Large Screen, High Image Quality and High-Speed Video Response
SED Next-Generation Flat-Screen Displays
With the introduction of digital HD broadcasting, home-use HD video camcorders and next-generation DVDs have become increasingly popular, leading to the progressively widespread availability of high-definition and high-image-quality content. For viewers to fully enjoy this content, displays must provide even higher levels of image quality and offer larger viewing areas.
SED prototype
Due to the nature of conventional CRT (cathode ray tube) displays, larger screens mean significant increases in weight and depth. SEDs (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Displays) represent the solution to this challenge.
Flat-screen, high-definition displays with fast video response
In SEDs, electron emitters, which fulfill the role served by the electron gun in CRT systems, are distributed in a number equal to the number of pixels on the display. The electron emitters, at the heart of the SED, are characterized by a "nanogap," an extremely narrow gap measuring only a few nanometers* in width, formed between two electrodes. When voltage is applied, electrons are emitted from one side of the nanogap, some of which are accelerated by voltage applied between the glass substrates, and luminescence occurs when they strike the phosphor coating of the opposing substrate. While offering the same fast video response and high contrast as CRTs, SEDs combine a slim body design with high-definition, low-distortion imaging performance.
*nanometer (nm): one billionth of a meter
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Comparison of CRT and SED
Low power consumption
Since SEDs convert electric energy into light with greater efficiency than other types of displays, a key feature is their low power consumption. The SED represents an environmentally sound display technology that meets today's demands for energy conservation.
SED structure
Targeting ultra-fine processing technologies and low-cost production
Applying the company's semiconductor production technology to enable the high-precision formation of a vast number of electron emitters across a large screen at low cost, Canon is working to create both ultra-fine processing technologies and low-cost production systems.
Canon began SED research in 1986 and, in 2005, the Canon Group welcomed the entry of Canon ANELVA Corporation, with its expertise in the field of vacuum technology. With these efforts, the groundwork is being laid toward the commercialization of high-image-quality and low-cost SED products.
