Notebook and color phone displays could be more vivid and suck up less power, and mobile phone base stations could be cut down to shoebox size, with an old semiconductor material that's attracting new interest, researchers said here Tuesday in a session at the Comdex trade show.
Gallium nitride, or GaN, first used in labs more than 30 years ago, is now used commercially for blue semiconductor lasers that can read high-capacity disks called Blu-Ray DVDs. Within a few years it should become a practical material for LCD backlights, wireless communications processors, and even devices that detect dangerous biological materials such as anthrax, the panelists said.
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