Motorola Demos Carbon Nanotube Display

The promise of Motorola's new Nano Emissive Display (NED) technology is sweet for anyone that covets a flat screen HDTV, but doesn't want to pony up big bucks.

Imagine a 40 inch HDTV panel less than an inch thick.

Now imagine it costing less than $400.

This week Motorola Labs unveiled a prototype of NED technology in the form of a functioning 5-inch color segment of a 1280 x 720, 16:9, 42-inch HDTV.

Motorola says the carbon nanotube (CNT) based NED technology involves a proprietary "scalable method" of growing CNTs directly onto glass, rather than using the more common paste/printing methods.

In terms of picture quality, Motorola says NED technology delivers "high brightness, excellent uniformity and color purity" while being energy efficient, and offering response time and viewing angle characteristics that "meet or exceed" those of traditional CRT monitors.

Motorola adds that the carbon nanotube technology is 'optimized for a large screen High Definition Television (HDTV) less than one inch thick.

"We have developed a technology that could enable the next generation of large size flat panel displays to deliver an extraordinary visual experience at a fraction of current prices," said Jim O'Connor, vice president, Motorola technology incubation and commercialization.

Motorola has yet to announce any partners in building monitors build using NED technology, nor did the company offer potential dates for the technology to reach the market.

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Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.