Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced the HD66733 graphics LCD controller/driver
with a 4-lines/8-characters display capability, and incorporating a JIS Level 1 kanji ROM,
for use in products equipped with a small LCD display, such as cordless phones and fax
machines. A model providing hangul font support is also being released concurrently.
Sample shipments of both versions will begin on April 19, 1999 in Japan.
The HD66733 has a large-capacity kanji font ROM, eliminating the need for an external
kanji character generator ROM, and enabling kanji display to be implemented easily by
means of software control equivalent to conventional kana/kanji font display control.
Full-graphics display functions are also included, providing support for double-size, bold,
and other character displays in addition to the normal character display.
The use of kanji display on small LCD panels is rapidly becoming widespread in the mobile
communications field, including cellular, PHS phones and pagers, and is now beginning to
be used in consumer systems such as domestic cordless phones and fax machines, and audio
systems. And with the diversification and higher added value of communication services,
there is a growing demand for graphics displays, such as games and maps, in addition to
character and number based displays such as kanji address lists.
At the same time, digital cellular systems such as CDMA*1 and PCS*2 are starting up in
Korea, with Hangul character displays (handling around 3,000 characters) as the norm.
Hitachi currently produces the HD66732, equipped with JIS Level 1 and Level 2 kanji fonts
(approximately 8.000 characters) and providing a 4-lines/10-characters kanji display.
The new HD66733 displays only the commonly used JIS Level 1 kanji (approximately 4.000
characters), and supports a smaller display size of 4-lines/8-characters, enabling the chip size
to be reduced by approximately 30%. The HD66733 enables kanji display to be provided
at minimal extra cost in consumer products such as cordless phones and faxes, where there
is a constant demand for lower costs.
The HD66733 provides the JIS Level 1 kanji font, a character generator ROM for complex
kanji or Hangul font patterns, and bit-mapped RAM necessary for full-graphics display,
on a single chip, cutting mounting space to approximately half that required when using an
external kanji/hangul font ROM (Hitachi comparison) and allowing a high-cost/performance
kanji display system to be implemented. In addition, kanji/hangul conversion is possible
simply by accepting 2-byte JIS-compatible character codes from a microcomputer,
eliminating the need for complex kanji font expansion processing and greatly reducing
the microcomputer software processing load associated with kanji display. A power supply
op-amp for low-power-consumption LCD drive is also provided, cutting the current
dissipation required for LCD drive by approximately two-thirds (Hitachi comparison).
The display size is 4-lines/8-characters full-width(equivalent to 32 characters).
The number of display characters within the limited display screen area can be increased by
displaying alphanumeric characters such as phone numbers as half-width characters.
The on-chip 11 x 12-dots full-width font character generator provides for approximately
4,000 characters complying with JIS Level 1 kanji and non-kanji characters. Also included
are two 128-character 6 x 12-dots half-width fonts of alphanumeric and other characters,
and a 40-character full-width font freely settable by the user. The hangul font version
provides for the display of approximately 3,000 hangul characters.
The HD66733 is also capable of 96 x 52-dots full-graphics display, kanji and graphics
display, and segment display providing for the display of 160 marks, and can provide
indications such as a low-battery alarm in combination with the blink function.
A superimposed display function is also provided that overlaps kanji and bit-mapped full-
graphics displays, for greater LCD display flexibility.
To enable a large amount of information to be displayed on a small LCD panel, the
HD66733 supports a vertical smooth-scrolling function that can be controlled on a dot-by-
dot basis. This simplifies smooth-scroll display processing-previously only possible with
bit-mapped display systems performing dot-by-dot on/off control-with virtually no
software load on the microcomputer.
An on-chip 4X step-up circuit generates a maximum 12 V LCD drive voltage when the
HD66733 is running on a 3 V power supply voltage, enabling the chip to operate on a single
3 V power supply. In addition, the LCD drive duty*3, LCD drive bias, and step-up circuit
output multiplication factor can all be controlled by software, enabling the LCD drive bias
and LCD drive voltage to be reduced when performing selective drive of only part of the
LCD screen area, such as when the system is on standby, and so holding down power
consumption. When no display at all is performed, overall system power consumption can
be greatly reduced through the use of the standby mode or the step-up circuit halt function.
The HD66733 is shipped either as a bending type TCP model that allows bent mounting
between the chip and LCD glass on a TCP*4 tape, or as a die with gold bump model for
COG*5 or COF*6 mounting. The bending type TCP model can be connected directly to the
LCD glass without an intermediate heat-shield.
Notes: 1. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access): A next-generation digital cellular
system.
2. PCS (Personal Communications System): A next-generation simple portable
phone system.
3. LCD drive duty: The ratio of the drive time for one line on an LCD screen to
the time for one frame composed of these lines.
4. TCP (Tape Carrier Package): A package in which the chip is mounted on a thin-
film tape. Ultra-thin type mounting is possible.
5. COG (Chip On Glass): A mounting method in which a chip with a protruding
electrode (gold bump) is directly mounted face-down on the LCD glass.
This method offers lower mounting cost.
6. COF (Chip On Film): A mounting method in which a chip with a gold bump is
directly mounted face-down on a film substrate. Capacitors, resistors,
and other external parts can also be mounted together with the chip.
< Typical Applications >
Cordless phones, multifunctional phones, and fax machines with kanji display
CDMA and PCS cellular phones with hangul font display for the Korean market
Audio systems, small portable terminals
< Prices in Japan > (For Reference Only)
Product Code Shipment Form Sample Unit Price (Yen)
HD66733A00TB0L Bending TCP 750
HCD66733A00BP Die with gold bump 550
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