1 0 1

VERTICAL
TO
E8 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
RED BIAS
1 0 1
<21-B>
TP50 RED OUTPUT
194V
TP24
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
E5003
1 0 1
1 1 0 1
TO
E7
GRN BIAS
E5007
0 1 0 1
1 0 1
0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1
TECHNICAL TRAINING 1
0
0
1
1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0

LCD PANEL OVERVIEW

 TO
E8
RED BIAS
VERTICAL <21-B>
RED OUTPUT
TP50
E5003 194V
TO
E7 E5007
GRN BIAS

FOREWORD
This publication is intended to aid the technician in understanding the operation of LCD technology
as used in TTE LCD monitors and televisions.
Note: The publication is intended for reference only. Future enhancements to hardware and
software may modify the operation and require modifications of techniques outlined in this manual.

SAFETY INFORMATION CAUTION

Safety information is contained in the appropriate Thomson Service Data. All product safety
requirements must be complied with prior to returning the instrument to the consumer. Servicers
who defeat safety features or fail to perform safety checks may be liable for any resulting damages
and may expose themselves and others to possible injury.

All integrated circuits, all surface mounted devices, and many other
semiconductors are electrostatically sensitive and therefore require special
handling techniques.

Chipper Check is Thomson, Inc PC based diagnostic and alignment system.

First Edition 0621 - First Printing Prepared by

Copyright 2006 Thomson, Inc. Thomson, Inc for TTE Technology, Inc.
Trademark(s) Registered Marca(s) Registrada(s) Technical Training Department, INH905
RCA and the RCA Logos are trademarks of THOMSON PO Box 1976
S.A. used under license to TTE Corporation Indianapolis, Indiana 46206 U.S.A.
Printed in U.S.A.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Overview
It is rare when new technologies take over electronic domains as LCD panels have displays. In a
few short years LCD panels have moved from niche applications in laptop computers and smaller
venues to replacement of most CRT based monitor and television instruments in almost every
conceivable application. Quality has moved from bare acceptance for text based applications to
competing with other advanced display technologies in computer graphics and the highest resolution
HD video markets. Screen sizes have increased in areas where LCD panels now dominate what
were once CRT only applications. While CRTs still have some advantages, panel costs and
performance are now competitive in almost all applications where CRT previously dominated.
LCD television and monitors are available in two applications: direct view and rear projection. This
manual will deal with direct view television applications. Rear view instruments are available in
two types. First, small LCDs are magnified using the same techniques previously used on CRT
instruments, simply substituting the LCD light engine for CRTs. Second, large screen LCD panels
are directly viewed but use a small light source magnified by mirrors to illuminate the entire panel.
TTE is marketing only direct view LCD instruments at this time.
Regardless of the application LCD panels are a transmissive technology. The display works by
modulating a fixed-intensity white backlight through an active filter. The red, green and blue
elements of a pixel are achieved through simple filtering of the white light.

Figure 1, LCD Panel

Liquid crystal displays sandwich a layer of...well...liquid crystals between two layers of polarized
glass, one of which contains a color filter and related voltage system. Unlike plasma, LCD panels
are transmissive displays that cannot create light, so a backlight is required. The backlight becomes
the light source either shining through or being blocked by the LCD.

THE LCD SANDWICH

Simple gray LCDs are the building block of the more complex color LCDs but the technology is
identical. A light source makes up the first layer followed by the first polarizing filter. (More on
the polarizing effect later.) The sub-pixels are on the rear glass layer followed by the actual Liquid
Crystal layer. On top of that are the color filters on the front glass plate followed by the top
polarizing filter. Typically there is a final plate on top the entire panel that provides strength,
safety and increased contrast.

