Liquid Crystal Display

By:
NEELANSHU
NIKITA
PALLABI
NILESH
Contents

 What are Liquid crystals?

 Examples of Liquid Crystals.
 Introduction to liquid crystal displays.
 Types of LCD’s.
 Working Principle.
 Construction.
 Working procedure.
 Applications.
 Advantages.
 Disadvantages.
What are Liquid Crystals?

 Intermediary substance between a liquid

and solid state of matter.
E.g. soapy water
 Light passes through liquid crystal
changes when it is stimulated by an
electrical charge.
HISTORY

 1962: Richard Williams found that liquid

crystals had some interesting electro-optic
characteristics and he realized an electro-
optical effect by generating stripe-patterns in
a thin layer of liquid crystal material by the
application of a voltage
 The first active-matrix liquid crystal display
panel was produced in 1972 in USA.
Examples Of Liquid Crystals
Composition of LCD

 A photoresist composition for LCD light diffuse

reflecting film is disclosed, which comprises (a)
8 to 90% by weight of base-soluble resin; (b) 1
to 30% by weight of polyfunctional unit; (c) 0.1
to 20% by weight of photopolymerization
initiator; (d) 0.1 to 20% by weight of
thermosetting cross-linking reagent; (e) 0.01 to
10% by weight of ultraviolet absorber; and (f) 8
to 90% by weight of solvent.
Introduction to Liquid Crystal Displays

 Consists of an array of tiny segments (called

pixels) that can be manipulated to present
information.
 Using polarization of lights to display objects.
 Use only ambient light to illuminate the
display.
Types Of LCDs

Passive Matrix LCDs (AMLCD) and Active

Matrix LCDs (AMLCD)
 Passive Twisted Nematic Displays (TNLCD)
 Super Twisted Nematic LCD (STNLCD)
 Thin Film Transistor LCD (TFT LCD)
 Reflective LCD
 Rear Projection LCD
Working Principle
LCD works on the
principle of Polarization
Of Light.
When unpolarized light
passes through polarizing
filter, only one plane of
polarization is
transmitted. Two
polarizing filters used
together transmit light
differently depending on
their relative orientation.
 Construction
 Each pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer
of molecules aligned between two transparent
electrodes, and two polarizing filters, the axes of
transmission of which are (in most of the cases)
perpendicular to each other. With no actual
liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light
passing through the first filter would be blocked
by the second (crossed) polarizer.
Working Procedure

 Before applying an electric field, the orientation of the

liquid crystal molecules is determined by the
alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted
nematic device (still the most common liquid crystal
device), the surface alignment directions at the two
electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the
molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or
twist. This reduces the rotation of the polarization of
the incident light, and the device appears grey.
 If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal
molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely
untwisted and the polarization of the incident light is not
rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer. This
light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the
second filter, and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear
black.

 By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal

layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in
varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray.
Colour displays

