nearby. The company made a series of different advertising displays
that were sold to various retail establishments. The operation continued for
ten years before it was closed down. Today, there are more than 1,000
companies that sell point-of-purchase displays and a number of them offer
advanced electronic displays that can show full-motion video.
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 101

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS AND ITS SPIN-OFFS

During the early 1970s, Texas Instruments was one of the first American
semiconductor companies to begin experimenting with liquid CiySVdlS and
Sun LU was one of the company’s first researchers to become interested in
the technology. He joined Texas Instruments in 1966, shortly after complet-
ing the work for his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Rice University in
IIouston, Texas. A native of the IZepublic of Taiwan, he had previously
earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from National Taiwan
LJniversity in Taipei. Sun Lu began working on LCD technology in 1968.
The central research laboratory had a holographic mass memory program
that needed a “page compiler” to generate an array of dots representing the
‘‘0s and 1s” of the data and would allow recording of the dot pattern on the
hologram using a laser beam. Since nobody had any ideas as to which
technology might be suitable for this page compiler, Sun Lu thought it
would be a very interesting and challenging task, so he volunteered to
investigate further. This decision changed the direction of his career.8
In the next few weeks, Sun Lu went through lots of books and journals
in the library without making much progress. Then one day, he met Ray
Lee, one of Texas Instruments’ semiconductor specialists who had joined the
company from KCA. Lee was just beginning work on what was then known
as the “E-valve project.” This work would eventually evolve into the digital
light processing (IXP) technology concept that Texas Instruments would
commercialize for projectors many years later. Lu thought that perhaps the
E-valve would be a candidate for the 100 X 100 array for his page compiler,
but Lee told him it would take him a great deal of time and effort just to
make a few elements. Lee suggested the use of liquid crystals since it was a
technology he knew was being developed at RCA 1,aboratories and which
seemed to be a more realistic approach for the page compiler.
After reviewing Heilmeier’s paper on dynamic scattering, Lu became
intrigued with the liquid crystal display concept, but as an electrical engi-
neer, he knew very little about organic chemistry. Consequently, Lu
enlisted the help of a British 1’h.D. chemist, Derek Jones, who was eagerly
looking for something significant t o do at the company’s research labora-
tory. Jones knew a little about liquid crystals and soon convinced another
1’h.D. chemist Linda Creagh to join the group. And so, an electrical engi-
neer and two chemists established Texas Instruments’ LCD project.
During the next six months, the group made a lot of progress and fab-
ricated a back-lit 3 9 digit display based on dynamic scattering. Lu also put
102 Liquid Gold

a color wheel behind the display so that the character color could be
changed. In the middle of 1969, the team developed a room temperature
nematic liquid crystal mixture using pmethoxybenzylidene-p’-butylaniline
(MBBA) and pethoxybenzylidene-~’-butylaniline (EBBA). They believed
that this was the first room temperature nematic mixture because they were
unaware of the secret RCA work done four years earlier as described in
Chapter 2. However, the cornpound MBHA was indeed the first single com-
pound to exhibit nematic liquid crystallinity at room temperature. The syn-
thesis of this compound was reported9 before the Texas Instruments group
published its paper,1° so Kelker and Scheurle are generally regarded as the
inventors.
Shortly thereafter, Lu was called in to speak with Jack S. Kilby, inventor
o f the integrated circuit, who would eventually receive the 2000 Nobel
Prize in Physics. Kilby showed a strong interest in LCDs for future use in
watches and calculators, since Texas Instruments was developing ICs for
these products. He also expressed the opinion that LEDs would not be suit-
able for watchesGxAs a result, Lu decided to abandon the page compiler
and with the help of Jones, focused exclusively on watch and calculator
displays. I
It was about this time in 1969 that physicist Allan Kmetz, who had just
received his 1’h.D. from Yale University, joined the liquid crystal research
team. lexas Instruments made a major policy decision to bring out the first
consumer end product under its own name: the digital pocket calculator.
The company was already supplying calculator chip sets for customers like
Howmar and it had developed a single-chip calculator. According to
Kmetz,” the LCD group was ordered t o develop a DC-driven dynamic scat-
tering display t o work with the I X outputs of the calculator chip. Chemists
Linda Creagh and Charles Ristagno did a lot of work on conductivity
dopants, similar to work by David Margerum at Hughes. Kmetz and Creagh
worked on materials for surface alignment’s and perhaps for the first time,
clarified the distinct roles of surface chemistry and topography in determin-
ing the vertical and azimuthal alignment angles. Kmetz was also the first to
recognize that LCDs respond to the rms (root mean square) value of applied
voltage,14which drew implications for multiplexing performance. Until then,
many people believed multiplexing was governed by transient response, but
Kmetz showed that threshold steepness was key. He quantified the degrada-
tion of selection ratio with increasing number of scanned lines for the com-
mon 3:l drive scheme, but it never occurred to himi2 to optimize the drive
scheme as Paul Alt and Peter I-’leshko15subsequently did at IBM.
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 103

The LCII group was surprised t o learn that another team at Texas
Instruments had an LED display ready f o r the calculator t o go to market on
schedule, so they focused on dynamic scattering displays for watches. In
1072, the group, which by then also included Richard Reynolds, Morris
Clung and Daniel Evanicky, huilt :in eight-digit dynamic scattering LCD
that won Industrial Research magazine’s IR-100 award. However, by reject-
ing the AC drive technique preferred by the rest o f the world, the project
was doomed t o failure, according t o Kmetz” who went on t o other proj-
ects, then left Texas Instruments in 1974 t o join Brown Boveri in
Switzerland. Other members o f the group also began looking outside the
company for opportunities in the LCD field.
Both Sun LU and Derek Jones left Texas Instruments at the end of 1970
t o join a start-up company called Riker-Maxson Corporation based in Great
Kiver, New York. Aware o f the problems associated with dynamic scatter-
ing LCI)s, they began working on twisted-nematic field-effect displays for
digital watches and in 1972 demonstrated what Sun Lu believes t o hex the
world‘s first electronic digital watch using the effect. A photo o f the proto-
type watch is shown in Fig. 8.5. Rikker-Maxson went out o f business in
1973 and Sun LU moved west t o join Hewlett-Packard’s LCD project while
Derek Jones formed another company in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania,

Fig. 8.3. Sun LLI helieves this to bex the world’s first digital watch made with a
twistecl-neinatic LCI). Deinonstrated at Kikker-Maxson in 1972. Photo courtesy of
Sun L i i .
104 Liquid Gold

called Integrated Display Systems, which went on to be a major supplier of

color Guest-Host LCDs to the aircraft instrument industry.
In 1973, another group of engineers from Texas Instruments left to
form a new company called Micro Display Systems based near Dallas,
Texas. According to Daniel Evanicky,16the founders, in addition to himself,
were Charles Iiistagno, Thomas Hyltin, Larry Billings and Robert Schnurr.
Other key members of the team were Dr. Joseph Hull, Ronald Strebel and
Robert Jones. The company was funded with $1 million from the Seiko
Watch Company to develop twisted-nematic LCDs for its line o f digital
watches. One of the clever processes that this group developed at Texas
Instruments was etching of a cavity in one of the glass plates to hold the
liquid crystal material so that the layer thickness would be precise. This
process was carried over to the start-up company and put into manufactur-
ing. By 1978, the company was manufacturing both watch and calculator
displays in a 48,000 square foot facility with the capacity to produce 15,000
watch displays per week.
Engineers from the two main subsidiaries of Seiko, Suwa Seikosha (later
to become Seiko Epson) and Daini Seikosha (now Seiko Instruments),
started visiting once a month to learn about the latest version of the manu-
facturing process.16 Then, like many of the LCD start-up companies, finan-
cial problems led to the company being sold to Commodore in 1979, which
at the time was a pioneer in the development of personal computers.

START-UP FEVER MOVES TO THE MIDWEST

Another early start-up company was the International Liquid Crystal
Company (ILIXCO), which was founded by James Fergason in 1969,
shortly after he left Kent State University. ILIXCO was based in Kent, Ohio,
and was the first company to manufacture twisted-nematic LCDs in vol-
ume. The company also produced digital watches that used these displays,
but it went out of the digital watch business a few years later. However,
krgason continued to develop new materials and devices at ILIXCO, lead-
ing the firm to become a major technology licensing company for LCDs,17
which continues to this day.
After ILIXCO ceased the manufacturing of LCDs, former ILIXCO
employees established several other LCD manufacturers based in Ohio.
Among these were LXII, Crystahid, and Hamlin, which was a volume pro-
ducer (sales of about $30 million per year) of magnetic reed switches and
mercury switches for the electronics industry in the early 1970s. One of the
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 105

first employees to work on LCDs at Hamlin was William Tonar, who started
his career at Hamlin in 1974 after receiving his B.S. degree in chemistry
from the IJniversity of Wisconsin. He held various positions in process
development and engineering management at Hamlin. According to
Tonar,lH Hamlin’s President at the time, Ronald Ferguson, and Vice
President of R&D, Arnie Darsh, believed the days of the reed switch were
numbered. They felt that the long-term survival of Hamlin would require
that the company diversify into new technologies with a bright future.
Hamlin was good at hermetic sealing and processing glass packages (reed
and mercury switches) and the company had an established electronic
component sales and representative force, s o making and selling LCDs
seemed like a natural fit. Hamlin’s executives decided that the best way t o
enter the market was to purchase a dynamic scattering LCD production line
that had been developed by OCLI (Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc.) in
Santa Rosa, California. OCLI had developed 1,CD cell assembly and sealing
techniques as well as the dichroic reflective and transparent conductive
(17’0) thin films on glass required for LCD cell production. After the line
was installed at Hamlin, there were many heated debates as to whether or
not Hamlin got its money’s worth, but the acquisition enabled Hamlin to
enter the LCn business where it remained for many years until it was sold
to Standish Industries. In the late 1990s, the LCD operation, known as
Standish LCD, was sold to Planar Systems.
Another early start-up was LXD, also based in Ohio. Hugh Mailer, who
left ILIXCO after it ceased t o be a producer of LCDs, founded this company.
LXD purchased the assets of General Electric’s display operations in
Cleveland, and soon hired Tonar who became Vice President of R&D and
manufacturing. The company survived for many years as a custom producer
of Lcih for specialty applications. Tonar left the company in 1989 when he
joined Gentex, a maker of electrochromic mirrors for the automotive indus-
try, where he is Vice President o f advanced materials and process develop-
ment. IJnfortunately, Hugh Mailer passed away in August of 2003, so
information on the more recent history of the firm is unavailalk

SILICON VALLEY DISCOVERS LCDs

One of the first start-up companies on the West Coast to develop LCI) tech-
nology for digital watches was Microma. In 1971, Shou-Chen “James” Yih
and several others, including Robert Robson, James Phalen and Nicholas
Sethofer, founded the companyI9 and established a manufacturing facility
106 Liquid Gold

in Cupertino, California, which is located about ten miles north of San Jose
in an area that became known as “Silicon Valley” because it spawned many
of the first semiconductor companies that based their technology on the
element silicon. Nick Sethofer was a chemist who I believe started working
at Intersil on 1,CDs in 1969 or 1970, so he was a key member of the staff.
I met him on my visit to Intersil in 1970. By early 1972, the company built
its first digital watches using dynamic scattering LCDs. Since it worked
closely with Intel on the development of integrated circuit chips, Intel
decided to buy the company as a way to enter the digital watch business.
I3y 1973, the company, then a subsidiary of Intel, expanded the facility and
hired more engineers.
Sam IJyeda was a process engineer who arrived at Microma at about
that time to develop processes for liquid filling and indium ball plugging o f
the holes in the glass of dynamic scattering LCDs. These processes were
similar to, but not identical to those being used by Optel, RCA, and
Princeton Materials Science. However, Uyeda helped develop a unique cell
assembly process using preformed gaskets instead of the screen printing
technique that was k i n g done by other companies. Also, Microma engi-
neers deposited gold on the back plane substrates to act as both a reflector
and a conductor. They etched both front and back planes to form a com-
plimentary pattern that gave its products a unique appearance.20
Along with the more compact size of the module, the distinctive
appearance enabled Microma watches to become popular with customers.
This forced its competitors to begin redesigning their modules to create
more attractive products.
In addition to becoming a major factor in the LCD digital watch indus-
try, Microma became a Source of experienced engineers who went on to
help develop LCI) technology for other companies in Silicon Valley who
jumped onto the LCD digital watch bandwagon. One of these was Gerald
“Jerry”Garies, who became an expert in photolithographic mass produc-
tion techniques for patterning the electrodes on the glass surfaces. Garies
received a 13,s. degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1960 from the
IJniversity of California at 13erkeley and spent 14 years working in the
electronics and semiconductor industries. In 1974, he became a process
engineer with American Microsystems, Inc. (AMI), Sunnyvale, California, a
semiconductor company that had recently entered the LCD digital watch
industry. The LCDs produced by AM1 were men’s and ladies’ 3.5-digit
watch displays that were mainly sold to Gruen. ’The LCD manufacturing
process was based on single unit processing with IT0 coated glass cut into
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and N e w Ventures 107

individual displays; the process was quite similar to that being used by
Optel, Princeton Materials Science and Microma.
According to Garies,21another process engineer, Malcolm Kinter, was
assigned t o develop a photolithographic process, but before the equipment
could be completely set up, he left the company to join Suncrux, another
Silicon Valley start-up company. Consequently, Garies finished the set-up
and developed the process based on using an ITO coated strip that was
four inches long and the width of the display. After electrode patterning,
the strips were scribed to single displays using a wafer diamond scriber
and processed the rest of the way as single units. Later, he developed a
process for frit printing the strips and strip sealing into laminates.
Among the other people who were working at AM1 with Garies were
the plant manager 1% Cegka as well as 1’h.D. scientists l’aul van Loan, the
research and development manager, Robert Young, Vijay Kagavan and
Simon Chang.21Also working in the liquid crystal synthesis laboratory was
Michael McCdffrey, a synthetic organic chemist who had previously
worked for me at both KCA and Princeton Materials Science. Each went on
to other companies that subsequently became engaged in LCD develop-
ment and production.
Simon Chang soon went to Microma and in 1975 he recruited Garies to
become supervisor of process development engineering. Also working as
process engineers for Microma at this time were Hernard Berman, who
originally worked at Optel, and Kevin Hathaway, who went on to spend
many years as a display engineering consultant. Chang had replicated the
photolithographic equipment that had been installed at AM1 and Garies
was assigned to make the line operational. The LCD manufacturing process
was basically the same as AMI, being based on single unit processing.
Micromd eventually raised production volume to 25,000 units per week.
With a desire to increase productivity and efficiency further, Garies
began developing a 4-inch X 4-inch array2’ and worked with the Microma
watch designer to create a format for the digits that was compatible with
the watch designs. He continued t o use this formatting when he moved to
the other LCD companies that he later became associated with.
In 1977, Intel sold Microma t o Timex, one of the world’s leading watch
companies. Timex was very anxious to become established in the digital
watch hsiness and Microma offered it a quick entry. More information on
I imex is given in Chapter 10.
I 1.

Another early Silicon Valley start-up was Ness Time, which was
founded by Gordon Ness in 1971 as Ness Clocks and later called Solid State
108 Liquid Gold

’l’ime. There is not much information available on the early days of the
company. However, by 1974 Solid State Time bought Omron, another local
company that was making digital watches. Like many of its competitors in
those days, Solid State Time ran into shortages of components that delayed
deliveries ultimately causing its customers t o cancel their orders.
Consequently, the company went into bankruptcy and was forced to close
down in early 1976. An interesting account of Solid State Time’s final days
is given by Gordon Ness in Don Hoefler’s unique tabloid newsletter, which
is available on the Internet.22
As interest in digital watches intensified, other start-ups began spring-
ing up in Silicon Valley. Among these were Exetron and Suncrux. Exetron,
which was founded hy Donald Brown and others, was sold to Fairchild in
1075, while Suncrux closed down a few years later.

CONCLUSIONS AND OPINIONS

The transition from discovery and invention o f LCDs to product develop-
ment and manufacturing by many companies around the world took place
incredibly fast. In just two years after IICA’s public announcement of LCD
development, a number of start-up companies established rudimentary
I m manufacturing Facilities. By 1973, just five years later, there were
dozens of companies around the world engaged in LCD digital watch and
calculator manufacturing. This sparked the interest of the semiconductor
companies, since many were already manufacturing the integrated circuits
t o drive the displays. They saw a major opportunity to control the fledgling
digital watch industry by entering LCD manufacturing and many acquired
the faltering start-ups o r hired experienced engineers from those that
closed down.
And then, in June of 3 973, the motion picture ‘%ive and Let Die,” featu-
ring Tan Fleming’s fictional character James Bond,23 was released in the
1J.S.A. In my opinion, this played a major role in the events leading to the
decline o f the LCII manufacturing industry in the 1J.S.A. and its shift to
Japan. In this movie, actor Roger Moore, while lying in bed next to actress
Jane Seymour, reached over and pressed the button on a PulsarL4watch
with a LEU (light emitting diode) display. Life sometimes imitates art and
this scene endorsed the LED watch as a sex symbol, sparking one o f the
most rapid product development rises and falls in memory. By 1974, inter-
est in the LCD watch waned rapidly among customers as the LED watch
hecame popular. It was during this period that the Japanese companies
 Risky Business: Spin-offs and New Ventures 109

made major gains in LCD technology development, choosing not to get on

the LEI1 bandwagon. Sparked by a heavy advertising campaign, the LET>
watch gained prominence and major semiconductor companies such as
Texas Instruments, Fairchild and National entered the business. These com-
panies increased production, reduced costs and prices, and subsequently
flooded the market in 3975 and 1976. One year later, the LED watch was
essentially d.ead; consumers d overed that a timekeeping prod.uct with a
continuous readout was better than a sex symbol. l’he demise of the LEI>
watch was also helped by the fact that it needed a new battery quite often.
In Japan, however, the LCD watch was becoming quite popular and
more companies began selling LCD calculators as well. This enabled the
Japanese companies, which had much lower labor costs than those in the
IJ.S.R., to greatly increase manufacturing efficiency and product output,
resulting in lower costs and prices. In order to compete, lJ.S.-based compa-
nies had no choice hut to move their production facilities offshore. Only
the large, well-funded companies could continue to operate in the LCD
industry and so many of the smaller companies either went out of business
or were acquired by larger firms.

REFERENCES
1. Charles G. Ikirck, “Optel’s misadventures in liquid ciystals,” Fortune, October
1073, p. 193.
2. Louis A. Zanoni, personal communications, September through December
2003. The author is also indebted to Louis Zanoni for providing a written
transcript o f the audio tape recorded interview of Louis Zanoni and Nunzio
Liice inade on November 24, 1998 by Margaret Dennis and Carlene Stephens
o f the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
3. Nunzio A. Luce, personal communication, September 2003.
4. Nunzio A. L~ice,“C/MOS digital wristwatch features liquid crystal display,”
Electronics, April 10, 1972, p. 93. N.A. Luce gave this description of the elec-
tronic design of the dynamic scattering LCI) digital watch electronic system
when Optel was beginning production.
5. J.A. Castellano, “Mesomorphic materials for electro-optical application,”
Fewoebctm’cs 3, 29 (1971).
6. G.W. Taylor (ed.), “I. Lefkowitz Commemorative Issue,” Ferroe1ectric.s 73(1-4),
(1987).
7. Peter Raynes, Electronic Letters 10(9>,141 (1974).
8. Sun Lu, personal communication, August 2003.
9. H. Kclker and 13. Scheurle, Angewandte Chemie 81, 903 (1969).
1 10 Liquid Gold

10. 13. Jones, L. Creagh, and S. Lu, “Dynamic scattering in a room temperature
nematic liquid crystal,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 16(2), 61 (1970).
11. D. Jones and S. I.u, “Design of liquid crystal displays for low power electronic
pocket calculator,” Proceedings of the 7-97]Znternational Electron Zlevices
Meeting, p. 58; M. IIalherstam, D. Jones, and S. Lu, “Liquid crystal displays for
electronic time keeping,” Eurocon 71, Lausanne, Switzerland, October 1971;
I). Jones and S. ILI, “Field effect liquid crystal display,” SZD International
Symposium Uigesl qf Technical Pupers (1972) 100; S. Lu, “Continuous displays
for electronic watches,” Wescon 1975.
12. Allan Knietz, personal communication, September 2003.
13. Linda T. Creagh and Alkdn R. Kmetz, “Mechanism of surface alignment in
nematic liquid crystals,” Molecular Cystals and Liquid Cystals 24, 59 (1973).
14. Allan 12. Kmetz, “Liquid crystal display prospects in perspective,” ZEEE
Trunsuctions on Electronic Devices, ED-20(1l), 954 (1973).
15. Paul M. Alt and Peter Pleshko, IEEE Trunsuctions on Electronic device.^, ED-21,
146 (1974).
16 Daniel Evanicky, personal communication, August 2003.
17. James Fergason and his colleagues have several hundred patents on LCD
devices and processes that are assigned to ILIXCO.
18. William Tonar, personal communication, December 2003.
19. Kevin Hathaway, personal communication, December 2003.
20. Sam LJyeda, personal communication, September 2003.
21, Gerald Garies, personal communication, October 2003.
22. Donald C. Hoefler, Microelectronics News, March 6 , 1976; http://
smithsonianchips.si.edu/schreiner/l976/h7~3ll.htm,This newsletter was quite
popular with executives and engineers at the semiconductor companies
in Silicon Valley during the 1970s and 1980s. Thanks to a donation by
K.J.Schreiner to the Smithsonian Institution, issues from 1975 to 1986 are avail-
able to the public online.
23. Live and Let Die, a Guy Hamilton film produced by Albert R. Hroccoli, 1973.
This was Roger Moore’s first appearance in the role of secret agent James
I3ond.
24. I’dsar was established in 1971 and is believed t o be the first company t o com-
mercialize a digital watch with an I,ED display.
 Chapter 9

Silicon Valley Calls

"Innovation is everything. When you're on the forefront, you can see what the next
innovation needs to be."
Robert Noyce, co-founder of Intel, circa 1972

One day in 1974, when I was reviewing the production problems we were
having at Princeton Materials Science, I received a telephone call from
Robert Noyce, CEO of Intel in Cupertino, California. Intel had recently
bought Microma, one of the first LCD digital watchmakers on the west
coast. At the time, Intel was a supplier of integrated circuit chips for timing
and driving the displays. Noyce asked if I was interested in joining Intel
to be a liaison between Microma and the parent company. He wanted a
technologist with experience in LCD fabrication to evaluate the processes
that Microma was using and perhaps suggest improvements. He said he
was prepared to offer a competitive salary in addition to Intel stock
options. During our conversation, he said that he liked dynamic scattering
displays better than the twisted-nematic types. I agreed, but said that it
didn't make any difference what we liked personally, the customers pre-
ferred the field effect types and the industry would probably switch over
completely. I thanked him for his offer, but said that I wanted to try making
Princeton Materials Science a success, so I would stay with it at least for
the time being. Also, I mentioned that moving across the country would be
a big problem for my family. Hut, as fate would have it, just one year later
I would move to Silicon Valley anyway, but under less favomble condi-
tions. And, in retrospect, the Intel stock would have been very valuable
over the years if I had taken his offer. Such is the stuff of life; one can
never look hack on decisions that were made under the circumstances of
the time.

111
112 Liquid Gold

FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR FINDS LCDs

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I made a trip to Fairchild’s head-
quarters in Mountain View, California, in March 1975 to consider the com-
pany’s job offer. It was then that I met Wilfred Corrigan, President and CEO
of Fairchild, as well as Gregory Reyes, Group Vice President of the con-
sumer products division, and Bud Fry, Vice President-General Manager of
the Optoelectronics Division. The plan was to position the LCD operation
within the Optoelectronics Division, which was already a major manufx-
turer o f LEDs for watches and numerous other instrument applications. As
tnanager of LCI) operations, I would report directly to Bud Frye. I accepted
tho position, which provided a one-year employment contract and stock
options.
After closing down the pilot line in Princeton, all the equipment was
moved to California and a new area was set aside for LCD manufacturing
in Fairchild’s original R&D building in Palo Alto, California, which also
housed LED manufacturing. During the fall of 1975, the facility was pre-
pared and the equipment installed, thanks to a great deal of help from
Alfred Jankowsky, the division’s facility manager. Meanwhile, I began
recruiting people to fill various staff positions. In addition to Rodney Blose,
the production manager who moved west with me, I brought in Edward
13ennet as quality control manager and William Nakagawa to run the liquid
crystdl material 1abordtOry.
Operations began in January 1976. IJnfortunately, there were no funds
set aside for new equipment to upgrade the manufacturing process and
three months later, it became evident that we could not achieve the level of
production or the yields that were expected. One of my mistakes was not
demanding that new equipment be purchased to augment what we had.
Another was accepting management’s unrealistic production goals that
could not be achieved in the expected time frame. Finally, I did not have
enough experience as a manufacturing manager. As a result, I was replaced
as operations manager by Ray Kinney, a man with many years of experi-
ence in semiconductor manufacturing at Motorola. While I was initially
devastated by the move, it was the right decision. Kinney h d a solid repu-
tation in production management and a good relationship with the CEO
from their days together at Motorola. Consequently, he was successful in
obtaining a capital budget for processing equipment and approval to add
much needed engineering support. Since we respected each other’s ability
 Silicon Valley Calls 1 13

and experience, Kinney and I worked very well together, and we quickly
became good friends. As a staff advisor, I was then able to focus on
process development, yield improvement and cost analysis.
In order to understand the technical problems that we and many other
LCD manufacturers were having at that time, it is necessary to present a
brief description of the processes that were being used to make twisted-
nematic LCDs. In a later chapter, I will explain how these processes
changed over time and evolved into the highly automated systems that are
used throughout the world today.
The first step was to stack plates of indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated
glass measuring four inches or six inches on a side with wax between the
plates to hold them together. These stacks were then placed on a sawing
machine that was adopted from those normally used for cutting ceramic
tiles; it used water as a lubricant. After the large stacks were cut into indi-
vidual stacks, they were placed in a hot solvent bath to remove the wax
and separate the pieces into individual plates, which typically measured
1 2 mm wide X 25 mm long X 3 mm thick. The individual plates, which
would form the “top” and “bottom” portions of the display cell, were
then manually loaded into plastic carriers that were placed in a hot deter-
gent solution to thoroughly clean the plates. Obviously, this was a very
messy and cumbersome process that required a great deal of manual
labor.
The process was then divided into three parts: top (also called front or
segmented), bottom (also called back or common), and assembly. Initially
two small holes (about 0.5mm in diameter) were drilled into the back
plates using an air abrasive system with sub-micron particles of alumina.
These holes would be used for filling the cell with liquid crystal. Later, this
tedious, time-consuming process was eliminated and filling was done
through a small opening in the seal on one edge of the display.
Each individual top plate was coated with an acid-resistant ink by
using screen printing to create the seven segment pattern of four digits,
while the bottom plates were patterned with the same ink, but with a dif-
ferent screen to create a common electrode. The top plates were placed
side-by-side on large ceramic tile plates and passed through a drying oven
on a conveyor belt; the bottom plates were handled the same way, but put
through a separate drying oven. The top and bottom plates were then
loaded into plastic carriers and placed into a bath of diiute (5%) hydrochlo-
ric acid; this removed all of the indium-tin oxide not protected by the ink.
114 Liquid Gold

Fig. 9.1. Patterned watch display plates being unloaded from plastic carriers onto
ceramic plates for screen printing and further processing. Fairchild LCD Operation,
1976.

A photo o f the laborious process of removing the plates from the carriers is
shown in Fig. 9.1.
In the process used at Fairchild, the indium-tin oxide coated glass was
purchased from Bakers in Liechtenstein under the trade name Baltracon.
This glass had a partially oxidized coating consisting of 95% indium, 5% tin
and an undercoating of silicon dioxide (SO2) between the glass and ITO.
This material had many advantages over glass from other suppliers. First, it
provided a “passivating layer” of dielectric SiOL to block sodium and
hydroxide ions from migrating into the liquid crystal material; this pre-
served the integrity of the alignment as well as prevented degradation of
the liquid crystal material. The second advantage was that the partially oxi-
dized coating would make the pattern visible (brown) after the etching
process f o r easy visual inspection for shorts and opens. Another advantage
was that the material etched easily in dilute acid; only a 5% solution was
needed instead o f 5oV0 with fully oxidized ITO. Finally, the Si02 layer acted
as an anti-reflective coating that reduced the visibility of the electrode pat-
tern in the finished display to enhance the overall appearance.
The next step was to apply a gasket of “frit” to only the top (front)
plate using screen printing. Again, this was done on each individual plate
as shown in Fig. 9.2. The frit material consisted of a mixture of powdered
glass, organic binders and solvent. The powdered glass had a high content
of lead oxide to lower its melting point. After printing, the top plates were
 Silicon Valley Calls 1 15

Fig. 9.2. Screen printing of glass “frit” material on watch display top plates.
Fairchild LCD operation, 1976.

passed through a high temperature furnace at 470°C on a conveyor belt to

allow removal of the solvent and decomposition of the organic binders to
leave a bead of glass in the shape of a gasket. Known as the “firing”
process, this also resulted in full oxidation of the I T 0 coating, which made
it turn from brown to colorless. This firing process was also carried out
with the bottom plates to fully oxidize its IT0 coating.
After the firing, the plates were loaded into specially designed fixtures
that were placed in a vacuum chamber for “sloped evaporation” of a thin
film of silicon monoxide, which became the surface that would ultimately
align the liquid crystal molecules on each plate in the desired direction to
achieve the twisted-nematic structure. This was perhaps the most critical
step in the process and one that limited production flow because of the
need to hold the plates at specific angles to the evaporation source. It was
originally developed by Janning’ and was later studied in more detail by
Guyon’ and Go0dman.j After the deposition, the surfaces were rubbed in
order to avoid the reverse tilt problem mentioned in Chapter 8. Several
years later, I discovered* that the sloped evaporation was unnecessary and
that a rubbed surface of silicon monoxide, which had been evaporated
with the plate perpendicular to the source, worked equally well and was
maintained even after the high-temperature sealing process.
The assembly process consisted of manually placing the top plate over
the bottom plate in a specially designed, three-point metal fixture that
116 Liquid Gold

Fig. 9.3. Fixtures used for glass “frit” sealing of twisted-nematic LCD watch dis-
plays being placed on furnace conveyor belt. Fairchild LCD Operation, 1976.

would hold a number o f display panels. These fixtures were then placed
on the conveyor belt of a multi-zone furnace that was programmed with a
temperature profile to ensure that the plates were sealed together and
cooled slowly to avoid warping or cracking. I’hotos of the fixtures and fur-
nace loading are shown in Fig. 9.3.
There is an interesting sidelight to this story. When this sealing process
was first developed at RCA and later adopted by Optel and Princeton
Materials Science, a small metal weight was used t o apply pressure to
the plates during the sealing cycle. When Wilfred Corrigan, President of
Fairchild, saw this operation, he commented that the metal weight was
unnecessary; the weight of the glass itself should be sufficient to seal the
plates. He was proven to be correct and the metal weight was elim-
inated. N o t only did this simply the process, but it reduced the energy
 Silicon Valley Calls 117

consumption of the furnaces required to seal the plates. The suggestions of

an astute observer, one who is not close to the process development, can
sometimes be invaluable.
The next step in the process involved injecting the liquid crystal mate-
rial into the small hole in the back plate, then filling the hole with an
indium ball to seal the hole. It was not long before this labor-intensive,
hole-filling operation was eliminated and replaced by edge filling.
In order to implement edge filling, the sealed display cells needed to
have a metal film deposited over the opening in the edge so that it could
be sealed with lead-tin solder after filling with liquid crystal. This film was
deposited by vacuum sputtering of chromium, copper and gold in that
sequence. Through the use of special fixtures, it was possible to perform
this operation on thousands of stacked display panels in a single pump-
down. After the edge-metallized stacks were removed from the sputtering
system, they were turned over with all the open edges down and placed in
another vacuum chamber containing a bath of liquid crystal material. After
the air was removed from the cells, they were lowered into the liquid crys-
tal bath, and nitrogen gas was introduced into the chamber to bring it back
to atmospheric pressure. This forced the liquid into the space between the
plates, thereby completely filling the display cells. After filling, the stacked
units were turned with the edge openings facing up and a bead of solder
was melted over the openings to seal the displays.
The final steps involved cleaning the units, placing polarizer films on
the front and back of each unit, and subjecting each display to visual and
electrical testing. The polarizer attachment process was very labor-intensive
and time-consuming.
Kinney recognized early on that screen printing of individual glass
plates for electrode patterning was severely limiting our production
throughput. Also, we sometimes had problems with completely removing
the ink that was used to pattern the electrodes. He wanted to adopt the
silicon IC manufacturing process to LCD manufacturing by using photoli-
thography to pattern a multitude of watch display parts on a large glass
plate; the glass plate could then be scribed and broken into individual
plates for assembly into single display units. We knew that Microma was
already doing this on a small scale with plates that were about four inches
on a side. Consequently, in August 1976, Kinney hired Gerald Garies, who
had been working at Microma on its photolithography process using a
4-inch X 4-inch array, to develop a process for Fairchild that used larger
plates. The only problem was that no scribing equipment was available for
118 Liquid Gold

plates larger than four inches. Assuming that new equipment could be
obtained internally or by working with an outside vendor, Garies designed
and installed a photolithographic process based on using a glass plate that
was 6 inches X 6.5 inches in an array format. Garies was very successful in
implementing this photolithographic process, which eliminated screen pat-
tern printing and greatly increased the production flow.
Another important advance was the shift to automated scribing of the
large plates patterned by photolithography. Initially, LCD manufacturers
were using equipment that was designed for silicon wafer scribing, but
these scribers were inadequate for large glass plates. James Pfeiffer, a
manufacturing engineer who had previously implemented a very effective
glass sealing fixture for the LCII line, designed a glass scriber that had
promise, but it could not provide the scribe placement acCurdcy required.
Through the efforts of Garies and another engineer, Donald Brownewell,
a new system then in development by Thoinas Muir of Villa Precision,
Phoenix, Arizona, was adopted for our operation. Muir had built a scriber
based on a scribe wheel concept for Motorola to scribe 4-inch X 4-inch
glass plates. As a result of input from Garies and Brownewell, Muir made
modifications to enable the scriber to work with 6-inch X 6.5-inch glass
plates and later to larger and larger sizes. This scriber opened the door for
laminate scribing after laminate sealing,5 another major advance that
increased productivity. Villa Precision delivered the first model of its
scriber to Fairchild in March 1977 and four other units over the next two
years. The Villa Precision automated scribing equipment soon became an
industry standard with units installed in LCD manufacturing plants
throughout the world.
By the end of 1976, the Fairchild operation was producing thousands
of displays per day as the operation became highly productive, efficient
and ultimately profitable. One day at the beginning of 1977 as I recall, Ray
Kinney and I were discussing the latest production report when Wilfred
Corrigan called to tell Kinney that we must shift the LCD manufacturing
operation to the company’s plant in Hong Kong as soon as possible. Since
labor represented a significant portion of the manufacturing cost, a shift to
Hong Kong, which had very low labor rates at that time, would greatly
reduce the unit manufacturing cost. Corrigan promised to make the com-
pany’s resources available to achieve the transition as quickly as possible
and indeed in a matter of a few months, the process was well underway as
new equipment was ordered and the facility in Hong Kong was prepared.
My responsibilities also changed and I was then directed to help plan the
 Silicon Valley Calls 119

new facility, prepare technology transfer documentation, and teach the

process to the Hong Kong engineers who were sent over to spend several
months in Palo Alto.
After a number of discussions it was decided to design a factory with
the capability to produce 250,000 men’s watch displays per week. The
original design included both the screen printing process and the photoli-
thography process, but Kinney wisely decided to p the screen printing
process and go exclusively with photolithography based on plates that
were 4 inches X 6.5 inches in size.
As mentioned previously, placing polarizers on the finished display
was a labor intensive process, so a technique was developed where ten
displays were placed in a linear holder and a strip of polarizer mechani-
cally applied to both sides.5The scratch protective layer was then stripped
off and the holder placed in a laser system, which cut the displays by a
step and repeat operation. James I’feiffer was involved in the design of the
laser cutting system. Polarized displays were then placed in plastic trays for
visual and electrical testing.
The Hong Kong factory, known as Wing Kai, was located on the main-
land in Tuen Mun, a rapidly growing industrial city in what was then called
the “New Territories” of Hong Kong. The factory had other electronic
assembly operations underway in addition to LCD production. Engineers
K.K. Cheng, W.T. Wan and S.S.Kwan from Wing Kai were sent to Palo Alto
to learn the process and participate in the technology transfer. By the sum-
mer of 1977, these engineers returned to Wing Kai to oversee the installa-
tion of equipment. Other engineers who played major roles in establishing
the line were C.S. Chan, Raphael Kan and C.B. ‘rang. In September, Garies,
Brownewell and others went to Wing Kai to help turn on the production
line. Soon the line was producing close to its designed capacity.
During the long flights to and from Hong Kong in 1978, Garies designed5
a manufacturing line for large area displays for non-watch applications based
on laminate array sealing of a 14-inch X 14-inch glass substrate starting with
suboxidized ITO. His plan was approved and the manufacturing line was
installed in Palo Alto in 1979. Engineers Allen Winterer, Paul Salisbury, Carol
Knight and IYavid Kuty were also involved in establishing the production line.
Once the shift of manufacturing operations to Hong Kong was well
underway, I began looking for other ways to advance LCD technology
and to seek out other Fairchild researchers for collaboration. During the
mid-l970s, the development of the charge coupled device (CCD) and
256K random access memory (RAM) were two of the most important
120 Liquid Gold

research projects underway at Fairchild. These were conducted under the

direction of solid-state physicist James Early, who was Director of Research
and Development. Early earned a PhD. from Ohio State University and
spent 18 years at Bell Laboratories before joining Fairchild in 1969. He was
already a well-known scientist having done important research at Bell Labs
where he created much of the design theory of bipolar transistors and dis-
covered the effects of space-charge layer widening6 (“The Early Effect”).
Among other things, he created the oscillator transistor and led development
o f solar cells for Telstar I, the first LJS. communication satellite. At Fairchild,
he developed the isoplanar bipolar process and the prototype of its isopla-
nar memory products. Together with Gilbert Amelio, another Bell Labs
physicist who Early recruited, they created the buried channel CCD imager,
which has revolutionized low light level electronic imaging. Unfortunately,
James Early passed away while this book was being completed.
Since Early’s office was just down the hall from mine, we would often
discuss the possibility of developing silicon thin-film transistors for LCDs.
We were well aware of the work that T. Peter Brody was doing on cad-
mium selenide and other Group 11-VI compounds, but silicon was a mate-
rial that was well understood by Early’s experienced team of researchers in
transistor technology, so it seemed like a promising area of research. Later,
I would learn that amorphous silicon TITS were already being researched
at Exxon’s central research laboratories in New Jersey as well as labs in
Japan and Germany. Fortuitously, it was about this time that we had a visit
from a Texas-based minicomputer company called Datapoint.
The Datapoint engineers had conceived of manufacturing a small
table-top computer with a built-in multi-line, multi-characzer flat panel dis-
play and believed that an LCD would be a perfect fit. In essence, this
would have been an early version of the notebook computer. We
explained to them that producing an acceptable high-information content
LCD would require an active matrix of thin-film transistors, a technology
that was in its infancy. However, they were so convinced that this would
be a breakthrough product, they were willing to engage in a jointly-funded
research and development program with Fairchild to build such a display.
This seemed like an exciting project to us, so we planned to organize a
small team consisting of members from the LCD operation and the inte-
grated circuit processing group. In order to take the project further, how-
ever, we needed approval from ’rhomas Longo, then Executive Vice
President and Chief Technical Officer of Fairchild and James Early’s boss.
Consequently, Early, Kinney, one of Early’s top researchers whose name I
 Silicon Valley Calls 12 1

cannot recall, and myself, met with Longo to present our proposal.
Linfortunately, Longo was very skeptical that thin-film transistors would
have acceptable electron mobility to be successful for this application and
the project never went forward. In my opinion the company lost an oppor-
tunity to tie at the forefront of active matrix LCD development.
With the Hong Kong plant up and running and a lack of interesting
LCD research projects t o work on, I began thinking about other opportuni-
ties. It did not take long before one came along.

ANOTHER NEW VENTURE

Datapoint was not the only company thinking about larger, high informa-
tion content LCDs for compact computers. Researchers at Hitachi,
IIewlett-Packard, and several other firms were also developing multi-line
LCDs, but using multiplexing addressing schemes rather than the more dif-
ficult TIT approach. Others, such as Exxon, were investigating amorphous
silicon as a material for TETs. Although Exxon was primarily engaged in oil
exploration and refining as well as chemical manufacturing, it had estab-
lished a separate company called Exxon Enterprises to exploit new tech-
nologies that were being developed either internally at Exxon’s central
research laboratory or by other organizations.
Exxon Enterprises was formed in the early 1970s to invest a portion of
Exxon’s excess capital in the venture capital market. Exxon hoped that
these efforts would expose the company to emerging technologies that
would eventually lead to strategically valuable diversification. To this end,
Exxon invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the 1970s in a wide vari-
ety of emerging firms. Representative investments included the early devel-
opers o f the microprocessor, fax machine and word processor.
Exxon Enterprises was ultimately dissolved in the early 1980s. An arti-
cle by Pinchot7 speculates on the reasons for its demise.
In 1977, George Taylor, who was engaged in various consulting proj-
ects, was approached by Exxon Enterprises to form a start-up company
that would develop high information content LCDs. Taylor contacted me to
see if I would be interested in joining such a firm, which would be a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon Enterprises. I expressed an interest, but
only under the conditions that the operation be located somewhere in
Silicon Valley and that there would be some sort of equity incentive pro-
gram. I thought it would be unlikely that these conditions would be
acceptable o r that the venture would ever become established.
122 Liquid Gold

Despite my misgivings, Taylor continued to work on the venture with

Garrett Stone, a manager at Exxon Enterprises who had an MBA from
Harvard University and was slated to head up the subsidiary company.
Over a period of several months, Stone and Taylor convinced the manage-
ment at Exxon Enterprises to base the company in Silicon Valley and to
establish an equity program that rewarded the principals with a bonus cash
payment tied to the achievement of specific goals. The company was ini-
tially called Datascreen Corporation, but in 1979 the name would be
changed to Kylex because of a name conflict with another firm.
In addition to Stone, Taylor and myself, David Davies, a Ph.D. physi-
cist who had been developing TFTs with Brody’s group at Westinghouse,
was recruited to join the founding team. Stone developed a business plan
that called for the development of a one-line, 40-character, multiplexed
5 X 8 dot matrix TN-LCD prototype in one year with a total budget of
$900,000. Each member of the founding team would receive what were
called “participation appreciation rights” (known as PARS) in lieu of shares
in the company. If we achieved the goal of building the prototype in one
year and within the allotted budget, each PAR could be redeemed for $1.
Since each of us would have more than 100,000 shares, there would be a
great incentive to achieve the desired goals.
Ry the fall of 1977, the plans to move ahead were finalized and the
principals met at Exxon Enterprises in New York City to sign the contracts.
Due to philosophical differences he had with Stone, Taylor decided not to
join the company. Since Taylor was a good friend and I was well aware of
the talent he would bring t o the organization, I had reservations about
signing on. However, Taylor encouraged me to go ahead with the venture
and so I resigned from Fairchild at the end of September and joined
Datascreen as Manager of Operations.
Between October and December facilities were installed in a newly
constructed building in Mountain View and in early January of 1978 it was
completed and occupied. Meanwhile, key staff members with experience
in materials development and LCD production were recruited. Among
these were Sun Lu and Kenneth Harrison. Lu, an early LCD pioneer who
was mentioned previously, was recruited from Hewlett-Packard where he
was project manager for LCU development. Harrison was co-discoverer of
the biphenyl type liquid crystal material when working on his Ph.U. at the
IJniversity o f Hull under George Gray. He was recruited from Optel. Other
electrical engineers and technicians from Hewlett-Packard and Fairchild
were soon added.
 Silicon Valley Calls 123

The construction of the Facility, which included a 3,000 square foot

clean room, went very well, the quality of construction was excellent and
the project was only two weeks behind schedule. However, the procure-
ment of capital equipment was many weeks behind schedule. Some key
items, such as the sealing furnace and the wet stations used in the pho-
tolithographic process, were delayed by as much as six weeks. In spite of
these dePays, the company was fully operational by mid-March and by June
displays were being fabricated.
We soon found that a 40-character display with fine lines and spaces
was quite a bit more difficult to fabricate than the four-digit watch displays
that I had been accustomed to producing at Fairchild, so a number of
problems arose in the summer of 1978. Perl-laps the most serious concern
was the large number o f open contacts from the front glass plate into the
display. After studying this in some detail, we attributed this problem to a
chemical reaction between the frit and the indium-tin oxide coating, which
can occur at the high temperatures being used for the sealing process. As a
result, we lowered the operating temperature for sealing to below 530°C
and changed to a new frit material supplied by AVX Materials.8 With the
adjusted profile and the new material we were able to achieve much
improved sealing yields with cell spacings in the desired range. By the end
of August, we solved essentially all the other problems associated with the
cell fabrication.
Meanwhile, Davies and his engineering team were successful in building
electronics to demonstrate the operation of the display and to test its func-
tionality against the target specifications. Another key achievement was
Harrison’s development of a mixture of cycloalkyl aromatic ester liquid crys-
tal compounds that produced excellent eight-line multiplexing characteristics.
By the middle of September, we demonstrated the 40-character, one-
line alphanumeric display tc) Exxon Enterprises’ management (see Fig. 9.4).
We also showed that the process for its fabrication could be adaptable to
manufacturing with the addition of suitable production fixtures and equip-
ment. The project was completed within the promised one-year time
frame, although we exceeded the $900,000 budget by about 7.5%. Thus,
the value of our PARS was set at $0.93, so each of the founding members of
the group had been given a significant bonus.
IJnfcjrtunately, during the late summer of 1978, major differences in
management and operational philosophy arose between myself and Garrett
Stone, President of Ilatascreen/Kylex. As a result, we simply could not
work together. Consequently, I resigned at the end of September and
124 Liquid Gold

Fig. 9.4. One-hne, 40-character twisted-nematic LCD using a 5 X 8 dot matrix for each
character and eight-line multiplexing. This panel, one of the first of its kind, was fdbri-
cated in 1978 at Datascreen Corporation (later called Kylex, Inc.), Mountain View,
California, a subsidiary of Exxon Enterprises, Inc. The display was made with glass-to-
glass and glass-to-metal seals. Although it has not operated electrically since it was first
made, the twisted-nematic alignment at room temperature remains as a testament to
the integrity of the hermetic seal packaging. Photo taken in October 2003.

agreed to be a consultant to the company for one year. As part of the set-
tlement, I would receive only about half o f the value of my PARS. However,
it turned out to be a good arrangement for me because I had my first client
and was able to finance the start-up of my professional consulting
activities.
After I left DatascreedKylex, the engineering team continued its work
on the one-line, &character display and reported on improvements to its
o p e r a t i ~ nThe
. ~ plan for Kylex beyond the first year was to build larger dis-
plays with more lines of characters and ultimately a display driven with
amorphous silicon TFTs. Although the latter goal was never achieved, the
company did build multi-line, multi-character displays using another tech-
nology called the Thermally-Addressed Dye Display (TADD), which was
invented by Sun Lu.” This unique concept used a smectic liquid crystal
with an added dye addressed by a combination of thermal and electrical
signals to give a highly multiplexed display with good contrast and viewing
angle. Kylex demonstrated 6-inch X 7-inch displays with 288 X 357 pixels
in a portable terminal, the KT-111. This was one of the largest high infor-
mation content LCDs made u p to that time. Because it operated by switch-
ing between two stable states (“bistability”), the display consumed power
only when the elements were written. However, Kylex never commercial-
ized the display and Exxon Enterprises sold the company to 3M Company
in late 1981. Display development eventually ceased as 3M focused on the
development of optical disk storage media.
Sun Lu further developed the TADD technology when h e joined
Crystalvision in 1983 as Vice President of Engineering. He built a panel that
 Silicon Valley Calls 125

was 6.5 inches X 5 inches with 640 X 256 pixels - again, one of the first
IXDs in this size and information content.l’ The panel could show text and
graphics with MS-DOS compatible software. However, this company was
unable to develop a market for the display and closed its doors in 1985.

MOVING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION

While still working at Fairchild, I was in regular contact with George Taylor,
my former colleague from both RCA and Princeton Materials Science. As I
mentioned previously, Taylor had established a consulting company called
Princeton Resources, which quickly became engaged in various projeczs,
some not related to displays. He would often call on me to help him with
these projects because there was simply more work than he could handle
himself. Therefore, I decided to establish my own company to engage in
these non-dispkay related projects outside of Fairchild to avoid any conflict
of interest. Since I was working in close proximity to Stanford University
and would often spend time doing library research there, I named the com-
pany Stmford Resources. Following the concept devised by George Taylor,
the company would subcontract various aspects of a project to other expert
consultants. Thus, the company could assemble the “resources”necessary to
handle both small and large projects.
During my one-year tenure with Datascreen, Stanford Resources
became totally dormant because I was consumed with the work of build-
ing displays. However, when I resigned from Datascreen/Kylex, Stanford
Resources was resurrected as a full-time consulting company, which I
soon registered as a corporation in the state of California. With
natascreen/Kylex as my first client, I was enthusiastic about the consulting
business, but knew that I would need more clients. Fortuitously, while
preparing to move out of my office at DatascreedKylex, I received a
phone call from Henry Woodward, one o f the chief patent attorneys at
Fairchild. Woodward asked me if I knew of a consultant who could advise
Pairchild on the validity of the Hoffman-La Roche patents since that com-
pany was pressing Fairchild for royalties. I explained to Woodward that I
was now a full-time consultant and could help him. He was quite pleased
and incredibly I had my second client in as many days. In the following
weeks, more clients began calling and soon I was swamped with work.
However, at that time I never dreamed this activity would consume the
next 25 years of my life.
126 Liquid Gold

REFERENCES
1. J. Janning, Appl. Ph,ys. Lett. 21(4), 173 (1972).
2. E. Guyon, I? Pieranski, and M. Boix, Letten cfApplied andEnginem’ng Science
1, 19 (1973); Appl. 1’h.y~.Lett. 25, 479 (1974).
3. I,. Goodman, J. McCinn, C. Anderson, and F. Digeroniino, 1’roceeding.s of the
Society,for Irlfbrmation Display 18(1), 11 (1977).
4. J.A. Castellano, “Surface anchoring of liquid crystal molecules on various sub-
strates,” Molecular Cyslals and Liquid Cystuls 94, 33 (1983). This was taken
from a paper presented at the American Chemical Society Symposium, Las
Vegas, NV, 1982. Also, “Alignment o f liquid crystal molecules on surfaces,”
Liquid c‘y.stals and Ordered Fluids,Vol. 4 , eds. A.C. Griffin and J.E. Johnson
(Plenum Press, New York, 1984).
5. Gerald Caries, personal communication, October 2003.
6. James M. Early, “Effects of space-charge widening in junction transistors,”
I’ror0Cceding.s oj‘the Institute @Radio Engineem-40, 1401 (1952).
7. Gifford 111 Pinchot, “Intrapreneurship: how firms can encourage and keep their
bright innovators,” International Munugement, January 1, 1983. This paper
gives a description o f the reasons for Exxon’s decision to dissolve its venture
capital subsidiary.
8. This material was formulatcd by David E. Mentley, a ceramicist who was work-
ing at AVX Materials in San Diego, California. Mentley joined Kylex in 1979 and
in the 1980s went on to become a leading market research analyst to the dis-
play industry. He worked with the author at Stanford Resources for more than
20 years.
9. I).navies, W. Fischer, G. Force, K. Harrison, and S. Lu, “Practical liquid crystal
display forms forty characters,” Electronics,January 3, 1980.
10. S. Lu, D. navies, J. Wells, and G. Force, “TADD technology utilized in KT-111
portable display terminal,” Information Display, January 1982, p. 3.
11. Alan V. King, “CrystalVision’snew liquid crystal displays,” Information Dtsplay,
Ikcember 1984, p. 10.
 Chapter 10

An Industry in Transition

"Life is a copiously branching bush, continually pruned by the grim reaper of extinc-
tion, not a ladder of predictable progress."
Stephen Jay Gould, renowned palaeontologist, 1978

Iluring the mid-l970s, the LCD industry began to mature and firms began
looking toward expanding applications beyond small watch displays to
larger, high-information content products. At the same time, companies in
Japan, Southeast Asia and Europe started t o seriously engage in the devel-
opment and manufacturing of LCns as well as their component parts. By
early 1980, many 1J.S. and some European firms shifted LCD manufacturing
t o plants in Southeast Asia while others transferred the technology to firms
in Eastern Europe. A few years later, nearly all high-volume manufacturing
of LCDs was being carried out in the Far East, although significant advances
in the technology continued to come from U.S. and European organizations.
This chapter will present a discussion of the transition during this period,
from deve1c)pment and rudimentary production to a high-volume manufx-
turing industry with examples from the author's experience as well as those
of other individuals who participated in the events. It is by no means
intended to cover every organization that became engaged in LCD develop-
ment and manufacturing. However, by providing some specific examples, it
will give the reader a flavor of how the industry shifts occurred and why.

