===== SID 01 SHORT COURSE =====

(S-2)

Fundamentals of Active-Matrix
Liquid-Crystal Displays
(Sunday, June 3, 2001)

Sang Soo Kim, Ph.D.

Vice President, AMLCD Div.
Semiconductor Business
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Kyunggi-Do, Korea
Fundamentals of Active-Matrix
Liquid-Crystal Displays
I. Introduction
II. Liquid Crystal Displays
III. Structure of Color TFT-LCDs
IV. Basic Operation Principles &
Design of Color TFT-LCDs
V. Color TFT-LCD Fabrication Process
VI. Summary and Projections
 I. Introduction

What is Liquid Crystal ?

Structure of L/C
Alignment of L/C
TN & STN Modes
Normally White and Black Modes
 What is Liquid Crystal ?

Flexible Part Rigid Part

C N

Terminal Group Alkyl group Biphenyl group Terminal Group

F
F
F
Fluorine
H H H H
F
H C C ... C C
H H H H
C C C N
Alkyl Chain
H N Cyano Group
C C C N

Figure 1. The structure of a L/C

 Phases of L/C vs. Temperature

* Operating Temperature Range for Display Application

Solid Smectic Phase Nematic Phase Liquid

Crystalline Isotrope
Liquid Crystalline

Tm Tc Temperature
(Melting Point) (Clearing Point)

Figure 2. Phases of a Liquid Crystal

 Structure of Liquid Crystal
Birefringence: n = ne - no
Dielectric Anisotropy: = e - o
no o ne e
D(Director)
p-type (n >0) n-type (n <0)
ne > no D ne < no
D
E
E
F F
C N
C O OC 2H5
O

Figure 3. Anisotropy of a L/C

 Intermolecular Attraction: Long Axis > Short Axis

n
n
n
move
n
Chiral Dopant
n

Nematic Cholesteric

Figure 4. Types of liquid crystal phases

 Intermolecular Attraction: Short Axis > Long Axis

Perpendicular to the layer Tilted to the layer

n n

move

Smetic A Smetic C
(SmA) (SmC)

Figure 5. Types of Liquid Crystal Phases

Alignment of Liquid Crystal

Interaction: L/C Molecule & Substrate

L/C Molecule
Alignment Layer

Glass Substrate

Figure 6. Liquid crystal alignment layer

 TN and STN Modes

Mauguins Condition for TN : n? p = n? d x 2/ >

Retardation for TN: n? d = 0.3~0.5m

D~ 5m

= 90 180< < 270

TN Mode STN Mode

Figure 7. Orientation of L/C molecules in TN and STN cells

 Design of TN Cell

2 2
Gooch-Tarrys Law: T = sin 1 + u / (1 + u 2 )
2
Normal Black Mode n d
w ith u=
T /2

d~ 5m 1st Minimum (n d ~ 0.48m)

(1st min.)
2nd Minimum (n d ~ 1.47m)

3rd minimum

u
3 15 35
n=0.09~0.10 5m 14.7m

Figure 8. Design of TN cell

 V-T Characteristics

NW-Mode
Transmittance(%)

100
90% Trans.

STN
50
TN
Vth Vsat
TN-Mode STN-Mode
10% Trans.
(V10/V90 ~ 1.6) (V10/V90 ~ 1.06)
0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

L/C Voltage (V)

Figure 9. V-T curves for TN and STN cells in NW mode

 NW Mode TN Cell
Normal White (NW) Mode:
Higher C/R, True Black
Less Cell Gap Dependent

Light On Light Off

0 volt Polarizer(2) 5 volt

Cross Nicols L/C

No
Optical Optical
Rotation E Rotation

Polarizer(1)

Backlight Backlight

Figure 10. Normally white mode TN cell

 NB Mode TN Cell

Light Off Light On

0 volt Polarizer(2) 5 volt

L/C

Polarizer(1)

Backlight Backlight

Figure 11. Normally black mode TN cell

II. Liquid Crystal Displays

Passive and Active Matrix LCDs

Kinds of AMLCDs
Liquid Crystal Operating Modes

TN (Twisted Nematic)
STN(Super TN)
DSTN(Double STN)
FLC(Ferroelectric LC)
GH(Guest-Host)
DS(Dynamic Scattering)
PDLC(Polymer Dispersed LC)
VA(Vertical Alignment)
IPS(In-plane Switching)
 Segment & Dot-Matrix Driving

Segment Display Dot-Matrix Display

(7-segment) (5x7 matrix)

Figure 12. Example of rendering an L/C image using direct driving

 Multiplex Driving of Dot-Matrix Display

Signal Electrodes

x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6
y1 y1
y2 y2
y3 y3
Scanning y4 y4
Electrodes
y5 y5
y6 y6
y7 y7

