| Edge Lighting |
A backlight in which the tube is at one or both sides of the display and uses a scattering sheet to get even lighting across the display; allows for thinner displays. |
| Effective Area |
Same as "active area". |
| EL Backlight |
A type of backlight using electroluminescent material. The thinnest available backlight. (Also can be a type of display : see EL display). |
| EL Display |
A type of display using electroluminescent material. .Produces a orange glowing image. |
| Elastomer Connector |
A silicone rubber strip made up of sequentially spaced conductive and non-conductive material. The most common method of connection for LCD modules. |
| Electronic packaging |
The manufacturing step theat packages a semiconductor chip so it is protected and can be connected to other electronic components in electronic equipment. |
| Electrophoresis |
A phenomenon which occurs when excess DC voltage is applied to an LCD. Conductive particles from one piece of glass are transferred through the LC fluid and deposited on the conductive surface of the opposite piece of glass. A conductive spike is created thus causing a dead short. |
| Enclosure |
A metal or molded plastic case that protects the display for stand alone operation. |
| Encoders |
Linear or circular scales that are used to determine position or rotation. |
| Fill Hole |
Space left between epoxy seals on one end of LCD glass after assembly; used to fill the glass with the liquid crystal fluid. |
| Flat Panel Display |
A Flat Panel Display is any type of display that is comprised of two sheets of glass in close proximity to one another, where addressing is by rows and columns. Also referred to as a Flat Panel Monitor. |
| Flat Panel Monitor |
Flat Panel Monitor is any type of display that is comprised of two sheets of glass in close proximity to one another, where addressing is by rows and columns. Also referred to as a Flat Panel Display. |
| Flicker Fusion Rate |
This is the rate above which the human eye can no longer recognize discontinuous changes in brightness as a flicker. Provided the frame frequency is above this rate, the eye integrates the signal into a consistent image. The flicker fusion rate is 31.25 Hz. The appearance of flicker can occur if the frame frequency is close to the frequency of fluorescent lights. That value can vary slightly between different individuals. |
| Fluorescent Lamp |
A glass tube filled with mercury gas and coated on its inner surface with phosphors. When the gas is charged with an electrical current, radiation is produced which in turn energizes the phosphors, causing the phosphors to glow. |
| Font |
Active pattern containing information to be displayed in the LCD glass. |
| Foot Lamberts (fL) |
A unit of luminance. One foot Lambert is equal to 10.76/? (approximately 3.426) Candelas per square meter. |
| Format |
Format is the term defining the pixel matrix on a display; i.e. 640 x 480, 1024 x 768, etc. Though the term "resolution" is often confused with "format", resolution involves a more complex measurement dealing with format, as well as pixels per inch. |
| Form Factor |
The ratio of viewable display area divided by overall module area. |
| FRM (Frame Rate Modulation) |
Method a controller can use to achieve a gray scale by rapidly switching subpixels on and off. |
| FSTN Ghosting |
Phenomenon occurring when voltage from an energized element leaks to an adjacent OFF element and turns the adjacent element partially ON. |
| Fully Integrated (All-in-One) Display |
Most liquid crystal displays require a variety of support chips (e.g. timing chips, grayscale chips, etc.) to operate. Fully integrated "all-in-one" LCD's are complete monitor systems that accept standard video signals (like VGA, NTSC, DVI-D, etc.) without the need for additional electronics. These panels also include the backlight inverter, so the only power input required is the supply voltage (ex. +12V DC). |
| Gamma |
Screen luminance as a function of video voltage approximately follows a mathematical power function of the input video signal, the exponent of which is called gamma. |
| Gate |
This is the control terminal of a TFT. |
| Gate Electrode |
The "row" electrode in an active matrix LCD that controls whether a voltage is applied to a sub-pixel. |
| Ghosting |
Regarding passive LCD displays, this is a visual anomaly that causes streaking or shadowing across the display. This phenomenon occurs when voltage from an energized element leaks to an adjacent OFF element and turns the adjacent element partially ON. |
| Graphic Display |
A display made up of an array of pixel elements. Can be used to display graphics, pictures as well as text. |
| Graphics controller |
A generic term used to describe the video hardware in a computer. Although graphics hardware was traditionally integrated into the motherboard hardware, today this hardware is most frequently available as a separate PCI or AGP card. The graphics controller is responsible for generating the video signal that is sent to the monitor. Graphics controllers today are often built with their own processors and RAM on the card. |
| Grayscale |
An achromatic scale ranging from black through a series of successively lighter grays to white. |
| Grey Scale /Heat Seal |
A flexible adhesive connector bonded by heat to the contact edge of the glass. |
Glossary
