Liquid Crystal
Displays
Liquid Crystal Display(LCD)
A liquid crystal display or LCD is a combination of two states of matter,
the solid and the liquid.
LCD uses a liquid crystal to produce a visible image.
Liquid crystal displays are super-thin technology display screens that are
generally used in laptop computer screens, TVs, cell phones, and portable
video games.
LCD’s technologies allow displays to be much thinner when compared to
a cathode ray tube (CRT) technology.
An LCD is either made up of an active matrix display grid or a passive
display grid.
Most of the electronic devices mainly depend on liquid crystal display
technology for their display.
The liquid has a unique advantage of having low power consumption than
the LED or cathode ray tube.
Liquid Crystal Display(LCD)
The liquid crystal display screen works on the principle
of blocking light rather than emitting light.
LCDs require a backlight as they do not emit light.
We always use devices which are made up of LCD’s
displays which are replacing the use of cathode ray
tube.
Cathode ray tube draws more power compared to
LCDs and is also heavier and bigger.
Basic structure of an LCD
A liquid crystal cell consists of a thin layer (about 10 um)
of a liquid crystal sandwiched between two glass sheets
with transparent electrodes deposited on their inside
faces.
With both glass sheets transparent, the cell is known
as transmittive type cell.
When one glass is transparent and the other has a
reflective coating, the cell is called reflective type.
The LCD does not produce any illumination of its own.
It, in fact, depends entirely on illumination falling on it
from an external source for its visual effect
Types of LCD/Liquid Crystal Displays.
Types of LCD/Liquid Crystal Displays.
Two types of display available are dynamic scattering display and field effect
display.
When dynamic scattering display is energized, the molecules of energized area
of the display become turbulent and scatter light in all directions.
Field effect LCD contains front and back polarizers at right angles to each
other. Without electrical excitation, the light coming through the front polarizer
is rotated 90° in the fluid.
Different varieties of liquid crystals are available for industrial purposes. The
most usable liquid crystal among all the others is the nematic phase liquid
crystals.
Nematic Phase LCD
The greatest advantage of a nematic phase liquid crystal substance is that it can
bring about predictable controlled changes according to the electric current
passed through them.
Making of LCD
The basic structure of the LCD should be
controlled by changing the applied current.
We must use polarized light.
The liquid crystal should able be to control
both of the operations to transmit or can
also able to change the polarized light.
Making of LCD
We need to take two polarized glass pieces filter in the making of the
liquid crystal.
The glass which does not have a polarized film on the surface of it must
be rubbed with a special polymer that will create microscopic grooves
on the surface of the polarized glass filter.
The grooves must be in the same direction as the polarized film.
Now we have to add a coating of pneumatic liquid phase crystal on one
of the polarizing filters of the polarized glass.
The microscopic channel causes the first layer molecule to align with
filter orientation.
When the right angle appears at the first layer piece, we should add a
second piece of glass with the polarized film.
The first filter will be naturally polarized as the light strikes it at the
starting stage.
Making of LCD
Thus the light travels through each layer and guided to
the next with the help of a molecule.
The molecule tends to change its plane of vibration of
the light to match its angle.
When the light reaches the far end of the liquid crystal
substance, it vibrates at the same angle as that of the
final layer of the molecule vibrates.
The light is allowed to enter into the device only if the
second layer of the polarized glass matches with the
final layer of the molecule
Working of LCD
The principle behind the LCDs is that when an electrical current is applied to
the liquid crystal molecule, the molecule tends to untwist.
This causes the angle of light which is passing through the molecule of the
polarized glass and also causes a change in the angle of the top polarizing
filter.
As a result, a little light is allowed to pass the polarized glass through a
particular area of the LCD.
Thus that particular area will become dark compared to others. The LCD
works on the principle of blocking light.
While constructing the LCDs, a reflected mirror is arranged at the back. An
electrode plane is made of indium-tin-oxide which is kept on top and a
polarized glass with a polarizing film is also added on the bottom of the
device.
The complete region of the LCD has to be enclosed by a common electrode
and above it should be the liquid crystal matter.
Working of LCD
Next comes the second piece of glass with an electrode in the
form of the rectangle on the bottom and, on top, another
polarizing film.
It must be considered that both the pieces are kept at the right
angles.
When there is no current, the light passes through the front of
the LCD it will be reflected by the mirror and bounced back.
As the electrode is connected to a battery the current from it will
cause the liquid crystals between the common-plane electrode
and the electrode shaped like a rectangle to untwist.
Thus the light is blocked from passing through. That particular
rectangular area appears blank.
Colour Liquid Crystal Display
Colour LCDs are those that can display pictures in
colours.
For this to be possible there must be three sub-pixels
with red, green and blue colour filters to create each
colour pixel.
For combining these sub-pixels these LCDs should be
connected to a large number of transistors.
If any problem occurs to these transistors, it will cause a
bad pixel.
One of the main disadvantages of these types of LCDs is
the size.