Figure 13. Example of rendering an L/C image by multiplex driving

 Application of LCDs

Projection Type: LCD Projector, OHP, Projection TV

Direct View Type: Notebook PC, LCD Monitor, Potable TV, ViewCam
Reflective Type: PDA, Cellular Phone, Game
Transflective Type : PDA, etc.
 LCD Projector (3-Panel System)
Dichroic Projection
Mirror Lens
LCD(1)
Mirror
Screen

Blue Red Green

LCD(2)
I I I
R G B
Mirror

LCD(3)
Dichroic
Mirror
Composed
3I Color Image

Figure 14. LCD Projector using three black and white LCDs
LCD Projection TV (Single-Panel System)

Mirror
Screen

B(I/3)
G(I/3) Lamp
R (I/3)
Lens System
Spatially divided LCD Panel
Color Image
(Color)

Mirror
Mirror

Figure 15. LCD projection TV using a color LCD

 Color TFT-LCD Module (Direct View)

LCD Panel LDI Chip

Diffuser
Backlight Lamp Reflector BEF
LGP Chassis Unit

Figure 16. An example of direct view LCDs

Kinds of AMLCDs
Passive Matrix LCD (PMLCD)

Active Matrix LCD (AMLCD)

MIM-LCD

Diode-LCD

TFT-LCD

a-Si TFT-LCD

poly Si-LCD

Low Tem. poly-Si LCD

High Tem. poly-Si LCD

III. Structure of Color TFT-LCD

Color TFT-LCD Panel

Driving Circuit Unit
Backlight and Assembly Unit
 Structure of Color TFT-LCD

? LCD Panel ? LCD Panel

? TFT-Array Substrate
? Driving Circuit Unit
? Color Filter Substrate
Color Filter
Substrate ? Driving Circuit Unit
TCP
? LCD Driver IC (LDI) Chips
TFT-Array ? Multi-layer PCBs
PCB LDI
Substrate
? Driving Circuits

Lamp LGP

Chassis
? Backlight & Chassis Unit
? Backlight Unit
? Backlight & Chassis ? Chassis Assembly
Unit

Figure 17. Structure of a color TFT-LCD module

 Structure of Color TFT-Panel

Common Electrode
Black Matrix (ITO) Spacer Polarizer

Color Filter Substrate Color-Filter

Seal (Blue)

Short TFT L/C Alignment

Layer
TFT-Array Substrate
Polarizer

Bonding PAD Pixel Electrode

Storage Capacitor
(ITO)

Figure 18. The vertical structure of a color TFT-panel

 Structure of Driving Circuit Unit

Gate PCB

LCD panel
LDI Chip
(Gate)

FPC
Source PCB LDI Chip Connector
LCD Control Interface
(Source)
ASIC Connector

Figure 19. Assembly of LCD driving circuits

 Types of Backlight Units
Top-down
Light Diffuser

CCFL
Reflector (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp)

Edge-light Diffuser
Light

Reflector CCFL
LGP

Figure 21. Two different types of LCD backlight systems

 Types of LCD Module Package

Flat TCP LCD Panel Chassis Unit

Driving Circuit LGP Diffuser CCFL

Reflector
Unit
Chassis

Bent TCP
CCFL
Driving Circuit (d<2.0mm)
Unit Tapered LGP
(t<2.5mm)

Figure 20. Slim type LCD module package

 Improvement of Backlight Brightness
* BEF: Brightness Enhancement Film

Prism Effect

Prism Sheets
CCFL (BEF)

Diffuser

Lamp Reflector Reflector Sheet

LGP

Figure 22. Improvement of B/L brightness using BEF

IV. Basic Operation Principles and
Design of Color TFT-LCD
Operation of TFT-LCD Pixels
Gray Scale Generation
Color Generation
Break
TFT Design
Storage Capacitor Design
Signal Bus-Line Design
Aperture Ratio
Design for Redundant
 Structure of Color TFT-Panel
TFT-Array 3m (800xRGB)
Substrate
Bonding Pad

