Date: 26/03/2012

PECVD film technology from Applied for high-resolution LCD panel manufacturing

Applied Materials has announced new PECVD film technology to produce high-resolution LCD display panels for tablet computers and TVs. The equipment from Applied uses advanced insulating films to enable the use of metal oxide-based transistors that produce smaller, faster-switching pixels to create higher resolution screens.

Applied says its new PECVD films provide a dielectric-layer interface for metal oxide transistors that minimizes hydrogen impurities to improve transistor stability and deliver optimized screen performance. These high-quality silicon oxide (SiO2) films can be deposited by the AKT-PECVD system with precise uniformity on sheets of glass up to 9m2 in size - a capability that is critical to achieving high production yields and low manufacturing costs.

"Display makers are aggressively investing in metal oxide transistor capability, and our advanced PECVD films overcome the uniformity and stability challenges of these complex dielectric films, clearing a major hurdle to implementing this important new technology," said Tom Edman, group vice president and general manager of Applied's AKT Display Business Group. "By extending the capabilities of our world-class AKT-PECVD system to dielectric film deposition for metal oxide, Applied has provided a rapid, cost-effective path to help bring this technology to market. Customers have had excellent results with these new films on our system and we are seeing strong demand from major display manufacturers for upgrades and new systems."