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Superquantum dots could be the next big (well, little) thing in TVs. At least that’s what Companies like TCL want you to believe. While “regular” quantum dots have dramatically improved the performance of LCD and OLED TVs, many of our picks for Best TV Use them to create bright, vibrant images, for example. Will SQDs offer any improvement or is this just marketing fluff?
As with most things tech, the answer is a little of both. While the name “super quantum dots” is a bit of a stretch, there are potential improvements in performance. Behind the scenes there are also some impressive, if you’re a geek like me, advancements in manufacturing that allow it to exist at all. Firstly though…
What is a quantum dot?
The size of a quantum dot determines the color it emits when supplied with energy. Currently this power is provided by blue LEDs or blue OLED displays.
Quick recap. Quantum dots They are microscopic particles with a remarkable ability: they can transform one color of light into another color of light with near-perfect efficiency. Currently, the most common use of quantum dots is to convert the blue light of blue LEDs, or OLEDs, into red and green.
While this is how the majority of quantum dot TVs work today, in the future there will be versions of QD that will Convert electricity into light directly (no LEDs needed) And also use Ultraviolet rays to create visible light.
Two vials of red and green quantum dots, illuminated by a blue/violet flashlight.
For more details, check out How quantum dots could challenge OLED for best TV picture, QD-OLED TV: Samsung and Sony take on LG with special Quantum Dot sauce and “Q” mode in QLEDs: where quantum dots are manufactured.
To understand the next part, the main thing you need to know is that the size of a quantum dot determines the color it emits. The smallest quantum dots emit blue light, medium-sized quantum dots emit green, and the messiest (but still microscopic) quantum dots emit red.
Super quantum dots
Advances in manufacturing have allowed quantum dot manufacturer Nanosys to be able to deliver QDs in batches that produce light down to a certain nanometer. This type of resolution allows TV manufacturers to better adjust the color filters and overall design of the TV to create the color gamut and overall performance they want. Although the color difference in this image, compressed for the web, is not completely obvious, in person you can notice the subtle differences between the different bottles. This was most noticeable between the flasks with the largest difference (521nm vs. 537nm for example), but when I looked at it for a moment, the differences between the flasks that were closer became noticeable as well.
In essence, a super quantum dot is an improved version of existing quantum dots, and requires a lot of specialized equipment. The QD manufacturing plant I saw It looks like a brewery It includes several stages to obtain the desired size. If the molecule is too large or too small, it may not function at all to convert light. Depending on the intended performance of the final product, slight size variations may be acceptable. This means that as long as the QDs are roughly the same size, some of which may be a deeper red or a lighter red for example, they will average “red” to the person watching TV.
However, this average may not be good enough for TVs designed for high performance. Super quantum dots are designed to meet this need for better efficiency than individual elements, with the goal of achieving deeper, more realistic colors. The problem is that deep colors don’t look as bright, and brightness is always the primary concern of any TV manufacturer. Therefore, the colors must be completely pure and accurate – red is only red, green is only green, and so on. If not, energy will be wasted creating colors that aren’t as bright or colorful compared to competing technology like RGB mini-LED, for example.
TCL’s representation of the superior quantum dot design they use.
For example, let’s say you had green quantum dots that were also slightly yellow, the “missed” yellowish light could have an effect on other colors, including how deep the red is. Furthermore, if some red QDs are slightly yellowish, this may limit how green the green color is, while also limiting the performance of the red color. With budget TVs, this isn’t much of an issue because the average, as I mentioned earlier, is still “red” or “green.” For the highest level of performance, you need the purest ingredients. The components, in this case, are the reproduction of a specific color.
Are they really “premium”?
Will TVs using super quantum dots look much better than TVs using regular old quantum dots or other technology? Maybe not. As with most TV developments these days, it’s an incremental step. TCL is leaning into the name, combining “better” quantum dots with a new color filter design. They’re claiming a 33% increase in color gamut, though we’ll have to see how that stacks up In our laboratory. You can expect other manufacturers that use or make quantum dots to move in the same direction. They may not call their technology “SQD,” but every TV manufacturer’s goal is to produce brighter, more vibrant TVs, and better-performing QDs are the next way some of them are doing that.
In addition to covering audio and display technology, Jeff makes the photo tours From museums and amazing sites around the world, including Nuclear submarines, Aircraft carriers, Medieval castles,epic A 10,000 mile road trip And more.
Also see his books Budget travel for dummies and Best-selling science fiction novel About submarines the size of a city. You can follow it Instagram and YouTube.