A Seminar on

Cad Display
Devices
Agnel Technical College

Mrinal D. Shah

042377
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me great pleasure to create this seminar report on CAD DISPLAY DEVICES. It
indeed goes without saying that success of the report is because of direct and indirect
guidance of everybody in college. I take the opportunity to acknowledge their help for
this valuable assistance, either by providing input required or by reviewing the project.

I am very thankful to Mr. Mangesh Mohan, for guiding me to get the require information
needed to prepare the report.

Last but not the least I will like to thank all my friends.

MRINAL D. SHAH

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 CONTENTS

• Direct View Storage Tube

 History
 Direct View Storage Tube Display
 Direct View Storage Tube Terminal

• Raster Scan Display

 Raster
 Raster Display
 Raster Scan
 Raster Scan Tracing
 Rasterize
 Raster Image Processing
 Rotatable Raster Scan Display

• LCD TV’s
 History of TFT LCD
 What is TFT LCD
 TFT LCD - Electronic Aspects of LCD TVs and LCD Monitors
 TFT LCD - Precaution and Failure

• Plasma TV’s
What is Plasma?
Another Version on How Plasmas Work
 Working of Plasma TV
Inside the Display

• DLP Technology
 What is DLP Technology for Video Projectors and TV?
 The DLP Light Engine
 How does DLP Technology work?
 Beautiful Picture
 Smarter Picture
 DLP Technology vs. LCD

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Direct View Storage Tube

History

Storage-tube display technology and costs will continue to attract new users and new
applications, especially where verily high information density is needed.

The direct view storage tube was invented by Robert H. Anderson in the late 1950's'
and first introduced in the model 564 oscilloscope. As computer display requirements
matured, it was felt that a larger-screen version of the DVST might fulfill a need in the
computing industry, and thus the 611 11-inch storage monitor was introduced in 1967.2
By 1970, Computek, Adage, and Tektronix all had graphics terminals on the market
based on the 611 monitor. Even though these terminals represented a cost
breakthrough at the time ($9000 as opposed to an IBM 2250 at $80,000), success was
not assured and knowledgeable people were predicting a five-year life for the DVST
technology. Then, in 1972, Tektronix introduced the 4010 DVST graphics terminal at
$4000. This terminal launched the storage graphics revolution. Was cost the only
important factor? Perhaps not, for in 1973 the 4014 19-inch storage terminal was
introduced at $8995, and it became an even bigger success than the 4010, resulting in
a new class of customers using storage graphics terminals. Knowledgeable people
continued to predict a five-year life for the DVST technology and were now carefully
watching the declining cost of RAM memory. Now, five years later, RAM costs are still
being watched, and the 611 storage monitor is still selling. Complex interactions are
evidently operating in the storage-terminal marketplace.

Direct View Storage Tube Display

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This CRT has a slightly different construction. Flood cathode produces free electrons.
The electron beam now writes to (i.e. store a charge on) the storage grid: - this is semi-
permanent. The resultant charge on the grid attracts the electrons produced by the flood
cathode and these will pass the grid and hit the phosphor.

The finer the grid the higher the resolution of the DVST (Direct View Storage Tube).
Resolutions up to 4096 x 4096 are currently available for monochrome displays. Colour
displays are much more difficult but Tektronix, a leader in the field of DVST's, sells
these also. The T4010 is a DVST. (This technology is pretty much dead now.)

To erase any part of the screen, we must erase the entire screen since we have to
destroy the charge on the storage grid. Therefore no good for interactive work which
requires selective erasure. But needs no memory nor computer power.
Example:

Direct View Storage Tube example

DVST Terminal

DVST terminals also use the stroke-writing approach to generate the image on the CRT
screen. The term “storage tube” refers to the ability of the screen to retain the image,
which has been projected against it, thus avoiding the need to rewrite the image
constantly. What makes this possible is the use of an electron flood gun directed at the
phosphor coated screen which keeps the phosphor elements illuminated once they
have been energized by the stroke-writing electron beam. The resulting image on the
CRT screen is flicker-free. Lines may be readily added to the image without concern
over their effect on image density or refresh rates. However, the penalty associated with
the storage tube is that individual lines cannot be selectively removed from the image.

Storage tubes have historically been the lowest-cost terminals and are capable of
displaying large amounts of data, either graphical or textual. Because of these features,
there are probably more storage tube terminals in service in industry at the time of this
writing than any other graphics display terminal. The principal disadvantage of a storage
CRT is that selective erasure is not possible. Instead, if the user wants to change the
picture, the change will not be manifested on the screen until the entire picture is
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regenerated. Other disadvantages include its lack of color capability, the inability to use
a light pen as a data entry device, and its lack of animation capability.

Raster Scan Display

Raster

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The horizontal lines (scan lines) displayed on a TV or computer monitor. This is the
origin of the term "raster graphics," which is the major category that all bitmapped
images and video frames fall into (GIF, JPEG, MPEG, etc.).

Raster Display

A TV or computer monitor that uses the raster scan method for creating the image on
screen. Almost all displays use the raster method.