NEW MATERIALS EMERGE

The search for new liquid crystalline materials that would provide improve-
ments in performance was ongoing throughout the world from the time of
the 1968 KCA announcement. But a major breakthrough occurred in 1972
when George Gray, John Nash and Kenneth Harrison, working at Hull
127
128 Liquid Gold

IJniversity’s chemistry laboratory in England, developed alkyl and alkoxy

cyanobiphenyls that could be mixed to produce materials with broad oper-
ating temperature ranges and excellent electro-optical performance. The
structural formulas of the compounds that were used to form one of the
most widely used mixtures of that time is shown in Fig. 10.1.
According to Kawamoto,l E. Peter Raynes who was then working at the
Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (KSKE) in Malvern, England, pre-
pared this specific mixture. Dr. Raynes played a key role throughout the
development of liquid crystal displays. His early research established
the electro-optic properties of the cyanobiphenyl materials and created
novel mixtures. He also devised methods for predicting the composition
and properties of commercially valuable multi-component eutectic systems
and applied these successfully in the production of such mixtures. His
patented methods for eliminating the defects, which he named “reverse

-
A Nematic Range: 54 - 80 degrees C

-
B Nematic Range: 22- 3 5 degrees C

-
C Nematic Range: 28 -42 degrees C

D -Nematic Range: 130- 239 degrees C

Fig. 10.1. Structural formulas of liquid crystalline cydnobiphenyl compounds. The

mixture, designated as E-7, was one of the most widely used liquid crystal mixtures
of cyanobiphenyl compounds for LCDs during 1970s and 1980s. It contained 16%
l ~ yweight of A, 51%)of R, 25% of C and 8% of D.
 An Industry in Transition 129

twist” and “reverse tilt” are now industry standards for obtaining blemish-
free devices. Raynes was awarded the Paterson Medal and Prize for his
major contributions to the development of LCDs. A Queen’s Award to
Industry for the Solid State Physics and Devices Division of RSRE in 1979
and the Rank Optoelectronics prize in 1980 have also recognized his work
in this area.
The development of this new class of liquid crystal materials meant
that expensive and production-limiting glass frit sealing could be elimi-
nated because these materials were not subject to the base-catalyzed
hydrolysis that other materials like esters and Schiff bases would undergo
unless elaborate precautions were taken. In addition, they were less vis-
cous, thereby providing faster response and relaxation times under electri-
cal excitation. And, as an added bonus, the materials had better light
transmission characteristics; they were essentially pure white compared to
the slightly yellow color of the Schiff bases or azoxy compounds. The
results of these experiments were not published until one year later2
because the researchers recognized the importance of this discovery and
the need to apply for a patent on the material.
At that time, the project was being conducted under contract to the
United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence and assigned to RSRE, its research
arm. Many of the electro-optic measurements and devices were made in
this facility. The team of researchers at RSRE, which was led by Cyril
Hilsum, included E. Peter Raynes, John Kirton, Colin M. Waters,
). Hume and others. A number of sig-
V. Brimmell, A. Ashford, J. Constant, 1
nificant contributions to the development of LCDs and improvements in
their performance were made at RSRE. The story of these developments is
covered in detail in several other account^.^^^ References to some of these
developments appear in other parts of this book.
The emergence of these materials was a milestone event, which
enabled the development of new manufacturing techniques that allowed
high productivity at lower cost. The first materials became available
through the British Drug House, which became known as BDH Chemicals,
under license to the development team at RSRE and Hull 1Jniversity. In
1973, BDH was sold by its parent company, Glaxco, to E. Merck, now
known as EMI) Chemicals and a unit o f Merck KGaA based in J%rmstadt,
Germany. While there is no current corporate connection between Merck
KGaA and the ‘CIS. pharmaceutical firm, Merck 8 Company in Whitehouse
Station, New Jersey, they were part of the same firm before World War I,
according to the company’s history (wWW.emdchemcials,com).
130 Liquid Gold

Chemists in Germany soon beaan looking for other structures that

would give even better performance than the biphenyls. Demus and
his group at the University of Halle, for example, found that certain
cyanophenylcyclohexane esters were nematic and had lower viscosity than
the cyanobiphenyls4 making them very desirable for calculator displays.
Then, Ludwig I’ohl, Rudolf Eidenshink and their colleagues at E. Merck dis-
covered that cyanophenykyclohexanes were also nematic and had even
lower viscosity than the cyan~biphenyls.~~~ This led to materials with rapid
response times and small birefringent effects while retaining the colorless fea-
tures and other desirable device-related characteristics of the cyanobiphenyls.
These materials soon became widely used in LCDs and in particular
with the TFT-driven displays that were beginning to be developed at that
time. The structural formulas of some of the compounds from this series
are shown in Fig. 10.2.

- -
A Nematic Range: 42 45 degrees C

B -Nematic Range: 30- 55 degrees C

C -Nematic Range: 30- 59 degrees C

D - Nematic Range: 94-219 degrees C

Fig. 10.2. Struclural formulas of selected liquid crystalline cyanophenylcyclohe~nes.

Mixtures of compounds from among this family of materials became avdikdbk from
E. Merck in the 1980s and continue to be used to this day.
 An Industry in Transition 131

The development o f these materials opened the way for display

designers to tailor the materials to meet specific applications and soon a
whole host of materials became available to display manufacturers from
E. Merck as well as from Hoffmann-La Koche in Hasel, Switzerland, and the
Japanese firms Chisso Chemical Company and Dainippon Ink and
Chemical Company. More details on the developments of the liquid crystal
compounds that were investigated through the years appear in several
reviews7-" that include references to the numerous papers that were pub-
lished on the chemistry of these unique materials.

THE SHIFT TOWARD POLYMER SEALING

The development of first the cyanobiphenyls and then the cyanophenyl-
cyclohexane materials enabled the LCD manufacturing industry to begin a
shift away from glass frit sealing and toward the use of polymers. During
the summer of 1979, I was doing a two-phase research project under con-
tract to Fairchild to study the mechanism of interaction between liquid
crystal materials and various treated surfaces (e.g. glass, silicon oxides,
indium-tin oxide, organic films, etc.) and to develop surface treatment
techniques that would result in improved display performance and lower
manufacturing cost for TN-LCDs. One of the specific objectives was to
develop techniques that would yield displays with broader viewing cones
than were then available. The first phase involved a detailed investigation
of the work that had been done prior to 1979.
In performing the literature search, some 35 different methods for
producing alignment of liquid crystals on various surfaces were uncov-
ered. These methods included the use o f both organic and inorganic films
as well as various mechanical treatments (e.g. rubbing with cloths, paper
and abrasives). Some 50 primary reference sources and a number of sec-
ondary sources were reviewed. In addition, ten principal workers in the
field were interviewed in order to gain further insight into the nature of
their work. Among the recommendations that were made were to investi-
gate replacement o f the slope evaporation process with polyimide deposi-
tion and the implementation o f polymer sealing. The reason for this
change was to increase volume production by eliminating the slow
throughput vacuum deposition of silicon monoxide. The output of this
phase was a scheduled plan that detailed the experiments to be per-
formed in order to establish a better understanding of the interactions
between the material and surface.
132 Liquid Gold

The second phase of the project involved acqual performance of the

experiments, formulation of the mechanisms, and establishment of
the material and surface requirements that gave improved display perform-
ance. I received valuable assistance from a number of Fairchild's employees
including I)r. William Nakagdwd, Dean wu, Keith Riordan, Lillian Peterson
and Allen Winterer during the course of this work. Rased on this research,
models were developed to explain the alignment and tilt of liquid crystal
molecules on silicon monoxide surfaces. Alignment was postulated to be
caused by the unique ordered arrangement of silicon monoxide molecules
produced during the slope evaporation process. It was further theorized
that the tilt of liquid crystal molecules on this surface, after rubbing, was
produced by tilted microcrystallites o f silicon monoxide. A monochromatic
optical technique developed by Hirecki and KahnlO was used to measure
low mokcular tilt angles. The standard production process gave small, finite
lilts while unrubbed displays give no tilt. Also, liquid crystal alignment was
achieved using a mechanically abraded (via diamond paste rubbing) surface
of silicon monoxide, but the microgrooves thereby obtained forced the mol-
ecules into a zero tilt condition that resulted in a high degree of reverse tilt.
Some of the results of this study were presented several years later,ll" but
many of the findingsll" were never made public.
Another result of this project was the development of an epoxy sealing
process using a rubbed surface of polyimide as the liquid crystal alignment
medium. IXsplays fabricated in this manner at the Fairchild operation had very
low tilt angles, were uniform in acZive cell thickness, and had good contrast.
Fairchild was by no means the only organization looking to move
away from the labor-intensive and volume-production limiting, glass frit
sealing process. In fact, nearly all other LCD manufacturers throughout the
world were also investigating and implementing these processes during
this time period. Over the next few years, the industry shifted exclusively
toward this type of fabrication. Glass frit sealing eventually vanished as a
volume manufacturing process, although this hermetic sealing technique,
which provided high reliability and long shelf life, continued to be used for
many years in manufacturing the smaller volumes of LCDs installed in
aircraft instruments and military systems.

THE DIGITAL WATCH INDUSTRY EVOLWS

In the 1970s, Timex was the number one volume supplier of mechanical
and electrical watches in the USA. In order to maintain its dominant market
 An Industry in Transition 133

position, the company recognized early on that it must become a proficient

supplier of its own electronic modules instead of relying solely on outside
vendors. Timex had a watch component manufacturing plant in Waterbury,
Connecticut, but was dependent upon outside suppliers for its LCDs.
Consequently, the company established LCD development in the early
1970s at its corporate R&D center in Tarrytown, New York and hired scien-
tists and engineers with knowledge and experience in LCD development.
One of the first was Chan Soo Oh, who previously worked with me at RCA
Laboratories. Oh had a R.S. degree in pharmacy from Seoul National
University and M.S. and ph.11. degrees in organic chemistry from St. John's
University. Soon, other Ph.D. scientists, Frank Allan, Marshall Liebowitz
and Paul Hsieh joined Timex from Olivetti. Allan had also worked on LCDs
at Rockwell and previously worked on photochromic displays at RCA
Laboratories in the 1960s when I first met him.
According to Oh,12 the early work at Timex was on developing mate-
rial for dynamic scattering LCDs to be used in watches, clocks and instru-
ments. It should be mentioned that during this time period, there were no
major manufacturers of liquid crystal material; so, many companies main-
tained a staff of chemists to synthesize and purify the materials for use in
displays. It was not until the late 1970s and early 190s, that the chemical
firms mentioned previously began offering a wide variety of liquid crystal
mixtures for LCI> manufacturing.
After reading the Schadt and Helfrich paper published in 1971, Oh
shifted his work toward the twisted-nematic displays because the low
voltage operation and low current consumption of the LCDs would greatly
increase battery life, an important factor for buyers of watches. Oh and
Hsieh prepared many twisted-nematic cells using mixtures of Schiff bases
and azoxy compounds containing PEBAB (pethoxybenzylidene-
p'-aminobenzonitrile). These were shown to Timex management and the
company was convinced to switch to the lower voltage displays.
Meanwhile, Timex also began looking at acquisitions that would
provide it with LCD manufacturing capability. Consequently, it initiated the
purchase of Microma from Intel in 1977, when the market for LCD watches
was in oversupply and Intel rcportedlyl3 had some 200,000 watches in
inventory. At the time, James Heck, who was the engineering manager at
Microma, became the general manger of the operation. Kevin Hathaway
was one of the key material and device engineers who began working at
Microma in 1972. His work at Microma/Timex started in the LC material
side, but gravitated toward devices. Hathaway made many contributions to
134 Liquid Gold

the development of low voltage Guest-Host displays, mostly during the

Timex years. He was also involved in development of molecular alignment
methods and device measurements such as tilt angle and polarization
effects as well as photometric characterizations of LCDs.
According to Ilathaway,14 Timex acquired the assets of Microma, but
did not buy the name, which was sold to a Swiss company. Hathaway
believes the transfer actually occurred in early 1978; the sale was orches-
trated very carefully because Timex feared possible anti-trust action by the
U.S. Justice Department. Thus, the sale was gradually leaked to Microma’s
employees over a period of about six months. “This phase was initiated by
a shutting down of all production-related activities by Intel and then by the
establishment of a special new and, as it turned out, temporary division
of Intel called the Advanced Electronics Products Development Group,”
recalls Hathaway. “The non-essential people were mostly absorbed into
Intel and those that remained were given the opportunity to either find a
job at Intel or remain with the Group. Our supposed charter was to do
contract engineering and development for other companies and a short
while later, lo and behold, Timex showed up as our first ‘customer’.
Anyway, this phase of the ruse lasted for about six months before Timex’s
long-term intentions were made known at my level (engineer) in the
organization. Even though the sale to Timex was handled with a bit of
‘cloak-and-dagger,’I believe it worked out pretty well for most involved.”
Timex had also purchased RCA’s LCD operation in Somerville, New
Jersey, during this time period. However, Timex’s whole business was fac-
ing intense competition from Asia and it sought to cut costs by moving all
LCD production facilities to Asia and the Philippines. Consequently, manu-
facturing operations in Cupertino and Somerville were phased out by the
early 1980s.liltimately, Timex realized that it could not compete as a man-
ufacturing company and realigned its business to become a marketing and
distribution entity, which is where it remains today.
During the mid-l970s, many other firms entered the LCD watch manu-
facturing industry. In addition to the semiconductor firms like Pairchild,
National, Motorola, Texas Instruments and American Microsystems, others
such as neckman Instruments, Rockwell International, Hughes Aircraft,
Spiedel, Ebauches SA in Switzerland and Commodore joined the business.
Commodore WAS one of the first companies to produce personal com-
puters. Bruce Crockett, who was a former operations manager for LEDs at
Fairchild, led the LCD operation. Crockett had been hired by Bud Fry, my
former boss at Fairchild who was then a vice president of Commodore
 An industry in Transition 135

working directly for Jack Tramiel, the founder and CEO of the company.
Rodney Blose, who had worked for me at both Fairchild and Princeton
Materials Science, was hired as manufacturing manager. The company
established a pilot line in Palo Alto, California, to build calculator displays
and I was called in as a consultant in November 1978. Together with Blose
and his assistant Walter Murray, we developed both an improved process
for molecular alignment and polymer sealing using thermoplastic and
epoxy materials.
In January 1979, Commodore acquired Micro Display Systems (MDS)
in Dallas ’Texas, a company that was formed by a group from Texas
Instruments as described previously in Chapter 8. This company already
had a volume LCD manufacturing operation for watch and calculator dis-
plays, so Commodore consolidated all its display manufacturing in Dallas,
leading me to believe that my services as a consultant would no longer
be needed. However, several months later, I received a call from Bruce
Crockett asking me to fly to Dallas as soon as possible to help solve a
problem related to molecular alignment. Indeed, a day later I was being
greeted by Crockett and Blose at the airport in Dallas and was Soon work-
ing with them to solve the problem.
I had previously visited MDS in August 1978 when I was still with
natascreen/Kylex. The purpose of that visit was to develop a technology
exchange agreement, but that never materialized. In any event, I was
already familiar with the operation. Also, I had been working with Fairchild
and other companies to develop improved aligning agents and in February
1980 had already developed my own polyimide formulation. However,
Blose wanted to use a material that did not require expensive or exotic sol-
vents, so polyimides, which required the use of N-methyl pyrrolidone as a
solvent, was ruled out. Blose and I set out to design a series of experiments
involving various alignment layer materials and within just one week,
Elose and his staff completed the project. I suggested using methyl cellu-
lose with a medium molecular weight range, making it possible to deposit
a thick film of the material from an aqueous solution. This enabled the
company to use a safe and rather simple process for depositing the align-
ment layer material, which could then be rubbed in the usual way to give a
stable alignment layer. The company continued to use this process to build
millions of reliable LCD watch displays, but the technique was never pub-
lished or patented to my knowledge. Commodore’s production increased
dramatically after 1979 and peaked in 1982 when it sold 30million units.
After manufacturing 25million units in 1983, the firm exited the watch
136 Liquid Gold

display business. Commodore went completely out of LCD manufacturing

in 1986 when it sold the operation to Eagle Pitcher Industries.
Meanwhile, a number of companies in Japan began expanding their
operations and increasing volume production of LCD watch displays. By the
end of 1930, the highest volume supplier was Hitachi with a monthly capac-
ity of two million units. Other major suppliers and their monthly capacities
were: Daini Seikosha (1 million), Citizen (800,000), Epson (600,000), Suwa
Seikosha (350,000), Nanotronix (400,000), Optrex (400,000), Sanyo (400,000)
and Sharp (200,000). Optrex was formed as a joint venture between
Mitsubishi and Asahi Glass, a major supplier of the glass panels used in
LCL) manufacturing. In later years, Daini Seikosha became Seiko Instruments
and a merger between Epson and Suwa Seikosha led to the creation of
Sciko Epson. However, all of these companies continued to develop LCDs in
larger sizes with higher information content and for a broader range of appli-
cation.. By the mid-1980s other Japanese companies such as Fujitsu and NEC
moved into manufacturing of LCDs for computer displays.

HONG KONG MANUFACTURING EXPANDS

The transfer of Fairchild’s LCD technology to its Wing Kai Facility in Tuen
Mun, Hong Kong, was described in the previous chapter. By 1978, the inter-
est in the LCD business in Hong Kong had accelerated greatly and local
investors were eager to become involved. They looked to the Wing Kai
plant as a source of experienced engineers and W.T. Wan and K.K. Cheng
were recruited to form Display Technology Limited. Meanwhile, Rue
Marshall, formerly Quality Assurance Manager, had become Wing Kai’s
plant manager. According to Garies’ recollection^,'^ Marshall soon recog-
nized the high profitability of the LCD operation and sought t o establish a
competing start-up company. After meeting with Harry Suzuki, who was
Fairchild’s sales manager, they made contact with Alex Au of Conic
Investment Co., Ltd., a €long Kong entrepreneur, who agreed to fund the
new company. Alex Au’s family had left Fujian province in China in 1949
and went to Taiwan, where they started an injection molding company. Au
went to Hong Kong to set up another successful injection molding com-
pany. Eventually he formed Conic Investment Co., Ltd., which was aimed at
investing in new ventures that showed promise in the electronics industry.
Shortly thereafter, Garies was recruited and was asked to design a
process to produce 2.5 million watch displays per week. Over a couple of
weekends, Garies designed the line and outlined the equipment to be
 An industry in Transition 137

used. The design was based on laminate seal processing 14-inch X 1Cinch
sub-oxidized IT0 coated glass sheets.
Marshall and Suzuki left Fairchild at the end of 1979 to form Conic
Semiconductor on January 1, 1980 with Marshall as Director of Operations
and Suzuki as Director of Marketing. “The use of ‘semiconductor’ in the
name was a distraction to establish a rumor that Conic would be making
watch and calculator chips,” said Garies. As far as I know, there was never
an intention to actually manufacture semiconductors.
Garies stayed with Fairchild until May 1980 and then joined Conic
Semiconductor as the Director of Engineering. The new company set up its
facilities literally “down the street” from the Wing Kai plant. Soon other
engineers and production managers from Wing Kai were recruited to join
Conic. Included in the group were C.S. Chan, Manufacturing Manager,
Raphael Kan, Engineering Manager, K.K. Fung, Human Resources Manager,
C.B. Tang and T.S. Tso, process engineer. C.S. Chan also brought in at least
three supervisors from Fairchild. I’roduction, engineering, and quality
control operators were added; by October of 1980, the company WdS fully
operational. At Fairchild, Garies had successfully implemented a process to
pattern large plates of glass (14-inches X 14-inches) using in-line photoli-
thography, but the Conic line had improved processes. This “front-end”
operation soon had the capability of producing thousands of patterned
plates per day in very high yield. However, the “back-end” of the process,
namely the slope evaporation process and sealing, was severely limiting
production flow. Because I knew the three principals from our days
together at Fairchild, Marshall contacted me to enlist my help in solving var-
ious production problems that were encountered. I made my first trip to
Hong Kong in the fall of 1980 and worked closely with Marshall, Garies and
others to improve yields and increase output on the “back-end.”
One of the first things we did was to eliminate the slope evaporation
By evaporating the silicon monoxide normal to the plate (the
source was at a right angle to the surface of the plates), we could greatly
increase throughput. Then, by rubbing the silicon monoxide surface, we
Obtained the desired alignment and low molecular tilt in the finished
displays. Despite what many had believed up to that time, this surface
treatment maintained its integrity throughout the succeeding high tempera-
ture glass sealing process. It was not until 1982 that this was publicly
reported.”“
Another remarkable volume production process that was implemented
by Conic was the sputtering of chromium, followed by copper and then gold
138 Liquid Gold

over the fill opening on the edge of the display. After filling, the displays
would be sealed by soldering across this metal strip. The unique feature
of the Conic system was that large volumes of displays could be processed in
one-pump-down. Garies still recalls the concern on the part of the engineers
about the first time 100,000 displays were loaded into the sputtering system
for one run and the subsequent commitment for filling 5,000 displays at a
time in the fill chamber^.'^
I3y early 1981, Conic's management decided that it must shift to poly-
mer sealing if it were to increase its production volume and lower its man-
ufacturing cost. Once again, I was called in to help establish a process and
several months later, Conic's engineering and production staff imple-
mented both epoxy sealing and polyimide alignment techniques. This
change meant that different alignment coating systems, screen printers,
laminate array sealing methods, UV seal material application and curing
systems were needed. Conic designed and built all the necessary equip-
ment, including special screen printers with video alignment and screen
lift-off that were capable of three prints per minute. After the changes were
made, the number of operators was reduced to two per shift from a total of
17 when using the old process. By the end of 1981, silicon monoxide evap-
oration and glass frit sealing were totally abandoned.
The company then installed photomask and screen fabrication shops.
Garies designed and built a lensless step and repeat system for exposing
photomasks. Iron oxide coated photomasks 16 inches on a side were
used. He also converted an enlarger system to produce accurate photo-
reductions. This gave Conic total in-house control of all designs.
Garies states15 that the company produced 60 million LCD watch dis-
plays in 1981, making it one of the largest producers in the world. The fol-
lowing year, production reached 93 million units and it increased year by
year, reaching a peak of 198 million units in 1987.
Conic Semiconductor was one of some 40 companies in Conic
Investment. In 1981, 25 o f the companies were split off to form Honic
Holdings, Ltd., while Conic Semiconductor and 14 other ventures
remained in Conic Investment, which went public on the Hong Kong
stock exchange in August of 1981. However, in July 1982, according to
Garies' a ~ c o u n t , 'there
~ were significant financial losses reported at the
annual board meeting. Apparently, some of Conic Investments' major cus-
tomers were involved with Honic Holdings and they were having financial
problems. Consequently, in 1982, Alex Au arranged with Sin King, a sub-
sidiary o f China Resources in the People's Republic of China, to inject HK$
 An Industry in Transition 139

100 million into Conic Investment, making it the first Hong Kong-based
company t o he funded by a PKC-based entity.
Sin King acquired 35% o f Conic Investment shares in 1984 and soon
started taking control by installing a new board o f directors and placing
its own people in some o f the Conic Investment companies. One year
later, Sin King bought the balance of the shares in Conic Investment and
in 1986, a new general manager was named. By 1987, a new director
from Sin King was appointed to the hoard of Conic Semiconductor and it
soon became clear that the intent was to move much of Conic
Semiconductor’s operations into Mainland China. It was also clear that
the new management had no intention of retaining Americans in key
inanagement roles, so Marshall, Suzuki and Garies were released in 1988.
Marshall and Suauki soon formed a new company called Yeebo Displays,
which also became a high-volume producer of LCD watch displays in
Mainland China. Garies joined Ihnnelly Mirrors and returned to thc U.S.
Later, he formed, a consulting company called Constellation. [Tnfortunately,
he passed away in 2004 as this book was being completed.
Another important Hong Kong company was Varitronix, which was
founded in September 1978 b y Dr. C.C. Chang, Ilr. York Lido, Dr. S.K. Yan,
S.K. Kwok, S.M. Chung and James Lee. Chang, Lido and Lee were lecturing
at that time in the Department of Electronics of Chinese IJniversity of Hong
Kong, according to Chang? Kwok was a student of York and Yan was lec-
turing in the Baptist College (now Hong Kong Baptist University), while
Chung was an entrepreneur who operated his own electronics Factory at that
timc. Chang took the plunge of resigning from a tenured job at the university
and along with Kwok and Chung devoted full time to starting up the com-
pany. Lido and Lee joined Varitronix eight years later as full-time employees.
Although Chang’s field was superconductivity, he became interested in
liquid crystal displays and worked on the Ilynamic Scattering Mode in 1972
and 1973. Lido had already been involved in liquid crystal research having
received his doctorate from Harvard IJniversity on order parameters of
liquid crystals. He and Kwok were working on the relaxation time of the
cholesteric-to-nematic phase change effect.
“Initially we planned to use the Same glass frit process as Fairchild’s
Wing Kai plant, but by a stroke of luck, we heard that the Japanese were
successful in plastic sealing and the laminate process,” recalled Chang. “We
stopped in time to cancel our orders on high-temperature furnaces and
other equipment and switched to investigate the laminate process.
Everything seemed to work in our favor. First of all, BDH Chemicals Started
140 Liquid Gold

to offer cyanobiphenyl-based liquid crystals, which were more stable in air

than Schiff-based material. We also found some plastic sealing material that
did not react with the cyanobiphenyl material. Fully oxidized I T0 coated
glass started to become available and furthermore, Villa Precision came up
with a laminate glass scriber at the same time. Yields were much higher
than the glass frit process and that was the main reason we managed to
gain a firm footing in the field during that time.”
Varitronix started making LCD watch displays during the same time
period as Pairchild and Conic, but it has grown to become a leading manu-
facturer of Lc1)s with sales in 2002 of $140 million. 1 first met Chang in
1981 when Varitronix and Conic began moving into high-volume produc-
tion. The companies had a friendly rivalry during those years. From the
outset, Varitronix was a research-driven company, working with customers
to develop advanced LCD products for a broad range of markets, including
sophisticated commercial, industrial, medical and military display products.
The company became a public-owned company in 1991 when its associ-
ated holding company, Varitronix International Limited, was successfully
launched on the IIong Kong Stock Exchange. Today, the company has
manufacturing facilities in Hong Kong, China and Malaysia.
Other Hong Kong companies that joined the industry in 1980 were
Display Tech, STC and Megahertz. In later years, the industry moved to
Mainland China, where today there are dozens of high-volume manufactur-
ers o f LcDs for applications ranging from small watch-size displays to large
television sets.

MORE AMERICAN COMPANIES ENTER THE BUSINESS

Another early entrant into the field of LCl)s was North American Rockwell.
This company had its origins in 1880, but in the 1950s, Willard Rockwell
created a merger of several companies to form Rockwell Standard. In 1967,
Rockwell Standard merged with North American Aviation to form North
American Rockwell, which became Rockwell International in 1973 and
Rockwell Automation in the mid-1990s. Anthony G. Genovese was a physi-
cist who had been working at Rockwell’s Autonetics R&D Division since
1966 just after receiving a Master of Science degree in physics and mathe-
matics from New York University.
In 1968, Genovese began working to build LCDs for practical
applications. He soon proposed the possibility of manufacturing dynamic
scattering LCns and showed a handmade sample to Donald Williams, then
 An Industry in Transition 141

I’resident o f R o c k ~ e l l . ’Shortly
~ thereafter, he was funded to start a
development program in the Advanced Technology Group to build a cal-
culator display using the dynamic scattering mode and his department
head was asked to develop a complete calculator. He also developed fonts
that could be used for front and back plates as well as filling and sealing
technology. With cooperation from the Rockwell Science Center in
Thousand Oaks, California, the company manufactured its own liquid
crystal materials. The development took one year and, according to
Genovese,” this calculator was ahead of Sharp’s first product. Genovese
claims that Rockwell developed the process for building the first reliable
calculator LCDs t o go into mass production.
Another key member of the team that developed the first liquid crys-
tal numeric displays and calculators that were put into production was
Lawrence E. Tannas, Jr,, who was manager o f the Advance Display
Technology Department of the Autonetics Division of Rockwell. According
to ‘I’annas,’I8Rockwell Microelectronics was one of the world’s first compa-
nies t o produce CMOS chip sets for the arithmetic electronic calculator and
sold the technology to Sharp Corporation. Tannas recalled, “As the market
matured, there was a one-year lead time to get any kind of display.
Rockwell was desperate to get a display solution so they could get prod-
ucts to market and compete with Sharp, Texas Instruments and others. At
the time, Rockwell made about 90% of the world’s supply of chips.”
The Advance Display Technology Department under Tannas devel-
oped five LCD prototypes and a formal presentation to the Division Vice
hesident, Cedric O’Ihnnell, resulted in the project being transferred to the
Microelectronics I-’roduct Division in 1972. Development was completed
that same year and a pilot line was set up in Anaheim, California, while a
production facility was established in Mexicali, Mexico. Tannas and his
group also developed an alpha-numeric display that was offered for sale to
the aerospace industry for high performance applications.
Tannas went on to have a long career in the display industry and edited
one of the first books on the development of flat panel display technology. 18
He also presents a series of seminars on display technology at the University
of California at Los Angeles. A former President of the Society for Information
Display, he is currently a consultant to many companies in the industry.
A photo of one of the first calculators is shown in Fig. 10.3.This unit was
made for Sears, which sold the product in its stores in the early 1970s,
according to both Genovese” and Oh.12However, Tannas18 believes it was
made in 1972, but not sold in stores until 1973. While the unit was compact
142 Liquid Gold

Fig. 10.3. Model C1 transportable calculator with a dynamic scattering LCD built by
Rockwell and sold by Sears in 1972 for $79 according to Genovese.” This is believed
t o he one of the first commercial products t o use a liquid crystal display. Although the
LCD has a crack in the glass, the calculator is still operational. Photo taken in
1)eceinber 2003. Courtesy of Anthony G. Genovese, International Ilisplay Works, Inc.

(about 12 inches X 6 inches X 2 inches thick), it used line voltage, not batter-
ies, so it could not Ix considered a true “portable” calculator. Nevertheless,
this C1 model was one of the first (if not the first), commercially available
LCD calculators. The Sharp Elsi Mate EL-805, which was introduced on May
15, 1973, was a tnie portable calculator, so it is generally considered’ t o be
the first LCD “pocket calculator” to enter the market.
In 1970, Genovese left Rockwell and started a company with Ray Lee,
who was formerly with Texas Instruments and RCA. This company was
bought by Varadyne Electromask Company in Van Nuys, California, and for
the next 18 months, Lee and Genovese continued to develop LCD tech-
nology including some with molded ceramic substrates and metallic
feedthroughs to be used as a reflective backplane. Genovese also devel-
oped an interdigitated LCD in June 1971, which operated at about
three volts. This display used chromium instead of IT0 for the electrodes.
According t o Genovese,” this device was only possible at Varadyne
Electromask since it developed the first photo tool with fine stepping. This
was the first project done on this stepper.
Varadyne’s LCD Division was sold t o Beckman Instruments, Fullerton,
California, in November 1971. Both Lee and Genovese moved with the
 An Industry in Transition 143

operation to Beckman, a manufacturer of analytical instruments that largely

served the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. However, Beckman’s
Helipot IXvision made multi-turn potentiometers (variable resistor,
precision contact resistor over helically wound wires). These parts were
manufactured individually, tested individually, and used as a discrete com-
ponent. The Helipot Division, which later became the Electro-Products
Division, also manufactured screen printed potentiometers, trimmers,
capacitors and hybrid microcircuits. Sophisticated hybrid circuits on
ceramic wafers were used in the aerospace and military industries. Thus,
the company was experienced at manufacturing highly reliable discrete
electronic components, so producing LCDs appeared to be very logical in
the early 197Os.l2In addition, Beckman was trying to get into the consumer
product manufacturing business and away from the military and aerospace
business, which was in decline at that time.
At Beckman, Genovese developed watch L C I h and sold the first watch
displays to Gruen and ERC, a division of Spiedel based near Kansas City,
Kansas. Beckman later sold one million LCDs to Timex at $4.50 each,
according t o Genovese. Beckman developed a Teflon-like plastic seal and
later developed a glass frit sealed display.
At about this time, Kay Lee recruited Chan Soo Oh from Timex to join
Beckman, which had established the I,CD operation in its Helipot Division.
Beckman needed an experienced liquid crystal chemist to set u p the organic
synthesis kdboratory to make nematic materials for display devices. This
instrument company never had an organic chemistry laboratory, so it took
Oh several months to equip the facility with glassware, chemicals, solvents
and measuring instruments. Shortly thereafter, he started to synthesize
nematic liquid crystals and prepared paper clamp assembled twisted-nematic
displays for demonstration.
Beckman was soon manufacturing twisted-nematic LCDs using slope
evaporated silicon monoxide and frit sealing, but like other manufacturers
it wanted to shift to polymer sealing. O h became aware of the fact that the
Japanese manufacturers were all using polymer sealing to reduce manufac-
turing cost and he saw this as the next logical step. He was impressed with
the displays being made by James Fergason’s company ILIXCO, so he
made a visit to the company’s plant in Ohio and purchased a buffing
machine, some spare rollers, PVA alignment solution and thermoplastic
sealing material.12Using the same process as ILIXCO, O h was able to fabri-
cate fast-responding, high-contrast displays, but the seal would not meet
the high temperature/high humidity requirements of Reckman’s customers.
144 Liquid Gold

Oh next developed polyimide alignment materials and epoxy sealants

as well as cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals and biphenyl esters, which he
synthesized himself in Beckman’s laboratories using processes that gave
much higher yields than those reported in the literature. This allowed him
to design stable, room temperature nematic mixtures and he was able to
obtain several patents on ester biphenyl formulations for multiplexed dis-
plays. Beckman also manufactured LCIls for pH meters, toys, instrument
indicators and multimeters. However, by the late 1970s, Eeckman could
not compete with LCII makers in Japan and Asia, so it abandoned the dis-
play business in 1980 and sold the LCD manufxturing equipment.12
Chan Soo Oh stayed with Deckman and eventually became head of the
organic chemistry group in the company’s Diagnostic Division. His group was
involved in the development of advanced chemical reagents for high-speed
chemistry analyzers used in the diagnostic industry. He was also given per-
mission t o be a consultant to other firms in the LCD industry on his own time,
since it did not conflict with Beckman’s business. As a result, Oh has been a
consultant to Honeywell’s Aerospace and Naval Systems Division, Samsung
Electron Devices and several other companies in the TFT-LCD business.
Another company that entered the LCD manufacturing business was
Printed Circuits International, Sunnyvale, California. In early 1976, the com-
pany hired Anthony Genovese from Beckman to start a new division, PCI
Displays Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. Later in 1976, PCI Displays became the
volume leader in LCD watch displays. At PCI, Genovese worked to lower
the cost of manufacturing LCDs and developed LCD modules using Chip-
on-Board technology, which the company jointly developed with
Hewlett-Packard. The company was one of the first to build LCDs in panel
form by buying technology from Ebauches SA in Switzerland and modifying
the process to improve reliability. PCI introduced LCDs into the first auto-
motive applications with the first aftermarket 1,CD clock for Sparkomatic
and later into the first OEM automotive application at Kenault with a digital
clock, which is shown in Fig. 10.4. PCI later built the first LCDs for Ford
Motor Company and expanded the technology into appliances and telecom-
munications with the first LCD for a Motorola cell phone.”
In the early 1970s, Hewlett-Packard was primarily engaged in the man-
ufacture of sophisticated test and measuring instruments for the electronics
industry, but it also made many of the components for that equipment. At
that time, the company recognized the importance of LCDs for its instru-
ments and started a development program at its central research center in
Palo Alto, California. One of the first LCD scientists to join the company
 An Industry in Transition 145

Fig. 10.4. One of the first TI’-LCD clocks for automobiles. This model was made
by PCI Displays in 1978 and sold to Renault. Courtesy of Anthony Genovese,
International Display Works, December 2003.

was Frederic J. Kahn, who had a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from
Kensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard
LJniversity. Kahn began working in LCD research in 1968 when he joined
NEC in Kawasaki, Japan. When he first suggested in a letter that NEC work
on LCDs, Michiyuki Uenohara, later to become Vice President of R&D at
NEC, wrote back that there were n o liquid crystals available in Japan and
asked Kahn to learn more about them and bring some with him to Japan.I9
Two years later, Kahn returned to the USA and joined Bell Telephone
Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he started the company’s LCD
R&D program in January 1970. The initial target was large screen Picture-
phone, but the small screen Picturephone trial in Chicago in 1970 failed, so
the LCD group had to find other applications for its LCD developments. Kahn
made important contributions to the advancement of LCD technology at Bell
Labs, including the first tilted vertically aligned nematic (VAN),n’ now used
widely in liquid crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) projection systems and TFI-LCDs.
He and his colleagues also developed laser-addressed cholesteric and smectic
liquid crystal light valves for projection displays.21,22The laser-addressed
smectic liquid crystal was used to create a writable, erasable mask for the
manufaaure of telephone central office switching system backplanes.
146 Liquid Gold

By 1974, Kahn had moved west to join Hewlett-Packard and in the

spring of that year, his group demonstrated internally the first long-lifetime
LCD to be used in the company’s line of scientific calculators. In 1979,
Hewlett-Packard used this display in the HP 41, a breakthrough program-
mable calculator manufactured in the company’s Corvallis, Oregon plant.
This enabled the company to become the market share leader in LCD cal-
culators. For economic reasons, however, Hewlett-Packard stopped its
own LCD production in favor of buying from Hitachi. Later, Kahn’s group
went on to develop more advanced LCDs and a C-sized engineering work
station for computer-aided design based on the laser smectic LCD rear pro-
jection scheme Kahn had pioneered at Bell Labs.
Kahn left Hewlett-Packard in 1984 and formed Greyhawk Systems to
develop and commercialize a laser smectic LCD projector for high resolu-
tion applications. In 1986, the company introduced the first product using
this technology and until recently it was the highest information content
electronic display to be commercialized. l9 The SoftPlot 40-inch display, for
example, had 2,200 X 3,400 pixels, addressable u p to 8,000 X 13,600 pixels
with 24-bit color.23A photo of the system is shown in Fig. 10.5. Products

Fig. 10.5. The SoftPlot 40-inch diagonal high resolution display made by Greyhawk
Systems. The display had 400 dots-per-inch addressability and 120 million addressable
points. Photo courtesy of Frederic J. Kahn, who is seated third from the left.
 An Industry in Transition 147

were sold to the US. Air Force for monitoring spy satellite communications
as well as for color printing and printed circuit board manufacturing. After
leaving Greyhawk, Kahn formed Kahn International, a company that today
provides consulting services to the projection display industry.
Hughes Aircraft Company's interest in LCDs goes back to the late 1960s
and early 1970s when the company made LCD watch displays and driver cir-
cuits. After conceding that business to the Japanese and Asian firms, the
Hughes research kdbordtoXy in Malibu, California became seriously engaged in
the development of LCD projectors using a technology that was different from
the laser addressed systems being developed by IBM, Bell Labs and Greyhawk
Systems. Hughes was already investigating methods for display of real-time,
laser-based holographic movies. "he company became a world-class leader in
laser research after the first laser was demonstrated in 1960. The real-time
holographic modulator required a full visible spectrum optical-to-optical
image converter that could convert a white light image to a replica image on a
laser light beam. This motivation led to the invention of the AC liquid crystal
light valve (LCLV) in 1972 by a team of Hughes research s ~ i e n t i s t s .This
~~?~~
device employed photoconductive thin films developed by William P. Rleha,26
who was one of the original developers of the Hughes LC light valve and pro-
jection system. The novel spatial light modulator was then developed for
applications in large screen displaysz7and optical data processing.28
Following U.S. Navy support for advanced development of the LCLV
for shipboard graphic display applications, Bleha was transferred to the
Hughes Aircraft Industrial Products Division in Carlsbad, California, to put
the device in production. Under the U.S. Navy Manufacturing Technology
Program and Hughes Aircraft funding, the LCLV was successfully produced
and entered U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force display systems in the early
1980s. The potential for commercial use of the LCLV was also recognized
and Bleha participated in development of projectors with LCLVs that could
display high resolution graphical imagery and ultimately full-motion video
projection. In parallel, much research was being conducted into real-time
. ~ ~ LCLV, because of its high resolution and
optical data p r o c e ~ s i n g The
dynamic range, became a standard research modulator in industrial and
academic research centers around the world.
Bleha led the group that developed the second generation LCLV, based
on an amorphous silicon photoconductor, a device that allowed full-motion,
high-resolution video images to be displayed.30 This development was
important because it became the first method of projecting HDTV resolution
video images on a large screen and paved the way for digital cinema.
148 Liquid Gold

Hughes realized the future commercial importance of this display and

in 1989 spun-off the LCLV activities into a subsidiary called Light Valve
Products, Inc.'" Bleha was named Vice President of Engineering, responsi-
ble for both projector and device development. At that time, the LCLV was
given the trademarked name ILA for Image Light Amplifier.31 Soon Light
Valve Products, Inc. was demonstrating large screen displays for Digital
Cinema in Hollywood and large venue applications.
In 1992, Hughes decided to join with JVC (formerly Victor Company of
Japan), a well-established consumer electronics company based in Japan, in
a joint venture called Hughes-JVC Technology Corporation to produce ILA
projectors. Bleha served in positions of Vice I'resident of R&D and Vice
President of Engineering with the joint venture. From 1992 to 2000, the
company shipped over 3,500 projectors into large venue applications
around the world.26 Hughes-JVC also developed a 12,000 Lumen ILA pro-
jector for digital cinema and in June 1999, it was used to present a demon-
stration of the world's first Digital Cinema Feature of Star Wars Episode 1 in
Los Angeles and New York in June 1999. An equally powerful projector
made by Texas Instruments, which employed the company's unique Digital
Micro Mirror Devices (Digital Light Processing), was also used in that
demonstration.
In 1995, JVC acquired a controlling interest in the joint venture and
consolidated it within the parent company as the Projection Technology
Group. The group continued to focus its efforts on delivering advanced
display products, which led to the development of the first Direct Drive
Image Light Amplifier (D-ILA) projector for the professional and industrial
market in 1997. The D-ILA was the first successful LCOS (liquid crystal on
silicon) display modulator to reach production and in 1998, the first D-ILA
projector was introduced to the market with 1,300 X 1,050 pixels. JVC
created the JVC Digital Image Technolgy Center in Carlsbad, California, in
2000 to apply D-ILA projector technology to large screen applications,
including Digital Cinema.32In 2002, JVC formed the ILA Technology Group
in Lake Forest, California. This eventually became the JVC North America
R&D Center, where the development of new D-ILA applications for the JVC
2,048 X 1,536 and 4,000 X 2,000 pixel D-ILA projectors continues.

EXIT THE AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR FIRMS

While many companies were entering the LCD business, the semiconductor
companies, which had mainly been involved in the LCD watch business,
 An Industry in Transition 149

lxgan their exit from the industry in the late 1970s. As mentioned previ-
ously, Intel sold its Microma division to Timex in 1978. Shortly thereafter,
other semiconductor firms began leaving the business in droves. Included
in the list o f firms that ended LCD and/or LCD watch manufacturing
between 1978 and 1982 were Intersil, National Semiconductor, Motorola,
IKA, Texas Instruments, American Microsystems, Litronix and S u n ~ r u xBy
.~~
June of 1.981, the only semiconductor company still manufacturing LCDs
was Fairchild and just a few years later, it too was out of the busine One
of the major reason, for this was the continuing price pressure exerted on
both digital watches and LCDs by the Japanese and other Pacific Kim manu-
facturers. By June of 1981, Japanese manufacturers as a group held a 45%
share of the market for watch-size LCDs and 80% of the market for LCDs
used in other application^.^^ In addition, there was an oversupply of watch
LCI) production with many factories operating at only 30% of capacity.
Another reason was the general softness of the semiconductor market at
that time, so these companies started to refocus their efforts on the core
semiconductor business in which they had been successful.

EUROPEAN INNOVATIONS
As mcntioned earlier, Brown Boveri & Company (BBC) in Baden,
Switzerland, was a partner with Hoffmann-La IZoche on the royalties from
the twisted-nematic LCD patent. In the 1970s, HBC had a very active
research program in liquid crystal displays with Allan Kmetz, Terry J.
Scheffer and Jiirgen Nehring, all 1’h.D. scientists, working on ways t o
improve the multiplexability of the displays. According to K m e t ~he
, ~left
~
the company in 1978 to join 13ell Labs and. just missed out on the break-
through invention o f the “supertwisted-birefringent effect” (SHE) LCD,
which later became known as the STN-LCD. Kmetz remarked: “this was
truly elegant science: my former colleagues used the analyses developed
by Dwight Herreman, my old friend and new colleague (at Bell Labs), to
optimize the twist configuration and optics to achieve high contrast at a
multiplexing level high enough for a laptop computer display.” When
Kmetz went to I k l l Labs, he suggested to 13erreman that his research on
bistable LCDs might be applied to improve twisted-nematic multiplexing.
However, the BBC research group published its results before Kmetz or
Berreman could carry out their experiments.
By Scheffer’s the whole idea of the STN-LCD came from
computer modeling of the twisted-nematic structures. Commercial LCT>
150 Liquid Gold

simulation software was not available in the 1970s and early 1980s, so
Nehring and Scheffer wrote FORTRAN programs for the purpose of model-
ing LCDs. “In running these simulations on twisted-nematic structures, we
noted that increasing the twist angle beyond 90 degrees caused the electro-
distortional curve to become steeper, becoming infinitely steep at around
270 degrees of twist and becoming bistable for twist angles larger than
this,” said Scheffer. The BRC team immediately recognized that a system
having a very steep electro-distortional curve might be highly multiplex-
able, but this seemed too good to be true and they were wary of having
missed something. Scheffer recalled: ‘there had been a long felt need for a
highly multiplexable LCD and this discovery seemed so simple that it was
inconceivable to us that this idea would not have been discovered years
earlier. Our group immediately built some two-pixel test cells in the labora-
tory and sure enough, by adjusting the polarizers we were able to achieve
a good contrast ratio by simulating 100 multiplexed lines. Only later did we
realize that we were extremely lucky to choose oblique evaporation of sili-
con monoxide as an alignment process for these first test cells. This high
pre-tilt alignment suppressed the scattering texture, which would have
almost certainly appeared with lower pre-tilt alignment materials and
spoiled the effect we were looking for, Conventional rubbed polyimide
produced very low pre-tilt angles at the time and this is probably what kept
people from stumbling on STN earlier. We were also lucky enough to pick
a cell gap and 1,C material that were near optimum for the ‘yellow-mode’of
operation. with this early flush of success our whole group proceeded at
full speed to optimize this discovery.” A U.S. patent w a s soon applied for
on the new inventiod6 and the device was described at the 1983
International Display Research Conference in Kobe, Japan.37
Unknown t o the BHC group, however, was that Colin Waters,
V. Brimmell and E. Peter Kaynes, working at the Br h Ministry of Defence
(the RSRE laboratory mentioned previously where a number of LCD inno-
vations were discovered), had been independently researching super-
twisted structures based on the Guest-Host effect. Scheffer first became
aware of this work when Colin Waters38presented it in a paper at the same
research conference in Kobe, Japan, in 1983. However this paper made lit-
tle impact in his opinion because of the low-contrast ratio of this device.
S~heffet-3~ wondered why Waters and Raynes did not investigate the higher
contrast birefringence interference effects as he and Nehring had done. He
suspects that it went against the conventional wisdom of the time, which
was that birefringent interference colors were too sensitive to cell gap
 An Industry in Transition 151

variations, temperature changes and viewing angles to be practical.

Scheffer goes on to say, “we had just been lucky to stumble on the right
cell gap/LC inaterial combination. Once we saw that birefringence effects
worked well, hindsight analysis explained the errors of the conventional
wisdom. One factor that certainly worked in our favor was that glass sub-
strate quality had remarkably improved just prior to our discovery.”
Scheffer credits the RSKE scientists as the first t o invent the super-
twisted Guest-Host effect. Their patent priority date39was more than a year
earlier than BBC’s. However, he believes that BHC was first to patent a
supertwisted-t,irefringence effect based on optical interference. In 1985,
the BBC group demonstrated two 270 X 540 pixel reflective displays oper-
ating in the blue and yellow modes40 at the SID conference in Orlando,
Florida.
In Kawamoto’s account,l Waters and Raynes established the concept of
a 270-degree twist in 1982 and they claimed that the highly twisted struc-
ture could be applied to the twisted-nematic mode as well as the Guest-
Host mode. While the controversy over who had the idea first continues,
Scheffer and his team are generally regarded as the inventors of the device
since they produced the first practical working displays without added dye.
Scheffer was awarded the Society for Information Display’s prestigious Jan
Rajchman Prize in 1993 for this development; he was also made a Fellow
of this organization in 1999.
Soon after the demonstration in Orlando, Nehring made a trip to Japan
t o visit several Japanese LCD manufacturers. By October of 1985, Sharp,
Hitachi and Daini Seikosha were able to demonstrate STN-LCDs at the
Japan Electronics Show in Osaka’ and two years later, products began
appearing o n the market from numerous manufacturers. The Japanese
manufacturers had already made impressive gains in the manufacturing
process to control cell gap, so they were well situated to make STN-LCDs.
They backed off from the ideal twist angle to gain manufacturability with
then-existing alignment materials and charged ahead to market. New high-
tilt polyimides and improved LC mixtures came along quickly and optically
compensated STN-LCDs made it possible to have full-color displays for
high information content.
According to K m e t ~ Scheffer
,~~ and Nehring hit a home run with the
270-degree STN-LCDS, but Erown Boveri was scared off by the size of the
opportunity and actually dropped out of the LCD business in 1984 after it
sold its interest in Videlec, the joint manufacturing company that it formed
with l’hilips in 1980. And, while excellent LCD research continued to be
152 Liquid Gold

performed at IISRE, no major LCD manufacturers in Great Britain emerged.

