twisted nematic tn lcd panel technology factory

A type of LCD panel technology. In this type of panel, when no electric current is running through the liquid crystal cells, the cells naturally align in a twisted form between two substrate panes of glass which blocks the transmission of light from the backlight. This renders the crystals opaque and results in a black display screen. When an electric current is applied, the liquid crystal cells untwist allowing light to pass through resulting in a white display screen. TN panels have relatively narrow viewing angles especially in the vertical direction and color reproduction is poor; however, they are economical and suitable for a wide-range of general uses, particularly with office tasks (e.g. word processing).

The Nematic liquid crystal state is a unique state not included in the above 3 states. It is a state between the crystalline (solid) and isotropic (liquid) states. Even in the state of liquid crystals, there are several types of liquid crystal states, as below.

The nematic liquid crystal phase is characterized by molecules maintain the general order of tending to point in the same direction. It has one dimensional order. See Fig.1

In smectic phase, molecules show two-dimensional order not present in the nematic. The molecules maintain the general orientationally of nematic, but also tend to align themselves in layers or planes. It is the state between nematic (one-dimensional order) and solid state (three-dimensional order). See Fig.1.

The cholesteric (or chiral nematic) liquid crystal phase is typically the molecules are directionally oriented and stacked in a helical pattern, with each layer rotated at a slight angle to the ones above and below it. See Fig.1.

The twisted nematic effect (TN-effect) was a main technology breakthrough that made LCDs practical. Unlike earlier displays, TN-cells did not require a current to flow for operation and used low operating voltages suitable for use with batteries. The introduction of TN-effect displays led to their rapid expansion in the display field, quickly pushing out other common technologies like monolithic LEDs and CRTs for most electronics. By the 1990s, TN-effect LCDs were largely universal in portable electronics, although since then, many applications of LCDs adopted alternatives to the TN-effect such as in-plane switching (IPS) or vertical alignment (VA).

TN displays benefit from fast pixel response times and less smearing than other LCD display technology, but suffer from poor color reproduction and limited viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction. Colors will shift, potentially to the point of completely inverting, when viewed at an angle that is not perpendicular to the display.

The twisted nematic effect is based on the precisely controlled realignment of liquid crystal molecules between different ordered molecular configurations under the action of an applied electric field. This is achieved with little power consumption and at low operating voltages. The underlying phenomenon of alignment of liquid crystal molecules in applied field is called Fréedericksz transition and was discovered by Russian physicist Vsevolod Frederiks in 1927.

The illustrations to the right show both the OFF and the ON-state of a single picture element (pixel) of a twisted nematic light modulator liquid crystal display operating in the "normally white" mode, i.e., a mode in which light is transmitted when no electrical field is applied to the liquid crystal.

In the OFF state, i.e., when no electrical field is applied, a twisted configuration (aka helical structure or helix) of nematic liquid crystal molecules is formed between two glass plates, G in the figure, which are separated by several spacers and coated with transparent electrodes, E1 and E2. The electrodes themselves are coated with alignment layers (not shown) that precisely twist the liquid crystal by 90° when no external field is present (left diagram). If a light source with the proper polarization (about half) shines on the front of the LCD, the light will pass through the first polarizer, P2 and into the liquid crystal, where it is rotated by the helical structure. The light is then properly polarized to pass through the second polarizer, P1, set at 90° to the first. The light then passes through the back of the cell and the image, I, appears transparent.

To display information with a twisted nematic liquid crystal, the transparent electrodes are structured by photo-lithography to form a matrix or other pattern of electrodes. Only one of the electrodes has to be patterned in this way, the other can remain continuous (common electrode). For low information content numerical and alpha-numerical TN-LCDs, like digital watches or calculators, segmented electrodes are sufficient. If more complex data or graphics information have to be displayed, a matrix arrangement of electrodes is used. Because of this, voltage-controlled addressing of matrix displays, such as in LCD-screens for computer monitors or flat television screens, is more complex than with segmented electrodes. For a matrix of limited resolution or for a slow-changing display on even a large matrix panel, a passive grid of electrodes is sufficient to implement passive matrix-addressing, provided that there are independent electronic drivers for each row and column. A high-resolution matrix LCD with required fast response (e.g. for animated graphics and/or video) necessitates integration of additional non-linear electronic elements into each picture element (pixel) of the display (e.g., thin-film diodes, TFDs, or thin-film transistors, TFTs) in order to allow active matrix-addressing of individual picture elements without crosstalk (unintended activation of non-addressed pixels).

In 1962, Richard Williams, a physical chemist working at RCA Laboratories, started seeking new physical phenomena that might yield a display technology without vacuum tubes. Aware of the long line of research involving nematic liquid crystals, he started experimenting with the compound p-azoxyanisole which has a melting point of 115 °C (239 °F). Williams set up his experiments on a heated microscope stage, placing samples between transparent tin-oxide electrodes on glass plates held at 125 °C (257 °F). He discovered that a very strong electrical field applied across the stack would cause striped patterns to form. These were later termed "Williams domains".

Although successful, the dynamic scattering display required constant current flow through the device, as well as relatively high voltages. This made them unattractive for low-power situations, where many of these sorts of displays were being used. Not being self-lit, LCDs also required external lighting if they were going to be used in low-light situations, which made existing display technologies even more unattractive in overall power terms. A further limitation was the requirement for a mirror, which limited the viewing angles. The RCA team was aware of these limitations, and continued development of a variety of technologies.

