Storage and Display Devices

CRT display,
digital CRO,
LED,
LCD &
dot matrix display.
CRO
 CRT-Cathode Ray tube
• It is the heart of CRO(Cathode Ray
Oscilloscope).
• It generates the electron beam, accelerates the
beam, deflects the beam and also has a screen
where the beam becomes visible as a spot.
• The main parts of CRT are
1. Electron gun
2. Deflection system
3. Fluorescent screen
4. Glass tube or envelope
5. Base
 Electron gun
• The electron gun section of CRT provides a
sharply focused electron beam directed
towards the fluorescent coated scree.
• This section starts from thermally coated
heated cathode, emitting the electrons.
• The control grid is a negative potential with
respect to cathode.
• The grid controls the number of electrons in
the beam going to the screen.
• The momentum of the electrons (their number *
their speed) determines the intensity or
brightness of the light emitted from the
fluorescent screen due to the electron
bombardment.
• The light emitted is usually of the green colour.
• Because the electron are negatively charged, a
repulsive force is created by applying a negative
voltage to the control grid .
• In CRT voltages applied to various grid are
stated with respect to cathode which is taken as
common point.
• A more negative voltage results in less number of
electrons in the beam and hence decreased
brightness of the beam spot.
• Since the electron beam consists of many
electrons, the beam tends to diverge.
• Similar charges on the electron repel each other.
• To compensate for such repulsion forces, an
adjustable electrostatic field is created between
two cylindrical anodes called the focusing
anodes.
• The variable positive voltage on the second anode
is used to adjust the focus or sharpness of the
bright beam spot.
• The high positive potential is also given to the
preaccelerating anodes which results into the
required acceleration of the electrons.
• Both focusing and accelerating anodes are
cylindrical in shape having small openings
located in the centre of each electrode co axial
with the tube axis. The preaccelerating and
accelerating anodes are connected to a common
positive high voltage which varies between 2kV
and 10 kV. The focusing anode is connected to
lower positive voltage of about 400V to 500 V .
 Deflection system
• When the electron beam is accelerated , it passes
through the deflection system with which beam
can be positioned anywhere on the screen.
• The deflection system consists of two pairs of
parallel plates referred to as the vertical and
horizontal deflection plates.
• One of the each set is connected to ground.
• To the other plate of each set, the external
deflection voltage is applied through an internal
adjustable gain amplifier stage.
• The electron beam passes through these plates.
• A positive voltage applied to the Y input terminal
(VY) causes the beam to deflect vertically upward
due to attraction forces, while a negative voltage
applied to the Y input terminal will cause the
electron beam to deflect vertically downward due
to the repulsion forces.
• A positive voltage applied to X input terminal (Vx)
causes the electron beam to deflect horizontally
towards the right, while a negative voltage applied
to the X input terminal will cause the electron beam
will cause the electron beam to deflect horizontally
towards the left of the screen.
• The amount of vertical or horizontal deflection is
directly proportional to the corresponding
applied voltage.
• When the voltages are applied simultaneously to
vertical and horizontal deflecting plates, the
electron beam is deflected due to the resultant of
these two voltages.
• The face of the screen can be considered as an X-
Y plane.
• The position of the beam spot is thus directly
influenced by the horizontal and vertical voltages
applied to the deflection plates Vx and Vy
respectively.
 Fluorescent screen
• The light produced by the screen does not
disappear immediately when bombardment by
electrons ceases (when the signal becomes
zero).
• The time period for which the trace remains on
the screen after the signal becomes zero is
known as “Persistence”.
• The persistence may be as short as a few
microseconds or as long as tens of seconds or
even minutes.
• Short persistence: for extremely high speed
phenomena.
• Medium: Mostly used for general purposes.
• Long persistence: Study of transients. It helps to
