A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly, instead using a backlight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome.[1] LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose computer display) or fixed images with low information content, which can be displayed or hidden, such as preset words, digits, and 7-segment displays, as in a digital clock. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made up of a large number of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements.
History[]
1970s[]
In the 1970s, the Japanese electronics industry produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN LCD displays (twisted nematic field effect).
Tetsuro Hama and Izuhiko Nishimura of Seiko received a US patent dated February 1971, for an electronic wristwatch incorporating a TN LCD display.[2] In 1973, Sharp Corporation introduced the use of LCD displays for calculators, and then mass-produced TN LCD displays for watches in 1975.[3]
The first color LCD displays and the first TFT LCD displays were invented by Japan's Sharp Corporation in the 1970s, receiving patents for their inventions. The first color LCD display was invented by Sharp's Shinji Kato and Takaaki Miyazaki in May 1975,[4] and then improved by Fumiaki Funada and Masataka Matsuura in December 1975.[5] The first TFT LCD display was invented in 1976 by a team at Sharp consisting of Fumiaki Funada, Masataka Matsuura, and Tomio Wada,[6] then improved in 1977 by a Sharp team consisting of Kohei Kishi, Hirosaku Nonomura, Keiichiro Shimizu, and Tomio Wada.[7]
1980s[]
The first color LCD televisions were invented as handheld televisions in Japan. In 1980, Hattori Seiko's R&D group began development on color LCD pocket televisions.[8] In 1982, Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch, a wristwatch equipped with an active-matrix LCD television.[9][10]
Sharp Corporation introduced dot matrix TN LCD displays in 1983.[3] In 1984, Epson released the ET-10, the first full-color, pocket LCD television.[11] The same year, Citizen Watch,[12] another Seiko Hattori subsidiary (along with Epson), introduced the Citizen Pocket TV,[8] a 2.7-inch color LCD TV,[12] with the first commercial TFT LCD display.[8] In 1986, Sharp introduced dot matrix STN LCD displays.[3]
In 1988, Sharp demonstrated a 14-inch, active-matrix, full-color, full-motion TFT LCD display. This led to Japan launching an LCD industry, which developed large-size LCD displays, including TFT computer monitors and LCD televisions.[13] Epson developed the 3LCD projection technology in the 1980s, and licensed it for use in projectors in 1988.[14] Epson's VPJ-700, released in January 1989, was the world's first compact, full-color LCD projector.[10]
1990s–2010s[]
In 1990, under different titles, inventors conceived electro optical effects as alternatives to twisted nematic field effect LCDs (TN- and STN- LCDs). One approach was to use interdigital electrodes on one glass substrate only to produce an electric field essentially parallel to the glass substrates. To take full advantage of the properties of this In Plane Switching (IPS) technology further work was needed. In 1992, engineers at Hitachi worked out various practical details of the IPS technology to interconnect the thin-film transistor array as a matrix and to avoid undesirable stray fields in between pixels.[15][16] Hitachi also improved the viewing angle dependence further by optimizing the shape of the electrodes (Super IPS). NEC and Hitachi became early manufacturers of active-matrix addressed LCDs based on the IPS technology. This is a milestone for implementing large-screen LCDs having acceptable visual performance for flat-panel computer monitors and television screens. In 1996, Samsung developed the optical patterning technique that enables multi-domain LCD. Multi-domain and In Plane Switching subsequently remain the dominant LCD designs through 2006.[17]
In the late 1990s, the LCD industry began shifting away from Japan, towards South Korea and Taiwan.[13] In the fourth quarter of 2007, LCD televisions surpassed CRTs in worldwide sales for the first time.[18] LCD TVs were projected to account 50% of the 200 million TVs to be shipped globally in 2006, according to Display Bank.[19] In October 2011, Toshiba announced 2560 × 1600 pixels on a 6.1-inch (155 mm) LCD panel, suitable for use in a tablet computer,[20] especially for Chinese character display.
See also[]
- FPD-Link
- LCD classification
- LCD projector
- List of liquid-crystal-display manufacturers
References[]
- ↑ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lcd
- ↑ US3881311A patent: Driving arrangement for passive time indicating devices
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note on the Liquid Crystal Display Industry, Auburn University, 1995
- ↑ JPS51139582A patent: Liquid crystal display units
- ↑ JPS5279948A patent: Liquid crystal color display device
- ↑ JPS5327390A patent: Liquid crystal display device
- ↑ JPS5437697A patent: Liquid crystal display unit of matrix type
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Spin, Jul 1985, page 55
- ↑ The world's first television-watch, with an active-matrix LCD, Epson
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Michael R. Peres, The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, page 306, Taylor & Francis
- ↑ A HISTORY OF CREATING INSPIRATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Epson
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Popular Science, May 1984, page 150
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Hirohisa Kawamoto (2013), The history of liquid-crystal display and its industry, HISTory of ELectro-technology CONference (HISTELCON), 2012 Third IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, DOI 10.1109/HISTELCON.2012.6487587
- ↑ Find out what is an LCD Projector, how does it benefit you, and the difference between LCD and 3LCD here, Epson
- ↑ Espacenet - Bibliographic data. Worldwide.espacenet.com (1997-01-28). Retrieved on August 15, 2014.
- ↑ U.S. Patent 5,598,285: K. Kondo, H. Terao, H. Abe, M. Ohta, K. Suzuki, T. Sasaki, G. Kawachi, J. Ohwada, Liquid crystal display device, filed Sep 18, 1992 and Jan 20, 1993.
- ↑ "Optical Patterning". Nature. August 22, 1996. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v382/n6593/pdf/382666c0.pdf. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Worldwide LCD TV shipments surpass CRTs for first time ever". engadgetHD. February 19, 2008. https://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/worldwide-lcd-tv-shipments-surpass-crts-for-first-time-ever/. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Displaybank's Global TV Market Forecasts for 2008 – Global TV market to surpass 200 million units". Displaybank. December 5, 2007. http://www.displaybank.com/eng/info/news/press_show.php?id=2996. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
- ↑ Toshiba announces 6.1 inch LCD panel with an insane resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels (October 24, 2011).
External links[]
- History and Physical Properties of Liquid Crystals by Nobelprize.org
- Definitions of basic terms relating to low-molar-mass and polymer liquid crystals (IUPAC Recommendations 2001)
- An intelligible introduction to liquid crystals from Case Western Reserve University
- Liquid Crystal Physics tutorial from the Liquid Crystals Group, University of Colorado
- Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals a journal by Taylor and Francis
- Hot-spot detection techniques for ICs
- PixPerAn, software for testing motion blur (ghosting) on a monitor
General information[]
- Development of Liquid Crystal Displays: Interview with George Gray, Hull University, 2004 – Video by the Vega Science Trust.
- Timothy J. Sluckin History of Liquid Crystals, a presentation and extracts from the book Crystals that Flow: Classic papers from the history of liquid crystals.
- David Dunmur & Tim Sluckin (2011) Soap, Science, and Flat-screen TVs: a history of liquid crystals, Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19-954940-5.
- Oleg Artamonov (January 23, 2007). Contemporary LCD Monitor Parameters: Objective and Subjective Analysis. X-bit labs. Retrieved on May 17, 2008.
- Overview of 3LCD technology, Presentation Technology
- LCD Phase and Clock Adjustment, Techmind offers a free test screen to get a better LCD picture quality than the LCDs "auto-tune" function.
- Interfacing Alphanumeric LCD to Microcontroller
- Animations explaining operation of LCD panels
- Liquid crystals are distributed by Merck Group (DE), and Yancheng Smiling (CN).