Raster Scan

Raster scan terminals operate by causing an electron beam to trace a zigzag pattern
across the viewing screen, as described earlier. The operation is similar to that of a
commercial television set. The difference is that a TV set uses analog signals originally
generated by a video camera to construct the image on the CRT screen, while the
raster scan ICG terminal uses digital signals generated by a computer. For this reason,
the raster scan terminals used in computer graphics are sometimes called digital TVs.

The introduction of the raster scan graphics terminal using a refresh tube had been
limited by the cost of computer memory. For example, the simplest and lowest-cost
terminal in this category uses only two beam intensity levels, on or off. This means that
each pixel in the viewing screen is either illuminated or dark. A picture tube with 223
lines of resolution and 223 addressable points per line to form the image would require
223 x 223 or over 32,000 bits of storage. Each bit of memory contains the on/off status
of the corresponding pixel on the CRT screen. This memory is called the frame buffer or
refresh buffer. The picture quality can be improved in two ways: by increasing the pixel
density or adding a gray scale (or color).

Increasing pixel density for the same size screen means adding more lines of resolution
and more addressable points per line. A 1021 x 1021 raster screen would require more
than 1 million bits of storage in the frame buffer. A gray scale is accomplished by
expanding the number of intensity levels, which can be displayed on each pixel. This
requires additional bits for each pixel to store the intensity level. Two bits are required
for four levels, three bits for eight levels, and so forth. Five or six bits would be needed
to achieve an approximation of a continuous gray scale. For a color display, three times
as many bits are required to get various intensity levels for each of the three primary
colors: red, blue, and green. A raster scan graphics terminal with high resolution and
gray scale can require a very large capacity refresh buffer. Until recent developments in
memory technology, the cost of this storage capacity was prohibitive for a terminal with
good picture quality. The capability to achieve color and animation was not possible
except for very low-resolution levels. It is now possible to manufacture digital TV
systems for interactive computer graphics at prices, which are competitive with the other
two types. The advantages of the present raster scan terminals include the feasibility of
use low-cost TV monitors, color capability, and the capability for animation of the image.
These features, plus the continuing improvements being made in raster scan
technology; make it the fastest-growing segment of the graphics display market.

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Raster Scan Tracing

Starting at the top-left of the screen and going to the bottom-right, the electron beam is
turned on a line at a time (1), then turned off to go back to the next line (2), then off
once again to go back up to the top (3).

Rasterize

To prepare a page for display or printing, rasterization is performed by a raster image

processor (RIP), which turns text and images into the matrix of pixels (bitmap) that will
be displayed on screen or printed on the page. Various conversions may take place. For
example, the mathematical coordinates of vector and outline fonts as well as vector
drawings must be converted into bitmaps. Existing bitmaps may have to be scaled into
different-sized bitmaps.

Unless output is printed on a vector graphics plotter, which literally draws the illustration
with pens, all text and graphics must be rasterized into a bitmap for display or printing.

Raster Image Processing

The hardware and/or software that rasterizes an image for display or printing. RIPs are
designed to rasterize a specific type of data, such as PostScript. As desktop computers
became more powerful, software RIPs became more appealing than specialized
hardware RIPs. Software can be upgraded more easily, and the operation is always
speeded up by installing a faster CPU.

Rotatable Raster Scan Display

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Apparatus for rotating a cathode ray tube (CRT) which is operated as a graphic display
through 90 degrees such that different size pages of data may be displayed while
minimizing the control circuitry required. The display deflection yoke is fixedly attached
to a support frame for the display. The CRT is rotatably mounted within the yoke and
held by annular thrust bearing which allows the CRT to be rotated 90 degrees. A switch
is actuated by the rotation of the CRT to select between sets of control resistors to
control the raster scan of the CRT in accordance with its orientation.

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 LCD TV’s

History of TFT LCD

Liquid crystal was discovered by the Austrian botanist Fredreich Rheinizer in 1888.
"Liquid crystal" is neither solid nor liquid (an example is soapy water).

In the mid-1960s, scientists showed that liquid crystals when stimulated by an external
electrical charge could change the properties of light passing through the crystals.

The early prototypes (late 1960s) were too unstable for mass production. But all of that
changed when a British researcher proposed a stable, liquid crystal material (biphenyl).

Today's color LCD TVs and LCD Monitors have a sandwich-like structure (see figure
below).

What is TFT LCD?

TFT LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) has a sandwich-like structure
with liquid crystal filled between two glass plates.

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TFT Glass has as many TFTs as the number of pixels displayed, while a Color Filter
Glass has color filter which generates color. Liquid crystals move according to the
difference in voltage between the Color Filter Glass and the TFT Glass. The amount of
light supplied by Back Light is determined by the amount of movement of the liquid
crystals in such a way as to generate color.

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 TFT LCD - Electronic Aspects of LCD TVs and LCD Monitors

Electronic Aspects of AMLCDs

The most common liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) in use today rely on picture elements,
or pixels, formed by liquid-crystal (LC) cells that change the polarization direction of light
passing through them in response to an electrical voltage.

As the polarization direction changes, more or less of the light is able to pass through a
polarizing layer on the face of the display. Change the voltage, and the amount of light
is changed.

There are two ways to produce a liquid-crystal image with such cells: the segment
driving method and the matrix driving method.

The segment driving method displays characters and pictures with cells defined by
patterned electrodes.