study the transients since the trace is still seen on
the screen after the transient has disappeared.
• The screen is coated with a fluorescent material
called phosphor which emits light when
bombarded by electrons.
• There are various phosphors available which
differ in various colour, persistence and
efficiency.
• Willemite(zinc,orthosilicate)
with traces of manganese.
• This produces the familiar
greenish trace. Other useful
Screen materials include compounds of zinc,
cadmium magnesium and silicon.
• The kinetic energy of the electron beam is
converted into both light and heat energy when it
hits the screen.
• The heat produced gives rise to “phosphor burn”
which is damaging and sometimes destructive.
• This degrades the light output of phosphor and
sometimes may cause complete phosphor
destruction.
• The phosphor must have high burn resistance to
avoid accidental damage.
• The phosphor screen is provided with an
aluminium layer is called aluminizing the
cathode ray tube.
1. To avoid build up of charges on the phosphor
which tend to slow down the electrons and limit
the brightness.
2. It serves as a light scatter.
3. It acts a heat sink for the phosphor and thus
reduces the chances of the phosphor burning.
• Many phosphor materials –diff excitation
times and colours as well as different
phosphorescence times –available.
• P1,P2,P11 or P31- short persistence phosphors
and are used for general purpose oscilloscopes.
• P7,P39- Medium persistence.
• Slow displays like radar-long persistence-
P19,P26,P33
• P19,P26,P33-low burn resistance
• P1,P2,P4,P7,P11-medium burn resistance.
• P15,P31-high burn resistance.
• P31 is commonly used for general purposes
due to the following reasons
1. It gives colour to which human eye response
is maximum.
2. It gives short persistence required to avoid
multiple image display.
3. It has high burn resistance to avoid the
accidental damage.
4. Its illumination level is high.
5. It provides high writing speed.
Glass tube
Base
Block diagram of basic oscilloscope
1. CRT: This is the heart of CRO. It is used to emit
the electrons required to strike the phosphor
screen to produce the spot for the visual display
of the signals.
2. Vertical amplifier: The input signals are
generally not strong to provide measurable
deflection on the screen, Hence the vertical
amplifier is used to amplify the input signals.
The amplifier stages used are generally wide band
amplifiers so as to pass faithfully the entire band of
frequencies to be measured.
• Normally the observed signal is displayed on
the oscilloscope’s vertical input.
• It first passes through a calibrated input
attenuator that permits adjustments of the
vertical gain.
3. Delay line: This is used to delay the signal for
some time in the vertical sections.
If it is not used, the part of the signal gets lost.
Thus the i/p signal is not applied directly to the
vertical plated but is delayed by some time using
a delay line circuit.
• Two types of delay lines used in C.R.O are
a) Lumped parameter delay line.
b) Distributed parameter delay line.
4. Trigger circuit:
 Digital read out oscilloscope
(Digital CRO)
• It consists of CRT and a counter display.
• The i/p signal is sampled using sampling
circuit.
• The sampled signal is given as one input to
each start and stop comparators.
• When the i/p signal is sampled, the sampling
circuit advances the sampling position by a
fixed amount. This process is called
“strobing”.
• The selected sweep time per cm control and
number of samples taken per cm decide the
equivalent time between two samples.
• The CRT trace is used to identify 0% and
100% zone positions.
• The positions can shift anywhere on the
display.
• The potential divider is used which taps the
voltage between the 0% and 100% levels.
• The 0% level is used to produce a pulse for
opening of gate , while the 100% is used to
produce a pulse for closing of gate.
• The coincidence of any of the input waveforms
with the selected percentage point is sensed by
the voltage comparator.
• When 0% level gives start pulse, clock gate
opens and counter starts counting the pulses.
• When 100% level gives stop pulse, clock gate
closes and counter stop counting the pulses.
• The number of pulses counted by a counter is
proportional to actual sample taken.
• The digital read out is obtained using nixie
display tube.
• The various characteristics of an input signal
