Kurdistan regional government

Ministry of higher education & scientific research

Erbil polytechnic university
Technical engineering college
Mechanical and energy engineering

12/16/2018

Liquid crystal display

(LCD)

WRYA LUQMAN HUSSEIN

SUPERVISED BY: DR. OSMAN
LCD – Working
We always use devices made up of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) like
computers, digital watches and also DVD and CD players. They have become
very common and have taken a giant leap in the screen industry by clearly
replacing the use of Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT). CRT draws more power than
LCD and are also bigger and heavier. LCD’s have made displays thinner than
CRT’s. Even while comparing the LCD screen to an LED screen, the power
consumption is lesser as it works on the basic principle of blocking light rather
than dissipating.  All of us have seen an LCD, but no one knows the exact
working of it. Let us take a look at the working of an LCD.

The material “liquid crystal” was discovered accidentally by the botanist

Freidrich Reinitzer as early as 1888. However, the commercially available
liquid crystals were not developed until the late 1960’s. If you want to know in
detail about the invention history of LCD go through the article:- Invention
History of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

We get the definition of LCD from the name “Liquid Crystal” itself. It is actually
a combination of two states of matter – the solid and the liquid. They have
both the properties of solids and liquids and maintain their respective states
with respect to another. Solids usually maintain their state unlike liquids who
change their orientation and move everywhere in the particular liquid. Further
studies have showed that liquid crystal materials show more of a liquid state
than that of a solid. It must also be noted that liquid crystals are more heat
sensitive than usual liquids. A little amount of heat can easily turn the liquid
crystal into a liquid. This is the reason why they are also used to make
thermometers.

Basics of LCD Displays: -

The liquid-crystal display has the distinct advantage of having a low power
consumption than the LED. It is typically of the order of microwatts for the
display in comparison to some order of milliwatts for LEDs. Low power
consumption requirement has made it compatible with MOS integrated logic
circuit. Its other advantages are its low cost, and good contrast. The main
drawbacks of LCDs are additional requirement of light source, a limited
temperature range of operation (between 0 and 60° C), low reliability, short
operating life, poor visibility in low ambient lighting, slow speed and the need
for an ac drive.

Basic structure of an LCD

A liquid crystal cell consists of a thin layer (about 10 u m) of a liquid crystal

sandwiched between two glass sheets with transparent electrodes deposited
on their inside faces. With both glass sheets transparent, the cell is known
as transmittive type cell. When one glass is transparent and the other has a
reflective coating, the cell is called reflective type. The LCD does not produce
any illumination of its own. It, in fact, depends entirely on illumination falling on
it from an external source for its visual effect

Types of LCD/Liquid Crystal Displays.

Two types of display available are dynamic scattering display and field
effect display.

When dynamic scattering display is energized, the molecules of energized

area of the display become turbulent and scatter light in all directions.
Consequently, the activated areas take on a frosted glass appearance
resulting in a silver display. Of course, the unenergized areas remain
translucent.

Field effect LCD contains front and back polarizers at right angles to each
other. Without electrical excitation, the light coming through the front polarizer
is rotated 90° in the fluid.

Now, let us take a look at the different varieties of liquid crystals that are
available for industrial purposes. The most usable liquid crystal among all the
others is the nematic phase liquid crystals.

Nematic Phase LCD

 The greatest advantage of a nematic phase liquid crystal substance is that it
can bring about predictable controlled changes according to the electric
current passed through them. All the liquid crystals are according to their
reaction on temperature difference and also the nature of the substance.

Twisted Nematics, a particular nematic substance is twisted naturally. When a

known voltage is applied to the substance, it gets untwisted in varying
degrees according to our requirement. This in turn is useful in controlling the
passage of light. A nematic phase liquid crystal can be again classified on the
basis in which the molecules orient themselves in respect to each other. This
change in   orientation mainly depends on the director, which can be anything
ranging from a magnetic field to a surface with microscopic grooves.
Classification includes Smectic and also cholesteric. Smectic can be again
classified as smectic C, in which the molecules in each layer tilt at an angle
from the previous layer. Cholesteric, on the other hand has molecules that
twist slightly from one layer to the next, causing a spiral like design. There are
also combinations of these two called Ferro-electric liquid crystals (FLC),
which include cholesteric molecules in a smectic C type molecule so that the
spiral nature of these molecules allows the microsecond switching response
time. This makes FLCs to be of good use in advanced displays.