The matrix driving method displays characters and pictures in sets of dots.

Direct vs. multiplex driving of LCD TVs.

The segment drive method is used for simple displays, such as those in calculators,
while the dot-matrix drive method is used for high-resolution displays, such as those in
portable computers and TFT monitors.

Two types of drive method are used for matrix displays. In the static, or direct, drive
method, each pixel is individually wired to a driver. This is a simple driving method, but,
as the number of pixels is increased, the wiring becomes very complex. An alternative
method is the multiplex drive method, in which the pixels are arranged and wired in a
matrix format.

To drive the pixels of a dot-matrix LCD, a voltage can be applied at the intersections of
specific vertical signal electrodes and specific horizontal scanning electrodes. This

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method involves driving several pixels at the same time by time-division in a pulse drive.
Therefore, it is also called a multiplex, or dynamic, drive method.

Passive and Active Matrix LCD’s

There are two types of dot-matrix LCD’s.

Passive-matrix vs. active-matrix driving of LCD Monitors.

In passive-matrix LCDs (PMLCDs) there are no switching devices, and each pixel is
addressed for more than one frame time. The effective voltage applied to the LC must
average the signal voltage pulses over several frame times, which results in a slow
response time of greater than 150 msec and a reduction of the maximum contrast ratio.
The addressing of a PMLCD also produces a kind of crosstalk that produces blurred
images because non-selected pixels are driven through a secondary signal-voltage
path. In active-matrix LCDs (AMLCDs), on the other hand, a switching device and a
storage capacitor are integrated at the each cross point of the electrodes.

The active addressing removes the multiplexing limitations by incorporating an active

switching element. In contrast to passive-matrix LCDs, AMLCDs have no inherent
limitation in the number of scan lines, and they present fewer cross-talk issues. There
are many kinds of AMLCD. For their integrated switching devices most use transistors
made of deposited thin films, which are therefore called thin-film transistors (TFTs).

The most common semiconducting layer is made of amorphous silicon (a-Si).

A-Si TFTs are amenable to large-area fabrication using glass substrates in a low-
temperature (300°C to 400°C) process.

An alternative TFT technology, polycrystalline silicon - or polysilicon or p-Si-is costly to

produce and especially difficult to fabricate when manufacturing large-area displays.

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Nearly all TFT LCDs are made from a-Si because of the technology's economy and
maturity, but the electron mobility of a p-Si TFT is one or two orders of magnitude
greater than that of an a-Si TFT.

This makes the p-Si TFT a good candidate for an TFT array containing integrated
drivers, which is likely to be an attractive choice for small, high definition displays such
as view finders and projection displays.

Structure of Color TFT LCD TVs and LCD Monitors

A TFT LCD module consists of a TFT panel, driving-circuit unit, backlight system, and
assembly unit.

Structure of a color TFT LCD Panel:

1. LCD Panel
- TFT-Array Substrate
- Color Filter Substrate
2. Driving Circuit Unit
- LCD Driver IC (LDI) Chips
- Multi-layer PCBs
- Driving Circuits
3. Backlight & Chassis Unit
- Backlight Unit
- Chassis Assembly

It is commonly used to display characters and graphic images when connected a host
system.
The TFT LCD panel consists of a TFT-array substrate and a color-filter substrate.

The vertical structure of a color TFT LCD panel.

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The TFT-array substrate contains the TFTs, storage capacitors, pixel electrodes, and
interconnect wiring. The color filter contains the black matrix and resin film containing
three primary-color - red, green, and blue - dyes or pigments. The two glass substrates
are assembled with a sealant, the gap between them is maintained by spacers, and LC
material is injected into the gap between the substrates. Two sheets of polarizer film are
attached to the outer faces of the sandwich formed by the glass substrates. A set of
bonding pads are fabricated on each end of the gate and data-signal bus-lines to attach
LCD Driver IC (LDI) chips

Driving Circuit Unit

Driving an a-Si TFT LCD requires a driving circuit unit consisting of a set of LCD driving
IC (LDI) chips and printed-circuit-boards (PCBs).

The assembly of LCD driving circuits.

A block diagram showing the driving of an LCD panel.

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To reduce the footprint of the LCD module, the drive circuit unit can be placed on the
backside of the LCD module by using bent Tape Carrier Packages (TCPs) and a
tapered light-guide panel (LGP).

How TFT LCD Pixels Work

A TFT LCD panel contains a specific number of unit pixels often called sub pixels. Each
unit pixel has a TFT, a pixel electrode (IT0), and a storage capacitor (Cs). For example,
an SVGA color TFT LCD panel has total of 800x3x600, or 1,440,000, unit pixels. Each
unit pixel is connected to one of the gate bus-lines and one of the data bus-lines in a
3mxn matrix format. The matrix is 2400x600 for SVGA.

Structure of a color TFT LCD panel.

Because each unit pixel is connected through the matrix, each is individually
addressable from the bonding pads at the ends of the rows and columns.

The performance of the TFT LCD is related to the design parameters of the unit pixel,
i.e., the channel width W and the channel length L of the TFT, the overlap between TFT
electrodes, the sizes of the storage capacitor and pixel electrode, and the space
between these elements.

The design parameters associated with the black matrix, the bus-lines, and the routing
of the bus lines also set very important performance limits on the LCD.

