Operation and control of LCD panels, also compatible with speedometer side mirrors

ROHM Corporation and ROHM Group's LAPIS Semiconductor Corporation have developed a chipset for panels that drives and controls automotive LCD panels for large, high-precision LCD panels applied to automotive clusters and car navigation systems.

Recently, the adoption of LCD panels for automotive instrument panels, car navigation systems, and electronic mirrors is rapidly advancing, and with the expansion of applications, there is a growing demand for larger and higher-precision panels.

To realize larger and higher-precision LCD panels, multi-channel drivers and controllers are required to operate the panels; as this makes system construction and operation verification difficult, the demand for chipset supply is increasing. In addition, for applications where abnormal conditions, such as electronic mirrors, lead to major accidents, functional safety that contributes to accident prevention is also required.

▲ Chipset block diagram

The newly developed chipset consists of a gate driver, source driver, and timing controller (T-CON) for driving industry-leading HD/FHD class high-precision LCD panels, as well as a power management IC (PMIC) and gamma correction IC that operate them optimally.

The company stated that it has achieved the high quality required by automobiles by introducing functional safety to LCD panel devices for the first time in the world through the constant sharing of information among each IC. As a result, it is now possible to handle LCD panels for speedometers and side mirrors, where abnormal conditions can lead to major accidents.

▲ Example of an abnormal LCD panel condition detectable by the functional safety of the chipset

In addition, by developing a chipset capable of supporting a wide range of specifications through optimization, and simultaneously verifying operation by equipping the timing controller with a failure detection function, it is possible to construct various high-precision LCD panels.

Shipments of this chipset began in November 2016 as samples (5,000 yen/unit), and mass production started in January 2017 with a production capacity of 50,000 units per month.