Liquid crystal molecules are further classified into thermotropic and lyotropic
crystals. The former changes proportionally with respect to changes in
pressure and temperature. They are further divided into nematic and isotropic.
Nematic liquid crystals have a fixed order of pattern while isotropic liquid
crystals are distributed randomly.  The lyotropic crystal depends on the type of
solvent they are mixed with. They are therefore useful in making detergents
and soaps.

Making of LCD
 Though the making of LCD is rather simple there are certain facts that
should be noted while making it.
 The basic structure of an LCD should be controllably changed with
respect to the applied electric current.
 The light that is used on the LCD can be polarized.
 Liquid crystals should be able to both transmit and change polarized
light.
 There are transparent substances that can conduct electricity.

To make an LCD, you need to take two polarized glass pieces. The glass
which does not have a polarized film on it must be rubbed with a special
polymer which creates microscopic grooves in the surface. It must also be
noted that the grooves are on the same direction as the polarizing film. Then,
all you need to do is to add a coating of nematic liquid crystals to one of the
filters. The grooves will cause the first layer of molecules to align with the
filter’s orientation. At right angle to the first piece, you must then add a second
piece of glass along with the polarizing film. Till the uppermost layer is at a 90-
degree angle to the bottom, each successive layer of TN molecules will keep
on twisting. The first filter will naturally be polarized as the light strikes it at the
beginning.   Thus, the light passes through each layer and is guided on to the
next with the help of molecules. When this happens, the molecules tend to
change the plane of vibration of the light to match their own angle. When the
light reaches the far side of the liquid crystal substance, it vibrates at the
same angle as the final layer of molecules. The light is only allowed an
entrance if the second polarized glass filter is same as the final layer. Take a
look at the figure below.

working of LCD

The main principle behind liquid crystal molecules is that when an electric
current is applied to them, they tend to untwist. This causes a change in the
light angle passing through them. This causes a change in the angle of the
top polarizing filter with respect to it. So little light is allowed to pass through
that particular area of LCD. Thus, that area becomes darker comparing to
others.

For making an LCD screen, a reflective mirror has to be setup in the back. An
electrode plane made of indium-tin oxide is kept on top and a glass with a
polarizing film is also added on the bottom side. The entire area of the LCD
has to be covered by a common electrode and above it should be the liquid
crystal substance. Next comes another piece of glass with an electrode in the
shape of the rectangle on the bottom and, on top, another polarizing film. It
must be noted that both of them are kept at right angles. When there is no current,
the light passes through the front of the LCD it will be reflected by the mirror and
bounced back. As the electrode is connected to a temporary battery the current from
it will cause the liquid crystals between the common-plane electrode and the
electrode shaped like a rectangle to untwist. Thus, the light is blocked from passing
through. Thus, that particular rectangular area appears blank. Noted that both of
them are kept at right angles. When there is no current, the light passes
through the front of the LCD it will be reflected by the mirror and bounced
back. As the electrode is connected to a temporary battery the current from it
will cause the liquid crystals between the common-plane electrode and the
electrode shaped like a rectangle to untwist. Thus, the light is blocked from
passing through. Thus, that particular rectangular area appears blank.

Color Liquid Crystal Display

Color LCDs are those that can display pictures in colors. For this to be
possible there must be three sub-pixels with red, green and blue color filters
to create each color pixel. For combining these sub-pixels these LCDs should
be connected to a large number of transistors. If any problem occurs to these
transistors, it will cause a bad pixel.

One of the main disadvantages of these types of LCDs is the size. Most
manufacturers try to reduce the height than gain it. This is because more
transistors and greater pixels will be needed to increase the length. This will
increase the probability of bad pixels.  It is very difficult or also impossible to
repair an LCD with bad pixels. This will highly affect the sale of LCDs.

Applications of Liquid Crystal Display

Liquid crystal technology has major applications in the field of science and
engineering as well on electronic devices.
 Liquid crystal thermometer
 Optical imaging
 The liquid crystal display technique is also applicable in visualization of
the radio frequency waves in the waveguide
 Used in the medical applications