Cupertino, Calif.—May 24, 2005—Korean driver IC supplier Silicon Works plans to manufacture the world's first PenTile™ RGBW qVGA system-on-a-chip (SoC) driver for small form factor TFT LCDs. The SoC driver, which is enabled by Clairvoyante, Inc.'s PenTile RGBW pixel layout, is expected to reduce the cost of smart drivers for LCD manufacturers. The integration with PenTile RGBW will lower power consumption while increasing the brightness and visual (perceived) resolution of products using the chip.
The first LCD driver IC from Silicon Works to feature PenTile RGBW™ technology supports 262K colors, resolution up to 240 x 320, and standard data formats. Silicon Works' driver IC has the same interface as standard RGB stripe smart driver ICs, but only requires two-thirds of the memory. This one-chip solution saves board space, an ideal feature for mobile phone and other space-constrained designs. In addition, by incorporating PenTile RGBW™, one-third fewer data drivers are required, cutting the number of interconnects and frame buffer size by one-third.
Silicon Works will sell these IC driver components to major LCD manufacturers worldwide, who are incorporating PenTile RGBW™ 2.0-inch and smaller qVGA display modules and expects to later integrate the technology into a VGA panel.
"Building PenTile RGBW™ technology into our SoC driver enables us to offer a power-efficient, single-chip solution that does not require customers to sacrifice performance for cost," said Mr. Dae-Keun Han, chief executive officer, of Silicon Works. "Using our new smart driver makes it possible for our customers to keep up with the market pressures that compel the design of competitively priced displays for high-resolution, high-performance mobile products."
Silicon Works and Clairvoyante are collaborating to ensure that the new qVGA SoC driver IC is thoroughly tested and certified for use with LCD displays. Prototype samples of the qVGA driver are available now; mass production is scheduled to begin by mid-2005. A VGA driver chip is also under development.
PenTile Matrix® technology takes advantage of the processing characteristics of the human vision system to produce cost-effective displays that consume less power and offer higher brightness at high visual resolution. PenTile RGBW™ adds a white subpixel to the conventional RGB subpixels in order to enhance luminance and color reproduction. In addition, the benefits of PenTile®-based LCDs can be realized without costly plant or process modifications.
"PenTile Matrix® technology has again been recognized by an experienced driver supplier like Silicon Works as a way to reduce overall cost while gaining a host of performance benefits," said Clairvoyante president and chief executive officer Joel Pollack. "Through valued partnerships like this, driver ICs enhanced by PenTile RGBW™ will continue to enable the emerging demand for high-pixel density panels."
About Clairvoyante
Clairvoyante, Inc. develops and licenses unique pixel architectures and algorithms to the flat-panel display industry under the PenTile Matrix® brand family. The company's proprietary subpixel rendering technology optimizes the performance of next-generation LCD displays in terms of brightness, resolution and power consumption. Founded in July 2000, Clairvoyante maintains offices in Sebastopol and Cupertino, California. The company's investors include American River Ventures, Intel Capital, Pacifica Fund, Rocket Ventures, Selby Venture Partners, The Angels' Forum and Yasuda Capital. For more information, visit www.clairvoyante.com.
About Silicon Works
Silicon Works Co., Ltd, headquartered in Daejeon, Korea, designs, develops and markets mixed-signal semiconductors based on its own algorithm and technologies that enable and enhance the features and capabilities of flat panel displays used in consumer electronic devices and mobile h andsets. Silicon Works' core products are highly integrated, color display driver ICs and controller ICs, which are critical components of the flat panel displays. As a global supplier of display driver ICs, Silicon Works continues to innovate and provide new products for all flat display technologies such as TFT and OLED with advanced features to further enhance the visual communication experience for the user.
Logo, Clairvoyante, and PenTile RGBW are trademarks/service marks of Clairvoyante, Inc. PenTile is a registered trademark of Clairvoyante, Inc.
Corporate Contact
Rachel Peres
Clairvoyante
408.200.7393
rperes@clairvoyante.com
Media Contact
Marion Margiotta
YRG Communications
503.222.0626
mmargiotta@yrgcommunications.com
Sales Contact
Won-Ho Kim
Sales Dep., Silicon Works Co., Ltd.
+82–42–480–3883
kwh001@siliconworks.co.kr">
Technical Contact
Hyun-Kyu Jeon
R&D center, Silicon Works Co., Ltd.
82.42.480.3837
hkjeon@ siliconworks.co.kr
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