January 17, 2008	HDTV: The race begins...
November  8, 2007	SID-NE Panel Discussion Solid State Backlight Units for LCD
October 11, 2007	Toward large area electronics: Fabrication of high performance thin film transistors using low temperature processing
September 20, 2007	Warping technology enables affordable Scalable Displays
June 14, 2007	QD-LEDs: Update on the state-of-the-art
May 10, 2007	PhlatLight: the most powerful LED in the world
April 12, 2007	Expanded Color Gamuts for Displays
March 15, 2007	Advances in Microencapsulated Electrophoretic Displays
February 15, 2007	Semiconductors for Integrated Digital Televisions
January 25, 2007	Ultra-miniature projector: A high resolution, battery powered laser display
December 14, 2006	Optically Efficient Displays and Solid-State Lighting Systems Using Anisotropic Polymer Films
November 9, 2006	Electronic Displays in the Operating Room Engineering New Functional Display 'Skins' for Medical Simulation Manikins Liquid Crystal Lasers for Active Display Backplanes
February 23, 2006	Eliminating Motion Blur Artifacts in LCDs for TV Applications
January 26, 2006	Perspectives on Materials and Processes for Realization of Flexible Displays
November 10, 2005	Analysis of Multi-dimensional data sets for 3D visualization during image guided interventions
March 10, 2005	Analysis of Multi-dimensional data sets for 3D visualization during image guided interventions
January 20, 2005	The Design and Application of Flat Panel Displays for Medical Applications
December 2, 2004	Polymers behind the scenes:  On how structured polymers improve your displays
October 20, 2004	Optical Bonding of LCDs
January 29, 2004	Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: Two New Exciting Fields for Future Display Applications
December 3, 2003	Soft Materials and Patterning Techniques for Active Matrix Display Circuits
November 12, 2003	An Introduction to High Brightness LCDs
October 16, 2003	Organic Nanstructured Devices in Display Applications
September 18, 2003	Controlling Where the Chips Fall: Novel Nanomaterials from Molecular Disks presentation slides now available
July 17, 2003	View-Sequential Displays & Related Work from the Spatial Imaging Group at MIT
May 5, 2003	Flexible Displays Panel Discussion
February 13, 2003	"Mammography screening for early detection of breast cancer has not lived up to expectations What is to blame - the biology or the technology?"
January 14, 2003	True, Spatial 3D Actuality's Perspecta™ 3D System: Design and Applications
September 24, 2002	The Future for Plastic Displays  - A summary of the enabling research at Brown University *** PLUS! *** Build Your Own TN Cell  - The Martha Stewart LCD Workshop

 

 

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1/17/2008

New England Chapter Society for Information Display - Annual Dinner & Technical Meeting - Thursday January 17, 2008 Technical Presentation HDTV: The race begins... Abstract For the better part of 75 years, analog and CRT-based television dominated the world of home video entertainment. Spurred by government mandate and newer display technologies, the past 5 years has seen a massive switch to high definition digital TV. While many argue that this transition to HDTV is an endgame that will extend for several decades, this talk will expose realities that suggest HDTV is still very much in its infancy and that we will witness massive changes in home entertainment in the years to come. With a view to the future, this talk will take a pragmatic look at current market trends in terms of TV technology, ongoing standards battles, environmental activism, higher and higher display-related performance levels, 3DTV, and the ongoing question of convergence between the CE/PC industries. Featured Speaker Mr. Mark Fihn, Publisher & Editor-in-chief, Veritas et Visus Mark Fihn is publisher & editor-in-chief at Veritas et Visus, which provides in depth news and information about several focused topics in the display industry. Five topics currently are the bedrock for the Veritas et Visus newsletters: Flexible displays, Display-related standards and regulations, 3D displays, High resolution displays, and Touch panels. Prior to Veritas et Visus, Mark worked for three years at the market research firm DisplaySearch. He additionally participated for 15 years in computer system and LCD-related procurement and strategy at Texas Instruments and Dell while living in the United States and Taiwan. He has been active in many display-related areas, most specifically in publicly championing industry-wide adoption of high resolution displays, notebook LCD standardization and video sub-system integration. Mark was educated at St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota), the American Graduate School of International Management (Phoenix, Arizona), St. Edward's University (Austin, Texas), and in the University of Texas at Austin's doctoral program in International Business. Most recently, Mark has been an active supporter and lecturer at the DisplayMasters degree program in the UK, contributing course lectureships at Cambridge University, Dundee University and The Nottingham-Trent University.

