Canon has invested £900 million in developing surface-conduction electron-emitter displays, or SEDs.

The SED technology, which the company has developed in conjunction with Toshiba, will allow Canon to enter the burgeoning flat panel TV display market.

SED technology is thought to allow images of superior quality to liquid crystal or plasma screens while using far less power.

Canon chief Fujio Mitarai says he hopes the screens will be available for about the same price as LCD and plasma TVs of comparable size.

Mr Mitarai told CNNMoney.com: "In the near future SED displays will serve as an image and information window in living rooms, linked through a wireless connection with digital cameras, digital video camcorders, printers, and other imaging devices."

Mr Mitarai is hopeful of producing three million panels a year and owning at least 20 per cent of the global market for flat-screen TVs by 2010.

SED is created through sandwiching two glass plates together, with a vacuum between them. Beads of palladium are then dotted on the inner plate, while the outside plate is a matrix of coloured phosphor dots and a transparent electrode.

When a current is passed through the palladium beads during manufacture, in the presence of a hydrocarbon gas, the beads split open to form a carbon-coated gap just a few nanometres wide. In operation, electrons fired from the bead excite the phosphor dots to form an image.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd