JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO.

4, DECEMBER 2007 351

The World of Liquid-Crystal Display TVs—Past,

Present, and Future
Yutaka Ishii

Abstract—The full-fledge development for liquid-crystal display Flat-panel TVs, in particular, LCD TVs, are growing at a pace
(LCD) technologies began aiming to achieve a “wall-mounting TV” so fast that they may shatter the TV market where the CRT has
in the 1960s. Since then, it has been more than 30 years from the reigned up to now. In the future, LCDs are expected to build into
birth of LCD product, the market of LCDs has grown above 10 bil-
lion dollars, and in the future, it is expected to further expand at a huge field like ICs in the IT industry.
a fast pace. The driving force in the current marketplace will be There are numerous examples in the past of new technologies
the original goal, “LCD TVs,” which contribute to drastically im- overtaking conventional technologies, such as transistor tech-
proving display performance of LCD and the evolution of LCDs. nology replacing vacuum tube technology. Today, solid-state
This paper, therefore, will focus on the LCD-TVs, and describe memory is threatening hard disks, and ink-jet technology is out-
their history, the state-of-the-art of the technologies, as well as the
prospect of their potential in the future. stripping laser printer technology. LCDs show clear signs of
becoming another good example of this pattern. Consequently,
Index Terms—Amorphous Si (a-Si) TFT-LCD, full color LCD,
looking back over the history of LCD TVs is extremely valu-
future technology of LCD TVs, liquid-crystal display (LCD), LCD
TVs, past technology of LCD TVs, present technology of LCD TVs. able when studying the evolution of technology. Moreover, dis-
cussing the technology while it is still in a period of development
is regarded as important in terms of gaining insight into the fu-
I. INTRODUCTION ture of our electronic industry. Thus, this report will focus on
LCD TVs, looking at their history on the basis of display con-
M ORE than 30 years have passed since liquid-crystal
displays (LCDs) first appeared in the marketplace as
the display device in electronic calculators. During this time,
ferences as well as papers, and providing an overview of their
potential in the future.
the market for LCDs has been created largely in tandem with
product development. The reason for such rapid growth is that II. THE PAST OF LCD TVS
the development of technologies for semiconductors, as well as The motivation to develop an LCD emerged from the effort
color display technologies for LCDs, were skillfully combined to develop a wall-mounted TV in the U.S. In the 1960s, RCA’s
with demand and creation of products based on the fundamental David Sarnoff Research Center, Princeton, NJ, proposed the
advantage of LCDs that are able to be operated by low voltages. idea of an LCD TV [1], [2].
Today, LCDs form a huge market. They find use in an ex- The key technical elements of an LCD TV are the LCD drive
tremely wide range of products in everyday life, including mo- and display mode technologies, and the technology to generate
bile applications, such as mobile phones, PDAs, navigation sys- a color performance. LCD drive technology, in particular,
tems, and notebook PCs; office application,s such as desktop is crucial to the full manifestation of display performance,
computers and video projectors; and home applications, such as including contrast ratio, response time, gray scale depth, and
LCD TVs and indicators for audio–video equipment. viewing angle. In 1971, during the course of this development,
Fig. 1 shows a change of the LCDs market with their applica- a group at RCA, headed by Bernard Lechner, proposed the
tions. The history of LCD development can be divided into three use of an active-matrix drive system based on transistors and
periods. The first covers office automation applications such diodes to control LCDs [3]. The active-matrix LCD drive
as displays used in electronic calculators, handheld electronic system was devised with the goal of preventing crosstalk, a
translators, and word processors. The second period, which was problem in passive-matrix addressing schemes, and touched
marked by the emergence of products with color screens, such as
upon all the fundamental elements of the thin-film transistor
pocket TVs and PCs, contributed significantly to market growth.
(TFT) technology now in commercial use.
Today, we are entering the third period in which LCD TVs are
The architecture proposed by Lechner’s group added an
playing a major role. It goes without saying that the full-fledged
n-channel field-effect transistor (FET) to each pixel and also
adoption of LCDs for use in this audio–visual application has
arranged a storage capacitor in parallel with each pixel. By
contributed to drastically improve display performance of LCD,
as well as the evolution of LCDs. applying a positive pulse signal to turn the transistor ON and
applying the positive signal from the signal line at that moment,
the signal voltage is written to the capacitor associated with the
Manuscript received March 22, 2007; revised August 27, 2007. liquid crystal cell. This signal is retained until the next time the
The author is with the Sharp Corporation, Display Technology Development scanning line is selected and the cell is activated at a brightness
Group, Tenri-City 632-8567, Japan (e-mail: [Link]@[Link]). level determined by the amplitude of the positive pulse applied.
Color versions of one or more of the figures are available online at http://
[Link]. The proposed drive system mentioned the concept of an AC
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JDT.2007.909381 drive system and is regarded as the prototype for present-day
1551-319X/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE

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352 JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2007

Fig. 1. Change of LCD market size various applications.

drive systems, such as the frame reversal driving method (a-Si) that LCD TVs entered the era of full-fledged commercial
and line reversal driving method in which the voltage on the viability.
common electrode is held constant. Regarding a-Si, in the last half of the 1960s, a group headed
However, the theme of developing an LCD faded at RCA by Walter Spear from the University of Dundee, Dundee, U.K.,
without this basic idea being demonstrated principally because was conducting research on growing thin films using a “glow
it was surmised at the time that it was inconceivable that discharge” technique. Although at that time there was a great
performance of LCDs could ever exceed that of CRTs in the deal of research using vapor-phase deposition and sputtering
future. methods, Spear concentrated on the glow discharge method.
Later, Westinghouse Electric Corporation pursued precisely Disproving the conventional belief that the amorphous material
that idea. In 1972, a group headed by A.G. Fisher from West- was “structurally insensitive,” Spear’s group announced in 1975
inghouse published the basic concept that a color TV would be that the amorphous material possessed structural sensitivity, a
possible by combining a red–green–blue mosaic color filter and property of a semiconductors, and doping with a small amount
a liquid crystal device to act as an optical shutter [4]. In 1976, of impurities changed its electrical properties [11]. In 1979, the
Fisher proposed a flat TFT active-matrix TV [5]. Meanwhile, group produced a prototype TFT using a-Si produced by plasma
for the TFT semiconductor layer, a team, headed by T. P. Brody chemical vapor deposition (CVD), demonstrating that it was
of Westinghouse Research Laboratories, was energetically en- possible to obtain a TFT with acceptable characteristics [12].
gaged in R&D for a TFT using cadmium selenide (CdSe) [6], In 1980, the group proposed the application of a-Si-based tech-
and it proceeded to make a TFT-LCD prototype having video nology to matrix LCDs [13]. Meanwhile, in the last half of the
capability [7]. However, in the end, given the difficulties with 1970s, Japanese researchers were patiently studying the possi-
reproducibility and controlling film formation using CdSe, the bility of an LCD TV. Japanese companies had built prototype
high off-current of the TFTs, and reliability issues, no CdSe- passive-matrix black/white LCD TVs on the basis of the twisted
based TFT display was ever commercialized. nematic (TN) display mode developed for electronic calculators
To solve these problems, other active-matrix drive methods and watches [14]. However, there was a limit to the number of
were also actively being studied. Hughes, for example, de- pixels possible in this display, and there was no definitive tech-
veloped MOS technology and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nique to achieve a color screen, and thus the possibility of a color
technology using single-crystal Si and quartz glass as the LCD TV remained uncertain.
substrate [8], while General Electric Company developed the Later, two announcements would prove that a color TV based
varistor diode [9] and Bell-Northern Research developed the on an LCD was a possibility. In 1981, a group from Tohoku
metal–insulator–metal (MIM) diode [10]. However, when these University, Japan, headed by Tatsuo Uchida, announced that
devices failed to demonstrate sufficient performance for TV a color display was possible using a technique that forms
applications, efforts to develop LCDs for use in TVs came to a microcolor filters inside the LC cells, and in 1983 [15], a
halt in the U.S. It was not until the emergence of amorphous Si group headed by Shinji Morozumi at Seiko Epson Corpora-

