Qualcomm has acquired display startup Pixtronix, which has developed technology applicable to smartphone and tablet screens.
Andover, Mass.-based Pixtronix’s Digital Micro Shutter technology integrates MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) and TFTs (thin-film transistors), providing “differentiation, while leveraging proven manufacturing equipment, processes and materials,” according to the company’s Web site.
Hallmarks of the technology listed by Pixtronix include low power, high-speed light modulation, Digital TFT backplane, backlight efficiency of 60 percent (a claimed 10-fold advantage over LCD), utilization of existing TFT-LCD equipment, processes and materials, and elimination of high cost, performance-limiting liquid crystals, color filters and polarizers.
Pixtronix has claimed that a display will offer viewing angles greater than 170 degrees, a contrast ratio better than 3,000:1, and 24-bit color depth at one quarter of the power consumption of an equivalent LCD.
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57366126-92/qualcomm-acquires-smartphone-tablet-display-startup/