 

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11/8/2007

Happy Halloween everyone. We have a great and timely panel discussion on Solid State backlights for LCD panels, lined up next week at MIT. Four industry thought leaders will be joining us. We expect that the audience and SID officers will also actively participate. Please bring your questions and plan on attending. I will sadly be traveling next week, but the rest of SID New England team is looking forward to seeing you there. Brad SID-NE Panel Discussion Solid State Backlight Units for LCD Panelists: Jed Dorsheimer - Principal, Sr. Analyst at Canaccord Adams Reed Killion - CEO of UniPixel Alexei Erchak - CTO of Luminus Devices Zane Coleman - VP of Technology of FusionOptix Location: MIT Haus Room, 36-428, 60 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139 Logistics: Thursday November 8, 2007 Pizza and drinks start at 6:30pm Panel starts at 7pm Parking: The East Lot (on Main Street between Vassar and Ames Street) is open after 6:00PM. Vassar and Albany Streets have parking, as well as at the Bank of America lot (free after 4pm) on the corner of Mass Ave. and Vassar St. http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=P9&Parking=go Background: The current display market is growing at an explosive rate, raising the importance of LCD back light units (BLUs) which represent anywhere from 10-35% of LCD cost of goods. Just a few years ago 100% of BLUs utilized cold cathode fluorescent (CCFL) light sources, but as of today a large number have already shifted to light emitting diodes (LEDs) - by some reports 100% of LCD displays <4" in diagonal. LCDs incorporating LED BLUs have advantages such as a high color gamut, high contrast ratio, slimness, and environmental friendliness; hence, LED BLUs are predicted to take a very important role in LCD product competitiveness in the near future. However, there are a number of challenges for LED BLUs. Some LED BLU-based products have hit the market, but most of them are still having numerous problems with performance and pricing, and notably, some products which have been launched in haste prior to technology perfection have not met expectations of consumers who were deeply interested in the LED BLU color capability. LED BLUs are predicted to offer attractive prices with diverse performance benefits that cannot be achieved with CCFL BLUs, and starting with notebook PC this year, the LED BLU market will probably expand to monitor and TV segments next year. This panel discussion will seek to shed light both on how far LED-BLUs have come to date and the challenges of the near future.

 

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10/11/2007

Toward large area electronics: Fabrication of high performance thin film transistors using low temperature processing

When: Thursday, October 11th, Pizza @ 6:30pm, Presentation @ 7:00pm

Where: Brown University

Barus & Holley building, 1st floor

Pizza will be served.

 

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9/20/2007

Warping technology enables affordable Scalable Displays

When: Thursday, September 20th, Pizza @ 6:30pm, Presentation @ 7:00pm

 

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Joint Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation of the
New England Chapter & Brown University Student Branch of the Society for Information Display

— When and Where? —
November 9th at 6:30 PM
Brown University
Barus and Holley Lobby and
Charles H. Giancarlo Engineering Laboratories, Room 190
182 Hope Street Providence, RI 02912

— Technical Presentation Overview —

This meeting will be a showcase of the numerous display related research topics currently under investigation at Brown University. The meeting will begin with a poster session and will be highlighted by three oral presentations, as described below. A tour of the Display & Photonics Laboratory will be offered for interested guests at the conclusion of the meeting.

— Program Abstract —

Electronic Displays in the Operating Room Dr. Francois Luks The general field of surgery has experienced a revolution of sorts, with the advent and widespread adoption of laparoscopy and other minimally invasive procedures. From orthopedic surgery (arthroscopy) to gastroenterology (colonoscopy, gastroscopy), neurosurgery, transplant surgery and interventions on the fetus, more than half the operations performed today rely on the electronic display of an anatomic image, rather than a direct view of the operative field. The operative display has evolved from the simple cathode ray monitor 15 years ago, to experimentation with 3-D imaging, robotic telescope arms, flat screen technology, image display goggles and other devices to improve the visual experience and hand-eye coordination of surgeons. The main driving forces behind current and future surgical imaging technology are the need for improved ergonomics for the surgeon, detailed/magnified visual fields, in-line projection of the image, tremor- and motion cancellation and, where possible, the merger of preoperative imaging within the operative field. Engineering New Functional Display "Skins" for Medical Simulation Manikins Dean Gregory P. Crawford Flexible, visual, and mechanically responsive liquid crystal displays are being developed for a medical training mannequin skin in order to emulate various human ailments mainly through vital signs. The simulation skin incorporates three skin mimicking technologies: color changing, "bump" development, and hair-raising. The liquid crystal and materials properties being developed for this unique optically and physically active display will be presented. Liquid Crystal Lasers for Active Display Backplanes Scott Woltman Liquid crystal based lasers are rapidly becoming an interesting tool as these systems depart from the realm of basic research and enter the domain of applications. One potential application of liquid crystal lasers are for use as emissive multi-color back planes in display applications. The fundamentals of the liquid crystal laser and their applications display applications will be discussed.