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ISHII: THE WORLD OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY TVs—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 353

tion proposed a pocket color TV using microcolor filters and

poly-silicon TFTs formed on a quartz substrate [16]. However,
despite having superior properties for forming TFTs, poly-sil-
icon has a drawback, namely that it must be processed at high
temperatures, which precludes the use of large and inexpensive
glass substrates. As a result, following the announcement by
the University of Dundee group, Japanese companies focused
their attention on a-Si TFTs. The benefits of a-Si include the
ability to use inexpensive glass since thin films can be formed
at relatively low temperatures, the ability to form relatively
uniform films on large glass substrates through an improved
CVD system, plus low OFF-leakage current and values for
TFT ON/OFF-current appropriate for driving an LCD could be
obtained. From 1982 to 1984, Japanese companies including
Canon, Sanyo Electric, Hosiden, and Toshiba, introduced
prototypes based on a-Si TFTs. Since then, the direction of 2
Fig. 2. 3-inch a-Si LCD-TV (dot numbers: 384 240).
development of commercially viable LCD TVs has moved
toward improving the materials, processes, and structures of
a-Si TFTs. improve viewing angle, response time, and contrast, which
In 1985, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd., intro- are problematic with LCDs, research studies were undertaken,
duced a prototype LCD TV based on a full-color LCD using centered primarily in Japan, in the direction of:
an RGB multi-gap and TN display mode on a-Si TFTs [17]. In 1) applying optical compensation films to TN display sys-
1986, Matsushita released a 3-inch color TV (240 372 pixels). tems;
In 1983, Sharp Corporation developed a-Si TFT in parallel with 2) use of multi-domain structures;
the semiconductor element, tellurium (Te), and produced a pro- 3) new display modes.
totype with stable TFT characteristics. In line with a proposed Korea later followed suit in these R&D efforts.
basic structure for a-Si TFTs [18], Sharp introduced a 3-inch First, regarding item 1) above, the optical compensation ap-
pocket TVs (240 384 pixel) in 1986 [19], and pushed ahead proach and film forming methods nurtured over the course of de-
on the path toward volume production. veloping passive-matrix LCDs have been applied to TN display
Display mode has an extremely large effect on image quality. systems intended for TVs. That is, to reduce gray-scale inver-
In TFT-LCD-related academic conferences at the time, TN sys- sion at large viewing angles, an issue with TN modes, manufac-
tems in normally black mode were commonly offered as the tures adopted a structure that used a film for optical compensa-
LCD display mode, and Matsushita chose the TN display mode tion in which the index ellipsoid was tilted, and also studied film
for panels it mass-produced. However, as a result of studies and forming methods based on the use of rod-like polymer and dis-
evaluation of various display modes, Sharp decided to use the cotic liquid crystal materials. Thus, for LCD TVs developed in
TN display mode in normally white mode, placing priority on the 1990s, TN systems using optical compensation films formed
the importance of the ability to render blacks in the displayed using discotic liquid crystal materials entered the mainstream
image. Thus, in 1987, Sharp released a 3-inch pocket-size color [22].
LCD TV which adopted the normally white mode. Fig. 2 shows Regarding item 2) above, the use of multidomain structures,
the photograph of the product of the 3-inch pocket LCD TV. several methods were proposed in the first half of the 1990s:
With the release of this product, the gap between the image a random domain structure in which no rubbing is performed
quality of TFT LCDs and that of CRTs was significantly on the horizontal alignment layer [23], the creation of a mul-
reduced. Sharp continued to study the possibility of making tidomain system by a rubbing treatment in different directions
LCD TVs larger, and in 1988, announced the development of a within the substrate [24], and forming slit electrodes to distort
14-inch TFT color LCD display (642 480 pixels) [20]. This the electric field [25]. Although these methods were effective
announcement confirmed that larger LCD TVs could be made in improving viewing angle, there were still problems with re-
using a-Si TFTs, triggering full-scale development efforts by liability and mass production, and none of them proved to be
device manufacturers and setting a trend for panel and systems commercially viable. It was through integration with the new
manufacturers to jump into the market. display modes noted in item 3) above that the direction in item
At that time, there was another epoch announcement for a-Si 2) bore fruit.
TFT-LCD. Castleberry’s group of GE reported one mega-pixel Paralleling the development of items1) and 2), the study
TFT-LCD in 6.25 inches in 1988 [21], which proved a-Si TFTs of item 3), a new display mode, continued. In 1992, a group
having a high potential for the capability of high resolution dis- headed by Günter Baur from the Fraunfofer Institute in
plays. Germany proposed that using in-plane switching to apply a
Since the early 1990s, the challenge of achieving picture horizontal rotation to the liquid crystal molecules would make
quality on a par with CRTs has been underway in earnest. To possible a display having a wide viewing angle [26]. Hitachi

