lcd screen lifespan free sample

Perhaps you’ve wondered how long a digital display lasts. It’s a great question. One quick search on Google will tell you that an LCD panel has a lifespan of about 60,000 hours, which is equivalent to almost seven years.

Of course, LCDs aren’t the only kind of displays. You also have LED, OLED, QLED, ELD, PDP, and MicroLED, plus many other variations. Obviously, that 7-year estimation will not apply across the board. For the sake of ease, let’s just focus on some of the common types of displays that most of us are familiar with.

Here’s some LCD alphabet soup: There are LED LCD displays, CFFL LCD displays, LED displays, and more. With all these acronyms, it can get a bit confusing. What"s important to note is whether or not the display uses an LCD panel, and how the LCD panel is illuminated. You can read more about thedifferences between types of LCD and LED signage, but these are the most common types:

LCD displaysgenerate images and colors via a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel, which is not self-emitting and requires an external light source to illuminate the image, typically an LED backlight. Their full name "LED-backlit LCD display" is commonly shortened to "LED displays", which is why they"re often confused with the true LED displays we"ve identified above.

Unfortunately, LED backlights used in LCD displays burn out over time. If used at high or maximum brightness, which is necessary for outdoor applications,an LED backlight will last between 40,000 to 60,000 hours. Or, about 4.5 to 7 years.

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED displays differ from common LCD displays in that their pixels are self-illuminating. In other words, there is no LED backlight required to illuminate the the display image; everything occurs within the OLED pixels themselves. According to onearticle from the US Department of Energy,OLED screens have a life expectancy of about 40,000 hours at 25% brightness, and 10,000 hours at full brightness. That equates to about 1 to 4.5 years, which is a much shorter (albeit, brilliant) lifetime than an LCD display.

Perhaps you noticed that the acronym QLED closely resembles the acronym OLED. This is not accidental. QLED is basically Samsung’s original design built to compete with OLED technology. However, the two are not the same. QLED stands for Quantum Light Emitting Diode. While QLED is similar to a regular LED design, it in fact differs by using nanoparticles called “Quantum dots” to achieve its unique brightness and color. Samsung approximates that the lifespan ofQLED panels are likely to last 7-10 years. After that, a user is likely to notice traces of degradation.

MicroLED is an emerging display technology, consisting of small LEDs in tiny arrays within each pixel. This technology goes beyond the offerings of the formerly frontrunning OLEDs, with much darker blacks and more radiant contrast levels. And, unlike OLEDs, MicroLEDs are not organic. They are not as subject to burn-in, and thus, have a longer lifespan than OLEDs. However, they are significantly more expensive - so much, in fact, that they aren’t considered a viable option for the majority of consumers.According to Samsung, the lifespan of its MicroLED panels should last about 100,000 hours, or, roughly 11 years.

PDP stands for Plasma Display Panel, and it refers to displays that use small cells full of plasma. The atoms within the plasma emit light upon being charged by electricity. While PDP is generally considered to offer better colors than LCDs, they consume a lot more power and usually cannot be battery-operated.The average lifespan of the newest generation of PDPs is approximated to be 100,000 hours, or 11 years of continual use.

In some ways,reflective LCD panelsoperate similarly to other LCDs, only they have one key difference - they do not require a backlight. Instead, they rely on ambient light (or sunlight) in order to produce images. This opens the door to some groundbreaking possibilities. The first (and most appreciable) is low power consumption. Reflective displays use up to 95% less energy. Not bad - especially in a world that is continually looking for new ways to go green. Take into consideration the financial implications of this. Lower power means less money spent on operating costs.

Being that reflective displays do not require a backlight (a component that is particularly subject to degradation), and since they do not generate as much heat, it is safe to say that the lifespan of these displays should far exceed that of backlit LCD panels (which was 7 years at the high end). However, being that thisinnovative technologyis relatively new, its actual lifespan is therefore more difficult to estimate -- simply because it has yet to be reached.

One company at the front lines of this research isAzumo. Azumo has created a light guide that laminates to the front of a display. It requires 90% less energy than the backlight of a traditional LCD display. This greatly improves the problem of low light visibility otherwise encountered, and keeps reflective displays in the same low energy consumption ballpark. One issue, however, is that Azumo currently only offers its light guides for smaller-sized units. If you happen to want this feature applied to a display that is over 10” diagonally, then you’re still on the search for a solution.

Other “pioneer companies” are at the frontier of this research as well, and many are already innovating new solutions to increase the viability of reflective technology - both in their low light visibility and in the screen sizes they are available in. Due to the huge potential offered by reflective technology, it is fair to assume that we will see even greater enhancements to it in the very near future.

One other factor to consider regarding reflective technology is its cost. That reflective layer is more costly to manufacture than many of the backlights it replaces, creating a seemingly greater upfront cost for those who are interested in investing in energy-efficient signage. However, these initial price points are quickly justified as buyers will recognize the significantly lower operating costs and increased longevity (not even including replacement costs of other “expired” displays) that comes with their purchase of reflective display signage. If a backlit LCD panel only lasts 7 years, for example, you’ll have paid for that LCD twice in the period of ten years. A very valid question arises… is that “cheaper” backlight really cheaper? Probably not. It only feels that way at first.

The act of selecting the television screen that suits your needs can be difficult enough, but when you consider all the different technologies available out there, it can become downright confusing. If you aren’t into buying a new set every couple of years, you’ll want to take the TV lifespan into consideration. Thankfully, we’re going to cover

Many of us are unaware of the technical aspects regarding televisions, which often leads to blindly purchasing products with a short shelf life. In fact, the more people shift their shopping habits into the online world, many consumers never even see the screen until it’s up in their living rooms. It doesn’t always work out the way they’d hoped.Selecting a set in person will allow you to see the differences in the different technologies, and you won’t find any surprises when you mount it in your home. It can make or break a purchase in regards to how one wants their favorite show or film presented, so knowing what you’re looking for can be incredibly helpful.

