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This document discusses different types of flat-panel displays as alternatives to CRT monitors. It describes flat-panel displays as thinner, lighter weight, and using less power than CRTs. It separates flat-panel displays into emissive displays, which produce light, and non-emissive displays, which manipulate external light. Examples of emissive displays include plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, and LEDs. Liquid crystal displays are the most common non-emissive technology, manipulating polarized light passed through a liquid crystal layer. The document provides details on the construction and operation of plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, LED displays, and passive-matrix and active

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38 views

Graphics

This document discusses different types of flat-panel displays as alternatives to CRT monitors. It describes flat-panel displays as thinner, lighter weight, and using less power than CRTs. It separates flat-panel displays into emissive displays, which produce light, and non-emissive displays, which manipulate external light. Examples of emissive displays include plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, and LEDs. Liquid crystal displays are the most common non-emissive technology, manipulating polarized light passed through a liquid crystal layer. The document provides details on the construction and operation of plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, LED displays, and passive-matrix and active

Uploaded by

sambradshaw945
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Flat-Panel Displays

Although most graphics monitors are still constructed with CRTs, other technologies
are emerging that may soon replace CRT monitc~rsT. he term Bat-panel display
refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight, and
power requirements compared to a CRT. A significant feature of flat-panel displays
is that they are thinner than CRTs, and we can hang them on walls or wear
them on our wrists. Since we can even write on some flat-panel displays, they
will soon be available as pocket notepads. Current uses for flat-panel displays include
small TV monitors, calculators, pocket video games, laptop computers, armrest viewing of movies on airlines, as advertisement
boards in elevators, and as graphics displays in applications requiring rugged, portable monitors.
We can separate flat-panel displays into two categories: emissive displays and nonemissive displays. The emissive displays (or
emitters) are devices that convert electrical energy into light. Plasma panels, thin-film electroluminescent displays, and Light-
emitting diodes are examples of emissive displays. Flat CRTs have also been devised, in which electron beams arts accelerated
parallel to the screen, then deflected 90' to the screen. But flat CRTs have not proved to be as successful as other emissive
devices. Nonemmissive displays (or nonemitters) use optical effects to convert sunlight or light from some other source into
graphics patterns. The most important example of a nonemisswe flat-panel display is a liquid-crystal device.
Plasma panels, also called gas-discharge displays, are constructed by filling the region between two glass plates with a mixture of
gases that usually indudes neon. A series of vertical conducting ribbons is placed on one glass panel,
Overview d Graphics Systems and a set of horizontal ribbons is built into the other glass panel (Fig. 2-11). Firing voltages applied to a
pair of horizontal and vertical conductors cause the gas at the intersection of the two conductors to break down into a glowing
plasma of elecbons and ions. Picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer, and the firing voltages are applied to refresh the pixel
positions (at the intersections of the conductors) 60 times per second. Alternahng-t methods are used to provide
faster application of the firing voltages, and thus bnghter displays. Separation between pixels is provided by the electric field of
the conductors. Figure 2-12 shows a highdefinition plasma panel. One disadvantage of plasma panels has been that they were
strictly monochromatic devices, but systems have been developed that are now capable of displaying color and grayscale.
Thin-film electroluminescent displays are similar in construction to a plasma panel. The diffemnce is that the region between the
glass plates is filled with a phosphor, such as zinc sulfide doped with manganese, instead of a gas (Fig. 2-13). When a suffiaently
high voltage is applied to a pair of crossing electrodes, the phosphor becomes a conductor in the area of the intersection of the
two electrodes. Electrical energy is then absorbed by the manganese atoms, which then release the energy as a spot of light similar
to the glowing plasma effect in a plasma panel. Electroluminescent displays require more power than plasma panels, and good
color and gray scale displays are hard to achieve. A third type of emissive device is the light-emitting diode (LED). A
matrix of diodes is arranged to form the pixel positions in the display, and picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer. As in
xan-line refreshing of a CRT, information is read from the refresh buffer and converted to voltage levels that are applied to
the diodes to produce the light patterns in the display. ~ i ~ u i d&y s tdailsp lays (LCDS) a re commonly used in small
systems, such as calculators (Fig. 2-14) and portable, laptop computers (Fig. 2-15). These nonemissive devices produce a
picture by passing polarized light from the surroundings or from an internal light s o w through a liquid-aystal material
that can bealigned to either block or transmit the light. The term liquid crystal refers to the fact that these compounds
have a crystalline arrangement of molecules, yet they flow like a liquid. Flat-panel displays commonly use
nematic (threadlike) liquid-crystal compounds that tend to keep the long axes of the rod-shaped molecules aligned. A flat-
panel display can then be constructed with a nematic liquid crystal, as demonstrated in Fig. 2-16. Two glass
plates, each containing a light polarizer at right angles to the-other plate, sandwich the liquid-crystal material. Rows of
horizontal transparent conductors are built into one glass plate, and columns of vertical conductors are put into the
other plate. The intersection of two conductors defines a pixel position. Normally, the molecules are aligned as shown in
the "on state" of Fig. 2-16. Polarized light passing through the material is twisted so that it will pass through the opposite
polarizer. The light is then mfleded back to the viewer. To turn off the pixel, we apply a voltage to the two intersecting
conductors to align the mole cules so that the light is not .twisted. This type of flat-panel device is referred to as a
passive-matrix LCD. Picture definitions are stored in a refresh buffer, and the Figure2-14 screen is refreshed at the rate of
60 frames per second, as in the emissive devices. A hand calculator with an Back lighting is also commonly applied using
solid-state electronic devices, so that the system is not completely dependent on outside light soufies. Colors can 1N'"ment5.)
be displayed by using different materials or dyes and by placing a triad of color pixelsat each &reen location. Another
method for conskctingk13s is to place a transistor at each pixel location, using thin-film transistor technology. The
transistors are used to control the voltage at pixel locations and to prevent charge from gradually leaking out of
the liquid-crystal cells. These devices are called active-matrix displays.

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