LCD
4
Although liquid crystals are not really liquid, their molecules behave more like a liquid than a solid,
resulting in the name. The crystals in an LCD exist in a unique middle ground between solid and
liquid form. It allows them the movement and flexibility of a liquid while giving the rigidity of a
solid making them very easy to form into patterns. Typically heat will melt a solid to liquid breaking
down the tensile strength and allowing it to move. Cooling will make a liquid solidify almost
instantly. The sensitivity of liquid crystals to temperature can be an advantage or disadvantage.
While it allows for the highly successful use of liquid crystals in devices such as thermometers
where temperature responsiveness is extremely important, the same property can make LCD video
screens unreliable in extreme climates. Better formulations of liquid crystals have overcome many
of the temperature sensitive uses of LCD screens for video display allowing them to be used in
applications where thoughts of video were previously unheard of.
In an LCD screen, electric currents work at a microscopic level to control the amount of light that
passes through the liquid crystal molecules that make up the moving layer of the screen, which is
sandwiched between clear glass panels. The currents can force the naturally twisted molecules to
unwind or coil tighter changing the amount of light passing from the light source behind the glass.
The chemistry of how this occurs is not really important to understand its operation. Simply
remember that an LCD crystal may transform from a semi-liquid to a semi-solid state. In the
semi-liquid state light may pass through almost unattenuated. In the semi-solid state light is
blocked.
Each pixel consists of a column of liquid crystal molecules suspended between two transparent
electrodes and two polarizing filters, whose axes of polarity from top to bottom are perpendicular to each
other. Without the liquid crystals between them, light passing through one would be blocked by the other.
Natural light waves are orientated at random angles. A polarizing filter is
All
Light simply a set of incredibly fine parallel lines etched in glass. These lines act
Blocked like a net, blocking all light waves except those orientated parallel to the
lines. A second polarizing filter with lines arranged perpendicular (at 90
degrees) to the first blocks the light polarized by the first filter. Light
would only pass through the second filter if its
Polarized lines were exactly parallel with the first, or if the
Light
light itself is twisted to match the second polarizer.
Polarized
This is what an LCD sandwich can accomplish. Light
The charge on the liquid crystal determines how Passes
much twist is placed on the light. At a full 90
Random
degree twist all light is passed and the LCD
Light outputs maximum brightness. If the light passes
through the liquid crystal with no twist, all light Polarized
Light
is blocked and the LCD outputs no light at all.
Twists
The unique aspect of TFT active matrix LCDs is
that as voltage changes on the liquid crystal molecules, light passing
through them untwists at a predicable rate. As the liquid crystal untwists
the light less light passes through the second filter until at no twist, all light
Random
is blocked.
Light

LCD
5
Individual crystals are generally manufactured such that their relaxed state is twisted. Light
passing through one filter is rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal, allowing it to pass through
the second polarized filter. While there is a small amount of light absorbed by the polarizing filters,
essentially the entire assembly is transparent.
Placing a charge on the crystal causes it to untwist and the polarized light passes through
untwisted and is blocked by the second polarized filter. The LCD now becomes a simple light valve
at the pixel level, either passing or blocking light. One final point regarding the use of polarized
light. If the light was not polarized it would be shining in all directions and might shine through
adjacent liquid crystals. That could mean unintended light would be passing through adjacent pixels
causing color distortion.
Viewing angle problems on LCDs occur because the technology is a transmissive system which
works by modulating the light passing through the display from the rear. CRTs are emissive,
working by emitting light from the phosphor stripes at the front of the display. The phosphor stripes
of a CRT are easily viewed from much greater angles than LCD.