In many cases, the location where the television is being used in the household/building can change opinions regarding a purchase. For example, a room full of windows will cause glare on the screen. If the television is at an angle or mounted up high, the picture may not be visible at all. Since these factors have a huge impact on the usage of the televisions, here’s what the most popularscreensoffer:

LED & LCD –LED and LCD televisions are the big players in the market today. They are basically the same backlit setup and each technology has similar perk/setbacks. LED and LCD televisions work excellent in bright rooms, they’ve outsold plasma televisions (and they have taken over the market). They consume less power, they’re thin/light to transport, and they’re bright. However, both LCD and LED televisions fall short when it comes to motion blur (on lower-end models), they sometimes have backlight issues, and they offer limited viewing angles.

Plasma –Although the plasma screen market has been declared “dead”, some still floating around on the market for a decent price. Plasma screens are known for working the best in dark/dimly lit areas, they have no motion blur, and they have the best black coloring in their picture. Unfortunately, plasma screens fall short when it comes to performing in rooms with lots of windows, so this might be a good purchase on the second-hand market for the basement. They’re bulkier than the competition, and they sometimes have image retention issues. Also, they consume more power and can make a buzzing noise.

People generally want to know the lifespan of a TV in years. The average life of LED TVs and LCD sets is typically somewhere from 4 to 7 years of active use. Most of us don’t watch our TVs twenty-four hours a day, so a simple calculation on your watching habits can give you a good estimate. If you watched for 6 hours a day, you could theoretically multiply that lifespan by 4 (6×4=24), giving you 16 to 28 years.

Considering the regular defects and issues that occur over time, LCD and LED televisions basically have the same lifespan. With each of these technologies, the likely failure will come in the form of a worn-out backlight, so decreasing your backlight levels can significantly extend your set’s lifespan. A higher-quality set with a better backlight can also net you a few more years of use.

Plasma screens look great, but are much more sensitive and have little warranty as they have ceased production. The added bulk also means it will be a little tougher to move around if you’re prone to rearranging rooms. If you choose to purchase a plasma screen, chances are it’s a second set, and you shouldn’t expect it to last forever. If longevity is a big factor, opt for newer technology.

One of the problems with old CRT monitors, over time, was a condition called burn-in. This phenomenon resulted in an imprint of an image onto the display that was permanent, caused by the continuous display of a particular picture on the screen for extended periods. A breakdown in phosphors on the CRT results in the image being burned into the screen, hence the term. Is there such a thing as LCD screen burn-in?

LCD monitors use a different method for producing the image on the screen and are immune to this burn-in effect. Rather than phosphors generating light and color, an LCD uses a white light behind the screen with polarizers and crystals to filter the light to specific colors. While LCDs are not susceptible to burn-in the same way CRT monitors are, LCDs suffer from what manufacturers call image persistence.

Like the burn-in on CRTs, image persistence on LCD monitors is caused by the continuous display of static graphics on the screen for extended periods. Long-term-static images prompt the LCD crystals to develop a memory for their location to generate the colors of that graphic. When a different color appears in that location, the color will be off and will display a faint image of what was previously displayed.

The persistence is the result of how the crystals in the display work. The crystals move from a position allowing all light through to one that doesn"t allow any. It"s almost like a shutter on a window. When the screen displays an image for an extremely long time, the crystals can switch to a particular position. It may shift a bit to alter the color, but not completely, resulting in a display other than the one intended.

This problem is most common for elements of the display that do not change. Items that are likely to generate a persistent image are the taskbar, desktop icons, and background images. These tend to be static in their location and displayed on the screen for an extended period. Once other graphics load over these locations, it might be possible to see a faint outline or image of the previous graphic.

In most cases, no. The crystals have a natural state and could shift depending on the amount of current used to generate the desired color. As long as these colors change periodically, the crystals at that pixel should fluctuate enough, so the image doesn"t imprint into the crystals permanently. However, if the screen is always on the image that doesn"t change, the crystals could obtain a permanent memory.

Set the screen to turn off after a few minutes of idle time. Turning off the monitor display prevents images from appearing for extended periods. Setting the monitor to do this when the computer is idle for 15 to 30 minutes can make a difference. These values appear in the Mac Energy Saver settings or Windows Power Management.

Use a screen saver with a rotating image and run it for an extended period. The rotating color palette should remove the persistent image. Still, it could take a while to remove it.

By default Windows 7 turns of (stand by) monitor every 20 minutes. So I guess, it should be OK to turn off LCD (manually push the power button) when I need to leave for over 20 minutes.

In summer, my room temperature is 28~31 Celsius degrees. But In winter, it could drop to 3~8 Celsius degrees. Turning on/off LCD in winter seems to cause quite big temperature change to the LCD.

My question is: Does "frequently" (10 times a day) turning on/off LCD shortens its lifespan, especially in my winter? (I plan to use my monitors for over 5 years)

How long will your LED display last? In nearly every industry, from retail businesses to concert halls to corporate centers, decision makers need to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of their LED signage. In most cases, potential buyers go straight to the obvious place: the LED manufacturer’s spec sheet. The industry standard for LED lifespan is 100,000 hours, or about 10 years, and most people assume that’s how long their display will last. But it’s not quite that simple.

The 100,000-hour figure assumes that every diode will be running at full brightness, consistently — which, on an LED screen, is virtually never the case. The lifespan figure can also be misleading because it indicates when a diode degrades to half-brightness, not completely dark. Many other variables affect an LED display’s lifespan; you can’t rely solely on the number on the diode spec sheet.

“The reality is, your screen can often last significantly longer than 100,000 hours,” says Kevin Izatt, a senior product manager in Samsung’s Display division. “We’ve had displays that have been up for 15-plus years with more than adequate brightness. Because the diode is actually only one factor in the lifespan of your LED display.”

The quality of your display’s power supply — and how hard it drives the diodes — can have a significant impact on your screen’s lifespan. The other components being powered, such as fans and electrical components, have their own lifespans as well, which are also impacted by the power supply.

“Fans are mechanical; they break down,” explains Izatt. “And similar to your computer, the electrical components don’t last forever. Together, these factors all contribute to the lifespan of an LED display. Looking at just the diode lifespan doesn’t give you the complete story — almost always, another part will go out first.”

