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17 Jun 2002
Motorola Labs hits on mechanism for colour reflective liquid-crystal displays
Researchers at Motorola Labs have invented a new display mechanism called Electrically Tunable Color (ETC) for colour reflective liquid-crystal displays (RLCDs). The researchers say that the ETC has the potential to improve the appearance of RLCDs (the most widely used displays for portable electronic products) significantly.
Motorola's ETC uses an electrical field to change the colour of light reflected from a cholesteric liquid-crystal material, comprising molecules with coil-like structures, sandwiched between two glass plates. The distance between the successive rings of the coils determines the colour of light reflected by the liquid-crystal material. An electric field, applied parallel to the glass plates, effectively untwists them, causing the separation between the rings to increase and producing an observable colour shift.
Motorola Labs has demonstrated all three primary colors using a single layer of cholesteric liquid-crystal and claim to have demonstrated a larger colour scale with this technique than that offered by current commercial colour RLCDs. It also says that the simple structure of the ETC promises to keep final display costs down.
However, there is a challenge remaining: the ETC currently requires more than 100 V. Motorola expects to work with established LCD manufacturers to drive this voltage down and commercialize the technology over the next three years.
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