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354 JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2007

succeeded in commercializing this concept and in 1995, intro- The pi-cell is a structure capable of rapidly switching between
duced a TFT-LCD that used an in-plane switching (IPS) display the state at zero radians and the retardation state at ra-
mode [27]. Although this display mode had wide vertical and dians. In 1993, Tohoku University enhanced this structure and
horizontal viewing angles, color shifts and gray scale inversion proposed an OCB-mode architecture combining the pi-cell and
occurred when viewed on the diagonal. This display mode was an optical compensation film [39] to achieve both wide viewing
subsequently improved through the addition of a optical com- angles and fast response. Although this approach requires a high
pensation film and introducing a multi-domain architecture in degree of precision in terms of the optical parameters of the
which the electrodes have a zigzag structure (Super-IPS mode) LCD panel and films compared to conventional modes, manu-
[28], and a commercial product was placed on the market in facturers and academic institutions doggedly continued to con-
1999. In 1998, this mode underwent further development when duct research and develop prototypes with an eye toward even-
Hyundai in Korea proposed replacing the metal electrodes with tual mass production. In 2004, a film for OCB-mode based on a
transparent electrodes to reduce losses in transmissivity, which discotic liquid crystal material became commercially available,
had become an issue with IPS mode [29]. Initially referred to as and a group from Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Com-
the fringe field switching (FFS) mode, this display mode has, pany, Ltd. succeeded in bringing an LCD TV to market using
since 2000, been viewed as an improvement to IPS mode. this mode.
Another approach is vertical alignment (VA). Although the Meanwhile, in the 1990s, in parallel with the previously men-
VA display mode technology has a long history [30], it proved tioned improvements, LCD manufacturers were making a full-
difficult to embed into a commercial product. This reflected the fledged effort to improve full-motion video response character-
fact that an optical compensation film is essential to achieve istics, an important measure of TV performance. At that time,
wide viewing angles and the production technology for such the response speed of LCDs was slow compared to the TV
films had only recently been developed, and the fact that no screen signal, causing the image quality of the display to sig-
method for controlling alignment having high productivity had nificantly degrade, particularly for displays whose video signal
been found. contains a large number of gray scale levels. Measures to cope
In 1996, however, a group at Sanyo proposed a method for with these problems included optimizing the physical constants
controlling the alignment in an electric field distorted using a associated with the liquid crystal material (viscosity coefficient,
slit electrode [31] and produced prototype TFT-LCDs intended anisotropy of refractive index, and dielectric anisotropy) and
for small and medium-sized displays. This approach was ex- narrowing the cell thickness. As a result, the characteristics of
panded upon by a group from Samsung in South Korea who, in LCDs improved greatly from 1995 through 1996. In particular,
1998, proposed a patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode [32]. advances made by liquid crystal material manufacturers in the
This mode forms a multidomain structure by establishing a slit development of fluorine-based materials contributed greatly to
pattern in the ITO layers on both the color filter substrate and improving LCD TV performance and reliability.
the TFT substrate, and has currently been adopted as a display However, simply optimizing the cell parameters was not
system for large-screen LCD TVs. enough to improve the response speed with regard to images
In 1997, Fujitsu proposed a multidomain vertical alignment having a large number of gray scale levels. This led to a re-
(MVA) mode that places protrusions on the underside of the sub- vamping of drive methods and the development of an approach
strates to control the tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecules in which an overvoltage is applied to cause the liquid crystal
when an electric field is applied. Each protrusion has the sur- molecules to quickly move into the desired orientation and
faces, creating four separate domains [33], Fujitsu brought a then returned to the normal voltage after an appropriate time
commercial product to market based on this approach in De- [40]. This drive method, called the “overdrive” method, was
cember of 1997. improved for use in TFT LCDs and applied to LCD TVs, in
Sharp proposed its axially symmetric aligned micro-cell 2000.
(ASM) mode. This approach uses a vertically aligned panel and While the response time of TFT-LCDs was improved in this
adds a minute amount of an ultraviolet (UV) curable monomer way, it was also pointed out that TFT LCDs have a fundamental
to the liquid crystal material. Exposure to UV light causes walls problem with respect to viewing full-motion video images. In
to form, creating microcells symmetrically aligned to a vertical 1994, based on test results, a group from Shizuoka University
axis, resulting in an ultimate multidomain structure [34]. Sharp and Sharp pointed out that the difference in the viewability of
applied this mode to its plasma addressed LCDs [35] and full-motion video images between CRTs and TFT LCDs was
exhibited a prototype at Japan Electric Show in 1997. In 2000, the result of a difference in drive methods [41]. In 1998, a group
Sharp developed its continuous pinwheel alignment mode of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) headed by Taiichiro
(CPA mode) that achieves this axially symmetric alignment by Kurita announced that, because the viewability of full-motion
forming ribs, and applied that mode to high-resolution LCDs video images depends on the hold mode of the TFT LCD, an im-
[36], [37]. pulse driving method like that of a CRT or a plural-rate driving
Another trend is the optically compensated bend (OCB) mode method is needed to reduce blurring and improve the quality of
that has fast response and a wide viewing angle. The OCB mode full-motion video pictures [42]. Since that announcement, pro-
uses a pi-cell with a bent alignment originally proposed by a totypes have been proposed based on a method of interposing a
group from Tektronix, Inc. of the United States in 1983 [38]. black screen between images, a backlight flashing method, and

