Practical limits on addressing twisted nematic displays

Abstract

Reflective twisted nematic liquid crystal displays have gained very wide user acceptance in consumer and professional applications. They are compact flat-panel displays with a very low power consumption, which modulate ambient light and as a result have very good legibility in a wide range of illumination conditions. There is a need for such low-power flat-panel displays with high information content as data displays for portable equipment. A number of problems must be overcome if twisted nematic displays are to be made complex enough for these applications. The most important factor determining the number of display elements that can be addressed is the viability of matrix-addressing techniques. This paper explores the limits in the number of lines that can be addressed for a display operating in reflexion.