George FavourLiquid-Crystal Display (LCD) Technology
The first standalone LCD displays appeared in the mid-1990s selling for high prices. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) began as display units for calculators and laptop screens. As prices declined over a period of years they became more popular, and by 1997 were competing with CRT monitors. Among the first desktop, LCD computer monitors was the Eizo L66 in the mid-1990s, the Apple Studio Display in 1998, and the Apple Cinema Display in 1999. The now common active matrix TFT-LCD technology also has less flickering than CRTs, which reduces eye strain.
The technology behind LCD displays.
LCD is a display technology that creates characters by means of reflected light.
What is it composed of?
An LCD monitor is composed of two specially treated plates of polarized glass pressed together. Between these plates is a liquid crystal material which responds to an electrical current by allowing different wavelengths of light through at various points across its surface.
Instead of creating points of light, the entire premise of an LCD monitor is to block out the majority of light, to allow only specific wavelengths, interpreted as colors by our brains, through the front of the monitor.
A backlight emits a continuous stream of light covering the entire back of the monitor, at all visible wavelengths.
The electrical current created by the visual signal sent from the computer causes the liquid crystal material to block out different wavelengths of light across its face to create the general shapes and colors of an image.
Behind the monitor’s face but in front of the liquid crystal is an enclosed matrix of transistors connected to pixels on the screen’s face.
This matrix is so thin that it appears to be transparent.
But when a varying current runs through it, i.e. the same current as the one manipulating the liquid crystal. It causes certain pixels to light up, adding definition to the overall color passing through from the backlight.
Few reasons why people dislike LCDs:
LCDs can suffer from dead pixels while CRTs do not. LCDs are difficult to read in a strong light, because they do not emit their own light.
George Favour