 In colour LCDs each individual pixel is divided into

three cells, or subpixels, which are coloured red,
green, and blue, respectively, by additional filters
(pigment filters, dye filters and metal oxide filters).
Each subpixel can be controlled independently to
yield thousands or millions of possible colours for
each pixel. CRT monitors employ a similar 'subpixel'
structures via phosphors, although the electron
beam employed in CRTs do not hit exact subpixels.
SPECIFICATIONS
 Resolution versus Range: Fundamentally resolution is the granularity (or
number of levels) with which a performance feature of the display is
divided.. Frequently the range is an inherent limitation of the display while
the resolution is a function of the electronics that make the display work.
 Spatial Performance LCDs come in a variety of sizes for a variety of
applications and a variety of resolutions within each of those applications.
LCD spatial performance is also sometimes described in terms of "dot
pitch". Later, when TVs went to a more square format, the square screens
were measured diagonally to compare with the older round screens
 Aspect ratio:-The Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height
 The Viewing Angle of an LCD may be important depending on its use or
location. The viewing angle is usually measured as the angle where the
contrast of the LCD falls below 10:1. At this point, the colours usually start
to change and can even invert, red becoming green and so forth.
 Temporal/Timing Performance: Contrary to spatial
performance, temporal performance is a feature where
smaller is better. Specifically, the range is the pixel response
time of an LCD, or how quickly you can change a sub-pixel’s
brightness from one level to another
 Colour Depth or colour support is sometimes expressed in
bits, either as the number of bits per sub-pixel or the number
of bits per pixel.
 Brightness and Contrast ratio: Contrast Ratio is the ratio of
the brightness of a full-on pixel to a full-off pixel and, as
such, would be directly tied to brightness if not for the
invention of the blinking backlight
Applications
A) Thin Film Transistor (TFT)
 Constructed on a glass surface using a
photolithographic process.
B) Alpha-numeric display
 Digital letters can be displayed by blocking the lights
in different plates we place.
 For applications such as digital watches and
calculators, a mirror is used under the bottom
polarizer. With no voltage applied, ambient light
passes through the cell, reflects off the mirror,
reverses its path, and re-emerges from the top of the
cell, giving it a silvery appearance.
C) Back lighting systems
 Alpha-numeric displays are not very bright because the
light must pass through multiple polarizers which
severely cut down on the intensity of the light, in
addition to the various layers of the display which are
only semi-transparent.  Therefore a more intense
source is employed in the form of a back lighting
system.
D) Military Use
 LCD monitors have been adopted by the
United States of America military instead of
CRT displays because they are smaller, lighter
and more efficient, although monochrome
plasma displays are also used, notably for
their M1 Abrams tanks.
Advantages
 Sharpness
Image is perfectly sharp at the native resolution of the panel. LCDs
using an analog input require careful adjustment of pixel
tracking/phase.
 Geometric Distortion
Zero geometric distortion at the native resolution of the panel. Minor
distortion for other resolutions because the images must be rescaled.
 Brightness
High peak intensity produces very bright images. Best for brightly lit
environments.
 Screen Shape
Screens are perfectly flat.
 Physical
Thin, with a small footprint. Consume little electricity and produce little
heat.
 Disadvantages
 Resolution
Each panel has a fixed pixel resolution format determined at the time of
manufacture that can not be changed. All other image resolutions require
rescaling, which generally results in significant image degradation, particularly
for fine text and graphics

 Interference
LCDs using an analog input require careful adjustment of pixel tracking/phase in
order to reduce or eliminate digital noise in the image. Automatic pixel
tracking/phase controls seldom produce the optimum setting. Timing drift and
jitter may require frequent readjustments during the day.

 Viewing Angle
Limited viewing angle. Brightness, contrast, gamma and color mixtures vary with
the viewing angle. Can lead to contrast and color reversal at large angles. Need
to be viewed as close to straight ahead as possible.
 Black-Level, Contrast and Color Saturation
LCDs have difficulty producing black and very dark grays. As a
result they generally have lower contrast than CRTs and the
color saturation for low intensity colors is also reduced. Not
suitable for use in dimly lit and dark environments.

 White Saturation
The bright-end of the LCD intensity scale is easily overloaded,
which leads to saturation and compression. When this happens
the maximum brightness occurs before reaching the peak of the
gray-scale or the brightness increases slowly near the maximum.
Requires careful adjustment of the Contrast control.
 Color and Gray-Scale Accuracy
The internal Gamma and gray-scale of an LCD is very
irregular. LCDs typically produce fewer than 256 discrete
intensity levels. For some LCDs portions of the gray-scale may
be dithered. Images are pleasing but not accurate because of
problems with black-level, gray-scale and Gamma, which
affects the accuracy of the gray-scale and color mixtures.

 Bad Pixels and Screen Uniformity

LCDs can have many weak or stuck pixels, which are
permanently on or off. Some pixels may be improperly
connected to adjoining pixels, rows or columns.
 Motion Artifacts
Slow response times and scan rate conversion result in severe motion
artifacts and image degradation for moving or rapidly changing
images.

 Aspect Ratio
LCDs have a fixed resolution and aspect ratio. For panels with a
resolution of 1280x1024 the aspect ratio is 5:4=1.25, which is
noticeably smaller than the 4:3=1.33 aspect ratio for almost all other
standard display modes. For some applications may require
switching to a letterboxed 1280x960, which has a 4:3 aspect ratio.

 Cost
Considerably more expensive than comparable CRTs.
THANKS…….!!!!!!!!!!