— About the Speakers —

Francois Luks, M.D., Ph.D is Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Brown Medical School and a pediatric surgeon at Hasbro Children's Hospital. He holds a B.S. in Medical Sciences and an M.D. from the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and completed his general surgical training in New York (Cornell University affiliate). He obtained further training in pediatric surgery at the University of Montreal and spent a research fellowship at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) developing videoscopic imaging and surgical techniques of the fetus (his PhD thesis was entitled "A model for fetal surgery through intrauterine endoscopy"). Dr. Luks has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. He has been a faculty member at Brown and Hasbro Children's Hospital for 12 years, and specializes in minimally invasive abdominal and thoracic surgery in infants and children. He is the Director of the Brown Program in Fetal Medicine and teaches Introduction to Fetal Medicine to medical and undergraduate students. Since 2000, the Fetal Treatment Program, of which he is the Co-Director, has been offering fetal surgical interventions, one of only a handful such centers around the country. Gregory P. Crawford, Ph.D holds a joint appoint as Professor within the Division of Engineering and the Department of Physics at Brown University; he is currently serving as Dean of the Division of Engineering. His basic research interests include liquid crystals, polymers, and their application in electro-optic devices for displays, telecommunications and integrated optics. He was formally a member of the research staff at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and later dpiX, where he concentrated on liquid crystals and polymers materials for flat panel display applications. He received his B.S. in both Physics and Mathematics and a Ph.D. from Kent State University where he performed his doctoral research at the Liquid Crystal Institute and NSF ALCOM Center. He has over 200 research publications, review articles and book chapters, holds 14 US patents, and is the coeditor of the book entitled Liquid Crystals in Complex Geometries formed by Polymer and Porous Networks and is editor of the book Flexible Flat Panel Displays. He is a fellow of the Society for Information Display. Scott J. Woltman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics at Brown University. His basic research interests include the use of dye-doped liquid crystal and polymer photonic crystal structures as lasers and the investigation of liquid crystal systems with the nuclear magnetic resonance technique. Mr. Woltman received his B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Sc.M. from Brown University. He has authored or co-authored 8 papers and presented at numerous conferences during his tenure as a graduate student. He has spear-headed the effort to have SID formally recognize the Brown University Student Branch of the SID, of which he is currently serving as Chair.

 

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Chapter Meeting and Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When and Where? —
Thursday February 23rd 2006 at 7:00 PM
Teradyne
1st Floor Conference Room
321 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA

 — Technical Presentation Overview —

Eliminating Motion Blur Artifacts in LCDs for TV Applications

— Featured Speaker—

Kenneth Werner,
Senior Analyst, Insight Media
Editor, Insight Media's Display Watch and MDTV Retailer

— Program Abstract —

At least since the time when the graphical user interface first became popular and rapid mouse movement caused the mouse cursor to "submarine" - or disappear from the screen until the mouse motion slowed down - motion blur has been an issue in LCDs. For years it was believed that the solution lay exclusively in speeding up the response time of the liquid-crystal cells. But motion blur continued to be objectionable even after response time became so short that blur should not have been visible. We will bring the story up to date by reviewing the modern two-cause explanation of motion blur, and modern approaches to solving the problem: response-time compensation (overdriving), blinking backlights, dynamic backlights, black data insertion, gray data insertion, and frame-rate doubling. Improvements in this area would be difficult to gauge without a reliable way to measure motion blur, so the development of the "moving picture response time" (MPRT) metric and the test sets that measure it are an important part of our story.

— About Our Speaker —

Kenneth I. Werner is Senior Analyst for Insight Media, which provides display intelligence through newsletters, research reports, conferences, and consulting services to companies in the information display and related industries, and to companies using, integrating, and selling displays. He is the founder of Nutmeg Consultants, whose personnel and programs became part of Insight Media in 2005, and was the Editor of Information Display Magazine from 1987 to 2005. Currently, he is Editor of Insight Media's Display Watch and HDTV Retailer. Mr. Werner has become recognized as an authority on the display industry. He regularly addresses technical and trade organizations in North America, Europe, and Asia, and is routinely consulted by brokers, analysts, members of the international press corps, and companies entering or repositioning themselves in the industry. He speaks frequently with senior corporate and technology executives of large, mid-sized, and small display-related companies in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, as well as government officials and academic researchers. At BRDisplay II (July 2004, Recife, Brazil), he served as a consultant to the working groups developing a national strategy for the growth of display-related industry in Brazil and wrote the introduction to their report. Mr. Werner began his career as a semiconductor device design engineer for RCA. He holds a B.A. in physics from Rutgers University and an M.S. in solid-state physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has taken graduate management courses at the University of Connecticut. He has been an active participant in the display industry since 1987. In the last few years Mr. Werner has given keynote presentations at MicroDisplay 2001 (Westminster, Colorado), LCD/PDP International 2001 (Yokohama, Japan), and InfoDisplay VI (October 2003, Fortaleza, Brazil), and invited presentations at the winter Consumer Electronics Show 2002 (Las Vegas, Nevada), the International Display Manufacturing Conference 2002 (Seoul, Korea), the SID Korea Chapter Seminars (August 2002, Seoul, Korea), the Liquid Crystal Institute (November 2002, Kent, Ohio), and BRDisplay I (April 2004, Campinas, Brazil). His most recent invited paper was "Current Strategies for Eliminating Motion Blur in LCD Television," presented at IMID 2005 in Seoul, Korea. He was one of the referees for the Display Invention Competition held in August 2003 in Korolev, Russia, and he moderated the evening panel sessions at ASID 2004 (Nanjing, China) and ADEAC 2004 (Fort Worth, Texas). Mr. Werner is a founding partner of Chorus Consulting, a government-registered Korean company dedicated to forging mutually productive technology and business relationships among Asian, American, and European display-related companies. He is a member of the Society for Information Display and IEEE, and is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the award-winning IEEE Circuits & Devices magazine.