“Something like airflow is very important,” says Izatt. “You need a screen that has good cooling, and a design that allows heat to flow out of the back through vents.”

To help businesses transition from LCD to longer-lasting LED signage, Samsung has launched a trade-in program. Samsung will come on site to remove your existing display and provide a discount on a new LED bundle kit.

Traded-in LCD displays that are still operating will be refurbished and resold, and your business will receive a cash rebate. Nonworking displays will be recycled and their parts reused.

You can’t rely on the number on the diode spec sheet; the lifespan of your LED display depends on many more factors. “Overall quality has a tremendous impact on the life of the display that diode specs just don’t take into account,” says Izatt. Your best bet is to look at the purchase holistically and invest in a top-tier product.

As you plan your LED signage rollout — or an upgrade — learn how to configure and tailor your screens’ real-time messaging with an integrated CMS in thisfree guide. And if you haven’t decided what kind of display is best suited to your current project, compare all ofSamsung’s LED displays.

FlexEnable’s glass-free organic LCD (OLCD) delivers high-brightness, long lifetime flexible displays that are low cost and scalable to large areas, while also being thin, lightweight and shatterproof.

OLCD is a plastic display technology with full colour and video-rate capability. It enables product companies to create striking designs and realise novel use cases by merging the display into the product design rather than accommodating it by the design.

Unlike flexible OLED displays, which are predominantly adopted in flagship smartphones and smartwatches, OLCD opens up the use of flexible displays to a wider range of mass-market applications. It has several attributes that make it better suited than flexible OLED to applications across large-area consumer electronics, smart home appliances, automotive, notebooks and tablets, and digital signage.

OLCD can be conformed and wrapped around surfaces and cut into non-rectangular shapes during the production process. Holes can be also added to fit around the functional design of the system – for example around knobs and switches.

As with glass-based LCD, the lifetime of OLCD is independent of the display brightness, because it is achieved through transmission of a separate light source (the backlight), rather than emission of its own light. For example OLCD can be made ultra-bright for viewing in daylight conditions without affecting the display lifetime – an important requirement for vehicle surface-integrated displays.

OLCD is the lowest cost flexible display technology – it is three to four times lower cost that flexible OLED today. This is because it makes use of existing display factories and supply chain and deploys a low temperature process that results in low manufacturing costs and high yield.

Unlike other flexible display approaches, OLCD is naturally scalable to large sizes. It can be made as small or as large as the manufacturing equipment used for flat panel displays allows.

The flexibility of OLCD allows an ultra-narrow bezel to be implemented by folding down the borders behind the display. This brings huge value in applications like notebooks and tablets where borderless means bigger displays for the same sized device. The bezel size allowed by OLCD is independent of the display size or resolution. In addition, OLCD can make a notebook up to 100g lighter and 0.5mm thinner.

OLCD is the key to the fabrication of ultra-high contrast dual cell displays with true pixel level dimming, offering OLED-like performance at a fraction of the cost. The extremely thin OLCD substrate brings advantages in cost, viewing angle and module thickness compared to glass displays. At the same time OLCD retains the flexibility required for applications such as surface-integrated automotive displays.

Due to its unique properties, OLCD has the potential to transform how and where displays are used in products. The videos below give a glimpse into this innovative technology.

OLCD brings the benefits of being thin, light, shatterproof and conformable, while offering the same quality and performance as traditional glass LCDs. The mechanical advantages of plastic OLCD over glass LCD are further enhanced by the technology’s excellent optical performance, much of which originates from the extreme thinness of plastic TAC substrates compared to glass.

The use of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in user interface assemblies is widespread across nearly all industries, locations, and operating environments. Over the last 20 years, the cost of LCD displays has significantly dropped, allowing for this technology to be incorporated into many of the everyday devices we rely on.

The odds are high you are reading this blog post on a laptop or tablet, and it’s likely the actual screen uses LCD technology to render the image onto a low-profile pane of glass. Reach into your pocket. Yes, that smartphone likely uses LCD technology for the screen. As you enter your car, does your dashboard come alive with a complex user interface? What about the menu at your favorite local drive-thru restaurant? These are some everyday examples of the widespread use of LCD technology.

But did you know that the U.S. military is using LCD displays to improve the ability of our warfighters to interact with their equipment? In hospitals around the world, lifesaving medical devices are monitored and controlled by an LCD touchscreen interface. Maritime GPS and navigation systems provide real-time location, heading, and speed information to captains while on the high seas. It’s clear that people’s lives depend on these devices operating in a range of environments.

As the use of LCDs continues to expand, and larger screen sizes become even less expensive, one inherent flaw of LCDs remains: LCD pixels behave poorly at low temperatures. For some applications, LCD displays will not operate whatsoever at low temperatures. This is important because for mil-aero applications, outdoor consumer products, automobiles, or anywhere the temperature is below freezing, the LCD crystal’s performance will begin to deteriorate. If the LCD display exhibits poor color viewing, sluggish resolution, or even worse, permanently damaged pixels, this will limit the ability to use LCD technologies in frigid environments. To address this, there are several design measures that can be explored to minimize the impact of low temperatures on LCDs.

Most LCD displays utilize pixels known as TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor) Color Liquid Crystals, which are the backbone to the billions of LCD screens in use today. Since the individual pixels utilize a fluid-like crystal material as the ambient temperature is reduced, this fluid will become more viscous compromising performance. For many LCD displays, temperatures below 0°C represent the point where performance degrades.

Have you tried to use your smartphone while skiing or ice fishing? What about those of you living in the northern latitudes - have you accidently left your phone in your car overnight where the temperatures drop well below freezing? You may have noticed a sluggish screen response, poor contrast with certain colors, or even worse permanent damage to your screen. While this is normal, it’s certainly a nuisance. As a design engineer, the goal is to select an LCD technology that offers the best performance at the desired temperature range. If your LCD display is required to operate at temperatures below freezing, review the manufacturer’s data sheets for both the operating and storage temperature ranges. Listed below are two different off-the-shelf LCD displays, each with different temperature ratings. It should be noted that there are limited options for off-the-shelf displays with resilience to extreme low temperatures.