Another potential approach was the twisted-nematic approach, which had first been noticed by French physicist Charles-Victor Mauguin in 1911. Mauguin was experimenting with a variety of semi-solid liquid crystals when he noted that he could align the crystals by pulling a piece of paper across them, causing the crystals to become polarized. He later noticed when he sandwiched the crystal between two aligned polarizers, he could twist them in relation to each other, but the light continued to be transmitted. This was not expected. Normally if two polarizers are aligned at right angles, light will not flow through them. Mauguin concluded that the light was being re-polarized by the twisting of the crystal itself.

Wolfgang Helfrich, a physicist who joined RCA in 1967, became interested in Mauguin"s twisted structure and thought it might be used to create an electronic display. However RCA showed little interest because they felt that any effect that used two polarizers would also have a large amount of light absorption, requiring it to be brightly lit. In 1970, Helfrich left RCA and joined the Central Research Laboratories of Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland, where he teamed up with Martin Schadt, a solid-state physicist. Schadt built a sample with electrodes and a twisted version of a liquid-crystal material called PEBAB (p-ethoxybenzylidene-p"-aminobenzonitrile), which Helfrich had reported in prior studies at RCA, as part of their guest-host experiments.

At this time Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) was also working with the devices as part of a prior joint medical research agreement with Hoffmann-LaRoche.James Fergason, an expert in liquid crystals at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories. Fergason was working on the TN-effect for displays, having formed ILIXCO to commercialize developments of the research being carried out in conjunction with Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupe at Kent State University"s Liquid Crystal Institute.

When news of the demonstration reached Hoffmann-LaRoche, Helfrich and Schadt immediately pushed for a patent, which was filed on 4 December 1970. Their formal results were published in Applied Physics Letters on 15 February 1971. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the new effect for displays, Schadt fabricated a 4-digit display panel in 1972.

This work, in turn, led to the discovery of an entirely different class of nematic crystals by Ludwig Pohl, Rudolf Eidenschink and their colleagues at Merck KGaA in Darmstadt, called cyanophenylcyclohexanes. They quickly became the basis of almost all LCDs, and remain a major part of Merck"s business today.

Gerhard H. Buntz (Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney, Physicist, Basel), "Twisted Nematic Liquid Crystal Displays (TN-LCDs), an invention from Basel with global effects", Information No. 118, October 2005, issued by Internationale Treuhand AG, Basel, Geneva, Zurich. Published in German

TN stands for twisted nematic. This is a type of LED (a form of LCD) panel display technology. TN panels are characterized as being the fastest and cheapest among the other main types of display panels, VA (vertical alignment)and IPS (in-plane switching). As such, they work great for gaming monitors and gaming laptops. However, TN panels also offer the worst viewing angles and color when compared to VA and IPS panels.

PerformanceFastest: low response times, highest refresh rates, minimal motion blur; Low input lagLongest response times typically; Higher refresh rates possibleSlower response times than TN, faster response times than VA; Gaming-quality refresh rates are rare

DisplayWorst viewing angles;Worst colorViewing angles typically better than TN, worse than IPS; Good color; Best contrast;Best image depthBest viewing angles; Best color

So, why would anyone ever buy a TN panel? For starters, they’re cheap. They don’t cost a lot to produce, so they’re often used in the most budget-friendly options. If you don’t value color reproduction or need excellent viewing angles, a TN panel might be fine for your office or study.

TN panels also have the lowest input lag—typically around one millisecond. They can also handle high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz. This makes them an attractive option for competitive multiplayer games—especially eSports, where every split-second counts.

IPS technology was developed to improve upon the limitations of TN panels—most notably, the poor color reproduction and limited viewing angles. As a result, IPS panels are much better than TNs in both of these areas.

In particular, IPS panels have vastly superior viewing angles than TNs. This means you can view IPS panels from extreme angles and still get accurate color reproduction. Unlike TNs, you’ll notice very little shift in color when you view one from a less-than-ideal perspective.

IPS panels are also known for their relatively good black reproduction, which helps eliminate the “washed out” look you get with TN panels. However, IPS panels fall short of the excellent contrast ratios you’ll find on VAs.

While high refresh rates were typically reserved for TNs, more manufacturers are producing IPS panels with refresh rates of 240 Hz. For example, the 27-inch 1080p ASUS VG279QM uses an IPS panel and supports 280 Hz.

Previously, TNs exhibited less input lag than any other panel, but IPS technology has finally caught up. In June 2019, LG announced its new Nano IPS UltraGear monitors with a response time of one millisecond.

Despite the gap being closed, you’ll still pay more for an IPS panel with such a low response time than you would for a TN with similar specs. If you’re on a budget, expect a response time of around four milliseconds for a good IPS monitor.

One last thing to be aware of with IPS panels is a phenomenon called “IPS glow.” It’s when you see the display’s backlight shining through it at more extreme viewing angles. It’s not a huge problem unless you view the panel from the side, but it’s something to keep in mind.

VA panels are something of a compromise between TN and IPS. They offer the best contrast ratios, which is why TV manufacturers use them extensively. While an IPS monitor typically has a contrast ratio of 1000:1, it’s not unusual to see 3000:1 or 6000:1 in a comparable VA panel.

In terms of viewing angles, VAs can’t quite match the performance of IPS panels. Screen brightness, in particular, can vary based on the angle from which you’re viewing, but you won’t get the “IPS glow.”

VAs have slower response times than TNs and the newer Nano IPS panels with their one-millisecond response rates. You can find VA monitors with high refresh rates (240 Hz), but the latency can result in more ghosting and motion blur. For this reason, competitive gamers should avoid VA.

Compared to TNs, VA panels do offer much better color reproduction and typically hit the full sRGB spectrum, even on lower-end models. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, Samsung’s Quantum Dot SVA panels can hit 125 percent sRGB coverage.

For these reasons, VA panels are seen as the jack of all trades. They’re ideal for general use, but they either match or fall short in most other areas except contrast ratio. VAs are good for gamers who enjoy single-player or casual experiences.