 

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Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter & Brown University Student Chapter of the Society for Information Display 

— When & Where? —

Thursday December 2nd at 6:30 PM 
Brown University 
Charles H. Giancarlo Engineering Laboratories, Room 190 
182 Hope Street 
Providence, RI 02912

— Technical Presentation Overview —

We are privileged this month to have Dr. Dick J. Broer of Philips Research, Eindhoven, as our speaker. Dick is a pioneer and world leader in the use of polymers in display technologies. This is a great opportunity to meet one of the most influential scientists in the LCD display community today.

Polymers behind the scenes: 
On how structured polymers improve your displays 

— Featured Speaker —

Dr. Dick J. Broer 

Program Abstract 

Functional polymers have become essential in the functioning and performance of many ICT products among which information displays. Special polymers have been constructed with an accurate control over their morphology to a size down to the wavelength of light. These polymers improve liquid crystal displays on eye-catching properties like brightness and viewing angle. In addition the improved energy efficiency is crucial for the mobile communication equipment in today's information society. Often the appropriate structures are obtained by the combination of bottom-up and top- down structuring techniques. The self-assembling ability of liquid crystals (bottom-up) is utilized to control the molecular organization in the polymeric materials. However by combining it with other structuring techniques such as lithographic or holographic exposure to UV light, special interactions with pretreated surfaces, etc. (top-down) enables the formation of large display components with (sub)pixel structures and optimized for their integration in newer display designs. 

— About Our Speaker —

Dr. Broer, with Philips Research since 1973, has a broad expertise in organic materials, e.g. in liquid-crystal (LC) polymers, optical films for LCDs, optical components for LC projection TV, optical fibers for telecommunication, optical data storage, and various coatings and adhesives. In 1996, he received the Gilles Holst Award at Philips Research Eindhoven. As Senior Scientist and Vice President of Research, Dick now manages research projects on display materials, display optics and camera optics. He is also Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

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Chapter Business and Technical Meeting

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Wednesday October 20, 2004 at 6:30 pm 
KSW Displays 
410 Great Road, Littleton, MA 
Phone: (978)-742-4900

— Business Meeting Agenda —

1) Consider for nomination the proposed slate of Chapter Officers for the ’04 – ’05 season 
2) Discuss and solicit suggestions for upcoming chapter technical meetings 
3) Consider any other new business as appropriate

— Technical Program Topic —

Optical Bonding of LCDs

— Featured Speaker —

Ronald C. Robinder, Ph. D. 
Chief Technical Officer 
General Digital Optical Bonding Laboratories 
General Digital Corporation

Program Abstract

Optical Bonding allows the addition of overlay components to LCDs without the loss of light output and contrast. By using an adhesive whose optical index of refraction is close to that of glass, it is possible to eliminate the interface reflections from the intermediate layers, ending with a package in which the only optical surface between the active layer of the LCD and the viewer is the outermost surface. Such bonding also increases the ruggedness of the display for shock and vibration.

In this talk, the speaker will describe the optical principle involved with the use of bonding, considering the effect of Fresnel reflection at the interfaces. Various designs of bonds will be presented, as well as alternative materials. Finally a description of his company’s patent–applied-for design of the XO-Fraim™ ultrarugged bond configuration will be provided.

In addition to the presentation, several product demonstrations will be available and refreshments will be provided.

— About Our Speaker —

Dr. Robinder has spent many years in the display industry working first with CRT technology for such companies as Tektronix, Raytheon and Zenith Electronics. Once it became obvious that flat panel technology was maturing to the point that high information-content displays could be made at reasonable cost, he became a convert, working for Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems, Smiths Industries and SI Diamond Technology (now Nano Proprietary, Inc.). His experience in optical bonding technology began in the 1960s with bonding of light plates to oscilloscope CRTs that eventually led him to General Digital Corporation. As Chief Technology Officer of GDC Optical Bonding Laboratories, he is responsible for the general oversight of the optical enhancements developments. Ron holds a Ph D and Masters Degree from Duke University and 15+ patents, either issued or applied for.

Technical Meeting and Annual Dinner

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Thursday January 29, 2004 
Sheraton Framingham Hotel 
1657 Worcester Road 
Framingham, Massachusetts 
Phone: (508) 879-7200

— Program Topic —

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: Two New Exciting Fields for Future Display Applications

— Featured Speaker —

Dr. Zvi Yaniv, President & CEO 
Applied Nanotech, Inc.

Program Abstract

Though just two years ago nanoparticles and nanotechnology were little more than a blip on the industrial applications radar, over $1 billion in annual venture capital is expected to be invested in the field in the next 2 years. The National Science Foundation predicts that the market for nanotechnology products and services in the US only will conservatively reach $1 trillion by 2015. Next year, the US Government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative has proposed to spend over $500 million on nanoparticles and nanotechnology research and development.

Recently, highly luminescent silicon nanocrystals with discrete optical transitions were produced utilizing a very simple synthetic method. Stable silicon nanocrystals were manufactured that show blue, green and red luminescence at room temperature.