For many military applications, in order to comply with the various mil standards a product must be rated for -30°C operational temperature and -51°C storage temperature. The question remains: how can you operate an LCD display at -30°C if the product is only rated for -20°C operating temperature? The answer is to use a heat source to raise the display temperature to an acceptable range. If there is an adjacent motor or another device that generates heat, this alone may be enough to warm the display. If not, a dedicated low-profile heater is an excellent option to consider.

Made of an etched layer of steel and enveloped in an electrically insulating material, a flat flexible polyimide heater is an excellent option where space and power are limited. These devices behave as resistive heaters and can operate off a wide range of voltages all the way up to 120V. These heaters can also function with both AC and DC power sources. Their heat output is typically characterized by watts per unit area and must be sized to the product specifications. These heaters can also be affixed with a pressure sensitive adhesive on the rear, allowing them to be “glued” to any surface. The flying leads off the heater can be further customized to support any type of custom interconnect. A full-service manufacturing partner like Epec can help develop a custom solution for any LCD application that requires a custom low-profile heater.

With no thermal mass to dissipate the heat, polyimide heaters can reach temperatures in excess of 100°C in less than a few minutes of operation. Incorporating a heater by itself is not enough to manage the low temperature effects on an LCD display. What if the heater is improperly sized and damages the LCD display? What happens if the heater remains on too long and damages other components in your system? Just like the thermostat in your home, it’s important to incorporate a real-temp temperature sensing feedback loop to control the on/off function of the heater.

Another important consideration when selecting a temperature sensor is how to mount the individual sensors onto the display. Most LCD displays are designed with a sheet metal backer that serves as an ideal surface to mount the temperature sensors. There are several types of thermally conductive epoxies that provide a robust and cost-effective way to affix the delicate items onto the display. Since there are several types of epoxies to choose from, it’s important to use a compound with the appropriate working life and cure time.

For example, if you are kitting 20 LCD displays and the working life of the thermal epoxy is 8 minutes, you may find yourself struggling to complete the project before the epoxy begins to harden.

Before building any type of prototype LCD heater assembly, it’s important to carefully study the heat transfer of the system. Heat will be generated by the flexible polyimide heater and then will transfer to the LCD display and other parts of the system. Although heat will radiate, convect, and be conducted away from the heater, the primary type of heat transfer will be through conduction. This is important because if your heater is touching a large heat sink (ex. aluminum chassis), this will impact the ability of the heater to warm your LCD display as heat will be drawn toward the heat sink.

Before freezing the design (no pun intended) on any project that requires an LCD display to operate at low temperatures, it’s critical to perform low temperature first. This type of testing usually involves a thermal chamber, a way to operate the system, and a means to measure the temperature vs time. Most thermal chambers provide an access port or other means to snake wires into the chamber without compromising performance. This way, power can be supplied to the heater and display, while data can be captured from the temperature sensors.

The first objective of the low-temperature testing is to determine the actual effects of cold exposure on the LCD display itself. Does the LCD display function at cold? Are certain colors more impacted by the cold than others? How sluggish is the screen? Does the LCD display performance improve once the system is returned to ambient conditions? These are all significant and appropriate questions and nearly impossible to answer without actual testing.

As LCD displays continue to be a critical part of our society, their use will become even more widespread. Costs will continue to decrease with larger and larger screens being launched into production every year. This means there will be more applications that require their operation in extreme environments, including the low-temperature regions of the world. By incorporating design measures to mitigate the effects of cold on LCD displays, they can be used virtually anywhere. But this doesn’t come easy. Engineers must understand the design limitations and ways to address the overarching design challenges.

A full-service manufacturing partner like Epec offers a high-value solution to be able to design, develop, and manufacture systems that push the limits of off-the-shelf hardware like LCD displays. This fact helps lower the effective program cost and decreases the time to market for any high-risk development project.

TFT LCD image retention we also call it "Burn-in". In CRT displays, this caused the phosphorus to be worn and the patterns to be burnt in to the display. But the term "burn in" is a bit misleading in LCD screen. There is no actual burning or heat involved. When you meet TFT LCD burn in problem, how do you solve it?

When driving the TFT LCD display pixels Continously, the slightly unbalanced AC will attract free ions to the pixels internal surface. Those ions act like an addition DC with the AC driving voltage.

Those burn-in fixers, screen fixer software may help. Once the Image Retention happened on a TFT, it may easy to appear again. So we need to take preventive actions to avoid burn in reappearing.

For normal white TFT LCD, white area presenting minimal drive, black area presenting maximum drive. Free ions inside the TFT may are attracted towards the black area (maximum drive area)

When the display content changed to full screen of 128(50%) gray color, all the area are driving at the same level. Those ions are free again after a short time;

Liquid crystal displays (LCD) have become an essential component to the industry of display technology. Involved in a variety of contexts beyond the indoors like LCD TVs and home/office automation devices, the LCD has expanded its usage to many environments, such as cars and digital signage, and, thus, many temperature variations as well.

As with any substance that requires a specific molecular characteristic or behavior, LCDs have an operating temperature range in which the device, if within, can continue to function properly and well. In addition to that, there is also an ideal storage temperature range to preserve the device until used.

This operating temperature range affects the electronic portion within the device, seen as falling outside the range can cause LCD technology to overheat in hot temperatures or slow down in the cold. As for the liquid crystal layer, it can deteriorate if put in high heat, rendering it and the display itself defective.

In order for the LCD panel to avoid defects, a standard commercial LCD’s operation range and storage range should be kept in mind. Without adaptive features, a typical LCD TV has an operating range from its cold limit of 0°C (32°F) to its heat limit of 50°C (122°F) (other LCD devices’ ranges may vary a bit from these numbers).

The storage range is a bit wider, from -20°C (-4°F) to 60°C (140°F). Though these ranges are quite reasonable for many indoor and even outdoor areas, there are also quite a few regions where temperatures can drop below 0°C or rise above 32°C, and in these conditions, LCDs must be adapted to ensure functionality.