In a TFT LCD's unit pixel, the liquid crystal layer on the ITO pixel electrode forms a
capacitor whose counter electrode is the common electrode on the color-filter substrate.

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Vertical structure of a unit pixel and its equivalent circuit

A storage capacitor (Cs) and liquid-crystal capacitor (CLC) are connected as a load on
the TFT.
Applying a positive pulse of about 20V peak-to-peak to a gate electrode through a gate
bus-line turns the TFT on. Clc and Cs are charged and the voltage level on the pixel
electrode rises to the signal voltage level (+8 V) applied to the data bus-line.

The voltage on the pixel electrode is subjected to a level shift of DV resulting from a
parasitic capacitance between the gate and drain electrodes when the gate voltage
turns from the ON to OFF state. After the level shift, this charged state can be
maintained as the gate voltage goes to -5 V, at which time the TFT turns off. The main
function of the Cs is to maintain the voltage on the pixel electrode until the next signal
voltage is applied.

Liquid crystal must be driven with an alternating current to prevent any deterioration of
image quality resulting from dc stress. This is usually implemented with a frame-reversal
drive method, in which the voltage applied to each pixel varies from frame to frame. If
the LC voltage changes unevenly between frames, the result would be a 30-Hz flicker.
(One frame period is normally 1/60 of a second.) Other drive methods are available that
prevent this flicker problem.

Polarity-inversion driving methods.

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In an active-matrix panel, the gate and source electrodes are used on a shared basis,
but each unit pixel is individually addressable by selecting the appropriate two contact
pads at the ends of the rows and columns.

Active addressing of a 3x3 matrix

By scanning the gate bus-lines

sequentially, and by applying
signal voltages to all source
bus-lines in a specified
sequence, we can address all
pixels. One result of all this is
that the addressing of an
AMLCD is done line by line.

Virtually all AMLCDs are

designed to produce gray levels -
intermediate brightness levels
between the brightest white and the darkest black a unit pixel can generate. There can
be either a discrete numbers of levels - such as 8, 16, 64, or 256 - or a continuous
gradation of levels, depending on the LDI.

The optical transmittance of a TN-mode LC changes continuously as a function of the

applied voltage. An analog LDI is capable of producing a continuous voltage signal so
that a continuous range of gray levels can be displayed. The digital LDI produces
discrete voltage amplitudes, which permits on a discrete numbers of shades to be
displayed. The number of gray levels is determined by the number of data bits produced
by the digital driver.

Generating Colors

The color filter of a TFT LCD TV consists of three primary colors - red (R), green (G),
and blue (B) - which are included on the color-filter substrate.

How an LCD Panel produces colors.

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The elements of this color filter line up one-to-one with the unit pixels on the TFT-array
substrate. Each pixel in a color LCD is subdivided into three sub pixels, where one set
of RGB sub pixels is equal to one pixel. (Each sub pixel consists of what we've been
calling a unit pixel up to this point.)

Because the sub pixels are too small to distinguish independently, the RGB elements
appear to the human eye as a mixture of the three colors. Any color, with some
qualifications, can be produced by mixing these three primary colors.

The total number of display colors using an n-bit LDI is given by 23n, because each sub
pixel can generate 2n different transmittance levels.

TFT LCD - Precaution and Failure

Temperature / Humidity

It is recommended to use the product at room temperature and humidity in order

to maintain its optimum performance.

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1. Product lifetime can be shortened
when it is used under conditions of
high temperature and humidity.

2. When it is used at low temperature of 10°C

or lower, response time and brightness are
affected in such a way that the proper display
may not be obtained.

3. When exposed to drastic fluctuation

of temperature (hot to cold or cold to
hot), the product may be affected;
specifically, drastic temperature
fluctuation from cold to hot, produces
dew on the surface which may affect
the operation of the polarizer and
product.

Environmental Consideration

It is recommended to use the product in a clean place and to exercise caution to

ensure it is not affected by dust or liquids, etc.

1. If used in dusty place, dust may

cause an electrical short inside the
product resulting in malfunction

2. If the product is contaminated by humid or

liquid substance, polarizer may be discolored.
If the liquid enters may enter the product to
cause electrical failure or corrosion which, in
turn, may lead to malfunction

Handing

As LCD is a product made of glass, caution must be exercised in using it. It is

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recommended to handle it with care since shock, vibration, and careless
handling may seriously affect the product.

1. The LCD surface is made of a soft

film that is vulnerable to scratch and
thus to damage by a sharp article.

2. Since the LCD is made of glass, it may be

damaged if it is bent. If it falls from a high
place or receives a strong shock, the glass
may be broken.

3. The LCD product is composed of

sensitive electronic parts and
components. Therefore it must be
grounded by ESD protection
equipment (wrist band, etc.) before it is
directly handled.

4. It is recommended that the product be

handled with soft gloves during Assembly, etc.
The LCD surface is made of soft film,
vulnerable to scratches and thus to damage by
a sharp articles.

5. Do not bend or stretch the back light

wire.

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 6. It is recommended that the product surface
be cleaned it is dirty by using IPA (Isopropyl
Alcohol) or Hexane. Keytone type material
(Acetone), Ethyl or Methyl chloride must not
be used as they can cause damage to the
Polarizer.