(hnsequently, devices that were conceived in England and Switzerland
were being manufactured in Japan.
In Orsay, France, Robert €3. Meyer, guided by an elegant physical argu-
ment, proposed in 1975 that certain chiral (handed) asymmetric liquid
crystal molecules, which exhibit the smectic C phase (often called the C*
phase), would carry a non-zero electric dipole moment and be ferro-
electric.41Several months later, he and his colleagues prepared compounds
that had the desired structure and the first liquid ferroelectric was created4’
Five years later, Noel A. Clark and Sven T. Lagerwall, research physicists at
Chalmers Technical 1Jnivorsity in Goteborg, Sweden, built the first display
devices using ferroelectric-smectic materials.43After he left Chalmers, Clark
continued to pyrform research in this technology at the University of
Colorado in Boulder, but I believe he continued his collaboration with
Lagerwall for a number of years.
The term “ferroelectric”has nothing to do with iron or magnetism, but
refers to the hysteresis or memory effect originally observed in iron (ferrite)
magnets. The memory property of FLCDs is especially useful in highly
multiplexed displays hecause the pixel remains in its state during non-select
periods. In a FLCD, the pixels respond not to the average RMS voltage, but
to the most recent voltage that was above or below the O N or OFF voltage.
All the driving circuitry needs to do is latch the display to its ON or OFF
state. Maximum display size is limited less by the response characteristics of
the liquid crystal material and more by the speed of the driving circuitry.
The ferroelectric-smectic LCD caused quite a stir in the display
community in the early 1c)8Os because the display had the potential to
exhibit very high speed of response and decay as well as symmetric
histability (two stable, but distinct states) and a large electro-optic
response. The potential to build a high information content, highly multi-
plexed display without the need for an expensive TFT manufacturing
process was indeed quite attractive. In the mid- to late-1980s, therefore,
most o f the LCD manufacturers in Japan had development programs to
bring FLCI>s to the manufacturing stage.
Unfortunately, fcrroelectric-smectic LCDs were much more difficult to
produce than originally anticipated, a situation 1 discovered on several of
m y many trips to visit Japanese LCD manufacturers in the early 1990s.
Researchers, encouraged hy the rapid. development of TN and STN-LCDs,
hoped that FLCDs would follow the same course. But as FLCD technol-
ogy progressed, new problems and limitations emerged that were not
 A n Industry in Transition 153

calculated into the original development timetables. Some of the formida-

ble manufacturing difficulties specific to FLCDs that needed to be solved
were closer cell spacing and higher power consumption than other
enhanced LCD technologies. This is because smaller cell gaps lead to
increased capacitance and higher drive frequencies are needed for video
rate displays. Consequently, development efforts peaked in 1990, then
declined.
The most successful large screen FLCDs were developed by Canon in
Tokyo, Japan. In the rnid-l990s, the company began manufacturing 15-inch
monochrome and color FLCDs for computer workstations. Canon also
developed a 24-inch monochrome display with 16 gray levels and a
21-inch, 64-color FLCD. These displays had high image quality as a result
of a cross rubbing treatment that gave high contrast. Both displays had
1,280 X 1,024 pixels and a 40:1 contrast ratio. Gray levels were achieved
using dithering. However, the technology could not compete with the high
resolution color TFT-LCDs that were being made by many companies dur-
ing the late 1990s, so FLCDs for mainstream personal computer monitors or
notebook computers did not materialize.
The FLCI) technology, however, is still being pursued for such applica-
tions as high-speed light valves for projection systems or head mounted
displays in military and industrial products.
Another important development group was formed at GEC, the
General Electric Company of the United Kingdom. Dr. Cyril Hilsum, previ-
ously head of LCI) research at RSRE, joined the Hirst Research Center of
GEC in early 1983 as Chief Scientist and formed a new LCD research
group. Soon he recruited Dr. Piero Migliorato and Dr. Alan Mosley, who
had been with Kacal Research. According to M~sley:~Dr. Michael Clark
joined from KSKE in 1985 and became head of the group in 1988. In 1984,
the group began working on polycrystalline silicon for fabricating active
inatrix LCI>s. The use of amorphous and polycrystalline silicon for LCDs
was also underway at other laboratories around the world at that time; this
will be discussed further in Chapter 12.
Mosley and his colleapes worked mainly on the supertwisted-nematic
effect for passive matrix LCDs. They developed a high-tilt angle
(-10 degrees) rubbed polyimide alignment, which enabled them to fabri-
cate 270-degree STN-LCDs that gave higher contrast ratio and better
temperature stability than the other STN-LCDs that used twist angles of
240 degrees. This work was spun out twice to UK-based companies. The
first was EEV, another GEC company that created Lucid Displays in 19x8.
154 Liquid Gold

Another company was Hirst LCD, which was formed in 1994. Neither of
these operations lasted very long because the prices of the displays were
high compared to mass manufactured STN-LCDs and only a small number
o f customers were prepared to pay for the higher performance. The work
on high pre-tilt STN-LCDs was a process that could not be protected by a
patent, so GEC decided to keep it secret.44
The GEC group also did a great deal of work on Ferroelectric LCDs
and in the early 1990s, managed to produce a color 640 X 400 pixel dis-
play. This work was spun off into a company called CRL, which further
developed and commercialized the technologv. Now known as CRL Opto,
the company continues to work on FLCDs and uses this technology in its
single channel 1,280 X 1,204 pixel microdisplay that is aimed at projectors
and other applications.
The fluorescent LCD was one Hilsum’s ideas to replace the purely
absorptive dye in a Guest-Host LCD with an anisotropic fluorescent dye. CRL
had a joint project with the [Jniversity o f Leeds in the U.K., which provided
the dyes, and E. Merck, in Darmstadt, Germany, which worked on improv-
ing the lifetime. The principle worked well, but the dye needed to be stimu-
lated with W light to get it to be bright in the low voltage state. In the high
voltage state, there was no absorption, hence no fluorescence so the dispkay
was dark due t o the absence of a white reflector. Lifetime was the main
problem, however, and the display could not go above about 5,000 hours.

KOREA BEGINS DEVELOPMENT

One of the first Korean companies to recognize the potential for 1,CDs was
Samsung and it was Chan Soo Oh who helped. them get started in the husi-
ness. Most of the following account of the early work at Samsung comes
from Oh’s recollections.’2 In May 1984, while working at Beckman and
after that company was out of the LCD business, Oh was contacted by
C. h r k who was working with J. David Margerum at Hughes Aircraft
Company’s Malibu Research Center. Margerum was a leading liquid crystal
research chemist who pioneered LCD research at Hughes. Park had joined
Hughes after finishing a post-doctoral appointment under Professor
Mortimer Lahes of Temple University, another leading liquid crystal
researcher from the 1960s. Park had recently met with some people from
Samsung Electron Devices who had attended the SID symposium in San
Francisco and were looking for an LCD expert. Park suggested they speak
with Oh and one week later he had a meeting with Ho Young Park, group
 An Industry in Transition 155

leader of flat panel displays and Jeong Ok Park, Managing Director of

Samsung Electron Devices and the head of the RMrD Center located in
Suwon, South Korea.
A short time later, Oh made a trip to Samsung’s laboratory in Suwon,
an industrial city close to Seoul. At that time, Samsung was manufacturing
color CRT monitors using NEC’s Shadow Mask technology, which it had
licensed from KCA. Samsung Electron Devices was a joint venture between
NEC and Samsung, Ltd. Samsung Electron Devices was very interested in
developing new flat panel display technologies to replace CKTs and Jong
Hae Kim, President of the company, immediately signed Oh to a consulting
contract. His role as a consultant to Samsung lasted almost ten years.
Initially, Kim wanted Oh to teach his research staff about all of the
non-CRT flat panel display technologies, but in particular LCDs. Although it
was 19135,Kim envisioned that flat panel displays would someday replace
CRTs for computer monitors and he wanted Samsung to be a leader in the
industry, a position that it ultimately achieved.
Starting with a group of ten students, which included chemists as well
as electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineers, Oh provided instruction
on the fundamentals of liquid crystal chemistry, surface alignment tech-
niques and device construction. As time went by, he began helping the
company t o select liquid crystal materials from key vendors such as
IIoffmann-La Roche, BDH, Chisso and E. Merck. He also helped Samsung
select equipment to begin manufacturing twisted-nematic LCDs using poly-
imide alignment and polymer sealing. In many cases, the equipment was
purchased from Japanese suppliers.
Samsung then began looking at a possible joint venture with a Japanese
company for LCD manufacturing. At that time, NEC, Samsung’s partner in
color CKT manufacturing, was not yet making LCDs, and Ilitachi was known
to be working with Samsung’s main competitor, Gold Star (later to become
LG Electronics), so those companies were not candidates. Proposals were
made to Sharp and Citizen, but nothing materialized. Consequently, Samsung
took Chan Soo Oh’s advice and decided to build the LCD manufacturing
plant itself. The first LCD Factory was built in Kachun, near Pusan, in one
long clean room where 14-inch X 14-inch sheets were processed using pho-
tolithography for patterning, offset printing for the alignment layer coating
and epoxy sealing. The technology progressed from 20-line displays using
the TN effect to displays for portable computers using the STN technology,
which had recently been invented in Europe. The company employed con-
sultants from Japan to help with additional manufacturing expertise.
156 Liquid Gold

’I’hanks to an introduction by Chan Soo O h to Jong Hae Kim, I made a

trip t o both Samsung’s R&I) Center and the Samsung Electronics CRT mon-
itor manufacturing facility in Suwon in 1989. The purpose of that trip was
to sell Stanford Resources’ market research services to Samsung. Previous
t o that trip, I had no S U C C ~ S Sin convincing the company’s U.S. representa-
tives of the importance o f market analysis. By that time, the company was
heavily engaged in LCD development and manufacturing as well as being a
leading worldwide manufacturer o f CKTs for television and computer mon-
itors. It was also involved in VFT) manufacturing and was beginning to start
developmcnt of plasma displays. In fact, a group of some 30 scientists and
engineers were present at a seminar I gave on display technology and
market development. As a result, Samsung became a client of Stanford
Kesources for many years, even to the present time.
Other Korean companies also started producing LCDs in the 1980s.
Included in this group were Sotong, which was producing watch displays
for the Hong Kong market, Orion Electronics, part of the Daewoo group,
Hyundai Electronics, and Gold Star. In addition, the Korea Institute of
Technology had several professors doing research looking into liquid crys-
tals at the time.

MOVING BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

One o f the first projects that 1 became involved in at the beginning of
1979 was the transfer of digital watch and LCD manufacturing technology
to a state-owned Factory in Bucharest, Romania, called Intreprinderea
Mcchanica Fina, which was referred to as TMF. This was a complicated deal
that involved a number of other consultants and several other companies.
A Connecticut-based company called Refac Electronics, which at the time
owned Optel Corporation, arranged the sale o f this technology transfer
contract. In reality, however, it was George Taylor who was the driving
force behind the dcal and I believe he made it happen by bringing
together Refac and the Romanians, mainly through his contacts with scien-
tists at the University of Bucharest. Taylor was effectively the project man-
ager and w e all looked t o him t o make the key decisions on various
aspects of the project.
A number of experienced scientists and engineers were involved in this
project. Rcfac/Optel provided the process technology and equipment, while
Zantech, a company founded by Louis Zanoni when he left Optel in 1976,
supplied the test equipment. Joseph Burns and George Taylor implemented
 A n Industry in Transition 157

the support engineering and watch assembly, and the training was to be
conducted by a number of people from Refac/Optel as well as Robert Clary,
Eric Henderson and I. Clary was a consultant who had established LCD watch
manufacturing for Suncnix and Ladcor in Silicon Valley. Henderson was asso-
ciated with another consulting company called Mesophase, which was started
by Kevin Hathdway, Eugene Koch and himself.
Because I had already designed several LCI> manufacturing facilities as
described in previous chapters, one of my main tasks was to provide
blueprints of the factory layout as well as the services needed (clean-rooms,
air-conditioning, deionized water, process gases, vacuum service and other
facilities). The other main task was to prepare a set of specifications for
each step in the LC:D manufacturing proce Neither of these tasks was par-
ticularly difficult since I had done them s ral times before. Consequently,
1 spent the first several months of the year working on these designs and
specifications.
After completing the plant layout and two-volume set of specifications
for the Romanian factory, my next job was to travel to Princeton, New
Jersey, the site of the Refac/Optel LCD and digital watch factory, to begin
the training phase with the Romdnkan engineers and technicians. This took
place in the spring and summer o f 1979. I was joined at one point by Clary.
We immediately realized that the processes being used at Refdc/Optel were
different than what was being done on the West Coast and in the Far East.
The problem was that we could not change anything because this was the
process that WdS sold to the KOmdnkdnS. Another problem WdS that only
two of the liomanians could speak English, and only one fluently. As we dis-
covered later, the fluent English-speaking engineer, Constantin (nicknamed
Costell) Chirila, was placed in the position of assuring that none of the oth-
ers would defect or otherwise step out of line. Another important figure
was Stefan Ulaier, the plant manager, who liked to be called Fani. He
spoke no English, but was conversant in German, a fact that I would find
useful l.ater.
Under these difficult circumstances, we were still able to carry out our
training. At the end of this phase, we felt that the engineers would be quite
capable of carrying out manufacturing at the IMF plant. Meanwhile, all the
equipment had been delivered to 13ucharest and the Romanians were pre-
sumably outfitting the factory precisely to my carefully designed plans; this
turned out to be wishful thinking.
In early December 1979, I left for my trip from San Jose, cdl
Bucharest, Komnid. The purpose of my trip was to inspect the pd
158 Liquid Gold

t o supervise the placement and set-up of the equipment. Once this was
done, I was to return home and other members of our team would arrive
in early 1980, after the holiday season, to bring the facility to operational
status. I was slated to return later in the spring of 1980 to correct any
process problems that might arise.
Shortly after I arrived, I had a dinner meeting with Chi& and Rlaier,
the main purpose of which was to impress me with the fact that they were
anxious to have the equipment set up so the factory could become opera-
tional, a sentiment that I wholeheartedly shared.
The IMF factory was quite a large building, but fairly old and in poor
condition. The Director, Ion Congruts, as well as Blaier and Radu Costina, a
young man in his 20s who spoke very good English and acted as the inter-
preter, met me. we discussed the facility and layout as well as the plan for the
week. The objective was to uncrate and move all the equipment into place.
Aftcr we toured the manufacturing facility on the third floor, it was
clear that the watch assembly area was clean and properly organized with
some people actually assembling some watches using displays made at the
Kefac/Optel plant in Princeton. The display fabrication area, however, still
had a long way to go. While the walls were constructed according to the
specifications, the floor was covered with black epoxy paint (you could
see many small particles under the coating) instead of the special inlaid
material (Tarkete) specified in my instructions. When I pointed this out,
they claimed that 'l'arkete was too expensive to buy and install. They said
they would clean the floor and recoat it after the large pieces of equipment
were in place. I knew that this would not be satisfactory, but I could not
convince them to do otherwise.
There was still no exhaust ducting installed in the ceiling, but most dis-
couraging was the piping for the pure, deionized water; it was copper tubing
instead of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as specified. The Director, Congruts,
agreed to make the change, but I was never quite sure if it was ever done.
At my direction, the heavy equipment was uncrated and positioned in
their places according to the plant layout that I had designed earlier in the
year. The furnaces, evaporators, drying ovens and screen printers were
properly placed along with several laminar flow hoods. We did discover,
however, that the liquid nitrogen dewars had not been ordered, a major
mistake since one cannot use the vacuum evaporators without liquid nitro-
gen. And, if the evaporators could not be used, displays could not be
made, at least with the process used at that time. These dewars were not
available in Romania, so I was to inform George Taylor that they had to be
 An Industry in Transition 159

ordered. Also, the furnaces did not have the quartz muffles that were
required t o make them work, so again we had to inform the manufacturer
t o have them installed as soon as possible.
Nothing at all was done in the glass shop, although Blaier claimed it
would be ready in two or three days. This was the room where the glass
sheets coated with the transparent conductor, indium-tin oxide, would be
cut into the small, watch-size pieces using power saws. IJnfortunately, the
power saws had not yet been received.
There were numerous items on the specification that were either not
ordered or not delivered. In some cases, the wrong equipment was sent.
For example, they delivered ovens that could operate only on 110volts,
when it is well known that all of Europe used 220volts. Not knowing or
failing to check the plate on the oven, the Romanians made the mistake of
turning it on, thereby blowing out the unit. Several other items had to be
returned because of this same problem.
In addition, some of the equipment was damaged either during ship-
ment or it was not properly packaged for shipment. This was the CdSe with
an evaporation system, which had severed electrical cables due to poor
packaging. And, one of the ovens was literally falling apart. Supposedly
reputable American companies supplied these, so it was rather emharrass-
ing and discouraging for me to see this.
Within the next few days, the crew removed all of the remaining large
pieces of equipment from their crates and moved them into the fabrication
area. This included two large conveyor furnaces and evaporators, which
were placed into position without apparent damage. I was appalled at the
poor way that our American equipment suppliers prepared the units for
shipment. One of the ovens had loose screws all over the system. And, the
evaporator in the development kah had loose bolts on the bell jar hoist and
no bolts on the thin-film monitoring instrument. There was also a cut in the
cables. Since I was present during the unpacking and moving of the equip-
ment, I can attest to the fact the Romanian personnel who handled the
units up to that point did none of this.
Eventually, all major items were placed at the intended locations so the
electricians could run the wiring to each station and the plumbing connec-
tions could be made. At this point, management was motivated to get the
factory operational, so LCns could be manufactured for the watch line,
which was already operational. Refac/Optel was supposed to be supplying
the LCDs they needed during this interim period, but adequate supplies
were not received, at least according to IMF’s management. This meant that
160 Liquid Gold

TMF could not meet its watch delivery schedule, resulting in a loss of cred-
ibility with the government.
The Fact was that IMF caused many of its own internal delays due to its
approval process, where every purchased item required approval from the
highest ranking official of the enterprise. One example of this was the screws
for the tooling and fixtures. Instead of simply buying standard screws from a
nearby supplier, the factory was required to make its own screws in the
rnachine shop because it would take too long to obtain approval to buy the
screws. For other items, which the workers had no cdpdbility to make in-
house, they would simply endure the long approval process. Another source
of delay was due to the socialist philosophy of the operation. Any employee
could refuse to do any work if everything was not in place. While Hlaier was
a stern boss, I saw several instances where employees complained because
they did not have this part or that part and would simply refuse to do any-
thing. That’s the way it was in the “workers’paradise.”
There were further delays in getting the factory to an operational status.
I believe it was not until the summer of 1980 when the other team members
went over to bring the LCII operation on-stream and many problems were
encountered at that time. For example, the air-conditioning system was not
adequate to keep the humidity low, so screen printing became very diffi-
cult. In addition, disputes arose about many other failings of the facility as
well as the payments that were to be made to K e f x and, in turn, to our
team of consultants. In the end, our team never completed the project, we
never got the balance of our fees, I never got the opportunity to return to
Bucharest, and I was never sure if the factory ever did produce useful LCDs.
In my view, however, it was well worth the experience for me to
observe the workings of the communist-socialist system at close range, even
though it was only for a short period of time. Ultimately, the communist gov-
ernment fell and Romania moved toward a market-oriented economy.

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S.-Y. Wong, “Photoactivated liquid crystal light valves,” Abstracts of 17th
International Electron Devices Meeting, IEEE, Washington, DC (1071) 34.
25. A.D. Jacobson, W.1’. Hleha, D.1). 13oswel1, M. Hraunstein, J.D. Margerum, and
S.-Y. Wong, “Photoactivated liquid crystal light valves,” SID International
Symposium Digest ofTechrcica1 Pupen (1972) 70.
26. William I? Heha, personal communication, January 2004.
27. A D . Jacobson, W.P. Hleha, D.l>.Boswell, J. Grinberg, P.G. Keif, H.S. Hong, and
S. Lunquist, “A new color TV projector,” SID International Symposium Digest of
’IBchnical Papers (1977) 106. W.1’. Rleha, J . Grinberg, A.D. Jacobson, and
G.D. Myer, “The use of the hybrid field effect mode liquid crystal light valve
with visible spectrum projection light,” SID International Symposium Lligest qf
l&c,chniculPapers (1977), 104. R.S. Hong, L.?’. Lipton, W.P. Bleha, J.H. Colles,
and P.F. Ilobusto, “Application of the liquid crystal light valve to a large screen
graphics display,” SID International Symposium Digest qf lkchnical Papers
(1979) 22.
28. A.11. Jacobson, W.P. Rleha, D.D. Uoswell, J. Grinberg, I.. Miller, I,. Fraas, and
G.D. Myer, “A real-time optical data processing device,” Infimnation msphy
12, 17 (1975). W.1’. Bleha, L.T. Lipton, E. Weiner-Avnear, J. Grinberg, P.G. Reif,
U. Casasent, H.H. Brown, and R.V. Markevitch, “Application of the liquid crystal
light valve to real-time optical data processing,” Optical Engineering 17, 37
(1978).
29. W.P. Hleha and P.F. Kobusto, “Optical-to-optical image conversion with the liq-
uid crystal light valve,” Proceedings of the SPIE 317, 179 (1981). W.P. Bleha,
“Progress in liquid crystal light valves,” Laser F‘ocus (1983) 110.
30. W.1’. Hleha and S.E. Shields, “Liquid crystal light valves for projection displays,”
I’roceeding.7 ofthe SHE 1455,1 (1991).
31. W.P. Hlclia, “l>evelopment of ILA projectors for large screen display,”
Proceedings of the 15th International Display Research Con@ence (1995) 91,
32. R.11. Sterling and W.1’. Hleha, “D-ILA technology for electronic cinema,” SID
International Sympo.sium Digest of Technical Papers (2000) 310.
 An Industry in Transition 163

33. Electronic Display World 1(4), 1, Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1981);
now iSuppli/Stanford liesources, Santa Clara, CA, http:// www.isuppli.com.
34. Allan li. Kmetz, personal communication, September 2003.
35. Terry J. Scheffer, personal communication, August 2003.
36. Herlnann Amstutz, Dieter Heimgartner, Meinolph Kaufmdnn, and Terry J.
Scheffer, Liquid Crystal DLspluy, U.S. Patent 4,634,229 (19871, applied for June 29,
1984.
37. ‘I‘crry J. Scheffer, “Liquid crystal display with high multiplex rate and wide
viewing angle,” Proceedings of the Third International Displuy Kesearch
Conference, Kobe, Japan (1983) 400. Also, Terry J. Scheffer and Jurgen Nehring,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 48(10), 1021 (1983).
38. Colin M. Waters, V. 13rimmcl1, and Peter E. Kaynes, “Highly multiplexable dyed
liquid crystal displays,” Proceedings of the Third International Disp1a.y Ke.seurch
C‘ovferencc,Kobe, Japan (1.983) 396.
39. Colin M. Waters and Peter E. Kaynes, Liquid Cysta.1 Deuices with Particulur
Pitch-Cell Thickness Kutio, U S . Patent 4,596,446 ( 3 986), applied for June 17,
1983.
40. T.J. Scheffer, J. Nehring, M. Kaufmdnn, H. Amstutz, I). Heimgartner, and
I? Eglin, “A 24 X 80-character IGD panel using the supertwisted birefringent
effect,” SIL, International 8ymposium Lligest of Technical Papers (1985) 120.
41. Pierre-Giles I k Gennes, “Soft matter,” Nobel Award Lecture, 1:)ecember 9,
1991, p. 10.
42. K.H. Meyer, L. Liebert, L. Strzelecki, and P. Keller, J. PhysiqueI;ett.36, 69 (1975).
43. Noel A. Clark and Sven T. Lagerwall, “Submicrosecond bistable electro-optic
switching in liquid crystals,” Appl. Z’hys. Lett. 36(11), 899 (1980).
44. Alan Mosley, personal communication, January 2004.
 Chapter 11

View from the Sidelines

“The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority,

as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the one unpardon-
able sin.”
T: H. Huxley, Biologist/Authol; 1866

One of the most important events in the history of the LCD industry’s
development was the first liquid crystal conference held in Japan in 1980.
l’his conference provided scientists and engineers from Europe and the
U.S. with their first glimpse of the advances made in LCD technology by
the Japanese. It also gave engineers from other countries in the Pacific Rim
the impetus t o further develop and manufacture LCIls. Shortly thereafter,
LCI) manufacturing began a major shift to the Far East and it greatly accel-
erated in the early 1980s. As a result, opportunities for technical consulting
at 17,s.firms started to decline. In addition, one o f my major clients, Conic
Semiconductor, had entered a high-volume manufacturing stage with few
technical problems left to solve, so the need for my services declined.
However, since I had an excellent relationship with Conic’s Managing
IXrector, Rue Marshall, w e jointly agreed to a gradual phase-out of my
activities over a period of one year. This gave me time to shift the empha-
sis o f my activity from solely technical consulting to information services,
enabling me to analyze the rapidly growing LCD industry from an inde-
pendent observer’s viewpoint. This chapter discusses these events.

THE FIRST LIQUID CRYSTAL CONFERENCE IN JAPAN

I was invited t o attend the Eighth International Liquid Crystal Conference in
Kyoto in June of 1980; it was the first ever to be held in that country. The

164
 View from the Sidelines 165

General Secretary of the conference was Shunsuke Kobaydshi, then profes-

sor of electronic engineering at Tokyo University of Agriculture and
Technology. He invited me to chair a session on Reliability and Standards
and to present a paper on the activities of a U.S. standards committee that I
participated in and was its first chairman. This was a great opportunity for
me to develop important contacts with the leading LCD researchers in
Japan and, thanks to Kobay-dshi's help, I was able to set up visits t o the
research laboratories of Sharp and Sanyo.
It is fair to say that most of the attendees from Europe and the U.S., in
addition to myself, had never visited the country before, so it was an excel-
lent opportunity for all of us to learn about the level of LCD technology
development in Japan as well as to enjoy a great cultural experience. We
were all very pleased with the generous hospitality shown by our hosts.
The conference was held at the International Conference Hall in the
ancient and beautiful city of Kyoto. Tt was extremely well-organized with
financing provided by more than 50 Japanese companies. This conference
was by far the largest of its kind up to that time both in terms of attendance
and number of papers. While 295 people from Japan attended, some 165
attendees from 26 other countries participated in the conference. The
speakers and attendees' at this conference represented the world's top sci-
entists and engineers working in the field at that time.
Shigeharu Onogi of Kyoto IJniversity opened the conference and
Masatami 'Pakeda of Tokyo Science IJniversity gave the welcoming addre
Dr. Takeda also gave a special tribute to Glenn H. Brown (Fig. 11.1>,
founder o f the Liquid Crystdl Conference Series, who presided as co-
chairman with Shigeo Iwayanagi of Gumma University for the opening
invited lectures. The first lecture was given by George W. Gray, who dis-
cussed recent developments in the liquid crystal field (Fig. 11.2). The sec-
ond opening lecture was given by Tadashi Sasaki of the Sharp Corporation,
who described the development of the pocket calculator and also showed
photographs of some o f the LCD products being developed in Japan.
These included fuel pump displays, audio level meters for stereophonic
equipment, color displays and multi-character displays for language trans-
lators and word processors. This was then followed by the technical ses-
sions where 369 papers were presented. In addition, an area of the
conference hall was devoted to an exhibition of various LCD products and
materials by 18 manufacturers. This exhibition presented demonstrations of
various color displays and their application as well as liquid crystal materi-
als, tin oxide coated glass, polarizers and measuring instruments. Overall,
166 Liquid Gold

Fig. 11.1. Opening ceremonies at the Eighth International Liquid Crystal

Conference in Kyoto, Japan. Professor Glenn H. Brown, Kent State University, is at
the podium thanking the organizers for the special dedication to him. Photo from
the author’s collection.

Fig. 11.2. Professor George W. Gray, University of Hull, presenting the first invited
lecture at the Eighth International Liquid Crystal Conference in Kyoto, Japan. Photo
from the author’s collection.

this conference provided the attendees from outside Japan with perhaps
their first look at the remarkable progress made by Japanese scientists and
engineers in taking LCD technology to the manufacturing stage for a whole
host of applications. Frankly, many of us were astounded by this progress.
One of the things that surprised me most was that so many Japanese
researchers remembered me from their visits to my laboratory at the David
Sarnoff Research Center in the early 1970s during licensing negotiations
 View from the Sidelines 167

with KCA. Among these were Tomio Wada and Tadashi Sasdki at Sharp,
who were kind enough to give me a tour of their laboratories as well as a
private tour of the great Buddha temple in Nara. In addition, I had dinner
with Hironosuke Ikeda, Director of Sanyo’s Shioyd Research Laboratory in
Kobe, who also gave me a tour of his laboratory. These meetings and oth-
ers led me to the realization that Japan was an excellent place to do busi-
ness and over the next 20 years, I would develop long-term professional
relationships with many Japanese researchers and executives.

MOVING TO MARKET RESEARCH

Although market research for consumer products had evolved over many
years for consumer products, it was in its adolescent stage for electronic
components in the 1970s. Most market researchers based their forecasts on
information only from the supply side, that is, the manufacturers of the
components. Few market research firms were examining markets from
both the supply and demand sides to insure a balanced and more accurate
view of the present and future.
With the rapid growth of the electronics business, there was an
increasing need for information on the future markets for electronic com-
ponents, which of course included displays. There was some market
research being done on cathode ray tubes because this was the major com-
ponent of the computer terminals and television sets being sold during that
period. However, little information was avdikdbk on the growing markets
for new flat pdnd displays for other applications such as those based on
light emitting diodes, electroluminescence, gas plasma and LCDs.
Consequently, it seemed like a good time to develop market research tech-
niques for the fledgling electronic display industry that took into account
both supply and demand.
When I decided to become a professional consultant in 1978, I sought
the help of Leon Wortman, whom I met while working for Exxon
Enterprises. Wortman had been a management consultant for many years2
and he was kind enough to provide me with very helpful guidance and
direction. He urged me to join the Professional and Technical Consultants
Association, an organization located in the San Francisco Hay Area; I served
as President of this 350-member organization in 1981 and 1982. This led to
my becoming acquainted with Jerry Hutcheson and James Porter, consult-
ants who had established successful market research firms for semiconduc-
tor equipment (VLSI Research) and computer disk drives (Disk/Trend
168 Liquid Gold

Report), respectively. With their help, I formulated a plan to develop a mar-

ket information service for the display industry.
The first step in this plan was to prepare a report on the market for
LCDs. 1 felt this would entail a great deal of work, so I enlisted the help of
Robert Clary, who was a consultant that worked with me on the Romanian
LCI) project discussed in the previous chapter. I-Ie also attended the liquid
crystal conference in Japan.
When we returned from the Japan conference, Clary and I prepared the
report, “LiquidCtystul Dipluys in Jupan,”the first report ever published by
Stanford Resources and perhaps the first to provide data on the market for
1,CDs. The popularity and financial s~iccessof this report launched the com-
pany into the display market research field. It also shifted my focus, away
from display manufacturing process development, t o market analysis and
forecasting, providing the industry with an independent observer’s view.
In early 1981, I decided that Stanford Resources should publish an
international newsletter devoted strictly to the display industry. In those
days, when the Internet was still being developed, industry participants
had to sift through numerous journals and magazines to obtain information
on events taking place in the industry. The monthly newsletter was named
Electronic Display World and it presented forecasts and analyses of the rap-
idly growing display market as well as reports on technological develop-
ments, current events, people and companies. The editorial section, which
1 usually wrote, was named, “View From the Sidelines,”a title that empha-
sized an inclependent view of industry developments. The first issue was
published in March 1981.
George W. Taylor and Joseph K.Burns, my close friends and principals
of the consulting company Ilrinceton Resources, helped me gather infor-
mation and organize the document during the newsletter’s start-up phase. I
also enlisted the help of Shunsuke Kobayashi, who provided information
on events taking place in Japan as Far East Editor. In 1984, Michael G.
Clark, joined the editorial board and as European editor reported on events
taking place in Europe. Clark was a well-known Ph.D. chemist who
worked at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment on the early develop-
ment o f liquid crystals and LCDs. Later he moved on to GEC Marconi and
in 1996, he joined IJnilever, where his many responsibilities prevented him
from helping with the newsletter, so Dr. Alan Mosley, his colleague at GEC,
replaced him as European Editor. Mosley was also well-known in the LCD
field. He began working on the development o f liquid crystal materials in
1974 at the 1Jniversity of Hull and spent 20 years in LCD research and
development at GEC’s Hirst liesearch Centre and CRL Opto.
 View from the Sidelines 169

When Stanford Resources was going through a rapid growth phase in

1996, my management responsibilities increased and I3rian T. Fedrow took
over as editor-in-chief of Electronic nispluy World He did an excellent job
of modernizing the face and organization of the newsletter as well as man-
aging its conversion to a publication that became available over the
Internet. ‘The newsletter had a 20-year life and was published in both print
and electronic versions until the end of 2000, when the Internet made
these kinds of newsletters obsolete. However, Electronic Display World has
been a valuable source of historical information for this book and number
of references will be made to it in subsequent chapters. Thanks to a dona-
tion hy isuppli Corporation, nearly all the issues of Electronic I1i.plu.y
Worki?in either printed or electronic version are available to the general
public at thc Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American
History in Washington, DC (http://www.americanhistory.si.edu),
In May o f 1982, thanks to an invitation from Philip Ileytnan, my former
colleague at the Iyavid Sarnoff Kesearch Center, I gave a talk at the SID
International Symposium? in San Diego, California, that presented forecasts
of the market for all of the display technologies then in existence or
emerging. This talk generated a great deal of interest in the activities of
Stanford Resources and subsequently led to the company’s growth through
sales of both syndicated and custom studies. It was also at this meeting
where I met Cindra K. Trish, a market research analyst then working for
Gnostic Concepts, a division of McGrdw Hill. Trish soon left Gnostic and
joined the staff of Stanford Resources as a contractor. She went on to help
in the preparation of numerous reports and custom studies, particularly in
the rapidly growing inarket for personal computer displays.
The popularity of Liquid Cy.vkxl Displays in .Japan and Electronic
Display World, prompted us to expand and improve studies of the then-
emerging flat panel display market as well as the established cathode ray
tube (CRT) market. The result was the launch in 1982 of the first syndicated
service to cover the electronic display industry in depth. First named the
Electronic Displuy Intelligence Review, it quickly evolved into the Electronic
I1i.plu.y Industy Swvice. The methodology used to analyze and forecast the
market utilized a coordinated supply-and-demand analysis o f the various
market segments. Stanford Resources was a pioneer in the development of
this multi-perspective market research technique for the display industryS4
During the 198Os, the company expanded and diversified its line of
multi-client reports, many of which were the first to address the various
market segments in depth. David E. Mentley, whom I first met in 1976 when
he was developing glass frit formulations at AVX Materials, collaborated
170 Liquid Gold

with me in the preparation o f the first edition of Flut InJormation Disyluys.

A Strategic Analysis in 1983 and he soon became a full-time member o f the
staff. For the next 17 years, we went on to co-author numerous reports on
various aspects of the flat panel display industry, especially including LCns.
Many of these reports are still being published today by Stanford
Kes~urces,~ which was acquired by iSuppli Corporation in 2000.
In order to learn how the LCD industry was developing and to insure
the accuracy of our market forecasts, other members of my staff and I trav-
eled t o many I,CD development facilities and manufacturing plants in the
[J.S.A., Europe, Japan and other Pacific Kim companies during the 1980s and
1990s. My account of the maturation of the LCD industry through the years,
as related in this and subsequent chapters, is partially based on those visits.

GROWTH OF THE LCD INDUSTRY IN THE 1980s

In early January of 1986, I was contacted by Martin Schadt of Hoffmann-La
Koche in Hasel, Switzerland, t o ask if Stanford Resources could bid on a
project to help his company with a study of the liquid CrySVdl material seg-
ment of the LCD industry. Shortly thereafter, I was on my way to Basel to
meet with the firm’s executives and to present our proposal. Felix
Ackermann was an executive working directly for the Vice President who
commissioned the study; he became the coordinator of the project.
I3ecause of our many contacts in the industry and thanks to Schadt and
Ackermann’s recommendations, Stanford Resources received a contract to
perform the work. Combined with the other research we were doing on
the LCI) industry, this project gave us the opportunity to refine our fore-
casts of the industry’s growth because it involved a trip to visit the major
LCI> and liquid crystal material suppliers in Japan.
The project was completed in three months and I flew to Basel to pres-
ent the results of the study to the senior executive staff of Hoffmann-La
Koche in April 1986. ‘I’he results of this study present a snapshot o f the
industry’s status in the mid-1980s and its potential growth through the end
of that decade. At that time, the five largest Japanese manufacturers were
Optrex, Hitachi, Sharp, Seiko Epson and Seiko Instruments. The total num-
ber of LCDs manufactured in 1985 by this group was just over 350 million
units valued at $477 million. The total world market at that time was $876
million. Watch displays represented the largest product category at 58%
while TV screens (typically with a 2- to 3-inch screen in hand-held portable
units) were the smallest at 0.2%. The other categories were: calculators,
 View from the Sidelines 171

instruments, computer and auto. At that time “computer” represented

mainly portable word processors and multi-line, high-end calculators. In
terms of value, this category represented about 41% o f the total. As dis-
plays became available in larger sizes and with higher information content,
this category would increase dramatically in the years following. In 1990,
the total world market for LCDs of all types and sizes topped $1.8hillion.
As will be discussed in a sulxequent chapter, the market grew by more
than an order o f magnitude from 1990 to 2000.
Another finding from the study was that the amount of liquid crys-
tal material consumed in 1985 in Japan was 5.66 metric tons valued at
$23 million. The largest consumers of the material were Optrex, Ilitachi,
Matsushita, the Seiko group and Toshiba. In 1985, the total world market
for the material was 6.13 metric tons valued at $26.2 million.
All of the Japanese firms interviewed at that time were convinced, as was
I, that amorphous silicon TFT-addressed LCIls would be the future for color
television and computer monitors. Also, the consensus among the LCD manu-
facturers was that the major products of the future would be television
screens, computers, telephones, instruments and automotive applications.
7‘hese predictions cerkainly turned out to be the case as of this writing in early
2004. However, the prophecy of some that the 40-inch diagonal, color LCD,
wall-mounted television would be a reality by 1990 was off by ten years.

COMPETING DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY SCRUTINIZED

In spite of the fact that the LCD industry was growing rapidly in the 1980s,
the search for a new display technology that could replace LCDs was
underway at several companies. In those years, it was clearly evident that
applications of LCDs to large screen, high-information content displays
would require active matrix addressing with TFTs. This was a daunting
prospect in terms of complexity and the cost of manufacturing. One of the
technologies that seemed to show promise as a replacement was the elec-
trophoretic image display (EPID), which exhibited bistability and presum-
ably would not require active matrix addressing.
Isao Ohta6 at Matsushita Electric Industrial Company originally
invented the device in 1973. It employed the movement of positively
charged particles of a white pigment (e.g. titanium dioxide) through a dyed
liquid suspension. When a DC voltage was applied between a pair of trans-
parent electrodes in such a way that the front transparent electrode was
172 Liquid Gold

negative, the white pigment particles moved electrophoretically toward the

front electrode (viewing side). Consequently, the panel became white in
reflective color. When the field was reversed, the transparent electrode was
positive and the reflective color became dark because the white pigment
particles moved to the opposite (rear) transparent electrode and were hid-
den behind the dark suspending liquid.
One o f the companies developing these EPID displays was Exxon
Enterprises, which had established a start-up division known appropriately
as WID. Another was North American Philips, which had a research pro-
gram underway at the company’s central research laboratory in Briarcliff
Manor, New York.
In mid-1979, Dr. Andrew Dalisa, CEO of this division, contacted me
to help set up a pilot facility for the fabrication of electrophoretic displays.
I knew Ilalisa from Philips Research when he was working on methods to
fdiricate video disks using photochromic materials. Ilalisa knew I set up a
clean-room facility for DatascreedKylex and he wanted me to do the Same
for his operation. This was accomplished in 1979 and his operation began
to fabricate displays in 1980.
By 1981, the company had purchased additional equipment and
expanded its staff significantly. Dr. Lewis T. Lipton, whom I knew previously
From his job as manager of display research at Hughes, had joined the com-
pany as I>irector o f Engineering and was formulating plans for manufacturing
the displays. The company planned to rnake displays with 25 lines X 80 char-
acters (70,000 pixels) in a size of about 7.5 inches X 10 inches (12.5 inches
diagonal). The prototype displays had white characters against a blue back-
ground and the contrast was quite good. The colors could be reversed with a
different addressing scheme.
In early 1982, Lipton and Dalisa contacted me about doing a compre-
hensive rnanufacturing cost analysis. I subsequently did a two-phase proj-
ect over a period o f nine months and developed a manufacturing cost
model that was adopted from the early LcU manufacturing cost calcula-
tions that I helped develop at Fairchild. Later, Pavid Mentley, who was
product marketing manager for END at that time, would go on to improve
and refine the model for advanced LCD manufacturing processes when he
joined Stanford Resources. Mentley’s more advanced models are available
today5 and are widely used in the LCD industry.
The technology was plagued by several problems including “ghosting”
or what would later be called image sticking. Long term reliability was still
 View from the Sidelines 173

an unknown at that time. The EPID division survived. until about 1984
when it was dissolved along with Exxon Enterprises.
Several years later, in the summer of 1985, Steven Dittlemen, an execu-
tive who worked at the North American I’hilips headquarters in Manhattan,
contacted me. Philips had been a major client of Stanford Resources since
1982 and Dittlemen was the coordinator of outside consulting services for
the company. €Ie wanted our company to perform a study of the potential
market for electrophoretic displays as a means to determine whether fur-
ther funding o f research into this new technology was warranted. At the
time, the device and material research was being conducted under the
direction of Dr. Peter Murau.
The project went forward and with the help of Cindra R. Trish, some
80 interviews were conducted by telephone and through personal visits.
The final presentation of the results was given in October 1985 at the KWD
center before a group that included Barry Singer, the Laboratory Ilirector,
Peter Murau and other key staff members. One of the conclusions w e
reached was that it would be very difficult to supplant the LCD in low-
information content applications such as instruments, calculators, and
clocks. The Philips researchers originally helieved that these would be
good entry market segments for the technology, but our results showed
otherwise. However, if the technology could be applied to large-screen,
high-information content displays without the use of an active matrix, then
a large potential market existed for the displays in portable computers or as
replacements for CRT monitors on the desktop. IJnfortunately, further
research later revealed the same problems that plagued the Exxon
Enterprise group and Philips ended the project a few years later.
In spite of these problems, other companies continued to work on
electrophoretic display technology through the 1980s and part of the 1990s,
albeit at a very low level. Then in 1997, E-Ink Corporation was founded to
develop an electrophoretic display technology that used microencapsula-
tion o f the suspended particles to prevent the image sticking problem that
plagued the earlier work. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company’s objec-
tive was to create a type of “electronic paper” that would provide the look,
form, and utility of paper, but with the ability to write and erase the text
electronically. In 2001, Philips, created a strategic partnership with E-Ink
for further development and commercialization of the technology. Two
years later, E-Ink and Philips announced7the unveiling of joint prototypes
at the Society for Information Display Exposition and Symposium in
174 Liquid Gold

Baltimore, Maryiand. These engineering samples featured a resolution of

160 pixels per inch and used Philips’ custom designed thin-film transistor
(TFT) backplane and driver electronics. The companies expect to be the
first to commercialize true paper-like displays using this “electronic ink”
technology with mass production of modules in 2004. The displays are said
to be under development for applications such as hand held devices, wear-
able displays and transportation signage.
This is a case where a 30-year-old technology that sat dormant for
many years, has finally reached the manufacturing stage. However, instead
o f replacing TFT-LCIIs, these displays have apparently found market
niches that arc not being served by LCDs. Ironically, it is the TFT technol-
ogy, which was developed specifically for LCDs, that made possible the
commercialization of these electrophoretic displays for high resolution
applications.

REFERENCES
1. Proceedings of’the Eight International Liquid Crystal Conjkrence, Kyoto, Japan,
June 1980.
2. Leon A. Wortman is a retired management consultant and popular lecturer who
wrote some 20 books on management and computer programming. He was
also a member of the Office of Secret Service (predecessor of the CIA) during
World War 11 and his experiences are related in To Catch a Shadow (1st Books
Library, Hloomington, IN, 2002).
3. Joseph A. Castellano, “Current U S . and world markets for displays,” SILI
International Symposium Digest of Technicul Papers (1982).
4. Joseph A. Castellano, ‘The cost and value o f display market information,”
Itz/brmation DispZu.y 8(11), 11 (1992). The market research and forecasting
techniques developed by Stanford Resources were also described in a seminar
given in I3oston, MA, at the 1997 Society for Information Display International
Symposium.
5. Information on Stanford Resources’ display industry reports is available at:
http://www.stanfordresources.com or http://www.isuppli.com.
6. Isao Ohta, el ul., Proc. ZEEE 61,832 (1973).
7. Press release from E-Ink Corporation, May 12, 2003, http://www,eink.com.
 Chapter 12

The Elusive Transistor

"I believe that the strength of the active matrix principle is precisely its near-
universal applicability. Thus, if the nematic liquid crystal is replaced by a superior
electro-optic fluid (or solid), it will almost certainly still be addressed by an active
matrix circuit."
7: Peter Brody, Thin-Film Transistor Pioneer; 1995

Active matrix addressing is a technique for enhancing the addressing and

writing o f LCDs. Multiplexing uses the timing of the signals to select and
write a particular line of the display. As more and more lines are written,
the amount of time which the controller can spend writing to each individ-
ual line (the duty cycle) decreases. Eventually, the molecules of liquid
crystal do not have time to react fully to the applied voltage and contrast
diminishes. When the addressing function in the display is Sepdrdted from
the process o f writing, then each line can be written quickly, it can main-
tain its image, and the next line can then bc written. This separation of
addressing and writing has been attempted by several methods. A dual
input method where two frequencies, two voltages or two different types
of energy, such as thermal and electrical, were attempted, but they usually
had some drawback such as slow speed, high power or complex circuitry.
The technique of active matrix addressing makes the display hardware
more complex by adding a switch to each pixel. The switch can be turned
on very rapidly (in a few microseconds) and a storage capacitor can then
I x used to maintain its condition while the other lines are being written.
Several approaches to making individual switches have been investigated.
'These include diodes, varistors, transistors and various combinations
thereof. Not only have many different devices been investigated but there
have been many different materials from which to make the devices.

175
176 Liquid Gold

The thin-film transistor (TFT) approach has emerged as the most suc-
cessful technique for active matrix addressing in terms of the display’s
performance. As described in Chapter 4 , the use of active elements t o drive
dynamic scattering LCDs was first demonstrated in 1966 at RCA’s David
Sarnoff Research Center by Lechner and his colleagues. The idea of using
thin-film transistors to address LCDs was being pursued simukmeously by
RCA and Westinghouse during the 1960~. ’However,
,~ T. Peter Brody and
his team a t the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, were the first t o build working displays using TITS.’ This
chapter traces the early history of TFT-LCDs as they evolved from the con-
ceptual stage to practical working devices.

A THIN FILM OF TRANSISTORS

‘llie concept o f the thin-film transistor was being explored at RCA
Ihoratories by a group headed by Paul Weimer, who started working at
JICA in 1942, shortly after receiving a 1’h.D. in physics from Ohio State
LJniversity. His early work involved the development o f some of the first
television camera tubes, including the image orthicon and vidicon. In 1960,
he shifted t o working on semiconductors and thought that the coplanar
structures his colleagues were working on might be useful for a solid-state
television camera, so he began fabricating thin-film transistors on glass
SubStrdtes.
In the fall of 1960, Weimer started making TFTs using vacuum deposi-
tion o f cadmium sulfide, a polycrystalline semiconductor material, in a
coplanar process that was similar to the one he used to make the tricolor
vidicon. When he deposited an insulator between the gate and the semi-
conductor material, he obtained acceptable performance.j “We would
evaporate cadmium sulfide down, which would connect the source and
the drain and then we would evaporate silicon monoxide as an insulator
and then we would evaporate the gate. And the gate was aluminum. If you
applied the voltages t o the gate, well, of course that caused the current
between source and drain to be modulated,” stated ~ e i m e r . “we
* got very
nice characteristics, and we went on from there. Frank Shallcross, who was
working as part of my group, found that you could actually make thin-
film transistors using cadmiurn selenide. Cadmium selenide seemed nicer
than cadmium sulfide so w e all switched to cadmium selenide for our
N-type transistors. But then I had also found that tellurium could be evapo-
rated and could produce a Ij-type transistor, which just had the inverted
 The Elusive Transistor 177

characteristics using holes instead of electrons. Well, now having a n N-type

of transistor and a 11-type transistor, o f course, one tries to invert and see
what he could do with it. I submitted a disclosure o n the complementary
inverter. This was a complementary storage element in the form of a flip-
flop with 1)- and N-type transistors, which draws current in neither state.
S o it is a very low power drain type of thing and it has really become the
basis o f the solid-state memory element. That was a by-product of thin-film
transistor work and w e were able to get this basic patent on that type of
device before those two devices were well-known in silicon. We had an
early start.”
Weimer’s paper3 attracted the attention of T. Peter Brody, who started
working with tellurium films o n glass and flexible substrates. By his own
detailed account,5 13rody was not given much encouragement by the com-
pany’s management, which had little confidence that TFTs would ever be
practical. However, he was driven by the conviction that thin-film elcctron-
ics would indeed be important in the future and was able to secure
government contracts to support his research.
Brody began working at Westinghouse in 1959 shortly after receiving
his 1’h.I). in theoretical physics from the IJniversity of London. Over the
period from 1967 to 1979, he pioneered the development of practical TFT
technology for use in displays. In 1967, Brody and his colleague Derrick
Page designed and constructed a vacuum deposition system in which TFTs
could be fabricated in a single pump-down cycle, eliminating contamina-
tion from atmospheric impurities, which had previously been a major
cause of non-reproducibility. Shortly thereafter, Brody and Page were
depositing TFTs and by 1968, I5rody had expanded his research team into
what became known as the Thin-Film &vices Department. This group
eventually grew to some 15 scientists and engineers. It was at this time that
he began looking at displays as a possible application for 1’PTs.
The first foray into displays by Brody’s group was not LCDs, but elec-
troluminescence and a 14-segment EL character display controlled by a set
of high voltage TFrs was built in 1968. This led Brody to the concept of a
control element at each pixel, the basis for active matrix addressing. It is
belicved that I3rody was the first to coin the term “active matrix,” which he
introduced into the literature in 3 975.
Because the LCD work at RCA was still under wraps, Urody was prob-
ably not aware of its potential until after the public announcement in 1968.
However, by 1971, Brody knew that LCD technology looked promising as
a candidate for his active matrix addressing scheme and he was able to
178 Liquid Gold

secure a U.S. Air Force contract to help support the research. One year
later, Dr. Fan Luo, a key member of Hrody’s team, produced active matrix
circuits that had adequate performance to drive liquid crystals. The team
then spent another year developing fabrication techniques for cadmium
selenide TFT-LClk In 1973, a 6-inch X 6-inch panel with 120 X 120 pixels
was built and demonstrated.b This was the first working active matrix LCD
t o be d e ~ e l o p e d In
. ~ 1978, Luo demonstrated the first TFT-LCD with a
video picture in black-and-white at the SID Symposium.8 Brody received
numerous honors and awards for this pioneering work including the Karl
Braun Prize from the SID, the Rank Prize (Great Britain) and the Eduard
Rhein Prize (Germany).
Brody left Westinghouse in 1979 and formed Panelvision, the first
company to introduce active matrix LCDs to the U.S. market in 1983. One
year later, IJanelVisionbuilt a 9.5-inch LCD with 640 X 400 pixels, a product
that was of great interest to potential customers. Unfortunately, the com-
pany lacked the financial resources to mass produce the panels and Brody
was forced to sell the company to Litton Industries in 1985.
After the sale of Panelvision, Rrody went on to work in the field as a
consultant, an activity that he continues to pursue as of this writing.
Brody’s tenacity in continuing to champion active matrix display technol-
ogy in the face of numerous financial obstacles was truly remarkable. The
reader is encouraged to read his personal memoirs5 for candid comments
on these events.
While Rrody opened the way for TFTs in LCDs, other groups were look-
ing at silicon to replace cadmium selenide as the semiconducting material in
the devices. By the late 1970s, silicon was deeply entrenched as the material
of choice for the fabrication of transistors. Crystalline silicon was a material
that was well-understood for building high-density integrated circuits.
However, the question remained as t o whether thin films of amorphous or
polycrystalline silicon would have adequate performance (e.g. high electron
mobility) to make them practical for displays. Many researchers throughout
the world were working to find the answer to this question.

