Seeking to expand beyond its tire business, Japanese maker Bridgestone recently announced its plan to mass produce paper-thin flat panel display by adopting a proprietary technology in fiscal 2005. Liquid powders will be used in the display, forming chromatic images.

 

The initial model will be based on glass substrate and require no backlighting, thereby making the display approximately 1mm thick, far slimmer than conventional LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). Once the company develops production technology for plastic substrate, it will be able to produce displays as thin as 0.25 mm.

 

The new display, with a 4.5" screen, can retain text and graphics even when the power is switched off, thus consuming less power than traditional LCD. At this stage, Bridgestone is expected to supply to electronics device makers in Europe and early applications include price tags on store shelves illustrating detailed information about products. In the future, it may also be used in electronic books.

 

To ramp up mass production of these ultrathin displays, Bridgestone plans to build a production site at its R&D base in Tokyo Prefecture.