When compared to CRT monitors, all LCD panels suffer from some form of latency issue. This was a real problem when TN panels first appeared, and it’s plagued IPS and VA monitors for years. But technology has moved on, and while many of these issues have been improved, they haven’t been eliminated entirely.

Uneven backlighting is another issue you’ll find on all panel types. Often this comes down to overall build quality—cheaper models slack on quality control to save on production costs. So, if you’re looking for a cheap monitor, be prepared for some uneven backlighting. However, you’ll mostly only notice it on solid or very dark backgrounds.

LCD panels are also susceptible to dead or stuck pixels. Different manufacturers and jurisdictions have different policies and consumer laws covering dead pixels. If you’re a perfectionist, check the manufacturer’s dead-pixel policy before you buy. Some will replace a monitor with a single dead pixel for free, while others require a minimum number.

Office or study use: Your budget should be your primary concern here. VA is the do-it-all panel, with superior viewing angles to TN, but either would do the trick. You can save some money because you don’t need high refresh rates or ultra-low latency. They’re still nice, though. You’ll see a noticeable difference in smoothness just when moving the Windows cursor on a monitor with a 144 versus 60 Hz refresh rate.

Photo and video editors/Digital artists: IPS panels are still generally favored for their ability to display a wide gamut of colors. It’s not unusual to find VA panels that also cover a wide gamut (125 percent sRGB, and over 90 percent DCI-P3), but they tend to exhibit more motion blur during fast-paced action than IPS panels. If you’re serious about color accuracy, you’ll need to properly calibrate your monitor.

Programmers who mount monitors vertically: You might think TN panels are great for programmers, but that’s not necessarily the case. TN panels have particularly bad viewing angles on the vertical axis. If you mount your monitor in portrait mode (as many programmers and mobile developers do), you’ll get the worst possible viewing angles from a TN panel. For the best possible viewing angles in this scenario, invest in an IPS display.

Competitive online gamers: There’s no question TN panels are still favored in the eSports world. Even the cheapest models have fast response times and support for high refresh rates. For 1080p gaming, a 24-inch will do just fine, or you could opt for a 1440p, 27-inch model without breaking the bank. You might want to go for an IPS panel as more low-latency models hit the market, but expect to pay more.

Non-competitive, high-end PC gamers: For a rich, immersive image that pops, a VA panel will provide a higher contrast ratio than IPS or TN. For deep blacks and a sharp, contrasting image, VA is the winner. If you’re okay with sacrificing some contrast, you can go the IPS route. However, we’d recommend avoiding TN altogether unless you play competitively.

Best all-rounder: VA is the winner here, but IPS is better in all areas except contrast ratio. If you can sacrifice contrast, an IPS panel will provide fairly low latency, decent blacks, and satisfactory color coverage.

If you can, check out the monitor you’re interested in in-person before you buy it. You can perform some simple ghosting and motion blur tests by grabbing a window with the mouse and moving it rapidly around the screen. You can also test the brightness, watch some videos, and play with the onscreen display to get a feel for it.

Twisted nematic or TN LCD panel is a type of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display or TFT-LCD that is commonly used in an array of consumer electronic devices such as digital watches and calculators, as well as computer monitors and mobile phones.

However, further demands for better and wider display applications resulted in the emergence of newer display technologies such as plasma panel display or PDP technology, in-plane switching or IPS LCD technology and active-matrix organic light-emitting diode or AMOLED technology.

Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that the introduction of TN technology during the 1970s was a major technological breakthrough because it commercialized the use of LCD and made the use of digital electronic displays in consumer electronic devices affordable and practical.

Central to the technology behind twisted nematic or TN display panel is the use of nematic liquid crystal sandwiched between two plates of glass substrates coated with transparent indium-tin-oxide or ITO. This ITO surface are further coated with alignment layers that both rub in one direction.

Manipulation of polarised light is the underlying technological principle behind TN display. When light enters the TN cell, the polarisation state twists with the director of the liquid crystal material.

The inherent advantages of TN LCD panels made twisted nematic LCD technology a dominant and almost universal display technology used in portable electronics during the 1990s. Take note of the following advantages of TN LCD panels over other display technologies:

One of the key advantages of TN LCD panels stems from the easy implementation of twisted nematic technology. This translates to cheaper manufacturing requirements and simpler production processes, thus further translating into affordability of TN LCD panels and the corresponding consumer electronics products to end consumers.

Note that the introduction and subsequent popularity of twisted nematic technology quickly pushed out other display technologies such as monolithic LED and cathode-ray tube or CRT for most electronics.

Furthermore, because TN LCD panels are easy and cheap to manufacture, not only did they replace LED and CRT display but they have also continued to remain an affordable alternative to modern display technologies such as IPS and AMOLED.

Twisted nematic technology does not require a current to flow to operate. It also runs under low operating voltages. These advantages collectively correspond to low and efficient power consumption, thus making TN LCD panels suitable for use with batteries and low-powered devices.

The power consumption advantage of TN LCD panels has ushered in the era for low-powered and lightweight LCD, thus paving the way for the invention and production of compact and lighter consumer electronics and non-consumer electronic instruments.

Compared against IPS LCD panels, TN LCD panels have shorter response time and higher refresh rate. Pixels in a typical TN LCD panel change their state as fast as two milliseconds compared against the five milliseconds response time of a typical IPS LCD panel. Furthermore, high-end TN LCD panels even have double the usual refresh rate of 120Hz instead of 60Hz.

The better pixel response time and refresh rate advantages of TN LCD panels can enable them to display twice as much information every second. These make TN LCD panels suitable for use in high-end gaming. In fact, some hardcore gamers prefer a TN computer monitor to a VA or IPS monitor due to its responsiveness and better refresh rate.