7. The Driver IC of the TFT LCD for a

Notebook PC is exposed on the back
of the screen. If mechanical stress is
applied to this area, it can cause
failure. Do not hold or press this part
with your hands.

Usage

As LCD is sensitive electronic equipment, it is urged to comply with following

precautions.

1. Never disassemble LCD product

under any circumstances. If unqualified
operators or users assemble the
product after disassembling it, it may
not function or its operation may be
seriously affected.

2. When it is not in use, the screen must be

turned off or the pattern must be frequently
changed by a screen saver. If it displays the
same pattern for a long period of time,
brightness down/image sticking may develop
due to the LCD structure.

3. It is recommended that the product

be stored in a cool and dry place in its
original product box.

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 Plasma TV’s

What is Plasma?

Plasma is often called the "Fourth State of Matter", the other three being solid, liquid
and gas. Plasma is a distinct state of matter containing a significant number of
electrically charged particles, a number sufficient to affect its electrical properties and
behavior. In addition to being important in many aspects of our daily lives, plasmas are
estimated to constitute more than 99 percent of the visible universe.

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In an ordinary gas each atom contains an equal number of positive and negative
charges; the positive charges in the nucleus are surrounded by an equal number of
negatively charged electrons, and each atom is electrically "neutral". A gas becomes
plasma when the addition of heat or other energy causes a significant number of atoms
to release some or all of their electrons. The remaining parts of those atoms are left with
a positive charge, and the detached negative electrons are free to move about. Those
atoms and the resulting electrically charged gas are said to be "ionized". When enough
atoms are ionized to significantly affect the electrical characteristics of the gas, it is
plasma.

In many cases interactions between the charged particles and the neutral particles are
important in determining the behavior and usefulness of the plasma. The type of atoms
in a plasma, the ratio of ionized to neutral particles and the particle energies all result in
a broad spectrum of plasma types, characteristics and behaviors. These unique
behaviors cause plasmas to be useful in a large and growing number of important
applications in our lives.

Another Version on How Plasmas Work

Plasma Display Panels (PDPs) are like

CRTs in that they are emissive and use
phosphor, and like LCDs in their use of an X
and Y grid of electrodes separated by an
MgO dielectric layer and surrounded by a
mixture of inert gases - such as argon,
neon or xenon - to address individual picture
elements.

They work on the principle that passing a

high voltage through a low-pressure gas
generates light. Essentially, a PDP can be
viewed as a matrix of tiny fluorescent tubes
which are controlled in a sophisticated fashion. Each
pixel, or cell, comprises a small capacitor with three electrodes. An electrical discharge
across the electrodes causes the rare gases sealed in the cell to be converted to
plasma form as it ionizes. Plasma is an electrically neutral, highly ionized substance
consisting of electrons, positive ions, and neutral particles. Being electrically neutral, it
contains equal quantities of electrons and ions and is, by definition, a good conductor.
Once energized, the cells of plasma release ultraviolet (UV) light which then strikes and
excites red, green and blue phosphors along the face of each pixel, causing them to
glow.

Within each cell, there are actually three sub cells, one containing a red phosphor,
another blue phosphor, and the third a green phosphor. To generate colour shades, the
perceived intensity of each RGB colour must be controlled independently. While this is
done in CRTs by modulating the electron beam current, and therefore also the emitted

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light intensities, PDPs accomplish shading by pulse code modulation (PCM). Dividing
one field into eight sub-fields, with each pulse weighted according to the bits in an 8-bit
word, makes it possible to adjust the widths of the addressing pulses in 256 steps.
Since the eye is much slower than the PCM, it will integrate the intensity over time.
Modulating the pulse widths in this way translates into 256 different intensities of each
colour - giving a total number of colour combinations of 256x256x256 = 16,777,216.

The fact that PDPs are emissive and use phosphor means that they have an excellent
viewing angle and colour performance. Initially, PDPs had problems with disturbances
caused by interference between the PCM and fast moving pictures. However, this
problem has been eliminated by fine-tuning the PCM scheme. Conventional plasma
screens have traditionally suffered from low contrast. This is caused by the need to
"prime" the cells, applying a constant low voltage to each pixel. Without this priming,
plasma cells would suffer the same poor response time of household fluorescent tubes,
making them impractical. The knock-on effect, however, is that pixels which should be
switched off still emit some light, reducing contrast. In the late 1990s Fujitsu alleviated
this problem with new driver technology which improved contrast ratios from 70:1 to
400:1. By 2000 some manufacturers claimed as much as 3000:1 image contrast; albeit
before the anti-glare glass is added to the raw panels.

The biggest obstacle that plasma panels have to overcome is their inability to achieve a
smooth ramp from full white to
dark black. Low shades of grey
are particularly troublesome, a
noticeable posterised effect often
being present during the display of
movies or other video programming
with dark scenes. In technical terms,
this problem is due to insufficient
quantization, or digital sampling of
brightness levels. It's an indication
that the display of black remains an
issue with PDPs.

