The invention of liquid crystal display technology The discovery of liquid crystal was completed by the Austrian botanist F. Reinetzer a hundred years ago. However, it has not brought much benefit to mankind for a long time. It was not until the 1960s that a few young electronics scientists broke the silence. In 1961, F. Heimeier, a young electronics scholar at the Princeton Laboratory of the American RCA Company, was preparing for the defense of his doctoral thesis. His specialty was microwave solid components. He is very accomplished in this area. On this day, one of his friends told him about the research he was doing on organic semiconductors. The interdisciplinary topic aroused his great interest. He sought the advice of his mentor, and with his mentor's support and encouragement, he resolutely gave up the professional field in which he was successful and entered a new field that he knew little about. He applied his knowledge of electronics to organic chemistry and quickly achieved results. Soon, he became interested in another new topic - laser, and thus got involved with crystals. In order to study the effect of external electric fields on the internal electric field of crystals, he thought of liquid crystals. He sandwiched a dye-doped nematic liquid crystal between two pieces of transparent conductive glass. When a few volts of voltage are applied to both sides of the liquid crystal layer, the liquid crystal layer changes from red to transparent. Coming from a background in electronics, he immediately realized that this was a color flat-screen TV! The excited team members and he immediately started researching day and night. They successively discovered a series of electro-optical effects of liquid crystals such as dynamic scattering and phase change of liquid crystals. And we have successfully developed a series of digital and character display devices, as well as practical products such as LCD clocks and bridge displays. The RCA Company attached great importance to their research and had always listed it as a major confidential project of the company. It was not until 1968 that it was reported to the world in a broadcast report on the latest scientific and technological achievements. This report immediately attracted the attention of Japan's scientific and technological circles and industrial circles. Japan combined the then emerging large-scale integrated circuits with liquid crystals and, guided by the "personal electronics" market, quickly developed a series of commercial products, opened up the practical situation of liquid crystal displays, and took the initiative, resulting in this This development momentum has contributed to the amazing development of Japan's microelectronics industry. In the United States, some leaders of the production departments of RCA Company, on the one hand, are limited to traditional semiconductor products, and on the other hand, they overemphasize the shortcomings of the fledgling liquid crystal display devices, using the excuse that the market has not yet been developed, and trying their best to denigrate liquid crystal displays. of industrialization. For this reason, members of the LCD team began to leave, and LCD patents were also sold. It is said that in the mid-1970s, when LCD had already formed an industry, RCA painfully concluded at a board meeting that the loss of LCD technology was the biggest mistake in RCA's century-old development history. Looking back on this history, we cannot help but feel: (1) The introduction of a new generation of new technologies and products, especially the introduction of contemporary high-tech products, is always led by those who are interdisciplinary and cross-industry and have an innovative and pioneering spirit. Young people come to discover and complete it. (2) Although the discovery and invention of a new technology is important, its real development must be based on practical application technology and market demand. Applied technology is the guarantee for the development of high-tech industries, and market demand is the driving force for the development of high-tech industries. (3) The leader of an enterprise, especially the leader of the production department, should have a scientific development mind. Being limited to the original industries and products and being troubled by recent, superficial and temporary interests will often ruin some very valuable, promising, vital and profitable new technologies and products, resulting in Career losses can be life-threatening. (4) An invention that breaks through the constraints of tradition usually appears in independent working groups that are small in scale, highly innovative, and capable of engaging in multi-disciplinary work. These groups should be able to withstand failure and the pressure of not being recognized, not supported, and not understood. The discovery of liquid crystals The discovery of liquid crystals can be traced back to 1888, when the Austrian botanist Reinitzer accidentally discovered an abnormal melting phenomenon when heating benzoic acid cholelithol. Because although this substance melts at 145°C, it appears to be a turbid paste. When it reaches 179°C, it suddenly becomes a transparent gurgling liquid. If you observe the process of cooling down from high temperature, it suddenly becomes a mushy liquid at 179°C. When it exceeds 145°C, it suddenly becomes a mushy liquid. Become a solid crystal.
Later, the German physicist Lehmann[1] used a polarizing microscope to observe the turbid state of cholelithol benzoate and confirmed that it was a "crystalline liquid". Only then was the existence of liquid crystals officially confirmed and began. research on liquid crystals. LCD development process 1. Liquid crystal material was discovered in 1888; the United States was the first to make LCD products in 1968; Sharp made TN-LCD in 1973; STN-LCD and TFT-LCD were invented in 1984. 2. Development process: -- The period from 1888 to 1968 was the period of research on the properties and applications of liquid crystal materials. --The period from 1973 to 1985 was when TN-LCD was widely used. --1985~1993 is the period of promotion and application of STN-LCD. --The period from 1993 to 2000 was a period of great development for TFT-LCD. During this period, the performance of TFT-LCD was comparable to that of CRT. --The development of LCD has greatly expanded the application scope of monitors, making it possible for individuals to use mobile handheld monitors. Therefore, after 2000, there will be an era in which LCD and CRT compete for the mainstream monitor market. 3. The main technology development process of LCD - color low-power reflective LCD technology. --Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (P-Si) LCD mass production technology. --The development of large-size, wide viewing angle, and high-resolution color TFT-LCD. Before 1993, the products were mainly produced below 10.4 inches, with 640×480 pixels; from 1993 to 1997, the products were mainly produced from 10 inches to 13 inches, with 1024×768 pixels; from 1997 to 1999, the products were mainly produced from 15 inches to 18 inches. , products with 1024×768 pixels and above; starting to produce 20-inch to 30-inch products after 1999. --After 1998, we began to vigorously develop high-resolution, large-screen LCD projection TVs. Characteristics of LCD products 1. Rapid product cycle. After 1993, major Japanese LCD manufacturers have expanded production capacity, so that in the second half of 1995, production volume exceeded market demand, and prices fell sharply by 50%. However, due to the narrowing of the price gap between LCD and CRT (traditional picture tube) , to promote the promotion of LCD products, triggered a new wave of demand peaks in 1996. Japanese manufacturers continued to expand factories, and large Korean companies were eager to catch up. After the end of 1997, there was another wave of oversupply until the fourth quarter of 1998. It began to recover. As LCDs developed towards large sizes, the production line was changed from 6 12.1-inch panels to 4 13.3-inch panels. The output could not keep up with the demand, and the price rose for a year. However, due to the expansion of factories in Japan and South Korea, new Taiwanese manufacturers joined , LCD prices have fallen rapidly from their peak. 2. The manufacturing of high-tech capital-intensive products LCD products involves various fields such as optics, semiconductors, motors, chemicals, materials, etc. The upstream and downstream technologies required are extremely wide and the technical barriers are quite high. Due to cost competition considerations, large-scale panel production capacity Planning is inevitable, so the cost of setting up factories is getting higher and higher, and the scale of investment is as fast as that of chip factories. For example, Taiwan's Quanta invested in Guanghui, which produces TFT-LCDs. The investment amount of the Linkou No. 1 factory is about NT$55 billion, which can be described as extreme. In highly capital-intensive industries, obtaining funds has become an important issue. 3. There are many types of materials and they account for a large proportion of the product cost. LCD materials span optoelectronics, semiconductors, printing and manufacturing and other technologies. They are of many types and in different fields. They occupy an important position in the industry and account for about 60% of the entire cost. Therefore, if you want To ensure the source of raw materials and control costs, it is necessary to operate in depth, either through strategic alliances or through reinvestment. The large-scale entry of LCD panel manufacturers in Taiwan after 1998 created huge business opportunities for upstream materials, and interested manufacturers gradually entered.
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