Spot the Difference

Researchers in the Photonics and Sensors Group of Electrical Engineering are not only concerned with making very large flat screen displays, but also in making them as small as possible. It is possible now to produce animated displays on screens as small as 15x15mm - not much bigger than your thumb nail.

Such 'microdisplays' combine silicon chip technology with liquid crystal displays to provide a very fast method of processing information. "A normal TV display shows images at a rate of around 25 frames per second, whilst these imaging systems can display at rates up to 44,000 frames per second, far faster than is possible with electronics" explains Dr Tim Wilkinson.

Click on the silicon chip above to see an animated display on its screen