THE SHIFT TO SILICON

The semiconducting properties of single-crystal silicon made it an ideal
material for use in transistors and integrated circuits. Its additional ability to
convert sunlight into electricity, also made it an excellent material for use
in the space program t o power satellites. Consequently, studies of the
 The Elusive Transistor 179

electronic properties of the material go back more than 60 years. The major
problem with single crystal silicon for solar cells was the limitation in size
imposed by the diameter of the single-crystal boules that could be grown.
Silicon “wafers” are cut as thin slices from the boules, so the diameter of
the boule determines the diameter of the wafer. In 1970, wafer diameter
was 55mm o r less (the newest facilities today use 300-mm-diameter
wafers), so it was necessary to connect many wafers together to form an
array that would provide enough energy to power a space satellite. Thus,
the search for ways to deposit silicon in thin films over large areas began in
research laboratories throughout the world.
The two materials that were being investigated were amorphous sili-
con (often designated as a-Si) and polycrystalline silicon. Stanford
Ovshinsky9 was one of the pioneers who worked on the development of
a-Si solar cells when he formed a company called Energy Conversion
Devices (ECD) in 1960. Many of the early patents on a-Si solar cells were
held by ECD, a company that is now known as ECD Ovonics. The com-
pany had a joint venture with Sharp Corporation in the 1980s to make large
area solar cells using a-Si.
In addition, there were many other US. companies doing research on
amorphous silicon. Among these were the Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey (now Exxon Mobil Corporation) and a spin-off company called Exxon
Solar Power Corporation as well as Bell Laboratories, General Electric and
RCA Laboratories, to name a few. Paul Rappaport, a pioneer in the develop-
ment of these devices and the first Director of the U.S. Solar Energy Research
Institute, initiated the KCA solar cell work. David E. Carlson was an RCA
scientist who performed work specifically on amorphous silicon and made
significant advances in the processes used to manufacfure solar cells based on
the materidlo Dr. Carlson later went on to form Solarex, a manufacturer of
solar panels that is now part of BP Solar, a unit of BP, the giant oil company.
In Japan, most of the large electronics companies had programs to
investigate the use of a-Si for solar cells. And, in Europe, corporate as well
as university and large government research laboratories in England,
France, and Germany were also investigating this material.
By the late 1970s, many of these researchers were also looking at the
application of amorphous and polycrystalline silicon to thin-film diodes
and transistors. The attractive feature of a-Si was its ability to be processed
at a low enough temperature to deposit a thin-film on a glass substrate.
This would presumably make it possible to fabricate arrays of transistors
over very large areas. However, the main problem that plagued its use for
180 Liquid Gold

general purpose transistors was its low electron mobility. In 1978, while I
was working for Exxon Enterprises, I learned that research o n hydro-
genated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was being performed at Exxon’s cen-
tral research laboratories (now located in Clinton, New Jersey). I suspect
other groups were also investigating this material, but mainly for use in
solar cells.
A significant breakthrough occurred when a research group at the
IJniversity of Dundee in Scotland, led by Peter G. Le Comber and Walter E.
Spear, and Anthony J. Hughes at RSRE,”-’2 discovered that a-Si:H had per-
formance characteristics that made it suitable as a field-effect, thin-film
transistor for LCP) panels. These papers are generally regarded5i7>l3 as the
ones that sparked the worldwide effort to develop active matrix LCDs
based on a-Si:H TFTs. One of the senior authors of those papers, Professor
Spear, presented a series of lectures in Japan on the application of a-Si:H
to solar cells and displays7 in 1982. This generated great interest on the part
of researchers at a number of Japanese firms, as evidenced by the work
that followed shortly thereafter. Some examples are summarized below.
S. Kawai and his group at Fujitsu Laboratories in Kawasaki fabricated
a 5 X 7 dot matrix single-character display using a-Si TFTs with the
Guest-Host effect.’* They also developed a “self-alignment” process for fab-
ricating a-Si TFT arrays for use in LCD panels.lb me process used a combi-
nation of RF glow discharge depositions, vacuum evaporation and
photolithography to form the TFT array on a glass substrate. Arrays of
32 x 32 elements were fabricated and tested.
At Canon’s research center in Tokyo, Y . Okubo and his colleagues
demonstrated 240 X 240 pixel panels using both the twisted-nematic and
Guest-Host effects with a-Si TFTs.15 The following year, M. Sugata and his
group at Canon fabricated a twisted-nematic color LCD that used vacuum-
evaporatcd stripes of red, green and blue pigments in conjunction with
amorphous silicon TFTs.17The display, which was back-lit by a fluorescent
lamp, had a screen size of 30mm (1.2 inches) X 34.8mm (1.4 inches) and
50 X 174 pixels.
A group of researchers at ’kshiba’s research center in Kawasaki, led by
K. Suzuki,16 produced a-Si TFT arrays to construct displays that were
44 X 6Omm in active area and had 220 X 240 pixels, making the devices
compatible with conventional CMOS integrated circuits. A graphical display
using the ‘1” effect and a television display using the Guest-Host
effect were demonstrated; both were back-lit by a fluorescent lamp. The
displays were scanned at 60 frames/second for 400 lines/frame. A number
 The Elusive Transistor 181

of defective rows and columns were apparent in the photographs of the

displays, but this was typical of all the early experimental devices.
Mitsuhiro Yamasaki and his group at Sanyo Electric Company in Kobe,
collaborated with S. Sugibuchi and Y. Sasaki of Sanritsu Electric Company
in Tokyo to fabricate a color LCD-TV using a-Si TFTs to drive 220 X 240
pixels on a three-inch diagonal screen.” The colors were obtained by
using internal red, green and blue stripes of color polarizers.
Soon, Sharp, which had originally built TFT devices with tellurium,
switched over to a-Si and began building larger screen displays. Hitachi,
Mdtsushita, Hosiden, Citizen, Suwa Seikosha, Daini Seikosha, Mitsubishi
and Asahi Glass also began working on TFT-LCDs based on a-Si or poly-
crystalline silicon at about that time.
Meanwhile, other groups in France began investigating TFTs for LCDs
based on a-Si. In Lannion, France, M. Le Contellec and his colleagues at
the National Center for Telecommunications Studies (CNET) described the
work they were doing to build large arrays of TFTs for LCDs using a-Si at
the 1982 Society for Information Display Symposium in San Diego,
California.14The following year, Francois Morin and his group at CNET fab-
ricated a a-Si TFT addressed LCD with 320 X 320 pixels.18The TFTs did not
have a storage capacitor, but could still be operated at television rates. And,
another group led by Michel Hareng at the Central Research Laboratories
of Thomson CSF in Orsay, France, fabricated test cells that used a-Si back-
to-back Schottky diodes and the Guest-Host color LCD display technique.l’
In England, active matrix approaches to TFT-LCD fabrication were
being explored at GEC, RSKE, CKL, and other university and corporate
laboratories. Philips in the Netherlands also formed a team of scientists to
investigate these materials.
A group at the University of Stuttgart led by Dr. Ernst Leuder became
heavily involved in active matrix LCD research and ultimately published
more than 270 papers on the subject. According to Leuder,19his group was
one of the first to fabricate TFTs with photolithography instead of evapora-
tion and sputtering through aperture masks20 as was common in thin-film
technology at that time. Later, they were one of the first groups to Fabricate
a 14-inch diagonal TFT-LCD with a-Si:H using just four masking steps.21
They also developed LCDs on plastic substrates including the first 14-inch
diagonal plastic-substrate LCD with a resolution of 200 dots per inch.22
Work on TFT-LCDs based on thin films of silicon was also beginning in
the US . In 1982, for example, Stanford Resources and Princeton Resources
did a joint custom study of the future market for displays in general and
182 Liquid Gold

active matrix LCDs in particular for Re11 Telephone Laboratories in Murray

Hill, New Jersey. Our main contact there was Dr. Stuart Blank, who was
responsible for advanced display research at the laboratories. Allan Kmetz
headed one of the groups in Blank’s organization, and at that time, his group
was doing some early work on TI.“T-LCI)S.~~ Among the conclusions of that
project was our strategic opinion that LCD panels addressed by TFTs would
tic the displays of the future. This was in line with what Kmetz believed, but
Blank showed some serious skepticism because he had a former LED group
in Reading, I-’ennsylvania,that was working on plasma display panels (PDPs)
as well as a new group developing a miniature CRT with epitaxial phosphor
for projection. Despite our recommendation that AT&T focus on active
matrix LCD development, the company decided to pursue PDPs instead and
later announced that a 1’DP product would be manufactured in Reading with
a novel interconnection scheme based on lead-frames.23The product was
withdrawn almost immediately as the many existing competitors simply low-
ered their prices. All display research was stopped in 1986.
Seven years later, AT&T management finally realized that many o f
AT&T’s future products would have active matrix LCDs. Suddenly it
became important for AT&T to insure a supply of vital components, since
by that time they were all made in the Far East. Thus, a new active matrix
LCD program was started in Murray Hill in 1993 and AT&T joined with
Xerox to obtain government funding through the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DAIWA). This was done presumably as way to
get 1J.S. industry back into the display manufacturing business and insure a
reliable supply o f displays for military application. However, DAKPA
steered most of the government funding to 01s Optical Imaging Systems
(OIS), a company that planned to build displays for aircraft instruments, as
described on the following pages.
The shift of government funding to OIS, coupled with the failure to
devclop partnerships with Japanese manufacturers, caused Bell Labs to end
its active matrix LCD research program in 1995.23
The story of 01s is important for two reasons. One is that the company
was one of the first to recognize the importance of a-Si as a material for
active matrix devices. The other is that it provided technology to Asian
companies like Unipac in Taiwan and Korea’s Samsung, a company that
would go on to become one of the worlds leading suppliers of TFT-LCDs.
in*the fall of 1982 when Yaniv was complet-
According to Zvi Y a n i ~ , ~
ing his 1Jh.D.work at Kent State University, he was invited to join Energy
Conversion Devices (ECD) by Stanford Ovshinsky, President, and
 The Elusive Transistor 183

Dr. Robert Johnson, Senior Vice President. They wanted to start a new
group related t o the use o f wSi devices with liquid crystals. In 1983, Ymiv
started working as the manager o f the semiconductor group at ECD and six
months later, his group expanded to 20 people doing contract research for
inany companies on a-Si devices and their applications. The group’s mis-
sion was to create active matrix LCDs using a-Si diodes instead o f transis-
tors. The reason, at that time, was that everyone in the field predicted that
there would be serious difficulties in using or-Si transistors d u e to the low
electron mobility and problems with the interface between the gate dielec-
tric and a-Si layer. Learning from the experience of the solar cell group at
ECI), it became clear that diodes would be easier to manufacture than TFTs
over large areas and in high-yield. By early 1984, Yaniv’s group demon-
strated the first active matrix LCD using a diode switch and established an
intellectual property base for the company.
In May of 1984, Optical Imaging Systems (01s) was formed as a sub-
sidiary of ECD with 12olm-t Johnson as President and Zvi Yaniv as Vice
President to further develop the diode type active matrix LCII and eventu-
ally bring it to manufacturing. In 1985, Yaniv’s team at OK, which included
David M. Wells, and Dr. Vincent Cannella, reported a 32 X 32 pixel LCD
with NIN diodes and one with a TFT that had no capacitors in parallel with
the pixeLZ5The company expanded the prototype to a 6 4 0 x 4 0 0 pixel
display in 1986.
Unfortunately, it was very difficult to raise capital to build manufactur-
ing facilities. Therefore, 01s decided to go public in 1986 and Yaniv was
named President o f the company. By 1987, OIS established an engineering
line for production of LCD prototypes using both a-Si TFTs and diodes.
The company soon demonstrated an alpha-numeric diode-type active
matrix ICD that was 3.5 inches square and delivered it to Allied Signal
Aerospace. The success of that development prompted Allied Signal to
invest $4.5 million in 01s and to co-develop a full-color, high-reso-
lution display that was eight inches square to replace the conventional
instrument read.outs and CIiT displays in military and commercial aircraft
cockpits. That Same year, the 1J.S. Air Force contracted OIS to develop a
6-inch X 8-inch LCD for a militarized portable computer to be used by
maintenance crews.
Over the next two years, the OIS-Allied Signal development program
led to the demonstration of a series of high-resolution, full-color avionic
displays as large as eleven inches diagonal and with 1.7 million sub-pixels,
which at that time was the largest known active matrix display designed for
184 Liquid Gold

military aircraft.24Another project with Science Applications International

Corporation (SAIC) led 01s to produce displays for the Army’s LHX heli-
copter. The company also was invoived in avionic programs such as the
Navy A-12 advanced tactical fighter, retrofitting the horizontal system
indicator (HIS) for the F-15, and in the avionics of KC-135 aerial tankers.
Samsung Electron Devices heard about the 01s development and soon
dispatched their U.S. consultant Chan Soo Oh to find out more about it.
After Oh confirmed that 01s had a promising technology in development,
Samsung’s management asked him to set up a joint venture project with
01s to develop a portable computer display. According to Oh,2601s was
agreeable to a joint product development project with Samsung, so he
made numerous trips between the 1J.S. and Korea to draft and finalize a
one-year development contract between the two companies. In 1989, an
agreement was signed24that enabled Samsung personnel to be trained by
01s in Michigan. The contract also included a license agreement to allow
Samsung to manufacture active matrix LCDs using the intellectual property
portfolio of 01s.
Several engineers from Samsung were sent to the 01s Facility to learn
the process and indeed by the completion of the contract, they returned to
Korea with working prototypes of LCDs made with thin-film diode arrays.
It was not long before Samsung was able to replicate the process for fabri-
cation of a-Si devices in Suwon, Korea. And, as will be described in subse-
quent chapters, Samsung went on from this early technology know-how to
develop their own advanced TFT devices for manufacturing LCDs.
Another important milestone for 01s was achieved in 1990 when the
company joined with UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) of Taiwan
to form Unipac Optoelectronics Corporation based in Taiwan.2401s received
1OOh of the stock in Unipac by granting certain licenses to that company.
Today, Unipac, in a joint venture with Acer known as AU Optronics, is one
of the largest manufacturers of active matrix LCDs in Taiwan.
Starting in 1990, OIS focused exclusively on displays for military and
commercial avionics instruments and avoided the computer and consumer
market. The avionics market application was unusual in that it was neg-
lected by most of the large TFT-LCD manufacturers in Japan. The conven-
tional wisdom was that these markets were very Small (in terms of units)
and required significant engineering support. As a result, all of the avionics
contractors were seeking to set up a supply of display components, but
with little success.
 The Elusive Transistor 185

Recognizing the need to establish a manufacturing facility devoted to

military/avionic displays, 01s began seeking an investment partner in 1991
and later that year Guardian Industries, a glass manufacturer based in
Michigan, gained a controlling interest in 01s and installed new manage-
ment, prompting Ymiv to leave the company at year's end.24However, the
infusion of capital enabled the company to build a new facility2'" for active
matrix LCDs in 1993 in Southeastern Michigan. This facility was slated to be
the first volume active matrix LCD production facility in the U.S. and 01s
was selected by DARPA to build a plant that would demonstrate manufac-
turing technology for active matrix LCDs. The facility was expected to cost
$100 million with a 50-50 sharing of the cost by the company and DARPA.
Capacity of the facility was expected to be 50,000 units per year.
Unfortunately, this was more than enough to satisfy the military cockpit
display market for many years to come and many people, including myself,
questioned whether the company would be profitable under these
circumstances.
While 01s was successful in developing high-quality active matrix
LCDs for military applications, it could not turn a profit. The military
display market had not yet reached the point where there was enough
volume requirement to sustain a profitable, ongoing business.
Consequently, Guardian Industries refused to provide further financial sup-
port and the company closed down in 1998.27"
Richard Flasck was a former employee of ECD who formed a company
he named Alphasil to develop active matrix LCDs. Alphasil began opera-
tions in 1983 in Sunnyvale, California.28 Flasck soon recruited Scott
Holmberg, who helped build some of the first prototype TFT-LCD panels
using a-Si. A seed round of financing led by the Bay Venture Group of San
Francisco initially funded Alphad. Over the course of 1984 and 19-35, the
founders explored a variety of options to obtain sufficient capital for a vol-
ume manufacturing facility. In July of 1986, the firm concluded an agree-
ment with the Sperry Corporation to provide a direct investment; Sperry's
Aerospace and Marine Group that was subsequently sold to the Honeywell
Corporation led this transaction. As part of this acquisition, Honeywell
received certain interests in Alphasil technology, including exclusive mar-
keting rights in the worldwide defense and aerospace markets.
Alphasil was based in Fremont, California, where it established one of
the first TFT-LCD fabrication lines in the U.S. using the customized semi-
conductor equipment designed to handle glass substrates up to 12 inches
186 Liquid Gold

on a side. In its aim t o focus on the most favorable technological path,

Alphasil incorporated many of the standard steps of wafer fab processing
into its proprietary production process. In 1987, Alphasil announced intro-
duction o f a series of active matrix liquid crystal displays29 with u p to
640 X 480 pixels o n a 4-inch X 5-inch screen at a resolution at 128 lines per
inch. IJnfortunately, the parent company’s interest was in displays for
military applications and by the late 1980s, new contracts for military
applications had all but vanished, forcing Honeywell to close down
Alphad in 1 ~ ) 8 9 . 3 ~
After Alphasil ceased operations, Scott Holmberg began making plans t o
establish another start-up company to manufacture TFT-LCDs and in 1992, he
formed Image Quest Technologies with funding from Hylindai Electronics
America. I3ased in Fremont, California, the company produced high resolu-
tion TFT-LCDs for the avionics and military markets. By 1997, the company
had 85 employees working three shifLs and was building color panels in sizes
of ten inches with 640x480 pixels and 12 inches with 1,024X768 pixels.
Unfortunately, the size of the specialty market for its products was not suffi-
cient to sustain the operation and the company closed down in 1998.
As mentioned previously, Xerox began working on LCDs in the 1960s
at its Webster, New York research center. Xerox had another research
center in California known as the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (often
called Xerox PARC) where research work on LCDs was started in 1970. At
that time, Xerox PARC’s scientists were developing the “office of the future”
and the “architecture of information.” In the mid-l980s, PARC scientists
developed page-size a-Si image sensor arrays for high-speed copiers. In
the early lC)c)Os, the effort shifted to displays and Xerox developed some of
the first high-resolution color active matrix LCDs. The company then estab-
lished a wholly-owned subsidiary called dpiX to manufacture these prod-
ucts for state-of-the-art military cockpit applications. But as Honeywell,
OIS, Image Quest, and others found, the military market for these displays
was much t o o small to sustain a viable manufacturing business for active
matrix L C I k Consequently, dpiX stopped making displays in 2001 and
returned t o work on image sensors. Today, the company is a supplier of
X-ray sensors to medical tnarkets where its sensors are used in image sub-
systems for radiography, fluoroscopy, cardiology and portal imagings1The
significant improvements in versatility and productivity of real-time X-ray
images using these devices has benefited medical practitioners and allowed
them to share visual data in real-time with colleagues in remote locations
for immediate analysis and consultation.
 The Elusive Transistor 187

In 1982, at the International Display Research Conference in Cherry

Hill, New Jersey, Dr. Andras Lakatos, who led a group at the Xerox
Kesearch Center in Wehster, New York, that was investigating or-Si TFTs for
LCDs, gave a reviewY2 o f the state-of-the-art of the technology at that time.
He predicted that it will be possible to fabricate larger arrays of a-Si TFT
devices with adequate performance for dot matrix displays. He also said it
would be possible to build drivers and. shift registers as well as active
switching elements o n a single substrate using polycrystalline Si TFTs.
These comments from a n authoritative source gave impetus to many
researchers to work in this field. and years later, these prophesies were ful-
filled. Unfortunately, major U.S. manufacturers were not prepared to invest
the time and money required t o take the technology from the laboratory to
the market place. As a result, the manufacturing of TFT-LCDs developed
and matured in Japan, Korea and Taiwan during the 1980s and 1990s.

REFERENCES
1 . Ikrnard Lechner, personal communication, June 2003.
2. T. Peter Hrody, personal communication, May 2002.
3. Paul Weimer, “The TFT - a new thin-film transistor,” Proc.
able at http://www.ieee.org.
4. Paul Weimer, RCA Engineers Collection, transcript of 1975 interview:
http ://www ,ieee .org/organizations/history_center/oral-histories/trdnscripts/
weimer22.html.
5. ‘I:Peter Hrody, “The birth and early childhood of active matrix - a personal
memoir,” Journal ofthe Societyfor Information Display 4/3, 113 (1996).
6. T. Petcr Hrotfy, J.A. Asars and G.D. Dixon, “A (;-inch X 6 inch, 20 lines per inch
liquid crystal display panel,” IEEE Transuctions on Electron Devices 20, 995
(1973).
7 . Hirohisa Kawamoto, “The history of liquid crystal displays,” Proc. IFXE 90(4),
49.3494 (2002).
8 . F.C. Luo, W.R. Hcster, and T. Peter Rrody, “Alphanumcric and video perform-
ance of a 6-inch X 6-inch, 30 lines per inch TFT-LC display panel,” Proceedings
of the Socie@.forInjormation Display (1978) 94.
9. Margot Hornblower, Time, March 1, 1999; see also, http://www.ovonic.corn.
10. David E. Carlson, et wl., “Properties of amorphous silicon and a-Si solar cells,”
WCA Review 38, 21 1 (1977).
11. P.G. 1.e Combcr, W.E. Spear, and A. Ghaith, “Amorphous silicon field-effect
device and possible applications,” Electronic Letters 15(6), 179 (1979).
12. A.I. Snell, K.D. Mackenzie, Walter E. Spear, Peter G. Le Comber, and AnthonyJ.
Hughes, “Application of amorphous silicon field-effect transistors to addressable
188 Liquid Gold

liquid crystal display panels,” Appl. Phys. A24(4), 357 (19811, published by
Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany. Anthony J. Hughes did his work at R S E
in Malvern, while the other authors worked in the Carnegie Laboratory of
Physics at the University of Dundee, Scotland.
13. E. kaneko, Liquid Crystal 7VDlspluys (KTK Scientific Publishers, Tokyo, 3 9871,
p. 244.
14. Electronic Disp1a.y World 2(5) 7, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1982);
now iSuppli/Stanford Resources, Santa Clara, CA, http://www.isuppli.com.
This issue summarizes work reported at the 31) International Symposium held
in San Diego, CA, in May 1982.
15. Y. Okubo, T. Nakagiri, Y. Osada, M. Sugata, N. Kitahara, and K. Hatdnaka,
“Large-scale LCDs addressed by a-Si TET arrays,” Proceedings of the Society,for
Information Display (1982) 40.
16. Electronic Display World 3(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
This issue summarizes work reported at the SID International Symposium held
in Philadelphia, PA, in May 1983.
17. Electronic Display World 3(10), Stzdnford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
This issue summarizes work reported at Japan Display ’83, the International
Display Research Conference held in Kobe, Japan, in October 1983.
18. Electronic Displuy World4(6),29, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1984).
19. Ernst Leuder, personal communication, March 2004.
20. Ernst Leuder, et al., “Processing of thin-film transistors with photolithogrzaphy
and application for displays,” SID International Symposium Digest qf Technical
Pupers (1980) 118.
21. J. Glueck, E. Leuder, T. Kallfass, H.-U. Lauer, D. Straub, and S. Hutelmaier, “A
14-inch diagonal a-Si TIT-AMLCD for PAL-TV,” SID International Symposium
Digest of Technical Papers (1994) 263.
22. R. Uunz, R. Hurkle, S. Uecker, T. Kallfass, and E. Leuder, “Cholesteric LCDs
on glass and plastic substrates with resolution up to 200 dpi and 14 inches
diagonal,” Displays and Vacuum Electronics, ITG-Tagung Garmisch-
Partenkirchen (1998) 153.
23. Alpan It. Kmetz, personal communication, August 2003.
24. Zvi Ymiv, personal communication, March 2004.
25. Illectronic Display World 5(10), 5, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(1985). This issue summarizes work reported at the Flat Information Display
Conference held in San Jose, CA, in October 1985.
26. Chan S o 0 Oh, personal communication, October 2003.
27. (a) Electronic Display World 13(4), 12, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(1993).
(b) Electronic Display World 18(9), 3, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(1998).
28. Electronic Display World 3(7), 2, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
 The Elusive Transistor 189

29. Electronic Uispluy World 7(9), 19, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(1987).
30. Electronic Display World 9(5),5 , Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1989).
31. dpiX wehsite at http://www.dpix.com.
32. Electronic Uispluy World 2(11), 10, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(1982). This issue summarizes work reported at the International Display
Research Conference held in Cherry Hill, NJ, in October 1982.
 Chapter 13

Te Ievis io n Arrive s

"In years to come, the liquid crystal display concept may yield a practical thin-
screen competitor to the cathode ray tube used in radar and television displays."
George H. Heilmeier, Appliance Engineer Magazine, 1969

From the time that the above prophecy was made, some 14 years elapsed
before LCD displays in small screen television sets became available on the
market. As mentioned previously in Chapter 7, Seiko reported the first
color LCD for television with a two-inch diagonal screen in 1983. The qual-
ity o f the image on the Seiko color television compared very favorably with
that of a small color CR'T. This paved the way for scientists and engineers
from all the major consumer electronics companies in Japan to intensify
their efforts to build sets with larger and larger screens. Consequently,
there was tremendous progress toward the development of LCD television
starting in 1984.
This chapter traces the early development of LCD television as it evolved
in Japan from small portaMe sets to larger screen units. By the end of the
1980s, millions of portable television sets with LCL) screens in sizes of two
inches to six inches were being sold at retail stores in Japan. By the early
1990s, small screen LCD televisions were appearing in other countries in the
Pacific Rim as well as the IJ.S., and Europe. Towards the end of the 1990s,
the growth of the market for LCD television sets accelerated rapidly and the
displacement of conventional CRT-based sets began in earnest after 2000.

PORTABLE COLOR LCD TELEVISION DEBUTS

In the late 1970s, several Japanese electronics makers announced the suc-
cessful development of small LCD televisions using the dynamic scattering

190
 Television Arrives 191

mode, but it was not until 1982 that Sony Corporation marketed the first
handheld black-and-white set, the FD-200, with a newly developed flat,
thin CKT. Then, in April 1983, Sony launched the FD-20, a lighter, cheaper
(then about $130), and smaller handheld set only four-fifths the size of the
FD-200. There were also improvements in the construction of the picture
tube, the electron gun, the deflection yoke and the phosphor. The small set
measured 78 mm ( 3 inches) wide X by 162.5mm (6.4 inches) high X 36 mm
(1.4 inches) deep and weighed about one pound with batteries installed.
Power consumption, however, was two watts and the batteries would last
for only about three hours of continuous operation. The product became
quite popular among sports enthusiasts who liked to watch replays while
attending live events. The handheld set with a CRT had a much sharper
picture than the early LCDs, but they were not available in color and con-
sumed more power. Low power consumption was crucial to the success of
thin, handheld television sets, so the low power feature of the LCD made it
the ideal technology.
In Ikcember of 1982, Hattori Seiko introduced the world’s first televi-
sion on a wristwatch,’ the DXAOOl. It consisted of two units, a wristwatch
and a receiver joined by a cord. The wristwatch had a 1.2-inch diagonal
monochrome (blue-and-white) Guest-Host mode LCD measuring 25.2 mm X
16.8mm and with 152 X 210 pixels. The active matrix LCD was built directly
on a silicon wafer. The product had a digital clock display on the upper part
o f the watch showing the hour, minute, second, date, day of the week, and
whether the alarm or 24-hour time system was on. Other features included:
tuning, volume, TV-FM selection, VHF-UHF selection, brightness controls,
video jack, AC adapter jack and mini stereo headphone jack. The watch was
also featured in the motion picture, 0ctcpussyL Despite the publicity, the
product’s relatively high price ($400 and $450) resulted in sluggish sales and
it was discontinued in 1984.
Casio Computer launched its handheld product, the TV-10, in June of
198.3 in Japan and in early 1984 in the 17,s.The 2.75-inch diagonal LCD in
this set was not driven by an active matrix, but a multiplexing scheme
called a dual matrix drive system, which had a duty ratio of U65.6 and, as
result, a low contrast picture. In 1985, Casio started selling the T I - 2 1
pocket monochrome LCD television with a two-inch diagonal screen that
weighed just 200 grams and was priced just below $100.415That Same year,
Casio introduced the TV-1000 pocket color television with a 2.6-inch diago-
nal screen. The entire unit was 83mm X 160mm X 34.5mm and weighed
about one pound with batteries and backlight. This unit was introduced at
192 Liquid Gold

under $300, but was soon discounted in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, a major
shopping area for Japan’s consumer electronic products. The uniqueness of
the handheld television coupled with the relatively low prices of its prod-
ucts enabled Casio to sell hundreds of thousands of these sets in Japan.5
Citizen Watch Company unveiled a prototype of an LCD television in
October of 1983. This was one of the smallest and lightest handheld, black-
and-white television of its time with a battery life of ten hours. The set fea-
tured AM radio as well as VHF and UHF television channels. Weighing less
than a half pound, the set measured 54 mm X 40.5 mm with a 2.7-inch diag-
onal 1,CD screen.
In 1984, Shinji Morozumi and his Suwa Seikosha team, which included
K. Oguchi, 7’. Misawa, R. Amki and H. Oshima, reported on the fabrication
of a full-color LCD television using polysilicon TFTs on a quartz substrate.3
The first handheld color television model using this active matrix LCD was
brought to market by Seiko that same year. The unit had a two-inch
diagonal screen and it measured 76 mm ( 3 inches) X 152 mm (6 inches) X
32mm (1.25 inches). The set weighed less than one pound with batteries
installed. Color was obtained using electro-deposition of the dyes that
formed the three primary colors. The unit was priced at $500 when it was
introduced. The same Seiko team also succeeded in fabricating a 4.25-inch
diagonal color television using the same process.
The progress made by Japan’s major watch companies to develop
color LCD televisions soon caught the attention of Japan’s large electronic
companies and in October of 1983, Sanyo Electric Company announced
and demonstrated a three-inch diagonal color LCD television using a-Si
TFTs and internally deposited polarizer light filters composed of the three
primary colors in stripe format. l h e Sanyo prototype display measured
60 mm X 45 mm and had a format of 240 x 220 pixels. However, it was not
until 1985 that the firm began selling a commercial color LCD television
using this display.
In 1986, Panasonic Industrial Company, a unit o f Matsushita Electric
Industrial Company, Osaka, Japan, began selling‘ its model CT-301E, a
three-inch diagonal color television with a liquid crystal display incorporat-
ing a-Si WTs and the firm’s unique “multi-gap” color filter system, which
had been reported at the Society for Information Display Symposium in
1985. The television was introduced at a suggested retail price of $299.
Ileveloped jointly by the company’s Central Research Labs and Video
Equipment Division, the multi-gap process optimized the thickness of each
filter layer to closely match the color gamut of a color CKT. The color filters
 Television Arrives 193

were arranged in triangular fashion to produce a display with 240 X 378

pixels. The set measured less than an inch from front t o back and it
weighed less than one pound. With alkaline batteries it could provide up
to 5.5 hours o f continuous viewing. When I saw the prototype panel in
3 985, it showed the best color quality, broadest viewing angle and highest
contrast of any LCD televison demonstrated up to that time.
Manufacturing process improvements and increases in screen size also
began to be reported in 1986. At Fujitsu Laboratories in Atsugi, Japan, for
example, researchers believed that the key to success in applying a-Si TFTs
to color LCDS was to use its so-called, “self-aligned”process.(‘This process
enabled the Fujitsu engineers to fabricate a large number of very small
TFTs on a large substrate. By arranging the color filter stripes in a linear
format (each pixel trio measured 125 X 375 microns), a full-color display
capal)k o f presenting dot matrix characters as well as television pictures
was demonstrated. The 5.7-inch diagonal color panel with 208 X 228 pixels
had good color chromaticity and very few defects.
LJsing a much more complex process with some seven masking steps,
engineers at Sharp Corporation in Nard, Japan, developed6 a 3.2-inch diag-
onal color LCD television with 240 X 360 pixels using a-Si TETs and color
filter stripes. The Sharp panel used color triads instead of the in-line
arrangement and a back illumination system using a Fresnel mirror.
Sales o f portable LCD television sets in 1987 reached nearly three
million units7 as more and more models were introduced. Casio, for exam-
ple, had 12 models on the market in 1.987. Citizen, Seiko, and even the
camera company, Pentax, introduced LCD portables with screen sizes in
the three-inch range.* Sharp chose a moderate three-inch size with
240 X 384 pixels for its first model,‘ which was driven by a-Si TFTs and
priced at $339. Soon larger screen models began appearing and in October
of 1987, Hitachi‘ introduced a five-inch diagonal color LCD driven by a-Si
TFTs, the largest screen size at the time. The screen had 115,200 pixels in a
matrix of 240 by 480 pixels. This was Hitachi’s first portable LCI) television,
which sold for $647.
The growing market size plus the popularity of portable LCD tele-
visions prompted companies in Europe to begin offering similar models.
Ferguson, a European television supplier, which was owned by Thomson
of France, introduced the first color portable I,CD television set suitable for
British transmissions.’” The one pound, model PTV01, with a 2.6-inch
screen was priced at &250.Perguson’s achievement was to design electronics
to receive signals on the European PAL 625-line standard rather than
194 Liquid Gold

Japan’s 525-line NTSC. This involved producing new microchips to trigger

each pixel at a different rate. However, executives admitted that apart
from the work of reconfiguring the electronics to European standards, the
television was entirely a Japanese product made by Seiko Epson, which
did most of the development work. At the time, Ferguson said the deal
gave the company a foothold in LCD television while allowing its engi-
neers time to develop larger screen sets.
N.V. I’hilips of the Netherlands also introduced a portable color LCI)
television based on a-Si ‘I‘FT technology that was acquired from Japan’s
Sharp Corporation. The display had a three-inch diagonal screen with
106,752 pixels organized in a 278 X 384 pixel matrix. Back-lighting was used
to ensure high picture quality, but it could he turned off to cave power
cinder battery operation. And, in 1988, Mdgnavox, a brand name used by
Philips in the US., introduced the CH-1000, a three-inch LCD color televi-
sion packaged with a ledtherette case with a flap that acted like a viewing
hood. The set was called Personal View and it was priced at $449. The
report1] indicated that Philips’ management believed TFT-LCD technology
wodd enable larger LCD screen sizes to become available in the future.

THE SHIFT TO MIM DIODES FOR LCD PORTABLES

The use of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) devices to drive liquid crystal dis-
plays was first proposed and demonstrated hy David I3araff and his co-
workers at Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada in the early 1 9 8 0 ~
The use of these devices instead of transistors was seen as a way to sim-
plify the manufacturing process, thereby reducing cost.
A MIM-addressed display relied upon the extremely non-linear current-
voltage characteristics of a thin layer of tantalum pentoxide. The MIM
allowed current to flow when a threshold voltage was exceeded, similar to
a diode. A line was selected by writing a high voltage signal to it and send-
ing data signals that were added to the select signal. The resistance of a
non-addressed pixel was high so that the pixel acted as a capacitor and
stored the image until the next addressing signal arrived.
There were two types of MIM devices, each identified by its structure.
One was called a lateral MIM because the active area was grown on the
side of a thin-film layer of tantalum. The other type was called a cross-
patterned MIM and the semiconductor was grown on the surface o f a thin
film of tantalum. The cross-patterned MIM display was formed using a
plate of borosilicate glass as the substrate. A layer of tantalum metal (Fa)
 Television Arrives 195

was first sputtered on the glass substrate to a thickness of 3,000 angstroms.

The Fa was then patterned to make what were essentially the column
buses of the display with tiny spurs that were used to connect to each of
the pixels. The Ta film was then oxidized by anodization to form a tanta-
lum pentoxide layer about 600 angstroms thick. The anodization was done
by applying a voltage to the circuit while it was immersed in a solution of
0.01% citric acid. The oxide grew at the linear rate of 15 to 20
angstroms/volt applied. After anodization, the indium-tin oxide (ITO) pix-
els were deposited and patterned. N o electrical contact was made to the Ta
columns. Chromium metal (Cr) was then used to connect the IT0 pixels to
the Ta/l'a,05 columns. The semiconductor device was formed by the
Cr/Ta,Oj/Xa layers. The rest of the liquid crystal cell including the rows
was formed by traditional methods.
The cross-patterned MIM was very simple in construction, but suffered
from a serious drawback. The intersection of the Cr and Ta conductors
with the tantalum pentoxide in between created a very efficient capacitor.
The larger the capacitance, the more time or voltage it took to charge the
capacitor and thus to address each pixel. It was therefore required to make
the capacitor as small as possible. Two ways to reduce the capacitance
were to increase the thickness of the dielectric layer or to decrease the area
of the electrodes. The thickness, however, was fairly well defined by the
desired voltage characteristics needed to address the display. The only
remaining choice was to reduce the area of the electrodes. This meant
reducing the line widths of either the Cr or Ta spurs. Both choices directly
increased the manufacturing problems regarding open circuits and repro-
ducibility of very small relative geometries.
There was one important feature in the fabrication of MIM devices
that attracted LCD manufacturers. Tantalum pentoxide was known to be
an unusual material in that it exhibited a type of self-healing process dur-
ing fabrication and when heated. Due to surface diffusion, pin holes in
thin films o f tantalum pentoxide were found to diminish after annealing. It
was this property that enabled LCDs based on MIM devices to yield high-
quality products at high-volume levels, especially for small portable LCD
televisions. This was recognized early on by Shinji Morozumi and his team
at Seiko Epson and b y 3983 they began developing L C l h based on this
technology. l 3
In 1987, the Seiko Epson team built prototype color LCD television sets
in sizes of 2.6 inches, 3.3 inches and 6.7 inches.'14With a format of 640 X 440
pixels, the 6.7-inch set had a contrast ratio above 30:l and a response time
196 Liquid Gold

of fewer than 50 milliseconds at room temperature. It conformed to the full

NTSC format. The viewing angle was said to be %40" in the horizontal
direction and -20" to +30" in the vertical direction. The color filters had a
thickness of 1.6 to two microns and the patterns were arranged in a trian-
gular mosaic. The IT0 electrodes were deposited between the filter layer
and glass plate; each pixel was surrounded by black cross stripes with dou-
ble or triple color filter dyeing.
The MIM acted as a switch that turned the device into a low resistance
conductor when a high voltage was applied. The MIM was placed in series
with the liquid crystal cell, which was equivalent to a capacitor and a resis-
tor. Scanning signals contained the higher voltage pulses and were applied
to the rows. Data signals containing the lower voltage information to be
written to each line were sent down the column ekctrodes. Many lines
could be addressed with very high equivalent duty cycles.
Liquid crystal displays based on the MIM had the advantage of a longer
history of development than other types of two terminal devices and also
of having a simple fabrication process. The only process that needed to be
consistently controlled for device performance was the anodization of the
Ta electrode to form the insulator. This was a significant advantage over
TFTs and even over diodes that required annealing and hydrogenation. As
a result, Seiko Epson built millions o f displays for small portable televi-
sions using this technology over the years. However, the driving voltages
for MIMs were high (15 to 20 volts) due to the conduction mechanism and
properties of the insulator film. This was one factor among several that
prevented the technology from competing with TFTs for large screen LCD
televison displays.

THE DRIVE TOWARD LARGER SCREENS INTENSIFIES

Between 1985 and 1987, engineers succeeded in jumping from two- or
three-inch diagonal screens to five-inch and larger color TFT-LCDs for tele-
vision. It was clear even then that screens with dimensions of 14 inches
and more were in the near horizon. In March of 1986, I went on a fact-
finding tour in Japan and visited the offices and plants of 22 companies.
The major focus of my trip was to review the technology and market
potential for liquid crystal displays. Nearly every firm I visited was per-
forming research on one or another of the active inatrix techniques to
address conventional 90 degree twisted-nematic LCDs. The TIT-addressed
color television prototype displays that I saw made it patently clear to me
 Television Arrives 197

that this was the ultimate solution to obtdining the highest performing
LCDs. Many of the Japanese television set makers had plans to increase the
diagonal screen size in stages in the years following to six, 14, 20, 25 and
ultimately 40 inches. The early LCDs that I saw in 1986 displayed many
color shades (16.777 million colors, generally regarded as “full color,” was
still on the horizon) and had broad viewing angles as well as high-contrast
and high background brightness obtained through back-lighting. The
results of my visits strengthened my conviction that TFT-LCD technology
was still evolving and its market size potential was quite large.
In September of 1987 at the Eurodisplay conference held in London, a
research team from Fujitsu Laboratories in Atsugi, Japan, reported a new
active matrix LCD architecture for larger size flat television di~plays.’~
With
this new architecture, each TFT drain contact was connected to an adjacent
gate bus line to simplify the bus line configuration and to eliminate metal-
lization crossover. The driving scheme reduced crosstalk by lowering the
peak-to-peak voltage o f data bus line waveforms. This architecture prom-
ised higher yields due to the well-matched redundant designs and was suit-
able for larger television displays. The Fujitsu team fabricated six-inch
panels having 960 X 240 pixels using an inverted staggered a-Si:H TFT
structure with the KGB color pixels arranged in stripes. The process was
simpler than previous ones, because no multiple-insulating layer was
needed for a cross-over structure. It demonstrated that the driving scheme
eliminated the interference between black-and-white regions previously
created by data crosstalk. In the displayed television image, a contrast ratio
of over 20:1 was obtained and no open-line defects appeared.
Also in 1987, a large team of researchers from Philips Research
Laboratories, Redhill, England, reportedI5 on the development of a six-inch
diagonal, full-color LCD television display with 468 X 288 pixels. The panel
used active matrix addressing with a-Si TFTs and operated as a half resolu-
tion television display using the standard PAL system. The active matrix
had no additional storage capacitor and the response speed of the display
showed a black-to-white transition time of less than 20 milliseconds.
Flicker was completely eliminated by using a line inversion drive scheme,
in which the video signal was inverted every line as well as every field. An
excellent video picture was obtained with good horizontal resolution due
t o the diagonal arrangement of color pixels and the sequential sampling of
the R, G and B signals.
An effort to develop larger screen color LCDs was also underway
at the central research center of General Electric Company (GE) in
198 Liquid Gold

Schenectady, New York. Research on LCDs had begun in the late 1960s at
this location, one of the nation's largest and most well-known research
centers. In late 1985, General Electric agreed to purchase RCA Corporation
lor $6.2 billion in a definitive cash deal that created a services and technol-
ogy company with a worldwide revenue base of $40 billion.16The merger
brought together two of the oldest and most prominent corporations in
17,s. industry. The GE acquisition also created the fourth largest defense
contractor with total sales of more than $5.6 billion. Thus, GE's interest in
displays focused mainly on equipment for military and avionics applica-
tions. At the same time, GE decided to consolidate its central research
activities in the Schenectady ldbordtOIy and in 1986 donated the David
Sarnoff Research Center, KCA Laboratories, to SKI International, a non-
profit research and development contracting ~rganization.'~ Eventually, GE
sold the television tube and set manufacturing plants as well as the RCA
brand name to Thomson o f France.
Shortly after the merger, some of the RCA researchers decided to move
to GE's laboratory. Thomas Credek, who was developing displays for flat
panel television, was one of the key engineers who moved to GE's labora-
tory to rnanage a display research group. He gave a description and demon-
stration of a high-information-content active matrix LCII in full color then in
development at GE in October 1987 at the F h t Information Displuy
C,'~nJert.nce.~'The display was developed by Donald E. Castleberry and
George E. Possin and was aimed at building displays for avionics applica-
tions. Credelle demonstrated a color LCI> panel that was made with a-Si
TFTs and was 6.25 inches square (8.8 inches diagonal). The color panel had
512 X 512 pixels, a contrast ratio of 40:1, and a brightness range of 0.1 ft-
Lambert to 250 ft-Lamberts controlled by a hack-lighting scheme. The panel
was viewable over a horizontal angle of t h o " and a vertical angle of k45"
t o meet military specifications. It was one of the first color active matrix LCD
panels in this size range to display more than 260,000 pixels, and is believed
to be the world's first to employ more than one million TFTs.l3
In order to avoid flicker, the display was refreshed at 120Hz; since the
data polarity was inverted every other frame; the LC pixels saw a drive fre-
quency of 60Hz. Thus, the line address time was about eight microsec-
onds. At these very fast line times, the sampled video data drivers like
those used in pocket televisions were not practical since extremely high
analog video data rates would be required and valid data is required on the
column for most of the line address time to accurately control the pixel
voltage. These problems were solved with custom drivers that provided a
 Television Arrives 199

four-bit digital-to-analog converter at each output. On each output line one

o f 16 analog switches could h e selected to connect the output to one of 16
independently adjustable voltage levels. The 16 analog voltage levels could
be changed for each line of the display; this allowed a different set of drive
voltages for each color in the quad color pixel, which consisted o f one red,
one blue, and two green color filter dots. This was necessary for good
greyscale since each color had a slightly different transmission versus volt-
age characteristic.
Everyone who viewed the panel agreed that it was very impressive
indeed both in its multi-color capability as well as its broad viewing angle.
The few isolated point defects that were present were barely visible. The
details o f the panel’s construction and operation were reported the follow-
ing year at the SIII International Symposium in Anaheim, California.20
In 1987, a ICinch diagonal TFT-addressed color LCD was described
and demonstrated” in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Hideo Tanaka and his
co-workers at Seiko Instruments in Chiba, Japan. This group used a thin-
film transistor t l u t was fabricated through only three photolithographic
steps and was named “V2-TI;T” (very simple and very thin-film transistor).
The main configuration o f the V2-TFT was an inverted staggered structure.
The panel consisted of two substrates. The upper substrate had the color
filters formed in a diagonal mosaic arrangement o f red, green and blue ele-
ments. The I T 0 common electrode was sputtered on the color filters. The
lower substrate had the V2-TFT array with lead out electrodes for supplying
drive signal voltages t o the pixel electrodes on an IT0 layer.
On the inside surface of each substrate, polyimide resin was coated
and rubbed for use as a molecular alignment layer for the liquid crystal.
The thickness o f the liquid crystal layer was maintained at six microns by
scattered plastic beads. The panel size was 314 mm X 224 mm X 2 mm; its
active area size was 288 mm X 198 mm. The 640 X 440 pixel panel was used
to demonstrate television pictures from recorded signals. Although it had
several dozen defects and the color still needed much improvement, it was
one of the first color panel prototypes made in such a large screen size and
with more than 280,000 pixels.
Another company developing larger screen active matrix LCDs was
Oki Electric Industry Company in Tokyo, Japan. In 1988, a nine-inch diago-
nal, multi-color LCD addressed by a-Si TFI3 with high-field-effect mobili-
ties was reported22 by Mamoru Yoshida and his research team. The
multi-color LCD addressed had 640 X 400 pixels with a contrast ratio of
4 6 1 . The high mobility TFTs were said to provide high reliability and
200 Liquid Gold

productivity because the operating voltages were much lower than the
breakdown voltage of the insulator. The devices were said to make possi-
ble larger size and higher resolution LCDs because of the small stray capac-
itances and large aperture ratio by reducing the TFT size.
Other groups from Japan also reported the development of large
screen panels in 1988. Among these were NTT’s Applied Electronics Labs
in Tokyo where an active matrix fabrication technique called the I’lanarized
Active Matrix (PAM) process was developed.23 The PAM process, which
used top-gate, a-Si TFTs, was used to fabricate a 14-inch diagonal mono-
chrome active matrix panel with 1,500 X 1,680 pixels. Another group devel-
oping larger screen LCDs was Seiko Epson in Nagano, Japan. Shinji
Morozumi and his colleagues used polycrystalline silicon TI% to make a
9.5-inch diagonal LCD with 960 X 440 dots,24although no mention of color
was made in the paper.

