In the SIC building, two professors, Kaede Shirakawa Kaede, Hideki Shirakawa and Hideo Hosono, are buried in the desk.

"Just visually, the display has really improved a lot.

At least change the angle so that there are no ghosting that interferes with the visuals. ”

At this time, what Shirakawa Kaede has in front of him is the latest achievement of the LCD R&D department here at SIC, STN-LCD.

At first glance, the most obvious difference between it and the previous TN-LCD is that the background color of the panel is yellow-green.

In addition, there is no digital ghost engraved in advance by TN-LCD on the panel, which looks smooth even under the light.

Because of the long screen response time and low contrast, TN-LCD is engraved on the substrate with the pre-intended pattern at the beginning of production.

In this way, the pattern responds quickly when the power is supplied.

However, the disadvantage is that the screen is deflected at an angle, and the ghost engraved in advance can be clearly seen.

Regardless of whether it is energized or not, the presence of ghosting greatly affects the visual effect.

And now STN-LCD has improved all these shortcomings, and the screen panel looks much fresher in an instant.

"Although STN is still a passive twist matrix, through the action of the electric field, the rotation angle of liquid crystal molecules has exceeded 180 degrees, reaching a torsion angle of 240~270.

In addition, in the process of repeated changes in voltage by the electric field, the recovery process of each pixel is slower, resulting in afterglow.

One of the obvious advantages of this is that it consumes less power, and power saving will be its biggest advantage. ”

Hideki Shirakawa pointed to the pattern that appeared on the screen and explained to Shirakawa Kaede in detail how STN-LCD works and its advantages.

It is still inspired by Shirakawa Kaede's original implementation, and consists of two conductive glass bases, a liquid crystal in the middle, and a polarizer on the upper surface.

In addition to these, there is a backlight plate and several lamp beads that provide the light source in the lower part, and of course, a driver IC that controls the change of the electric field and the light emitting of the lamp beads is also essential.

"Compared with TN-LCD, it has a qualitative improvement in terms of viewing angle, picture characteristics, reaction speed, and color.

There is also a big difference in the processing technology, and the most obvious advantage is that the pattern does not need to be depicted in advance, but is realized by driving the IC. ”

As he spoke, Hideki Shirakawa flicked a switch on the circuit board in front of the table, and the numbers displayed on the yellow-green screen in front of him.

Suddenly it became a cartoon character, and even Chinese characters appeared at the bottom!

To be honest, this change surprised Shirakawa Kaede, and he carefully lifted the panel and turned it left and right to take a closer look.

There is no ghosting at all, and after changing the angle, the pattern is very clear.

This alone gave Shirakawa a lot of ideas, which meant that future LCD production would no longer rely on drawing patterns in advance.

All the images that you want to present can be solved by a small driver IC, so that the production process is relatively simple.

"Just now, Professor Shirakawa said that STN-LCD controls the output of the screen by driving the IC?"

"That's right," Shirakawa Hideki nodded, "This is also thanks to Shirakawa-san, and with your previous active interference and inspiration, we came up with this method."

If you want to change the electric field and light perception, why not use an IC to achieve it, which is more precise and efficient.

As long as the control program is entered into the IC in advance, the pre-set program can be quickly called up when in use. ”

In the past, TN screens were pre-drawn by physical means, but now STN pre-stores programs by digital means.

Although they are all pre-set things, they are very different.

This is equivalent to a stay in the age of steam, a has entered the information age, and it is clear who has better effect.

Moreover, the TN pattern cannot be changed once it is depicted, but the STN program can be changed repeatedly by external means.

This comparison will not only be visual, but also greatly wider.

Good thing, Shirakawa Kaede seems to have seen a golden mountain beckoning to him.

"By the way, the driver IC of the LCD is also designed by ourselves. Although it is still relatively rough, there will be no threshold for simple manufacturing. ”

Just when Shirakawa Kaede secretly sighed at the advancement of STAN, Shirakawa Hideki told him another unexpected news.

"Our own driver ICs?" Shirakawa Kaede's eyes lit up.

"That's right, this is Yamazaki-san's work, and the trial production was also provided by Fujitsu."

Driver IC, to put it bluntly, is a driver chip.

Since Hideki Shirakawa wants such a thing, of course he is looking for the chip development department upstairs.

SIC can handle even processor chips, let alone a small driver IC.

Hui Yamazaki, who has been here for two years, has already achieved considerable attainments in chip design.

So the driver IC design on the STN-LCD was handed over to him, and as for Shimamasa, they were busy with the development of the next generation of chips, and they didn't have to worry about this small driver chip.

Because of the low difficulty of design, Hui Yamazaki quickly got it done.

Now this chip has been placed in front of Shirakawa Kaede, and the product has been installed and started.

"Professor Shirakawa, do you think there is a market prospect for STN-LCD, or driver ICs, in the future?" Shirakawa Kaede's eyes purred.

"Market prospects?" Hideki Shirakawa was stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted, "I don't dare to say anything else, but there should be no problem replacing the TN screen." ”

"Enough!" Shirakawa Kaede high-fived, don't you think there is one more business for SIC?

