Rapid Transit Radio

Thin film transistor (TFT) monitors have now become the norm rather than the exception. I am probably dating myself, but I can recall while still in my teens, when these monitor first came onto the market. They were incredibly expensive compared to the old cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors. A monitor of fifteen or seventeen inches was a huge luxury, beyond the price range of average users–just not worth the amount being asked. Usually businesses would have one as a matter of status and prestige to impress clients. As prices came down, the CRT monitors soon went the way of the dinosaur, made obsolete because of their inferior emission, picture quality and awkward size. TFT monitors now rule.

TFT monitors became very popular with online gaming addicts, and eventually most businesses wanted them for the advantage of size–the old CRT pc monitors were hard to fit comfortably in many spaces. Now the TFT technology has invaded new space where they promise to become our home entertainment centerpiece: our walls.

Thin film transistors are now being made into widescreen TFT monitors, suitable for watching movies. To move beyond being just pc screens, TFT panels must grow big enough to provide good viewing for people sitting ten to fifteen feet away.

TFT televisions owe their existence to the development of wide screen formats for televisions. The reason for the order in which these products developed lies in their basic structure and how they are manufactured.

TFT monitors consist of some electronics and a screen panel mounted in an aluminum or plastic framework. Panels are layers of silicon crystal transistors that are extremely thin, similar to the extremely fine transistors found in a computer microchip. Each tiny transistor represents an individual point of light, called a sub-pixel, that lights up on the panel screen. The limits on size for these panels are what limit the potential size of TFT monitors.

When they are being manufactured, each thin wafer of silicon crystal can be made only so large–this is an issue of the properties of this material, and cannot be eliminated. Dealing with the limitations can get pricey. A screen aspect ratio for a standard pc monitor’s screen was at one time 4:3–seemingly a ration that would be expected for the old bulky monitors’ glass tubes. Since the natural laws governing the size of silicon crystals cannot be altered, a way needed to be found to improve the aspect ration of these panels by slicing the crystals more efficiently and less wastefully.

A less wasteful, more efficient way to manufacture silicon crystal components would have other advantages such as lowering the prices of monitors and televisions and enabling the makers to create bigger widescreen monitors at a reasonable price for consumers.

Widescreen TFT monitors have other advantages that make them attractive to potential users. The human eye has an aspect ratio that is more compatible with the format of the wider screens. Eyes evolved to see from left to right rather than up and down, since humans needed to see what was around them more than what was coming from above. A wider screen allows the eye to see the entire scene being broadcast without the necessity of constant eye movement.