Samsung has developed the world’s first “Blue Phase” LCD panel – which will offer more natural moving images with an unprecedented image-driving speed of 240 Hertz. Overdrive circuits are currently applied to each LCD panel to improve the video image quality in premium LCD TVs, which are driven at 120Hz. The Blue Phase mode features a superior response rate, allowing images to be reproduced at 240Hz or higher without the need for any overdrive circuit. The term “Blue Phase” was coined when the technology’s developers observed bluish hues while watching their new liquid crystal mode in operation. Developed with an extremely cost-efficient design, Samsung’s Blue Phase mode does not require liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike today’s most widely used LCD modes such as Twisted Nematic, In-Plane Switching or Vertical Alignment.
Samsung’s development of the technology provides a tremendous opportunity to move image quality of LCD screens much closer to that of a real moving image. Samsung expects to begin mass producing its Blue Phase LCD in 2011. The LCD panels will be mainly used in TVs that require high-speed video reproduction. Samsung is planning to unveil a 15” model of its Blue Phase LCD panel at the SID (Society for Information Display) 2008 international Symposium.
