Live support chatUnderstanding Liquid Crystal Displays
In Understanding Liquid Crystal Displays, you'll learn ...
- How Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are manufactured and how they operate
- The optical, mechanical, and electrical properties that make liquid crystal fluid unique
- How clear conductors printed on glass enabled the success of LCDs
- How displays are powered and interfaced with via microcontrollers
Overview
Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.
Credit: 2 PDH
Length: 46 pages
This course explains how Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) operate and are manufactured. We all interact with these displays daily, using our smartphones, laptops, TVs, monitors, tablets, appliances, watches, and even automobiles. Engineers from all disciplines will satisfy their curiosity by learning how these amazing devices operate.
Displays are fun to learn about because they combine several engineering disciplines: electrical, chemical, optical, mechanical, and software, all brought together with applied physics and advanced manufacturing. Engineers of any discipline can enjoy this course since it begins with basics, and more advanced topics are fully explained and gradually introduced.
This course begins with definitions of several technical concepts common to most displays. Then, a brief history of the most impactful and well-known display types is presented, along with high-level theories of operation. These include the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), plasma screens, dot matrix LEDs, and seven-segment displays.
Next, the technology and physics behind the LCD will be explained. The optical, mechanical, and electrical properties that make liquid crystal fluid unique are explained, and key advancements such as how clear conductors printed on glass enabled the success of the technology. Details about the numerous display architectures and electronic circuits that drive these complex displays will be covered as well. This course reviews the math behind how displays are driven, which interestingly parallels wireless communications theory. We will discuss how displays are powered and interfaced with via microcontrollers, and how advanced manufacturing techniques allow incorporating circuitry right onto the glass.
All the popular kinds of LCDs will be explained, including passive matrix monochrome, Super Twisted Nematic (STN), Multi-Line Addressing (MLA), and full-color, active-matrix Thin Film Transistor (TFT). The latest advances in LCDs are covered, including In-Plane Switching (IPA) and Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA) technologies. Backlight technologies are also covered, including Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCFL) tubes and LEDs, along with the light guides that distribute light onto the display.
Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained
This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:
- The basic operation of history’s most popular displays including the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), plasma screens, dot matrix LEDs and seven-segment displays
- Definitions of popular terms involved with LCDs including contrast, pixel, rastering, resolution, brightness, response time and viewing angle
- Optical, mechanical and electrical properties of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) fluid
- Fabrication and construction of an LCD
- Various methods to drive an LCD including passive and active matrix addressing, Amplitude Selection Addressing (ASA) and Multi-Line Addressing (MLA)
- Latest advances in full color, big screen technology including Thin Film Transistor (TFT), In-Plane Switching (IPS) and Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA)
- Three basic LCD configurations – transmissive, transflective and reflective
- Backlight design and fabrication using Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCFL) tubes and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
Certificate of Completion
You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 15 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.
| This course is applicable to professional engineers in: | ||
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Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.
Credit: 2 PDH
Length: 46 pages
