Samsung adds carbon nanotubes to LCD tellies

According to News.com, boffins at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology have developed a 15-inch prototype LCD screen that employs an array of carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes are used instead of conventional light sources, such as bulbs or light-emitting diodes.

A spokesboffin said the marriage of two separate telly technologies would lower the cost of LCD TVs.

Nanotube TV technology have been around for a while and have much in common with traditional cathode-ray sets. The downside is that they need new production lines and would be more expensive than LCDs and Plasma screens. <<P> However if they are used alongside LCDs they could be used to cut the cost the backlight of LCD TVs. The backlight makes up half the cost of a 40-inch LCD. Samsung said that the partial use of nanotubes could lower energy consumption and improve picture quality. An LCD takes 15 milliseconds to render a picture, while an LCD with carbon nanotubes as a backlight just four milliseconds.

The boffins want to create an LCD with a carbon backlight that lasts 30,000 hours and puts out 60 to 70 lumens per watt. µ

L'INQ
news.com.com