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ISHII: THE WORLD OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY TVs—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 355

Fig. 3. Products of LCD-TVs at Sharp Corporation.

methods that combine the two or doubling a frame rate. Devel- University and Sharp reported its subjective evaluations of the
opment has been moving in the direction of using impulse mode characteristics of contrast ratio, viewing angle, brightness, and
to provide fundamental improvements in full-motion video per- color-performance—factors crucial for imaging applications
formance. [43].
Sharp then decided to develop large LCD TVs and began
III. THE PRESENT OF LCD TVS full-scale efforts on revamping the display method for TVs.
This chapter will describe the evolution of LCD TVs with a Until 2000, images were displayed using a normally white type
focus on what Sharp has done. TN mode. But to dramatically reduce light leakage for display
Fig. 3 shows what has happened in the market since Sharp of black level and thus achieve expressive images, Sharp hit on
introduced the LCD TV. With its sights set on the ideal of a the VA mode, in which the initial alignment of the liquid crystal
wall-mount TV in the early 1990s, Sharp applied LCD tech- molecules is for the most part vertical to the glass substrate.
nology fostered in PCs to the audio-visual field, introducing for The company decided to pursue development of this display
the first time ever personal LCD TVs with 8.4 and 10.4 inches method. Along with introduction of the basic technology for
in size in 1995. In 1998, the company officially announced that ASM mode came optical compensation film and improvements
it would use LCD technology to enter the large-screen TV field, in panel structure, giving Sharp a complete set of technologies
introducing LCD TVs in sizes up to 20 inches in 1999 and 28 for high image quality LCDs that were incorporated into the
inches in 2000. In 2001, in conjunction with the full-scale start LCD TV in 2000. Sharp named these high image quality LCD
of operations at a fourth-generation plant in Mie Prefecture, technologies as ASV stood for Advanced Super View [37].
Japan (glass substrate size: 680 880 mm), Sharp added 22- We have improved on the ASV technology since that time.
and 30-inch wide models and expanded its lineup from 9 models Next, we will give an overview of the evolution of the main
to 25. A sixth-generation plant (glass substrate size: 1500 characteristics.
1800 mm) started in 2004 and Sharp brought to market the 1) Screen Size and Resolution: As mentioned previously,
first-ever full-spec HD 45-inch LCD TV. It added the 65-inch LCD screens got larger and larger. As you can see from Fig. 4,
LCD TV in 2005. The past five years has thus seen a tripling of as of 2007, Sharp has a 108-inch prototype LCD. This elimi-
both screen size and product lineup in response to new demand nates the segmentation that existed previously in the flat-screen
for flat-panel TVs. Display Search estimated CAGR (compound TV market in which conventional wisdom said that PDP was for
annual growth rate) for LCD TVs from 2004 to 2008 at 46%. large TVs and LCD was for both small and medium TVs.
This far exceeds the 16% and 18% estimates for notebook PCs The reason why TVs are getting bigger is that people want
and monitors, respectively, and makes LCD TVs one of the powerful images that make them feel like they are in the middle
fastest growing fields in the foreseeable future. of the on-screen action. Back when NHK decided on specifi-
In this development progression, Sharp products, introduced cations for high definition, experiments were done on the ef-
in 2000, represented the most dramatic improvement in display fects that distance from the screen and screen resolution making
performance. Until that time, the products were mainly for per- the viewing experience realistic [44]. It was determined that the
sonal use and were not made with the performance to challenge viewer should sit a distance from the screen that is three times
cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs, whose technology made them the height of the screen. This is because this distance is equiv-
the TV for the living room. In the 1990s, a group of Shizuoka alent to the effective field of vision of the human eye (the eye

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356 JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2007

Fig. 4. 108-inch LCD-TV.

