What is a Flat Monitor?
A flat monitor is a monitor that comes in one of three types:- Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
- Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
- Plasma Display Panel (PDP)
CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Flat Monitors
CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Flat Monitors are available in various sizes from as small as 6 inches to as big 36 inches, and fire a negatively-charged electron beam through an electromagnetic field on a screen coated with tiny dots of phosphor- Which when properly excited, allow you to view an image.
CRT Monitor can range greatly in resolution and color palette capability; from 800 x 600 (SVGA) to 1024 x 768 (XGA-Extended Graphics Array) and 1280 x 1024 (SXGA- Super XGA).
Upper-end models can even reach resolutions fine as 1600 x 1200 (UXGA- Ultra XGA), and 2048 x 1536 (QXGA- Quad XGA)
The main technologies used in CRT's is aperture grille (tension mask), shadow mask technology and slot mask technology, which uses both tension and shadow mask techniques.
The shadow mask technology makes triangular arrangements of the red, blue, green dots as micro-holes in a metal plate within the glass.
The aperture grill is the vertical arrangement of micro diameter wires across the screen. The electron beam passes through this vertical arrangement (grill) and produces the illumination on the phosphor coated glass plate.
The viewable area ratio for CRT monitors is 4:3, and screen size (measured in inches), is determined by measuring the screen diagonally (edge to edge).
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Flat Monitors
The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) polarizes light into a viewable image.
When a light ray passes through first plate glass, the liquid crystal between the two glass plates (substrates) is influence by the electric current flow and allows only the specific light waves of the current image to pass through them to second glass plate.
This light projected on the second glass plate is the actual image you see.
LCD's have an matrix of horizontal and vertically arranged micro-transistors on the glass plate and utilize both active matrix technology and passive matrix technology.
In Active matrix the exact row is switched on and the column is charged that intersects with that row. The capacitor connected to that intersection holds it's charge until the screen is refreshed next.
In Passive matrix technology, each pixel is charged through metal conductors arranged in grids.
LCD monitor resolution is directly related to the size of screen. 17 inch screens are capable of 1024 x 768 resolution, 19 inch screens are capable of 1280 x 1024 resolution and 20 inch screens are capable of 1600 x 1200 resolution.
However, unlike a CRT, LCD monitors can only accept digital signal data (including DVI format).
Plasma Display Panels (PDP)
Plasma Display Panels are flat monitors use the light emitted by ionized gas to display images.
The two set of electrodes are arranged on a grid, to which the a charge is applied. The display electrode releases the charge to ionize of gas, which in turn, releases the ultraviolet photons that collide with the phosphor coated cell walls and release the light photons.
These light photons are then projected on the screen as image.
Although Plasma Display Panels are considerably more expensive than their flat monitor counterparts; the resolution quality of a plasma screen is not necessarily any better than a high-end LCD or CRT, and in many cases, even less.
However, the over-all brightness and visual clarity can be quite stunning, and like a LCD flat monitor- Plasma Display Panels accept only digital signals.
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