HANG-ON-THE-WALL LCD TELEVISION

APPROACHES REALITY
Sharp Corporation was one of the most aggressive Japanese firms to
develop active matrix LCDs for television. Sharp had been concentrating on
tellurium TFTs, but in 1985 it began to seriously investigate a-Si TFT-LCDs.
Kawamoto gives an excellent report of Sharp’s early d e v e l ~ p m e n
According to his account, the company formed a Liquid Crystal Division
and in 1986 appointed Isamu Washizuka as General Manager. Wdshizuka
wanted to jump ahead of the competition and move toward the mainstream
television market, so in 1987 he directed Hiroshi Take and Kozo Yano to
develop a 14-inch display using existing manufacturing equipment in
Sharp’s plant. In February of 1988, the Sharp engineers produced the first
panels and in June the company announced the development publically.
Sharp’s team demonstrated26 the first 14-inch active matrix 1,CD
made with a-Si TFTs at a meeting in San Diego, California, in October
1988. The panel, which included a back-light, was 27mm thick and
weighed 1.8 kilograms. The LCD had 642 X 480 pixels with built-in redun-
dancy and produced a contrast ratio of greater than 1 O : l over a viewing
angle o f 120 degrees. The TIT used an inverted-staggered structure with
amorphous silicon as the semiconductor and tantalum as the gate metal.
KedUnddncy was achieved by dividing each pixel into four sub-pixels (a
total of 1,232,640sub-pixels) so that even if one sub-pixel was damaged,
 Television Arrives 201

all of the pixels could still be viewed. It was very difficult for the naked eye
t o identify the sub-pixels that were inoperative. Color reproducibility was
very close t o that of a conventional color CKT.
One year later, Sharp demonstrated two 14-inch panels with even
higher r e ~ o l u t i o n One
. ~ ~ of the TFT driven displays had a format of
960 (1,920 sub-pixels) X 480 pixels (921,600 triads) while the other had
1,920 pixels X 480 pixels. Both were as good or better than CKTs in terms
o f color and overall performance. The resolution of the former display was
55 pixels/inch vertical X 88 pixels/inch horizontal while the latter unit had
a resolution of 55 pixelshch vertical and 175 pixelshch horizontal. Sharp
developed a non-interlaced scanning technique made possible by
decreased line resistance and parasitic capacitance.
These two displays were not one-of-a-kind prototypes since a number
were also shown at the 1989 Japan Electronics Show in Osaka that I
toured. Most observers hailed these as the best LCDs shown up to that
time. This work was recognized in 1990 when the Sharp team received the
prestigious Eduard Rhein Prize for Technology.
The display size of 14 inches placed the Sharp product in the Same cat-
egory as the 13-inch viewable color CRT televisions that were being sold in
the tens of millions of units at that time. While it took another ten years of
development to lower the manufxturing cost of such panels enough to
bring the retail price within the reach of the average consumer’s pocket-
book, this milestone development proved that active matrix LCDs could be
produced in sizes that represented the mainstream of the huge television
market. Over the decade that followed, Sharp and its competitors focused
intensely on reducing manufacturing cost and increasing production
efficiency.
Another important event that played a role in the development of large
screen TFT-LCII televisions in Japan was the formation28of a government-
sponsored consortium in 1988 charted to develop a 40-inch diagonal
display. Twelve Japanese companies joined the Ministry of International
Trade and Industry in a project to make a large, wall-hung LCU television
by March of 1995. The plan was for MITI to invest about $55 million and
for the companies to put in another $25 million. Hitachi, NEC, Sharp,
Seiko Epson, Casio and Sanyo were directed to develop the electronics
while Toppan Printing and Dai Nippon Printing would develop printing
techniques for the color filters. Asahi Glass would develop the large glass
plates, while Chisso would provide the liquid crystal material, Nihon
202 Liquid Gold

Synthetic Rubber would develop other materials, and lJLVAC would be

responsible for the process equipment.
The schedule for this project called for the elementary technology
development to be completed by 1991 with prototypes to be developed
from 1992 t o 1994. The tasks, objectives and expected difficulties were
described in a September 1988 report from MITI entitled “Development
of Fundumental Technologies of Giant Electronics Devices The objec- ”

tive o f the project was the development of elementary technologies

required for the realization of a one-meter diagonal color back-lit LCD.
While the ambitious objective of a commercial 40-inch diagonal hang-
on-the-wall LCD by 1995 was not achieved, succeeding events showed
that the technologies developed by the individual participating compa-
nies involved in this project clearly helped to advance the development
and production o f 30-inch and larger LCD televisions that would eventu-
ally emerge.

REFERENCES
1. Electronic Disyluy World 2(12), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1982);
now iSuppli/Stanford Keso~irces,Santa Clara, CA, http:// www.isuppli.com.
2. Octopussy, a John Glen film produced by Albert R. Broccoli, 1983. Roger
Moore appeared in the role of secret agent James Bond.
3. Electronic Disp2u.y World 4(6>, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1 984).
This issue summarizes work reported at the SID International Symposium held
o, CA, in May 1984.
4. Electronic Disyluy World 5(1>, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1985).
This issue summarized products shown at the 1985 Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas, NV, in January 1985.
5. Electronic Disp1u.y World 5(6>,Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (19851.
6. Electronic Diqluy World 6(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1986).
This issue summarized work reported at the Society for Information I X q h y
Symposium in San Diego, CA, in Mdy 1986.
7. Electronic Disp1u.y World 7 ( 7 ) ,Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
8. I?lectronic Disp1u.y World 7(11), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, C h (1987).
9. Electronic Disphy World 7(10), Stanford liesources, Inc., San Jose, CR (1987).
10. Electronic Displuy World 7(8),Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
11. Electronic Display World 8(1), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1988).
12. 1).R. Uaraff, J.K. Long, I3.K. MacLaurin, C.J. Miner, and R.W. Streater, “The
optimization o f metal-insulator-metal nonlinear devices for inultiplexed
liquid crystal displays,” Proceedings ofthe Society,for Information Disphy 22,
 Television Arrives 203

330 (1981); SID International Symposium Digest of Technical Papers (1980)

200; Proceedings of the 1980 International Displuy Research Conference
(1980) 107.
13. S. Morozumi, et al., “A 256 X 240 element LCD addressed by lateral
MIMs,” Proceedings of the 298.3 International Displuy Research Conference
(1983) 404.
14. Electronic Display World 7(8), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
15. Eleclronic Ui.yi1u.y World 7(9), Stanford liesources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
This issue summarized work reported at Eurodiqday, the 1987 International
Display Kescarch Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1987.
16. Electronic Display World 5(12), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1985).
17. There was never a business connection between SKI International, Menlo
Park, CA and Stanford Resources Incorporated, San Jose, CA. Confusion often
arose because SRI had once been named Stanford Research Institute. There
was also never any connection between Stanford Resources and Stanford
University.
18. Electronic Displuy World 7(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
This issue summarized work reported at the Flat Infiwmation Display
Coyfirence, San Jose, CA, October 1987.
19. Thomas Credelle, personal communication, February 2004.
20. Donald E. Castleberry and George E. Possin, SID International Symposium
Digest qf Technical Papers (1988) 232.
21. H. Tanaka, S. Motte, M. Hoshino, K. Takahasi, M. Ohta, T. Sakai, and
T. Yamazaki, “A 14-inch diagonal active matrix addressed color LCD using
cy-Si:II V2-TFTs,” SID International Symposium Digest of Technical Papers
(1987) 140.
22. M. Yoshida, T. Nomoto, Y. Sekido, I. Abiko, and K. Nihei, “A 9-inch multicolor
LCD addressed by a-Si TFTs with high-field effect mobilities,” SZD
International Symposium Digest of Technical Papers (1988) 242.
23. K. Kato, N. Kakuda, N. Naito, and T. Wada, “Planarized active-matrix for large-
area high-resolution LCIIs,” SKI Internalional Symposium Digest of’ Technical
Papers (1988) 412.
24. 11. Ohshiina, ?’. Nakazawa, T. Shimobayashi, H. Ishiguro, and S . Morozumi,
"9.5-inch with
-LCD poly-Si new transistor
TFT-LCD with new configuration,” International
SII) SID)
transistor configuration," International
Symposium Digest of TechnicalPapers (1988) 408.
25. H. Kawamoto, “The history of liquid crystal displays,” Proc. IEEE 9 0 ( 4 ) ,
494-495 (2002).
26. T. Nagayasu, T. Oketani, T. I-Iirobe, H. Kato, S. Mizushima, H. Take, K. Yano,
M. Hijikigawa, and I. Washizuka, “A 14-inch diagonal full-cokx a-Si TFT LCD,”
Proceedings of the Eighth International I1ispla.y Research Conference, San
Diego, CA (1988) 56.
204 Liquid Gold

27. Electronic Dzjpluy World 9(10>, Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1989).
This summarized reports from the Japan Electronics Show and Japan
Displuy 39, the International Display Research Conference, Kyoto, Japan,
October 1989.
28. Electronic Displuy World S(lO), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1988).
This issue also summarized work reported at the 1988 International Display
Research Conference, San Diego, CA, October 1988.
 Chapter 14

The Personal Computer Revolution

”In those days, there was no idea there was going to be a huge computer market;
that they were going to enter everyone’s lives so pervasively as they have. At our
computer club, we talked about it being a revolution. Computers were going to
belong to everyone, and give us power, and free us from the people who owned
computers. . ..”
Steven Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer,
from a 1996 interview with the San Jose Mercury News

Computers began t o be developed and manufactured on a large-scale

following World War 11. Those early machines were behemoths that
required a room full of equipment to perform operations that can be done
today o n handheld devices. But even when the first mainframe computers
became avdikdbk, people started thinking about computers that could be
used on a desktop for personal use. One of the first to discuss personal
computers was Edmund C. Berkeley,l who first described “Simon,” in his
1949 book, Giant Bruins, or Machines mat n i n k , and went o n to publish
plans to build the Simon computer in a series of Radio Electronics issues in
1950 and 1.951.In 1955, Berkeley designed the GENIAC, a unit that was sold
by both Berkeley Enterprises and several distributors. It was small, afford-
able, digital, and user-programmable, but had limited computing features.
In 1959, the Heathkit EC-1, a desktop computer in kit form, was sold
for under $200. While it was a n analog machine, it could be used to solve
certain types of problems, but it was not what most people think of as a
personal computer today.
Most of the early computers available to the public were sold in kit
form and appealed mainly to hobbyists. However, scientists and
engineers working at major corporations, universities and government
laboratories were looking for smaller machines that could help speed their
205
206 Liquid Gold

computations. One of these was the PDP-8, which became available from
Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard, Massachusetts, as a desktop
model in 1968. It was t o o expensive for consumers and it required addi-
tional equipment t o be useful, so it did not make an impact as a personal
computer. Another was the HP 9830 introduced by Hewlett-Packard
Company in 1972. This was the first desktop all-in-one computer that even
had I3ASIC programming, but few people outside the scientific community
knew about it.’ Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP 65 as a “personal
computer” in 1973. It was a fully programmable calculator that could also
be uscd to play games.
Another company that was developing personal computers for scien-
tific use was Xerox Corporation. In 1972, the company introduced the Alto
computer, whose name came from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
where it was developed. The Alto was reported2 to be the result of a joint
effort by Edward McCreight, Charles Thacker, Butler Lampson, Kobert
Sproull and David Boggs, who were attempting to make a device that was
small enough for office use, but powerful enough to support a reliable
operating system and graphics display. The Alto was designed to provide a
user with personal computing capability as well as a communications facil-
ity that would allow users t o share information easily. In 1978, Xerox
donated a total of 50 Alto units to Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, and the
Massachusetts Institute o f Technology, where these machines were quickly
assimilated into the research community and rapidly became the standard
against which other personal computers were judged.
The Alto consisted of a graphics display, keyboard, graphics mouse,
and a box containing the processor and disk storage. With the exception of
the disk storage/processor box,everything was designed to sit on a desk or
tabletop. The concept of using a visual interface originated in the mid-
1970s at Xerox PAKC where a graphical interface was developed for the
Xerox Star computer system introduced in April 1981. With a price tag of
$32,000, however, the Alto was obviously not suitable for the consumer
market.
According to Knight’s historical account,3 the first personal computers
aimed at the consumer market appeared in 1975 with the introduction
of the MITS Altair 8800, followed by the IMSAI 8080, both available in kit
form and with the Intel 8080 central processing unit. That was also the
same year Zilog created the 2-80 processor, MOS Technology produced
the 6502, and William (Bill) Gates with Paul Allen wrote a BASIC compiler
for the hltair while forming Microsoft Corporation.
 The Personal Computer Revolution 207

In 1976, Steven Jobs and Steven Woznidk designed and sold the Apple
I as a kit computer that was based on the 6502 processor. That Same year,
Alan F. Shugart introduced the 5.25-inch diameter floppy disk drive that
would become a key component in the personal computer revolution. One
year later, the new industry began to take shape when Apple introduced
the Apple 11, a color computer with expansion slots and floppy disk drive
support. In addition, Radio Schack unveiled the TRS-80, Commodore
introduced the PET, and Iligital Research released Cl-’/M, the eight-bit oper-
ating system that provided the template for Microsoft’s Disk Operating
System (nos).
Along with the hardware, software such as word processing and
spreadsheet programs soon became available. In 1978, for example, Daniel
Ih-icklin and Robert Frankston introduced VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet
program, which turned the personal computer into a useful business tool,
not just a game machine or replacement f o r the electric typewriter.
WordMaster, soon to become Wordstar, was released and went on to dom-
inate the industry for several years. The third important software category
WAS the database, which came o n the scene in 1979 with Vulcan, the pred-

ecessor o f dRase I1 and it’s successors. That was also the year Hayes intro-
duced a 300-bit-per-second modem and established telecommunication as
another aspect of personal computing.
Soon others such as Atari and Texas Instruments entered the market,
while Cornmodore, Radio Schack and Apple introduced new machines.
Personal computers soon attracted somewhat o f a cult following by
technically-oriented individuals (perhaps the term “techie” originated at
atmut this time) and by 1980, it was estimated that some one million per-
sonal computers were in use in the U.S.’ Thus, a viable new industry was
being created and it caught the attention of IRM, the largest computer
manufacturer in the world at that time.
IBM had developed its own personal computer, the IBM 5100, intro-
duced in September 1975, but at $8,975 for a machine with just 16 kilobytes
of random-access-memoT, it was too expensive for the mass market. That
changed by August of 1981, when IBM introduced the 5150, its first per-
sonal computer, at a price o f a few thousand dollars, making it easily afford-
able for both small and large businesses. This computer had five expansion
slots, included at least 16 kilobytes of RAM,and had two full-height 5.25-
inch drive bays. Buyers could get a machine with a floppy controller, two
floppy drives, a 12-inch diagonal monochrome (green characters on a black
background) CRT display and the Disk Operating System, later to be known
208 Liuuid Gold

as MS-DOS. While most people in the technical community recognized that

the IBM PC was based on ideas perfected in the Apple 11, particularly the
use of expansion slots, the IBM label captured the attention of the general
public and legitimized the personal computer as a serious business tool. As
a result, it was estimated* that II3M sold some 30,000 units in the fourth
quarter of 1981.
Another important factor that contributed to the success of the per-
sonal computer was IBM’s agreement t o allow Microsoft t o license its DOS
to other personal computer manufacturers. This enabled other companies
t o begin producing machines that were “IBM-compatible” and a huge
industry was in the making. Time magazine called 1982 “The Year of the
Computer.” In 1983, it was estimated3 that ten million personal computers
were in use in the United States alone. Soon the term “PC” became
synonymous with IUM-compatible personal computers. Today, the
acronym is used t o describe all types o f personal computers.

THE PORTABLE PC OPENS THE WAY FOR LCDs

Almost at the same time that desktop personal computers were becoming
available in volume, people started thinking about portable machines.
Starting about 1979, serious efforts were begun to develop and market per-
sonal computers that would be portable enough to carry in a briefcase or
hand l ~ i g g a g eBatteries
.~ would not necessarily operate the computer, but
that capability would of course be the ultimate goal. The concept was that
a husinessman could perform such tasks as limited word processing, sales
forecasting, market planning, accounting, tax computation and other tasks
in his office, home or on the road. He could also communicate with a host
computer via a modem that would be built into the portable machine.
Thus, in early 1981, Adam Osborne, a former book publisher, founded
a company called Osborne Computer Corporation, which introduced what
many consider t o be the first portable computer.6 The Osborne 1 was
about the size o f a sinall suitcase, ran the CP/M operating system, included
a pair of 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, and had a five-inch diagonal mono-
chrome CKT display. The innovative machine weighed 24 pounds and was
bundled with software; it sold for $1,795. The company had a very suc-
cessful start, which saw its sales increase from zero to $60 million in less
than two years. It is estimated that the company sold more than 25,000
units. Ilnfortunately, profit and positive cash flow were not cominensurate
with the high sales and the company closed down at the end of 1983.’
 The Personal Computer Revolution 209

Nevertheless, Osborne proved that a market indeed existed for a portable

computer and he paved the way for others to follow.
Compaq Computer Corporation, established in 1982, was the first to
make a “portable” IBM-compatible PC that was called The Compaq. The
company’s first product (see Fig. 14.1) was introduced in 1983. It did not
operate on batteries, but was small enough to be carried from one place to
another, prompting many people to call it a “transportable computer.” It
had a nine-inch diagonal monochrome CRT display and used an Intel
microprocessor. It was estimatedXthat 26,000 units were sold in 1983. The
Compaq had a detachable keyboard that folded into the base of the unit
for transportation. At 31.5 pounds it wasn’t particularly light, but it was def-
initely transportable. A system with two double-sided, double-density disk
drives and color graphics board could be purchased for about $3,200. The
Compaq quickly became very popular with IBM PC users who liked the
idea o f being able to take their work home. Three years later, Compaq
shipped the first 80386-based PC with a speed of 1 6 ~ ~making 2 , it one of
the fastest machines of its time. The Compaq’s popularity propelled the
company to generate sales of about $100 million in its first full year of pro-
duction and Compaq Computer Corporation later became a major manu-
facturer of all types of PCs.

Fig. 14.1. Compaq’s first transportable computer in use at Stanford Resources’

office in 1983. The unit had a carrying handle o n the back. After the keyboard was
folded into the space in front of the display and disk drives, the unit could be car-
ried like a suitcase.
210 Liquid Gold

Another early portable was the Grid Compass, which was designed in
1979 by William Moggridge for Grid Systems Corporation and introduced9
to the market in April of 1982. The unit had a flat, thin-film electrolu-
minescent display supplied by Sharp Corporation. The display measured
4.75 inches X 3.5 inches and had 30 lines of 64 characters each. The com-
puter had a 16-bit 8086 microprocessor, an 80-bit 8087 floating-point
processor, 256,000 bytes of both RAM and non-volatile magnetic bubble
memory, a 57-key full travel keyboard and a switchable (1200 or 300
bits/second) modem with auto-dialer all in a package small enough to fit
into a briefcase. The unit measured 11.5 inches X 15 inches X 2 inches
thick. At a price of $8,150, this computer was more than the price of the
most expensive personal computer on the market fully configured with a
letter quality printer, so sales were quite limited. However, some units
were purchased by NASA and used on the space shuttle program in the
early 1980s.
Plasma display panels were also coming on the Scene in the early 1980s,
and MicrOddtd Computers, Middlesex, England, introduced a briefcase-size
terminal with a monochrome (orange characters on a black background)
plasma panel in 1981.''"The display measured 210mm (8.3 inches) on a side
and was Capable of displaying 12 lines of 40 dot matrix (5 X 7 ) characters per
line for a total of 480 characters. The system had 12 kilobytes of magnetic
buhl~lememory in addition to 64 kilobytes of semiconductor random-access-
memory (RAM) and came equipped with a modem for telephone communi-
cation with a host computer. The unit was priced at $2,500 and was designed
into a one cubic foot briefcase, complete with carrying handle and weighing
less than 17 pounds.
A number of portable computers with LCDs were also introduced in
1981. For the most part, these had one line of segmented or dot matrix char-
acters. Companies such as Sharp, Tandy (Radio Schack) and Matsushita devel-
oped handheld units with single line 24-character LCDs. These small
computers had limited memory and essentially no word processing capabil-
ity. One of the first to use more tlian one line was a terminal introd~iced"by
Computerwise o f Grandview, Missouri. The TransTerm 1 had a two-line, 64-
character dot matrix LCI) and was designed for use as desktop or portable
terminal that communicated with a host computer via a serial connection. The
terminal had 53 keys, measured 297mm (11.7 inches) X 175mm (6.9 inches),
and was priced at $450.
The first portable computer that some considered6to be the first "laptop"
model was the Epson HX-20, which was letter-size and about two inches
 The Personal Computer Revolution 21 1

thick. The unit used a microcassette to store data and had a four-line LCD
with 40 characters per line above the standard full-size keyboard. Introduced
to the 1J.S. market in 1982, the Seiko Epson portable weighed about
three pounds and ran on internal batteries.12The HX-20 featured 16 kilobytes
o f RAM, 32 kilobytes of read-only-memory (KOM) and a built-in printer.
Seiko Epson soon began manufacturing a line of multi-character dis-
plays not only for its own line of computers, but for other firms as well. For
example, in 1982, ’I’eleram Communications Corporation began selling12 a
compact computer that could fit into a briefcase and weighed only 9.75
pounds. It had a four-line, 80 character-per-line dot matrix LCD manufac-
tured by Seiko Epson. This was one of the first LCD portable computers to
display as inany as 320 characters. The Teleram 3000 had a full typewriter-
like keyboard, 128 kilobytes of internal non-volatile, magnetic bubble
memory, 64 kilobytes of RAM, eight kilobytes of ROM, RS 232 interface,
internal rechargeable battery and a CP/M operating system. It was priced
at $2,795.

LAPTOP COMPUTER!3 PROLIFERATE

If 1982 was “The Year of the Computer,” as Time designated it, then 1983
was the year of the portable as more and more computer firms entered the
market with larger screens and higher information content LCDs. This came
at an ideal time for LCD manufacturers, which were mainly based in Japan
during this period. Hecause of dwindling profit margins in LCD watch and
calculator display components, nearly every Japanese company that had
been involved in the manufacture and marketing of small LCDs shifted to
production of multi-line, multi-character twisted-nematic displays using
various multiplexing driving schemes. Included in the group were Sanyo,
Sharp, Kyocera, Matsushita, Toshiba, Epson, Hitachi and NEC. These dis-
plays were designed for use as alpha-numeric and graphic displays in
portable PCs that were fast becoming known as “lap computers” or “laptop
computers,” a name that survives t o this day.
In March of 1983, Tandy Corporation, through its chain of Kadio
Schack stores, introduced the TRS-80 Model 100, a portable PC with an
8-line X 40-character LCD.I3 The unit was very similar to N K ’ s PC-8201
(Fig. 14.2). Kyocera was the manufacturer of both machines as well as the
Olivetti M10 and by 1984 was the wc.)rld’sleading producer of laptop com-
puters.’/’ The multiplexed display had good contrast and an adjustable
212 Liquid Gold

Fig. 14.2. The Tandy TKSXO Model 100 (top photo), one of the first fully-functional
laptop computers. Note the similarity t o the NEC PC8201A (bottom photo). Both
computers were manufactured by Kyocera in 1983. Source: www.old-
compiiters.com

voltage control to enable the viewing angle to be changed to suit the user.
The Model 100 was priced below $1,000 and included extended BASIC, a
text editor, scheduling program and communications support. The unit also
had a full-size keyboard and ran on four batteries, making it a true
portable. Because of its relatively low price and wide availability through
the thousands of Radio Schack retail outlets, the Model 100 soon became
o n e o f Tandy's bestselling products. It was one of the first LCD-based
portables t o gain wide acceptance by the general public.
Several months later,'j Gavilan Computer Corporation, Campbell,
California, introduced its first product, a portable computer with an
N i n e X 80-character/line LCD, which had more information content than
Tandy's Model 100. The nine-pound, briefcase-size portable came with a
printer, built-in floppy disk drive and a sizable internal memory of u p to
336 kilobytes. The Gavilan was one o f the most powerful portables of its
time. However, despite the numerous innovations used in this machine, the
Gavilan suffered from hardware and software problems. Moreover, it was
 The Personal Computer Revolution 213

not fully IBM IY-compatible and at a price of about $4,000, it was one of
the most expensive portables on the inarket. Many changes were made to
the initial machine and first sales did not start until June of 1984, one year
after the machine was first announced. Although a 16-line LCII version was
also produced, competition intensified as new Japanese portables entered
the inarket. As a result, Gavilan production stopped in 1985 and the com-
pany went out o f business shortly thereafter.
A year after Tandy introduced the Model 100, some 15 other companies
entered the market with similar products.16 These computers all used LCDs
made in Japan and most suppliers were in a race t o secure displays with
more lines o f characters as well as more powerful CMOS memory compo-
nents. ‘[’he leading supplier of LCIls for laptop computers was Sharp and in
1984, the company began manufacturing LCDs with 25-line X 80-characters
per line, thereby inaking it possible to build portables that had the same
inforination content as desktop units with CRT displays. Shortly thereafter,
most o f the laptop computer suppliers started using the higher information
content displays.
While these early LCDs suffered from the same case of low contrast
and narrow viewing angle, they continued t o be sold and incorporated
into laptop computers because there was nothing else availalile that could
offer the low power consumption and low cost per character that
these displays provided. Thus, the search for higher performance LCDs
intensified.
One way to enhance the performance of LCDs was t o use color. In 1984,
Seiko Instruments, another major LCD maker in Japan, introduced the
world’s first commercially available multi-color LCD modules. 17 One module
had a 720 X 44 pixel display capacity with eight colors, which featured the
use o f a new electroplating process for the color filters. The modules used
fluorescent back-lighting to enhance visibility in all lighting conditions. While
these early multi-color LCI> modules were aimed at use in electronic games,
audio equipment and test instruments, the manufacturing techniques would
later be applied to larger display with higher pixel counts for laptop PCs.
Another way t o improve the overall appearance of LCIls was to use
the European development of the supertwisted-nematic effect, which was
ctescritied previously in Chapter 10. The new effect, which became known
by its acronym, S‘I’N-LCD, was a inajor breakthrough in the mid-1980s to
greatly increase the readability of higher inforination content displays for
laptop computers.
214 Liquid Gold

ENTER THE “SUPERTWISTED-NEMATIC”LCD

AND THE NOTEBOOK
In 1985, Brown Boveri & Company, Baden, Switzerland, demonstrated the
first STN-LCD.18The display had higher contrast than comparably sized multi-
plexed type units with more than about eight lines of characters in a dot
matrix format. Even when viewing conventional multiplexed LCDs on-axis,
the contrast ratio was usually no better than 41. As the viewer’s head moved
off to the side or away from the “viewingcone,” the information all but disap-
peared. With the STN-LCD, however, the display achieved a contrast ratio of
about 1O:l when viewed at normal incidence. From an angle of 45-degrees,
the contrast ratio was still a respectable 41. The prototype had an active
viewing area of 4.8 inches X 9.6 inches and displayed 27 lines of 89 characters
per line. The display was about 0.5 inch thick (which included the thickness
of the integrated circuit drivers in back of the screen) and had graphics capa-
bility, providing 145,800 pixels in a 540 X 270 dot matrix format. Information
switching time was about 300 milliseconds at room temperature, which is
slow by today’s standards, but adequate for laptop computers of that era.
Brown Boveri made it clear at that time that it did not plan to manu-
facture LCDs based on this concept, but to license the technology to other
LCII manufacturers. Indeed, by December of 1985, four Japan-based LCD
makers were licensed to manufacture displays based on the concept and
others soon followed.
By the fall of 1986, nearly every LCI) manufacturer in Japan added a
line of STN-LCDs to its catalog. Sharp, Kyocera, Hosiden, Seiko Epson,
Oki, Seiko Instruments, Citizen and Hitachi all showed panels with up to
640 X 400 pixels at the Japan Electronics Show in Tokyo in October.19
Laptop computers with STN-LCDs made by these and other Japanese
suppliers such as Toshiba, Sanyo and Matsushita began appearing on the
market that same year. One of the first American suppliers to adopt the
new technology was Zenith Data Systems,20which introduced the 2-181, a
12-pound porlable that was IRM-PC compatible. The 2-181 had a STN-LCD
made by Sanyo that was back-lit by an electroluminescent panel and dis-
played blue characters on a yellow background. With a 1 2 : l contrast ratio,
the display was easily readable even if the viewer was 45 degrees off the
normal axis.
The large-scale replacement of conventional LCDs with STN-LCDs took
place in 1987 and 1988 when Toshiba, IBM, NEC, Sharp, Compaq and others
began introducing laptops with the new displays. Meanwhile, the pixel format
 The Personal Computer Revolution 215

increased t o 640 X 400 t o take advantage of the higher contrast offered by the
new technology. In addition, the panels became available with black chardc-
tcrs on a light gray background (often called “black-and-white”)instead of the
the-on-yellow that was characteristic of the early panels.
Another innovation t o appear in 1987 was Kyocerd’s Chip-on-Glass
(COG) technology,” a manufacturing technique that allowed the driver
chips t o be placed directly on the glass eliminating the need for a printed
circuit board and the resulting interconnections. This not only dramatically
increased reliability, h i t it also allowed Kyocera to offer the thinnest LCDs
on the market at that time. Kyocerd’s innovative COG approach to STN-
LCI> fabrication made the back-lighting o f panels easier while minimizing
components and reducing packaging size. The firm’s model KL6440AS had
a format o f 640 X 400 pixels and a thickness of only 4.5 mm (0.18 inch).
The reduction in LCI) panel thickness endbled thinner and lighter lap-
top computers t o be made. In 1989, NEC introduced the first laptop
machine that was both powerful, thin and extremely light.6 Weighing less
than five pounds and thin enough t o fit in a standard briefcase, the NEC
IJltralite model (Fig. 14.3) was considered t o be the first “notebook” style

Fig. 14.3. T h e NEC Ultralite portable computer with a n advanced STN-LCD

introduced in 1989. It is considered b y many to be the first “notehook computer.”
Source: www.obsoleteconiputermuseum.org
216 Liquid Gold

computer. One year later, there were a dozen or so companies that demon-
strated models they considered to be notebook computers. All were attrac-
tively thin and lightweight (5.8 to 7.5 pounds), ranging in prices from a low
of $2,600to about $6,000.
Perhaps the most important innovation to appear during the late 1980s
was the introduction of color to laptop computer displays. In 1989,
Toshiba, Sharp and Mitsubishi exhibited color STN-LCD screens installed in
portable computers at a business machine show in Tokyo.22These color
screens performed at higher speeds and had better contrast than mono-
chrome STN-LCDs, but the computers were rather expensive for their time.
For example, Toshiba introduced a portable computer that was equipped
with an eleven-inch, 16-color STN-I,CI> with 640 X 480 pixels priced at
$8,000. Sharp unveiled a laptop with a 14-inch display that was priced at
$9,000. And, Mitsubishi introduced an eight-color, 640 X 480 pixel, eleven-
inch screen in a laptop computer priced at about $6,000.
Despite the advances made in the performance of STN-LCDs, the pan-
els still did not measure up to the performance of the emerging active
matrix types in color purity, cursor speed or viewing angle. Clearly, the
next step in the evolution of LCD technology for computers would he
thc development of color TFT-LCDs, which would provide the perform-
ance that equaled or exceeded that of color CRTs.

ACTIVE MATRIX LCDs APPEAR

As the leading mainframe computer maker and the company that was per-
haps responsible for stimulating the rapid growth of the personal com-
puter, IBM had a major interest in the emerging laptop computer segment.
As mentioned in previous chapters, IBM had been performing research in
LCDs since the late 1760s. One of the early researchers to recognize the
importmce of the technology was Webster E. Howard, who received his
B.S.from Carnegie-Mellon University and his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from
IIarvard LJniversity, all in physics. He joined IRM in 1761 at the Thomas
J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, as a research
staff member. Howard spent his first 12 years at IBM working in semicon-
ductor physics, including pioneering work on two-dimensional electron
gases in Si inversion layers and on semiconductor superlattices In 1973, he
began working on display technology and became involved in managing
projects in plasma displays, thin-film electroluminescence, CRTs, and later
on thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays.
 The Personal Computer Revolution 217

According to Howard’s account,23 most o f the liquid crystal work in

IBM ended in 1974. However, Howard hired Kei-Hsiung Yang in 1975 to
maintain a small monitoring effort and to look at bistable LCDs. When the
IJniversity of Dundee researchers published their a-Si TFT paper in 1979,
Howard was persuaded that a-Si was the right material t o use for TFTs.
Unfortunately, Howard was unable to get any real support for the
approach, partly because everyone was still thinking in terms of mono-
chrome displays. This changed when Morozumi presented his paper on the
small color LCD-TV in 1983 and prompted Howard to push hard within
IBM to initiate a program to develop TIT-LCDs based o n wSi. He felt that
the technology would be very scalable to large sizes and that it was the
way to make a portable computer display. The key task force was estab-
lished in early 1984, when Howard and his colleagues recommended
against further investment in plasma and urged that a major effort be
started in TFT-LCDs. This led to further task forces on the physical feasibil-
ity, manufacturing factors t o determine if perfect arrays could be made
cost-effective, and marketing issues to establish the nature o f the first prod-
uct as well as the initial premium cost.
In the summer of 1984, Stanford Resources was contracted to prepare a
detailed market analysis and strategic opinion for IBM on the future of the
various display technologies that would be used for computer terminals,
monitors and personal computers. We were approached to do this project
by Robert Durbeck, who was then a research manager at IBM’s Research
1,aboratoi-y in San Jose, California. The final report was written in
and I traveled to IBM’s facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to
present the results of the study.
The meeting was held in a hotel and about 30 people attended.
Webster Howard presided as chairman of that meeting. Although Howard
and Ihrbeck accepted our conclusion that IBM personal computers, which
had only been on the market for two years, would soon become a very
popular product, a number of people in the room expressed skepticism.
I made the point that LCDs would lead t o the proliferation o f the portable
computer and that it would become a major product for IBM. In fact, I pre-
dicted that active matrix LCDs using TFTs would replace the conventional
multiplexed types by the early 1990s. While some in the room also met this
with skepticism, Howard was very supportive. It confirmed his own idea23
that people wanted portable computers that could be easily carried and
they wanted to see the same data they could get at their desks. Thus, the
product would have great value and give IBM a foothold with laptop
218 Liquid Gold

computers, enabling it to lower costs and move the technology onto the
desktop, eventually replacing the CRT.
The whole decision process at IBM took almost two years to receive
approval, but in the meantime, Howard had gotten some resources to get
started, so that by 1986, IBM was making TFTs suitable for high quality dis-
plays. At this point, IBM began looking for another company to share the
development costs and identified Toshiba Corporation in Kawasaki, Japan,
as its partner. The two-year joint development project with Toshiba met all
of its objectives and in 1988, the firms announced the development of a
prototype that was claimed to be the world’s largest color LCD for office
automation equipment.25Measuring 14.3 inches diagonal, the display used
a-Si TFTs to create a device with a dot matrix format of 1,440 X 1,100 dots
(sub-pixels) and 770 X 550 pixels, where each pixel was composed of a
red, green, blue and white dot. The panel could display up to 16 colors
simultaneously. The distance or pitch between the dots was 200 microns,
so the panel gave a high resolution image.
Howard was amazed23 at how right his team got everything in their
planning, from choosing wsi over polycrystalline Si to recognizing all of
the new products that would be enabled by the technology. He left IBM
in 1993 and joined AT&T where he directed work in high resolution dis-
play technologies. When AT&T/Lucent Technologies terminated its display
activity in 1996, Howard led the development of a microdisplay technology
based on organic light emitting diodes on silicon at eMagin Corporation;
he retired from eMagin as Chief Technology Officer in 2002. For his contri-
butions to the advancement of flat panel display technology, he was
awarded the prestigious Jan Rajchman I’rize of the Society for Information
Display in 2003.
Even before II3M and Toshiba started their joint development project,
Toshiba was heavily engaged in the development of TFT-LCDs. In 1985,
Toshiba demonstrated2(‘ a ten-inch diagonal, back-lit active matrix LCII
with a reported viewing angle of up to 120 degrees. Toshiba claimed it was
the worlds brightest LCD of its size. The LCD was made with a-Si TFTs
and had a luminance of 300 candeladsquare meter about the same as a
CRT color TV set of that time period. The panel had a format of 640 X 480
pixels, fluorescent back-lighting and the capability to display eight colors.
Although the IBM-Toshiha joint development project was successful, the
huge investment required to enter manufacturing was a stumbling block.
This was resolved by forming a manufacturing joint venture called Display
Technology Incorporated (DTI), whereby IBM shared the risk with T~shiba.~’
 The Personal Computer Revolution 219

This was IBM’s first joint production agreement. Each company owned 50%
of the venture, and the board seats were split evenly, but the President, Tom
Shima, was a Toshiba executive. Both firms hoped to increase their presence
in the laptop computer market, although Toshiba’s market position was
already very significant. The company established its plant in Himeji City,
west of Tokyo, at a cost of $110 million and started manufacturing in 1991.
This was the first large-scale source of active matrix color LCDs for portable
computers. The initial product was a ten-inch diagonal display with
640 X 480 pixels capable of just 16 colors. DTI went on to build active matrix
LCDs with larger screens, higher pixel formats, higher resolution (higher pix-
els per inch), and millions of colors. A 12-inch diagonal screen made for an
IBM ThinkPad manufactured in 1998 is shown in Fig. 14.4.
The formation and ultimate success of DTI in the cost effective manu-
facturing of active matrix LCDs raised the stakes for the other Japan-based
vertically integrated users of displays for computers to accelerate plans for
a shift toward manufacturing active matrix LCDs. Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation, Amagasaki, Japan, for example, developed a ten-inch diago-
nal, TIT-addressed color LCD with 640 X 450 pixels that it planned to man-
ufacture for laptop computers.2x

Fig. 14.4. The IBM ThinkPad Model 560Z that used a 12-inch diagonal color
TFT-LCD. This unit was manufactured in 1998. The ThinkPad became one of the
most popular notebook computers o n the market in the 1990s.
220 Liquid Gold

In 1990, NEC set up a production line in Kagoshima Prefecture to

mass-produce color TFT-LCDS.~~ The company produced 9.3-inch panels
with a pixel format of 640 X 480 pixels for its PC-9801 line of personal
computers. Another example was Sharp, a company that developed and
would start manufacturing ten-inch color TFT-LCDs for laptop computers
in the early 1990s. Sharp’s panels had 640 X 480 pixels and could perform
six-bit processing for each RGB color.soThe units displayed colors from a
palette of 16.7 million hues in 256 gradations. Thus, the term “full color”
could now be applied to commercially available 1,CDs.
The fact that IBM and Toshiba had insured themselves an exclusive
supply o f color TFT-LCDs, prompted other user firms, such as Apple,
<hmpaq and Zenith to develop their own sources of high-quality color flat
panel displays to remain competitive and they looked toward Japan and
Korea to supply these vital components. As a result, a number of new
plants were built to make active matrix LCDs in high-volumes in the early
1990s. The impact of this on the LCI) industry was enormous and by the
end of the decade, millions of portable PCs with color active matrix LCDs
were being sold annually.
The notebook computer industry cieveloped because the LCI) technol-
ogy ultimately offered the system designer a display that could provide low
power, a thin profile, and a high-quality image that equaled or exceeded
that of a CKT desktop display. It is a prime example of how a new tech-
nology madc it possible to create a product that did not previously exist
and a vast industry that grew in its wake.

REFERENCES
1. Hlinkenlights Archaeological Institute, Personal Computer Milestones,
http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml
2. Kbiography, “The Xerox Alto computer,” PC Museum, http://www.
fortunecity.corn/pcinLiseum
3. Dan Knight, Tersonal computer history,” Low End PC, September 2001.
http://www.lowendpc,com/history/index.shtml
4 . f&xlronic Displuy World 1(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA
(19x1).
5. lilectronic Disp1u.y World 2(9), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1982).
6 . I3ook I-’C History, “Rvolution from personal computer to book PC.” http://
www.thehookpc.com/history.html;also, http://inventors. about.com/library/
inventors/bllaptop. htm
 The Personal Computer Revolution 221

7 . Hectronic Displuy World 3(12), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
8. Electronic Di.sp1a.y World 3(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
9. Electronic Displuy World 2(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1982).
10. Electronic Displuy World 1(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 21 (1981).
11. ITlectronic Di.splu.y World 1(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 8 (1981).
12. Illeclronic Displuy World 2(9), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1982).
13. Ikclronic Displuy World 3(3), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
14. i!’lectronicDispluy World 4(2), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1984).
15. Illectronic Displuy World 3(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1983).
16. Idcclronic Di.sp1u.y World 4(5), Stanford Kesourc:es, Inc., San Jose, CA (1984).
17. I&?clronicDLspluy World 4(8), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1984).
18. Electronic DLsp1u.y WorZd 5(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 19 (1985).
19. Illcctronic Displuy World 6(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 21 (1986).
20. Electronic Disp1u.y World 6(6), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 14 (1986).
21. I k l r o n i c Disspluy World 7(11), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1987).
22. i!’lcclronic Displuy World 9(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA,
30 (1989).
23. Webster I?. Howard, personal communication, November 2003.
24. Joseph A. Castellano, Electronic Displuy Technology Review and Forecast,
Stanford Resources Report, A L I ~ L I23, S ~ 1984. Prepared for IBM Research
IXvision, 5600 Cottle Koad, San Jose, CA.
25. tllectronic Displuy World 8(6), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 22
(1988). The work was later reported at the 1989 Society for Information Display
Symposium in Haltimore, Maryland by K. Ichikawa, S . Suzuki, €-I. Matino,
T. bolii, T. Higuchi, and Y. Oana, “14.3-inch diagonal 16-color TFT-LCD panel
using a-Si:H I‘PTs,” SIU Intwnationul Symposium Dig& of Technical Puprs,
(1989) 226.
26. ITlectronic Displuy WorZd 5(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1985).
27. I&?clronicDi.sp1u.y World 9(8), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 1
(1989).
28. Electronic Disspluy World 8(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA (1988).
This issue summarized work reported at the Society for Information Display
Symposium in Anaheim, CA in May 1988.
29. fh?ctronicDisphy World l0(6), Stanford ltesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 21 (1990).
30. Electronic IX@a. World 10(12), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 25
(1990).
 Chapter 15

Coming of Age

“Science advances, not by the accumulation of new facts, but by the continuous
development of new concepts.“
James Bryant Conani, President of Harvard University, 1933-1953

During the early 1990s, the LCD industry grew rapidly. In 1991, new color
television sets with four- and five-inch screens using TFT-LCDs were com-
ing on the market in Japan, while more and more laptop and notebook
computers with impressive-looking color TFT-LCDs were becoming avail-
able worldwide. In addition, LCD projectors for consumer television, busi-
ness presentations and educational applications were introduced. At the
same time, the technology spread to many other products and, as predicted’
in 1979, LCDs soon appeared in “automobiles, boats, airplanes, kitchen
appliances and cash registers” in addition to computers and television.
Meanwhile, manufacturing of TF’I-LCDs began to receive serious atten-
tion by companies in South Korea and Taiwan. By the mid-1990s, other
competing technologies, such as plasma display panels and organic light
emitting diodes were being developed in earnest. At the Same time, high-
definition television was coming into use and by the end of the decade,
both LCD and plasma panels were appearing in sets that would make the
new medium even more attractive to consumers. ‘This chapter presents a
discussion o f the maturation o f the LCI) industry as well as the impact of
these developments during the 1990s.

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS ABOUND

The laptop computers of the late 1980s became the notebook computers of
the early 1990s. These products, which were then about the size of the
NEC IJltralite, the first notebook-size personal computer, became extremely
222
 Coming of Age 223

popular in the Japanese business community.2This occurred because most

Japanese office areas were very cramped, so desk space was precious. In
an area of ahout 1,500 square feet, a typical Japanese office might have 40
workers. By comparison the same area in the IJ.S. would have ten or less.
Hence, large, desktop PC systems with CKT monitors were not used as
extensively as they were in the 1J.S. Instead, many Japanese office workers
used notebook computers ranging in price from $750 to $3,450, with the
capability of handling both English and Japanese.
Ultimately, the popularity of notebook computers with color TFT-LCDs
spread throughout the world, the units became much more powerful,
screen sizes grew to 14 and 15 inches and pixel counts increased, while
prices were reduced to under $2,000. This resulted in a steady decline in
the use of STN-LCDs for portable computers starting in 1993 when some
66% of the units sold had the displays. By 1996, the STN-LCD market share
declined to 38% due to the superior performance of TFT-LCDs and the dra-
matic reductions in their price.3 As new generation production lines
became operational throughout the 1990s, the price gap between the STN-
LCDs and ‘I’FT-LCDs practically vanished, thereby leading to total domina-
tion of the market by the TET-LCDs. In the year 2000, some 22 million
portable computers with TFT-LCDs were sold on the world market.*
In the early I990s, memo type portables also began appearing. These
were small handheld units priced under $100 with a two-line LCD that had
12 characters per line, enabling the user to store telephone numbers,
addresses and short memos. Another category was the “organizer,”which
had eight lines of characters with 40 characters across on a LCD that meas-
ured one inch high by about four inches wide. These products had a full
(but very small) keyboard. A number of models were available from Casio
and priced in the $150 to $200 range. Later this product would be
expanded with more features, evolving into the personal digital assistants
(PDAs) that are S O popular toddy.
’The replacement of CRT-based display monitors for PCs was a long-range
god of all LCD manufacturers. In this case, the performance of the display
needed to match or exceed that of the CRT while the price premium for a flat,
thin panel had to be relatively small. Consequently, it took quite a bit o f time
before 1,CDs began to replace CRT monitors in any kind of volume. The
process began in 1997, when numerous monitor manufacturers started to
offer LCD monitors as part of their product lines. The earliest models had
dkagonal screen sizes of 13 and 14 inches, but soon 15-, 17- and even Winch
panels began t o appear. By the year 2002, however, the 15-inch diagonal
224 Liquid Gold

screen became the volume leader due the fact that its viewing area was com-
parable to a 17-inch CRT monitor and its price was under $300. Shipments in
2002 exceeded 22 million units,4 a 70% increase over the previous year.
Meanwhile, developers were increasing the pixel density (resolution)
as well as the total pixel count t o meet specific application requirements.
One o f the most advanced TFT-LCDs of its time was the 6.3-million pixel
monochrome TFT-LCD with a 13-inch diagonal screen fabricated in 1993 at
Xerox PAARC in Palo Alto, C a l i f ~ r n i aThis
. ~ display had the largest number
o f pixels of any TFT-LCI) reported u p to that time. It was intended for
office automation applications where there was a requirement for
electronically-controlled image reproduction with characteristics similar to
those o f a conventional laser printer. This display achieved the resolution,
brightness and viewing angle required for these applications through a
binary driving scheme. A 13-inch diagonal color display using the same
active matrix design was also produced. This panel had 1.6-million pixels,
more color pixels than any previously reported LCI). Another high res-
olution panel was a 13.6-inch diagonal TFT-LCD for workstations with
2,280 X 1,024 pixels and 4,096 colors made in 1993 by a joint development
team from Toshiha and IBM JapanGs
In 1998, scientists at IBM Research developed a prototype color TFT-
LCD with a 16.3-inch diagonal screen and a pixel density of 200 pixels per
inch, making it the highest resolution LCD demonstrated up to that time.‘
Codenamed Roentgen, the screen showed 5.2-million color pixels and any
text character, diagram o r image had four times as many pixels as a CKT
monitor. The panel had 2,560 X 2,048 pixels, 15,728,640 a-Si TFTs and 1.64
miles of thin-film wiring (low-resistance aluminum alloys). The prototype
monitor was 2.5 inches thick, weighed less than 20 pounds and dissipated
less than half the power of a 19-inch CRT monitor. The development
proved that TFT-LCIh could have better performance than comparably
sized CRT monitors and paved the way for LCDs t o be used in medical
instruments and other applications requiring high resolution.

WAU-MOUNTED LCD TELEVISION FINALLY REALIZED

13y the mid-l990s, color TkT-LCDs with larger screen sizes began appear-
ing. Sharp was perhaps the first to announce development of a 21-inch
diagonal panel in 1994.’ The following year,8 Sharp began selling color tel-
evision sets with 8.4-inch and 10.4-inch diagonal TFT-LCD screens at
suggested retail prices of $1,209 and $1,648, respectively. The company
 Coming of Age 225

also demonstrated a 28-inch color TFT-LCI) prototype television that was

made by joining together two 21-inch panekg Using a black matrix, refrac-
tive index matching, very straight glass cutting and a cell seal width of only
150 microns, the junction between the two panels was nearly completely
hidden, although it was visible when a light background was displayed.
The panel had 3.67 million colors and a luminance of 150cd/m2. I attended
a press conference at Sharp’s headquarters in Osaka in the fall of 1995 and
was impressed when the company’s newly developed products were
demonstrated. It was clear that Sharp planned to be a major supplier of
color TFT-LCl>s for television sets in all sizes.
In 1996, Samsung Display Devices, Seoul, Korea, reported the develop-
ment of a 22-inch TFT-LCII panel, the largest single panel shown to up to
that time.’O The panel had 1.8 million total pixels, 75% aperture ratio and
power consumption of 15 Watts. Samsung also announced that it was
developing a 30-inch panel aimed at wall-mounted television. Also
reported in 1996 was a 20.1-inch diagonal color TFT-LCD with 1,024X 768
pixels developed by NEC.
The competition to become the first to offer the largest LCI) television
intensified during 1996, and in November, Sharp demonstrated a 29-inch
diagonal color TFT-LCD, manufactured from a single 650 X 550 mm sub-
strate.” One month later,I2 Sharp announced the development of the
“world’s largest LcI) panel,” a 40-inch model that was indeed the largest
direct-view 40-inch color TFT-LCI) built up to that time. However, this was
not built on a single substrate, but used seamless joining o f two 29-inch
TFT-LCD panels t o make a “tiled”display.
One year later, Samsung re-claimed the ‘‘world’slargest” title when it
announced’3 development of a 30-inch TFT-LCD television display built on a
single substrate. Samsung reportedly spent $11 million to develop the
30-inch model, which provided the Same effective screen area as conven-
tional 33-inch CRT-television, but weighed just 4.5 kilograms. Samsung’s 30-
inch ’I’kT-LCn operated on 45 watts, had a maximum pixel format of
1,600X 1,200 and a response time of 40 milliseconds.
I had a meeting in 1998 at the International Display Research
Conference in Seoul with Jun H. Souk, now Executive Vice President of
Samsung’s LCI> R&D Center, when I expressed skepticism that such large
TFT-LCDs could be manufactured cost-effectively in under ten years.
I-Iowever, Souk insisted that it would happen more quickly and he was
proven to be correct as large screen LCD television sets were selling on
world markets as this book was being completed.
226 Liquid Gold

The battle to become the developer of the world’s largest LCD televi-
sion continued throughout the late 1990s, but after 2000, the race shifted to
one between Samsung and LG.Philips LCD, both based in South Korea.
The latter company was formed as a joint venture between Korea’s LG
Electronics and Philips of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. (The historical
development of LCDs in Korea will be discussed later in this chapter.) By
late 2003, both companies were vying for the “world’s largest” title. First
LG.Philips LCD showed a 52-inch model and shortly thereafter Samsung
demonstrated a 54-inch display. Rut it was not long before LG.Philips LCD
showed a slightly larger 55-inch model (Fig. 15.1). This was soon followed
by Samsung’s introduction of a 57-inch display (Fig. 15.2). Larger models
will be introduced by the time this book is published.

THE CELLULAR TELEPHONE EXPLOSION

The cellular telephone or “cell phone” market began to develop in the
1980s and has been growing ever since. This portable device was a very
successful marriage of LCD technology and product utility. With the
increasing amount o f data available through telephone transmission, the
value of the display to the product’s applications has increased over time.
While the mobile phone started as a tool for business customers, it shifted
dramatically t o the consumer market. In highly industrialized nations, cell
phones were positioned as more convenient alternatives to conventional

Fig. 15.1. A 55-inch diagonal TFT-LCD television capable of displaying HDTV

images. Developed in 2003 by LG.Philips LCD, the display employs in-plane
switching technology to provide a very wide viewing angle. Photo courtesy of
1,G.Philips LCD.
 Corning of Age 227

Fig. 15.2. A 57-inch diagonal TFT-LCD television capable of displaying HDTV

irnages. Ikveloped by Samsung Electronics, this was the world's largest LCD televi-
sion at the time of this writing. This model had the capability to display HDTV
images. Photo courtesy of Joe Virginia, Vice President of Marketing, Samsung
Electronics.

wired telephones, while in developing countries they became popular

because of unreliable or unavailable wired telephone service. Higher levels of
competition in the market fostered rapid growth by forcing price reductions.
The market for cell phones began accelerating rapidly in the 1990s and
at the end o f 1997 there were more than 200 million cellular telephone
~ 1997, the U.S. cell phone market received
subscribers w o r l d ~ i d e . 'In
another boost with the introduction of Personal Communication Service
(PCS). In this market, retail sales account for a large portion of the cellular
telephone distribution channel. A continued shift to digital systems in the
IJ.S.and strong turn-of-the-century markets in such countries as Vietnam,
India and Taiwan, have driven further growth.
The cellular telephone market started with analog technology and sim-
ple, one-line, inorganic light emitting diode (LED) displays. With the shift
to digital technology and more powerful batteries, display screens soon
shifted to LCDs. New features such as caller ID, paging, voice messaging,
Fax and e-mail were added in the late 1990s. At the same time, the LCDs
moved from character to graphic displays and color panels began to
appear in 2000. By 2001, many models had color TFT-LCDs and today,
many models have built-in cameras for transmitting images. There were
228 Liquid Gold

some 640 million LCDs shipped with cell phones in 20034 with the market
expected to reach over 800 million units in 2007. However, organic light
emitting diode displays may eventually emerge as a major competitor to
the LCD in this application. Displays based on this technology, which grew
from laboratory experiments done at Kodak's research laboratories in the
1c)8Os, already rival LCUs in performance and may be even cheaper t o
manuFacture in the future. A more detailed discussion o f these devices will
appear later in the following chapter.