Manufacturing is simpler than for LCDs and costs are similar to CRTs at the same
volume. Compared to TFTs, which use photolithographic and high-temperature
processes in clean rooms, PDPs can be manufactured in less clean factories using low-
temperature and inexpensive direct printing processes. However, with display lifetimes
of around 30,000 hours, a factor not usually considered with PC displays - cost per hour
- comes into play. For boardroom presentation use this isn't a problem, but for hundreds
of general-purpose desktop PCs in a large company it's a different matter.

However, the ultimate limitation of the plasma screen has proved to be pixel size. At
present manufacturers can't see how to get pixels sizes below 0.3mm, even in the long
term. For these reasons PDPs are unlikely to play a part in the mainstream desktop PC

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market. For the medium term they are likely to remain best suited to TV and multi-
viewer presentation applications employing large screens, from 25in up to 70in.
For a number of years Fujitsu and Hitachi were the leading manufacturers of plasma
displays. However, the number of patents issued for plasma display technology has
surged in the last few years and now many large electronics companies believe PDPs
are set to become a significant consumer product by 2005.

Working of Plasma TV

For the past 75 years, the vast majority of televisions have been built around the same
technology: the cathode ray tube (CRT). In a CRT television, a gun fires a beam of
electrons (negatively-charged particles) inside a large glass tube. The electrons excite
phosphor atoms along the wide end of the tube (the screen), which causes the
phosphor atoms to light up. The television image is produced by lighting up different
areas of the phosphor coating with different colors at different intensities

Cathode ray tubes produce crisp, vibrant images, but they do have a serious drawback:
They are bulky. In order to increase the screen width in a CRT set, you also have to
increase the length of the tube (to give the scanning electron gun room to reach all parts
of the screen). Consequently, any big-screen CRT television is going to weigh a ton and
take up a sizable chunk of a room.

Recently, a new alternative has popped up on store shelves: the plasma flat panel
display. These televisions have wide screens, comparable to the largest CRT sets, but
they are only about 6 inches (15 cm) thick. Based on the information in a video signal,
the television lights up thousands of tiny dots (called pixels) with a high-energy beam of
electrons. In most systems, there are three pixel colors -- red, green and blue -- which
are evenly distributed on the screen. By combining these colors in different proportions,
the television can produce the entire color spectrum.

The basic idea of a plasma display is to illuminate tiny colored fluorescent lights to form
an image. Each pixel is made up of three fluorescent lights -- a red light, a green light
and a blue light. Just like a CRT television, the plasma display varies the intensities of
the different lights to produce a full range of colors.

The central element in a fluorescent light is plasma, a gas made up of free-flowing ions
(electrically charged atoms) and electrons (negatively charged particles). Under normal
conditions, a gas is mainly made up of uncharged particles. That is, the individual gas
atoms include equal numbers of protons (positively charged particles in the atom's
nucleus) and electrons. The negatively charged electrons perfectly balance the
positively charged protons, so the atom has a net charge of zero.

If you introduce many free electrons into the gas by establishing an electrical voltage
across it, the situation changes very quickly. The free electrons collide with the atoms,
knocking loose other electrons. With a missing electron, an atom loses its balance. It
has a net positive charge, making it an ion.
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In plasma with an electrical current running through it, negatively charged particles are
rushing toward the positively charged area of the plasma, and positively charged
particles are rushing toward the negatively charged area.

In this mad rush, particles are constantly bumping into each other. These collisions
excite the gas atoms in the plasma, causing them to release photons of energy
Xenon and neon atoms, the atoms used in plasma screens, release light photons when
they are excited. Mostly, these atoms release ultraviolet light photons, which are
invisible to the human eye. But ultraviolet photons can be used to excite visible light
photons, as we'll see in the next section.

Inside the Display

The xenon and neon gas in a plasma television is contained in hundreds of thousands
of tiny cells positioned between two plates of glass. Long electrodes are also
sandwiched between the glass plates, on both sides of the cells. The address
electrodes sit behind the cells, along the rear glass plate. The transparent display
electrodes, which are surrounded by an insulating dielectric material and covered by a
magnesium oxide protective layer, are mounted above the cell, along the front glass
plate.

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Both sets of electrodes extend across the entire screen. The display electrodes are
arranged in horizontal rows along the screen and the address electrodes are arranged
in vertical columns. As you can see in the diagram below, the vertical and horizontal
electrodes form a basic grid.

To ionize the gas in a particular cell, the plasma display's computer charges the
electrodes that intersect at that cell. It does this thousands of times in a small fraction of
a second, charging each cell in turn.

When the intersecting electrodes are charged (with a voltage difference between them),
an electric current flows through the gas in the cell. As we saw in the last section, the

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current creates a rapid flow of charged particles, which stimulates the gas atoms to
release ultraviolet photons.

The released ultraviolet photons interact with phosphor material coated on the inside
wall of the cell. Phosphors are substances that give off light when they are exposed to
other light. When an ultraviolet photon hits a phosphor atom in the cell, one of the
phosphor's electrons jumps to a higher energy level and the atom heats up. When the
electron falls back to its normal level, it releases energy in the form of a visible light
photon.

The phosphors in a plasma display give off colored light when they are excited. Every
pixel is made up of three separate sub pixel cells, each with different colored
phosphors. One sub pixel has a red light phosphor, one sub pixel has a green light
phosphor and one sub pixel has a blue light phosphor. These colors blend together to
create the overall color of the pixel.