According to what we have just learned, the difficulty of driving ICs is low, and the process requirements can be met with 6 micron technology in about 74 years.

This also results in a driver IC with a low cost and is suitable for large-scale mass production.

In the future, STN has a wide range of application prospects, so the driver chip has become an indispensable accessory.

Thinking about it, there is no STN screen application on the market at this time, which means that the driver chip of SIC may be unique.

It's unique, it's a monopoly, even if it's temporary.

And as long as SIC occupies a step ahead, there is absolutely no need to worry about the market share in the future.

Look, Shirakawa Kaede has another mountain of gold.

He has decided to let the chip R&D department set up a separate screen driver chip design department later.

Before others could react, SIC had already laid out in advance.

The high-end industry has always been like this, and taking the lead means occupying the priority application of patents, and the so-called technical barriers are led step by step.

The latecomers are likely to only drink some soup behind the former, or pay a large amount of patent fees every year to make thin profits.

"By the way, Professor Shirakawa, I remember you saying that. STN can be partially colored, can we do that today? ”

Shirakawa Kaede remembers the flatbread that Hideki Shirakawa painted for him, and the color display has always been something in his heart.

"Well, the color display can only be done in single color at present, and true color like CTR is difficult to achieve on STN."

Saying that, Hideki Shirakawa had already hit another display screen on the table, and the background color of its panel was blue.

The display pattern is moonlight white English characters and simple graphics, and there are green Chinese characters and a red logo in a small area.

The blue background, the white numbers of the moon, the green Chinese characters, and the red logo do have several more colors in this way.

However, these colors are displayed in a single area in a block shape, which is far from the natural blending of colors like CTR displays.

"The color of STN is by adding a color filter in front of the polarizer, and by dividing the monochrome display matrix into three sub-pixels, the three primary colors of red, green, and blue are displayed.

The three primary colors of color are scattered by liquid crystals and polarizers to display specific colors in specific areas of the screen. ”

To put it bluntly, the color of the current STN is pseudo-color, and the color of each pixel is not directly determined by the value of each basic color component.

Instead, the pixels are used as a color palette, so that Shirakawa Kaede can see the color piece by piece at this time, rather than the mellow and natural color of later generations.

Okay,Although it's a pseudo-color,But it's still a big improvement compared to the TN screen.。

At least through the control of the driver chip, local color can be realized.

The technology has to be taken step by step, and it is impossible to evolve directly from a black and white screen to a full-color screen.

"How much does our STN screen cost?"

The effect of the display has been almost seen by Shirakawa Kaede, and now he is most concerned about the cost of production.

"If it's just the simplest grayscale STN screen, in the case that the driver IC can be mass-produced.

The cost of a handheld game screen is about 600~800 yen, and the cost is even higher if it is a yellow-green or blue-level screen. ”

The so-called grayscale STN screen only displays light and dark colors, which is what we usually call a black and white screen.

Yellow-green screens and blue screens are pseudo-color screens that can display some colors with color films, and their costs are a little higher.

Even the lowest-cost grayscale screen is nearly 7 times higher than the previous TN cost.

Sure enough, the progress of technology is often accompanied by an increase in costs.

The cost of 600~800 yen wants to have a considerable profit. It is possible to achieve a minimum external price of 2,000 yen or more.

Compared to the current price of TN for two to three hundred yen, the difference between the two is not one or two points.

However, even so, STN screens still need to be vigorously developed.

Because the TN screen is too backward and has too many shortcomings. The start of new technology may be difficult, but its prospects are bright.

Shirakawa Kaede believes that with the maturity of the production process in the future, the manufacturing cost of STN screen will have room to decrease.

"Professor Shirakawa, in addition to the handheld, can the STN screen be used on a larger screen? For example, the possibility of a TV, a computer screen? ”

Since there are so many advantages, there is no reason why Shirakawa Kaede should not look for a broader commercial space for STN screens.

Relying solely on the support of the handheld, STN may be profitable, but it will definitely not become a gold mountain.

In order to fully enjoy the dividends of monopoly and pioneer, more customers are a very necessary premise.

However, unlike Shirakawa Kaede's optimism, Professor Shirakawa Hideki's face was a little embarrassed.

"The current LCD screen is driven by electrodes to synchronize the X and Y axes.

However, if the screen size is too large, the electrode reaction time in the center may be longer.

And in order to make the screen display consistent, the overall speed will be slowed down. ”

In order to make his explanation more intuitive, Shirakawa changed to a larger screen for a live demonstration.

With the power supply in place, the appearance of the middle pattern visible to the naked eye is noticeably slower than the surrounding circle.

This is a visible latency, and it is virtually unrealistic to imagine on a TV or computer.

It's like the refresh rate of the CTR monitor is too low, and after watching it for a long time, you will feel the illusion that the screen is flickering and jumping.

"In order to ensure the effect, at least the delay is not visible to the naked eye, what is the maximum size of the STN screen?"

"About 9 inches."

9 inches? Shirakawa Kaede's eyes lit up, and it wasn't that he didn't have a head at all.

(End of chapter)