Fig. 6. Contrast ratios of LC-TV panels.

Fig. 5. Relationships between TV screen sizes and watching distances.

Fig. 7. Contrast ratios of LCD and CRT under changing brightness of environ-
ment.
can instantaneously capture objects in an area covering approx-
imately, 30 horizontally and 20 vertically). As well, to ensure
that the viewer cannot see individual pixels from this distance, the VA mode rather than the IPS mode or OCB mode, was
the resolution of a 16:9 wide-screen TV was set at 1920 1080 that we realized the importance of black level and that these
(full-spec High Definition) since people with vision of 1.0 can technologies would give high contrast display. Passing 20 years
distinguish at a resolution of 1/60th degree. from the first product of LCD-TVs in 1986, a light leakage in
Today in Japan, large LCD TVs represent the mainstream of black level has been reduced and contrast ratio is improved up
this high-definition broadcasting standard. For example, LCD to 2000:1, thanks to improvements in color filter depolarization
TVs 37 and larger account for between 10% and 20% of the properties and polarizing film properties, and optimization of
market in 2004; between 30% and 40% in 2005; and 100% in properties of optical compensation film. Fig. 6 shows how con-
2006. Regarding screen size, a study on viewer distance from trast ratio in a dark room has advanced over the years. This dia-
the TV shows that most of people sit in the distance between 2 gram shows that contrast ratio has improved sixfold in the past
and 3 m away in Japanese living rooms [45], [46]. So, as you can about ten years. Meanwhile, the contrast ratio in bright rooms
see from Fig. 5, if this distance is calculated as three times the under normal viewing conditions is also important. Fig. 7 shows
screen height, then this equals a screen size of 50 to 75 inches. the contrast ratio under varying conditions of brightness. We see
This means that LCDs must be able to achieve this size and that from this diagram that you get a contrast ratio of about 500:1 to
is why Sharp introduced products in this size range. 700:1 in a standard living room of a brightness of 200–300 lux.
In countries other than Japan, TVs are set up farther from the This contrast ratio is brighter than the dark room contrast for
viewers, meaning people need even larger screen TVs. That is LCD TVs ten years ago. This property in high bright rooms is
why we predict one day there will be a 100-in-class direct-view one of the major features of LCD TVs. In addition, these prop-
LCD TVs on the market. erties are still more making practical progress up to 3000:1 and
2) Contrast Ratio: Contrast ratio is crucial to producing ex- 1300:1 of contrast ratio in a dark room and in a bright room,
pressive images that give depth to the TV picture. As mentioned respectively.
previously, the reason that in 1986, Sharp chose normally white Recently, another approach has been proposed to enhance the
type and not normally black type for TN mode, and employed contrast ratio. It is to use an active-back-light-system installing

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ISHII: THE WORLD OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY TVs—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 357

Fig. 8. Characteristics of viewing-angle of LCD-TV.