By varying the pulses of current flowing through the different cells, the control system
can increase or decrease the intensity of each sub pixel color to create hundreds of
different combinations of red, green and blue. In this way, the control system can
produce colors across the entire spectrum.

The main advantage of plasma display technology is that you can produce a very wide
screen using extremely thin materials. And because each pixel is lit individually, the
image is very bright and looks good from almost every angle. The image quality isn't
quite up to the standards of the best cathode ray tube sets, but it certainly meets most
people's expectations.
The biggest drawback of this technology has to be the price. With prices starting at
$4,000 and going all the way up past $20,000, these sets aren't exactly flying off the
shelves. But as prices fall and technology advances, they may start to edge out the old
CRT sets. In the near future, setting up a new TV might be as easy as hanging a
picture!

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 DLP Technology

What is DLP Technology for Video Projectors and TV?

DLP technology is a revolutionary display solution for video projectors that uses an
optical semiconductor to manipulate light digitally. It’s also a proven and dependable
technology preferred by leading electronics manufacturers worldwide, with more than 1
million systems shipped since 1996.

DLP technology is in use wherever visual excellence is in demand. In fact, it’s the only
display solution that enables movie video projectors, televisions, home theater systems
and business video projectors to create an entirely digital connection between a graphic
or video source and the screen in front of you.

The result is maximum fidelity: a picture whose clarity, brilliance and color must be seen
to be believed.

The DLP Light Engine

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How does DLP Technology work?

The story begins with a breakthrough in micro engineering-and ends with the best
picture quality money can buy.
1. The semiconductor that changed everything
2. Digital Light Processing I: the grayscale image
3. Digital Light Processing II: adding color
4. Applications and configurations

1. THE SEMICONDUCTOR THAT CHANGED

EVERYTHING

At the heart of every DLP projection system is an optical semiconductor known as the
Digital Micro mirror Device, or DMD chip, which was invented by Dr. Larry Hornbeck of
Texas Instruments in 1987.
The DMD chip is probably the world's most sophisticated light switch. It contains a
rectangular array of up to 1.3 million hinge-mounted microscopic mirrors; each of these

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micro mirrors measures less than one-fifth the width of a human hair, and corresponds
to one pixel in a projected image.
When a DMD chip is coordinated with a digital video or graphic signal, a light source,
and a projection lens, its mirrors can reflect an all-digital image onto a screen or other
surface. The DMD and the sophisticated electronics that surround it are what we call
Digital Light Processing technology.

2. DIGITAL LIGHT PROCESSING I: THE GRAYSCALE

IMAGE

A DMD panel's micro mirrors are mounted on tiny hinges that enable them to tilt either
toward the light source in a DLP projection system (ON) or away from it (OFF)-creating
a light or dark pixel on the projection surface.

The bit-streamed image code entering the semiconductor directs each mirror to switch
on and off up to several thousand times per second. When a mirror is switched on more
frequently than off, it reflects a light gray pixel; a mirror that's switched off more
frequently reflects a darker gray pixel.

In this way, the mirrors in a DLP projection system can reflect pixels in up to 1,024
shades of gray to convert the video or graphic signal entering the DMD into a highly
detailed grayscale image.

3. DIGITAL LIGHT PROCESSING II: ADDING COLOR

The white light generated by the lamp in a DLP projection system passes through a
color wheel as it travels to the surface of the DMD panel. The color wheel filters the light
into red, green, and blue, from which a single-chip DLP projection system can create at
least 16.7 million colors. And the 3-DMD chip system found in DLP Cinema projection
systems is capable of producing no fewer than 35 trillion colors.

The on and off states of each micro mirror are coordinated with these three basic
building blocks of color. For example, a mirror responsible for projecting a purple pixel
will only reflect red and blue light to the projection surface; our eyes then blend these
rapidly alternating flashes to see the intended hue in a projected image.

4. APPLICATIONS AND CONFIGURATIONS

1-CHIP DLP PROJECTION SYSTEM

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Televisions, home theater systems and business video projectors using DLP technology
rely on a single DMD chip configuration like the one described above.

White light passes through a color wheel filter, causing red, green and blue light to be
shone in sequence on the surface of the DMD. The switching of the mirrors and the
proportion of time they are 'on' or 'off' is coordinated according to the color shining on
them. The human visual system integrates the sequential color and sees a full-color
image.

3-CHIP DLP PROJECTION SYSTEM

DLP technology-enabled video projectors for very high image quality or high brightness
applications such as cinema and large venue displays rely on a 3-DMD-chip
configuration to produce stunning images, whether moving or still.

In a 3-chip system, the white light generated by the lamp passes through a prism that
divides it into red, green and blue. Each DMD chip is dedicated to one of these three
colors; the colored light that each micro mirror reflects is then combined and passed
through the projection lens to form a single pixel in the image.

BEAUTIFUL PICTURE

CLARITY

DLP technology comes closer than any other display solution to reproducing the exact
mirror image of its source material. That's why images projected by DLP technology are
always crystal clear.
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The thousands of mirrors making up the Digital Micro mirror Device at the heart of DLP
technology are spaced less than one micron apart, resulting in a very high "fill factor."
By minimizing the gaps between pixels in a projected image, DLP projection systems
create a seamless digital picture that's sharp at any size-without the pixilation or "screen
door" effect apparent in other technologies.