(m x n) Resolution
Color-Filter
(3m x n) active matrix Substrate
R G B

n
(600) Unit Dot
(R,G,B sub-pixels)
SVGA: 800 x RGB x 600
(2400 x 600) Matrix

Figure 23. Active matrix structure of a color TFT-panel

 Resolution of Color LCDs
Aspect
Resolution # of Dot # of Pixel Remark
Ratio
320 x 240 76,800 2 30 ,400 4 :3 Quarter VGA
640 x 400 25 6,00 0 7 68 ,000 16 :10 EGA
640 x 480 30 7,20 0 9 21 ,600 4 :3 VGA
800 x 480 38 4,00 0 1,152,00 0 15:9 Wide VGA
800 x 600 48 0,00 0 1,440,00 0 4 :3 SVGA
1024 x 600 61 4,40 0 1,843,20 0 ~17 :10 Wide SVGA
1024 x 768 78 6,43 2 2,359,29 6 4 :3 XGA
1280 x 1024 1 ,310 ,7 20 3,923,16 0 5 :4 SXGA
1400 x 1050 1 ,470 ,0 00 4,410,00 0 4 :3 SXGA+
1600 x 1200 1 ,920 ,0 00 5,760,00 0 4 :3 UXGA
1920 x 1200 2 ,304 ,0 00 6,912,00 0 16 :10 Wide UXGA
2048 x 1536 3 ,145 ,7 28 9,437,18 4 4 :3 QXGA
2560 x 2048 5 ,242 ,8 80 15 ,728 ,640 4 :3 QSXGA
3200 x 2400 7 ,680 ,0 00 23 ,040 ,000 4 :3 QUXGA

Figure 24. Resolution of color LCDs

 TFT -Array & Unit Pixel
Bonding Pad
Data Bus-Line

Pixel Electrode
(ITO)
Storage Capacitor
Gate Bus-Line (Cs)

TFT-Array Panel TFT

Figure 25. TFT-Array and its unit pixel

 Unit Pixel & Equivalent Circuit

Common
Electrode (ITO) Data Bus-Line
Black Matrix Color-Filter Common
Electrode (ITO)

Source Drain Clc

TFT Cs Clc

Gate Pixel Electrode

Data Pixel Electrode Storage Capacitor
TFT (ITO)
Bus-Line (ITO) (Cs)
Gate Bus-Line

Figure 26. Vertical structure of a pixel and its equivalent circuit

 AC Driving of TN-Mode
T(Vlc)
White

<Vlc>eff = r.m.s. of ( Vp-Vcom) Black

Vblack
T(Vlc) Vlc
Vwhite Vblack
White
Display

Black
Display

Even Frame Odd Frame

Figure 27. AC driving of a TN-mode L/C

 Operation of Unit Pixel
Charge Pixel Electrode
+
Vd (+8V)
+
Vd (+8V)
+8V
Ion +3V
+3V
Cs
Clc
Vcom(+5V) Vcom(+5V)
? TFT On : 27sec(odd-frame) ? TFT Off :16.7msec(odd-frame)

-
Vd (+2V) Refresh -
Vd (+2V)
+2V
Ion -3V
-3V

Vcom(+5V) Vcom(+5V)
? TFT Off :16.7msec(even frame) ? TFT On : 27sec(even-frame)

Figure 28. Modeling of a unit pixel operation

 Active Addressing of (3x3) Matrix

t V 1 + V 2- V 3+

Storage
Gate Capacitor (Cs)
Selection
t Pixel Electrode
(ITO)
Off Off Off
-5V Gn-1

On V 1+ On V 2- On V 3+

20V Gn
Line-by-Line
Off Off Off Addressing
-5V Gn +1

Figure 29. An example of a (3x3) matrix pixel

 Animation of a (3x3) Matrix

V11 V12 V13 Odd Frame

V21 V22 V23
V31 V32 V33

V11 V12 V13

G1

V21 V22 V23

V31 V32 V33

G3
 Driving of LCD Panel
LCD Module LDI: LCD Driving IC

DC/DC
Converter
Source Driver ICs

Gate Driver ICs

Data Signal
Pixel
Electrode
Control
ASIC TFT

DC Power LCD Panel

Inverter
Backlight Lamp

Figure 30. Driving of an LCD panel

 Representation of Image on LCD

multiplexing
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

Bit Image Pixels displayed

in Memory on Screen

Figure 31. Representation of an image on an LCD

 Parasitic Capacitance of TFT
Staggered Structure Data Bus-Line
Process Margin Common Electrode
(C/F Substrate)

Cds
Source Cs Clc
W

L Gate Bus-Line
Drain
Cgs Cgd
Drain Source
Pixel ITO
Data Line Gate Bus-Line

Gate
L L Overlap (not avoidable)

Figure 32. Parasitic capacitors of a TFT

 Wave Forms of Pixel Driving Voltages
Cgd
Kickback Voltage V = x V p-p
(Clc + Cs + Cgd)
2Tf
+ -
?{ V (t)-V Vd + Vd
1 2
<Vlc>eff = p com} dt Voffset = - Vcom
2 Tf
t=0 2

Tf = 1/60 sec Tf = 1/60 sec

Odd Frame Even Frame
Vg
On V On Off
+ -
Vd + Vd
Vd 2
Vlc >Vcom

Vlc <Vcom
Vp(t) Voffset
Vcom
V
Figure 33. Driving a pixel and the effect of the parasitic capacitance
 Polarity Inversion Driving & Flickering
Driving Method 1st frame 2nd frame 3rd frame

