Toshiba and Canon have detailed a 2007 deadline for the delivery of new palladium-based screen technology for the television mass market.

The pair will introduce the surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) models as a viable alternative to liquid crystal display (LCD) screens and plasma display panels (PDP) by the end of next year.

With the first screen expected to be ready for production in summer 2007, the screens should hit shelves by the following autumn, as manufacturers continue to seek ways of meeting the growing demand for home entertainment systems.

Flat-screen technology in particular has proved popular with consumers, with the added impetus of major sporting occasions tipped to reinforce the trend.

Events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the World Cup are seen as ideal drivers for take-up of the screens, with the two firms confident that SED will take hold with consumers.

Last week rival manufacturer LG Philips unveiled the world's largest LCD screen. The 100-inch screen is 18 inches larger than the biggest market competitor and is similar in size to the biggest PDP panels currently available.

Earlier this year Canon said it would be investing £900 million in developing SEDs, with the nascent technology set to take hold.

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