Glossary of Terms and Definitions
Change this page into →

•  A
  • Absorption Coefficient - The ratio of the sound energy absorbed by a surface of a medium or material to the sound energy incident on the surface.
  
  
  • Active-matrix OLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode or AMOLED) - is a display technology for use in mobile devices such as mobile phones. OLEDdescribes a specific type of thin display technology which doesn't require a backlight and active-matrix refers to the technology behind the addressing of pixels.
  
  
  • Alignment - is the adjustment of an object in relation with other objects.
  
  
  • Alignment Layer - A thin-film layer in an LCD display that’s used to line up liquid crystal molecules in a uniform direction.
  
  
  • Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive - Conductive adhesives that conduct electricity in one direction only.
  
  
  • Automated optical inspection (AOI) - is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products (seed corn or fruits
  
  
•  B
  • Back-channel etch - A simplified BCE process for forming a thin film transistor matrix for a liquid crystal display is disclosed.
  
  
  • Backlight Spectrum - A backlight spectrum is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays.
  
  
  • Black Matrix (BM) - A patterned layer in an LCD’s color filter assembly whose purpose is to prevent light leakage and improve contrast.
  
  
  • Blackbody Curve - is an idealized object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation falling on it. Blackbodies absorb and incandescently re-emit radiation in a characteristic, continuous spectrum. Because no light is reflected or transmitted, the object appears black when it is cold.
  
  
  • Blinking backlight - When the backlight on an LCD starts to blink on and off.
  
  
  • Brightness - is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to emit a given amount of light.
  
  
  • Brightness Enhancement Film (BEF) - A prism film that increases a display's brightness. 3M is the dominant supplier of BEF, although because of recent patent expirations, many new suppliers are entering the market.
  
  
  • Burn-in - is the process by which components of a system are exercised prior to being placed in service (and often, prior to the system being completely assembled from those components). The intention is to detect those particular components that would fail as a result of the initial, high-failure rate portion. If the burn-in period is made sufficiently long (and, perhaps, artificially stressful), the system can then be trusted to be mostly free of further early failures once the burn-in process is complete.
  
  
•  C
  • CdSe TFT's - have been built and tested in which the electron mobility values inferred from Weimor's description of the TFT in some cases exceed the bulk single- crystal values
  
  
  • CFArray - A CFArray stores values indexed by integer, more or less like a REALbasic array
  
  
  • Channel length - A description of the size and number of levels in a channel
  
  
  • Channel width - The bandwidth of a channel, defined as a range of frequencies.
  
  
  • Cholesteric - Of or relating to the mesomorphic phase of a liquid crystal in which the molecules are closely aligned within a distinct series of layers, with the axes of the molecules lying parallel to the plane of the layers and with the orientation of molecules in adjacent layers rotated slightly.
  
  
  • Chromaticity diagram - A two-dimensional graph of the chromaticity coordinates, x as the abscissa and y as the ordinate, which shows the spectrum locus (chromaticity coordinates of monochromatic light, 380 nm-770 nm). It has many useful properties for comparing colors of both luminous and non–luminous materials.
  
  
  • Color filter transmission - is a mosaic of tiny color filters placed over the pixel sensors of an image sensor to capture color information.
  
  
  • Color Filters - An optical element that partially absorbs incident light, consisting of a pane of glass or other partially transparent material, or of films separated by narrow layers; the absorption may be either selective or nonselective with respect to wavelength. Also known as light filter.
  
  
  • Color gamut - A certain complete subset of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a certain output device. Another sense, less frequently used but not less correct, refers to the complete set of colors found within an image at a given time.
  
  
  • Color subfields - Color data that can be color-mapped , or in direct color or true color.
  
  
  • Colorimetry - The science and technology used to quantify and describe color perception.
  
