Heralded as the new generation of high-quality large flat-screen display, the SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display), jointly developed by Canon and Toshiba Corporation, is almost ready for practical application.
History :
Canon began SED research in 1986 and, in 1999, began joint development activities with Toshiba with the aim of commercializing an SED product. Canon and Toshiba, deciding that the joint development had a definite future, established a joint venture company SED Inc. in October 2004. Plans for the new company call for the commercialization of SED panels primarily for largescreen flat-panel televisions. Preparations to start production are currently underway.
Problem Areas :
The advent of digital Hi-Vision broadcasting and the broadband network era, along with nextgeneration DVDs, digital cameras and digital video camcorders, is expected to fuel the spread of highdefinition, high-quality next-generation content. These trends have led to demand for larger screens and higher image quality. However, enlarging CRT (cathode ray tube) screens, today's most common display, entails making the units significantly heavier and deeper. A major challenge facing display manufacturers has been how to develop a new kind of display offering the same picture quality as a CRT in a slim yet large unit. Canon's SED has successfully met this challenge.
Display Principle :
The SED, based on a new type of flat-panel display technology, was created through the merging of Canon's proprietary electron-emission and microfabrication technologies with Toshiba's CRT technology and mass-production tehcnologies for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and semiconductors.
Like conventional CRTs, SEDs utilize the collision of electrons with a phosphor-coated screen to emit light. Electron emitters, which correspond to an electron gun in a CRT, are distributed in an amount equal to the number of pixels on the display.
Comparison of CRT and SED :
The key to the electron emitters, at the heart of the SED, is an extremely narrow slit several nanometers wide between two electric poles. Electrons are emitted from one side of the slit when approximately 10V of electricity are applied. Some of these electrons are scattered at the other side of the slit and accelerated by the voltage (approximately 10 kV) applied between the glass substrates; causing light to be emitted when they collide with the phosphor-coated glass plate.
Since SEDs apply the same light emission theory as CRTs, they provide dynamic color expression, a sharp picture, and faster videoresponse than LCDs and plasma display panels (PDPs). In addition, SEDs do not require electronic beam deflection, making possible screens of more than 40 inches in size that are only several centimeters thick.
Emission efficiency :
Low power consumption is another main feature of the new display technology. SEDs convert electrical energy into light with a higher emission efficiency than other display types, resulting in power consumption that is two-thirds that of PDPs, and also surpasses CRTs and LCDs.
Production technology :
With the application of inkjet printing technology to develop a high-performance electron emitter and a screen-printing method to produce matrix wiring, helps in improving production technologies to manufacture large-screen panels at low cost.
Pros :
Cons :
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Update
SED TVs: coming in late 2007
Canon and Toshiba just announced that they’re starting production in July 2007 and expect to see SED TVs on the market by the fourth quarter of the same year.
Follow with some blather about the 2008 Beijing Olympics driving demand and you get the (SED) picture.
Finally, in their joint release the companies said :
History :
Canon began SED research in 1986 and, in 1999, began joint development activities with Toshiba with the aim of commercializing an SED product. Canon and Toshiba, deciding that the joint development had a definite future, established a joint venture company SED Inc. in October 2004. Plans for the new company call for the commercialization of SED panels primarily for largescreen flat-panel televisions. Preparations to start production are currently underway.
Problem Areas :
The advent of digital Hi-Vision broadcasting and the broadband network era, along with nextgeneration DVDs, digital cameras and digital video camcorders, is expected to fuel the spread of highdefinition, high-quality next-generation content. These trends have led to demand for larger screens and higher image quality. However, enlarging CRT (cathode ray tube) screens, today's most common display, entails making the units significantly heavier and deeper. A major challenge facing display manufacturers has been how to develop a new kind of display offering the same picture quality as a CRT in a slim yet large unit. Canon's SED has successfully met this challenge.
Display Principle :
The SED, based on a new type of flat-panel display technology, was created through the merging of Canon's proprietary electron-emission and microfabrication technologies with Toshiba's CRT technology and mass-production tehcnologies for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and semiconductors.
Like conventional CRTs, SEDs utilize the collision of electrons with a phosphor-coated screen to emit light. Electron emitters, which correspond to an electron gun in a CRT, are distributed in an amount equal to the number of pixels on the display.
Comparison of CRT and SED :
The key to the electron emitters, at the heart of the SED, is an extremely narrow slit several nanometers wide between two electric poles. Electrons are emitted from one side of the slit when approximately 10V of electricity are applied. Some of these electrons are scattered at the other side of the slit and accelerated by the voltage (approximately 10 kV) applied between the glass substrates; causing light to be emitted when they collide with the phosphor-coated glass plate.
Since SEDs apply the same light emission theory as CRTs, they provide dynamic color expression, a sharp picture, and faster videoresponse than LCDs and plasma display panels (PDPs). In addition, SEDs do not require electronic beam deflection, making possible screens of more than 40 inches in size that are only several centimeters thick.
Emission efficiency :
Low power consumption is another main feature of the new display technology. SEDs convert electrical energy into light with a higher emission efficiency than other display types, resulting in power consumption that is two-thirds that of PDPs, and also surpasses CRTs and LCDs.
Production technology :
With the application of inkjet printing technology to develop a high-performance electron emitter and a screen-printing method to produce matrix wiring, helps in improving production technologies to manufacture large-screen panels at low cost.
Pros :
- Same picture quality as a CRT in a slim yet large unit
- Produces vivid color images that surpass conventional types of display
- Exceptional overall image quality
- Fast video-response performance
- High contrast
- High gradation levels
- Low power consumption
- Screens of more than 40" in size that are only several cm's thick
- Low cost in producing large screen panels
Cons :
- Awaiting launch
- Price ?
______________________________
Update
SED TVs: coming in late 2007
Canon and Toshiba just announced that they’re starting production in July 2007 and expect to see SED TVs on the market by the fourth quarter of the same year.
Follow with some blather about the 2008 Beijing Olympics driving demand and you get the (SED) picture.
Finally, in their joint release the companies said :
"Toshiba and Canon consider the launch of SED TVs to be a major industry milestone, a once-in-50-years historical turning point for the TV industry, comparable to the initial introduction of CRT television."
