US Patent 7696684 - Semiconductor nanocrystal display

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7696684.html

This patent from the Regents of the University of California has early priority (June 1998) and includes basic claims to quantum dots used in multi-color displays. Claim 1 reads:

1. A multicolor display apparatus, comprising:

a pixel array of semiconductor nanocrystals comprising a plurality of pixels of different colors, wherein the sizes of the nanocrystals in each of the plurality of pixels determine the colors; and

a pixel addressing system comprising a light source operatively associated with the pixel array for selectively optically exciting the nanocrystals with light from the light source to produce a luminescent color pattern of pixels.