Edit STARS proposal: STARS-Proposal:Liquid Crystal Displays, 1962-2011

Author(s):

Timeline

Year: Event: Richard Williams discovers liquid crystal “Williams Domains”

Year: Event: George Heilmeier, Louis Zanoni, and Lucian Barton invent Dynamic Scattering Mode (DSM) LCD

Year: Event: Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt invent Twisted-Nematic (TN) LCD

Year: Event: Optel makes and sells DSM LCD digital wristwatches

Year: Event: Bernard Lechner conceives Thin-Film Transistor Active-Matrix (TFT AM) Drive

Year: Event: George Gray and Royal Radar Establishment synthesize cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals

Year: Event: Sharp markets DSM LCD pocket calculators

Year: Event: Suwa Seiko markets TN mode digital wristwatch

Year: Event: Peter Brody, Fang Luo, and colleagues demonstrate a 36-square-inch TFT-AM LCD

Year: Event: Isamu Washizuka and colleagues demonstrate 14-inch, TFT-AM, color LCD video monitor

Year: Event: Merck and Chisso synthesize fluorinated liquid crystals for TFT-AM displays

Year: Event: Gunter Bauer and colleagues propose In-Plane Switching (IPS) mode

Year: Event: Multidomain Vertical Alignment (MVA) mode is developed

Year: Event: Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA) mode is developed

Year: Event: Volume of LCD sales surpasses that of cathode-ray tubes (CRTs)

Year: Event: Sharp builds 10th-Generation (3.13 m x 2.68 m mother glass) LCD factory

Year: Event:

Synopsis

This paper reviews the developments from 1962 when the LCD was first proposed within RCA, to 1988, when Sharp demonstrated a 14-inch, full-color, full-motion display, launching the LCD TV industry. The article then describes the progress made in the last 25 years, such as VA and IPS operation modes, LED back lighting, terminally fluorinated liquid-crystals, and more efficient manufacturing technology for ever-larger displays. Liquid-crystal displays (LCD) comprise a unique blend of chemistry, physics, and engineering that required the efforts of researchers around the world. They were conceived in 1962 at RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey, and RCA demonstrated them publicly in 1968. Two years later the twisted-nematic mode of operation was invented in Switzerland and Ohio, and in 1972 UK researchers synthesized cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals. Together these inventions enabled the commercialization of LCDs. During the 1970s and early 1980s manufacturers supplied small LCDs for portable products such as digital watches and pocket calculators. Development of larger and more colorful displays proceeded incrementally until 1988. Then Sharp Corporation made a significant advance, demonstrating a 14-inch, full-color, full-motion display using an active-matrix TFT (thin-film-transistor) array. Observing this, Japanese leaders of the display industry were convinced that LCDs would replace CRTs, and committed to making LCDs a major industry in Japan. Large-scale displays were first supplied for personal computers and then to television receivers. In the second half of 1990s, the industry started migrating to Korea and Taiwan as researchers developed techniques to improve the display and manufacture of LCDs of increasing dimensions. In 2005, the LCD industry surpassed the CRT industry in production volume and in 2011 achieved a production value over 100 billion dollars. The technology’s growth has had numerous social and cultural effects, easing the acceptance of cell and smart phones, enabling the development of portable computers, and changing the design of homes as the panel TV replaced the traditional television receiver box.

Bibliography

References of Historical Significance:

Author: Year: Title: “Dynamic Scattering: A New Electrooptic Effect in Certain Classes of Nematic Liquid Crystals” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Voltage-Dependent Optical Activity of a Twisted Nematic Liquid Crystal” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Liquid Crystal Matrix Displays” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Operational Characteristics of a 6 in. by 6 in., TFT Matrix Array, Liquid Crystal Display” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “A 14-in-Diagonal Full-Color a-Si TFT LCD” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “A Vertically Aligned LCD Providing Super-high Image Quality” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Domain Divided Vertical Alignment Mode with Optimized Fringe Field Effect” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Plane Switching of Nematic Liquid Crystals” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Liquid Crystal Mixtures for Active Matrix Displays using New Terminally Fluorinated Compounds” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “Cyclohexane Derivative and Liquid Crystal Composition Containing the Same” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “The Latest Plasma-Enhanced Chemical-Vapor Deposition Technology for Large-Size Processing” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: Publisher:

References for Further Reading:

Author: Year: Title: Liquid Gold: The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “The World of Liquid-Crystal Display TVs—Past, Present, and Future” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: “The History of Liquid-Crystal Display and its Industry” Publisher:

Author: Year: Title: Publisher:

About the Author(s)

Hirohisa Kawamoto (S’69–M’70–SM’83–F’92–LF’04) received his B.S. from Kyoto University and the Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He worked for Panasonic, RCA Laboratories, Sony America, and Sharp, and has served on the faculty at Berkeley and Nara Institute of Science and Technology. Kawamoto was the chair of the first steering committee of IEEE Journal of Display Technology in 2005 and Japanese delegate to the Electro-Technical Commission in Geneva. Founder of the Princeton Community Japanese Language School, he is now vice president of the Plant High-Technology Institute in Nara. Kawamoto has received the IEEE Centennial and Third Millennium Medals.

Free text:

[[Category:Components, circuits, devices & systems]]

Summary:

This is a minor edit Watch this page

Cancel