lcd monitors

Category: Image - :LCD layers.svg|thumb|250px|Reflective twisted nematic liquid crystal display.

Polarizing filter film with a vertical axis to polarize light as it enters.

Glass substrate with ITO electrodes. The shapes of these electrodes will determine the shapes that will appear when the LCD is turned ON. Vertical ridges etched on the surface are smooth.

Twisted nematic liquid crystal.

Glass substrate with common electrode film (ITO) with horizontal ridges to line up with the horizontal filter.

Polarizing filter film with a horizontal axis to block/pass light.

Reflective surface to send light back to viewer. (In a backlit LCD, this layer is replaced with a light source.)

A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat panel used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. Its uses include monitors for computers, televisions, instrument panels, and other devices ranging from aircraft cockpit displays, to every-day consumer devices such as video players, gaming devices, clocks, watches, calculators, and telephones. Among its major features are its lightweight construction, its portability, and its ability to be produced in much larger screen sizes than are practical for the construction of cathode ray tube (CRT) display technology. Its low electrical power consumption enables it to be used in battery-powered electronic equipment. It is an electronically-modulated optical device made up of any number of pixels filled with liquid crystals and arrayed in front of a light source (backlight) or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome. The earliest discovery leading to the development of LCD technology, the discovery of liquid crystals, dates from 1888.

By 2008, worldwide sales of televisions with LCD screens had surpassed the sale of CRT units.