01 Tech Tuesday – LCD Overview
A closeup of an LCD panel showing the transistors in front of the RGB of each pixel
LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) are cool and prevalent.
Liquid crystals of two competing polarizations sitting in front of Red Green and Blue for each pixel and twist on and off rapidly to let light through.
CCFL Backlight
Currently most LCDs are usually backlit with CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent Lamps), pretty much tiny fluorescent tubes that run down the sides of the LCD and illuminate a big panel of diffusion.
LED Backlight
More and more we are seeing LCDs backlit with rows of LEDs on either side which provide a crisper and brighter look and also are more energy efficient.
There are a few new displays which actually have the LEDs directly behind the LCD which allows the LEDs to turn on and off creating a true black (or off) as opposed the the other backlight technologies which the LCDs make black by block the majority of the backlight.
Transparent LCDs
We are starting to see transparent LCDs, which is pretty much just an LCD panel without the backlight, I will do a post on just that technology soon.