LCD COLOR DISPLAYS

LCD technology is much more complex to manufacture and operate than outward appearance might
seem. Despite that it has begun taking over many previous CRT applications.
LCD panels produce colors much the same as CRTs however there are major differences. Similar
to other display technology each LCD pixel is made up of three sub-pixels that are red, green and
blue. The intensity of the three sub-pixels determines the exact color and brightness of the pixel.
CRTs generate light using the additive color principles so the absence of control extinguishes the
phosphor and black results. When struck by the electron beam the phosphor becomes a light source.
To create white all three phosphors, red, green and blue must be lit in the NTSC proportions. But
the phosphors generate light and mix with each other to create the proper color.
LCD panels use a color subtractive process. Although the back light can be compared to the electron
beam, becoming the light source, differing from CRTs all light output starts out as white. The red,
green and blue panels filter (subtract) from the original white light in the proper NTSC proportions
to create the full NTSC color pallet. The difference of course is that phosphors generate light as
needed while LCD backlights generate their full intensity at all times. The total light output is
always something less than the full intensity of the white backlight.
Another difference is how black and how white are generated. In the CRT, the absence of light
generation (beam cutoff) creates black. When black is necessary, beam current ceases and no light
is generated by the phosphors of the CRT. With LCD panels the backlight is always on and must
be blocked to create the absence of light, or black. Although the technology is improving with each
generation, there is always some leakage of light which currently prevents LCD panels from
reaching the same contrast ratios as CRT displays.
Similarly in CRTs white is the sum of the generation of light of all three phosphors. In LCD panels
maximum brightness is determined by the brightness of the backlight source subtracted by all three
color filters. For an LCD it becomes a balancing act where black and white are directly affected by
each other. If the backlight source brightness is increased to match a CRT the black level is also
raised due to the LCD elements inability to block all light. If the backlight source is lowered to
deepen the dark levels, overall brightness is reduced.

LCD
6
HOW LCD TV PANELS WORK
As previously noted, an LCD panel is a transmissive display. Light is not created by the liquid
crystals, merely filtered from a light source behind the panel. A white diffusion panel directly
behind the LCD but in front of the light source redirects and scatters the light evenly to ensure a
uniform image. Making the light source as uniform as possible is an important step to prevent hot
or dark spots in the video image.
Current LCD televisions and video displays use the most advanced active-matrix LCD panels.
The design is based on thin film transistor (TFT) technology. Most companies have adopted TFT
technology specifically to improve color screens. In a TFT screen an extra matrix of transistors is
connected to the LCD panel, one transistor for each color (RGB) of each pixel. These transistors
drive the pixels, reducing ghosting and slow response speed that afflict non-TFT LCDs. The result
is screen response times of the order of 25ms, increased contrast ratios and brightness levels
comparable to other display technologies.
A typical 26 16x9 TFT video screen with a resolution of 1366x768 has over one million screen
pixels. Since each screen pixel is made up of three sub-pixels and each sub-pixel requires two
transistors, that means over six million transistors are required and each must work or there will dead
or stuck pixels visible. The complete matrix of transistors has to be produced on a single silicon
wafer and the presence of more than a couple of impurities means the entire wafer may be scrapped.
The enormous number of transistors is one reason why in any TFT display there may be several
defective pixels.
One of the challenges for LCD manufacturers has been increasing pixel response time to improve
how fast an individual color sub-pixel can change. Faster response times reduce perceived blurring
ensuring fast-moving objects dont exhibit motion lag or ghosting. It is especially critical for larger
screen sizes where much of the viewing could be DVD movies and/or HDTV and individual pixels
may be large enough to be readily noticeable.
An important difference between phosphor based displays such as CRT and Plasma is that an LCD
screen does not have a coating of phosphor dots that dim with age. Colors are created through use
of filters which do not age. That means LCD panels will not suffer from image burn or premature
aging. LCD panels are also extremely energy efficient, consuming up to 60% less power than
comparably sized CRT televisions.

LCD
7
SECOND POLARIZER

COLOR FILTERS
TFT GLASS

LCD
V

TFT GLASS

FIRST POLARIZER

LIGHT SOURCE

Lets explore how white backlighting becomes a color display. Referring to the diagram of an LCD
panel, there are five elements to the panel assembly. They are the backlight, polarizers, TFT glass,
color filters and the liquid crystal.
Light generated by the backlight is polarized by the first polarizing filter then proceeds through the
first TFT glass. (The TFT controls the voltage on the liquid crystal element and is transparent in
operation.) The light then travels through the liquid crystal element and passes through the top TFT
and into the color filter. It then either passes through or is blocked by the top polarizer depending
upon whether the liquid crystal is turned on or off.
The top and bottom TFT glass has the liquid crystal material sandwiched between it. Both sides
contain active switching transistors and either allow the liquid crystal molecules to twist or untwist
depending upon the voltage applied. With no voltage on the liquid crystal the molecules arrange
themselves such that light is twisted in a near perfect 90 degree angle. Light enters the sandwich
via the bottom polarizer, then passes through the liquid crystal where it twists 90 degrees and flows
through color filters and the top polarizer. The liquid crystal is very efficient allowing light to pass
much as it would through glass. In this state light would be observed at the top of the liquid crystal
element in the color of the filter it passed through.
When a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal, the molecules rearrange themselves vertically,
allowing light to pass through untwisted. So light enters the bottom polarizer, passing through the
liquid crystal in a straight line and is blocked by the top polarizer so that no light passes through and
the element appears dark.

LCD
8
The crystals in an LCD could be alternatively arranged such that light passed when voltage is
applied, and blocked when there was no voltage. However, since active motion video displays are
lit and high percentage of the time, power is saved by arranging the liquid crystals in a no voltage
equals light configuration. Current TFT technology allows the liquid crystal to be controlled very
precisely with extremely fast and accurate switching to match video response times of CRT and
other display technologies.

CREATING COLOR
There are two ways to generate color with an LCD. One is by blinking the individual pixels at
differing rates so the eye averages faster blinking as brighter colors and slower blinking as darker
colors. That creates undesirable trails, ghosting, shimmering and less consistent coloring. It is also
possible to vary the amount of light passing through each color filter much the same as CRT
phosphor technology. Fortunately, liquid crystals have a unique property that allows the light to
vary its twist as it passes through. At a full twist of 90 degrees, 100% light flow occurs through the
element. As the twist relaxes the percentage of light travelling through the upper polarizer is
reduced. The twist relaxes at a rate precisely proportional to the applied voltage allowing the
percentage of light transmission to be accurately controlled providing accurate gray scale resolution
and color rendition.
To create color three liquid crystal elements must be filtered red, green and blue. Striping follows
current CRT practice. The three sub-pixels define one LCD panel pixel similar to the three phosphor
stripes of a CRT. The entire NTSC color spectrum may be generated by varying the color balance
and intensity of the three sub-pixels in the same manner as CRT color mixing occurs.

THE BACKLIGHT
The light for a TFT LCD can be provided by a light array or a single lamp diffused and amplified
by a mirror. The backlight array is usually a number of specially-designed fluorescent tubes of the
proper color temperature for proper reproduction of NTSC video. The array produces steady light
any time the display is in operation, regardless of the perceived brightness or darkness of the image
on the screen. It is the LCD pixels that modulate the light to produce color and contrast.
In LCD projection instruments a single lamp source must be expanded from a typical 3-6 conical
area to the rectangular LCD panel. This is done using techniques similar to DLP rear projection
instruments. As in all rear projection instruments the mirror size is dependant upon screen size,
distance between the lamp and panel, and deflection angle.

LCD
9
LCD TELEVISION
Now that the display is functional, a word about how video actually arrives and is transformed to
an acceptable picture. The following graphic shows a rudimentary block diagram of a typical
LCD television.
The front end of an LCD television is identical to most televisions. Analog and digital inputs from
various video devices, cable or off-air signals and even computers are processed and converted to
digital. Those digital signals are then converted to the display resolution and output to the driver
board of the panel. In many cases current technology uses one board for the system control and
LCD driver simplifying troubleshooting.
The transistors that actually switch the liquid crystals are a part of the panel however the higher
power switching transistors that drive those transistor switches are usually located on a seperate
board. That board may be mounted directly on the panel or it may be mounted elsewhere inside
the cabinet. It is important to know whether the driver board or the LCD panel is defective and
where the driver board is located.
If a single pixel or even small group of pixels are either stuck on or off, creating always dark or
always lit pixels, the defect is in the TFT panels that are part of the LCD panel. However, if entire
rows or columns of pixels are either stuck on or off it is most likely the driver board that is defective.
If the entire display is out, suspect a power supply issue in either the driver board, the LCD panel
or the backlight.
The backlight is relatively simple to diagnose. Even if the display is out, if the backlight is on
some light leakage will be noticable. Room lighting may have to be reduced in order to see the
backlight in this situation.

