Nanoscience and nanotechnology: Two new exciting fields for future display applications

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 over the next two years. The National Science Foundation predicts that the market for nanotechnology products and services in the US alone 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. This paper presents 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.