The talk will present the optical properties of these silicon nanocrystals as an exciting potential material for display and other optoelectronic applications. A number of nanotechnologies applied in the display field such as guest host LCDs, PDLCs and stabilized cholesteric materials, electrophoretic inks, the new Optiva polarizers and carbon nanotube field emission displays will be discussed.

— About Our Speaker —

Dr. Zvi Yaniv is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Nano-Proprietary, Inc. (NPI) and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Nanotech, Inc. in Austin, TX, guiding the company to become a leader in the display industry utilizing electron field emission from carbon films/carbon nanotubes.

Dr. Yaniv is an authority in electro-optics, liquid crystal technology, amorphous semiconductors, technology commercialization and business management. He has published over 100 articles, holds more than 50 patents, and has extensive contacts in the U.S., Europe, Israel and the Far East.

Dr. Zvi Yaniv was a founder of Kent Display Systems in Kent, Ohio, the "no-power" reflective LCD Company and of OIS Optical Imaging Systems, Inc. in Novi, Michigan. As President and CEO of OIS, Inc., he led the company during its years of development and initial commercialization of advanced active matrix liquid crystal displays and amorphous silicon image sensors. While at OIS, Dr. Yaniv was one of the founders of Unipac, currently one of the premier display companies in Taiwan.

Earlier, Dr. Yaniv held ranking positions with the Practical Engineering College, Beer-Sheeba; National Institute for Technical Training, Tel-Aviv; and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Dr. Yaniv holds a B.Sc. in physics/mathematics and a M.Sc. in electro-optics with distinction from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and earned a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in physics at Kent State University. He has received awards from both universities and the Scientific Research Society. Dr. Yaniv is a member of the Board of Directors of SIDT, Inc. and of the Society for Information Display (SID). In May 1989, Dr. Yaniv was elected Fellow of the Society for Information Display for "his innovation and leadership in the development of large area high performance active matrix LCDs and scanners." As a member of the SID, Dr. Yaniv founded two chapters of the Americas Region: the Metropolitan Detroit and the Texas Chapters and served as director of these chapters for more than ten years.

In March 2000, Dr. Yaniv was nominated and he accepted the honorific title of Senior Research Fellow of the IC2 Institute of University of Texas.

Dr. Yaniv can be contacted through his company:

Applied Nanotech, Inc. 
3006 Longhorn Blvd., Suite 107 Austin, TX 78758

Phone: 512-339-5020 ext. 103 Fax: 512-339-5021 
Email: zyaniv@appliednanotech.net  

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Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Wednesday December 3rd at 7:00 PM 
Brown University 
Charles H. Giancarlo Engineering Laboratories, Room 190 
182 Hope Street 
Providence, RI 02912

— Program Topic —

Soft Materials and Patterning Techniques for Active Matrix Display Circuits

— Featured Speaker —

Prof. John Rogers 
Founder Professor of Engineering 
University of Illinois At Urbana/Champaign

Program Abstract

Organic and molecular materials may play key roles in new, emerging areas of electronics, photonics and nanotechnology. Additive printing and lamination techniques can be used directly with these classes of 'soft' materials to build unusual devices with dimensions deep into the nanometer regime. This talk describes these methods and illustrates their use in fabricating organic transistors, circuits that incorporate them and prototype systems, such as electronic paper-like displays, that demonstrate some potential applications.

— About Our Speaker —

John A. Rogers, obtained BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989. He received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry in 1992 and the PhD degree in physical chemistry in 1995, all from MIT. From 1995 to 1997, Rogers was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in the Condensed Matter Physics Research Department in 1997,and served as Director of this department from 2000-2002. He is currently Founder Professor of Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, where he pursues his research interests in methods for micro/nanofabrication, plastic and molecular electronics, photonics.

Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Thursday November 12th at 7:00 PM 
KSW Displays 
410 Great Road, Littleton, MA

— Technical Presentation Overview —

— Program Topic —

An Introduction to High Brightness LCDs

view presentation (PDF)

— Featured Speaker —

Brad Harkavy, President, Vert Inc.

Program Abstract

Brad Harkavy will review the fundamental design principals, decisions, issues and economics of creating 1000 Nit and greater LCDs displays. Various commercial applications of high brightness displays will be discussed. The talk is intended as a primer to help engineers make intelligent decisions on constructing sunlight readable LCD based systems.

In addition to this presentation, several working demonstrations of high brightness LCD displays will be shown. These displays will represent a range of commercially available techniques, services and products.

— About Our Speaker —

Brad Harkavy has 18 years of technical and management experience bringing new companies and products to life. Brad was the CEO of Vert Inc from 2000 – 2003 where he reported to the board of directors, and had full P&L responsibility for a startup, location based display hardware/software media company. He revitalized the company by raising $500,000+ of angel funding in seven weeks and eventually raising $6.5 million dollars from institutional and private investors. He brought the initial product to market and oversaw the successful positioning of the company as a systems infrastructure provider and tapping Clear Channel Communications as an exclusive sales arm for Vert products in the United States. Brad was personally featured on television and 20+ publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to starting up Vert, Brad was a Product Marketing Manager for GSI Lumonics Inc. (formerly General Scanning Inc.), Brad had complete product responsibility for several complex automated electro-mechanical systems. While associated with GSI, he was responsible for managing applications software, product development, and sales of the company’s major offerings. Chief among these was the M310 Laser Trim Product Line. Under Brad’s management the M310 product line’s yearly revenue grew from 0 to $21,000,000 in five years.

Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Thursday October 16th at 6:00 PM 
MIT, Building 34, Room 401 
50 Vassar St, Cambridge, MA

— Technical Presentation Overview —

After a highly successful and well-received presentation, on novel carbon nanomaterials by Professor Bob Hurt, last month we continue this years themes of high brightness displays and nanomaterials. This months speaker will be Professor Vladimir Bulovic of MIT. Details of the talk are below and as always we look forward to seeing you there.

— Program Topic —

Organic Nanstructured Devices in Display Applications

— Featured Speaker —

Professor Vladimir Bulovic

Program Abstract

Luminescence of doped organic thin films and organic/inorganic assemblies is governed by the nanoscale structure of the constituent materials. The talk will describe the challenges and benefits of implementing nanoscale materials in active devices, highlighing large area nanostructuring processes as the key to formation of practical structures. Using optical feedback schemes for compensating differential aging in OLED displays will also be discussed.

— About Our Speaker —

Vladimir Bulovic' is the KDD Career Development Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a B.S.E in Electrical Engineering in 1991 and Ph.D in 1998 from Princeton University. Prior to joining MIT, he was a Senior Scientist and Project Head of Strategic Technology Development at Universal Display Corporation (UDC) where he developed the application of organic materials to light emitting and photosensitive devices.

web link: http://www.rle.mit.edu/organic/faculty.html 

At MIT his research interests include studies of physical properties of organic and organic/inorganic nanodot composite thin films and structures, and development of novel optoelectronic organic and hybrid nano-scale devices. He has authored over 35 research papers and has over 25 issued patents in the areas of organic LEDs, lasers, photodetectors, memories, and nanostructured devices.

Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Thursday, September 18th at 6:00PM
Brown University, Division of Engineering, Room 190
182 Hope Street, Providence, RI, 02912

— Technical Presentation Overview —

The Society for Information Display is exceptional in it's broad scope encompassing research ranging from new materials to novel displays to human factors. We have strived this year to put together a program which retains this breadth but at the same time focuses on two exciting areas: nanomaterials; and high brightness displays. We will kick off this years seminar series with a talk on the fundamentals of structure in nanomaterials and this theme will continue at our January dinner with a broad brush stroke presentation on nanomaterials in displays. Our high brightness theme will be covered in October and November with talks from Professor Vladimir Bulovic of MIT on OLEDS and Brad Harkavy of Vert on high brightness displays. Professor Robert Hurt of Brown University will be our first speaker of the session on September 18th (details below) and we look forward to seeing you all there.

— Program Topic —

Controlling Where the Chips Fall:
Novel Nanomaterials from Molecular Disks

view presentation (PDF)

— Featured Speaker —

Professor Bob Hurt

Program Abstract

Nano structured materials are revolutionizing displays. Solid films from discotic liquid crystalline materials are now widely used in viewing angle compensation films while nanotubes are being exploited for field emission displays. This talk will focus on some fundamental aspects of self assembled nanostructures and novel patterning techniques for large polyaromatic compounds.

Large polyaromatic compounds are molecular disks capable of assembly into a variety of supramolecular structures with directional properties. Of particular interest are the thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystalline phases of these materials, which combine high molecular mobility with well-defined assembly rules on surfaces and in confined spaces. Because polyaromatics possess a multi-ring kernel that is like a finite "snippet" of the graphite basal plane, novel carbon materials can be produced by "covalent capture" of these supramolecular disk assemblies using thermal polymerization.

At Brown we have used liquid crystal confinement to make novel organic and carbon materials including nanofibers, nanotubes, nanoribbons, and orientationally patterned films. We will discuss the synthesis, structure, and potential applications of these nanomaterials, which differ from "conventional" carbon nanomaterials in important ways.

— About Our Speaker —

Professor Hurt received the Silver Medal of the Combustion Institute in Naples, Italy in 1996 and an NSF CAREER Award in the Thermal Sciences Program in the same year. He has given an invited review lecture on solid fuels at the 27th International Symposium on Combustion. He was Guest Editor of a special edition of the MRS Bulletin on Environmentally Conscience Materials and will be the technical program chair for the World Conference on Carbon to be held on the Brown campus in 2004. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Carbon and Combustion and Flame.

Before coming to Brown, Professor Hurt held positions in the Central Research and Development Division of Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany; and at the Combustion Research Facility of Sandia National laboratories in Livermore, California. His current research includes the study of novel self assembly methods of carbon materials to produce nanofibers, nanotubes, nanoribbons and orientationally patterned films.

Chapter Meeting & Technical Presentation

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— When & Where? —

Thursday, July 17th at 6:00PM
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Media Laboratory

— Overview —

At this meeting we will affirm the nominations for '03-'04 Chapter Officers and hear a technical presentation on the research being conducted in the Spatial Imaging Group, as well as see a new 3D display technology demonstration. Snacks & beverages will be served.

