Motorola Labs Debuts Nano Emissive Display

Someday soon, marketers might be sorely tempted to say, "it grows on you." Motorola Labs is shopping around a working 5-inch color video display prototype based on Carbon Nanotube (CNT), a proprietary technology. CNT proponents see nano-tech as nothing short of an amazing, futuristic breakthrough technique that could create large flat-panel displays with superior quality and longer lifetimes--at lower costs--than current flat-screen products.

Optimized for a large-screen HD less than 1-inch thick, Motorola believes this first-of-its kind Nano Emissive Display (NED) prototype harnesses the power of CNTs to fundamentally change the design and fabrication of flat-panel displays.

NED technology is a scalable method of growing CNTs directly onto glass to enable an energy-efficient design that excels at emitting electrons. In other words, no pasting is necessary. The lab work already shows the potential to create longer-lasting NED flat panel displays with high brightness, and high-end uniformity and color purity, according to the company. Motorola is discussing possible partnership deals right now with firms that will share in the start-up costs and, hopefully, the profits down the road.

Citing a detailed cost model analysis conducted by itself, Motorola estimates the "manufactured cost" for a 40-inch NED panel at less than $400. More details of the NED-CNT technology will be discussed by Motorola at the annual Society for Information Display International Symposium in Boston next week.