a large number of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in place of cold 4) Moving Image Characteristics: Response time for LCD
cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs). A whole screen is divided panels has been getting increasingly faster in recent years. For
into some areas and LEDs are assembled on each one with inde- example, ten years ago, the response time for a TV using the
pendently brightness control function. By actively controlling TN-LCD was about 20 ms for between 0 and 255 gray level,
the area-brightness of the LEDs corresponding to display sig- about three to five times slower at each gray level. So displaying
nals, a display performance is able to improve drastically, for in- images on TV, which has a lot of halftones, inevitably resulted
stance, the contrast ratio in darkrooms is reported to be 25000:1 in jerky images. However, in recent TVs using ASV technology,
with 47 in screen [47]. This technology is expected to actively the liquid crystal material is improved, gaps are thinner between
make progress in the future. a pair of glass substrates, and innovations have been made in
3) Viewing Angle: As TVs get larger, wide-viewing angles the drive method. This has resulted in an average response time
become essential. Ten years ago in TN mode, viewing angle of 4 ms at each gray level, giving smooth images for TV. The
was, approximately, 120 horizontally and 90 vertically. Today demand for a true moving-image LCD resulted in about 20-fold
it is 176 in all four directions. Although using optical compen- improvement in response time over ten years.
sation film is needed to widen the viewing angle of VA mode, What is important here is that, previously, the driving system
this technology alone cannot achieve wide viewing angle for for TFT LCDs was a “holding-type” drive [42]. This drive
large screen LCD TVs. So, Sharp made some innovations on method always displays the entire screen. Consequently, when
the TFT substrate pixel structure and drive method [48]. Spe- displaying full-motion video, the next screen frame appears
cially, one pixel is spitted into two sub-pixels and formed 4 do- while the previous screen is being overwritten, and because it
mains, and by driving each sub-pixel with a different optimal is projected on the human retina in conjunction with eye move-
voltages, a wide viewing-angle property is achieved. This pixel ment tracking, the image of the previous screen is essentially
structure accompanied the driving method results in an equiva- perceived as video blurring. This problem cannot be avoided
lent effect of eight domains. Fig. 8 shows the gray-scale char- no matter how much faster one makes the response time of an
acteristics of the horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. In LCD.
each figure, the horizontal axis is the applied gray-scale and the In contrast, the drive principle of CRTs is an “impulse-type.”
vertical axis is the output one. The 45 line represents the ideal Because this display method uses dot progressive scanning, it
characteristics. As well, the dotted line represents the charac- always displays only one dot at a time. Thus, when displaying
teristics before improvement. From this diagram, it can be seen full-motion video, the previous screen does not appear on the
that applying the above-mentioned technology brings us dra- retina and we do not see video blurring. The problem for TFT
matically closer to the ideal characteristics and gives us a wide drive methods is how close to this impulse drive system can we
viewing angle. Other groups such as Samsung Electronics Co., come, and it is currently being studied from a variety of view-
Ltd. [49], Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. [50], National Chiao points. For example, methods have been proposed to interpose
Tung University and AUOptronics Technology Center [51] have a black screen between frames, or to turn off a portion of the
been proposed similar ideas. In addition, Sharp confirmed that backlights and scan it matching images on the screen. However,
combining the proposed technology with the impulse drive de- both of these approaches have problems such as deterioration in
scribed below to improve moving image characteristics will also the contrast and reduced brightness, and they cannot be said to
improve viewing angle. Therefore, while viewing angle used to be the definitive solution.
be one of the weak points of LCD, it is now a problem that has Recently, Sharp has proposed a new impulse drive method
been solved for large screen LCD TVs. [52], [53]. A simple explanation of this method follows.

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358 JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2007

level of sub-fields gives a two-peak curve that is close to an ideal

straight line. Thus, compared to the conventional methods, ap-
plying this drive method results in an observed improvement in
viewing angle characteristics by this approach. Further improve-
ments in viewing angle characteristics are possible by com-
bining this method with measures to improve viewing angle de-
scribed previously.
5) Productivity: Fig. 11 shows the evolution in mother
glass substrates. In the last half of the 1980s, glass substrates
measured 300 400 mm class, but as LCD products increased
in size, the substrate size gradually increased in tandem. In
particular since 2000, their size has grown rapidly in response
to the burgeoning demand for LCD TVs. In August 2006,
Fig. 9. Proposed new driving scheme compared with the conventional one. (a)
the world’s first plant utilizing eighth-generation substrates
Conventional. (b) Our new driving. (2160 2460 mm) became operational. For 45-inch LCD TVs,
sixth-generation substrates (1500 1800 mm) yielded only
three panels, but making the mother glass substrates this larger
size yields eight panels at a time, making it possible to boost
production efficiency by 270%. To respond to projected demand
for LCD TVs of over 200 million units by 2010, production
innovations for TFTs and liquid crystal materials as well as
increasing the size of the mother glass substrates even further
will be important items for further study and investigation.
Fig. 12 shows the specifications for the latest 65-inch LCD
TV that incorporates the technology described above and whose
panel was derived from an eighth-generation mother glass sub-
strate.