BRIGHTNESS

DLP projection systems outshine the alternatives because, being mirror-based, they use
light more efficiently.

While other technologies lose a certain amount of light in transit, the microscopic mirrors
in a DLP projection system bring more light from lamp to screen.

The difference is plain to see. With DLP technology, home entertainment becomes the
visually stunning experience it should be. Business presentations have maximum
impact-whether the lights are on or off. And large venue displays captivate their
audiences with outputs of up to a whopping 15,000 lumens.

COLOR

DLP technology reproduces a range of colors up to eight times greater than that of
analog projection systems.

In televisions and home theater systems, DLP projection creates rich blacks and darker
shades than is possible with other technologies. At the movies, DLP Cinema technology
projects no fewer than 35 trillion colors-over eight times more than is possible with film.

DLP color is becoming even more brilliant as we introduce Sequential Color Recapture
or SCR, an innovation that will enable DLP projection systems (video projectors) to
bring up to 40 percent more lumens to the screen than was previously possible.

SMARTER PRODUCT

DESIGN

The Digital Micro mirror Device at the core of DLP technology can modulate light much
more quickly than other display ingredients. That means a DLP projection system only
requires one panel, while other technologies require three.

The result is a projection subsystem that is smaller and lighter, leaving ample room for
innovative design. So product designers can focus on making their products lighter,
slimmer, and more elegant.

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Think wide-screen televisions that don't eat up the living room. A new generation of
cabinet-sized, 40-inch tabletop TVs. And portable projectors weighing as little as two
pounds that are bright enough for lights-on presentations.

RELIABILITY

DLP technology makes video projectors, home theater systems, and televisions more
robust and more reliable.

The digital nature of DLP technology means that, unlike other display solutions, it's not
susceptible to heat, humidity, or vibration-environmental factors that can cause an
image to degrade over time.

DLP projection systems display an original-quality picture time and time again with zero
hassle and minimal maintenance. And with more than one million systems shipped
since 1996, DLP technology has a proven track record for outstanding dependability.

VERSATILITY

DLP projection brings the same peerless visual standard to entertainment, work, and
play.
Innovation and flexibility: As far as we're concerned, you can't have one without the
other.
DLP technology fits into your life wherever visual experience is important. DLP
technology delivers stunning images in your home, while DLP Cinema technology
delivers unmatched image quality in the movie theater. The video projector you use for
presentations also works its magic in your living room-or even doubles as the ultimate
PC game enhancer for your kids (if they're lucky). And the all-digital nature of televisions
and home theater systems featuring DLP technology makes them ideal for enjoying
television programming, the Internet, and gaming applications all in one place.

Digital Micro Mirror Device (DMD)

Digital Micro Mirror Device or DMD consists of hundreds-of-thousands of tiny actuated

mirrors, each of which is responsible for directing a single pixel to the screen. This direct
pixel-for-pixel relationship ensures a sharp, highly-accurate picture.

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 DLP Technology vs. LCD

From the classroom to the boardroom and everywhere in between, DLP®

projectors give you a picture that lasts.

DLP® proves itself again in a 3rd round of testing. Projectors equipped with DLP®
technology continue to shine bright – something to keep in mind when selecting a
projector. Of course color, clarity and brightness should be top-of-mind concerns when
buying a projector; but you must also consider the longevity of that picture. After all,
what good is a beautiful picture if it doesn't last?

So just what does picture reliability mean?

Put simply, picture reliability is how the images from your projector will look over time.
When looking at a projected image, if you see an unusual amount of yellow or greenish
hues in your images, that's what we call Color Decay. Projectors that use DLP®
technology are virtually immune to Color Decay. However, LCD projectors can't make
that same claim.

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 Color deterioration chart Watch as DLP® outperforms.

After 1771 hours of continuous

operation. The LCD projectors started
to show signs of visual deterioration
DLP® shines bright again and again and again.

According to tests done by Intertek, an impartial global leader in product testing, images
on LCD projectors may permanently degrade over time. Not only do these tests validate
the results of two previous studies, it's also important to note all of the steps that were
taken to ensure fairness and accuracy. For example, all 54 of the test samples were
acquired on the open market, all test equipment was calibrated to the proper NTSC
standards, and all the manufacturers' recommended maintenance was performed on
the projectors.

Intertek's test was made up of three different runtime cycles, each one representing a
different type of user.

• The 24/7 user – leaving the projector on continuously.

• The classroom user – leaving the projector on for 5.5 hours at a time.
• The business user – turning the projector on for 1.5 hours at a time.

In the first two test cycles, projectors with DLP® showed no significant change in
luminance, uniformity, contrast ratio or color reproduction. Meanwhile, the LCD
projectors lost half their contrast ratio and their color uniformity deteriorated
substantially. And in the ongoing third test cycle, the LCD projectors are expected to
show similar signs of decay.

DLP® projectors provide stunning picture quality, and vibrant, rich, lifelike colors.
However, the beauty of digital DLP® technology is more than an incredible picture. It's
the ability to maintain that picture for years to come. That is true beauty.

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