Heat, can greatly affect the electronics and liquid crystals under an LCD screen. In consideration of heat, both external heat and internally generated heat must be taken into consideration.

Seen as the liquid crystals are manipulated in a device by altering their orientations and alignments, heat can disrupt this by randomizing what is meant to be controlled. If this happens, the LCD electronics cannot command a certain formation of the liquid crystal layer under a pixel, and the LED backlighting will not pass through as expected, which can often lead to dark spots, if not an entirely dark image. This inevitably disrupts the display’s readability.

Depending on the upper limit of the operation temperature range, LCD device can be permanently damaged by extreme heat. With long exposure to extreme heat, besides the destruction of the liquid crystals, battery life can shorten, hardware can crack or even melt, response time may slow to prevent even more heat generation from the device.

The LED backlight and the internal circuitry, typically TFT-based in the common TFT LCDs, are components that can generate heat that damages the device and its display. To address this concern with overheating, many devices use cooling fans paired with vents.

In the opposite direction is extreme cold. What typically occurs in the cold is “ghosting” (the burning of an image in the screen through discoloration) and the gradual slowing and lagging of response times. Like heat-affected LCD modules, the extreme temperature can affect the liquid crystals. This layer is a medium between the liquid and solid state, so it is still susceptible to freezing.

An LCD device can be left in freezing temperatures because it will likely not be permanently damaged like in the heat, but it is important to understand the device’s limits and how to take precautions when storing the device. The standard and most common lower-bound storage range limit is -20°C, below freezing, but if possible, it would be best to keep it above that limit, or else there is still a risk of permanent damage.

If the device is not adapted for the cold, it would be good to keep it bundled up, trapping the heat within layers. However, this is only a temporary solution. Adapted, rugged devices have advantages such as screen enclosure insulation for heat level preservation and, in more extreme cases, heaters to generate extra heat to raise the internal temperature to a level above the minimum.

Display types have a lot of variation. Choices like alphanumeric or graphic LCD, human-machine interactive LCD modules and touchscreen panels capabilities, the width of the viewing angle, level of contrast ratios, types of backlighting, and liquid crystal alignment methods are often considered. For example, the twisted nematic LCD provides for the fastest response time at the lowest cost, but cannot offer the highest contrast ratio or widest viewing angle.

Environment-based factors must consider things besides the obvious temperature like UV exposure and humidity/moisture, as they all are necessary in finding the perfect fit extreme temperature LCD module.

Besides the LCD modules, recent new products have opened doors in wide temperature range displays, such as OLED displays. OLED displays offer better displays in regard to contrast, brightness, response times, viewing angles, and even power consumption in comparison to traditional LCD displays.

Glass substrate with ITO electrodes. The shapes of these electrodes will determine the shapes that will appear when the LCD is switched ON. Vertical ridges etched on the surface are smooth.

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directlybacklight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome.seven-segment displays, as in a digital clock, are all good examples of devices with these displays. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs can either be normally on (positive) or off (negative), depending on the polarizer arrangement. For example, a character positive LCD with a backlight will have black lettering on a background that is the color of the backlight, and a character negative LCD will have a black background with the letters being of the same color as the backlight. Optical filters are added to white on blue LCDs to give them their characteristic appearance.

LCDs are used in a wide range of applications, including LCD televisions, computer monitors, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and indoor and outdoor signage. Small LCD screens are common in LCD projectors and portable consumer devices such as digital cameras, watches, calculators, and mobile telephones, including smartphones. LCD screens have replaced heavy, bulky and less energy-efficient cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays in nearly all applications. The phosphors used in CRTs make them vulnerable to image burn-in when a static image is displayed on a screen for a long time, e.g., the table frame for an airline flight schedule on an indoor sign. LCDs do not have this weakness, but are still susceptible to image persistence.

Each pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes, often made of Indium-Tin oxide (ITO) and two polarizing filters (parallel and perpendicular polarizers), the axes of transmission of which are (in most of the cases) perpendicular to each other. Without the liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light passing through the first filter would be blocked by the second (crossed) polarizer. Before an electric field is applied, the orientation of the liquid-crystal molecules is determined by the alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted nematic (TN) device, the surface alignment directions at the two electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or twist. This induces the rotation of the polarization of the incident light, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely untwisted and the polarization of the incident light is not rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer. This light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the second filter, and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray.

The chemical formula of the liquid crystals used in LCDs may vary. Formulas may be patented.Sharp Corporation. The patent that covered that specific mixture expired.

Most color LCD systems use the same technique, with color filters used to generate red, green, and blue subpixels. The LCD color filters are made with a photolithography process on large glass sheets that are later glued with other glass sheets containing a TFT array, spacers and liquid crystal, creating several color LCDs that are then cut from one another and laminated with polarizer sheets. Red, green, blue and black photoresists (resists) are used. All resists contain a finely ground powdered pigment, with particles being just 40 nanometers across. The black resist is the first to be applied; this will create a black grid (known in the industry as a black matrix) that will separate red, green and blue subpixels from one another, increasing contrast ratios and preventing light from leaking from one subpixel onto other surrounding subpixels.Super-twisted nematic LCD, where the variable twist between tighter-spaced plates causes a varying double refraction birefringence, thus changing the hue.

LCD in a Texas Instruments calculator with top polarizer removed from device and placed on top, such that the top and bottom polarizers are perpendicular. As a result, the colors are inverted.

The optical effect of a TN device in the voltage-on state is far less dependent on variations in the device thickness than that in the voltage-off state. Because of this, TN displays with low information content and no backlighting are usually operated between crossed polarizers such that they appear bright with no voltage (the eye is much more sensitive to variations in the dark state than the bright state). As most of 2010-era LCDs are used in television sets, monitors and smartphones, they have high-resolution matrix arrays of pixels to display arbitrary images using backlighting with a dark background. When no image is displayed, different arrangements are used. For this purpose, TN LCDs are operated between parallel polarizers, whereas IPS LCDs feature crossed polarizers. In many applications IPS LCDs have replaced TN LCDs, particularly in smartphones. Both the liquid crystal material and the alignment layer material contain ionic compounds. If an electric field of one particular polarity is applied for a long period of time, this ionic material is attracted to the surfaces and degrades the device performance. This is avoided either by applying an alternating current or by reversing the polarity of the electric field as the device is addressed (the response of the liquid crystal layer is identical, regardless of the polarity of the applied field).