The disadvantages of twisted nematic LCD technology have prevented it from catapulting into more modern and wider applications however. Take note of the following limitations and disadvantages of TN LCD panels:

A notable disadvantage of TN LCD panels is a narrow viewing angle. A user needs to look at a TN panel from a straight up 90-degree angle to maximize its visual performance.

When viewed from other angles, colors will appear duller and images will appear darker on a TN panel. User familiar with different types of LCD can easily discern if a panel is a TN panel through these color shifts and image distortion.

Nonetheless, the restricted viewing angle compels a user to remain sitting dead straight up in front of a TN LCD panel. Doing so can be problematic in larger TN LCD panels in which changing viewing angle is sometimes unavoidable.

Apart from the inherent dull color reproduction in twisted nematic LCD technology, especially when compared against vertical alignment or in-plane switching LCD technologies, the problem with the limited viewing angle also produces poor representation of colors.

Poor color reproduction also means that color inaccuracy is another disadvantage of TN panels. This is the reason why TN panels are not suitable for use in color critical tasks such as graphic design, photo manipulation, and video editing, among others.

Note that the quality of TN LCD panels depends on manufacturers. Low-end TN LCD panels have the tendency to exhibit extreme instances of other disadvantages such as poor viewing angle and poor color reproduction.

Take note of cheap feature mobile phones as an example. The TN LCD panels used in these products can exhibit extreme color shifts even at slight change in viewing angle.

Images in low-end TN LCD panels can also be indiscernible when viewed under direct sunlight. Note than another disadvantage of TN LCD panels is susceptibility to dead pixels. This becomes more pronounced in cheaper and low-end panels.

Twisted nematic LCD technology was a breakthrough innovation that paved the way for an array of relatively inexpensive electronic devices that use digital electronic display. TN panels remain a very popular LCD option because of their advantages that revolve around inexpensive manufacturing and simpler production that translate further to cheaper price points for end consumers.

However, TN panels are becoming noticeable archaic due to the popularity of other display technologies such as in-plane switching or IPS LCD technology and active-matrix organic light-emitting diode or AMOLED technology. Both technologies are becoming more prominent in modern consumer electronics such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Of course, the associated cost efficiency of producing and using TN panels, in addition to other advantages such as low power consumption and better response time and refresh rates, still make them an ideal display option for use in inexpensive computer monitors, as well as for other portable electronics such as digital watches and calculators.

Twisted nematic or TN LCD is a type of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display or TFT-LCD that is commonly used in an array of consumer electronic devices such as digital watches and calculators, as well as computer monitors and mobile phones. Note that it is the most common type of LCD technology because of its lowered manufacturing cost than IPS LCD.

1.One advantage of twisted nematic or TN LCD over other display technologies such as IPS LCD, VA display, and OLED is affordability. The technology behind TN LCDs is easier to implement, thus translating to inexpensive manufacturing cost and affordable market price.

2.Energy efficiency is another strength of twisted nematic LCD when compared to IPS LCD and VA display. It can run under low operating voltages and does not require a current flow to operate. Hence, TN LCDs are suitable for low-powered devices.

3.Another notable advantage of twisted nematic LCD is that it has the fastest pixel response rate and highest refresh rate than its counterpart display technologies, particularly IPS LCD and to some extent, OLED display. These characteristics make TNs a favorite in the gaming community.

1.Limited viewing angle is a main disadvantage of twisted nematic LCD. To be specific, when viewed from an angle, images appear darker and color seems less vivid on a TN LCDs. Viewing experience suffers due to this.

2.Another disadvantage of TNs is that it has the poorest color reproduction among the different types of LCD technologies, such as IPS LCD and VA LCD. TNs only have a color depth of 262,144 possible colors.

3.Quality is also an issue. The quality of a particular twisted nematic LCD panel depends on its manufacturer. However, because twisted nematic is generally cheap to manufacture, there are low-end models that severely highlights the disadvantages of TN LCD.

The Nematic phase is one of the two major phases of liquid crystals, the other being Smetic phase. The Nematic phase is closer to a liquid substance than to a solid substance.

The introduction of TN LCD technology in the 1970s was a breakthrough in display technology to help the commercialization of LCDs in electronic devices.

TN display technology uses nematic liquid crystal placed in the midst of glass substrates dusted with ITO (indium-tin-oxide). The ITO is in turn coated with layers that rub in a direction.

Polarized light manipulation is the underlying principle in TN display technology. As light enters the TN cell, there is a twist in the polarization state with the liquid crystal director.

TN liquid display crystal technology is easy to implement. This means inexpensive manufacturing requirements for industries and an affordable end product for consumers. This has made the use of TN LCD to serve as a good replacement for CRT and LED technologies. It is also a cheaper alternative to newer technologies like AMOLED and IPS.

TN technology does not need any current requirement to function. It operates with low voltages. For this, it can be operated with batteries and other low power sources.

The response time of a pixel is the time lapse required for a pixel to change from a state to another. The unit of measurement is milliseconds. The smaller, the better. The refresh rate, in contrast, is the frequency at which the image of a display is refreshed. It is measured in Hertz. The superior refresh rate and pixel response time give the Twisted Nematic LCD technology the capability to display faster images in a short period of time.

The viewing angle of TN LCD technology is low. A user has to look up from a 90-degree range for a maximum visual experience and good performance. In a lower angle range view, colors tend to be duller while images will be darker.

Unlike LCD’s IPS and VA panels, using TN panels produces poor color reproduction. This negative aspect of TN LCD may have resulted from the restricted viewing angle. The bad color reproduction also translates to inaccuracy in color production from the TN panels. This makes TN LCD not suitable for image-oriented works such as a graphic design, video editing, and photo editing.

