[New PSP Tear-down] LCD Panel is 1.5mm Thinner and 23g Lighter [Part 3]

The engineers disassembled a new Play Station Portable "PSP-2000" and an old model "PSP-1000" . And they turned their eyes from the printed-circuit boards to the LCD panels of the PSP-2000 and PSP-1000.
We realized that, in the PSP-2000, there is no metal part in the front of the LCD. This part was probably omitted to reduce the weight. The psp 2000 LCD screen is 2.5 mm thick and weighs 26 g. The LCD panel of the PSP-1000 is 4.0 mm thick and weights 49 g. So, the LCD panel of the PSP-2000 is 1.5 mm thinner and 23 g lighter than that of the PSP-1000.
The thickness of 2.5 mm "is not significantly thinner than the LCD panels used in recent mobile-phones," one of the engineers said.

The LCD panels mounted in the PSP-1000 (left) and PSP-2000 (right). The cover in the front of the LCD panel is omitted in the PSP-2000. Also, the PSP-2000's flexible substrate is smaller.

The LCD panel of the PSP-2000 (right) is 2.5 mm thick, 1.5 mm thinner than that of the PSP-1000 (left).

We found a difference between the two models when we removed a metal cover in the front of the PSP-1000's LCD. In the PSP-1000, four driver ICs are embedded on the glass terminal port of the LCD panel. On the other hand, in the PSP-2000, no driver IC is mounted on the glass. It seems that LCD driver circuits, such as a gate driver and source driver, are formed on the glass substrate.

The LCD panels of the PSP-1000 (left) and PSP-2000 (right) with their front covers removed. Driver ICs are formed on the glass of the PSP-2000's LCD panel. The flexible substrate in the PSP-2000 is small. On the glass substrate of the PSP-1000's LCD panel, driver ICs are embedded.

Furthermore, we dismantled the backlight parts of the LCDs. The thicknesses of the glasses for the PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 are 1.4 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively. Seemingly, the LCD panel was thinned mainly by reducing the thickness of the glass.