Displays for a small number of individual digits or fixed symbols (as in digital watches and pocket calculators) can be implemented with independent electrodes for each segment.alphanumeric or variable graphics displays are usually implemented with pixels arranged as a matrix consisting of electrically connected rows on one side of the LC layer and columns on the other side, which makes it possible to address each pixel at the intersections. The general method of matrix addressing consists of sequentially addressing one side of the matrix, for example by selecting the rows one-by-one and applying the picture information on the other side at the columns row-by-row. For details on the various matrix addressing schemes see passive-matrix and active-matrix addressed LCDs.

LCDs are manufactured in cleanrooms borrowing techniques from semiconductor manufacturing and using large sheets of glass whose size has increased over time. Several displays are manufactured at the same time, and then cut from the sheet of glass, also known as the mother glass or LCD glass substrate. The increase in size allows more displays or larger displays to be made, just like with increasing wafer sizes in semiconductor manufacturing. The glass sizes are as follows:

Until Gen 8, manufacturers would not agree on a single mother glass size and as a result, different manufacturers would use slightly different glass sizes for the same generation. Some manufacturers have adopted Gen 8.6 mother glass sheets which are only slightly larger than Gen 8.5, allowing for more 50 and 58 inch LCDs to be made per mother glass, specially 58 inch LCDs, in which case 6 can be produced on a Gen 8.6 mother glass vs only 3 on a Gen 8.5 mother glass, significantly reducing waste.AGC Inc., Corning Inc., and Nippon Electric Glass.

In 1922, Georges Friedel described the structure and properties of liquid crystals and classified them in three types (nematics, smectics and cholesterics). In 1927, Vsevolod Frederiks devised the electrically switched light valve, called the Fréedericksz transition, the essential effect of all LCD technology. In 1936, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph company patented the first practical application of the technology, "The Liquid Crystal Light Valve". In 1962, the first major English language publication Molecular Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals was published by Dr. George W. Gray.RCA found that liquid crystals had some interesting electro-optic characteristics and he realized an electro-optical effect by generating stripe-patterns in a thin layer of liquid crystal material by the application of a voltage. This effect is based on an electro-hydrodynamic instability forming what are now called "Williams domains" inside the liquid crystal.

In the late 1960s, pioneering work on liquid crystals was undertaken by the UK"s Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern, England. The team at RRE supported ongoing work by George William Gray and his team at the University of Hull who ultimately discovered the cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals, which had correct stability and temperature properties for application in LCDs.

The idea of a TFT-based liquid-crystal display (LCD) was conceived by Bernard Lechner of RCA Laboratories in 1968.dynamic scattering mode (DSM) LCD that used standard discrete MOSFETs.

On December 4, 1970, the twisted nematic field effect (TN) in liquid crystals was filed for patent by Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland, (Swiss patent No. 532 261) with Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt (then working for the Central Research Laboratories) listed as inventors.Brown, Boveri & Cie, its joint venture partner at that time, which produced TN displays for wristwatches and other applications during the 1970s for the international markets including the Japanese electronics industry, which soon produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN-LCDs and numerous other products. James Fergason, while working with Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupe at Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute, filed an identical patent in the United States on April 22, 1971.ILIXCO (now LXD Incorporated), produced LCDs based on the TN-effect, which soon superseded the poor-quality DSM types due to improvements of lower operating voltages and lower power consumption. Tetsuro Hama and Izuhiko Nishimura of Seiko received a US patent dated February 1971, for an electronic wristwatch incorporating a TN-LCD.

In 1972, the concept of the active-matrix thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal display panel was prototyped in the United States by T. Peter Brody"s team at Westinghouse, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Westinghouse Research Laboratories demonstrated the first thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD).high-resolution and high-quality electronic visual display devices use TFT-based active matrix displays.active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AM LCD) in 1974, and then Brody coined the term "active matrix" in 1975.

In 1972 North American Rockwell Microelectronics Corp introduced the use of DSM LCDs for calculators for marketing by Lloyds Electronics Inc, though these required an internal light source for illumination.Sharp Corporation followed with DSM LCDs for pocket-sized calculators in 1973Seiko and its first 6-digit TN-LCD quartz wristwatch, and Casio"s "Casiotron". Color LCDs based on Guest-Host interaction were invented by a team at RCA in 1968.TFT LCDs similar to the prototypes developed by a Westinghouse team in 1972 were patented in 1976 by a team at Sharp consisting of Fumiaki Funada, Masataka Matsuura, and Tomio Wada,

In 1983, researchers at Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) Research Center, Switzerland, invented the passive matrix-addressed LCDs. H. Amstutz et al. were listed as inventors in the corresponding patent applications filed in Switzerland on July 7, 1983, and October 28, 1983. Patents were granted in Switzerland CH 665491, Europe EP 0131216,

The first color LCD televisions were developed as handheld televisions in Japan. In 1980, Hattori Seiko"s R&D group began development on color LCD pocket televisions.Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch, a wristwatch equipped with a small active-matrix LCD television.dot matrix TN-LCD in 1983.Citizen Watch,TFT LCD.computer monitors and LCD televisions.3LCD projection technology in the 1980s, and licensed it for use in projectors in 1988.compact, full-color LCD projector.

In 1990, under different titles, inventors conceived electro optical effects as alternatives to twisted nematic field effect LCDs (TN- and STN- LCDs). One approach was to use interdigital electrodes on one glass substrate only to produce an electric field essentially parallel to the glass substrates.Germany by Guenter Baur et al. and patented in various countries.Hitachi work out various practical details of the IPS technology to interconnect the thin-film transistor array as a matrix and to avoid undesirable stray fields in between pixels.