  
  • Contact holes - The subject of the present invention is to keep the wiring resistance low and reduce the variation of the wiring resistance in one identical lot in semiconductor devices of a multi level interconnect structure in which at least the lower wiring layer is an aluminum wiring layer
  
  
•  D
  • Dichroism - The property possessed by some solutions of showing different colors at different concentrations. The property possessed by some crystals of exhibiting two different colors when viewed along different axes.
  
  
  • Dielectric constant - The relative static permittivity (or static relative permittivity) of a material under given conditions is a measure of the extent to which it concentrates electrostatic lines of flux. It is the ratio of the amount of stored electrical energy when a voltage is applied, relative to the permittivity of a vacuum. The relative static permittivity is the same as the relative permittivity evaluated for a frequency of zero.
  
  
  • Diffractive exposure - A highly coherent nano sized beam of x-rays, electrons and mainly photons is incident on an object. This beam scattered by the object is collected electronically by a detector to produce a diffraction pattern.
  
  
  • Digital Video Interface - DVI is a popular form of video interface technology made to maximize the quality of flat panel LCD monitors and modern video graphics cards.
  
  
  • Director (LC) - Whenever one wants to model the optics of a LC display one of the first things they have to do is obtain the configuration of the LC within the display
  
  
  • Disclination - A disclination is a line defect in which rotational symmetry is violated.
  
  
  • Drain - is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image.
  
  
  • Drive methods - are used to determine the port's capacity and the amount of current needed for the required LED brightness
  
  
  • Dry Etching - Refers to the removal of material, typically a masked pattern of semiconductor material that dislodge portions of the material from the exposed surface. Unlike with many (but not all, see isotropic etching) of the wet chemical etchants used in wet etching, the dry etching process typically etches directionally or anisotropically.
  
  
•  E
  • E-paper - Electronic paper, e-paper or electronic ink display is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper. It is capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later.
  
  
  • Edge backlight - An edge-lit backlight having a light recycling cavity with concave transflector is disclosed. The edge-lit backlight has an output area and includes a back reflector facing the output area of the backlight.
  
  
  • Elastic constant - In materials science and physical metallurgy, any of various numbers that quantify the response of a material to elastic or springy deflection.
  
  
•  F
  • Five-wire touchscreen - The five-wire resistive touch screen uses a glass panel with a uniform resistive coating. A thick polyester coversheet is tightly suspended over the top of a glass substrate, separated by small, transparent insulating dots. The coversheet has a hard, durable coating on the outer side and a conductive coating on the inner side.
  
  
  • Fluoroscopy - examination of a person or object by means of a fluoroscope.
  
  
  • Frame inversion - A LC panel for use in a projection LCD device includes a source driver IC operating in a frame-inversion driving scheme. The luminance gradient caused by the frame-inversion driving scheme in the active-matrix substrate is cancelled by the luminance gradient caused by the heat generated by the source driver.
  
  
  • Front panel control - Any electric device for controlling a circuit or system; specif.: (a) An electromagnet, excited by the main current, for throwing a regulator magnet into or out of circuit in an automatic device for constant current regulation.
  
  
  • Fused borosilicate glass - is a type of glass with the main glass-forming constituents silica and boron oxide. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion , making them resistant to thermal shock, more so than any other common glass.
  
  
•  G
  • Glue case sealers - The glue is applied to the minor tabs. The large tabs are then folded down and held down in place for the glue to set. Glue case sealers are particularly recommended for cases where the main tabs have a space when folded down.
  
  
  • Glue Seal - any substance or device used to close or fasten tightly.
  
  
  • Gooch-Tarry theory - l which states that the transmission of a nontilted, uniformly twisted LC sample between parallel or crossed polaroids is a damped sinusoidal function of the total twist angle and of the quantity dAnlA
  
  
  • gray scale - A series of shades from white to black. The more shades, or levels, the more realistic an image can be recorded and displayed, especially a scanned photo.
  
  
•  H
  • Hole injection - The production of holes in an n -type semiconductor when voltage is applied to a sharp metal point.
  
