Sharp could revolutionize electronics with its “free-form” display technology

Sharp is showing off a ‘free-form’ display technology that it believes could break consumer tech devices out of the rigid convention of using rectangular and square shaped screens. The Japanese company’s new display type, which is based on its IGZO technology and “proprietary circuit design methods”, takes a different approach to organizing the gate drive power amplifier setup. That system has required rectangular displays, so Sharp’s technology is opening the door to new design types. Sharp explains the technology in more detail: “Conventional displays are rectangular because they require a minimal width for the bezel in order to accommodate the drive circuit, called the gate driver, around the perimeter of the screen’s display area. With the Free-Form Display, the gate driver’s function is dispersed throughout the pixels on the display area. This allows the bezel to be shrunk considerably, and it gives the freedom to design the LCD to match whatever shape the display area of the screen needs to be.”