Twisted Nematic LCD panels vary in quality from different producers. When a low-quality product is adopted, the other disadvantages will be more pronounced in the output of the implementation such as the color implementation and the viewing angle. Cheaper and poor quality TN panels can also bring out another demerit of susceptibility of dead pixels.

Its affordability and the change it brings into display technology are however being outshined by the incoming of superior display technologies such as IPS LCD, OLED and other latest development in display technology of today.

Everyday, we look at LCD display, TV, cell phone, monitor. It becomes a necessity in modern society. LCD panel is the most important part of an LCD display. It determines LCD screen"s performance, e.g. brightness, contrast, color and viewing angle. Therefore, picking the right type of LCD panel is critical to your application.

These names reflect the alignment of crystal molecules inside the LCD, and how they change when they are charged electrically. All liquid crystal displays change the alignment of liquid crystal molecules to work, but the manner in which they do so can drastically affect the image quality and response time. Each panel type has its advantages and disadvantages. The easiest way to choose between them is to decide which attributes are most important to your project. It mainly depends on what you use your LCD display for, and your budget.

TN is the most mature technology in LCD panel manufacturing. When there is no voltage difference between the two transparent electrodes, liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees, in combination of upper and bottom polarizers, allows light to pass through LCD. As voltage applied, crystal molecules are untwisted and aligned to the same direction, blocking light.

In IPS panel, crystal molecules are parallel to the glass substrates at initial stage, LCD is off. When the in-plane electrodes is charged, crystal molecules are rotated, modifying light"s direction. Which lights up the LCD display.

As its name suggests, VA panel"s liquid crystals are aligned vertically without charged. When a voltage is applied, the molecules tilt and modifying light direction.

So in summary, TN panels twist, IPS panels use a parallel alignment and rotate, while VA panels use a perpendicular alignment and tilt. These difference create LCD display with distinctive performance.

IPS LCD is the clear winner in this aspect. It has 178/178 viewing angle ratings. Which means you can look at IPS LCD display from any angle without the image shifting in color and contrast. VA LCD has pretty wide viewing angle, too. But it has contrast shifts at off-center angles. As for TN LCD, viewing angle is its weakest point.

Most TN LCDs have 6-bits colors. Manufacturers use frame rate control (FRC) to enhance its color performance. For IPS and VA panels, you can still find 6-bits entry level LCD. But most of them are 8-bits. And IPS technology can provide natively 10-bits colors.

Color gamut is another part that VA and IPS panels shine at. The best TN LCD can reach sRGB gamut. VA panels typically start with full sRGB coverage, and get to around 90% DCI-P3 coverage. With IPS LCD panel, you could find the best ones full DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage. That is why you see most professional grade LCD displays use IPS panel.

There is no inherent differences among the three panel technologies, because LCD backlight is the main factor here. However, there is a big gap in terms of contrast ratio. TN LCD panel tends to have the lowest value among the three. IPS LCD screen sits in the middle can reach 1500:1. For VA panel, the best one can exceed 4500:1 easily. VA LCD display provides far darker screen than TN & IPS. That is why they are used in vehicle dashboard.

TN panel does have an advantage when it comes to refresh rate. The panel offers the best refresh rate and response time. This is the reason why most gaming LCD monitors are made of TN panel.

TN LCD provides the best refresh rate and economic solution. If your application requires wide viewing angles and good color presentation, VA panel is probably the choice. While IPS has the best overall visual performance, in general it is more expensive than the other two.

As the key component behind liquid crystal displays (LCD), these materials change light polarization to create vibrant, high-resolution images on digital screens. The growth of LCD technology has helped propel the larger display panel market enormously, with industry valuation projected to reach $178.20 billion by 2026.

A prolific variety of LCD types has been developed to best meet their exact use-cases and end-environments. Displays may be optimized for power consumption, contrast ratio, color reproduction, optimal viewing angle, temperature range, cost, and more.

Passive Matrix LCDs are addressed with common and segment electrodes. A pixel or an icon is formed at the intersection where a common and a segment electrode overlap. Common electrodes are addressed one-at-a-time in a sequence. Segment electrodes are addressed simultaneously with the information corresponding to all pixels or icons connected to the current common electrode. This method is referred to as multiplexing.

Passive Matrix LCDs offer a cost advantage (both parts and tooling) and are highly customizable. The counterpart to Passive Matrix displays are Active Matrix displays.

Active-Matrix LCDs were developed to overcome some of the limitations of Passive Matrix LCDs – namely resolution, color, and size. Within an Active-Matrix LCD, an “active element” is added to each pixel location (the intersection between a horizontal row and vertical column electrode). These active elements, which can be diodes or transistors, create a threshold and allow control of the optical response of the liquid crystal structure to the applied voltage. Transistors are used as switches to charge a capacitor, which then provides the voltage to the pixel. Whenever a row is turned on, one at a time, all transistor switches in that row are closed and all pixel capacitors are charged with the appropriate voltage. The capacitor then keeps the voltage applied to the pixel after the row is switched off until the next refresh cycle.

Furthermore, the processes used for manufacturing Active-Matrix LCDs can create much finer details on the electrode structure. This allows splitting each pixel in three sub-pixels with different color. This together with the better voltage control allows full color displays.

Currently the most common Electronics Display Technology on the market is LCD technology and among LCD technologies, TFT display technology is the most widely used across consumer applications (laptops, tablets, TVs, Mobile phones, etc.) as well as many industrial, automotive, and medical applications.

Nematic refers to one of the common phases of liquid crystals (LC). In this phase, rod-like molecules tend to self-align more or less parallel to each other.