Typical LCD Block Diagram

Video
Tuner TUNER_CVBS
Decoder LCD
AV1 CVBS/YC
AV1_Y_O UT IR Keyboard
DISPLAY
AV2 CVBS/YC
AV In 1 AV1 CVBS/Y IN
AV1 C IN FAV CVBS/YC

Tuner Digital 16-bits YCbCr

AV In 2 AV2 CVBS/Y IN CH1 H+V+Clock
AV2 C IN

FAV CVBS/Y IN
CVBS SVH S
FAV C IN
Controller
FRONT AV LCD Driver

Digital 24-bits RGB

CH0 H+V+Clock
Video
COMP YPrPb
YPrPb In Decoder

Audio In Audio Amps

LCD
10
A WORD ABOUT THE SPECS
Most specifications are designed to provide accurate comparisons between devices as long as the
method of determining those specifications are universal and consistent. Unfortunately it is
extremely difficult to provide a single universal method for most testing, particularly as new
display technologies emerge.
Contrast ratio, in the most pure definition, is the ratio between the brightest white and darkest black
video (typically cutoff). Two methods are generally used to measure the ratio: Sequential and ANSI.
The two methods cannot be considered as direct comparisons of display performance due to how
they are measured.
Sequential Contrast (sometimes called Full On/Full Off Contrast) is a full white screen divided by
a full black screen. It is flattering because spurious cabinet or screen reflection is minimized and is
typically quoted since it provides a best case scenario and much higher numbers (higher is better...). It
is generally the most widely quoted contrast ratio. No white video can interfere with black
measurements and beam limiting conditions in CRT based instruments are minimized.
ANSI Contrast uses a black on white
checkerboard with 12 black squares and 12
white squares (or 16x16) adjacent to each
other. The measurement is taken by measuring
any white block in the A area (Center screen
area) against any adjacent black block also in
the A area. ANSI Contrast may be closer to
real-world since the black and white
patterns are on the screen at the same time
causing some amount of light crosstalk better
simulating normal viewing.
What must be considered is the dark room
effect; the total blackness of a typical lab
environment setup versus a bright room
represented by typical retail lighting. Also, sequential testing favors phosphor based technology
since beam current limiting allows higher average beam current than when an ANSI test
checkerboard is on screen reducing average beam currents to much lower than peak conditions.
Solid state displays are only limited by the brightness of the light source, not the current allowed to
it. There is no averaging of that light source needed as with CRT technology.
For CRTs, a dark room condition provides nearly infinite black levels since black is truly the
absence of light (if the cutoff is well adjusted). There will be no light generated from phosphor when
there is no beam current and with no ambient room lighting, no other possible source of light is
available. On the other end, CRTs must worry about the averaging effects of beam-limiting causing
lower peak brightness. When displaying the ANSI checkerboard beam limiting is high causing a
reduced average beam current and thus lower peak brightness measurements. For sequential
contrast measurements that peak can be almost five times the typical average white of ANSI.

LCD
11
LUX AND LUMENS AND FOOT-CANDLES...OH MY!
It is inevitable that specifications for LCD panels or any other video display use the three terms
Lux, lumens and footcandles. The three are actually related terms but describe light or luminance
in different ways. Footcandle is essentially an outdated, obsolete term but still shows up from
time to time. Here is how they compare.
Footcandles and lux describe light (luminance) output over a distance. The foot candle is the light
output of one candle (candela) at one foot. Lux is the light output of one candela over one meter.
What they do not really describe is the area of illumination, which is extremely important. Because
of that, if the terms are used in display specifications they can be misleading. Heres why.