THE AGE OF CONSORTIA

A consortium is a group or assembly of individual organizations that come
together to accomplish some objective for their common good. During the
early 1990s, numerous firms engaged in developing electronic displays
embraced the concept. One o f the first was the United States Display
Consortium (LJSDC), which was formed in 1993 and partly fundedL5by
AlWA, the [J.S. Defense Department's research and development agency.
7'his consortium was an industry-led, public and private partnership that
included flat panel display manufacturers, developers and users, as well as
equipment and material suppliers. Its mission was to focus on active matrix
liquid crystal displays, but it also addressed the manufacturing needs of a
variety of other flat panel technologies. 'The emphasis o f the consortium
W;IS on developing new inanufacturing equipment, materials and processes

that would allow U.S. display manufacturers t o compete more effectively in

global markets while materials and processes are verified on existing pilot
production lines and later incorporated into existing full scale production
facilities.
The initial members o f the consortium were AT&T Corporation, 01s
Optical Imaging Systems, Standish Industries and Xerox. Over the years,
other firms entered and the consortium grew. Its major success was in
helping equipment makers to develop improved systems for high-volume
manufacturing of LCDs and other displays, but it also provided funding for
the development of new technologies such as organic light emitting diodes
and liquid crystal on silicon devices. ?'he USnc continues to support and
develop an infrastructure for supply of next generation process equipment,
materials and components to the worldwide display market.
Another U.S. consortium, tho Microelectronics and Computer Technology
Corporation (MCC), was formed in part to explore field emission displays
(FEDs).I5 The group included IBM, Hewlett-Packdrd, Control Data
 Coming of Age 229

International, Harris Semiconductor, Zenith Electronics, Litton Systems,

Schmidt Instruments and Digital Equipment Corporation. This consortium
performed research in the technical feasibility and manufacturing require-
ments for PEDs.
Consortia building were not confined to the [J.S., however and the
European K&D Consortium was formed' 5,16 to pursue LCI) technologies,
materials and production equipment for high volume manufacturing. The
consortium included 17 companies and universities and received funding
from the European Community under the Esprit program. Meanwhile, three
key members o f the consortium, Philips (Eindhoven, the Netherlands),
Thomson Consumer Electronics (Paris, France) and Sagem (Paris, France)
formed a European joint venture15 called Flat Panel Display Company B.V.,
which was organized to produce active matrix LCDs. Philips held the
majority o f the company's shares at 80%, leaving 20% split between
Thomson and Sagem, a French electronics company that had been work-
ing on 1,CI)s with France's National Telecommunication Research Center,
Centre National d'Etudes des Telecommunications (CNET). Ilhilips con-
tributed its flat panel display business with 450 employees, an operational
pilot production plant and a factory. The company had invested about
$168 million in the two plants. Thomson added the resources of its LCD
operation in Grenoble, France, that included a pilot production line and
Sagcm provided the CNET patent that simplified the manufacture of thin-
film transistors used in active matrix displays. Eventually, Philips gained
total control of the joint venture company and consolidated it with other
mergers and acquisitions.
In late 1994," a consortium was formed in Japan t o develop high-
definition television displays using plasma display panel (P1)P) technology.
Known as the Hi-Vision PDP Consortium, which included some 30 o f
Japan's leading industrial companies, it was created to develop a 40-inch
diagonal Hi-Vision (HDTV) PDP that would t x ready for practical use at
the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Part o f the work was already in
progress at the NHK Science and Technical Kesearch Laboratories in
Tokyo, where engineers were concentrating o n DC-PDYs. IJnder study
were the manufacturing technologies and related element technologies,
including electric discharge and light emission mechanisms. The consor-
tium included not only potential PDP manufacturers, but equipment and
material suppliers as well.
The first Secretary General of the consortium was Dr. Mitsuhiro
Kurashige, a vice president of NHK, who visited my office in 1995 shortly
230 Liquid Gold

after the organization was formed. As a result of that meeting, the consor-
tium contracted with Stanford Resources to perform a study of the potential
world market for PDPs. When the project was completed later that year,
David Mentley and I presented the results of our study first to a group of
the top ten PDP developers and later to the entire assembly of representa-
tives from all the member companies. Our study showed that a significant
market would be available for a 40-inch diagonal PDP television if the
price were in the range of $3,000 to $4,000. This was met with some con-
sternation by the firms that expected to manufacture the panels because
these price points seemed too far in the future. Nevertheless, the consor-
tium was quite successful in meeting its objectives and indeed large PDP
televisions were fabricated and demonstrated in 1998 in Nagano. A great
deal o f credit should go to Dr. Kurashige, who managed to keep such a
large and diverse group of companies on track to meet the organization’s
goal. Today, we see hundreds of thousands of 42-inch PDP televisions with
HD’I’V capability being sold at prices of under $3,000.
Other consortia were also formed to develop LCDs during the 1990s in
Taiwan and Malaysia. Why so much interest in display consortia? The feel-
ing was that by pooling resources and therefore reducing financial risks,
member companies could obtain access to technology that might allow
them to build new products and grow their businesses. While not all were
successful, the age of consortia coincided with the rapid growth of the LCI)
industry over the ten-year period since these groups were formed.
Consequently, it could be said that many goals and objectives of the con-
sortia were indeed achieved.

INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATIONS
As the LCD industry matured in the mid-l990s, competition intensified,
leading t o the inevitable trend among manufacturers and material suppliers
toward consolidation. In 1996, for example, E. Merck, Darmstadt,
Germany, acquired the nematic liquid crystal material business from
HOffnldnn-Ld Koche of Basel, Switzerland.l7 In addition to the sales activi-
ties, the deal included a 400-patent portfolio for nematic materials. This
acquisition strengthened Merck’s product line and maintained its world
market share leadership in liquid crystal materials for LCDs.
The most active company to consolidate its position in the LCI) indus-
try was Philips of the Netherlands. In October of 1996, Philips signed an
agreementI8 with Hosiden, Osaka, Japan, a leading developer of high
 Coming of Age 231

resolution color TFT-LCDs, to form a joint venture company called Hosiden

and Philips Display Corporation (HAPD), based in Kobe, Japan. The agree-
ment called for financial and technology cooperation with plans to signifi-
cantly expand production capacity at Philips’ manufacturing facility, Flat
Panel Display Company B.V., in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Hosiden
incorporated its LCD division into the joint venture.
By 1998, Philips had invested19nearly $200 million in the joint venture,
increasing its equity in the Japanese flat panel maker to 80%. It was about
this time that Philips created a Flat Display Systems global business group
with headquarters in San Jose, California, under the direction of Matthew
Medeiros, who was named President of the group. In 1999,20Philips trdns-
ferred production and supply of medium-site active matrix LCD panels
from its Waalre site in Eindhoven to IIAPD. Philips then integrated design,
development and marketing activities for medium-site active matrix LCDs,
as well as customer support services, into the existing activities of Philips
passive LCD operations in Heerlen, the Netherlands.
I had the opportunity of meeting with Medeiros several times in 1998
and 1999 to discuss the future of the LCD industry. He was concerned that
HAPD would not have the capacity to produce the quantity of LCDs
needed to make Philips the number one world supplier. Consequently, he
said he would be looking at another possible merger or acquisition. Shortly
thereafter,21 Philips announced that it signed an agreement with LG
Electronics, Seoul, Korea, under which Philips would acquire a 50% share
in the active matrix LCD division of LG Electronics. Philips invested
approximately $1.6 billion in the new joint venture, which was officially
launched in September 1999 and named LG.Philips LCD. All the active
matrix LCD production activities of both companies were incorporated into
the plants in Gumi, Korea. Today, the company has five LCD manufactur-
ing plants in Gumi as well as a module assembly plant in Nanjing, China.
As o f this writing, LG.Philips LCD is the world market share leader in active
matrix LCD manufacturing. Thus, it is clear that Medeiros made the right
move at the right time. The historical development of TFT-LCDs at LG
Electronics and LG.Philips LCD is presented later in this chapter.

SHIFTS TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

South Korea became an important country for the development of LCDs in
the late 1980s. One of the first companies in the country to recognize the
potential for the technology was the Samsung Group, which consisted of
232 Liquid Gold

several entities. Samsung Electronics produced all the consumer electronics

such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, television sets and
audio equipment. Samsung Electron Ikvices, on the other hand, was a
component company that made all the CRTs used in television sets made
by Samsung Electronics. I recall watching this process when I visited
Suwon in 1989; CliTs lxiilt in one plant in the Suwon complex would be
crated and transported by truck to the Samsung Electronics plant in another
part of the complex where television sets were assembled.
At that time,22 Samsung Electronics had sales of about $25 billion,
whereas Samsung Electron Devices, its smaller sister company where LCDs
were being developed, had about $900 million in sales. Thus, Samsung
Electronics was more powerful and was the source of funding for large
capital projects. In the early 1980s, Samsung Electronics invested upwards
of $100 million to build a new memory chip factory that produced the first
Korean made 64K RAM chip and the company went on to become a
world-class chip manufacturer. It also invested in a plant to manufacture
I,CD driver chips instead of relying on a Japanese company or a Silicon
Valley-based firm.
Shortly after the 01s joint development project ended, Samsung
Electron Devices decided to follow the lead of the Japanese companies and
invest in TFT-LCDs instead o f diodes. This decision was a difficult one
because Samsung was well aware that American companies were reluctant
to enter the business due to the huge anticipated investment, while the
Japanese companies as a group had already invested several billion dollars
to build T€TLCI> Factories.22
Samsung eventually invested billions of dollars to enter the color TFT-
LCD panel manufacturing industry in the 1990s. According to Jun H.
Souk,23 the company established its first pilot line in Kiheung in 1991 and
began manufacturing 9.4-inch panels for notebook computers in 1993. Hy
1995, the company shifted to 10.4-inch panels made on 370 mm X 470 mm
substrates, the “mother glass” from which a number of panels would be
cut. The larger the mother glass, the more panels that can be produced per
unit time. One year later, substrate size was increased to 550mm X 650mm
enabling 12.1-inch panels to be manufactured in volume. This size quickly
hecame the most popular for notebook PCs.
In addition t o notebook PCs, Samsung was quite interested in the
desktop monitor market and, like other LCD manufacturers, it hoped to
replace bulky CKT monitors with flat, thin LCD panels. Thus, Samsung’s
engineers developed a 14-inch panel with 1,024 X 768 pixels in 1997 and
 Coming of Age 233

began manufacturing 17-inch and 18-inch monitor models with

1,280 X 1,024 pixels in 1998. That same year, Samsung became the market
share leader with 18% of the world market for panels that were ten inches
and lager. It also shifted to a production line that was capable o f process-
ing 600 mm X 720 mm substrates. By this time, the company was also ship-
ping large volumes of 3 4-inch and 15:inch panels for notebook computers.
Samsung also began manufacturing 1&inch TFT-LCDs for cell phones in
2001 and unveiled its color 40-inch TFT-LCD for HDTV that same year. After
this, developments came quickly and by 2002, the company opened its fifth
generation plant that processed 1,100mm X 1,250min substrates, while larger
television displays were announced and the company built a TIT-LCD mod-
ule assembly plant in Suzhou, China. Recently, Samsung broke ground for a
plant to manufacture TF7’-LCDs in Tdngjung, Asan, that will process sub-
strates measuring 1,870mm X 2,200mm (2.887 meters diagonal!).
Another Korean company t o emerge as a leading manufacturer of
’TFT-LCDs was LG.I-’hilips LCD. As mentioned previously, this company
was created as a joint venture between Philips of the Netherlands and
South Korea’s LG Electronics (once known as Lucky Goldstar). Research
on 1,CI)s began in 1987 at the Golclstar R&D center in Seoul, 24 but shifted
t o another R&D center in Anyang that was established in 1990. The com-
pany broke ground for its first TFT-LCD plant in Gumi in 1993 for note-
book computers.
In August 1994, D.S. (Ilavis) Lee and Duke M. Koo, executives from
LG Electronics, visited my office in San Jose and later commissioned
Stanford Resources to perform a custom study of the market for TFT-LCDs
in notebook computers. Upon completion of that project in the spring of
1995, I was invited to visit the Gumi plant when it was still not fully opera-
tional, but I was truly impressed by the high level of automation that had
been incorporated into this new facility. By the fall of 1995, the first
9.5-inch panels began shipping out of the new plant.
Once the company was committed to entering the industry, it invested
heavily in new plants and facilities as well as research and development.
By 1997, the first 14-inch panels with 1,024 X 768 pixels for notebook com-
puters were developed and a second plant was established at Gumi. Only
one year later, LG Electronics was shipping 18-inch panels for desktop
monitors and the firm achieved annual sales of $500 million, making it one
of the worlds largest manufacturers of TbT-LcDs. Shortly after the creation
of LG.Philips LCD in 1999, the company’s sales topped $2 billion and just
three years later it had four plants operating in Gumi with another under
234 Liquid Gold

construction. The company began making TFT-LCDs for television in 2000,

when it introduced panels with diagonal screen sizes of 20- and 29-inches.
By 2002, the company had developed LCDs for HDTV in diagonal
screen sizes of 42 and 52 inches; a 55-inch model was demonstrated in
2003. Meanwhile, the size of the mother glass kept increasing with each
successive generation of manufacturing. In its fifth generation factory,
LG.Philips LCD can produce nine 21-inch panels from o n e
1,100mm X 1,250mm mother glass plate as shown in Fig. 15.3. The com-
pany will soon open its sixth generation plant with the capability to handle
plates measuring 1,500mm X 1,850mm (2.38 meters diagonal). LG.Philips
LCD was ranked as the world’s number one manufacturer for all of 2003.24
In addition t o Korea, another country that became engaged in high-
volume manufacturing of LCDs was Taiwan, officially known as the
Republic o f China. The assembly of laptop computers in Taiwan had
already begun in 1985, although displays were obtained from Japanese
manufacturers. One of the first companies to offer a product was Lei Chu
Enterprise Company, which released2’ the PHC-16, a six kilogram IBM

Fig. 15.3. A 1,100mmX 1,250mm mother glass plate that was processed at LG.Philips
LCD’s fifth generation manufacturing facility in Gumi, Korea in 2003. Photo courtesy of
Bnice Berkoff, Executive Vice President of Marketing, LG.Philips LCD.
 Coming of Age 235

PC-compatible portable microcomputer with a 320 X 200 pixel passive

LCD. The computer was developed jointly with a Japanese manufacturer
not named at that time.
The shift of portable computer production to Taiwan accelerated rap-
~ ~ ~by 1990 manufacturing of locally-made laptop
idly in the late 1 9 8 0 and
computers grew to six million units valued at $11 billion. Taiwan’s indus-
trial firms soon realized their need to keep up with technology innovations,
including LCD and plasma displays, while improving the design of ASIC
chips and other components. Therefore, many firms began seeking
technology-transfer relationships with major Japanese vendors as well as
developing marketing channels.
An important development that helped shape the industry in Taiwan
was the announcement o f the Taiwan government-sponsored Electronics
Research and Service Organization’s (ERSO) five-year project to develop
electro-optical technology for information processing application^.^^ The
$60 million project began in July of 1986 and focused on five areas of
electro-optical technology including CCD image pickup modules, TFT-
LCDs, image processing systems, image transfer technology and optical
disk drives with related media. With this government assistance, several of
Taiwan’s industrial organizations were able to begin developing TFT-LCDs
for computers. This led to the formation o f another government-sponsored
project in 1990 to develop TFT-1/31 technology.28Four Taiwanese compa-
nies, Sampo, Tatung, Chung Hsin Electric & Machinery Manufacturing
Corporation and Taiwan Kolin Company, were involved in the venture,
which was led by Peter T.C. Shih, executive director of the electro-optics
group o f the National Science Council.
Meanwhile, Japanese companies began to recognize the advantages of
manufacturing in Taiwan and moved production of passive LCDs to that
country. Hitachi was one of the first to establish twisted-nematic and STN-
1,CD manufacturing in Taiwan, when it moved production of those displays
t o its subsidiary, Hitachi Television (Taiwan) Ltd. located in Kaohsiung in
southern Taiwan.27The other early entrant was Sharp, which began pro-
ducing STN-LCI) modules for notebook computers at about the same
time.3O
During the 1990s, the trend continued and many more Japanese joint
ventures were established for LCU production in Taiwan. Eventually, numer-
ous locally-invested companies entered the business and many became
major manufacturers of not only passive, but also TFT-LCDs. Today, Taiwan
is challenging Korea as the leading TFT-LCD manufacturing region.31Taiwan
236 Liquid Gold

is expected t o increase its TFT-LCD output t o over 57-million units in

2004. The industry is now led by seven major companies: AIJ Optronics, Chi
Mei Optoelectronics, Chungwha Picture Tubes, HannStar, Quanta Display,
BOE I-Iydis Technology and ID Tech. Capital spending o n TFT-LCD
production in Taiwan is expected to reach $4 billion in 2004 as makers
upgrade their plants and manufacturing technologies.
The next major country o f opportunity for low-cost LCD manufacturing
is the People’s Republic of China. Well before Hong Kong became part o f
the PRC, industrial firms in Hong Kong had established facilities in
Mainland China, mostly for production o f small passive displays for
watches, calculators and instruments. Conic and Varitronix, whose activities
were previously mentioned, were among the first, but many others fol-
lowed in the late 1990s. A lrding t o I’aul Semenza,32 China currently
holds a key position in display manufacturing with half of all CKT and LCD
desktop PC monitors now produced in that country, although most of this
production serves export markets. One-quarter of televisions are produced
in China, but this output is mostly for domestic consumption. Television
exports are rising and an increased role for China in the production of LCD
televisions is expected. The shift in the television market from bulky, heavy
CKT-based systems t o flat panel based products cuts shipping costs, one
factor that favors low cost manufacturing regions like China. In 2004, pro-
duction o f ?‘Fl‘-LCDs will begin in China when the first manufacturing
plant, h i l t jointly by SVA and NEC as a 5th generation factory, comes on-
stream in Shanghai. Orient Electronics, which has acquired the display
operations of IIynix of Korea, is also expected to build a TFT-LCD plant in
China. Capital investments for such plants are approaching $2 billion.
Chinese companies are also pursuing advanced display technologies,
such as organic light emitting diode displays, with Truly Semiconductor in
Hong Kong and Visionox in Beijing now known to be developing the tech-
nology.32 In general, Chinese companies are strong players in computer
and television markets, making them well positioned to take advantage of
the continued growth of the display industry.

SUPPLEMENTARY LCD TECHNOLOGIES APPEAR

While the development o f TF’I‘-LCDs was underway, a number of other
technologies based on the use of liquid crystals emerged. Since the TFT
technology was so complex and required such huge capital investment,
 Coming of Age 237

many scientists and engineers were searching for display technologies that
could eliminate the need for TFTs. The technologies that advanced to the
commercial or semi-commercial stage were LCDs based on ferroelectric-
smectic materials, polymer-dispersed liquid crystals and plasma addressing,
while the technology that has recently become important for television
projection systems is liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS).
In 1992, Canon, based in Tokyo, Japan, developed monochrome and
color ferroelectric LCDS”~(FLCDs) aimed at desktop workstation applica-
tions. The 15-inch diagonal color display had 1,280 X 1,024 pixels and
could show 16 colors. It had a contrast ratio of 40:l and a 70-millisecond
response speed. The appearance of this display was excellent although
there were some very small non-uniformities in the panel I saw when I vis-
ited Canon’s laboratory that year. The company was planning to build a
production Facility that was scheduled to go on-stream in 1993. Canon
planned on using 15-inch diagonal monochrome FLCDs in its desktop pub-
lishing system with the display oriented in the portrait mode. The company
hoped to ship color samples and supply displays to OEMs as well as its
own finished products. Canon was the only company that successfully
solved the fabrication problems associated with this technology. However,
the displays were never competitive with color TFl-LCDs in either price or
performance and the products were later discontinued.
Polymer-dispersed LCns (P1,Cns) use a nematic liquid crystal encapsu-
lated in micro-sized polymer droplets. The droplets are suspended in an
emulsified film several microns thick that is sandwiched between glass
plates having a transparent conductive coating on the inner surfaces. In
order to obtain color, the polymer droplets contain a small amount of
dichroic dye, so that the display will modulate between a colored state with
no field applied and a colorless state of high transmittance when the film is
activated by an electric field. A detailed description of the technology with
all its embodiments is given by J. William Doane,34one of the inventors of
the technology at Kent State University’s Liquid Crystal Institute.
Several companies were formed to commercialize the technology. One
was Taliq, a company that was founded on the basis of James Fergason’s
invention called NCAP (nematic curvilinear aligned phase). while Tahq
built some impressive prototypes that it planned to commercialize for large
screen electronic signs, the company never reached profitability and went
o u t o f business. Two others were Advanced IXsplay Systems, Dallas, Texas
and Kent Display Systems, Kent, Ohio; both companies currently make
flexible LCDs based on the PLCD concept.
238 Liquid Gold

Kent Display Systems started out as Kent Digital Signs and was based
on another form of PLCD called Polymer-Stabilized Cholesteric Texture
(PCST) that was developed by Ilr. Deng-Ke Yang at Kent State IJniversity’s
Liquid Crystal Institute. Kent Digital Signs was formed in 1992 to commer-
cialize the PSCT technology that it licensed from Kent State University for
making electronic signs.35 ’The major investor was William Manning,
Chairman of Manning and Napier and Dr. Zvi Yaniv, Dr. J. William Doane
and the Kent State University Office of Technology Transfer were minority
investors. Yaniv, who had left 01s (Optical Imaging Systems), was named
President of the company and Doane was a technical advisor who contin-
ued in his tenured position as Director of the Liquid Crystal Institute. Gerald
Garies was contracted to assist with the technology transfer. In 1993, the
company name was changed to its present name, Kent Display Systems.
In 1993, Thomas Huzak of Tektronix, Beaverton, Oregon, reported on
the development of a 16-inch, color plasma-addressed active matrix
The 16-inch color display had 640 X 480 pixels with 4,096 colors and used
plasma-addressed liquid crystal (PALC) technology to achieve display per-
formance that compared with existing color TFT-LCDs, but without transis-
tors at each pixel location. Instead, the row electrode was formed during
scanning by the plasma generated in an etched channel. A thin glass sheet
separated the plasma from the liquid crystal cell. Engineers from Sony
Corporation were so impressed with this demonstration that they per-
suaded Sony’s management to license the technology from Tektronix. The
technology transfer was successful and two years kater,3’ Sony demon-
strated a 25-inch diagonal television display that it called the Plasmatron
plasma-addressed 1,CD panel. This display had a wide viewing angle and
was only four inches thick. Sony soon formed a partnership with Sharp and
l’hilips to help co-develop the technology and a 50-inch version was
planned for future television use. However, with the emergence of large
screen color TFT-LCD and Plasma Display Panel televisions, the companies
lost interest in this hybrid technology and no further products emerged.
Of all the types of active matrix LCDs, liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS)
devices most directly use semiconductor manufacturing techniques, as the
active matrix array and associated driver circuits are designed and built on
a silicon wafer, using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)
processing techniques. The LCOS displays are currently the most heavily
researched micro display^.^ Instead of thin-film transistors on glass, LCOS
displays use bulk silicon devices to control the pixels from outside the
optical path. The silicon-based CMOS chip serves as both the active matrix
 Coming of Age 239

and the reflective layer, on top of which a thin layer of liquid crystal, glass
plate and polarizer are deposited. Instead of the a-Si or polycrystalline-Si
TFTs used in transmissive LCD cells, LCOS devices use the high-speed
switching capability provided by single-crystal silicon. These devices also
have a simplified LCD structure because the device is reflective, not trans-
missive like most LCDs. For example, only one polarizer is required and
the thickness of the layer of liquid crystal can be reduced, allowing for
faster switching.
Two important design choices are made when developing an LCOS
device: the type of liquid crystal material and the type of control circuit to
be used. The nematic and ferroelectric liquid crystal modes are the most
popular types for such a display. The nematic types provide a good contrast
ratio and are typically coupled with a DKAM (dynamic random access mem-
ory) switching array. Ferroelectric liquid crystals provide very fast switching
speeds, but they do not allow for grayscale, so the pixel is either black or
white. Grayscale can be created temporally by taking advantage of the fast
switching speed to dither the binary value within a frame period.
Ferroelectric liquid crystals are typically coupled with SRAM (static random
access memory) devices, which provide the Fast frame transfer rates needed
to provide temporally dithered grayscale and which are also binary devices.
Liquid crystal microdisplays can also be configured to modulate unpo-
larked light, an approach that has the advantage of much greater light
transmission by eliminating the significant absorption of polarizers. There
are two ways to use unpolarized light. In one approach, light is scattered
when the liquid crystal molecules are arranged in one fashion and reflected
when the molecules are rearranged, a process that is controlled by the
application of a voltage across the cell. Scattering dispkays typically use
polymer-dispersed liquid crystal materials. The second approach uses the
principle of diffraction, in which a periodic arrangement of O N or OFF pix-
els (forming a grating) causes light to constructively or destructively inter-
fere. This interference pattern can then be filtered by a Schlieren stop to
pass light when in certain grating modes; by altering the grating structure,
amplitude and color may be controlled. Twisted-nematic liquid crystal
material is the most common type used in diffraction systems.
Color can be achieved in LCOS devices in several ways. The most pop-
ular approach for projection applications is to use three LCOS chips and
dichroic mirrors to separate red, green and blue components. Color-filter
wheels have also been used to present sequential color to a single chip.
For personal viewers, red, green and blue light sources (typically light
240 Liquid Gold

emitting diodes) are used to illuminate sequential frames of data at three

times the normal video rates.
The main applications for LCOS devices are front projectors, viewfind-
ers (camera and camcorder), viewers integrated into cell phones and other
handheld devices, head-mounted displays and rear projection monitors
and televisions. Products in all these categories have appeared and rear
projection consumer television sets are now on the market. Consequently,
there is great interest in and resources devoted to microdisplays at the
present time. While there is potential for high growth in the coming years,
market acceptance will be contingent on improvements in the price, per-
formance and ergonomics of these products.

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11 (1997).
14. Electronic Display World lS(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 1 (1998).
15. ITlectronic Displa,y World 13(3), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 1 (1993).
16. I<lectronic Disp1a.y World 13(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA,
12 (19931.
17. Electronic Di.pla,y World 16(5), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 16 (1996).
18. Electronic Disp1a.y World 16(10), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 7 (1996).
19. Electronic Displa,y World 18(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 5 (1998).
20. Electronic Display World 19(4), Stanford liesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 10 (1999).
 Coming of Age 241

21. Electronic Ui.spluy World 19(5), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 6 (1999).
22. Chan Soo Oh, personal communication, October 2003.
23. Jun H. Souk, personal communication, January 2004.
24. D.S. (Davis) Lee, Duke M. Koo, Bruce Herkoff, and Emily Cho, personal com-
munication, January-February 2004.
25. ElectronicDispluy World 5(11), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 20 (1985).
26. ElectronicDisplay World 8(2), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 21 (1988).
27. Electronic Disphy World 5(12), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 13 (1985).
28. flZeclronicDisplay World 10[6), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 22 (1990).
29. ElectronicDkpluy World lo@),Stanford I<esources,Inc., San Jose, CA, 21 (1990).
30. ElectronicDispluy World ll(/t), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 24 (1991).
31. “Taiwan challenges Korea’s No. 1 position in TFT-LCD,” The Korea Herald,
March 3, 2004.
32. Paul D. Semenza, “Chinese companies tap into booming display market,”
Electronic News,March 11, 2004.
33. Electronic Display World 12(3), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA,
21 (1992).
34. J. William Iloane, “Polymer dispersed liquid crystal displays,” Liquid Crystuk:
Applications and Uses,Vol. 1, ed. Hirendra Rahadur (World Scientific Publishing,
Singapore, 1990), p. 361.
35. Gerald Garies, personal communication, March 2004.
36. Filectronic Displuy World 13(5), Stanford Kesources, Inc., San Jose, CA,
18 (1993). This issue summarized work reported at the SID International
Symposium held in Seattle, WA in May 1993.
37. filecironic Displuy World 15(12), Stanford Ilesources, Inc., San Jose, CA,
4 (1995). This issue included a report by Iaura Barretto on the COMDEX exhi-
bition in Las Vegas, NV in November 1995.
 Chapter 16

Competition from Other Flat Panel

Technologies

"1 know of nothing so pleasant to minds as the discovery of anything which is at

once new and valuable; for nothing which so lightens and sweetens toil, as the
hopeful pursuit of such discovery."
Abraham Lincoln, circa 1860

During the years that LCDs were being developed, numerous other tech-
nologies were also being investigated. Among the more important tech-
nologies that became commerckally available are vacuum fluorescent
displays, inorganic light emitting diode devices, electroluminescent dis-
plays, plasma display panels, field emission displays and organic light emit-
ting diode displays. A detailed discussion of the development of these
technologies is beyond the scope o f this book; indeed, separate books
could be written about each one. A good review of the major flat panel dis-
play (FPD) technologies along with the history of their development up to
about 1985 is presented in the anthology by Tannas,' which includes chap-
ters by the leading developers of each type.
This chapter will be confined to brief discussions of those technologies
that became, or in my opinion may become, serious competition for LCDs
in large screen displays for television and computer display monitors.
Included are FPD technologies based on gas plasma, electroluminescence,
organic light emitting devices and field emission.

PLASMA DISPLAY PANELS

The plasma display panel (PDP) can be thought of as a descendant of the
neon lamp, which was invented in 1915 by Georges Claude in France. The
242
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 243

term plasma refers to a gas that consists of electrons, positively charged

particles known as cations and neutral particles. The plasma display has
sometimes been referred to as a gas-discharge display because it operates
by passing electricity through neon gas causing it to become “charged”or
ionized temporarily; light is produced when the gas spontaneously dis-
charges. Plasma panels can also be viewed as a series of fluorescent lamps.
The displays operate at high voltage, low current and low temperatures,
resulting in long operating lifetimes.
The main advantage of PDPs, over nearly all other display devices, is
that they can be made into large display panels, with diagonal sizes of 20 to
over 70 inches currently in the production or advanced prototype stages
that are no thicker than four inches, including drive electronics. Moreover,
these large panels can provide high information content and full-color
images. This has made the PDP another ideal technology for flat, thin televi-
sion and a competitor to the LCD in this market segment.
One of the first commercial products based on the use of direct current
(DC) gas plasma was the NIXIE tube, which was developed by Saul
Kuchinsky and his colleagues at Burroughs Corporation.’ During the
period from about 1950 to 1965, this display was manufactured by
Burroughs and became the major type of electronic digital display used in
measuring instruments and other applications. The NIXIE tube had a com-
mon anode and ten cathodes, each shaped in the form of a digit and con-
tained in a tube that resembled vacuum tubes used in radios and early
televisions. The tube was filled with neon and the selected digit was dis-
played by applying 100 volts between the appropriate cathode and the
common anode. These early devices ushered in the era of the digital dis-
play as a replacement for needlepoint gauges. After the NIXIE tube, seg-
mented and character type DC plasma displays were developed and were
used in many types of applications including cash registers and ticketing
machines.
In 1965, scientists at the University o f Illinois, which included Donald
L. Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow and Kobert Wilson, developed the alternating
current (AC) plasma display panel, which provided improvements in per-
formance over the DC version and later became the dominant type for
large screen televison applications. The University of Illinois group soon
expanded to include Roger L. Johnson and Larry F. Weber, both of whom
went on to form companies that later commercialized the technology.
Work on PDPs during the 1960s and 1970s was mainly aimed at devel-
oping displays for military applications. The rugged nature of AC-PDPs
244 Liquid Gold

made them the most popular for fully militarized flat panel display systems,
so the panels were used in a wide range of systems, from compact battle-
field computers used for fire control, to 1.5-meter diagonal displays used in
war rooms. This experience gave the AC-I’DP a solid reputation as a long-
lived, highly reliable display system that could he used in many commer-
cial applications. Ilowever, these displays were monochrome, which
generally displayed orange images on a dark background, while the need
for color was becoming more and more important.
According to Johnson,2 the University of Illinois group was working on
ways to incorporate color in IJ13Ps as early as 1967. The approaches to
achieve color operation in a plasma display utilize the ultraviolet light gen-
erated by the plasma discharge. A fluorescent material, such as zinc sulfide
o r zinc oxide, placed in the vicinity o f the discharge, converts this ultravio-
let light into visible light. This is the same principle employed in the ordi-
nary fluorescent tube lamp used in offices around the world. If the
fluorescent material, called a “phosphor”(it does not contain phosphorous)
is doped with a small amount of a rare earth or other compound, it can
emit light of various colors depending on the specific compound selected.
This is similar to the way color cathode ray tubes for television and com-
puter monitors are made. By using red, green and blue (the primary colors)
phosphors, multi-color and even full color can be achieved by forming
arrays of these phosphors on the inner surface of the panel. Controlling the
intensities o f the red, green or blue phosphor deposited on the wall of
each discharge cell allows full color representation. Rare earth materials
(from the Group IIIb, “Lanthanide Series” of elements in the periodic table)
are used as activators by most of the high-performance ultraviolet light-
sensitive phosphor powders.
Dr. ’18utae Shinoda and his colleagues at Fujitsu Laboratories in Akashi,
Japan, were pioneers in the development of color PUPS for large screen
television. They announced3 the development of the surface-discharge
color AC plasma display panel in 1981. I had an opportunity to visit
Shinodd’s laboratory in 1983 and saw the first color experimental device
that his group built. It showed the Fujitsu logo with kanji characters in red,
blue and green. The surface-discharge color PDI-’and its later modifications
enabled Fujitsu to build the first commercially available color television
panels.
By thc early 1790s, development of color lJDIJs accelerated. In 1992,
for example, the Fujitsu group built a 31-inch color plasma display panel
that used a reflection type three-electrode surface-discharge technique.*
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 245

The panel could display 640 X 480 pixels with 64 gray levels, but a lumi-
nance of only 64 cd/m2. At the same SID Symposium,4Dr. Peter Friedman
of Photonics Imaging, Northwood, Ohio, reported on the development of a
color 19-inch I’DP video monitor that had 640x480 pixels with 64 gray
levels and a luminance of 88 cd/m2. In addition, a joint effort by Y. Takana
and his colleagues at NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories
and T. Komatsu’s group at Oki Electric Industry Company in Tokyo, Japan,
resulted in the development/’ of a 25-inch color PDP with 512 X 768 pixels
and a high contrast ratio of 50:l. The light output (luminance) of all these
early panels was low by today’s standards.
Perhaps the major turning point in taking the technology from the lab-
oratory to the marketplace was Fujitsu’s sale of one thousand 21-inch,
262,000-color PDPs to the New York Stock Exchange in 1994 when it
remodeled its trading floor.5 With the publicity generated by this
announcement, Fujitsu began shipping these 640 X 480 pixel panels to
other exchanges and industrial customers, enabling it to establish an early
lead in the PDP industry.
By the mid-l990s, the development of color PDPs for television
became concentrated in Japan; the establishment of the Hi-Vision PDP
Consortium, which was described in the previous chapter, sparked addi-
tional firms to join the fledgling industry. The list of companies developing
color PDPs for television expanded to include Matsushita, Mitsubishi, NEC,
Hitachi, Pioneer and JVC. Soon, displays with screen sizes of 26 to 50
inches were being shown.
The PDP developments in Japan prompted the Korean companies to
accelerate their PI>P development programs. In 1998, LG Electronics,
Seoul, Korea, developed a four-inch thick, 60-inch diagonal PDP, which
was the world’s largest at the time.6 The set was demonstrated at the 1998
Korea Electronics Exhibition. The company also demonstrated a 50-inch
PDP display with a 16:9 aspect ratio that was aimed at public information
display applications in venues such as convention centers and sports are-
nas. This panel used LGE’s Selective Erase technique that provided high
resolution and reduced the number of ICs needed by half, thereby cutting
manufacturing costs by about 30%.
One year later,’ Plasmaco, based in Highland, New York, built one of
the first (,@inch panels to provide HDTV images. The panel had
1,366X 768 pixels, a luminance of 450 cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 500:l.
The display was capable of presenting 16.777 million colors and it meas-
ured just 133mm (5.3 inches) thick. Plasmaco, which had been acquired by
246 Liquid Gold

Matsushita in January of 1996, was co-founded by Larry F. Weber, one of

the early developers of PDP technology at the University of Illinois. Weber
invented unique schemes to improve the electrical addressing of the pan-
els. With the added financial and technical resources afforded by
Matsushita, Weber’s group was able to develop large screen, high resolu-
tion color l-’IlPs.
Shortly thereafter,8 NEC Corporation announced its success in the
development of a plasma display monitor with a diagonal screen size of
61 inches in the widescreen format (16:9), The plasma monitor moved into
mass production in 2001. NEC was a major player in the lJDI-’industry for
years and was one o f the first to develop a production line capable of pro-
ducing two 42-inch PDP panels from a single mother glass. The NEC panel
had a peak brightness of 600 cd/m2 and could display 1.05 million pixels in
a format of 1,365 X 768 pixels to present 16.777 million colors. NEC also
produced 42-inch and 50-inch panels.
By 2001, Samsung SDI, which had also been manufacturing large
screen PIIPs, showed 63- and 65-inch I-’DP prototypes for Hn’I’V presenta-
tions.8 Similar to what happened with LCDs, the race between Samsung
and LG Electronics to be the first with the largest PDP was on. In October
2003, LG Electronics reclaimed the “world‘s largest” title with a PDP televi-
sion having a diagonal screen size of 74 inches.9 ‘The new model came
only months after the company introduced a 71-inch PDP television. The
76-inch PIIP supported high-definition broadcasting with a format of
1,920X 1,080 pixels and was capable of displaying 2.07 million colors.
Just a decade earlier, Korean electronics makers were imitating prod-
ucts made by Japanese companies, but now the two Korean giants are ded-
icated to rivaling each other for claim to the largest market share of the
very large screen color PDP televison market.
In order t o compete more effectively with the Korean companies,
Japanese firms began consolidating by merging their operations. In 1999, for
example, Fujitsu and Hitachi announced” the formation of a joint venture,
Fujitsu Hitachi IJlasma Display Limited, to develop, manufacture and market
large screen PDPs. The two companies had been working together to
develop next-generation PDP technology and volume production technol-
ogy since signing a joint development agreement in July 1998. The two com-
panies transferred their operations to the new joint venture company with
production in the Miydzaki plant that had been owned by Fujitsu. ‘Ihe com-
pany rcccntly announced” plans to build another plant in Miyazaki at a cost
of about $670 million to manufacture 150,000 PDPs per month. And, as this
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 247

book was being completed, Pioneer Corporation announced that it would

acquire NEC Plasma Display Corporation in April 2004. Pioneer will take
over NEC’s plasma manufacturing facility and research and development
resources in Kagoshima, Japan, in an effort to become one o f the largest
plasma display suppliers in the world.
As the processes for PDP manufacturing improve and production vol-
ume increases, prices will decline and the market for these displays in flat
’’
panel television will grow. According to iSuppli/Stanford Resources, there
were nearly 740,000 plasma television sets valued at $2.8 billion sold world-
wide in 2003 and the number is expected t o approach 1.36 million units in
2004. By 2007, worldwide shipments are expected to top six million units
valued at nearly $9 billion. However, as LCD tekvision sets increase in
screen size and become available at comparable or lower prices than PDP
sets, it is likely that LCDs will capture a large share of the market for sets
with diagonal screen sizes of under 40 inches, while PDP sets will dominate
the market for 50-inch and larger screens.

ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODES

One of the most important display technologies t o arrive on the scene in
the late 20th century was that based on light emission from synthetic
organic materials. The materials can be classified broadly as organic light
emitting displays, but are often called organic light emitting diodes
(OLEIls), Light Emitting Polymers (LEI’S), polymer LEDs (PLEDs), or some-
times Organic Electroluminescent displays (OEL). This technology is fairly
young, dating back t o work on conducting polymers in England in the
early 1970s and at the University of Pennsylvania in 1977 on “synthetic
metals.” Organic semiconductors are formed as aggregates of molecules
that are amorphous, that is, noncrystalline and without a definite order.
There are two general types of organic light emitters, distinguished by
“small” and “large” molecule sizes. According to a recent review article by
Webster E. Howard, I 3 the first practical p-n-type organic LED, h s e d on
small molecules, was invented in 1987 by Ching W. Tang and Steven A.
Van Slyke of Eastman Kodak. The two scientists recognized that by using
two organic materials, one a good conductor o f holes and the other a good
conductor o f electrons, they could ensure that photon em
place near the contact area, or junction, of the two materials, as in a crys-
talline, inorganic LED. They also needed a material that held its electrons
tightly, meaning that it would be easy t o inject holes. For the light to
248 Liquid Gold

escape, one of the contacts must be transparent and the scientists benefited
from the fortunate Fact that the most widely used transparent conducting
material, indium-tin oxide, bound its electrons suitably for p-type contact
material
The structure they came u p with has not changed much over the years
and is often called the “small molecule” type or the “Kodak-type,”because
Kodak holds the basic patent. The Kodak researchers soon modified the
design by adding a small amount of the fluorescent dye coumarin to the
emitter material tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum. The energy released
by the recombination of holes and electrons was transferred to the dye,
which emitted light with greatly increased efficiency. Deposition of addi-
tional thin layers of indium-tin oxide and other compounds next to the
electrodes altered the interaction of the thicker layers and also improved
the efficiency of the injection of holes and electrons, thereby further
increasing the overall power efficiency of the fluorescent OLED.
I saw one of the first implementations of the device in 1994, a bright
green digital display, which was demonstrated at my office by Dr. David
Williams, who was then manager of Kodak’s OLED research project. Both
my colleague David Mentley and I were truly impressed with the lumi-
nance level and the results of tests that had been done by the Kodak group
at that time. We immediately became convinced that this would be an
important flat panel display technology of the future.
The second type of organic light emitter is the large-molecule polymer
light emitting diode. Reported in 1990 by Jeremy Hurroughs and his col-
leagues at the University of Cambridge,13this device incorporated a polymer
called polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) between dissimilar metal contacts
such as indium-tin oxide and calcium, as in an OLED, to provide injection
of both holes and electrons. Indium-tin oxide is a metal that tends to inject
holes and calcium is a metal that tends to inject electrons. Current PLEDs
use a second polymer layer for hole injection and transport. The polymer
PPV produces yellow light, with good efficiency and lifetime. n o w
Chemical Company has developed other polymers and mixed polymers
(two different polymers in solution) based on polyfluorene. These configu-
rations can be modified to produce a full range of colors, from red to green,
by varying the lengths of the segments of the co-polymers. IJnfortunately,
the display lifetimes of these colors have not been comparable to that of
PPV and blue is not yet available.
At present, small molecule-based displays are being made with TFTs or
directly on silicon wafers to provide full-color (16.777 million colors) active
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 249

matrix displays for small screen applications. Kodak and Sanyo Electric, for
example, have partnered to manufacture active matrix OLEDs for cameras
and cell phones; a 15-inch prototype of a computer display monitor was
also demonstrated. Microdisplays for headsets and helmet-mounted dis-
plays are being developed by eMagin Corporation, Hopewell Junction,
New York, which has demonstrated a 0.6-inch (diagonal) color microdis-
play with 800 X 600 pixels built on a silicon microchip active matrix. And,
in 2002, Toshiba and Matsushita joined forces to form Display Devices
Company, which develops low-temperature polycrystalline silicon LCDs as
well as OLEDs. The company demonstrated a 17-inch diagonal color proto-
type OLED display in 2002.
The manufacturing of OLEDs is still in an early stage, but many firms in
Japan and Korea have developed products and are planning production
facilities. Capacity is limited to a small fraction of LCD capacity, although it
will increase steadily in the future. According to Dr. Kimberly Allen of
iSuppli/Stanford Res~urces,~* monochrome passive matrix shipments for
some applications have already entered the market and active matrix OLED
cell phone displays are expected in 2004. Mobile phones represent the
immediate market15 as well as a large total available market and so many
manufacturers are pushing forward in that area. Prices for OLEDs will drop
aggressively during the period of 2004 to 2009, making OLEDs a strong
competitor to LCDs for this application.
The potential for OLEDs to compete with LCDs for computer and tele-
vision displays is long term, but promises to be formidable. These devices
are comparable in image quality t o LCDs, h i t may be cheaper to manufac-
ture because of the flexible nature of the material, which makes it
amenable to continuous roll-to-roll processing. Also, because they are self-
illuminating, OLEDs require less power and can be thinner than LCDs,
which generally require hack-lighting. And, like the dream of wall-
mounted televison of the 3 950s a n d l!Xi()s, the concept of “roll-up”displays
has become a possibility with the advent of OLEDs. In the coming years,
one could envision large-screen televisions and computer monitors that roll
up for storage, as suggested by Howard.13 It will be interesting to see if
these products indeed become reality.

ELECTROLUMINESCENTDISPLAYS
The development of thin-film electroluminescence (TFEL) has a long his-
t0ry.l However, it was not until the early 1970s that serious efforts were
250 Liquid Gold

made to commercially develop the technology for information display.

Kesearchers at Sharp Corporation, Nara, Japan, first reported then
demonstrated high-information content (240 X 180 pixels) AC driven TFEI,
displays in 1978.16 These displays were comprised of layers of metal-
insulator electroluminescent layer-insulator-conductor all deposited by
thin-film techniques on a glass plate. Application of a high voltage above a
threshold caused visible light (orange-yellow) to emit from the central
layer. Multiplexing was required to drive a dot matrix panel.
During the 1980s, Sharp and Planar Systems were the major manufac-
turers o f displays based on this technology. With the growth of the LCD
industry, this technology began to lose hivor at Sharp in the early 1990s
and it focused on LCDs instead. I’lanar Systems, 13eaverton, Oregon, which
was founded in 1983 by James Hurd, Dr. Christopher King and John Laney,
continued t o develop high-information content, large-screen displays and
in the 1990s, the company unveiled a family of EL terminals and monitors
that became popular for medical instruments. Ilowever, the difficulty of
manufacturing full-color displays with this technology kept it from being
competitive with L C l k for high-volume applications. Although Planar
Systems still makes TFEL panels, its focus is on offering all types of display
technologies to its customer base.
In addition to thin-film EL, another EL technology is the powder tech-
nique, the older o f the two.’6 This technology uses a thick film o f zinc
sulfide as the active element. Cherry Display Products Corporation of El
Paso, Texas, produced DC powder panels in the late 1980s and demon-
strated a 640 X 200 pixel display panel in 1987. However, the company
closed down a few years later and George Kupsky, the company’s General
Manager, joined Westaim Corporation, in Fort Saskatchewan, Canada,
where he established a research project in 1991 to build these types of
displays using AC drive. Through the efforts o f Dr. Xingwei Wu and
Ilonald Carkner, a color display was fabricated. By the late 1990s, the
research team had built larger, brighter displays, prompting Westaim to
establish a separate company called iFire Technology with headquarters in
Toronto, Canada, where the company now employs over 140 scientists
and engineers.
iFire claims1’ t o hold over 100 patents and applications related to its pro-
prietary thick-film dielectric electroluminescent (TDEL) technology. In
February of 2000, iFire entered into a $25 million strategic partnership agree-
ment with TDK Corporation of Japan to focus on technology collaboration
and production of displays 12 inches and smaller. As part of the company’s
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 251

large-screen display strategy, $ire entered into a technology collaboration

agreement with Japan’s Sanyo Electric Company in July 2002 and Dai Nippon
Printing Company in March 2003. Both joint development agreements focus
on the advancement of iFire’s TnEI, technology for large-screen flat panel
televisions. Recently, the company reported that it scaled its color display
from 17 inches t o 34 inches in three months, making the 1,280X768 pixel
display the largest fiat panel ever produced using this electroluminescent
technology. According to Anthony €3. Johnston,l 7 President of iFire
Technology, the 34-inch display was fabricated using low cost processes that
will be directly transferred to commercial production. The company claims it
will have an estimated 50% advantage in both capital and module costs ver-
sus mid-30-inch LCD televisions, once manufacturing has been established.
iFire expects to publicly unveil the full-color 34-inch prototype in May at the
2004 Society for Information Display exhibition in Seattle, Washington.
I have watched this technology grow from its beginnings in the early
1990s when I visited Westaim’s laboratory in Fort Saskatchewan t o its trans-
fer t o iFire in Toronto. I have always been impressed by the steady year-to-
year progress that the developers have made in increasing performance
and size of the display prototypes. Whether this technology will indeed be
competitive with LCDs will depend heavily on the success of this company
and its partners in taking the product t o the high-volume manufacturing
StdgC?.