As the first commercially successful LCD technology, Passive Matrix Twisted Nematic (TN) LCDs use a 90° twist of the nematic LC fluid between two polarizers to display information. The twist of the LC fluid either blocks light from passing through the LCD cell or allows light to pass, depending on the applied voltage. The applied voltage changes the twisted nematic orientation into an orientation that does not change the polarization of tight. This is called the TN effect.

TN displays can be normally white (NW) when they use two orthogonal liner polarizers or normally black (NB) when parallel linear polarizers are used. ‘Normally’ refers to what happens when no voltage is applied.

Initially, Passive TN LCDs were used in segmented, icon, or character displays where an image element was turned “on” and “off” depending on how the fluid was driven. Improvements were made along the way to address the limited viewing angle of TN technology, which can suffer from contrast loss or even inversion at shallow angles.

It can be advantageous to twist the director of the nematic phase a bit more than 90 degrees, but less than 180 degrees. Displays like this are a subset of TN displays and are sometimes caller Hyper Twisted Nematic Displays.

The numbers of rows or icons that can be addressed in a TN display without Active Matrix addressing is very limited. This is related to how strongly the liquid crystal responds to the applied voltage. Twisting the LC nematic fluid more than 180 degrees (typically between 210 and 270 degrees) causes the display to require a much smaller voltage difference between on and off pixels. This in turn allows addressing of many more rows without an active matrix. Displays with a twist between 210 and 270 degrees are called Super Twisted Nematic displays.

The higher display resolution of STN displays comes at a price. The optical effect is no longer neutrally black and white as in a TN display. Rather these displays are naturally yellow and black or blue and white. The color can be somewhat compensated with colored polarizers, but that comes at the expense of brightness and contrast.

The color in STN displays is caused by birefringence. Adding the same birefringence in the opposite direction can compensate for the effect. Initially this was done by stacking two STN displays on top of each other. This is referred to as Double STN or DSTN, but this is of course thicker and more expensive.

The birefringence of an STN display can be approximated with a stretched transparent plastic film. Adding such a film to an STN display instead of the 2nd STN display is a lot more attractive and has almost the same performance. This is referred to as a Film Compensated STN display (FSTN, or sometimes if two films are used as FFSTN).

FSTN displays are used commonly in consumer, medical and industrial display applications that require low cost and do not need high resolution images or full color.

Another development to the TN display was to use the same concept as in FSTN displays on TN displays. However, the film cannot just be a stretched polymer. Instead, a twisted liquid crystal structure is made and polymerized into a film that is used as a compensation film for TN displays. As this method mostly improves the display characteristics at shallow viewing angles while preserving the excellent performance in straight on viewing, this technology is called Wide View Twisted Nematic (WVTN).

Due to the ability in AM displays to address one row while the other rows are isolated, the demands on the electro-optical performance of the Liquid Crystal Configuration are less stringent. In principle, all the above mentioned configurations can be used in AM displays. In practice, TN, and WVTN are frequently used as well as some versions of VA technology described below. (MVA, AIFF-MVA, PVA, ASV).

The advantage of these technologies is a much wider and more symmetrical viewing angle along with the elimination of the contrast inversion (or color shift) seen in TN TFT LCDs when viewed from various angles. IPS and FFS displays also are less sensitive to pressure, which is a big advantage in touchscreen displays.

Here, each color sub-pixel is further divided into zones (called domains) having a different direction of the molecular movement when voltage is applied. Again, the purpose is a much wider and more symmetric viewing performance and the elimination of color shifts and contrast inversion at shallow angles. MVA technology achieves that with carefully designed protrusions on the inside surfaces of the display, while PVA uses fine patterning of the electrodes on both substrates.

ASV is a version of MVA where instead of two or four domains per pixel the liquid crystal switches in radial directions all around the center of the pixel. This technology was developed and used exclusively by Sharp and is no longer in production.

Legacy LCDs normally have the driver ICs (integrated circuit) mounted on a printed circuit board (PCBA) which consists of a flat sheet of insulating material used to mount and connect the driver IC and electronic periphery to the LCD. PCBs can be a single-sided, double-sided or multi-layer.

Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) is an interface to the display, not a display technology itself. This technology is not specific to displays, as it’s used in many other applications as well. It’s a high-speed signal that provides some noise immunity for the display. It also allows for longer distances compared to parallel interfaces.

New Vision Display (NVD) has decades of experience designing and manufacturing custom display and touch panel assemblies for some of the world’s largest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive, medical, industrial, and consumer markets.

The two most common and widely used technologies used in the manufacturing of liquid crystal displays are twisted nematic (TN) and in-plane switching (IPS). These are the two most preferred technologies used in the displays of PC monitors, especially gaming monitors. Most of the liquid crystal displays use either twisted nematic (TN) or super twisted nematic (STN) electro-optical effects. The first TN displays were first appeared in the 1970s and quickly became a breakthrough in display technology that led to the commercialization of liquid crystal displays in electronic devices. The two best things about TN panels are super fast response times and less manufacturing cost. But the technology has its downsides too; for one, it has poor viewing angle and second, the color reproduction is very poor. As a result, IPS display technology was developed to overcome the limitations of TN display panels with better color reproduction and superb viewing angles.

Twisted nematic (TN) panels were the first widely produced liquid crystal display screen technology which went on to become the cheapest and the fastest among the other display technologies. TN panels were the first mass produced flat-screen monitors and were simple, directly addressed segment displays as still used. Soon after the production of TN displays in 1971, the commercialization of low information content LCDs for watches and calculators began. However, passive matrix addressing of TN cells failed to meet the requirements for viewing angle and contrast ratio in laptop displays. This led to the development of super twisted nematic (STN) displays which offered substantial improvements in contrast ratio and viewing angle over the passive matrix TN displays. But it did not lead to a general solution of the problem.

