CATHODE RAY TUBE

INTRODUCTION:
The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube that contains one or more electron
guns and a phosphorescent screen, and is used to display images. It modulates, accelerates,
and deflects electron beam(s) onto the screen to create the images. The images may represent
electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictures (television, computer monitor), radar targets, or
others. CRTs have also been used as memory devices, in which case the visible light emitted
from the fluorescent material (if any) is not intended to have significant meaning to a visual
observer (though the visible pattern on the tube face may cryptically represent the stored
data). In television sets and computer monitors, the entire front area of the tube is scanned
repetitively and systematically in a fixed pattern called a raster. An image is produced by
controlling the intensity of each of the three electron beams, one for each additive primary
color (red, green, and blue) with a video signal as a reference. In all modern CRT monitors
and televisions, the beams are bent by magnetic deflection, a varying magnetic field
generated by coils and driven by electronic circuits around the neck of the tube,
although electrostatic deflection is commonly used in oscilloscopes, a type of electronic test
instrument.

CONSTRUCTION:
A CRT is constructed from a glass envelope which is large, deep (i.e., long from front
screen face to rear end), fairly heavy, and relatively fragile. The interior of a CRT
is evacuated to approximately 0.01 Pa to 133 nPa., evacuation being necessary to facilitate
the free flight of electrons from the gun(s) to the tube's face. That it is evacuated makes
handling an intact CRT potentially dangerous due to the risk of breaking the tube and causing
a violent implosion that can hurl shards of glass at great velocity. As a matter of safety, the
face is typically made of thick lead glass so as to be highly shatter-resistant and to block
most X-ray emissions, particularly if the CRT is used in a consumer product. Since the late
2000s, CRTs have been largely superseded by newer "flat panel" display technologies such
as LCD, plasma display, and OLED displays, which in the case of LCD and OLED displays
have lower manufacturing costs and power consumption, as well as significantly less weight
and bulk. Flat panel displays can also be made in very large sizes; whereas 38" to 40" was
about the largest size of a CRT television, flat panels are available in 60" and larger sizes.

HISTORY:
Cathode rays were discovered by Johann Hittorf in 1869 in primitive Crookes tubes. He
observed that some unknown rays were emitted from the cathode (negative electrode) which
could cast shadows on the glowing wall of the tube, indicating the rays were travelling in
straight lines. In 1890, Arthur Schuster demonstrated cathode rays could be deflected
by electric fields, and William Crookes showed they could be deflected by magnetic fields. In
1897, J. J. Thomson succeeded in measuring the mass of cathode rays, showing that they
consisted of negatively charged particles smaller than atoms, the first "subatomic particles",

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which were later named electrons. The earliest version of the CRT was known as the "Braun
tube", invented by the German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1897. It was a cold-
cathode diode, a modification of the Crookes tube with a phosphor-coated screen. In 1907,
Russian scientist Boris Rosing used a CRT in the receiving end of an experimental video
signal to form a picture. He managed to display simple geometric shapes onto the screen,
which marked the first time that CRT technology was used for what is now known as
television. The first cathode ray tube to use a hot cathode was developed by John B.
Johnson (who gave his name to the term Johnson noise) and Harry Weiner Weinhart
of Western Electric, and became a commercial product in 1922. It was named by
inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin in 1929. RCA was granted a trademark for the term (for its
cathode ray tube) in 1932; it voluntarily released the term to the public domain in 1950. The
first commercially made electronic television sets with cathode ray tubes were manufactured
by Telefunken in Germany in 1934.

OSCILLOSCOPE CRTS:
In oscilloscope CRTs, electrostatic deflection is used, rather than the magnetic deflection
commonly used with television and other large CRTs. The beam is deflected horizontally by
applying an electric field between a pair of plates to its left and right, and vertically by
applying an electric field to plates above and below. Televisions use magnetic rather than
electrostatic deflection because the deflection plates obstruct the beam when the deflection
angle is as large as is required for tubes that are relatively short for their size.

COLOR CRTS:
Color tubes use three different phosphors which emit red, green, and blue light
respectively. They are packed together in stripes (as in aperture grille designs) or clusters
called "triads" (as in shadow mask CRTs). Color CRTs have three electron guns, one for each
primary color, arranged either in a straight line or in an equilateral triangular configuration
(the guns are usually constructed as a single unit). (The triangular configuration is often
called "delta-gun", based on its relation to the shape of the Greek letter delta .) A grille or
mask absorbs the electrons that would otherwise hit the wrong phosphor. A shadow
mask tube uses a metal plate with tiny holes, placed so that the electron beam only
illuminates the correct phosphors on the face of the tube; the holes are tapered so that the
electrons that strike the inside of any hole will be reflected back, if they are not absorbed (e.g.
due to local charge accumulation), instead of bouncing through the hole to strike a random
(wrong) spot on the screen. Another type of color CRT uses an aperture grille of tensioned
vertical wires to achieve the same result.

VECTOR MONITORS:
Vector monitors were used in early computer aided design systems and are in some late-
1970s to mid-1980s arcade games such as Asteroids. They draw graphics point-to-point,
rather than scanning a raster. Either monochrome or color CRTs can be used in vector
displays, and the essential principles of CRT design and operation are the same for either type
of display; the main difference is in the beam deflection patterns and circuits.

