Samsung Unveils Double-Sided LCD Display

The new display, which will be shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, is designed to show either a set of the same images or two entirely different pictures on the front and back of the same screen, the company announced Thursday. Samsung noted in a written statement that other conventional double-sided LCDs only show a reverse image of the same picture or data.

"Our new double-sided mobile display underscores Samsung's commitment to equip our customers with advanced display technology that accelerates the trend toward slimmer mobile products," says Yun Jin-hyuk, an executive VP for Samsung. He added that the LCD will go into mass production in the first half of this year.

The company said the new LCD will replace two displays with one, reducing the overall thickness of mobile products by at least 1mm.

The new LCD is designed to use Samsung's new double-gate, thin-film transistor (TFT) architecture. TFT gates, according to the company, are electronic components that convert voltage at the pixel level, which controls the liquid crystal alignment needed to reproduce on-screen images. Samsung's new double-sided LCD has two gates that operate each pixel, instead of one, so the screen on the front can display different images than the one on the back. The double-sided display uses Samsung's proprietary Amorphous Silicon Gate technology, which accommodates the increased number of TFT gates without increasing the size of the driver integrated circuits, which typically increase in size when more TFT gates are used.

The new double-sided LCD is 2.6mm thick and 2.22 inches wide, with 240 x 320 pixel resolution. It has brightness values of 250 nits for the front and 100 nits for the rear display. A price for the display was not released.