Hitachi also improved the viewing angle dependence further by optimizing the shape of the electrodes (Super IPS). NEC and Hitachi become early manufacturers of active-matrix addressed LCDs based on the IPS technology. This is a milestone for implementing large-screen LCDs having acceptable visual performance for flat-panel computer monitors and television screens. In 1996, Samsung developed the optical patterning technique that enables multi-domain LCD. Multi-domain and In Plane Switching subsequently remain the dominant LCD designs through 2006.South Korea and Taiwan,

In 2007 the image quality of LCD televisions surpassed the image quality of cathode-ray-tube-based (CRT) TVs.LCD TVs were projected to account 50% of the 200 million TVs to be shipped globally in 2006, according to Displaybank.Toshiba announced 2560 × 1600 pixels on a 6.1-inch (155 mm) LCD panel, suitable for use in a tablet computer,

In 2016, Panasonic developed IPS LCDs with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, rivaling OLEDs. This technology was later put into mass production as dual layer, dual panel or LMCL (Light Modulating Cell Layer) LCDs. The technology uses 2 liquid crystal layers instead of one, and may be used along with a mini-LED backlight and quantum dot sheets.

Since LCDs produce no light of their own, they require external light to produce a visible image.backlight. Active-matrix LCDs are almost always backlit.Transflective LCDs combine the features of a backlit transmissive display and a reflective display.

CCFL: The LCD panel is lit either by two cold cathode fluorescent lamps placed at opposite edges of the display or an array of parallel CCFLs behind larger displays. A diffuser (made of PMMA acrylic plastic, also known as a wave or light guide/guiding plateinverter to convert whatever DC voltage the device uses (usually 5 or 12 V) to ≈1000 V needed to light a CCFL.

EL-WLED: The LCD panel is lit by a row of white LEDs placed at one or more edges of the screen. A light diffuser (light guide plate, LGP) is then used to spread the light evenly across the whole display, similarly to edge-lit CCFL LCD backlights. The diffuser is made out of either PMMA plastic or special glass, PMMA is used in most cases because it is rugged, while special glass is used when the thickness of the LCD is of primary concern, because it doesn"t expand as much when heated or exposed to moisture, which allows LCDs to be just 5mm thick. Quantum dots may be placed on top of the diffuser as a quantum dot enhancement film (QDEF, in which case they need a layer to be protected from heat and humidity) or on the color filter of the LCD, replacing the resists that are normally used.

WLED array: The LCD panel is lit by a full array of white LEDs placed behind a diffuser behind the panel. LCDs that use this implementation will usually have the ability to dim or completely turn off the LEDs in the dark areas of the image being displayed, effectively increasing the contrast ratio of the display. The precision with which this can be done will depend on the number of dimming zones of the display. The more dimming zones, the more precise the dimming, with less obvious blooming artifacts which are visible as dark grey patches surrounded by the unlit areas of the LCD. As of 2012, this design gets most of its use from upscale, larger-screen LCD televisions.

RGB-LED array: Similar to the WLED array, except the panel is lit by a full array of RGB LEDs. While displays lit with white LEDs usually have a poorer color gamut than CCFL lit displays, panels lit with RGB LEDs have very wide color gamuts. This implementation is most popular on professional graphics editing LCDs. As of 2012, LCDs in this category usually cost more than $1000. As of 2016 the cost of this category has drastically reduced and such LCD televisions obtained same price levels as the former 28" (71 cm) CRT based categories.

Monochrome LEDs: such as red, green, yellow or blue LEDs are used in the small passive monochrome LCDs typically used in clocks, watches and small appliances.

Today, most LCD screens are being designed with an LED backlight instead of the traditional CCFL backlight, while that backlight is dynamically controlled with the video information (dynamic backlight control). The combination with the dynamic backlight control, invented by Philips researchers Douglas Stanton, Martinus Stroomer and Adrianus de Vaan, simultaneously increases the dynamic range of the display system (also marketed as HDR, high dynamic range television or FLAD, full-area local area dimming).

The LCD backlight systems are made highly efficient by applying optical films such as prismatic structure (prism sheet) to gain the light into the desired viewer directions and reflective polarizing films that recycle the polarized light that was formerly absorbed by the first polarizer of the LCD (invented by Philips researchers Adrianus de Vaan and Paulus Schaareman),

A pink elastomeric connector mating an LCD panel to circuit board traces, shown next to a centimeter-scale ruler. The conductive and insulating layers in the black stripe are very small.

A standard television receiver screen, a modern LCD panel, has over six million pixels, and they are all individually powered by a wire network embedded in the screen. The fine wires, or pathways, form a grid with vertical wires across the whole screen on one side of the screen and horizontal wires across the whole screen on the other side of the screen. To this grid each pixel has a positive connection on one side and a negative connection on the other side. So the total amount of wires needed for a 1080p display is 3 x 1920 going vertically and 1080 going horizontally for a total of 6840 wires horizontally and vertically. That"s three for red, green and blue and 1920 columns of pixels for each color for a total of 5760 wires going vertically and 1080 rows of wires going horizontally. For a panel that is 28.8 inches (73 centimeters) wide, that means a wire density of 200 wires per inch along the horizontal edge.

The LCD panel is powered by LCD drivers that are carefully matched up with the edge of the LCD panel at the factory level. The drivers may be installed using several methods, the most common of which are COG (Chip-On-Glass) and TAB (Tape-automated bonding) These same principles apply also for smartphone screens that are much smaller than TV screens.anisotropic conductive film or, for lower densities, elastomeric connectors.

Monochrome and later color passive-matrix LCDs were standard in most early laptops (although a few used plasma displaysGame Boyactive-matrix became standard on all laptops. The commercially unsuccessful Macintosh Portable (released in 1989) was one of the first to use an active-matrix display (though still monochrome). Passive-matrix LCDs are still used in the 2010s for applications less demanding than laptop computers and TVs, such as inexpensive calculators. In particular, these are used on portable devices where less information content needs to be displayed, lowest power consumption (no backlight) and low cost are desired or readability in direct sunlight is needed.