FIELD EMISSION DISPLAYS

The cold-cathode Field Emission Display (FED) is display technology that
has attracted much attention around the world for nearly 25 years. The
potential applications for FEDs cover the entire spectrum of flat panel and
CRT applications. The original work on microtip FEDs was done at SRI
International in Menlo Park, California, by Charles A. Spindt and continued
in earnest hy K. Meyer and T. Leroux at LET1 in Grenoble, France.16 LET1
(the research laboratory of the Commisariat 2 1’Cnergieatomique in France)
was a pioneer in this technology with the first working demonstrations in
both monochrome and color displays.
Cold cathode field emission relies o n solid-state, monolithic construc-
tion rather than mechanically-formed metal elements. It uses tiny cathodes
to generate electrons that are passed through a control grid and directed
to a phosphor screen. This structure is enabled because the heated fila-
ment cathode is eliminated. The microscopic scale o f the active elements
252 Liquid Gold

allows the devices to be made with photolithographic tooling. All of the

addressing and writing hardware can be contained in or on the substrate.
The substrate need only be about 0.04-inch thick and with the spacers,
larger areas will not require apprecialily thicker glass.
In the original embodiment, the emitter was a microscopic cone of a
refractory metal called a Spindt cathode situated in a well comprised of an
insulating material. A conductive grid layer was built near the tips o f the
cones, which were connected electrically as cathodes. An anode was situ-
ated from 0.1 to l m m away from the cathode. The cell was then evacu-
ated. When a field o f around 60 t o several hundred volts was applied
between anode and cathode, electrons were extracted from the tips of the
cones striking a phosphor screen, which emitted visible light. A grid volt-
age of 20 to 60 volts was used to control the flow of electrons, turning a
particular set of cones O N or OFF.
In the 19XOs, several companies including Pixtech and Candescent
Technology were formed t o industrialize the technology, but these firms
never became profitable and ceased operations. However, Futaba, Mobdrd,
Japan, licensed technology from Pixtech to develop displays for automo-
tive applications that are expected t o appear soon. And, Sony worked
closely with Candescent to develop large-screen displays. Sony built full-
color 15-inch and larger prototype displays, although no manufacturing
plans have been announced.
Research and development continued to he conducted in the 1990s by
Motorola and other American companies as well as those in Europe, Japan
and Korea. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in the technol-
ogy with a shift from Spindt microtip cathodes to other emitters like dia-
mond, graphite and carbon nanotubes.
One unique approach t o eliminate the need for microtips was devel-
oped hy I-’rintableField Emitters Limited, Oxfordshire, England, a company
that was formed in 1995. With this company’s technology, the electrons are
emitted from graphite embedded in an insulating material from a round
hole that is only ten microns across, but is ten times the width of the typi-
cal Spindt microtips and thus easier to manufacture. The company claims
t o be working with “major display manufacturers” to transfer the technol-
ogy t o manufacturing. l8
Canon has been developing its own unique technology called the
surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SEI)) for about ten years and
several years ago joined with Toshiba in a joint project to explore the
 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 253

possibility o f inanufacturing displays based on the concept. As this book

was being completed, Canon announced19 its plan to begin manufactur-
ing large-screen displays in 2006. Canon claims its technology will lie
price competitive with PDPs and LCDs in the large-screen television
market.
The development of carbon nanotube (CNT) technology in the 1990s
sparked significant interest in the use of these devices for FEDs by compa-
nies around the world. Motoroka, for example, has been developing carbon
nanotubes for various applications for about ten yearsz0and is now work-
ing with display manufacturers to apply their technology to FEDs. The
emitting devices consist of tubes of carbon atoms that are typically no large
than 100 nanometers in diameter. Motorola’s technology involves growing
the CNTs by chemical vapor deposition at temperatures under 500°C. The
company claims it can precisely place a single nanotube on a glass surface
and control its diameter, length, number of walls and the spacing between
tubes. Motorola has over 50 patents on CNT technology.
Over the past 15 years, there have been many claims that televisions or
computer monitors based on FEDs will be cheaper to manufacture than
LCDs or PDPs, but this has yet to be proven. The CNTs do seem to improve
the prospects for this technology. Unlike the metal tips that were always
changing and being destroyed by oxygen and sputtering, the CNTs are very
stable. Noritake Electronics, Mie, Japan, for example, has been using them
in high brightness FED pixel-sized units for outdoor signs for several years.
There are several issues to consider in the process of predicting the
succcss of the FED. On the positive side is the promise of CRT-like per-
formance. And, while not quite as attractive as a completely solid-state dis-
play (like OLEIIs or TDELs), the FED certainly draws upon fewer resources
than is needed to make full-color, active matrix LCDs. However, on the
negative side is thc difficulty of moving a vacuum electron device into
large-scale production. Cooperation and joint development is almost cer-
tainly required for the FED technology to become commercially successful.
The amount of effort and resources applied to the FED to date is still
small when compared to that expended on LCDs and yet visually attractive
working prototypes have been demonstrated. The equipment and tech-
niques needed for fabrication have advanced considerably since field emit-
ter array development began over 20 years ago. As other flat panel types
increase in size, FED technology will continue to benefit from equipment
advances, particularly deposition equipment.
254 Liquid Gold

REFERENCES
1. Lawrence E. Tannas (ed.), Fht Panel Displays and (XTs (Van Nostrand Reinhold
Company, New York, 1985).
2. Roger I,. Johnson, personal communication, May 2002.
3. ‘1’. Shinoda, Y . Miyashita, Y . Sugimoto, and K. Yoshikawa, “Characteristics o f
surface-clischarge color AC-plasma display panels,” SZD International
Symposium Digest of Technical Pupers (1981) 164.
4. Electronic Displu-y World 12(5), Stanford Resourccs, Inc., San Jose, CA, 16
(1992). This issue summarized the work reported at the SID International
Symposium held in I3osion, MA in May 1992.
5. 1:lectronic DLsphy World 14(9), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 9 (1994).
6. Ikctronic Dip1u.y World 18(11), Stanford Iiesources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 8 (1998).
7. 1;lectronic Displuy World 19(6), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 2 (1999).
This issue summarized work reported at the SID International Symposium held
in San Jose, CA in June 1999.
8. Plusmu Display I%uael.s: Murkets and Technolo~yTrend.7, 2nd cdn., Stanford
Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 2001.
9. ‘‘TG Electronics unveils world’s largest PDP television,” Koreu Heruld,
October 10, 2003.
10. Electronic Displuy World 19(4), Stanford Resources, Inc., San Jose, CA, 10 (1999).
11. Bloomberg News, March 9, 2004.
12. Kiddhi Patel, Telcwision Systems Murket Trucker - 200.3, iSuppli/Stanford
Resources, Santa Clara, C h . Also, personal communication, February 2004.
13. Webstcr E. Howard, “Better Displays with Organic Films,” Scienlzfic American,
February 2004. Prcprint provided courtesy o f Webster Howard, January 2004.
14. Kimberly Allen, personal communication, March 2004.
15. Vinita Jakhanwal, Mobile Disp1uy.s Pucker- 2004, iSuppli/Stanford Resources,
Santa Clara, CA.
16. Joseph A. Castcllano, Handbook of Displuy Technology (Academic Press,
New York, 1992).
17. iFire Technology, http://www.ifire.com
18. I’rintable Field Emitters, Ltd., http://www.pfe-ltd.cotn
19. “Canon to mass-produce advanced large-screen display in 2006,” Kyodo News
International, Tokyo, March 9, 2004.
20. “Motorola’s carbon nanotube breakthrough and nano emissive displays
(NEDs),” Motorold, Inc., Analyst Briefing, June 2003.
 Chapter 17

Into the Future

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, circa 1932

CREATION AND GROWTH OF A NEW INDUSTRY

The development of LCDs and the creation of the huge industry that it
spawned provide an excellent example of how technology progresses from
a laboratory experiment conducted by a few visionaries to hundreds of
products that enhance the quality of life for humankind. The time from the
first experiments on LCns in the mid-1960s to the creation of a new indus-
try in the early 1970s was remarkably short. The record of LCD manufac-
turing’ goes back to 1973 when slightly more than one million units were
sold worldwide. As shown in Fig. 17.1, there were 2.67 billion units sold in
2003 and 2.86 billion units are expected to be made in 2004. The value of
those shipments grew from just $7 million in 1973 to $35.66 billion in 2003;
this will reach $47 billion in 2004 (Fig. 17.2).
The industry’s growth over the past 30 years coincided with a Steddy
increase in the physical size and pixel content of the panels that could be
made. Ihring this time, manufacturing also evolved steadily from largely
hand operations with some semi-automatic equipment to highly automated
and integrated manufacturing Facilities such as those now being used at
LG.Philips LCD in Korea (Fig. 17.3).
As a rule of thumb, many would say it might take ten years for a labo-
ratory development to reach the marketplace, but sometimes one technol-
ogy feeds on the advances of another, so this could shorten the time. On
the other hand, other technologies still under development might be
needed to make certain applications possible, thereby extending the time.
The development of the LCD provides examples of both circumstances.

255
256 Liquid Gold

Worldwide Shipments of LCDs

(Millions of Units)
3500
3000
2500
I J’I

2000
1500
1000
500
0
-/.,--~~”
PI-i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Source: isuppiifStanford Resources,2004

Fig. 17.1. Historical unit shipments of all typcs of LCDs on the worldwide market
(1973-2003). This data was provided courtesy of Sweta Dash and George R. Aboud
of iSuppli/Stanfbrd Resources.

Value of Worldwide LCD Shipments

(Millions of Dollars)
$50,000
$45,000
$40,000
$35,000
$30,000
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$1 0,000
$5,000
$0

u u u u w w u w u u w u w u f q f q

Source: iSupplifStanford Resources, 2004

Fig. 17.2. The historical value of shipments of all types of LCDs on the worldwide
market (1973-2003). This data was provided courtesy of Sweta Dash and George R.
Aboud of iSuppli/Stanford Resources.
 Into the Future 257

Fig. 17.3. LG.Philips LCD'a automated TFT-LCD manufacturing facility in Gumi,

Korea. I'hotos courtesy of Emily Cho and Bruce Rerkoff, LG.Philips LCD.

The development of digital watches and calcukators, the first products to

use LCDs, would not have been possible without the coincident development
of CMOS integrated circuits. Thus, the LCD digital watch took a short period
o f time to go from the first prototypes in 196970 to volume production in
1972-73 because CMOS devices became available at about the same time.
By contrast, the most significant advance in LCD development for tele-
vision and computer display applications was the development of the thin-
film transistor, which began in 1960 at KCA with Paul Weimer. But it was
not until 1970 that T. Peter Brody applied TFTs to LCDs and yet another
258 Liquid Gold

13 years before Shinji Morozumi showed the first color television with a
two-inch screen. Then it took another five years before the first 14-inch
color television prototype was built by Sharp and 12 more years before the
first large screen sets (>20 inches) made with TFT-LCDs entered the
market in 2000. In this case, it was the manufacturing of TFTs on glass over
large areas that required a long development time before the large screen
1,CD television could become a marketable consulner product.
As evident in the data shown in Fig. 17.2, the LCD market has grown
sharply since 1998 and is on a steep increase today. This is due t o the fact
that high-volume manufacturing has increased output tremendously while
reducing production costs and selling prices, thereby making LCD-based
products affordable to the masses.

THE IMPACT OF HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION

Another factor that has driven the high growth of the LCD industry was the
introduction of HDTV sets, many in the widescreen format with a width-to-
height aspect ratio of 16:9. Prior to their market entry in 1998, the television
market was essentially flat. The new medium provided viewers with an
opportunity to see much higher resolution images from the digital video
disks (DVIls) that were becoming popular in the late 1990s. Consequently,
viewers began buying more expensive video and audio equipment to enjoy
the experience of watching movies recorded on IlVDs. Thus, the growing
popularity of HDTV was not so much driven by a desire t o receive HDTV
programming, which is still limited, but primarily to view high resolution
images from digital cable, IlVIls, or satellite systems. This then established
the market for the “higher end” television and provided an advantage for
flat panel televisions based on PIlPs and LCDs because buyers had sud-
denly become accustomed t o paying a premium price for enhanced quality
and the unique flat, thin feature of the LCD television. In addition, LClls
were already available at reasonable prices for 15-inch computer display
monitors with pixel formats that provided high resolution images; so many
consumers already had experience with a flat panel display.
Today, LCT) television sets with the ability to display high-definition
images (not all with built-in decoders for off-the-air hroadcasts) are avail-
able through mass merchandisers. As prices o f flat panel televisions
decline, inany lxiyers will decide t o purchase these sleek-looking sets for
new installations or as replacements for their bulky CRT-based models.
 Into the Future 259

THE GROWTH OF LCD TELEVISION MANUFACTURING

According to data compiled by iSuppli/Stanford Resources,2the worldwide
direct view LCD television market will grow from 3.4 million units in 2003
to 27.7 million units in 2007, an average compound annual growth rate of
(79%.The value of these shipments will increase from $4.4 billion in 2003 to
$21.3 billion in 2007. These are enormous growth rates by historical stan-
dards, but certainly likely as flat panels continue to displace the hundreds
o f millions of ClZT-based sets installed throughout the world.
In order to meet this enormous anticipated demand, the major manufx-
turers are planning to make huge investments in new plants and equipment
to manufacture color TET-LCD panels in all sizes. One example is the new
joint venture between Samsung of Korea and Sony of Japan, which recently
announced a plan to spend $1.8billion on new Facilities aimed at taking the
lead in the LCI) television and computer display monitor markets. Samsung
Electronics will hold a majority stake in the venture, called S-LCD. The plant,
which will have the capacity to process 60,000 panels per month, will go
online in the second quarter of 2005. This venture joins the world’s second
largest LCD maker (Samsung) with the world’s second largest consumer elec-
tronics maker (Sony). Samsung and Sony will each pay about $900 million
for the equipment needed for the venture, according to the report. However,
Samsung Electronics will spend an additional $850 million for the building,
land and clcan-rooms. The venture, which involves the construction of a
seventh-generation plant, will be designed to produce eight 40-inch screens
from one mother glass, or double the number from a sixth-generation line.
A second example was the announcement4 that ground was broken in
I’aju, an agricultural city north of Seoul, to build what is claimed to be the
“world’s largest 1,CD industrial park” by LG.Philips LCD, currently the
world’s number one manufacturer. The company will invest $21 billion
over the next ten years to produce next-generation TFT-LCDs and to build
related research and
and development f x es. The Paju complex will be built
development facilities.
on 3.3 million square meters of land, with LG.Philips LCD building its
TFT-LCD production lines on a site scaled at 1.68 million square meters.
The new seventh-generation TFT-LCD plant, which is expected to make
mother glass sheets of sizes larger than 2 meters X 2 meters, can be used to
make display panels larger than 42 inches diagonal and is expected to be
operational in the first half of 2006.
The Kyonggi provincial government is providing the remaining
1.32 million square meters for LGPhilips L O ’ S business partners, parts
260 Liquid Gold

suppliers, universities and research institutes. LG.I-’hilipsLCD is already

operating six LCD plants in its Gumi complex in North Kyongsang Province.
These examples indicate the willingness of LCD manufacturers to
invest heavily in new plants that promise to cut production costs by
increasing the size of the mother glass substrates. This will serve to boost
output while reducing panel prices, further fueling market growth.

PROBING THE FUTURE

Now that liquid crystal displays have become widely used in a whole variety
of commercial products, what can we expect to see in the future? With the
billions of dollars per year being spent on LCD manufacturing throughout
the world, it is clear that the products of the next 30 years will be even more
impressive than those of the past 30. Of course, color television will be one
of the most important applications. As LCD production volume increases,
prices will come down and television shipments will increase, thereby
expanding the market. It may take 15 years or more, hut flat panels eventu-
ally will completely displace CRTs as the displays o f choice for televisions.
Manufacturers will develop new ways to package the large screen panels for
use in the average home, offering creative tabletop and pedestal mountings
in addition to wall mountings. All will have built-in Internet accessibility and
sets operated with wireless communications will abound. As the panels
become more widely used, new homes will be designed with electrical and
transmission cable outlets built into walls in various locations within the
home. Certainly by 2030, most homes will have multiple flat panel televi-
sions; large screens in the living or family room and smaller screens in the
kitchen and bedrooms. Many larger homes will have a separate “home
theater” room. And, it is likely that multiple display technologies will be in
use, with size dictating the type. In the near term, expect to see PDPs used
in the largest panels and LCDs in the smaller sizes. Longer term, one or
more of the other flat panel technologies (e.g., OLED, TDEL, FED) may
emerge as replacements for PDPs and LCDs. Later in the century, maybe
after 2030, it is conceivable that remote channel changers will be replaced
by voice-actuated systems, ushering in the era of oral channel surfing.
The use of small devices for wireless communication, information stor-
age and data exchange has increased rapidly during the past few years.
This growth will accelerate even further when higher quality, low power
displays become widely available at lower prices. Full-color active matrix
LCDs, OLEDs and perhaps FEDs are poised to fill this need. The electronic
 Into the Future 261

book will evolve into a “personal entertainment center.” About the size of a
thin notebook, this 8 X 10-inch folded device would open to reveal a 12-
inch diagonal color display in portrait mode on one side and a control
panel on the other. Users would be able to slip a CD with a full book title
into a slot in the control panel side and read a book complete with color
photos and video clips. An electronic book could also be used for playing
video games and audio CDs, accessing the Internet, retrieving e-mail, and
watching movies, as well as for storing telephone numbers and other per-
sonal information. It could also have voice communication capability. This
electronic book will become widely used by students, clerical workers,
executives, salesman, housewives, and others. In ten years, it may be as
ubiquitous as the handheld calculator is today.
Replacement of the CRT in desktop computer disphy monitors is well
underway and should be complete in about ten years. The replacement of
CRTs by flat panels is occurring more rapidly in the business computing
community than in the consumer products industry. In full color, these
computer screens are extremely compact; freeing desk space for many of
the other new, compact office automation products that are already
becoming available. Businesses generally have the financial resources to
make the change in the interest of increasing productivity through better
ergonomics as well as saving space. I expect the personal computer to
look quite different in 20 years. The big, bulky boxes that house the CPU,
disk drives and other accessories will shrink as these components become
an integral part of the display. The need for large amounts of memory will
also diminish as Internet-accessible software comes into its own. The key-
board will likely remain for quite a while, at least until accurate voice and
tactile inputs become widely used. By the end of the 21st century or per-
haps earlier, software will become available to convert words into pictures,
adding yet another dimension to the use of flat panel displays.
Another major application for LCDs or other emerging technologies
could be the electronic window shade; a concept that has been around for
more than 30 years, and has already appeared in some installations. Once
they are incorporated into large panes of glass, these electronically-
controlled windows could become commonplace on the buildings and
skyscrapers of the mid-2lst century.
The use of flat panels for public information displays is also growing
rapidly. Every sports stadium and indoor arena has at least one if not mul-
tiple flat panel displays, with LEDs currently being the most popular
choice. Many airports already have numerous 42-inch color PDPs that are
262 Liquid Gold

used for flight information, while others present television programming.

This trend will surely be extended t o airport facilities currently being built
or those planned for the next decade. Further on during the century, cer-
tainly by 2040, electronic billboards will be ubiquitous. Live-action video
with advertisements, news and other information will replace static, printed
material. Retail establishments have begun using displays of all sorts.
Currently, flat panel television screens and scrolling monochrome LED
signs are in use in many large malls and in some department stores. Larger
flat panels will also become more widely used in restaurants, specialty
stores and fast food outlets. The public’s thirst for information in an ever-
expanding information age will not be easily quenched.
The use of electronic displays in transportation has increased signifi-
cantly over the past 20 years. Many train stations and bus terminals now
have flat panel displays to show arrival and departure information; some
trains and buses have television displays for entertainment. Installations in
airplanes, trains and buses are expected to increase steadily during this cen-
tury. The introduction of electronic displays in automobiles has taken much
longer than anyone expected, but changes are occurring. Many sport utility
vehicles now come with built-in LCD televisions for passengers, and LCII
navigation panels are being added to vehicles of all types, particularly in
Japan and Europe. However, the dream of a fully integrated electronic
dashboard in every car has yet to be realized, although many prototypes
have been shown. In fact, several production models appeared on the mar-
ket in the mid-1980s but were discontinued. High costs combined with the
need t o change hardcore driver habits (drivers still like to see needle gauges
moving- the more gauges, the better) will continue to make this an area of
slow, but steady progress. It is conceivable that by 2025 all cars will have
fully integrated electronic dashboards with curved surfaces, perhaps using
LCI> or OLED technology. These cars will likely have built-in navigation sys-
tems with voice output and voice-actuated computer controls for the audio
system and other functions.
Looking at the past is easy; predicting the future is clifficult. It is clear,
however, that the progress made in developing flat panel display technol-
ogy over the past 30 years has been surpassed by that in creating new and
varied applications for these devices. While we should expect to see new,
emerging technological developments in the coming years, I believe more
and more applications for existing display technologies will evolve over
the next 20 years.
 Into the Future 263

REFERENCES
1. Sweta Dash and George R. Aboud, iSuppli/Stanford Resources, Santa Clara,
CA, personal communication, January 2004.
2. Riddhi Patel, Television Systems Murket Trucker - 2003, iSuppli/Stan€ord
Resources, Santa Clara, CA. Also, personal communication, Febniary 2004.
3. Young-Sam Cho, “Samsung, Sony to spend $1.8billion on LCI) joint venture,”
Forbes, March 15, 2004.
4. Kim Sung-jin, “LG.Philips LCL) to build world’s largest display device park in
Paju,” 7%eKoreu Tzmes, March 18, 2004. Reports also came from Reuters News
Service and appeared in the Financial Times on the same day.
 Epilogue

The privacy o f retirement from a 43-year career in research, development

and business has given me the opportunity t o look back at the develop-
ment of the liquid crystal display industry from its beginning. In writing this
story, I liad the rare privilege o f reliving some of the most important events
in my career. At the same time, it gave me time to reflect on how the world
and technology have changed over this period of time. When I started doing
research in liquid crystals in 1965, the world was defined by a political
struggle that pitted China, the Soviet IJnion, and their allies against the
Western democracies. It was a struggle that also affected the economic and
technological aspects of society. In those days, the exchange of technology
across national borders was limited. As a result, countries in Southeast Asia
were primarily defined in the West as economically “poor and non-
industrialized.” ’The island nation o f Japan was the exception, although it
was working hard to improve its reputation as a source of high-quality
electronic products.
With the opening of China and the later break-up of the Soviet Union,
the rules changed, enabling a n increased flow of ideas and technology
transfer throughout thc world. As a result, much of the LCI) technology
that was developed in Europe and the United States began to shift toward
the countries and regions of Southeast Aspa and Eastern Europe, where
inexpensive kabor was plentiful. However, by the 3 990s, the technological
prowess o f scientists and engineers in these regions led to the develop-
ment o f highly automated manufacturing techniques and facilities.
The LCD industry then Ixcame one of efficiency rather than cheap
labor, and success was defined by which companies were willing to invest
the most in manufacturing technology.
In my view, this transformation has been a great benefit t o the world
in general. American and European consumers are now able to buy
affordable products made efficiently in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
This has enabled the scientists and engineers in the United States and

264
 Epilogue 265

Western Europe t o focus on the development of new devices, improved

hardware, and advanced software for products and services of the future.
Meanwhile, the standard of living of populations in the manufacturing
regions has risen dramatically, leading to a higher level of economic and
political stability. As I complete this writing, such changes are now occur-
ring in the People’s Republic of China and India. It is my hope that this
example of technology exchange and free trade will spread to other
developing nations to improve world economic and political stability later
in the 21st century.
 Acknowledgments

The LCD industry was created and flourishes today because of the brilliant
ideas and dedicated efforts of thousands of scientists, engineers and factory
workers around the world who worked through the years to develop LCU-
based products that have greatly benefited mankind. Over the years, I was
privileged to meet many of these men and women. While I cannot name
every person, I want to thank them as a group for teaching me about the
many aspects of LCD technology as well as the manufacturing processes,
product designs, applications and market plans. Their help was extremely
valuable to this history.
There were numerous individuals who assisted me directly in locating
vintage images, devices and information that made the writing of this his-
tory possible. First and foremost, I must thank Louis Zanoni for providing
many photographs of the first LCDs ever made as well as his documents
and notes on the early history of the technology. Most importantly was the
encouragement Lou provided in urging me to write this story. His com-
ments and suggestions on several of the chapters were also very valuable.
I am truly indebted to him for all his help.
I could not have written this book without the help of my colleague
and old friend David Mentley, who collaborated with me on display indus-
try research at Stanford Resources for more than 20 years. I will be eter-
nally grateful for all the help he gave me in gathering and compiling
information on LCD development through the years.
Another important contributor to this history was George Ileilmeier, who
was particularly helpful in relating the early history of LCD development at
RCA Laboratories in the days before and after I was involved. &orge was
also kind enough to review several of the chapters in their early stages and I
am very grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions he provided. I
also thank him for the help and guidance he gave me over the years.
I am also grateful to Richard Williams for telling me the story of his
early work in liquid crystal research at RCA and for his comments on the
early chapters.
266
 Acknowledgments 267

John van Wake and Bernard Lechner, two of my many colleagues at RCA
in the 1960s, both provided valuable information on the early history of LCD
research at RCA. John recounted the story of how he became involved in the
development of video projection systems based on liquid crystal light valves.
Bernie described the early work at RCA that led to the concept of building
LCDs driven by active matrix addressing. I thank them both for their help.
I probably would never have become involved in the LCD industry if
not for Joel Goldmacher, who first introduced me to the topic in 1965. I will
always be grateful to him for teaching me about this fascinating science.
Along with Lucian Barton, we worked together closely to develop the first
room temperature nematic liquid crystal mixtures. I must also thank Lucian
for providing information on his early involvement in display development.
I am especially indebted to James Fergason for relating his story of the
development of the twisted-nematic LCD as well as the early days of LCII
development at Kent State LJniversity and the International Liquid Crystal
Company. Jim’s help in agreeing to the numerous conversations we had
over a period of several months is greatly appreciated.
Another important contributor to the development of LCDs was Martin
Schadt, who provided important historical information on the development
of the twisted-nematic LCD at Hoffmann-kd Roche as well as his other
many achievements in the display field. I thank Martin for his valuable con-
tribution to this history.
Gerald Garies was a very important contributor to the development of
high-volume manufacturing techniques for LCDs at the earliest stages. In
my opinion, he never received adequate recognition for his pioneering
work in the creation of the LCD industry. I am extremely grateful to Jerry
for providing detailed accounts of the history of development at some of
the first LCI) manufacturers including AMI, Microma, Fairchild and Conic as
well as other helpful information. Unfortunately, Jerry passed away shortly
after I completed the first draft of the manuscript for this book, so he never
had the opportunity to read this book in its final form. My condolences go
out to his wife Betty and the other members of his family.
I am deeply indebted to Chan Soo Oh for providing detailed accounts
of his involvement in LCD development at RCA, Timex, Beckman
Instruments and Samsung. Chan helped fill numerous gaps in the early his-
tory of the technology.
I also want to thank Sun Lu for the many helpful conversations we had
and for his accounts of the history of LCD development at Texas
Instruments, Rikker-Maxson, Hewlett-l’ackard, Exxon Enterprises and
268 Liquid Gold

Landmark Technology. Sun’s contribution of photos and vintage devices is

also greatly appreciated.
George Taylor has been a friend for more than 35 years and I thank
him for providing information o n the early days of LCD development at
Princeton Materials Science. I am also grateful to Allan Kmetz, another
valuable contributor, who recounted the history of LCD development at
Texas Instruments, Rrown Boveri and Bell Telephone Laboratories.
The early history of LCD development in the United Kingdom could
not have been fully written without the help of two old friends. One is
David Dunmur who provided me with numerous references and informa-
tion on some of the key innovators. I look forward to reading his upcom-
ing book that reviews the classic papers o n key developments in the field
of liquid crystals. The other is Alan Mosley who recounted the achieve-
ments that took place at RSRE and GEC in the lJnited Kingdom during the
early years of LCT) development.
Anthony Genovese and Larry Tannas were early LCD innovators who
did pioneering work in the development of the first compact desktop LCD
calculator and I thank them for their accounts of that history. I am espe-
cially indebted to Tony Genovese for providing me with notes, photos and
other early LCD devices.
I am also especially thankful to Nunzio Luce for his help in providing
information on the development of the first LCD digital watches. Tony’s
help in reviewing the chapter on Optel’s history is also greatly appreciated.
Terry Scheffer’s account of the discovery of the SuperTwisted-Nematic
LCD was extremely valuable and I sincerely thank Terry for his contribu-
tion. I must also thank Arlie Conner for providing the Fascinating story of
how In Focus produced the first color LCD projector plates. Thanks also go
to Steven Hix, founder of In Focus, for helpful discussions during the early
days of the three-hyer LCD projector plate development.
1 would also like to offer my special thanks to T. Peter Rrody for
providing a detailed account of his experience in developing the first
TFT-LCDs. I have always admired his perseverance in pursuing this tech-
nology when others said it could not be done. Also, Webster Howard’s
story o f the early days of TFT-LCD development at IBM was especially
helpful and I am very grateful for his account. I also thank Web for helpful
information on OLED development.
I am also indebted to C.C. Chang, founder and CEO of Varitronix, who
recounted the history of the company and the beginning of high-volume
LCD manufacturing in Asia.
 Acknowledgments 269

Dietrich Demus was working on the development of room tempera-

ture nematic liquid crystals at about the same time as our group at RCA and
I thank him for providing his account o f those developments at the
University of Halle.
I would also like to thank Guenther Baur, a pioneer in the research and
development of LCns as well as the inventor of modern in-plane switch-
ing technology, for providing papers and references to his work at the
Fraunhofer-Institut fur Angewandte Festkiirperphysik in Freiburg, Germany.
Frank Allan has been a friend since our days together at RCA. I thank
him for providing information o n the early days of LCD development at
Olivetti, Timex, and other companies as well as contacts with people who
provided additional information. Special thanks also go to Werner Becker
of E. Merck in Darmstadt, who was helpful in providing information on the
early developments of liquid crystals in Germany.
Daniel Ivanicky provided valuable recollections of the early LCD work at
Texas Instruments and Micro Display Systems, and I am grateful for his help.
I am especially thankful to Prederic Kahn for providing papers, refer-
ences and detailed accounts of the early development of LCDs at Hitachi,
Ikll Laboratories and Ilewlett-I’ackard as well as the commercialization o f
the very high resolution projector at Greyhawk Systems.
William Bleha provided the history of liquid crystal light valve develop-
ment at Hughes and I greatly appreciate his effort to compile that story.
I also want to h a n k William Tonar for helping me with details of the
early work at the LCD companies in the mid-western part of the United States.
I am also grateful for the other contacts Bill provided so that I could locate
others who had information on those early years.
Ernst Leuder provided information on the extensive activities of his
group at the 1Jniversity of Stuttgart on TFT-LCDs and other display tech-
nologies. I thank him for that as well as the entire list of the 279 papers his
group published over the years.
A number of friends in Japan provided very valuable information on
their activities in the development of LCDs and other flat panel display tech-
nologics. I would like t o particularly thank Hiko Nishijima, Isao Ohta, S.
Furuuchi and Tadashi Nakamura, inventor of the vacuum fluorescent display.
Thanks also t o Hirohisa Kawamoto for helpful discussions and for pro-
viding his excellent paper on the history o f LCDs that I made reference to a
number of times. I am also grateful to Mitsuhiro Kurashige for his help with
information on PDP developments in Japan as well as for providing con-
tacts within the display industry.
270 Liquid Gold

Shunsuke Kobayashi has been a friend for more than 30 years

and I thank him for providing his papers and recollections of LCD
developments in Japan. I will also be eternally grateful to Kobayashi-san
for his help in teaching me about Japanese culture and introducing me to
many of Japan’s top LCD researchers.
The story of LCD developments at Samsung in Korea could not have been
written without the help of Jun Souk and I thank him very much for providing
me with those details. I would also like to thank my old friend Joe Virginia for
providing excellent photos of the latest Samsung LCD televisions.
I am also indebted to Duke Koo, Davis Lee and Bruce Berkoff, who
provided a detailed history of LCD development at LG Electronics and
LG.Philips LCD. A special thanks also goes to Emily Cho for sending me
those outstanding photos of the LG.Philips LCD manufacturing facilities
and the latest television displays.
I am very grateful to Zvi Yaniv for providing a detailed account of the
history of active matrix LCI) development at ECD and 01s. I would also
like to thank Roger Johnson and Larry Weber for their help with the history
of PI)P developments.
Thanks also go to other friends and colleagues who provided helpful
information and directed me to valuable references. Included in this group
are Kevin Hathaway, Mary Tilton, Sam Uyeda, Thomas Credelle, Thomas
Holzel, Andras Lakatos and Werner Haas. I also thank Donald Small for his
recollections of the first liquid crystal conference.
Other people who I would like to thank for providing helpful informa-
tion are Alex Magoun, Executive Director of the David Sarnoff Library,
Margaret Dennis and Carlene Stephens of the Smithsonian Institution and
Jenny Needham of the Society for Information Display.
I also indebted to my many other friends at iSupplVStanford Resources
who helped me as I was writing this book over the past two years. I am
particularly thankful to Paul Semenza and Brian Fedrow for help in locating
various files and documents. I am also very grateful to Junzo “Jim”MdSUdd
for his help in providing information on display activities in Japan as well in
helping me contact various individuals. I would also like to thank Laura
Castellano, George Aboud, Sweta Dash, Rhoda Alexander, Kimberly Allen,
Iiiddhi Patel, Vinita Jakhanwal and Charles Mdtsumoto for their help in pro-
viding contact names, industry information and market data.
I owe a special thanks to Stanley Wu-Wei Liu, acquisition editor for World
Scientific Publishing, who agreed to publish this work and who provided
numerous helpful comments and suggestions. Finally, I would also like to
thank my editor Yun Cheng Mok for invaluable help in completing this project.
 Appendix I

Program of the First International Liquid

Crystal Conference -August 1965

Sunday, August 15,1965

2-00-11 00 p m Registration. Korb Hall lobby
6:00-8.00 p m Buffet
Monday Morning August 16,1965
Presiding, Glenn H. Brown, Kent State
University
10 00 Opening Ceremonies-'"Welcome'' Robert I
White. President. Kent State University

Lectures
10 30 Conlerence Lecture I "Influence of
Molecular Structure on Liquid Crystalline
Properties"
G. W Gray, Chemistry Department,
University of Hull. England
10 55 Conference Lecture II "The Cholesteric
Phase"
James I. Fergason. Research Laboratories.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 20 1 "Influence of Molecular Structure on Liquid
Crystalline Properties and Phase Transitions
in These Structures"
J S Dave and P R Patel. Chemistry
Department, M.S. University of Baroda, India
11 45 Discussion
11.50 2 "The Mesomorphic Behavior of
Stigmasteryl Carbonates"
J L W Pohlmann. U S Army Research
and Development Laboratories
12 15 Discussion
12.30 Lunch

Monday Afternoon August 16,1965

Presiding. Joel Goldmacher. RCA
Laboratories
1.30 3 "Chemical Significance of Cholesteric
Crystals"
J I Fergason. N N Goldberg and
R J Nadalin, Westinghouse Electric
Corporation. Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania

27 1
272 Appendix I

1:55 4 "The Mesomorphic Behavior of Cholesteryl H. Sackmann, Institute fur Physikalische

Carbonates" Chemie, der Universitat Halle, East Germany
W. Elser, U S. Army Research and 11:15 Discussion
Develooment Laboratories 1120 14 "Some New Mesomorphic Substances''
2.25 Discussion J. Billard, Labomtoire de Physique Theorique,
2'30 5 "Influence of Molecular Structure on Liquid College de France, Paris and R. Cerne,
Crystalline Properties and Phase Transitions Soclete Nyeo, Paris
in Mixed Liquid Crystals" 11:45 Discussion
J. S. Dave and K. L. Vasanth, Chemistry 11:50 15 "The Triangle Well Approximation in a
Department, M.S. Universityof Baroda, India Quantum Cell Model"
2:55 Discussion R. D. Reed, Ling-Tempo-Vought, Dallas, Texas
3:oo Coffee and Tea 1215 Discussion
320 6 'Transient Behavior of Domains in Liquid 12:30 Lunch
Crystals'' Social Hour and Banquet -Twin Lakes
George H. Heilmeier, RCA Laboratories, Country Club
Princeton, New Jersey Presiding, D. C. Jones, Kent State University.
3:45 Discussion The Address, The Honorable Charles A.
Mosher, U.S.Congressman, 13th Ohio
3:50 7 "Electric Field Effects in Cholesteric Crystals" District
W. J. Harper and J. L. Fergason,
Westinghouse Research Laboratories, Wednesday Morning August 18,1965
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Presiding, A. Mabis, The Procterand Gamble
4:15 Discussion Company
420 8 "Field Effects in Choiesteric Liquid Crystals" 9:00 16. "Surface Tension on Liquid Crystals"
J. H. Muller, US. Army Research and S. Chandrasekhar, Department of Physics,
Development Laboratories University of Mysore, India
4:45 Discussion 9:25 Discussion
6:OO Dinner 9:30 17. "Conditions Governing the Formation of
Lyotropic Liquid Crystals by Molecular
Monday Evening August 16,1965 Association"
Presiding, Amos Horney, Director of D. G. Derivichian, Service de Biophysique,
Chemical Sciences, Air Force Office of lnstitut Pasteur, Paris. France - Read by
Scientific Research D. M. Small
8:OO 9. "Dielectric Relaxation in Nematic Liquid 1O:OO 18. "The Structure of the Mesomorphic Gels
Crystals" Occurring at High Temperatures with Alkali
Gerhard Meier, lnstitut fur Elektrowerkstoffe soaps"
der Faunhofer, Gesellschaft. and A. Saupe. A. Skoulios and G. Gallot. Centre de
The University, Freiburg, West Germany Recherches, Sur les Macromolecules,
825 Discussion Strasbourg, France
8:30 10. "Possible Ferroelectric Behavior in the 1025 Discussion
Nematic Phase of p-Azoxyanisole" 10:30 Coffee and Tea
Richard Williams and G. Heilmeier. RCA 10:50 19. "The Structure of Lyotmpic Mesophases"
Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey R. R. Balmbra, J. S. Clunie, J. M. Corkill and
8:55 Discussion J. F. Goodman, Procter and Gamble Ltd.,
9:M) 11. "Possible Elastic Contributions From Newcastleon Tyne, England
Restricted Macro-Brownian Rotation in 11:15 Discussion
Anisotropic Fluids" 1120 20. "Study of the Lamellar Structure Presented
Bernard Rosen, The Research Division, The by Polystyrene-Polyethylene-oxideBlock
Western Company, Dallas, Texas Copolymer"
925 Discussion A. Skoulios, E. Franta, P. Rempp and
H. Benoit, Centre de Recherches. Sur les
Tuesday Morning August 17,1965 Macromolecules, Strasbourg, France
Presiding, R. 0. Ennulat, U.S. Army Research 11:45 Discussion
and Development Laboratories
1230 Lunch
9:00 Plenary lecture - "Paracrystals in Nature I"
R. Hosemann, Fritz-Haber lnstitut der Max- Wednesday Afternoon August 18,1965
Planck, Berlin, Germany Presidlng, Daniel Berg, Westinghouse Electric
1O:OO 12 "Paracrystals in Nature 11" Corporation
W. Wilke, R. Hosemann. K Lemm, Fritz-Haber 1:30 21. "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies of
lnstitut der Max-Planck, Berlin, Germany Surfactant Mesophases"
10% Discussion K. D. Lawson and T. J. Flautt Procter and
Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio
10:30 Coffee and Tea
13. "The Problem of Polymorphism in Liquid 1:55 Discussion
10:50
Crystals"
 First International Liquid Crystal Conference 273

2:OO 22. "NMR Studies on Binary Liquid Crystalline 11:5030. "The Use of Liquid Crystals for
Phases" Thermotroprographic Measurementof
M. P. McDonald. Department of Science and Neoplastic and of infiammatory Lesions in
Metallurgy, Sheffield College of Technology, Man"
England Helena Selawry, James Holland and Oleg
225 Discussion Selawry, Department of Medicine, Roswell
Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York
230 23. "The Average Orientation of Solute Molecules
in Nematic Liquid Crystals by High 1215 Discussion
Resolution Proton Magnetic Resonance 1230 Lunch
and Orientation Dependent Intermolecular
Forces" Thursday Afternoon August 19,1965
A. Saupe, Physical Institute of the University, Presiding, G. W. Gray, Hull University, Enoland
Freiburg, West Germany 1:30 31 "Macromoiecuiar Systems Producing
2 55 Discussion Ordered Structures in Living Cells"
3:OO Coffee and Tea E. J. Ambrose, Institute for Cancer-Research,
Royal Cancer Hospital, London, England
3:20 24. "information From Analysis of NMR Spectra
of Monofluorobenzene in a Nematic Solvent" 1:55 Discussion
L. C. Snyder, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 2.00 32. "Thermodynamics of Anisotropic Polypeptide
Inc., Murray Hill, New Jersey Solutions"
3'45 Discussion William Leonard, Shell Development
Company, Emeryvilie, California
3:50 25. "Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectra of
Molecules Dissolved in Nematic Phases" 225 Discussion
G. Engiert and A. Saupe, Hoffman LaRoche & 2:30 Discussion of the terminology used in the
Co. Ltd., Easel, Switzerland and Physical fieid of Liquid Crystals
institute of the University, Freiburg, West 3:15 Picnic
Germany
4:15 Discussion Friday Morning August 20,1965
420 26. "Some NMR and Kinetic Studies of Molecules Presiding, W. G. Shaw, Standard Oil
in Nematic Phases" Company
M. Panar, W. 0. Philips and J. C. Rowell, 9:00 33. "Liquid Crystal Patterns''
Central Research Department, E. I. duPont de John F. Dreyer, Polacoat Incorporated. Blue
Nemours and Co.. Wilmington, Delaware Ash. Ohio
4:45 Discussion 925 Discussion
6:OO Dinner 9:30 34. '"Anti-Airy Waves Propagation in Twisted
Nematic Films"
Wednesday Evening August 18,1965 J. Biliard, Laboratoire de Physique Theorique,
Presiding, J. F. Fergason, Westinghouse College de France, Paris
Electric Corporation 9:55 Discussion
8:OO Films and Demonstrations 1O:OO 35. "Ultrasonic Absorption and Dispersion at
Thursday Morning August 19,1965 Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals and
Binary Liquid Mixtures"
Presiding, J. J. Woiken, Carnegie institute of P. 0. Edmonds, Department of Biomedical
Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
9.00 Plenary Lecture II -The Choiesteric Phase 10.25 Discussion
in Polypeptides and Biological Systems
Conmar Robinson, London, England 10:30 Coffee and Tea
27. "Liquid Crystals in Biological Systems" 10.50 36. "Behavior of Crystalline Liquids as Stationary
1O:OO
G. T. Stewart, Professor Epidemiology and Phases in Gas Partition Chromatography"
Pathology, University of North Carolina H. Kelker, Farwerken Hoechst, Frankfurt.
Germany
1025 Discussion
11:15 Discussion
10:30 Coffee and Tea
11:20 37. "Specific Heat and Heat of Transition of
10:50 28. "Solid State Mechanisms of Ion Transport in
Aromatic Liquid Crystals"
Biological Systems"
Heinrich Arnold, lnstitut fur Chemie der
F. W. Cope, Aviation Medical Accelerator Technischen Hochshule, Ilmenau, East
Laboratory, U.S. Naval Air Development Germany - Read by H. Sackmann
Center, Johnsville, Pennsylvania
11:45 Discussion
11:15 Discussion
11:50 38. "Infrared Dichroism Studies of Liquid
11:20 29. "Lyotropic Paracrystaliine Phases Obtained
Crystals"
with Ternary and Quaternary Systems of
Biological Importance" V. 0. Neff, Leslie Guirich and G H. Brown,
Department of Chemistry, Kent State
0. M. Small and Martine Bourges, lnstitut University, Kent, Ohio
Pasteur, Paris, France
12:15 Discussion
11:45 Discussion
1230 Lunch
 Appendix I I

A Chronology of LCD Developments

Thc discovery of liquid crystals goes back to the late 19th century. Although
sporadic studies o f the effects of electric fields were conducted through the
first half of the 20th century, the use of these materials for display applica-
tions did not occur until the 1960s. However, the pace of invention greatly
accelerated in the 1970s, especially following RCAs 1968 public announce-
ment of its research and development in the field. As a result, the task of
creating a chronology of the events leading to the key developments in
1,CD technology is perhaps the most difficult part of this history.
In a number of cases, several individuals or groups working independ-
ently in various parts of the world conceived the inventions almost simulta-
neously. Consequently, to prepare this chronology I used literature
references, patent application dates and statements from the key individu-
als themselves to establish the timeline. If certain individuals feel they have
been excluded, it is because I had insufficient information about their
involvement and I sincerely apologize. However, since most of the key
participants in the development of LCDs provided me with their papers,
patents, photos and personal recollections, I believe this chronology is
about as accurate as one could provide within the time frame of this book's
preparation. The specific events outlined in this chronology are described
in the body of the text and literature references are presented at the end of
each chapter.

1888
Friedrich Reinitzer at the German University of Prague first reports that
a unique state of matter exists between a crystalline solid and a pure
liquid.

214
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 275

1890
Otto Lehmann at the Technical University of Karlsruhe in Germany con-
firms Reinitzer’s olxervations and coins the term “Fliissige Krystalle,”
which translates to liquid crystal in English.

1911
0 Charles Mauguin in France fabricates the twisted-nematic structure
upon which a display technology is created 60 years later.

1922
Georges Friedel in France establishes the nomenclature to describe the
various liquid crystalline phases.

1929
Zocher and I3irstein in Germany perform the first studies of the effects
of rnagnetic and electric fields on liquid crystal materials.

1931
Russian physicist Vsevolod Konstantanovich Frederiks (also known as
Freedericksz) discovers periodic hydrodynamic domains in liquid crys-
tals subjected t o electric fields.

1936
I3arnett Levin and Nyman Levin, working at the Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company in England, obtain the first patent on a liquid crys-
tal device - television was cited in the patent as a possible application
for the light valve.

1942
The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) opens RCA Laboratories, its
central research center in Princeton, New Jersey, to further develop
276 Appendix I!

radio and television technology. In 1951, the kaboratory is renamed the

David Sarnoff Research Center.

1962
George Gray, Professor of Chemistry at the IJniversity of Hull in
England, publishes the first book on the structure and properties of liq-
uid crystals. This book opened the field to many chemists and physi-
cists who went o n to develop devices based on these unique materials.
Paul Weimer develops the first thin-film transistor at RCA Laboratories.
Iiichard Williams at KCA Laboratories discovers the formation o f
domains in a nematic liquid crystal under electrical excitation and
applies for a patent on an electro-optical device using liquid crystals.
His work is not published until 1963.

1964
George HeiImeier at RCA Laboratories conceives the use of dichroic
dyes in liquid crystals to create what he calls the “Guest-Host Effect.”
He and Louis Zanoni build the first device using this effect, but the
work is not published until 1968.

1965
Glenn Brown, Dean of Research at Kent State University, establishes
the Liquid Crystal Institute and organizes the First International Liquid
Crystal Conference at Kent. The world’s leading researchers in the field
meet for the first time.

1966
George Heilmeier, Louis Zanoni and Lucian Barton at RCA Laboratories
build the first liquid crystal display based on what Heilmeier calls the
“Dynamic Scattering Effect.” The project is classified as secret by RCA
management and no reports are published until 1968.
Joel Goldmacher, Joseph Castellano and Lucian Barton at RCA
Laboratories develop the first room temperature nematic liquid crystal
mixtures to be used in LCDs. The mixtures, which are composed of
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 277

Schiff base compounds with similar structures, have low melting

points, but high nematic thermal stability. Publication of these results
does not occur until after 1968.
Working at KCA Laboratories,John van Raalte fabricates a liquid crystal
device coupled with an electron beam to demonstrate the first off-the-
air moving television picture on a liquid crystal display and builds a
prototype projection system to magnify the images.

1967
Dietrich Demus at the University o f Halle publishes the first report on
the concept of mixing nematic compounds to obtain low melting mix-
tures with high thermal stability.

1968
A team of engineers at KCA Laboratories that includes Bernard
Lechner, Frank Marlowe, Edward Nester and Juri Tults, build the first
LCD to operate at television rates using discrete MOS transistors wired
to the device.
KCA Corporation announces that scientists and engineers at its central
research center have developed a new display technology based on
liquid crystals that may lead to a flat panel television in the future.
The researchers demonstrate the first LCDs using the dynamic scatter-
ing effect. The announcement sparks a worldwide effort to further
develop LCI>S.
George Heilmeier and Joel Goldmacher at RCA Laboratories demon-
strate the first optical storage or “bistable” LCD using a mixture of cho-
lesteric and nematic liquid crystals.

1969
Louis Zanoni builds the first LCD digital test meter and replaces the
vacuum fluorescent display in Sharp’s first compact desktop calculator
to show the first applications of LCDs to digital readouts.
The first three-layer color LCD using the Guest-Host effect is built by a
team of researchers at KCA Laboratories under a project for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
278 Appendix I!

Louis Zanoni at RCA Laboratories conceives of and patents the first

advertising (point-of-purchase) display to use liquid crystals. One year
later, Richard Klein, Sandor Caplan and Kalph Hansen at RCA’s Solid
State Division in Somerville, New Jersey, build the first production
units.
Wolfgang Helfrich, working at RCA Laboratories, performs experiments
o n Mauguin’s twisted-nematic structure that demonstrate the possibility
of fabricating a new type of low-power, field effect LCD.
James Fergason, Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupc at Kent State University
publish a paper on experiments using Maugum’s twisted-nematic struc-
ture and work begins t o build displays based on the concept
Yoshio Yamasaki at Suwa Seikosha in Japan begins a research program
to develop LCDs for digital watches.
James Fergason leaves Kent State Ilniversity to form the International
Liquid Crystal Company where he fabricates a cell that demonstrates
the electrical activation of a twisted-nematic structure.
11. Kclker and 13. Scheurle at Farbwerke Hoechst AG in Germany syn-
thesizc the first single compound to exhibit nematic liquid crystallinity
at room temperature.

1970
James Fergason, Ted Taylor and Thomas Harsch at International Liquid
Crystal Company publish a paper that describes the twisted-nematic
effect as it might be used in a Guest-Host type display.
Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, starts a program to develop a
handheld calculator using LCDs.
Wolfgang Helfrich joins Hoffmann-La Roche in Switzerland, and
together with Martin Schadt, they build what they believe is the first
twisted-nematic LCD. They immediately apply for a patent o n the
device. Because this patent appears before Fergason’s patent, a bitter
legal lxttle ensues until 1976 when the issue is settled by compromise
and all parties get a percentage of the licensing fees.
Tadashi Sasaki and Tomio Wada at Sharp Corporation’s central
research center in Nara, Japan, build a prototype compact desktop cal-
culator with a dynamic scattering LCD and start a program to build the
first truly portable handheld calculator.
Nunzio LLKX o f Optel Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey, designs the
first integrated circuit chip for an LCD watch, and with his team of
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 279

engineers, builds the world’s first LCD digital watch, which uses the
dynamic scattering effect.
8 William Bleha, Alexander Jacobsen, David Margerum, T.D. Beard,
M. 13raunstein and S.Y. Wong working at Hughes Aircraft Company in
Malihu, California, develop the first projection system based on a pho-
toactivated liquid crystal light valve.
Joseph Castekano and Ronald Friel at RCA Laboratories build the first
LCI) to use interdigitated electrodes t o electrically change the orienta-
tion of the molecules in the same plane. This later becomes known as
“in-plane switching.”

1972
George Gray, John Wash and Kenneth Harrison at the University of
I Iull, England, synthesize the first cyanobiphenyl liquid crystal com-
pounds and mixtures. The materials provide higher stability and better
operating performance than the Schiff base materials then in use. The
development is a major breakthrough that leads to the implementation
of low cost LCD manufacturing.
Martin Schadt at Hoffmann-La Roche Ixiilds the first fully functional
twisted-nematic LCD.
E. Peter Kayne5, working at the IJnited Kingdom’s Royal Signals and
Radar Establishment, develops improved inaterials and processes that
eliminate “reverse twist” and “reverse tilt” in twisted-nematic LCDs,
greatly increasing manufacturing efficiency.
Anthony Genovese, Lawrence Tannas and their colleagues at Rockwell
International, Thousand Oaks, California, build the first commercial
desktop calculator with a dynamic scattering LCD. The AC line-
operated unit is sold by the Sears Roebuck chain of stores.
Sun Lu and Derek Jones working at Riker-Maxson in New York, build
what is believed to be the first digital watch using the twisted-nematic
field effect.