— Program Topic —

View-Sequential Displays & Related Work from the Spatial Imaging Group at MIT

— Featured Speakers —

Mr. Ollie Cossairt
Mr. Steven Smith

Program Abstract

The Cambridge-MIT View-Sequential Display allows three-dimensional content to be imaged with the same perspective, parallax, and binocular disparity information that objects in the real world naturally convey. The display offers the flexibility of imaging from three-dimensional graphic information that is stored as digital files. The image content can be represented in a manner that very closely matches the way we perceive objects in the real world.

We have built a new 3D display based on the research conducted at Cambridge University into View-Sequential 3D displays. View-Sequential Displays are multi-view, autostereoscopic, 3D displays which utilize a single modulation or emitter device to generate image information for every view. The means that it must generate image information extremely fast, since the information for each view must be updated at the temporal resolution of the eye (at least 50Hz).

Several view-sequential displays have been built in the past with very high speed Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors to generate the images and fast switching Ferroelectric shutters (FLCD5) to limit the viewing angle of each view. Our display uses the same optical design, but replaces the CRT device with a DLP projector developed by Texas Instruments and Vizta3D. The projector runs at 800 frames per second of 800x600 pixel, 15-bit color images. We use the projector to image 16 different views, each refreshed at 50Hz.

The advantage to using a DMD instead of a CRT is to increase brightness, resolution, and reduce size. Our hope is that this display will be developed into a prototype, which demonstrates the feasibility of building a more advanced version with more views, a bigger viewing zone, reduced size, and integrated interactive control. Ideally this system would be able to intercept data in real-time from software running on a desktop computer. In order to facilitate that, specialized hardware will have to be developed.

— Acknowledgements —

This work is a collaboration between Cambridge University Electrical Engineering Department and MIT Media Lab Spatial Imaging Group.  It is sponsored in part by the Digital Life Consortia and the Things That Think Consortia.  This work would not have been possible without the help of Vizta3D Inc.  To learn more, visit http://www.media.mit.edu/spi/.

Technical Meeting

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— Program Topic —

Flexible Displays Panel Discussion

— Moderator —

Kenneth Werner 
President, Nutmeg Consultants 
Editor, Information Display Magazine

— Contributing Panel Members —

Michael Hack 
VP of Strategic Product Development, Universal Display Corporation

Professor Gregory Crawford 
Associate Professor, Brown University

Michael McCreary
VP of Research & Development, E Ink Corporation

Monday March 5, 2003 
The Inn at Harvard 
1201 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard Square 
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
http://www.theinnatharvard.com 

Program Abstract

New developments in enabling technologies are making practical a wide range of flexible displays.  The panelists in this discussion are working at the very heart of these new advancements and will share their visions for flexible displays, applications, challenges, and their specific areas of focus. 

Following some introductory remarks from each panelist our moderator will challenge the panel with various issues and seek audience participation in what will certainly be a lively discussion.

Technical Meeting

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— Program Topic —

"Mammography screening for early detection of breast cancer has not lived up to expectations What is to blame - the biology or the technology?"

— Featured Speaker —

Dr. Michael Retsky
 -- Lecturer in Surgery at Harvard Medical School in the Surgical Research Department

Thursday February 13, 2003 
Boston Childrens Hospital, Enders Building Conference Room “Byers A&B” main floor 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

Program Abstract 

Film based mammography and the newer digital mammography are major growing applications of imaging in medicine. Recent reports have shown disappointing results (and resulting controversy) obtained from trials that used mammography to detect breast cancer at an earlier and supposedly more curable stage. Does the newest technology make mammography better, or is it part of the problem? Michael has written an invited review on this subject that will be published in the February 2003 issue of Current Opinions in Obstetrics and Gynecology. This presentation will cover the published research and explore the important issues raised.

— About Our Featured Speaker —

Dr. Retsky has had two overlapping careers, one in electron optics and the other in cancer research. He received his PhD in Physics (1974) from the University of Chicago specializing in electron optics and electron microscopy.

Dr. Retsky began his professional career working at Zenith Electronics in Chicago from 1964 to 1978 holding various positions including Manager of Electron Gun Engineering. From there he moved to HP in Colorado Springs from 1978 to 1986 working in their CRT display operations. From there, Dr. Retsky changed careers and took a position as Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. For a time he was Visiting Proffessor in the Department of Medical Oncology at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

Most recently, Dr. Retsky is owner and founder of Electron Optics Development Co., LLC, a small business startup that received 5 research grants in 2001. EODC is working on electron beam devices that use electrostatic deflection for medical, commercial, and military applications.

Technical Meeting

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— Program Topic —

True, Spatial 3D Actuality's Perspecta™ 3D System: Design and Applications

 — Featured Speaker — 

Mr. Gregg Favalora 
Founder, CTO, and VP Product - Actuality Systems, Inc.

Tuesday January 14, 2003
Sheraton Framingham Hotel 
1657 Worcester Road 
Framingham, Massachusetts 

Program Abstract 

Mr. Favalora will be presenting an overview of his firm's 3D-displaytechnology, Perspecta, which is a combination of software and hardware that generate spatial, 360-degree-viewable, auto-stereoscopic imagery. Applications include medical imaging, MCAD, military visualization, and oil & gas exploration.

