Quantum Dot Technology On Its Way to Smartphones, Tablets and TVs

ust when you thought display technology could hardly get any better, along come quantum dots, making screens more colorful while consuming less power.

This is not just some pie-in-the-sky dream of scientists and geeks. Nanosys and 3M have put this Star Trek-like tech to work, and it's gone way beyond the experimental stage, to where it's now almost ready to be built into smartphones, tablets and TVs.

The two companies said in a press release they'll have samples available to manufacturers by the "late second quarter of this year," which means companies interested in using this technology in their screens might be getting their hands on it within five weeks or so.

What are quantum dots, anyway? They are light-emitting nanoparticles. What are quantum dots, anyway? They are light-emitting nanoparticles. They're so small that they measure just 2 to 10 nanometers in diameter, which is about the width of 50 atoms lined up next to each other. That's 10,000 times narrower than a human hair.

Another weird characteristic of these tiny points of light is their precisely controllable size, and as their size is changed, so is the wavelength of the light they emit. That means they can produce many more colors than conventional pixels, resulting in far more colorful screens. Read more…