Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.'s Subsidiary Achieves World's First Accumulated Total Production of 10 Million Large-Size LTPS Panels

 
AFPD Pte., Ltd.¹ ("AFPD"), a Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. ("TMD") subsidiary company based in Singapore, has achieved the world's first accumulated production of 10 million large-size (10 inches or larger) low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) panels on the 4th of September, 2006. Production at AFPD commenced in August 2002, and by March 2005 the company had accumulated total production of 5 million large-size LTPS panels. During the next eighteen months, due to improvements in productivity, AFPD was able to produce another 5 million panels to reach a total accumulated 10 million panels in September 2006.

AFPD was established as a manufacturing facility for producing liquid crystal panels for notebook PCs, monitors and televisions using LTPS technology. Its products are distinguished from its competitors by utilizing LTPS technology's greater characteristics; i.e., the ability to form high performance circuitry directly on the glass substrate, thereby enabling a product shift towards liquid crystal display panels which cater to the requirements of the high-portability notebook PC marketplace, characterized by ultra-high pixel density, high reliability and low power consumption. 

Together with the intensive research in LTPS technology, AFPD utilizes advanced glass polishing techniques to create thin, lightweight glass panels, thereby reducing glass thickness (of a single side in an LCD panel) from 0.5mm to 0.4mm, then to 0.3mm, and recently it is manufacturing liquid crystal display panels with glass thickness of only 0.2mm. Presently, 90 percent of the panels produced at AFPD have glass thickness less than 0.5mm, and more than 40 percent have glass thickness less than 0.3mm thick. These thin, lightweight glass cells, combined with the new ultra-thin LED backlighting systems, allow for even thinner and lighter panels, thus creating an LCD product that is ideally suited for use in highly mobile portable PCs. In addition, the high aperture ratio design resulting from the use of LTPS technology contributes to their low power consumption, thereby increasing battery life and operating time. In the future, the company may employ the use of D^２PO^{TM 2} technology, a technology researched collaboratively between Toshiba Matsushita Display and Intel Corporation®, to further contribute to reduced energy consumption in the overall PC system. 

LTPS technology was first developed and used in mass production in TMD's Fukaya Works. Production has since expanded, with AFPD designated as TMD's manufacturing center for large-size displays, and Ishikawa Works as TMD's new fabrication facility for small/medium-size displays. At the same time, TMD's LTPS technology is continuously being refined and improved. With LTPS, and through the use of system on glass (SOG) technology, it is possible to integrate various functions directly onto the glass substrate, thus accelerating continual display innovations. Organic light emitting diode (OLED) display technology, combined with LTPS technology, is expected to enable next-generation OLED display devices. TMD -- with high resolution, high performance and high reliability as the core of its values -- strives to continually satisfy the various needs of its customers.  

¹  AFPD Pte., Ltd.: Company incorporated on 14th March 2001, and is now wholly
   owned by TMD. (It was transferred over upon TMD's establishment on 1st April
   2002.) At the time of establishment, it was the most advanced and largest overseas
   large-scale LTPS panel manufacturing company. Mass production of 4th generation
   glass substrates (730mm X 920mm) commenced since August 2002.
²  D^２PO^TM: Dynamic Display Power Optimization; The special display driving method
   developed collaboratively with Intel Corporation® for reducing power consumption. 

      

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