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CRT RESOLUTION:
Dot pitch defines the maximum resolution of the display, assuming delta-gun CRTs. In
these, as the scanned resolution approaches the dot pitch resolution, moir appears, as the
detail being displayed is finer than what the shadow mask can render. Aperture grille
monitors do not suffer from vertical moir; however, because their phosphor stripes have no
vertical detail. In smaller CRTs, these strips maintain position by themselves, but larger
aperture-grille CRTs require one or two crosswise (horizontal) support strips.

GAMMA:
CRTs have a pronounced triode characteristic, which results in significant gamma (a
nonlinear relationship in an electron gun between applied video voltage and beam intensity).

OTHER TYPES:
CATS EYE:
In better quality old-fashioned tube radio sets, a tuning guide consisting of a phosphor
tube was used to aid the tuning adjustment. This was also known as a "Magic Eye" or
"Tuning Eye". Tuning would be adjusted until the width of a radial shadow was minimized.
This was used instead of a more expensive electromechanical meter, which later came to be
used on higher-end tuners when transistor sets lacked the high voltage required to drive the
device. The same type of device was used with tape recorders as a recording level meter, and
for various other applications including electrical test equipment.

Charactrons:
Some displays for early computers (those that needed to display more text than was
practical using vectors, or that required high speed for photographic output)
used Charactron CRTs. These incorporate a perforated metal character mask (stencil), which
shapes a wide electron beam to form a character on the screen. The system selects a character
on the mask using one set of deflection circuits, but that causes the extruded beam to be
aimed off-axis, so a second set of deflection plates has to re-aim the beam so it is headed
toward the center of the screen. A third set of plates places the character wherever required.
The beam is unblanked (turned on) briefly to draw the character at that position. Graphics
could be drawn by selecting the position on the mask corresponding to the code for a space
(in practice, they were simply not drawn), which had a small round hole in the center; this
effectively disabled the character mask, and the system reverted to regular vector behavior.
Charactrons had exceptionally long necks, because of the need for three deflection systems

HEALTH CONCERN:
CRTs can emit a small amount of X-ray radiation as a result of the electron beams
bombardment of the shadow mask/aperture grille and phosphors. The amount of radiation
escaping the front of the monitor is widely considered not to be harmful. The Food and Drug
Administration regulations in 21 C.F.R.1020.10 are used to strictly limit, for instance,
television receivers to 0.5 milliroentgens per hour (mR/h) (0.13 C/(kgh) or 36 pA/kg) at a

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distance of 5 cm (2 in) from any external surface; since 2007, most CRTs have emissions that
fall well below this limit.
Older color and monochrome CRTs may contain toxic substances, such as cadmium, in the
phosphors. The rear glass tube of modern CRTs may be made from leaded glass, which
represents an environmental hazard if disposed of improperly. By the time personal
computers were produced, glass in the front panel (the viewable portion of the CRT) used
barium rather than lead, though the rear of the CRT was still produced from leaded glass.
Monochrome CRTs typically do not contain enough leaded glass to fail EPA TCLP tests.
While the TCLP process grinds the glass into fine particles in order to expose them to weak
acids to test for leach ate, intact CRT glass does not leache (The lead is vitrified, contained
inside the glass itself, similar to leaded glass crystal ware). In October 2001, the United States
Environmental Protection Agency created rules stating that CRTs must be brought to
special recycling facilities. In November 2002, the EPA began fining companies that
disposed of CRTs through landfills or incineration. Regulatory agencies, local and state-wide,
monitor the disposal of CRTs and other computer equipment. In Europe, disposal of CRT
televisions and monitors is covered by the WEEE Directive.
At low refresh rates (60 Hz and below), the periodic scanning of the display may produce
a flicker that some people perceive more easily than others, especially when viewed
with peripheral vision. Flicker is commonly associated with CRT as most televisions run at
50 Hz (PAL) or 60 Hz (NTSC), although there are some 100 Hz PAL televisions that
are flicker-free. Typically only low-end monitors run at such low frequencies, with most
computer monitors supporting at least 75 Hz and high-end monitors capable of 100 Hz or
more to eliminate any perception of flicker. Non-computer CRTs or CRT
for sonar or radar may have long persistence phosphor and are thus flicker free. If the
persistence is too long on a video display, moving images will be blurred.
50 Hz/60 Hz CRTs used for television operate with horizontal scanning frequencies of
15,734 Hz (for NTSC systems) or 15,625 Hz (for PAL systems). These frequencies are at the
upper range of human hearing and are inaudible to many people; however, some people
(especially children) will perceive a high-pitched tone near an operating television CRT. The
sound is due to magnetostriction in the magnetic core and periodic movement of windings of
the fly back transformer. This problem does not occur on 100/120 Hz TVs and on non-CGA
computer displays, because they use much higher horizontal scanning frequencies (22 kHz to
over 100 kHz).

RECYCLING:
As electronic waste, CRTs are considered one of the hardest types to recycle. CRTs have
relatively high concentration of lead and phosphors (not phosphorus), both of which are
necessary for the display. There are several companies in the United States that charge a
small fee to collect CRTs, then subsidizes their labor by selling the harvested copper, wire,
and printed circuit boards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
includes discarded CRT monitors in its category of "hazardous household waste" but
considers CRTs that have been set aside for testing to be commodities if they are not
discarded, speculatively accumulated, or left unprotected from weather and other damage.
Leaded CRT glass is sold to be remelted into other CRTs, or even broken down and used in
road construction.