What are TFT Monitors
Monitors have become ubiquitous in the office and home. TFTs are one type of monitor that are described in the following article.
Many of us spend a large portion of our lives staring at monitors or screens. Taking a break from writing this article I’ll probably slouch on the sofa and turn on my flat-screen TV for relaxation! Over the last few years developments in monitor technology has resulted in crisper, clearer pictures with tumbling prices. TFT monitors are part of this trend.
TFT monitor technology
TFT is an acronym for ‘Thin Film Transistor’. TFT is a variant of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors, also called flat panel displays, are replacing the old style, heavy and cumbersome cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Nearly all LCD monitors today use TFT technology. They are used in television sets, computer monitors, mobile phones, handheld video game systems, PDAs (personal digital assistants), navigation systems and projectors.
How TFT monitors work
LCD technology was invented back in the 1980s although the liquid crystal itself was discovered way back in 1888 by an Austrian botanist. and the technology has become more advanced and cheaper to produce ever since. In the mid-1960s, scientists showed that liquid crystals could change the properties of light passing them when stimulated by an external electrical charge. It has only been in the last ten years that flat screens have become cheap enough to replace CRTs on a major scale. Now, in developed countries, CRTs have become almost extinct.
TFT LCDs have a sandwich-like structure with liquid crystal filled between two glass plates. These liquid crystal cells change the polarization direction of light passing through them in response to an electrical voltage. Each pixel can produce any color depending on the voltage. Liquid crystals can change their molecular structure and therefore allow varying levels of light to pass through them. Two polarizer filters, color filters and two alignment layers determine exactly how much light is allowed to pass through and which colors are created.
TFT monitors use a separate, miniscule transistor for each pixel of the display. The charge required to activate each pixel is very small which means that the pixel can be activated and reactivated rapidly. This allows the screen to be redrawn many times a second, resulting in a much sharer image with less motion blur.
The advantages of TFT monitors over CRT monitors
Space saving : You can increase your available desk space about 20 percent when using TFT monitors. They are light enough to hang on an articulating mount to make even more workspace available. If you have to physically move your monitor you will appreciate how light they are compared to the old CRT screens. Because they take up less space they are much more convenient to use for the dual screen configurations that are being adopted by an increasing number of people.
Lower Energy Consumption : A TFT monitor screen uses up to 78% less energy than a Cathode Ray Tube. The pixels used in these screens light precisely and use far less power than a comparable CRT monitor. They also produce less heat and radiation.
Improved Visual Sharpness : TFT LCD don’t use a scanning an electron beam and are therefore flicker-free. They also produce less geometric distortion at the edges. CRT monitors, which project the picture from the rear and focuses it electronically on the inside of the screen, can be blurry.
Reduced Eye Strain : TFT technology is virtually-flicker free, eliminating the eyestrain, headaches, and nausea associated with prolonged PC use with CRT displays. They also produce much less glare than the glass fronted CRT screens.
There are a relatively few manufacturers of TFT LCD screens, mostly in Asia. Screens are rebranded for use in TVs and as computer monitors. LG and Samsung are the biggest producers of these monitors and between them these two Korean companies account for 50% of the world’s LCD production. The largest market for TFT LCDs will soon be China and local manufacturers there, such as Konka and HiSense are expanding rapidly into Asian markets.
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