  
•  I
  • Image Persistence - is the term used for the LCD and plasma display equivalent of screen burn. Unlike screen burn, however, the effects are most often only temporary. It should be noted however, that plasma displays can also suffer from burn-in.
  
  
  • Image retention - is a method implemented by Laptop Manufacturers that prevents static images (e.g., station bugs, videogames) from causing burn-ins.
  
  
  • Image Sticking - Many are aware that if you leave a static image for a prolonged period on a plasma TV, you may risk phosphor burn-in. The result is that once you remove the static image, you would still be able to see a faint outline, or ghosting of the original image, even when you change the picture content.
  
  
  • Indium tin oxide electrode (ITO, or tin-doped indium oxide) - is a solid solution of indium(III) oxide (In₂O₃) and tin(IV) oxide (SnO₂), typically 90% In₂O₃, 10% SnO₂ by weight. It is transparent and colorless in thin layers while in bulk form it is yellowish to grey. In the infrared region of the spectrum it is a metal-like mirror. Indium tin oxide is one of the most widely used transparent conducting oxides because of its two chief properties, namely electrical conductivity and optical transparency.
  
  
  • Inductive touch screens - usually employ magnetized styluses to induce a field in a sensing layer at the back of the display; one not inherently sensitive to flexing
  
  
  • Irradiance - Sending forth radiant light
  
  
•  L
  • Latent Image - is an invisible image produced by the exposure of the film to light
  
  
  • Lightly Doped Drain - a sub-structure in a MOSFET that is intended to permit operation with higher drain-source voltage
  
  
  • Liquid Crystal (LC) - A liquid crystal is a material that has properties that are between those of a solid and a liquid. The material may flow like a liquid, but have molecules that are arranged and oriented like a crystal. Liquid crystals used in displays have molecules that change orientation (e.g., twist or untwist) in the presence or absence of an electric field. The change in orientation is used to control the flow of light.
  
  
•  M
  • Mask - An opaque border or pattern placed between a source of light and a photosensitive surface to prevent exposure of specified portions of the surface.
  
  
  • Monitor Panel - A program that observes, supervises, or controls the activities of other programs.
  
  
  • Multi-domain vertical alignment - was originally developed in 1998 by Fujitsu as a compromise between TN and IPS.[citation needed] It achieved pixel response which was fast for its time, wide viewing angles, and high contrast at the cost of brightness and color reproduction. Modern MVA panels can offer wide viewing angles (second only to S-IPS technology), good black depth, good color reproduction and depth, and fast response times due to the use of RTC (Response Time Compensation) technologies
  
  
  • Multiplexing - a technique whereby two or more independent messages, or information-bearing signals, are carried by a single common medium, or channel.
  
  
•  N
  • Negative resist - is a type of photoresist in which the portion of the photoresist that is exposed to light becomes insoluble to the photoresist developer.
  
  
  • Normally White (NW) Mode - when the analyzer is perpendicular to the polarizer
  
  
  • Normally-Black TN Mode - exhibit a non-mirror-like phase dispersion in their black-state, complicating contrast control in the optics
  
  
•  O
  • Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) - A special type of light-emitting diode in which the light-emitting layer is comprised of thin films of organic compounds. The "D" in OLED is also interchangeably used to mean "Display", in which case an OLED is an emissive flat-panel display where the frontplane contains organic light-emitting elements and the backplane is either a passive matrix (PMOLED) or active matrix (AMOLED) control structure. There are two basic types of organic compounds used in OLEDs, small-molecule (SMOLED) and polymer (P-OLED or PLED).
  
  
  • Orienting layer - Thin, highly oriented layers of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE, Teflon®) were produced with a simple mechanical deposition technique. Previously, it was shown that these films are exceptionally efficient substrates for oriented growth of a variety of materials.
  
  
  • Overcoat - to apply an additional coat to a surface after a coat has already been applied.
  
  
  • Overdrive - An Intel Pentium processor which fits into a socket designed to accommodate an Intel 486, or into a special upgrade socket on the motherboard.
  