In-Plane Switching (IPS) is one of the widely used screen technology for liquid crystal displays that offer an improved, alternative solution to the earlier TN panel’s limited viewing angle, contrast ratio and color reproduction. The IPS display technology was first introduced by Hitachi in 1996 and demonstrated excellent viewing angle capabilities due to the horizontal movement of liquid crystal molecules with respect to the substrate plane. It soon became the leader in the field of LCD industry. IPS displays use liquid crystals aligned in parallel to produce rich colors and improve picture uniformity. In 1998, Fujitsu introduced the multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) based on the VA technology, which improved the viewing angle performance substantially.

–Both IPS and TN are popular screen technologies for liquid crystal displays used in PC monitors, especially gaming monitors. TN is probably the most common type of display panel used for liquid crystal displays on PC monitors. TN panels work on the underlying principle of polarized light and use vertical alignment of the molecules, termed homeotropic. The liquid crystal director is perpendicular to the glass surface instead of parallel to it. IPS panels, on the other hand, are a different technology wherein LC molecules are aligned in one planar direction in the off state and are still parallel to the glass substrate.

– Due to the horizontal movement of liquid crystal molecules with respect to the substrate plane, IPS panels demonstrate excellent viewing angle capabilities. IPS displays have much wider viewing angles and the colors do not shift even if you’re not directly facing the screen. TN panels, on the other hand, offer very poor viewing angle and colors may look a little washed out if you are not directly sitting in front of the screen. The IPS displays definitely look better at varying angles and the poor viewing angles of TN displays is the only reason you would not want a TN panel on your monitor.

– IPS displays use liquid crystals aligned in parallel to produce rich colors and improve picture uniformity. IPS offers superior display quality with better color reproduction, especially the black color reproduction which eliminates the washed-out effect as you would normally experience in TN panels. When it comes to display quality, the TN panels definitely lack in contrast and viewing angle performance, but offer high brightness and fast response times while using less power than its IPS counterpart. Color gamut is yet another area where IPS displays have an upper hand. However, unlike IPS displays, TN panels are relatively cheaper.

In IPS displays, the liquid crystal molecules are oriented in a planar manner on the substrate, wherein in TN panels, the liquid crystal molecules are perpendicular in orientation with respect to the glass substrate plane. Due to this horizontal movement of LC molecules, IPS displays offer much wider viewing angles with excellent color reproduction, which results in significantly improved picture uniformity. Though, they relatively cost more than their TN counterparts, the colors are much better if you’re looking straight on. TN panels, however, offer faster response times and refresh rates than IPS displays, and are cheaper. TN panels can also handle high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz, which makes them ideal for multiplayer gaming, particularly eSports.

Liquid crystal displays more or less fall into three categories based on their manufacturer and the driving force behind the liquid crystal. All have their own strengths and weaknesses. Twisted nematic, or TN as it’s often called, is an older display technology. Later, In-Plane Switching, or IPS displays, were developed to combat some of the problems with TN, and a third major technology is the Vertical Aligned, or VA panel.

All LCDs are pretty much built the same, with a backlight, two polarizers, the liquid crystal, and the thin-film transistor which provides the current to the individual pixels. The major difference between the three display types is how the liquid crystal is used to block the backlight for each subpixel.

Generally, laptop displays refresh the image sixty times per second, or at 60 Hertz. Some gaming laptops offer refresh rates at 144 Hz or more, which provide a smoother experience, and both AMD and NVIDIA support variable refresh rates as well. The maximum refresh rate is impacted by the design of the LCD, and the various designs all have different limits and response times.

Twisted nematic, or TN, is the earliest LCD design that’s still used in laptop displays. As the name suggests, the liquid crystal actually twists to allow light through. The design is very simple, with only a single transistor required to drive the process, and therefore it’s the least expensive display to manufacture as well. In addition to it being the lowest cost, it also can operate very quickly, so the TN display is still the panel of choice for many gamers because the panels can hit the high refresh rates like 144 Hz.

While cost and speed are definite advantages of TN, they suffer from quite severe off-angle color shift and are really only usable when viewed directly. Large TN panels can exhibit the color shift even when viewed directly, because of the increasing angle of viewing (relative to the user) as the panel gets further from the center. Even when viewed directly, TN panels offer poor color accuracy as well. Due to these limitations, TN displays have fallen out of favor for most laptops, although they are still regrettably found in some budget devices, and gaming laptops where the higher refresh rate is of more importance than color reproduction.

In-plane switching, or IPS, was developed to provide solutions to the off-angle viewing issues that plague TN displays. The liquid crystal rotates horizontally rather than twisting like a spring in TN, allowing more light through the further it’s rotated, which in turn varies with the amount of voltage applied. This process requires two transistors per subpixel though, which drives up the manufacturing cost. IPS displays are not as quick to operate as a TN one would be either, so driving them to very high refresh rates is difficult. But, this design does offer excellent off-angle viewing, as well as very accurate color reproduction.

And while IPS is a significant step up in quality over TN, it does have some limitations of its own. In particular, it can’t produce the highest contrast ratios, especially compared to Vertical Aligned panels that we’ll look at next. But IPS displays offer the widest viewing angle of any display technology, and keep their color accuracy intact even when viewed at an angle. This makes them ideal for laptops and tablets, and pretty much all quality laptops utilize IPS displays at this point, although this really only started in earnest in the last several years.

Although IPS is the generic class, several manufacturers have created their own version of IPS, such as Samsung’s Plane to Line Switching (PLS) or AU Optronics with their Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle (AHVA) technology, which by the acronym sounds like it is a VA panel, but it’s actually an IPS design.