The agenda includes a demo of the world's most advanced 3D display; a technical discussion of how it operates (software, hardware, and optics); and a hands-on demonstration of several applications.

The Perspecta(tm) display creates a 10"-diameter three-dimensional image withing a large Lexan dome, resulting from the world's record in spatial display resolution of 100 million voxels.

The Perspecta system is a combination of hardware and software. The hardware, known as a "multiplanar volumetric display," creates 3D imagery using persistence of vision. First, proprietary algorithms and an embedded graphics processing engine start with a 3D data set -- such as a picture of the human skull -- and slice it into 198 radially-disposed planes. Next, using a Texas Instruments DLP(tm) projector at 5,000 frames per second, these images are projected onto a diffusing screen rotating at 730 rpm. The result is a 3D image, refreshed at 24 volumes per second, which is visible 360 degrees around.

Other 3D display technologies use methods such as liquid crystal-based shutter goggles, lenticular displays, or other rotating-screen systems. Actuality's Perspecta platform is the world's highest-fidelity spatial 3D display. Goggles aren’t required to see the 3D effect, and it offers full parallax. Furthermore, Perspecta is based on open standards like OpenGL, so it seamlessly integrates into a host of existing applications for molecular modeling and MCAD.

— About Our Featured Speaker —

Gregg Favalora is co-founder, CTO, and VP of Platform Technology at Actuality Systems, Inc. Gregg began researching 3D displays in 1988. He graduated from Yale in 1996 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a master's in engineering sciences from Harvard in 1998. Gregg is a winner of the BFGoodrich / National Inventors Hall of Fame's Collegiate Inventor's Competition, is a $10k winner of the MIT $50k “Entrepreneurship Competition” , and is a member of Technology Review magazine's "TR100," a group of 100 of the top technologists under the age of 35. Gregg's research interests include spatial 3D displays, holographic video, and neuromorphic engineering. He holds three patents and has several pending in the fields of 3D display and optical networking.

— About Gregg’s Company —

Actuality Systems Inc. was founded 1997 by Mr. Favalora to commercialize 3D display technology he had been researching since 1988. The company was founded with Rob Ryan, the former CEO of Ascend Communications, which was acquired by Lucent in 1999 in a deal valued at $24 billion. After three years developing proofs-of-concept and market research, Actuality got its formal start in January 2000 when it raised $1.5 million in seed funding from VCs and angel investors around the world. After two years of steady development, the firm has recruited a CEO - Cameron Lewis, who was one of the founders of McAfee.com and ran e-commerce at Netscape Corporation. With Cameron at the helm, Actuality is now shipping Perspecta(tm) 1.5 to customers at universities, government research laboratories, and the U.S. military.

Technical Meeting

New England Chapter Society for Information Display

— Program Topic —

The Future for Plastic Displays 
- A summary of the enabling research at Brown University

*** PLUS! ***

Build Your Own TN Cell 
- The Martha Stewart LCD Workshop

— Featured Speaker — 

Dr. Gregory P. Crawford
Associate Professor - Brown University

Tuesday September 24, 2002
Brown University, 
Charles H. Giancarlo Engineering Laboratories, Room 190 
182 Hope Street 
Providence, RI 02912

Program Abstract 

The advent of portable electronic devices has put an increasing premium on lightweight, durability, and inexpensive display components. Displays are currently manufactured on glass substrates but there are significant research and development efforts and manufacturing investments dedicated to creating a plastic and flexible display. Plastic displays promise lightweight, conformability, thin profiles, durability, flexibility, and high throughput manufacturing capability using roll-to-roll processing. The convergence of flexible substrate and reflective display technology are opening up many new and compelling product categories. The presentation will focus on our work at Brown University in the area of flexible substrate and reflective display technology; in particular the mechanics of indium-tin-oxide and conducting polymers on plastic, conformable display technology created from polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and reflective displays based on holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystals.

Extra Special Follow-on Activity

Have you ever wanted to build your own twisted nematic liquid crystal display (TN LCD)? - Here is your chance. After the presentation, a short LCD workshop will be held where participants will build their own single pixel, one by one inch twisted nematic test cell. Martha Stewart approved for do-it-yourselfers - "It's a good thing!" 

A short tour of the Brown facilities will also be offered to interested participants.

— About Our Featured Speaker —

Dr. Gregory P. Crawford is current an Associate Professor at Brown University where his basic research interests include liquid crystals, polymers, and their application in displays and telecommunication devices. In the summer of 1999, he was a visiting research Professor at Philips Research Laboratory (Natlab) in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. He was formally a member of the research staff at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and later dpiX, where he concentrated on liquid crystals and polymers materials for flat panel display applications. He received his B.S. in both Physics and Mathematics and a Ph.D. from Kent State University where he performed his doctoral research at the Liquid Crystal Institute and NSF ALCOM Center. He has over 150 research publications and holds >20 US and Foreign patents, and is the coeditor of the book entitled Liquid Crystals in Complex Geometries formed by Polymer and Porous Networks.