Main Program Page

D-4: LCD Backlighting Options and Design Considerations

Robert Smith-Gillespie, E3 Displays, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Specialty applications of liquid-crystal displays can benefit from recent advances in backlight technology achieving improved brightness, enhanced chromaticity, lighter weight, thinner form factor, and reduced overall power dissipation. In particular, custom LED backlights offer a viable upgrade path for many product applications. However, capturing the benefits of backlight upgrades requires multiple engineering and material trade-offs to best fit the backlight to the application and use environment.

This workshop first provides an overview of current backlighting trends and explores the material and component options. Then, via design-based analyses, steps the practitioner through the various design trades performed when designing direct-view and edge-lit LED backlights for specialty applications. Factors considered and discussed include requirements definition, operating temperature range, luminance and efficiency, color gamut, dynamic contrast ratio, motion-artifact visibility, optical complexity, electrical design and control considerations, and mechanical and thermal design issues.