Frame
Inversion

H-Line
Inversion

Dot
Inversion
(Flicker free)

Figure 34. Polarity inversion driving methods

 Gray Scale Generation
(111) (101) (011) (000)
Transmittance

8 Gray-scale T1
T2
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8
White Black
V8
V7
V6
V5
V4
V3
V2
V1 T7
L/C Voltage T8
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 V1 V2 ... V7 V8
D2
L/C Voltage (V)
1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Digital Data
D1
(3-bit)
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
D0 23 = 8 gray scales

Figure 35. A gray-scale example of the 3-bit LDI

 Total # of Colors

n n n 3n
# of Color = 2 (R) x 2 (G) x 2 (B) = 2
n= # of data bits of LDI chip
R G B
3 bit = 8-gray/RGB = 512 colors
4 bit = 16-gray/RGB = 4,096 colors
26=64
6 bit = 64-gray/RGB = 262,144 colors
218=262,144
8 bit = 256-gray/RGB = 16,777,216 colors
Analog IC = Continuous gray-scale = full color

Figure 36. Total number of LCD colors

 Increasing Number of Gray Shades

(2x2)
Unit Pixel
Dithering 6 5 3/4 5 2/4 5 1/4 5
Reduced
Resolution

1st 2nd 3rd 4th frame Average

5 + + + = 5
Frame Rate
Control + + + = 5 1/4
(FRC) + + + = 5 2/4
+ + + = 5 3/4
6 + + + = 6

Figure 37. Dithering and frame rate control driving methods

 Gray Scale with a Linear L/C Voltage

Trans. (%) Trans. (%)

V8 100
100
V7

V6
50
50 V5

V4
V3
V2 V1
0
0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

L/C Voltage (V) Gray Scale

Figure 38. Gray-scale generation with a linear L/C voltage

 Optimization of Gray Scale Curve

Trans. (%) Trans. (%)

V9 100
100
V8
V7
V6
V5 50
50
V4
V3
V2
V1
0
0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

L/C Voltage (V) Gray Scale

Figure 39. A gray-scale curve with an adjusted L/C voltage level

 Correction of Gray Scale

T = T max x ( gray # /Max. Gray)
Trans. (%)

100

= 1.0
Light Sensitivity of Human Eye
50

= 2.2

= 3.0
0
16 32 48 64

Gray Scale

Figure 40. Gamma correction of the gray-scale curve

 Color Generation
Backlight
Spectra

400 500 600 700

Color-Filter B G R
RG B Spectra
TFT-Array Color-Filter
Transmitted 400 500 600 700

Lights
R
G
B
400 600 700
Backlight 500 600 700
400 500 600 700

Figure 41. The color generation of the LCD

Pixel Size and Resolving Power of Human Eye
10.4 inch VGA : 0.110mm x 0.330mm ( 77dpi )
12.1 inch SVGA : 0.1025mm x 0.3075mm ( 83dpi )
15.0 inch XGA : 0.099mm x 0.297mm (117dpi )
17.0 inch SXGA : 0.090mm x 0.270mm ( 94dpi )
21.3 inch UXGA : 0.090mm x 0.270mm ( 94dpi )

dpi : dot per inch

< 0.03 mixed color
Retina
~0.1mm
~ 0.02 ~0.1mm

~30cm ~0.3mm

Sub-Pixel
RG B
Figure 42. Color mix of RGB sub-pixel in the LCD panel
 Arrangement of RGB
R G B
B R G
RGB G B R R G B

R G B R
R G B R G B R R G B R G B R

B R G B

R G B R G B R B R G B R G B R G B R

B R G B
R G B R G B R G B R G B R G
R G B R

Stripe Mosaic Delta

Array Design Simple Simple Complex
C/F Fab. Simple Difficult Difficult
Driving CKT Simple Complex Simple
Color Mix Poor / w. low res. Good Best

Figure 43. Arrangement of the RGB color-filter

 Representation of Color
Primary Colors
Red (R)
Green(G)
Blue(B)

Color Coordinates
B
A color = rR + gG + bB Y
(r, g, b)
r = R /(R + G + B) b
(x, y)
g = G /(R + G + B) g
G
b = B /(R + G + B) r
X
with r + g + b = 1
R
Figure 44. The color coordinates
 CIE Color Coordinates

Color Balance
(0.21, 0.71) Color Reproducibility
G NTSC
or Color Saturation
(a) Color Temperature
(b)
W
(0.67, 0.33)
R Color Reproducibility of
Display (a) =

B (0.14, 0.08)
Area of (a)
X 100%
Area of (NTSC)

Figure 45. The CIE color coordinates