The final display LCD display technology that is prevalent in the industry is the vertical alignment, or VA, panel. VA aligns the liquid crystal vertically when no voltage is applied, and with voltage, the crystals shift to the horizontal plane. This mechanism does have some drawbacks to viewing angles, but to counteract this, most VA panels use multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) with the crystals rotating in different directions.

The biggest advantage of VA displays is their contrast ratio capabilities, and modern VA panels can achieve 3000:1 or more contrast. With MVA technology the off-angle viewing is also much better than TN displays, although not as good as IPS displays, and where an IPS display can achieve 178° viewing angles on both the horizontal and vertical planes, a VA panel is going to be around 160° or so depending on the exact type of panel.

VA panels can be found in some computer monitors, but most laptops utilize IPS because the strengths are more suitable to a portable device. VA is still widely used in televisions though, since you generally don’t view them at a very oblique angle, and the increased contrast ratio provides better black levels for movies.

The final display technology that is available in laptops is organic light emitting diode, or OLED. Unlike all the LCD displays, OLED doesn’t require a backlight because the individual subpixels emit light. Because of this, OLED displays offer practically infinite contrast ratio, since the brightness of each subpixel can be varied on a subpixel-by-subpixel basis, and subpixels can be turned off completely.

OLED displays have been used quite a bit in smartphones, and you can even buy OLED televisions, but the technology has not been utilized very much in the PC space.

Although OLED displays offer a lot of advantages over LCD displays, OLED with an RGB (Red Green Blue) matrix of subpixels (aka RGB OLED) is quite expensive to build, especially on a larger panel. The amazing contrast and accurate color reproduction is a benefit, but the cost can be prohibitive. OLED also doesn’t use any power to display a black screen, but to get high brightness levels on a large panel showing a white image can use substantially more energy than a comparable LCD.

Besides price, the other notable drawback to OLED is that the nature of the technology can limit the longevity of the display. As the subpixels are used to create light in either red, green, or blue, the subpixels themselves age and will dim over time. The different colors also age at different rates – with blue being the fastest to go – and to compensate, the subpixels may not be arranged in a true RGB pattern which can reduce the effective resolution of the device. Because of the different rates, there’s also a chance of burn-in if a static image is left on the display for a long period of time, a problem which in turn can be mitigated, though not entirely.

Currently televisions that use OLED are almost exclusively built on a different technology than what you’d see in smartphones and laptops. Right now, LG owns the OLED TV market and produces panels for everyone else using WOLED, which is a white OLED subpixel that is paired with color filters to convert said subpixels to red, green, or blue subpixels. This allows the panels to be manufactured for a cost that people can actually afford, and partially mitigates burn-in since all subpixels have a similar life-expectancy curve. However WOLED subpixels will still age faster or slower depending on how heavily they"re used, so burn-in can still be an issue.

2. If the LCD screen changes colors, like turning green and then blue or red, it is likely that you have a cable problem. First check the monitor cable whether it is loose. Then try to twist the monitor and see if there is any problem. If the problem occurs, it may be necessary to replace the LCD monitor cable.

3. You need more brightness when a projector is used in environment where there is plenty of light in the room. Higher lumens provide more brightness, but more expensive.

4. TFT LCDs, also known as "active matrix", were developed as a variant of LCD. TFT LCDs improved the color, contrast and response times of passive matrix LCDs. FT LCD stands for "Thin Film Transistor" and "Liquid Crystal Display".

5. The two most common types of TFT LCDs are IPS TFT LCD and TN TFT LCD. TN generally has a faster response time, which provides better entertainment experiences for watching sports or gaming, but IPS was designed to solve TN display flaws, such as a poor viewing angle and low-quality color reproduction.

6. LCD display can"t be viewed by itself. It requires back lighting, just like your digital watch requires a back light to view the time. At present, there are two main methods of backlighting in LCD flat-panels: Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) and LED (light-emitting diode). LCD with CCFL back lighting were widely used in TVs and computer monitors. However, they are becoming obsolete these days. LCD with LED back lighting is widely used in TVs and computer monitors. Now a days. LED back lighting is most popular as it requires less power, and lasts longer. Note that the back lighting technologies should not be confused with LCD display technologies. The popular term LED TV is a bit misleading as it is actually an LCD TV, but with LED back lighting instead of CCFL.

7. Plasma display is entirely a different technology when compared with LCD. In plasma display each pixel on the screen is illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma or charged gas, somewhat like a tiny neon light. Plasma displays offer high refresh times, better viewing angles and color schemes when compared with LCD displays. However, they consume more power, and bulkier.

1. TN (Twisted Nematic): The advantages of these panels are low manufacturing cost and a relatively high level of responsiveness; the pixels change their state quickly which helps make moving images appear smoother. Some Twisted Nematic displays have double the usual refresh rate (120Hz instead of 60Hz) allowing them to take advantage of "active 3D shutter" technologies and allowing them to display twice as much information every second for a smoother gaming experience. Even 144Hz refresh rates have become possible using this technology.

2. VA panels (Vertical Alignment panels:These panels are more like TN panels, the main advantage is its efficiency at blocking light from the backlight when it"s not wanted. This gives deeper blacks and higher contrast ratios of around 2000:1 - 5000:1 Another key advantage of VA is the improved viewing angles and colour reproduction compared to TN. The main disadvantage is its slow responsiveness.

3. IPS and PLS: IPS is short for In-Plane Switching is a technology developed chiefly by LG Display, PLS (Plane to Line Switching) technology by Samsung and AHVA by AUO. These are sometimes simply referred to collectively as "IPS-type" panels. The main advantage is their superior colour accuracy, consistency and viewing angles when compared to the other LCD technologies. Usually, you can get contrast ratios of 1:1000 on these panels.