IV. THE FUTURE OF LCD TVS

As the cost of LCD TVs decline in the future, it is fore-
cast that they will be increasingly found in homes around the
Fig. 10. Simulation of viewing-angle characteristics using the new driving globe. On the other hand, as the broadband era in which we can
method. send and receive large amounts of image information over both
hard-wired and wireless links begins in earnest, it is conceiv-
able that LCD TVs will break away from simply being a home
Fig. 9 shows a conceptual diagram of the proposed drive appliance product that takes in information and allows viewers
method, where (a) is the conventional method, and (b) is the to enjoy it, and evolve into a new intelligent device character-
new method. As shown in Fig. 9(b), the new method divides one ized by keywords such as “interactive information,” “global si-
field interval into two sub-fields, that is doubling a frame rate multaneity,” “sense of reality,” “ubiquitous (seamless),” “envi-
such as 100 Hz/120 Hz, and a gray-scale values is displayed by ronmentally friendly,” and the like. That is, it is conceivable
combining optical brightness levels of these sub-fields. For ex- that the LCD TVs of the future will usher in an era of full-
ample, when displaying from zero brightness level (completely fledged convergence of broadcast and information/communica-
black image) to one-half (50% grayscale) of full brightness level tions, and their development will increasingly move in the di-
(completely white image), the first sub-field is displayed “as rection of larger sizes, higher resolutions and better display per-
is” at zero brightness and the second sub-field is changed from formance producing from more than eighth-generation mother
zero to full brightness level. When the remaining 50% bright- glass.
ness level to full brightness level is to be displayed, the second If this comes to pass, there is the potential for a wide range
sub-field is displayed “as is” at full brightness, and the first of LCD products such as the following:
sub-field is changed from zero brightness level to full bright- • ultra-realistic (virtual reality) displays for videoconfer-
ness level. As a result, in the low brightness level portion, the encing that enable conversation and discussion among
first sub-field is inserted as a black screen, and thus is a natural participants at a scale as close as possible to real life in
impulse drive. In addition, in the high brightness level portion, a distant locations;
white image is always being written during the second sub-field, • displays for education that link schools and educational
and the effect observed by the viewer is identical to that of an research institutions between global sites;
impulse drive. This drive method has the advantage that good • displays for telemedicine systems linking homes with uni-
full-motion video characteristics can be achieved without sacri- versity hospitals and clinics;
ficing contrast or brightness. • displays for virtual art galleries/museums linking world-
In addition, this method is also effective in improving viewing wide famous spots;
angle. Input and output grayscale characteristics are is shown • displays that adapt to the immediate environment to project
in Fig. 10. As is clear from this figure, the combination of gray scenic views indoors to provide a relaxation space;

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ISHII: THE WORLD OF LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY TVs—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 359

Fig. 11. Change of the mother glass size for the TFT substrate.

V. CONCLUSION
As described above, the history of the LCDs has been a re-
peated story of continuous incremental improvements to go be-
yond the performance of CRTs while aiming to achieve a “wall-
mounted TV.” As a result, LCDs now equal the performance
of CRTs in some areas, and development has advanced to the
point where they exceed the performance of CRTs in other areas.
For example, it has been demonstrated that even contrast ra-
tios of 1 000 000:1, resolution of 4000 2000, and screen sizes
up to 108 inches can be achieved, which already surpasses the
realm of CRTs. At the same time, against a backdrop of these
positive technological developments, LCDs have now already
passed CRTs in the market in terms of monetary value, and fore-
casts indicate that, on a unit basis, LCDs will overtake CRTs by
2010.
The motive force for this development lies in the fact that,
given that more than 80% of human life relies on our sense of
vision, LCDs will be core products for living in society. In ad-
dition, the author believes that LCDs will be a technology that
brings together many fields including physics, chemistry, elec-
tricity, electronics, and materials, which represents a fertile en-
vironment that will attract many engaging people. In the future,
it is being predicted that competition in the display market will
Fig. 12. Specification of 65-inch LCD-TV “AQUOS”. become increasingly intense, centered on LCD TVs. What is
different is that LCD TVs are being seated at the head of the
table as one of the core pieces of equipment for the era of dig-
• multi-screen information boards that show not only televi- ital networking, which was completely unthinkable in the world
sion, but also family information and urgent information, of CRTs. LCD TVs will create a new world of images that will
etc., in the home; make an impression on people. To turn this achievement into
• super-high-resolution displays for future high-definition a further reality, a system viewpoint is critically important, and
content delivery, for example, digital cinema (4080 2160 the author thinks an era is coming in which communication with
pixels) and super-HD broadcasts (7680 4320 pixels) different fields, will become more necessary than ever before.
that go beyond full-spec HD TV.
LCD TVs will be an important key technology that will ACKNOWLEDGMENT
greatly change our lives, and further evolution in this tech- The author wish to thank Prof. H. Kawamoto, Intellectual
nology can be expected in the future. Property Division, Nara Institute of Science and Technology,

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360 JOURNAL OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2007

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