Europe to Develop Field Emission Backlight
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 9/1/1998
T
he goal of the European ESPRIT long-term research project "FEDLIT" is to
develop a 20,000 cd/m2, 50 mm X 50 mm field emission
backlight. The field emission technology using diamond-like carbon is
being developed by the Engineering Department of the University of
Cambridge (Cambridge, England). Diamond-like carbon is a broad-area
electron emitter that can be deposited directly onto glass substrates at
room temperature. In due course it is expected that this method will
result in far lower manufacturing costs than the Spindt tip silicon
production approach now used by other field emitter display
manufacturers. The potential advantages of the backlight technology, as
compared with current techniques, include very high brightness, a thin
profile and an extended operating temperature range.
CRL (formerly the Central Research Laboratories, Hayes, England) is
collaborating in this project with Sextant Avionique (France), which
plans to use the backlights in its range of liquid crystal displays for
aircraft cockpits. CRL expects that the technology also will be
applicable to commercial outdoor bright backlights and as pixel elements
for very large, bright, outdoor displays. According to a company
representative, opportunities exist for partner companies to work with
it on such applications. 