LUX VERSUS LUMEN

The lux takes into account the area over which the luminous flux (lumen) is spread. 1000 lumens
concentrated into an area of one square meter light up that square meter with an illuminance of 1000
lux. The same 1000 lumens spread out over ten square meters produce a dimmer illuminance of only
100 lux.

LUX VERSUS FOOTCANDLE

Since one footcandle is the illuminance cast on a surface by a one-candela source one foot away
and one Lux is illuminance cast on a surface by a one-candela source one meter away the conversion
from footcandles to lux and vice-versa is direct.
Simply put, one footcandle equals 10.76 lux. Because lux and footcandles are different units of the
same quantity, The only real difference is the distance between one foot and one meter (3.281 feet).

NITS
Finally, in many of our television alignments and specifications NITS are used. NITS are candela
per square meter, in other words luminance over an area. Specifying luminance over a specific
area is always preferable when doing alignments or setups.

CONTRAST RATIO
Contrast ratio has always been a confusing measurement even for CRTs. NITS, ft-candles,
Lamberts, LUX, lumen and Candelas all refer to the light output or the light sensitivity of a
device. In field service it is only important that any test setups use the same measurement functions
outlined in service data. For Thomson/TTE instruments the NITS (National ISDN Technical
Subcommittee) is typically used to describe test processes, setup measurements and troubleshooting
procedures.
For this audience, contrast may be compared using what is becoming the more standard term in the
US, Lumens. Although direct conversions are nearly impossible one lumen is about 3.4 NITS. There
are also several methods to measure contrast ratio each having a particular best number for a particular
panel or display technology.
NOTE: Comparing meaningful contrast ratio numbers between manufacturers becomes somewhat
tedious. The following explanation is given mainly for education, not for field service to become
expert on contrast ratios and their measurement techniques. The methods to measure contrast
ratio of LCD panels vary wildly as do measurements on similar performing panels and is certainly
not the final word on screen performance.
LCD
12
For comparison, direct view CRT technology can reach 300 Lumens and CRT based projection TVs
can actually reach higher levels since they have no shadow mask to block beam currents allowing them
to easily be driven to full brightness. Direct view sequential contrast can reach 10000:1. CRT projection
can reach similar numbers. ANSI contrast drops for both; about 500:1 for direct view and 200:1 for
projection television. In direct view inner-CRT and faceplate reflections increase black levels while in
project instruments inter-cabinet reflections increase black levels reducing contrast levels.
Plasma, being phosphor-based, can reach peak whites of around 500 lumens but black levels are
not as efficient as CRT keeping sequential contrast ratios at around 10000:1, similar to CRT. Due
to necessary embedded RFI filter films leading to poor ambient light rejection and low-transmission
faceplate glass it loses contrast faster than DV CRT in ambient light. It has very good ANSI
contrast, >400:1, if high quality faceplate coatings are used.
DLP has high (2000:1) sequential contrast increasing to as much as 7000:1 with Dynamic Black
(variable aperture and 7 color wheel). ANSI contrast is quite good at 220:1 or more. Because DLP
screens can be manufactured with tighter stripes DLP also has higher Average light output, up to
1000 lumens, (depending on screen size).
LCD technology also reintroduces direct view and projection technology variations using LCD
panels rather than CRTs as the light modulator. As expected the same contrast ratio differences
noted between projection and direct view CRT technology are also apparent in LCD. It is somewhat
easier to compare LCD instruments to other digital display technology rather than with analog
CRTs. While LCD rear projectors have lower contrast than DLP (700:1 sequential, 180:1 ANSI)
brightness is comparable. LCD DV sequential contrast is around 400:1 with ANSI around 160:1.
Using different backlighting techniques the contrast ratio can be significantly improved. Peak and
average brightness is about 350-500.

LCD
13
 First Edition 0621 - First Printing
Prepared by
Thomson, Inc for TTE Technology, Inc.
PO Box 1976
T-LCD Overview Indianapolis, IN 46206 U.S.A.