Toshiba and Matsushita Electric Industrial are to begin manufacturing next-generation displays for use in mobile phones and devices, at their joint plant by the second half of 2009.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co, the Japanese electronics makers’ joint venture set up in 2002, plans to invest about 15 billion yen ($140 million US Dollars) to make small and medium-size organic light-emitting diode, or OLED displays.

OLEDs use light-emitting organic compounds similar to those found in fireflies. TVs using OLED panels don’t require a backlight, and can be made thinner than those based on liquid crystal or plasma displays.

Company spokesman, Toshiyuki Yoshida, said that the investment is in anticipation of a move to the new technology from the now more common liquid crystal displays. He added that the investment was an estimate, and stressed that the details had not yet been decided.

Samsung SDI and Bundesdruckerei have developed an electronic passport featuring a slim and bendable AMOLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) display, that the companies believe will lead to faster identification at borders, better protection against forgery and greater information control for the document holder.

Display manufacturer Samsung SDI developed a robust colour display 300µm thick, comprising an active matrix with AMOLED. This means that an active electronic circuit with low power consumption is located behind every pixel of the display. The materials used for the display are heat-resistant, so that the passport card can be laminated and so protected against manipulation.

Even with the integrated display, the data page of the ePassport, which is made of polycarbonate, is just 700µm.

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