  
•  P
  • Passive Matrix (PM) - Used in reference to both LCDs and OLEDs, passive matrix refers to the drive architecture where only the data and gate lines are controlled. PM displays have lower performance and higher power consumption than active matrix (AM) displays.
  
  
  • Photolithography - A lithographic technique used to transfer the design of circuit paths onto printed circuit boards as well as the circuit paths and electronic elements of a chip onto a wafer's surface.
  
  
  • Photometry - Photometry is the measuring of visible light in units that are weighted according to the sensitivity of the human eye. The sensitivity of the human eye to light varies with wavelength.
  
  
  • Photoresist - is a light-sensitive material used in several industrial processes, such as photolithography and photoengraving to form a patterned - a photomechanical product, in the form of a liquid or a laminated dry film, used in the manufacture of printed circuits.
  
  
  • Photoresist Stripping - A film used in photolithography that temporarily holds the pattern of a circuit path or microscopic element of a chip. When exposed to light, it hardens and is resistant to the acid bath that washes away the unexposed areas.
  
  
  • Pixel aperture - Light rays which pass through a small aperture begin to diverge and interfere with one another.
  
  
  • Pixel Inversion - In liquid crystal pixel cells, it is only the magnitude of the applied voltage which determines the light transmission.
  
  
  • Polarization - The property of electromagnetic waves (such as light) that describes the direction of their transverse electric field. Light waves can be linear polarized with the e-field in a single constant direction, or circular polarized with the e-field rotating like a left- or right-handed corkscrew.
  
  
  • Polarization efficiency - A parameter describing how well a radar antenna receives power from an incoming electromagnetic wave.
  
  
  • Polarizer - A linear polarizer is a filter that changes normal light (where the e-field goes in all random directions) into light where the e-field goes in a single direction. A circular polarizer is created by laminating a 90-degree retardation film to a linear polarizer.
  
  
  • Polarizing lamination - comprising a light polarizer laminated to the matte surface of aluminum foil and useful in display cells for field-effect transition liquid crystal displays.
  
  
  • Pretilt angle - The pretilt angle of liquid crystals is adjusted by tuning the surface polarity of the polyimide alignment layer.
  
  
•  R
  • Radiography - is the use of the property of X-rays to cross materials to view inside objects.
  
  
  • Radiometry - an instrument for detecting and usually for measuring the intensity of radiant energy.
  
  
  • RC delay - `Resistive Capacitive delay`, or `RC delay`, hinders the further increasing of speed in microelectronic integrated circuits.
  
  
  • Rear Projection Television (RPTV) - A television that projects the image from a microdisplay onto the rear of a high-gain screen. RPTVs are made with three different microdisplay technologies
  
  
  • Reflectance - reflectivity measures the fractional amplitude of the reflected electromagnetic field, while reflectance refers to the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is reflected at an interface.
  
  
  • Reflective LCD - A type of LCD that reflects light from a mirror.
  
  
  • Refraction - The bending of electromagnetic waves as they pass between materials with different refractive indices. Refraction is an important characteristic of optical systems. As light rays travel at a more perpendicular angle to the edge of a medium, they are refracted outside the medium rather than being reflected inside.
  
  
  • Resistive Touch - An analog touch screen technology that uses the contact point of two transparent conductive films to locate the user’s touch point within the active area.
  
  
  • Resistivity - The longitudinal electrical resistance of a uniform rod of unit length and unit cross-sectional area: the reciprocal of conductivity.
  
  
  • Retardation Film - A film that changes (delays) the phase of a light wave. When linearly polarized light is put through a retardation film, it changes to circularly polarized light.
  
  
  • Retardation index - the rate of deceleration.
  
  
  • RMS (root mean square) - voltage is the equivalent DC voltage that produces the same power dissipation in a load (heating effect in a resistor) or the same power transfer in a conductor.
  
  
  • Rotational viscosity - is a key liquid crystal property for display devices
  
  
  • Rubbing - A step in the LCD manufacturing process in which a cloth is rubbed repeatedly against the alignment layer in the LCD in order to align the liquid crystal molecules parallel to the rubbing direction.
  
