Companies combine to sell display driver ICs

Segment drivers and display controllers enable manufacturers to drive multisegment EL displays and backlights.

Pelikon and Supertex have extended their collaboration to sell their jointly developed Pelikon Segment Drivers (PSDs) under the Supertex brand.

Pelikon is a manufacturer of printed segmented electroluminescent (pSEL) displays and Supertex is a specialist in high-voltage analogue and mixed signal ICs.

As a result of the collaboration, Pelikon will be able to exploit Supertex's sales network to expand the market for PSDs as well as Pelikon Display Controllers (PDCs).

Previously manufactured by Supertex but available exclusively through Pelikon, PSDs, in combination with the PDC, enable manufacturers to drive multisegment EL displays and backlights.

This development in the relationship will mean Supertex will now sell the PSD directly while allowing Pelikon to focus on its core competencies in pSEL displays and driver electronics development.

"Pelikon will enjoy immediate access to leading OEMs around the world, as Supertex is already an established EL driver supplier for many of them", says Mike Powell, Managing Director, Pelikon.

"Supertex's strong competitive position will broaden the market reach of PSDs, while also giving customers the choice to use our PDCs for a turnkey EL display solution".

Dr Henry C Pao, President and CEO of Supertex, adds: "This collaboration with Pelikon lends us more flexibility and agility, as an approved supplier to tier-one OEMs, to channel our manufacturing and sales prowess to rapidly increase sales in multisegment EL applications".

"We are closely involved with our customers and are always keen to have access to robust products, such as the PSD, that have real market value and that can help develop innovative, timely and cost-effective solutions to meet their needs".

Designed to effectively drive segmented EL displays including Pelikon's pSEL technology, the PDC combined with the PSD (Supertex product number HV509) is an easily integrated, high-performance, low-component count product which provides a simple control interface with low power, low noise and a small footprint.

The PDC intelligently adapts to any electroluminescent display it is connected to, and is capable of 4bit greyscale (16 levels) of multiple segments.

Each PSD, in conjunction with the PDC, can drive up to 16 segments and can be daisy chained up to 96 segments.

At the same time, Pelikon's electronics are optimised to drive the phosphor in pSEL displays to achieve high brightness and long life.

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