Liquid GOLD: The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry (314 pages)

This book traces the history of liquid crystal display (LCD) development from simple laboratory samples to the flat, thin LCDs that have become an important part of everyday life, appearing in television screens, computers, cellular phones, as well as numerous other consumer and industrial products. It provides insight into how these products were developed and what might be expected in the future. This account is a personal, in-depth look at the evolution of a high-technology industry from the eyes of the author, who watched it grow from inception to ubiquity for over nearly forty years. The story that is told in this book goes beyond the technical details and into the ideas, visions, struggles, and ambitions of the scientists and engineers who made it possible. In addition, the diverse field of LCD technology encompasses not only electronics but also physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, marketing, and sales. Consequently, this book will be of interest to physical scientists from several disciplines as well as engineers and students. Contents: The Early Years; Discovery; The Gathering; The Secret Years; Going Public; New Explorations; Enter the Japanese; Risky Business: Spin-Offs and New Ventures; Silicon Valley Calls; An Industry in Transition; View from the Sidelines; The Elusive Transistor; Television Arrives; The Personal Computer Revolution; Coming of Age; Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies; Into the Future. Preface 8 Contents 10 Chapter 1 The Early Years 14 REFERENCES 25 Chapter 2 Discovery 27 REFERENCES 45 Chapter 3 The Gathering 47 REFERENCES 51 Chapter 4 The Secret Years 53 REFERENCES 59 Chapter 5 Going Public 61 REFERENCES 68 Chapter 6 New Explorations 70 The Search for New Products 70 Spreading the Word 80 A New Breakthrough — The Twisted-Nematic Effect 84 Conclusions and Opinions 91 REFERENCES 92 Chapter 7 Enter the Japanese 95 REFERENCES 102 Chapter 8 Risky Business: Spin-Offs and New Ventures 104 The Optel Story 104 Other RCA Spin-Offs 108 Texas Instruments and Its Spin-Offs 114 Start-Up Fever Moves to the Midwest 117 Silicon Valley Discovers LCDs 118 Conclusions and Opinions 121 REFERENCES 122 Chapter 9 Silicon Valley Calls 124 Fairchild Semiconductor Finds LCDs 125 Another New Venture 134 Moving in a Different Direction 138 REFERENCES 139 Chapter 10 An Industry in Transition 140 New Materials Emerge 140 The Shift Toward Polymer Sealing 144 The Digital Watch Industry Evolves 145 Hong Kong Manufacturing Expands 149 More American Companies Enter the Business 153 Exit the American Semiconductor Firms 161 European Innovations 162 Korea Begins Development 167 Moving Behind the Iron Curtain 169 REFERENCES 173 Chapter 11 View from the Sidelines 177 The First Liquid Crystal Conference in Japan 177 Moving to Market Research 180 Growth of the LCD Industry in the 1980s 183 Competing Display Technology Scrutinized 184 REFERENCES 187 Chapter 12 The Elusive Transistor 188 A Thin Film of Transistors 189 The Shift to Silicon 191 REFERENCES 200 Chapter 13 TeIevision Arrives 203 Portable Color LCD Television Debuts 203 The Shift to MIM Diodes for LCD Portables 207 The Drive toward Larger Screens Intensifies 209 Hang-on-the-Wall LCD Television Approaches Reality 213 REFERENCES 215 Chapter 14 The Personal Computer Revolution 218 The Portable PC Opens the Way for LCDs 221 Laptop Computers Proliferate 224 Enter the “SuperTwisted-Nematic” LCD and the Notebook 227 Active Matrix LCDs Appear 229 REFERENCES 233 Chapter 15 Coming of Age 235 Computer Applications Abound 235 Wall-Mounted LCD Television Finally Realized 237 The Cellular Telephone Explosion 239 The Age of Consortia 241 Industry Consolidations 243 Manufacturing Shifts to Southeast Asia 244 Supplementary LCD Technologies Appear 249 REFERENCES 253 Chapter 16 Competition from Other Flat Panel Technologies 255 Plasma Display Panels 255 Organic Light Emitting Diodes 260 Electroluminescent Displays 262 Field Emission Displays 264 REFERENCES 267 Chapter 17 Into the Future 268 Creation and Growth of a New Industry 268 The Impact of High-Definition Television 271 The Growth of LCD Television Manufacturing 272 Probing the Future 273 REFERENCES 276 Epilogue 277 Acknowledgments 279 Appendix I: Program of the First International Liquid Crystal Conference — August 1965 284 Appendix II: A Chronology of LCD Developments 287 Index 300 The history of liquid crystals began more than 100 years ago in 1888 when liquid crystallinity, also called by the technical term "mesomorphism," was first observed and characterized by Austrian botanist Friedrich Reinitzer1 in Germany.