<title>Advantages of using flat-panel LCD for projection displays</title>

Abstract

The advantages of applying flat panel Liquid CRystal Displays (LCD) for Projection Displays will be extensively discussed. The selection and fabrication of flat panel LCD in order to meet the specific requirements of projection displays through various technologies will be suggested and explored in detail. The compact, flexible size and easy portability of flat panel LCDs are well known. For practical reasons, it is desirable to take advantages some of these useful properties in Projection Displays. With the recent popularity of large format display sizes, high information content and practicality all increases the demand of projection enlargement for high level performance and comfortable viewing. As a result, Projection Displays are becoming the chosen technological option for effective presentation of visual information. In general, the Liquid Crystal Light Valves (LCLV) used in Projection Displays are simply transmissive flat panel liquid crystal displays. For example at the low end, the monochromatic LCD projection panels are simply transmissive LCDs to be used in combination with laptops or PCs and light sources such as overhead projectors. These projection panels are getting popular for their portability, readability and low cost. However, due to the passive nature of the LCD used in these projector panels, the response time, contrast ratio and color gamut are relatively limited. Whether the newly developed Active Addressing technology will be able to improve the response time, contrast ratio and color gamut of these passive matrix LCDs remain to be proven. In the middle range of projection displays, Liquid Crystal Light Valves using color Active Matrix LCDs are rapidly replacing the dominant CRT based projectors. LCLVs have a number of advantages including portability, easy set-up and data readability. There are several new developments using single crystal, polysilicon as active matrix for LCDs with improved performance. Since single crystal active matrix came from silicon wafer processing, they are limited to small sizes as in Integrated Circuits. Polysilicon needs relative high temperature for active matrix processing. The usual non-alkali LCD glass substrates can not withstand such high temperature. As a result, polysilicon is also limited to small sizes. However, they can be used in Projection Displays with enlargement for comfort viewing. It is our hope some of these flat panel LCD technologies will be developed into the high end Projection Displays such as HIgh Definition Television, Multimedia or Interactive Video Communication, Entertainment and Presentation Systems of the future.