1973
Tomio Wada, Tadashi %saki and their team at Sharp develop the
world’s first handheld calculator using a dynamic scattering LCD. This
is the first truly portable, battery-operated unit to enter the market.
280 Appendix I1

Frederic Kahn and his colleagues at Bell Telephone Laboratories

develop the first laser-addressed smectic liquid crystal light valve for
projection systems.
Allan Kmetz at Texas Instruments gives the first report that LCDs
respond to the root mean square value of the applied voltage.
Seiko Watch Company introduces its first digital watch with a twisted-
nematic LCD and goes on to become one of the world’s leading LCD
watch producers.
T. Peter Brody, Fan Luo and their colleagues at Westinghouse Research
Laboratories build the first active matrix LCD using cadmium selenide
thin-film transistors.

1974
Paul Alt and Peter I’leshko of IHM publish their classic paper on rules
for optimizing the multiplexing of LCDs.

1975
Robert B. Meyer, working at the University of Paris in Orsay, France,
develops the first ferroelectric liquid crystal material.

1977
Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan, demonstrates one of the first television sets
made with a twisted-nematic LCD. The set has a monochrome six-inch
diagonal multiplexed LCD with 82 X 109 pixels.
Thomas Muir of Villa Precision in Phoenix, Arizona, develops one of the
first automated glass scribing machines for LCD manufacturing, opening
the way for laminate sealing and scribing of large amys of LCDs.
Rudolf Eidenshink, Ludwig Pohl, G. Krause and D. Erdman at E. Merck
in Darmstdt, Germany, develop cyanophenyl-cyclohexdne liquid crys-
tal compounds, a new class of materials that offer improved perform-
ance for LCDs.

1978
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company of Osaka, Japan, builds one of
the first monochrome LCD television prototypes using active matrix
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 281

addressing. The dynamic scattering display with 240 X 240 pixels is

formed o n a silicon wafer with MOS driver circuits.
Gerald Garies o f Fairchild Semiconductor is one of the first to develop
a photolithographic process o n 16inch square plates for fabricating
large numbers of LCDs on a single substrate.

1979
Peter Le Comber and Walter Spear, at the University of Dundee in
Scotland working with Anthony Hughes at the Royal Signals and Radar
Establishment in Malvern, England, discover that hydrogenated amor-
phous silicon (or-Si:H) thin-film transistors are suitable to drive LCDs in
an active matrix.

1980
Noel Clark and Sven Lagerwall at the Chalmers Technical University in
Goteborg, Sweden, build the first display device to use a ferroelectric-
smectic material.
The first liquid crystal conference is held in Kyoto, Japan, where a
record number of papers are presented o n material and display devel-
opment. This is the first opportunity for Japan’s researchers to demon-
strate the significant advances they made in LCD development.
Ernst Leuder and his colleagues at the University o f Stuttgart in
Germany are among the first to fabricate TFTs with photolithography
instead of vacuum deposition.

1982
Seiko Watch Company (Hattori Seiko) of Tokyo introduces the first
wristwatch television; it uses a Guest-Host LCI).
Seiko Epson, Suwa, Japan, develops the HX-20, the first portable com-
puter with a 4-line X 40 charactcrAine passive LCD. It becomes the first
portable computer to enter the I J . 5 market.

1983
Shinji Morozumi and his colleagues at Suwa Seikosha, Suwa, Japan,
demonstrate the world’s first commercial color LCD television. The
282 Appendix II

two-inch diagonal twisted-nematic LCD is driven by an active matrix of

thin-film transistors and has 240 X 240 pixels.
Colin Waters and E. Peter Raynes at the Royal Signals and Kadar
Establishment in England, discover the SuperTwisted-Nematic Effect
using a Guest-Host type material.
Terry Scheffer and Jiirgen Nehring at Brown I3overi Company in
Switzerland discover the Superl'wisted-Nematic Effect without the use
of added dye, giving the display higher contrast than the Waters-
Kaynes device and enabling many more lines of pixels to be multi-
plexed than was possible with conventional twisted-nematic LCDs. This
opened the way for high information content LCI>s to be used in
portable computers.
Mitsuhiro Yamasaki and his colleagues at Sanyo Electric Company in
K o b e , Japan, working with S. Sugibuchi and Y. Sasaki o f Sanritsu
Electric Company in Tokyo, build the first three-inch diagonal color
active matrix color LCII television using a-Si:H TFTs.
Kyocera of Tokyo, Japan, builds the first portable computers with
%-lineX 40-character/line passive LCIIs, which are used in models sold
by Tandy, NEC, and Olivetti.

1984
Chan S o o Oh of Ikckman Instruments introduces liquid crystal display
technology to the technical staff at Samsung Electron Devices in Suwon,
Korea, and the company begins its development program in LCDs.
Seiko Instruments o f Tokyo, Japan, introduces the first commercially
availat,le multi-color LCD modules using passive matrix panels with
720 X 64 pixels.

1985
Zvi Yaniv, David Wells and Vincent Cannella at Optical Imaging Systems
in Troy, Michigan, develop an active matrix LCD that uses ar-Si:H thin-
film diodes. The group builds a 640 X 400 pixel display with this tech-
nology in 1986.
Brown Boveri Company of Rdden, Switzerland, demonstrates the first
STN-LCII prototype. The 10.7-inch diagonal panel has 540 X 270 pixels.
The company begins licensing the technology to LCD manufacturers.
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 283

1987
Hitachi in Tokyo introduces the first five-inch diagonal color active
matrix LCD television driven by a-Si:H TFTs.
Seiko Epson of Suwa, Japan, develops the first 6.7-inch color LCD tele-
vision. It shows 640 X 440 pixels and was built with metal-insulator-
metal (MIM) diodes instead of 17;Ts.
Donald Castleberry, George I’ossin and Thomas C r e d e k from General
Electric KcGI> Center in Schenectady, New York, build the first color
8.8-inch diagonal active matrix 1,CD with more than 260,000 pixels and
more than one million a-Si:H TFT5
Kyocera o f Tokyo, Japan, develops Chip-on-Glass technology for 1.CD
manufacturing.

1988
Hiroshi Take, Kozo Yano and Isamu Washizuka at Sharp Laboratories
in Nara, Japan, build the world’s first defect-free 14-inch diagonal color
active matrix LCD with 642 X 480 pixels. The display uses more than
1.2 million ’IFTs.
Engineers and scientists at IBM’s research center in Yorktown Heights,
New York, and Toshiba’s research center in Kawasaki, Japan, jointly
develop the largest computer display monitor built u p t o this time. The
14.3-inch diagonal color active matrix screen has 770 X 550 pixels and
more than 1.5 million a-Si:H TFTs.

1989
Engineers at Optical Imaging Systems in Troy, Michigan, build the first
eleven-inch diagonal active matrix LCD for military aircraft. The com-
pany signs a joint development agreement with Samsung Electron
Devices to build active matrix K D s .
NEC of Tokyo, Japan, introduces the Ultralite model, the first LCD
notebook computer with a full-size screen that is thinner and lighter
than other portable computers on the market.
JapdneSe-bdSed firms Toshiba, Sharp and Mitsubishi introduce the first
portable computers with color S7”-LCD screens.
284 Appendix I1

1992
Guenter Baur, R. Kiefer, F. Weber, F. Windscheid and H. Klausmann at
the Angewandte Feskorperphysik in Freiburg, Germany, describe the
use of interdigitated electrodes for in-plane switching in twisted-
nematic LCns to widen the viewing angle.
Canon in Tokyo, Japan, develops the first 15-inch diagonal color
ferroelectric LCD. The display has 1,280X 1,024 pixels and can show
16 colors.

Engineers and scientists at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, California,

develop the first monochrome TFT-LCI) with 6.3 million pixels and the
first color TFT-LCI) with more than 1.6 million pixels. Both displays
have a 13-inch diagonal screen.
The IJnited States Display Consortium is formed and locates its head-
quarters in San Jose, California.
Flat Panel Display Company B.V. is formed as a joint venture among
Philips o f Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Sagem, of Paris, France and
Thomson Consumer Electronics of Paris France. The operation is ini-
tially based in the Netherlands.
Thomas Buzak working at Tektronix in Reaverton, Oregon, develops
the first color plasma-addressed LCD. The 16-inch diagonal panel has
640 X 480 pixels and can show 4,096 colors.

1995
M. Ohta, M. Oh-e and K. Kondo of Hitachi in Mobdra, Japan, build a
13.3-inch diagonal color TFT-LCD, the first to use the in-plane switching
inode to widen the viewing angle. Other LCD manufacturers soon license
the technology and begin producing displays with in-plane switching.
0 Engineers at Sharp Corporation in Nard, Japan, build the first 28-inch
diagonal prototype color TIT-LCD by seamless joining of two 21-inch
panels.

1996
0 Samsung Display Devices, Suwon, Korea, develops the first 22-inch
diagonal color TFT-LCD panel. This display is built on a single substrate.
 A Chronology of LCD Developments 285

Sharp Corporation, Nara, Japan, announces the fiabrication of the first

29-inch diagonal color TFT-LCD built on a single substrate and a 40-inch
diagonal TIT-LCD built by the seamless joining of two 29-inch panels.

1997
Samsung Ekctron Devices, Suwon, Korea, builds the first 30-inch diag-
onal color I’IT-LCD for television.

1998
Scientist at IBM’s research center in Yorktown Heights, New York,
build the first color TFT-LCD to have a resolution of 200 pixels per
inch. The 16.3-inch diagonal panel has 5.2 million color pixels in a
2,560 X 2,048 pixel format and 15.7 million TFTs.

1999
Philips of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and LG Electronics of Seoul,
Korea, form a joint venture called LG.I-’hilips LCD, which goes o n to
become the world’s largest LCD manufacturer in 2003.

2001
Microdisplays based on the use o f liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS)
devices are developed by a number of companies and become incor-
porated into prototype television projection systems.

2003
LG.Philips LCII, Gumi, Korea, builds the first 52-inch diagonal color
TFT-LCD display for television.
Samsung Electron Devices, Suwon, Korea, builds the first 54-inch diag-
onal color TFT-I,CD for television.
LG.I-’hilipsLCD, Gumi, Korea, builds the first 55-inch diagonal color
TFT-LCD display for television.
Samsung Electron Devices, Suwon, Korea, builds the first 57-inch diag-
onal color TFT-LCD for television.
This page intentionally left blank
 Index

3M Company 124 American Microsystems 134, 149

AM1 (American Microsystems, Inc.)
Aboud, George R. 256, 270 106, 107
Accr 184 amorphous silicon (a-Si) 120, 121, 171,
Ackcrmann, Fclix 170 178, 179, 181, 183, 184, 185, 186,
active matrix 85, 175, 178, 182, 186, 187, 192, 193, 194, 197, 200, 217,
198, 201, 216, 219, 238, 280, 281, 218, 239, 281
282, 283 Angewandtu Feskorperphysik 284
active matrix OLlil) 249 anil (see also benzylidene aniline
Adams, James 52 compounds) 26, 27
Adlcr, l'redericli 91, 95, 96 anisylidene-~-aminophenylac~~dte 51
Advanced I>isplay Systems 237 Apple I 207
Air Development Center, The 60 Apple 11 207, 208
Air Force MdterkdlS Laboratory 60 Apple Computer 205, 207, 220
Alexander, Iihoda 270 Araki, K. 192
Allan, Frank 24, 133, 269 Arigd, KdZllO 88
Allen, Kimherly 249, 270 Arora, Sardari 76, 278
Allen, l'aul 206 Asahi Glass 136, 181, 201
Allied Signal Aerospace 183 Ashford, A. 129
Alphasil 185, 186 Ashley-lhtler 64, 100
Alt, Paul 102, 280 A'I'l'&T Corporation 69, 70, 182,
Altair 206 218, 228
Alto 206 Atari 207
Ambrose, E.J. 37 AIJ Optronics 184, 236
Amelio, Gilbert 120 Au, Alex 136, 138

287
288 Index

AVX Materials 123, 169 Hoston LJniversity 36

azoxy compound 129 HI-’ Solar 179
Hraunstein, M. 279
Haltracon 114 Hricklin, Daniel 207
l?alzers 31, I14 Brimmell, V. 129, 150
Hdrdff, David 194 British Drug House (HIXI) (see also
Hmm, Alfred 42, 44 IWH Chemicdk) 129, 155
Harton, I,LKkdn “ILK” 22, 23, 24, 32, 58, British Ministry of Defence (see also
267, 276 Royal Signals and Radar
Raur, Guenter 62, 269, 284 Establishment) 150
HRC 151 13rody, ?’. k t e r 42, 16, 120, 122, 175,
I3DH Chemicals 129 176, 177, 178, 257, 268, 280
Reard, +r.ii.279 I W w n I3overi & Company 73, 77, 103,
Ikck, James 133 149, 214, 268, 282
lkcker, Werner 269 Brown, Donald 108
lkckman Instruments 62, 134, 142, Hrown, George H 49
143, 144, 154, 267, 282 Brown, Glenn H. 6, 7, 34, 165, 166, 276
I M l 1,al)oratories 69, 70, 79, 120, 147, Ikownewell, Donald 118, 119
149, 179, 269 13cirns,Joseph K. 16, 46, 156, 168
Hell Northern Research 194 I3urroughs Corporation 243
Hell Telephone Lahoratories 15, 37, 46, h r r o u g h s , Jeremy 248
145, 182, 268, 280 Biuak, l’homds 238, 284
tknnet, Edwarcl 112
lxmzylidene aniline compounds (see cadmium selenide 120, 176, 178, 280
also a d ) 26 cadmium sulfide 43, 46, 176
Ikrkcley, Edmund C. 205 Candescent Technology 252
lkrkoff, I3ruce 234, 257, 270 Cannella, Vincent 183, 282
Ikrman, Hcrnard 107 Canon 85, 153, 180, 237, 252,
Ikrreman, Dwight 149 253, 284
13illard, Jean 35 Capban, Sandor 64, 100, 278
Billings, Larry 104 carbon nanotube (CNT) 253
Birecki, 11. 132 Carkner, Donald 250
Birstein, V. 3, 275 Carlson, David E. 179
biStdbility 52 Carr, Edward E 54
Bitzer, 1)onald I,. 243 Casio 66, 68, 85, 191, 193, 201, 223
Hkaier, Stefan 157, 158, 159, 160 Castellano, Joseph 32, 276, 279
Blank, Stuart 182 CdStelkdnO, kiUra 270
Neha, William 1.’ 147, 148, 269, 279 Castleberry, Donald E 198, 283
Ulosc, Rodney 98, 100, 112, 135 cathodochromic storage tube 92
I3OE €lydis Technology 236 cathodochromics 16
Uoggs, b v i d 206 cathodoluininescent 14
13osomworth, Ilouglas R. 92 CCI) iinager 120

Ceghd, ]'at 107
Center for Macromolecular Research,
Strasbourg, France 37
Centre National d'Etudes des
Telecommunications (CNEV
229
Chalmers 'kchnical LJniversity 152, 281
Chan, C.S. 119, 137
Chandrasekhar, S. 36
Chang, C.C. 139, 140, 268
Chang, Morris 103
Chang, Simon 107
Chatelain, Pierre 4, 54
Cbemical & Engineering News 66
Cheng, K.K. 119, 136
Cherry Ilisplay Products Corporation
250
Chi Mei Optoelectronics 236
Chip-on-Gkdss (COG) 61, 215, 283
c h i d liquid crystal 41
Chirila, Constantin 157, 158
Chisholm 61
Chisso Chemical Company 131,
155, 201
Chistyakov, Igor G. 54
Cho, Emily 257, 270
cholesteric 115
cholesteric ester 8
cholesteric liquid crystal 7
cholesteric mesophase 2, 3, 35, 37, 41
cholesteryl nonanoate 51
Christian Science Monitor 50
Christiano, Victor 45
Chronar 95
Chung Hsin Electric & Machinery
Manufacturing Corporation 235
Chung, S.M. 139
Chungwha Picture Tubes 236
Citizen Watch Company 136, 155, 181,
192, 193, 214
Clark, Michael G. 153, 168
Clark, Noel A. 152, 281
Index 289
Ckdry, KObert 157, 168
Claude, Georges 242
CMOS 63
Colantonio, George 98
College of France, h r i s 35
color plasma-addressed LCD 284
Commodore 104, 134, 135, 207
Compact I h c (CI)) 92
Compaq Computer Corporation
209,214, 220
Compton, Arthur Holly 9
Computerwise 210
Congnits, Ion 158
Conic Investment Co. 136, 139
Conic Semiconductor 137, 138, 139,
140, 164, 236
Conner, A r k 61, 268
Constant, J. 129
Constellation 139
Control Data International 228
Corrigan, Wilfred 112, 116, 11.8
Costina, Kadu 158
Courtaulds, Ltd. 37
Creagh, Linda 101, 102
C r e d e k , Thomas 198, 270, 283
CliL 181
CKL Opto 154, 168
Crockett, Hnice 134, 135
Crystaloid 104
Crystalvision 124
cyanobiphenyl 128, 130, 131,
144, 279
cyanophenylcyclohexane 130, 131, 280
cyanophenylcyclohexane ester 130
L>deWOO 156
I h i Nippon Printing Company 201, 251
Daini Seikosha (now known Seiko
Instruments) 104, 136, 151, 181
Dainippon Ink and Chemicals 131
Dalisa, Andrew 172
Darsh, Arnie 105
290 Index
Ihsli, Sweta 256, 270
Ihtapoint 120, 121
Ihtascreen Corporation 122, 124, 125
I>atnscreen/Kylcx 123, 135, 172
l>ave, J.S. 35
1)avid Sarnoff Research Center 14, 15,
17, 31, 45, 166, 169, 176,
198, 276
Ilavics, 1)avid 122, 123
dl3asc I1 207
de Gentles, Pierre G. 54,71
I k Meis, Mikc 42
Ilefense Advanced liesearch Projects
Agency (I>ARIN) 382, 185
I-km~is, 1)ietrich 29, 30, 230, 269, 277
Ilennehy, William 67
Dennis, Margaret 270
I k n n y , Arthur F. 30
dichroic dye 19, 237
1)igital Equipment Corporation 206, 229
digital light processing 201
1)igital Micro Mirror Ilevices 148
Digital Rescarcli 207
IXgital Video IXsc (Dvl)) 92
I>isk Operating System (DOS) 207
l)isk/?'rcnd lieport 167
i>isney, k ) y E. 69
ilisney, Itoy 0 . 69
])isplay llevices Company 249
Ilisplay 'I'ech 140
1)isplay 'l'echnology Incorporated (DTI)
218, 219
Display 'I'echnology Limited 136
IXttlemen, Steven 173
Doane, J. William 6, 237, 238
domain (see also Williams domain) 17
1)0~1bkGL1est-Ilost 88
i h w Chemical Company 248
dpix 186
Iheyer, John 1:. 76
h m i n , David 46
h n m u r , h v i d 268
ilurand, Georges 54
I>urbeck, 1lolm-t 85, 217
dynamic random access inemory 239
dynamic scattering 22, 23, 41, 49,50,
52, 57, 58, 62, 65, 84, 86, 93, 94,
98, 99, 103, 106, 111, 133, 139,
141, 142, 176, 190, 276, 278,
279, 281
E. Merck (see also EMI) Chemicals)
129, 130, 131, 154, 155, 230,
269, 280
Eagle Pitcher 136
Early Effect, The 120
Early, James 120
Eastinan Kodak 247
Ebauches SA 134, 144
ECLI 185, 270
ECD Ovonics 179
EEV 153
Eidenshink, Iludolf 280
E-Ink Corporation 173
electrochromism 75
electrolurninescence 75, 167, 177
electroluminescent 250
Electroluminescent Display 249
electronic ink 174
electronic paper 173
electronic window shade 51
Electronics Research and Service
Organization (ERSO) 235
electrophoretic display 86
electrophoretic image display (EPIII)
171
Hser, Wolfgang 36, 38, 55
eMagin Corporation 228, 249
EMD Chemicals (see a ~ s oE. Merck) 129
Energy Conversion Devices 179, 182
EPID (an Exxon Enterprises Division)
172, 173
Epson 136, 211
EliC '143
 Index 291

ilrclman, D. 280 Frankston, Robert 207

Esprit 229 I’rdunhofer Institute for Electronic
ester 129 MateSkdlS Research 36
European Il&l> Consortium 229 Fraunhofer-Institut fiir Angewandte
E-valve project 101 I’estk(irperphysik 269
I’vanicky, Daniel 103, 104 Frederiks, Vsevolod Konstantinovich
Exetron 108 “Freedericksz” 3, 4, 275
Icxxon 120, ‘I21 Frcie Ilniversitit, Uerlin 75
l’.xxon lhtcrprises 121, 122, 123, 124, I’riedel, Georges 2, 275
167, 172, 173, 180, 267 I’riedman, Peter 245
IIxxon Mobil Corporation 179 Priel, Ronald 69, 59, 60, 62, 279
Exxon Solar Power Corporation 179 frit 114
Fritz-ITabcr Institute of the Max-I’lanck
F. Hoffman-La Koche 55, 72, 73, 74, 75, Society 37
76, 77, 78, 125, 231, 149, 155, Fry,I3nd 112, 134
170, 230, 267, 278, 279 Fujitsu 85, 136, 245, 246
Fairchild 79, 109, 116, 117, 118, 119, Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Limited
120, 122, 123, 125, 131, 132, 134, 246
135, 236, 137, 139, 140, 149, 172 I’ujitsu 1,aboratories 180, 193, 197, 244
lkirchild LCD Operation 114, 115 full color 197
Pairchild Semiconductor 31, 100, I’ung, K.K. 137
‘112, 281 l’uruuchi, s. 269
I’arbwcrke I Ioechst, Frankfurt 36 I’uCakTd 252
Fedrow, Brian ’1’. 169, 270
I’ergason, James L. 6, 7, 8, 35, 41, 51, gallium arsenide 46
55, 76, 77, 104, 143, 237, 267, 278 Garies, Gerald ‘:Jerry” 106, 107, 117,
I’erguson 193, 194 118, 119, 136, 137, 138, 139, 238,
I’crgirson, Ilonald ‘I 05 267, 281
ferroelectric 1,CD (FCCD) 152, 153, 154, Gates, William (Bill) 206
237, 284 Gavilan Computer Corporation 212,
fcrroelcctric liquid crystals 239 21 3
ferroelectric-smectic 152, 237 GEC 153, 154, 181, 268
l k l d Emission Display (FED) 228, GBC Marconi 168
251, 253, 260 GEC’s Hirst liesearch Centre 168
I’lasck, Kicharcl 185 General Electric Company 46, 67, 179,
Flat h n e l Ilisplay Company H.V. 229, 197, 198, 283
231, 284 Geneva University 3
Fleming, Alexander 92 Genovese, Anthony G. 62, 140, 341,
FlhSigC K r y S t d k 1, 275 142, 143, 144, 145, 268, 279
Ford Motor Company 144 German University of Prague 274
Fortune 93 glass frit 132, 138
Francis, David 50 Glaxco 129
292 Index
Gnostic Concepts 169
Gold Star 155, 156
Goldmacher, Joel E. 10, 11, 16, 24, 25,
32, 34, 38, 40, 50, 51, 54, 55, 58,
66, 92, 96, 267, 276, 277
Goodman, Lawrence 60, 68, 115
Gorog, Istvan 42
Gould, Stephen Jay 127
Graham, George 93
Gray, George W. 5, 8, 34, 35, 38, 122,
127, 165, 166, 276, 279
Greyhawk Systems 146, 147, 269
Grid Compass 210
Grid Systems Corporation 210
Grcren 98, 93, 106, 1/13
Girardian Industries 185
Guest-IIost Effect 21, 22, 23, 24, 52, 53,
57, 61, 72, 77, 85, 87, 88, 104,
134, 150, 151, 154, 180, 181, 191,
276, 277, 278, 281, 282
Giilick, Paul 61
Guinares, Amilcar 93
Gumtna LJniversity 165
Giryon, TI. 115
Haas, Werner 52, 270
Harnamoto, Masakatsu 75
Hamlin 104, 105
HannStar 236
Hanscn, Ralph 64, 278
Hareng, Michel 181
Harris Semicxmductor 229
Harrison, Kenneth 122, 123, 127, 279
Harrison, Sol 16
Harsch, ‘I’homas 77, 278
Hathaway, Kevin 107, 133, 134,
157, 270
Hattori Seiko 191
Hayakawa Electric Company 83
Hayes 207
Heilmeier, George El. 4, 7, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 34, 35, 38, 41,
45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 58, 59,
63, 66, 67, 71, 83, 84, 101, 190,
266, 276, 277
Helfrich, Wolfgang 54, 60, 71, 72, 73,
74, 75, 133, 278
Henderson, Eric 157
I-iennessy,(korge 67
Herold, Edward 15
IIewlett-I’ackard 68, 79, 100, 103, 121,
122, 144, 146, 206, 228, 267, 269
I-Ieyman, Philip M. 45, 169
High-Definition Television (HDl’V) 258
I-Iilhert, Ilavid 3
Hillier, Jaines 15, 49
IIilsum, Cyril 129, 153, 154
IIirst L O 154
IIirst Icesearch Center 153
FIitachi 85, 121, 136, 151, 155, 170, 171,
181, 193, 201, 211, 214, 235, 245,
246, 269, 280, 283, 284
I-Iitachi Iiescarch 1,aboratories 63
€Ii-Vision PDP Consortium 229, 245
Hix, Steven 61, 268
Hoefler, Don 108
I Ioerni, Jean 95, 96
I-Ioffmann-LaRoche (see F. Hoffmann-
La Koche)
Holmberg, Scott 185, 186
I-Iolzel, Thomas 270
Iloneywell Corporation 67, 144,
185, 186
I Ioseinann, Rolf 37
IIosiden 181, 214, 230
IIosiden and Philips Dispkdy
Corporation (HAPD) 231
IIoward, Webster E. 216, 217, 218, 247,
249, 268
Ilsieh, Paul 133
Hughes 46, 102, 148, 172, 269
Hughes Aircraft Company 134, 147,
154, 279
Hughes, Anthony J. 180, 281
 Index 293

IHughes-JVC Technology Corporation Intreprinderea Mcchanica Find (IMP)

148 156, 158, 160
Hull, Joseph 104 Ise Electronics (see ako Noritake Itron
Hume, I). 129 Corporation) 58
Flurd, Jaines 250 isotropic liquid 1, 5
Hiitcheson, Jerry 167 iSuppli Corporation 170
hydrodynamic domain 4 iSuppli/Stanford Resources 247, 249,
Hyltin, Thomas 104 256, 259, 270
Hynix 236 Ivanicky, Daniel 269
Hyundai Electronics 156 Iwayanagi, Shigeo 165
Hyundai Electronics America 186
Jacolxen, Alexander 279
II3M 69, 70, 79, 85, 102, 147, 207, 208, Jakhanwal, Vinita 270
214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 228, Janning, J. 115
268, 280, 283, 285 Jobs, Steven 207
IILV Japan 224 Johnson, Robert 183
Il3M Research 224 Johnson, Roger I,. 243, 244, 270
I D ' k c h 236 Johnston, Anthony 13. 251
iFire Technology 250, 251 Johnstone, Hobert 37
Ikeda, Hironosuke 167 Jones, Derek 301, 102, 103, 279
ILIXCO (International Liquid Crystal Jones, Robert 104
Company) 77, 98, 1.04, 143, Jones, Sir Brynmor 5
267, 278 JVC 148, 245
lniage Light Amplifier 148 JVC 1)igital linage Technolgy Center 148
Image Quest Technologies 186
In I'ocus Systems 61, 268 Kahn International 147
indium-tin oxide 133, 114, 123, 131, Kahn, Frederic J. 70, 132, 145, 146,
195, 248 147, 269, 280
in-plane switching 62, 269, 279, 284 Kan, Raphael 119, 137
Institut Angewandte Feskorperphysik Kane,Jean 24
62 Kaplan, Mike 42
Institute for Cancer Research, London Kapustin, A.P. 4
37 Kasano, K. 62
Institute of Crystallography, Montpellier, Kawai, s. 180
France 54 Kawamoto, Hirohisa 72, 84, 128, 151,
Integrated Display Systems 104 200, 269
Intel 106, 107, 113, 133, 149 Kelker, 13. 36, 102, 278
interdigitated 142 Kent Digital Signs 238
interdigitated electrodes 62 Kent Display Systems 237, 238
International Display Works, Inc. 142, Kent State IJniversity 6, 34, 35, 53, 70,
145 91, 104, 166, 237, 238, 267,
Intersil 95, 96, 106, 149 276, 278
294 Index

Kiefer, R. 62, 284 Lampson, 13utler 206

Kilby, Jack S. 102 Landmark Technology 65, 268
Kim, long 13ae 1.55, 156 Laney, John 250
King, Christopher 250 Langley Research Center, NASA 60
Icinney, Ray 112, 117, 118, 319, 120 laser smcctic 116
Kinter, Malcolm '107 Law, I Tarold 15
Kirton, John 129 Le Comber, Peter G. 180, 281
Kiss, ZOltdnJ. 16, 66, 91, 93, 95 Le Contellec, M. 181
Klaiismann, TI. 62, 284 Lechner, €3crnardJ. 41, 42, 43, 176,
Klein, Richard 64, 278 267, 277
Kleitman, Ilavici 41, 42 LED (light emitting diode) 14, 67, 75,
Icrnctz, Allan 102, :lO3, 149, 151, 182, 108, 167, 227, 239
268, 280 LED watch 109
Knight, Card 119 Lee, D.S. (Davis) 233, 270
Kolxiyashi, Shunsukc 62, 87, 165, Lee, James 139
168, 270 Lee, liay 142, 143
Kol,e Steel, Ltd. 83 Lefkowitz, Issai "Lef" 96, 97, 98, 99, 100
Icoch, Eugene 157 Lehmann, Otto 1, 275
Kodak 228, 248, 249 Lei Chu Enterprise Company 234
Komats~i,T. 245 Leroux, T. 251
Kondo, K. 6'2,284 Leslie, Frank M. 54
K o o , I h k e M. 233, 270 LET1 251
Korea Institute of 'I'echnology 156 Leiicier, llrnst 181, 269, 281
Kornstein, Edward 92 Levin, Harnctt 4, 275
Korsakoff, Leonard 16, 24 Levin, Nyman 4, 275
Krause, G. 280 Levitt Industries 95
Kuchinsky, Saul 2/13 Lewis, IIenry 15
K~ipsky,George 250 1.G Electronics 155, 226, 231, 233, 245,
Kurashige, Mitscihiro 229, 230, 269 246, 270, 285
TWy, Ilavitl 119 LG.l'hilips LCD 226, 231, 233, 234, 255,
Kwan, S.S. 119 257, 259, 260, 270, 285
Kwok, S.K. 139 LG-Philips Displays 43
Kylex (see also Datascreen/Kylex) 122, T,iao, York 139, 146
124, 125 Liebowitz, Marshall 133
Kyocera 61, 62, 211, 212, 214, 215, Light Emitting Polymer (LEI') 2/17
282, 283 Light Valve IJroducts, lnc. 148
Kyoto University 165 Lipton, Lewis T. 172
I.iquid Crystal Institute 6, 51, 76, 77
I,alxs, Mortimer 154 liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) 145,
1,adcor 157 237, 238, 239, 240, 285
T,agcrwall, Sven T. 152, 283 liquid crystal polymer 10
T.akatos, Andras 187, 270 Litronix 149
 Index 295

Iitton Systems 229 Muck KGaA 129

Liu, Stanley Wu-Wci 270
I,ohman, Hobert 5 0
1,ongines-Wittnauer 97
Longo, Thomas 120, 121
Ix)we, Ikrtram 97, 98, 99
h i , Sun 65, ‘101, 102, 103, 122, 124,
267, 279
I.uce, Nunzio A. “Tony” 92, 93, 94, 95,
97, 268, 278
Lucent Technologies 218
I u A l IXsplays 153
12uckhurst,Geoffrey R. 54
Luo, Fan 178, 280
LXD 104, 105
Magnavox 104
Magoun, Alexander 15, 270
Mailer, Hugh 105
Manhattan Project 9
Manning, William 238
Marconi Wireless ‘I‘clegraph Company
4, 275
Margcrum, J. David 102, 154, 279
Mark, IIerman 9
Markwe, Frank J. 41, 277
Marshall, Rue 136, 137, 139, 164
Masuda, Junzo ‘yitn” 270
Matsumoto, Charles 270
Matsushita 85, 86, 171, 181, 210, 211,
214, 245, 24.6, 249
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
171, 192, 280
Mauguin, Charles H. 1 , 73, 77, 275
Maydan, I h n 70
Mccaffrey, Michael 59, 60, 107
McCreight, Edward 206
Meckiros, Matthew 231
Megahertz 140
Mcier, Cerhard 36
Muntley, Ihvid E. 169, 172, 230,
248, 266
mesomorphism 1
mesophase 2
metal-insulator-metal (MIM) 194,
195, 196, 283
methyl cellulose 135
Mcyer, Kohert 13. 152, 251, 280
Mcyerhofer, Ileitrich 60
Micro Display Systems 104, 135, 269
Microdata Computers 210
Microelectronics and Computer
’Technology Corporation
(MCC) 228
Microma 105, 106, 107, 111, 117, 133,
134,149
Microsoft Corporation 206, 208
Migliorato, I’iero 153
Ministry o f Ilefence, IJK 129
Ministry of International Track and
Industry 201
Mirrors, Donnelly 13‘)
Misawa, T. 192
Mitsubishi Electric 136, 181, 216, 219,
245, 283
Moggridge, William 210
Mok, Yun Cheng 270
Moriguchi, Yasuo 83
Morin, Francois 181
Morita, Akio 82
Morozumi, Shinji 85, 86, 192, 195, 200,
217, 258, 281
Moslcy, Alan 153, 168, 268
Motorola 112, 118, 134, 149, 252, 2%
Muir, Thomas 118, 280
Mder, J.H. 35
multi-gap display 86
Peter 173
MLIIX~LI,
Murray, Walter 135
N.V. Philips 104
Ndkagdwa, William 112, 132
NakdmLlYd, Tadashi 58, 269
296 Index

Nanotronix 136 North h M k d n Rockwell 140

Mash, John 127, 279 Noyce, Robert 111
NdtiOndl 109, 134 NITSApplied Electronics kdbOrdtorieS
National Aeronautics and Space 200
Administration (NASA) 60 nuclear magnetic resonance 37
National Center for
Telecommunications Studies O'nonnell, Cedric 141
(CNE'I') 181 Ocean Power Technologies 97
National Research Council, Ottawa, Oguchi, K. 192
Cdnddd 71, 73 Oh, Chan S o 0 59, 60, 133, 141, 143,
National Science Council 235 144, 154, 155, 256, 184, 267, 282
National Semiconductor 149 Oh-e, M. 62, 284
National Telecommunication Research Ohta, Isao 86, 171, 269
Center, Prance 229 Ohta, M. 62, 284
NCAP (necnatic curvilinear aligned Ohtsulta, 7'. 86
phase) 237 OIS Optical Imaging Systems (01s)
NIX Corporation 136, 145, 155, 201, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 228,
211, 212, 214, 215, 220, 236, 245, 232, 270, 282, 283
246, 282, 283 Oki Electric Industry Company 199,
NRC Pkisma Ilisplay Corporation 214, 245
247 Okubo, Y. 180
NTiC Ultralite 215, 222, 283 OLBD 260, 268
Needham, Jenny 270 Olivetti 133, 211, 269, 282
negative dielectric anisotropy 52, 54 Omron 108
Nehring, Jiirgen 149, 150, 282 Onogi, Shigeharu 165
nematic 28 Optel Corporation 20, 24, 66, 91, 92,
nematic liquid crystal 2, 237 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 106, 107, 116,
nematic mesophase 2 122, 156, 268, 278
nematos 2 Optical Coating Laboratory 74, 105
Ness Time 107 optically active 41
Ness, Gordon 107, 108 Optrex 136, 170, 171
Nester, Edward 0. 41, 277 Organic Electroluminescent display
New York Times, The 50, 51, 59 (OEI.) 247
NI-IK 83, 229, 245 organic light emitting diode (OLED)
Nihon Synthetic Kubber 201 222, 247, 249, 253, 260, 268
Nishijima, Hiko 269 organic light emitting diode displays
NIXIE tulx 2/13 228, 236
N-methyl pyrrolidone 135 Orient Electronics 236
Noritake Electronics 253 Orion Electronics I 5 6
Noritake Itron Corporation (see abo Ise orthicon tube 16
Electronics) 58 Osborne Computer Corporation 208,
North hmericdn Philips 172, 173 209
 Index 297

Osborne, Adam 208 Pixtech 252

Oshima, €1. 192 Planar Systems 105, 250
Overbergcr, Charles G. 10 I-’kanarizedActive Matrix 200
Ovshinsky, Stanford 179, 182 plasma 167
plasma addressing 237
p-azoxyanisok 17 plasma display panel (PDP) 210,
pbutoxybenzoic acid 24 222, 229, 230, 238, 242, 243, 244,
p-ethoxybenzylidene-y‘- 245, 246
aminobenzonitrile (PERAB) 53, plasma-addressed active matrix 1.CI)
72, 73, 133 238
p-ethoxybenzylidene-~’ hutylaniline Plasmaco 245
(EU13A) 102 I’lasmatron 238
pmethoxybcnzylidene-p’-butylaniline pleochroic dye 19
(MHHA) 102 Pleshko, Peter 102, 280
p-methoxycinnamic acid 24 pocket television 51, 85
Page, Derrick 177 Pohl, Ludwig 280
I’anasonic Industrial Company 192 Pohlmann, Juergen 36, 38
Panelvision 178 PokdcOdt 76
paracrystal 37 polycrystalline silicon 85, 378, 179, 181,
Park, C. 154 187, 192, 200, 218, 239, 249
Park, Ho Young 154 polyimide 132, 135, 144, 151, 155, 199
Park, Jeong Ok 155 polymer LED (PLED) 247, 248
I’asierb, Edward F. 45, 46, 59, 60, 71 polymer-dispersed liquid crystals 237
passivating 30 Polymer-Stabilized Cholesteric Texture
passive matrix 85 238
Patel, W d h i 270 polyphenylene vinylene (PI’V) 248
I’CI Displays 145 Polytechnic IJniversity of New York 9
l’edagogical Institute, Iwanowo, Porter, James 167
U.S.S.II. 54 positive dielectric anisotropy 53, 54
Pentax 193 I’ossin, George E. 198, 283
I’erkins, D.M. 45, 46 hinceton Materials Science 96, 97, 99,
personal entertainment center 261 100, 106, 107, 111, 116, 125,
Peterson, Lillian 132 135, 268
I’feiffer, James 118, 119 Princeton Resources 100, 125, 168, 181
I’halen, James 105 Printable Field Emitters Limited 252
Philips 79, 92, 151, 181, 226, 229, 230, Printed Circuits International 144
231, 233, 238, 284, 285 I’roxima 61
Philips Research Laboratories 197
photochromic display 133 Quanta Display 236
photochromic material 172
Photonics Imaging 245 wardl liesearch 153
Pioneer Corporation 245, 247 Radio Schack 207, 210, 211, 212
298 Index
Kagavan, Vijay 107
kajchinan, Jan 15
Kappaport, Paul 15, 179
Raynes, E. Peter 99, 128, 129, 150, 151,
279, 282
K(;R 12, 14, 16, 37, 40, 48, 49, 51, 55,
58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67,
68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 91, 93,
97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 106, 107,
108, 116, 125, 127, 134, 142, 149,
155, 167, 176, 267, 275, 276, 277
KCR Corporation 198
KCR Lalioratories 11, 14, 17, 20, 24, 25,
32, 34, 35, 36, 43, 54, 57, 58, 62,
66, 71, 72, 79, 83, 84, 86, 91, 92,
96, 101, 133, 176, 179, 198, 266,
275, 276, 277, 278, 279
Rebc Electronics 95, 156
KeFac/C>ptel 157, 158, 159
Keinitzer, Friedrich 1, 274
Iienault 144, 145
reverse tilt 99, 115, 129
reverse twist 99, 128
Keyes, Gregory 112
lieynolds, Richard 103
liiker-Maxson Corporation 65, 103,
267, 279
Ringsdorf, I Ielmut 10
liiordan, Keith 132
Ristagno, Charles 102, 104
Robinson, Conmar 37
Rolxon, Robert 105
Rockwell 133, 141, 142
Rockwell Automation 140
Rockwell International 58, 62, 68, 134,
140, 279
Rockwell Science Center 141
Rockwell Standard 140
Rockwell, Willard 140
l<ocltwell-Collins 67
Iiocntgen 224
liolic 76
liose, Albert 16
Koss, Alex 16
Koswell Park Memorial Institute 37
Koyal Cancer Hospital, London 37
Iioyal Signals and Radar Establishment
(RSRE) 128, 129, 151, 152, 168,
180, 181, 268, 279, 281, 282
Sackmann, Horst 30, 36, 38
Sagem 229, 284
Salisbury, l’aul 119
Sampo 235
Samsung 154, 156, 182, 226, 233, 259,
267, 270
Samsung, Ltd. 155
Samsiing Display Devices 225, 284
Samsung Electron Devices 144, 155,
184, 232, 282, 283, 285
Samsung Electronics 156, 232
Samsung Group 231
Samsung SDI 246
Sanritsu Electric Company 61, 181, 282
Sanyo 136, 201, 211, 214
Sanyo Electric Company 181, 192,
249, 251, 282
Sanyo’s Shioya Kesearch IAoratory 167
Sarnoff laboratories 69
Sarnoff, David 14, 58
Sarnoff, Robert 59
Sasaki, Tadashi 83, 84, 165, 167,
278, 279
Sasaki, Y. 181, 282
Saupe, Alfred 6, 76, 278
Schactt, Martin 55, 73, 74, 76, 78, 133,
170, 267, 279
Scheffer, Terry J. 61, 149, 150, 151,
268, 282
Scheurlc, 13. 102, 278
Schiff base 26, 29, 30, 65, 66, 129, 277
Schindler, Henry 64
Schmidt Instruments 229
Schnurr, Iiobert 104
 Index 299

Schroecler, Alfred C. 15 Smithsonian Institution 270

Science Applications International Snyder, Lawrence 37
Corporation (SAIC) 184 Society for Information Display 45, 76,
Sears 141, 142 86, 341, 151, 173, 181, lY2, 218,
Seiko 45, 85, 171, 190, 193 251, 270
Seiko Epson 75, 104, 136, 170, 194, 195, Solarex 179
106, 200, 201, 211, 214, 281, 283 Solid State Scientific 93
Seiko Instruments 104, 136, 170, 199, Solid State Time 108
213, 214, 282 Sony Corporalion 82, 92, 191, 238,
Seiko Watch Company 280, 281 252, 259
Selawry, IIelena 37 Soref, k h a t d 62
self-aligned 193 Sorkin, TIoward 30, 71
self-alignment 180 Sotong 156
Semenza, Pad 270 Souk, Jun H. 225, 232, 270
Sethofer, Nicholas 105, 106 Spear, Walter E. 180, 281
shadow mask 68 Sperry Corporation 185
Sharp 68, 85, 136, 141, 142, 151, 155, Spiedel 134, 143
167, 170, 181, 201, 210, 211, 213, Spindt cathode 252
214, 216, 220, 224, 225, 238, 258, Spindt, Charles A. 251
279, 283 Spong, Fred 42
Sharp Corporation 58, 83, 165, 179, Sprague Electric Company 98, 99, 100
103, 194, 200, 250, 278, 284, 285 Sprague, John 98
Sharp Laboratories 283 Sprdgue, Robert C. 98, 99, 100
Shewchun, John 16 Springwood Electronics 24, 95
Shih, Peter T.C. 235 Sproull, Robert 206
Shima, 'l'oru 219 SKI International 198, 251
Shinijo, T. 62 Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
Shinoda, Tsutae 244 179
Shugart, Alan P. 207 Standish Industries 105, 228
Silicon Valley 96, 105, 106, 121, 122, Standish 12CD 105
157, 232 Stanford liesources 125, 156, 168,
Silver, li. 46 169, 170, 172, 173, 181, 217,
Sin King 138, 139 230, 233, 266
Singer, I3arry 173 Stanley Electric Company 88
Skoirlios, Anthony 37 STC 140
S-13CD 259 Stephens, Carlene 270
sloped evaporation 115, 131, 137 Stern, Herinan 64
Slottow, H. Gene 243 Stevens, William K. 50
Small, I h n a l d 36, 270 Stewart, Gordon 36
smectic 30, 145 STN-LCD 213, 214, 223, 282
smectic mesophase 2 Stone, Garrett 122, 123
smectos 2 Strebel, Ronald 104
300 Index

Sugata, M. 180 Teleram Communications Corporation

Sugibuchi, S. 181, 282 211
Suncrux 107, 108, 149, 157 Telex 61
super TFT-LCD 63 Teller, Edward 10
supertwisted Guest-Host effect 151 tellurium 177, 200
supertwisted-1,irefringence effect Temple IJniversity 154
149, 151 Texas Instruments 45, 68, 79, 101,
SuperTwisted-Nematic Effect 153, 213, 102, 103, 104, 109, 134, 135, 141,
214, 282 142, 148, 149, 207, 267, 268, 269,
SuperTwisted-Nematic LCD 61, 268 278, 280
surface-conduction electron-emitter Thacker, Charles 206
display (SED) 252 Thermally-Addressed Dye Display 124
Sussman, Alan 54, 59, 71 thick-film dielectric electroluminescent
Suwa Seikosha (now known as Seiko (TI>EL) 250, 251, 253, 260
Epson) 84, 85, 104, 136, 181, thin-film diode 282
132, 278, 281 thin-film electroluminescence (TFEI,)
Suzuki, Harry 136, 137, 139 249
Suzuki, K. 180 thin-film electroluinincscent display
SVA 236 210
thin-film transistor 31, 40, 176, 199,
Ta (tantalum metal) 195 280, 282
Taiwan Kolin Company 235 Thomas Watson Research Center 69
Tdkdnd, Y. 245 Thomson 193, 198
Take, Hiroshi 200, 283 Thomson Consumer Electronics 43,
Takeda, Masatami 165 229, 284
Takeuchi, Fumio 87 Thomson CSF 181
'laliq 237 Tietjen, James 15
'I'anakd, 1IideO 199 Tilton, Mary 270
'randy Corporation 210, 211, 212, Time 82, 208, 211
213, 282 Timex 96, 107, 132, 133, 134, 143, 149,
'I'ang, C.B. 119, 137 267, 269
'I'ang, Ching W. 247 Tohoku IJniversity, Japan 85
'I'annas, Jr, Lawrence E. 141, 268, 273 Tokyo Science [Jniversity 165
tantalum pentoxide 194, 195 Tokyo IJniversity of Agriculture and
'Patung 235 Technology 62, 87, 165
'PdylOr, Gary 70 Tonar, William 105, 269
'I'aylor, George W. 15, 96, 97, 99, 100, Toppan Printing 201
121, 122, 125, 156, 158, 168, 268 Toshiha Corporation 62, 85, 87, 171,
'I'aylor, Ted 77, 278 180, 211, 214, 216, 218, 219, 220,
TDK Corporation 250 224, 249, 252, 283
Technical University of Karlsruhe 275 'I'oshima, Toru 88
'I'ektronix 44, 45, 238, 284 'l'ramiel, Jack 135
 Index 301

Trish, Cinch K 169, 17.3 [Jniversity of Pennsylvania 18, 247

Truly Semiconductor 236 University o f Southampton, England
Tso, T.S. 137 54
'Tsunda, I. 62 llniversity of Stuttgart, Germany 181,
Tuen Mun, Hong Kong 119, 136 260, 281
Tults, Juri 41, 277 Uyeda, Sam 106, 270
twisted-nematic display 51, 54, 62, 75,
7 7 , 7 8 , 84, 87, 98, 99, 103, 104, vacuum fluorescent display (VFI)) 58,
111, 124, 133, 151, 180, 280 67, 269
van I.oan, Paul 107
17,s.Army R&I>IAmratories 35, 36 van Raalte, John A. 42, 44, 45,
1J.S. Army's Night Vision Laboratory 267, 277
55 Van Slyke, Steven A. 247
IJchida, Tatsuo 87 Varadyne Electromask Company 142
IJenohara, Michiyuki 145 Varitronix 139, 140, 236
IJLVAC 202 vertically aligned neinatic 145
IJnipac 182 Videlec 151
IJnipac Optoelectronics Corporation video disc 92
184 Villa Precision 118, 140, 280
[Jnited Microelectronics Corporation Virginia, Joe 270
184 VisiCalc 207
IJnited States Display Consortium Visionox 236
(USUC) 228, 284 VIX Research 167
University College, London 5 Vulcan 207
University of Baroda, India 35
IJniversity of Camlxidge 248 wddd, Tomio 83, 84, 167, 278, 279
IJniversity o f Cincinnati 6 Walt Ilisney Company 69
University of Colorado 152 Wan, W.T. 119, 136
University of Dundee, Scotland 180, wdshizuka, ISdmu 200, 283
217, 281 Waters, Colin M. 129, 150, 151, 282
LJniversity o f Halle, Germany 29, 30, Weber, B. 6 2
36, 130, 269, 277 Weber, P. 284
IJniversity of Hdl, England 5, 122, 327, Weber, Larry F. 243, 246, 270
129, 166, 168, 276, 279 Webster, William 21
IJniversity of Illinois 243, 244, 246 Weimer, Paul 15, 43, 176, 177,
IJniversity of Leeds 154 257, 276
IJniversity o f Maine 54 Wells, Ilavid M. 183, 282
IJniversity of Mysore, India 36 Westaim Corporation 250
University of' Newcastle upon 'I'yne, Westinghouse 41, 46, 122, 176,
England 54 177, 178
IJniversity of North Carolina 36 Westinghouse Research Laboratories
University of Paris, France 54 7 , 280
302 Index

White, Kolxrt 35 Yamasiiki, Mitsuhiro 181, 282

Williams domain 17 Yamasaki, Yoshio 84,85, 278
Williams, I h v i d 2/18 Y m , S.K. 139
Williams, Donald 140 Y m g , Ikng-Ke 238
Williams, Richard 4, 16, 17, 18, 34, 36, Ymg, Kei-Hsiung 217
58, 266, 276 Ymiv, Zvi 182, 183, 238, 270, 282
Wilson, Ilolxrt 243 Yano, Kozo 200, 283
Windscheitl, F. 62, 284 Yeebo Displays 139
Wing Kii 119, 136, 137, 139 Yih, Shou-Chen “James” 105
Winterer, Allen 119, 132 Yocom, Neil 15
Wong, S.Y. 279 Yoshida, Mamoru 199
Woodward, Henry 125 YOshiydmd, M. 86
WordStar 207 Young, Robert 107
Wortman, Leon 167
Wozniak, Steven 205, 207 Zanoni, Louis A. 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 32,
wristwatch television 85 41, 48, 54, 58, 59, 64, 66, 67, 92,
Wu, Dean 132 93, 94, 156, 266, 276, 277, 278
Wu, Xingwei 250 Zantech 20, 156
Wysocki, Joseph 52 Zatsky, Nornman 96
Zenith 220
Xerox Coipoi‘Ltion 79, 182, 186, 187, Zenith I h t a Systems 214
206, 228 Zenith Electronics 229
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 186, zinc sulfide 43
206, 284 Zocher, FI. 3, 275
Xeiox PARC 224
Xerox lieseLiichCenter 52
Xerox Star 206