Within the flat panel display industry TFD more often refers to thin film bi-directional diodes, also known as metal-insulator-metal (MIM) TFDs or nonlinear resistors.
Historically in AMLCDs the switching device of choice for pixels has been the thin-film transistor (TFT), however MIM TFD based displays have had some commercial success as they are simpler to make; only requiring two to three photo-lithography steps rather than the typical 5 or more needed to produce thin film transistors.
While thin film diodes are cheaper to manufacture than TFTs it can difficult to achieve a wide color gamut and grey scale using single TFDs.
[5][6] South Korean electronics manufacturers LG and Samsung have both previously incorporated MIM TFDs into mobile phone displays.
[7] The American company Amorphyx Inc. was founded in 2012 to commercialize MIM-TFD technology incorporating amorphous metal materials.