Display Suppliers Seeking to Crack Cellphone Market

Microdisplay developers Syndiant and Microvison are working with direct-green laser suppliers, many of which began aggressively shopping their wares earlier this year, executives said. They said addition of a direct green laser as replacement for frequency-doubled synthetic versions Microvision previously used will lower costs and improve performance, two areas cellular carriers previously found problematic.

Syndiant at CES showed versions of its 0.37-inch microdisplay with 800x600 resolution paired with green lasers from Nichia and Osram, CEO Mark Harward said. Syndiant is planning to add a 720p version of a 0.28- and a 0.37-inch microdisplay, the latter to start sampling late this year. Microvision has been in talks with five potential suppliers, including Osram, which previously supplied it with frequency-doubled green lasers, CEO Alexander Tokman said. Microvision also postponed plans for a 720p version of its MEMs scanning displays until 2012 to coincide with the arrival of direct green lasers, Tokman said.

The embedded market for so-called pico projectors is expected to rise to 20.4 million units by 2015 from 1.24 million this year, according to Pacific Media Associates. The biggest jump will be between 2012 and 2013, when sales rise to 13.3 million units from 7.55 million, Pacific Media said. The direct green lasers will enable display suppliers to shrink engine sizes by 40 percent, double brightness to 20 to 30 lumens, improve resolution to 720p and bring the cost of adding the technology at the low-end into the $20 to $30 range, executives said. The processors needed to power the displays will likely be in the 1 GHz range, said Tokman, whose company sources chips from Toshiba and STMicroelectronics. The green lasers will likely fall in the 50-100 milliwatt range, Harward said.

Embedded displays are “going through the same cycle” as digital cameras, which became cellphone staples at a variety of prices including $20 to $30 for adding an eight- to 12-megapixel version, Tokman said. “Displays inside a cellphone will be a better product proposition for mobile operators than a digital camera, which doesn’t help anyone but the consumer and the manufacturer,” Tokman said. The embedded display will allow a cellular carrier to sell more services, including potentially video-on-demand, as data rates increase, he said.

Microvision is trying to regain its footing after frequency-doubled green laser supplier Corning dropped the product after suffering low yields. Microvision customer NionCom, which placed an $11.9 million order last year for the company’s PicoP display engines, postponed delivery of its MemoryKick device again, this time to the second half of 2011, Tokman said. The MemoryKick, which also features a built-in 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen LCD, five megapixel camera and Wi-Fi, was originally due last September. As a result of the delay, Microvision removed the MemoryKick from its back orders, which were $1.5 million at the end of Q1, the company said. Microvision also has an agreement with Pioneer to deliver a direct green laser-based heads up display for automotive applications in 2012. Microvision previously worked with automotive parts supplier Visteon on a similar product, but that project was discontinued, Tokman said.

To boost R&D, Microvision recently opened a center in Singapore as part of a venture with Namyang Technological University. It also received additional funding in agreeing to sell Azimuth Opportunity Ltd. 21 million shares over a 24-month period for $40 million. Azimuth struck a similar stock purchase agreement with Microvision in August. Microvision underwent a round of restructuring earlier this year, cutting its workforce to 110 from 150, Tokman said.