Westaim claims colour quality milestone

17 Jun 2002

Westaim Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, iFire Technology, has achieved colour display quality equal to that of commercial television.

Michael Goldstein, president of iFire Technology, said: "This is the most significant colour achievement since 1997, when we were the first company to stabilize a blue electroluminescent phosphor. This colour breakthrough will enable iFire displays to show more vibrant blues, reds and greens, which generate lifelike images equal to those on the highest-quality large screen digital televisions available today. It is a key step in meeting our 2001 goal of demonstrating TV quality performance on our 8.5 and 17 inch prototypes."

A year ago, iFire displays were at 65% of the European Broadcast Union (EBU) standard for chromaticity. That climbed to 79% in December. The company says that achieving 100% EBU is significant because it makes for a more efficient phosphor system that requires less colour filtering, leading to higher brightness and CRT-quality colour.