Samsung Electronics will unveil this weekend the first prototype of a new LCD technology that won't be on the market until around 2011. The "Blue Phase" screen is designed to offer a more natural display of moving images. Samsung will show it at a conference of the Society of Information Display (SID) starting Sunday in Los Angeles. Most current TV screens are refreshed 50 or 60 times per second -- a rate that suits most situations except fast moving images, which can sometimes appear jagged or jumpy. A newer generation of panels, now finding favor among many of the latest TV sets and computer monitors, doubles this rate to 100 or 120 times per second so that the fast moving images appear to move more naturally. Samsung's prototype Blue Phase display doubles the refresh rate again to 240 times per second. The liquid crystals used in the Blue Phase display will make screens easier and cheaper to produce, said Samsung. They will also require less in the way of driver electronics. Samsung said it plans to begin mass producing Blue Phase LCD panels in 2011.

Developed with an extremely cost-efficient design, Samsung's Blue Phase mode does not require liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike today's most widely used LCD modes such as Twisted Nematic, In-Plane Switching or Vertical Alignment,. This new Blue Phase mode can make its own alignment layers, eliminating the need any mechanical alignment and rubbing processes. This reduces the number of required fabrication processes, resulting in considerably savings on production costs. Additionally, Blue Phase panels will reduce the possibility of bruising the LCD panel interface whereby pressure on the screen can impair uniform brightness.

Overdrive circuits are currently applied to each LCD panel to improve the video image quality in premium LCD TVs, which are driven at 120Hz. The Blue Phase mode features a superior response rate, allowing images to be reproduced at 240Hz or higher without the need for any overdrive circuit. The term “Blue Phase” was coined when the technology's developers observed bluish hues while watching their new liquid crystal mode in operation.