A comparison between a blank passive-matrix display (top) and a blank active-matrix display (bottom). A passive-matrix display can be identified when the blank background is more grey in appearance than the crisper active-matrix display, fog appears on all edges of the screen, and while pictures appear to be fading on the screen.

STN LCDs have to be continuously refreshed by alternating pulsed voltages of one polarity during one frame and pulses of opposite polarity during the next frame. Individual pixels are addressed by the corresponding row and column circuits. This type of display is called response times and poor contrast are typical of passive-matrix addressed LCDs with too many pixels and driven according to the "Alt & Pleshko" drive scheme. Welzen and de Vaan also invented a non RMS drive scheme enabling to drive STN displays with video rates and enabling to show smooth moving video images on an STN display.

Bistable LCDs do not require continuous refreshing. Rewriting is only required for picture information changes. In 1984 HA van Sprang and AJSM de Vaan invented an STN type display that could be operated in a bistable mode, enabling extremely high resolution images up to 4000 lines or more using only low voltages.

High-resolution color displays, such as modern LCD computer monitors and televisions, use an active-matrix structure. A matrix of thin-film transistors (TFTs) is added to the electrodes in contact with the LC layer. Each pixel has its own dedicated transistor, allowing each column line to access one pixel. When a row line is selected, all of the column lines are connected to a row of pixels and voltages corresponding to the picture information are driven onto all of the column lines. The row line is then deactivated and the next row line is selected. All of the row lines are selected in sequence during a refresh operation. Active-matrix addressed displays look brighter and sharper than passive-matrix addressed displays of the same size, and generally have quicker response times, producing much better images. Sharp produces bistable reflective LCDs with a 1-bit SRAM cell per pixel that only requires small amounts of power to maintain an image.

Segment LCDs can also have color by using Field Sequential Color (FSC LCD). This kind of displays have a high speed passive segment LCD panel with an RGB backlight. The backlight quickly changes color, making it appear white to the naked eye. The LCD panel is synchronized with the backlight. For example, to make a segment appear red, the segment is only turned ON when the backlight is red, and to make a segment appear magenta, the segment is turned ON when the backlight is blue, and it continues to be ON while the backlight becomes red, and it turns OFF when the backlight becomes green. To make a segment appear black, the segment is always turned ON. An FSC LCD divides a color image into 3 images (one Red, one Green and one Blue) and it displays them in order. Due to persistence of vision, the 3 monochromatic images appear as one color image. An FSC LCD needs an LCD panel with a refresh rate of 180 Hz, and the response time is reduced to just 5 milliseconds when compared with normal STN LCD panels which have a response time of 16 milliseconds.

Samsung introduced UFB (Ultra Fine & Bright) displays back in 2002, utilized the super-birefringent effect. It has the luminance, color gamut, and most of the contrast of a TFT-LCD, but only consumes as much power as an STN display, according to Samsung. It was being used in a variety of Samsung cellular-telephone models produced until late 2006, when Samsung stopped producing UFB displays. UFB displays were also used in certain models of LG mobile phones.

In-plane switching is an LCD technology that aligns the liquid crystals in a plane parallel to the glass substrates. In this method, the electrical field is applied through opposite electrodes on the same glass substrate, so that the liquid crystals can be reoriented (switched) essentially in the same plane, although fringe fields inhibit a homogeneous reorientation. This requires two transistors for each pixel instead of the single transistor needed for a standard thin-film transistor (TFT) display. The IPS technology is used in everything from televisions, computer monitors, and even wearable devices, especially almost all LCD smartphone panels are IPS/FFS mode. IPS displays belong to the LCD panel family screen types. The other two types are VA and TN. Before LG Enhanced IPS was introduced in 2001 by Hitachi as 17" monitor in Market, the additional transistors resulted in blocking more transmission area, thus requiring a brighter backlight and consuming more power, making this type of display less desirable for notebook computers. Panasonic Himeji G8.5 was using an enhanced version of IPS, also LGD in Korea, then currently the world biggest LCD panel manufacture BOE in China is also IPS/FFS mode TV panel.

In 2011, LG claimed the smartphone LG Optimus Black (IPS LCD (LCD NOVA)) has the brightness up to 700 nits, while the competitor has only IPS LCD with 518 nits and double an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display with 305 nits. LG also claimed the NOVA display to be 50 percent more efficient than regular LCDs and to consume only 50 percent of the power of AMOLED displays when producing white on screen.

This pixel-layout is found in S-IPS LCDs. A chevron shape is used to widen the viewing cone (range of viewing directions with good contrast and low color shift).

Vertical-alignment displays are a form of LCDs in which the liquid crystals naturally align vertically to the glass substrates. When no voltage is applied, the liquid crystals remain perpendicular to the substrate, creating a black display between crossed polarizers. When voltage is applied, the liquid crystals shift to a tilted position, allowing light to pass through and create a gray-scale display depending on the amount of tilt generated by the electric field. It has a deeper-black background, a higher contrast ratio, a wider viewing angle, and better image quality at extreme temperatures than traditional twisted-nematic displays.

Blue phase mode LCDs have been shown as engineering samples early in 2008, but they are not in mass-production. The physics of blue phase mode LCDs suggest that very short switching times (≈1 ms) can be achieved, so time sequential color control can possibly be realized and expensive color filters would be obsolete.

Some LCD panels have defective transistors, causing permanently lit or unlit pixels which are commonly referred to as stuck pixels or dead pixels respectively. Unlike integrated circuits (ICs), LCD panels with a few defective transistors are usually still usable. Manufacturers" policies for the acceptable number of defective pixels vary greatly. At one point, Samsung held a zero-tolerance policy for LCD monitors sold in Korea.ISO 13406-2 standard.

Dead pixel policies are often hotly debated between manufacturers and customers. To regulate the acceptability of defects and to protect the end user, ISO released the ISO 13406-2 standard,ISO 9241, specifically ISO-9241-302, 303, 305, 307:2008 pixel defects. However, not every LCD manufacturer conforms to the ISO standard and the ISO standard is quite often interpreted in different ways. LCD panels are more likel