  
•  S
  • Scanning backlight - is a technique used by LCD HDTV manufacturers to reduce motion blur.
  
  
  • Scintillator - to release sparks; to emit quick flashes as if throwing off sparks.
  
  
  • Sheet resistance - is a measure of resistance of thin films that have a uniform thickness. It is commonly used to characterize materials made by semiconductor doping, metal deposition, resistive paste printing, and glass coating.
  
  
  • Solid Phase Crystallization (SPC) - method has been studied for fabricating polycrystalline (poly) Si thin films for solar cells
  
  
  • Spacers - An extent or expanse of a surface or three-dimensional area.
  
  
  • Spectral radiance - are radiometric measures that describe the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle in a specified direction. They are used to characterize both emission from diffuse sources and reflection from diffuse surfaces.
  
  
  • Sputtering - # A popular method for adhering thin films onto a substrate. Sputtering is done by bombarding a target material with a charged gas (typically argon) which releases atoms in the target that coats the nearby substrate. It all takes place inside a magnetron vacuum chamber under low pressure.
  
  
  • Step coverage - The ratio of thickness of film along the walls of a step to the thickness of the film at the bottom of a step. Good step coverage reduces electromigration and high-resistance pathways.
  
  
  • Stereoscopic - is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image.
  
  
  • Storage capacitor - a passive electronic component consisting of a pair of conductors separated by a dielectric insulator.
  
  
  • Subpixel rendering - is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's liquid crystal display (LCD) or Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display by rendering pixels to take into account the screen type's physical properties.
  
  
  • Substrate - A base or surface on which something is built. Most substrates in displays are glass.
  
  
  • Supertwisted Nematic (STN) - A type of liquid crystal material that provides more contrast than twisted nematic (TN) by twisting the liquid crystal molecules more than 180 degrees. STN displays are much slower than TFT displays
  
  
  • System on Glass (SOG) - Fabrication of IC devices that provide important functionality to a display directly onto the glass substrate.
  
  
•  T
  • Tape Automated Bonding (TAB) - A process that places bare chips on a printed circuit board by attaching them to a polyimide film.
  
  
  • Threshold Voltage (Vth) - The voltage level where enough electrons accumulate in the channel of a TFT to turn the device on.
  
  
  • Transflective (liquid crystal display ) - Is a LCD that reflects and transmits light (transflective = transmissive + reflective). When exposed to daylight the screen acts like a reflective screen (anti-glare) being constant with the amount of light. Another example would be a car side mirror.
  
  
  • Transmittance - The ratio of the radiant energy transmitted to the total radiant energy. For a plate of material the ratio of the flux leaving the entry surface to that reaching the exit surface is the internal transmittance.
  
  
  • Tristimulus values - The magnitudes of three standard stimuli needed to match a given sample of light.
  
  
  • Twisted Nematic (TN) - The standard mode of most LCDs; used in many applications including laptop LCDs and low-end monitors.
  
  
•  V
  • Via (Vertical Interconnect Access) - Are pads with plated holes that provide electrical connections between copper traces on different layers of a circuit board. These can be seen on the back of any laptop screen along the green circuit strip on the back of the screen.
  
  
  • Viewing Angle - Is the maximum angle at which a screen can be viewed. The viewing angle is measured from one direction to the opposite, giving a maximum of 180 degrees for a flat, one-sided screen. Early laptop screens had a narrow viewing cones (ie: XGA), but this has improved with current technology (ie: widescreen).
  
  
•  X
  • X-ray photoconductor - image sensors that are suitable for replacing the present day x-ray film/screen cassette to capture an x-ray image electronically and hence enable a clinical transition to digital radiography.
  
  
  • X-ray sensors - Curved mirrors whose multilayer coatings reflect and focus low-energy X-rays or extreme ultraviolet light the way optical telescopes focus visible light.