and the properties of the signal can be
measured using digital CRO.
• The various parameters which can be
measured using digital CRO are voltage,
current, period, frequency, phase, amplitude,
peat to peat value etc.
 Disadvantages of Analog storage
oscilloscope
1. Preserved only for finite amount of time.
2. Power must be supplied.
3. Trace is not accurate.
4. Writing rate of storage tube is less. Speed is less.
5. Expensive.
6. Requires additional power supply.
7. Only one waveform can be stored. (two-
superimposed)
8. Cannot be reproduced on the external device.
LED
 Digital LCD
• LCD(Liquid crystal cell displays)- similar
applications to LED.
• Display of numeric and alphanumeric characters
in dot matrix and segmented displays.
• Two types:
i) Dynamic scattering type.
ii) Field effect type.
• The liquid crystal material may be one of the
several organic compounds and exhibit optical
properties of a crystal (though they remain in
liquid form)
• Liquid crystal is layered b/w glass sheets with
transparent electrodes deposited on the inside faces.
• When a potential is applied across the cell, charge
carriers flowing through the liquid disrupt the
molecular alignment and produce turbulence.
• When the liquid is not activated, it is transparent.
• When the liquid is activated, the molecular
turbulence causes light to be scattered in all
directions and the cell appears to be bright. This
phenomenon is called” dynamic scattering”.
• The construction of a field effect liquid crystal
display is similar to that of the dynamic scattering
type( except that two thin polarizing optical filters
are placed at the inside of each glass sheet.)
• Material used is twisted nematic type and actually
twists the light passing through the cell when the
latter is not energised.
• This allows the light to pass through the optical
filers and the cell appears bright.
• When the cell is energized, no twisting of light
takes place and the cell appears dull.
• Two types:
1. Transmittive type
2. Reflective type.
• In transmitting type cell, both glass sets are
transparent, so that light from a real source is
scattered in the forward direction when cell is
activated.
• The reflective type cell has a reflecting surface on
one side of glass sheets.
• Both type-quite bright when activated even under
ambient light conditions.
• The liquid crystals are light reflectors or
transmitters . It consume small amount of
energy.
• For seven segment display, the current is about
25μA for dynamic scattering and 300μA for
field effect cells.
• LED require dc supply.
• LCD require ac supply.
• For dynamic scattering cell, the voltage is 30V
peak to peak with 50 Hz.
 Advantages
1. Low power consumption. 7 segment displays
requires 140μW whereas LED require 40 mW per
numeral.
2. Low cost.
 Disadvantages
1. Very slow devices. The turn ON (few milli
seconds) and turn OFF(ten milliseconds) times
are quite large.
2. When used on d.c, their life span is quite small.
3. They are used with ac supplies having a
frequency less than 500Hz.
4. Occupy large area.
 DOT MATRIX DISPLAY
• Alphanumeric characters can be displayed using
dot matrix LEDs or LCDs at each dot location.
• In digital display, the LED display are popular in
use. (They require simple drive circuitry and
provide good visibility in low ambient light levels).
• LCDs are best suited for portable service
instruments.(They have low power consumption
and are easily viewed in direct sunlight)
• LCD require more complex drive circuit and have
a slower response time than LE displays.
• Commonly used dot matrixes are
i) 5*7 –popular due to economic consideration
ii) 5*8
iii) 7*9
• For displaying purposes, the dots may be square
or round with 0.4mm side or diameter.
• LED and LCDs are used for illumination of dots.
• Writing patterns of dot matrix displays are
i) Common anode or common cathode
connection.(uneconomical).
ii) X-Y array connection (economical and can be
extended vertically or horizontally using a
minimum number of wires)
 How to turn on a single LED

• make voltage difference between the two

terminals of LED

0 0 1 1 1 0
OFF OFF ON

0 1
OFF
 How to turn on an LED in the dot-
matrix?

• by control the voltage of each

row and column

P0

P1
 How to turn on an LED in the dot-
matrix?

• by control the voltage of each

row and column 1

P0

0
P1
 How to show a fixed LED pattern?

• by fixed control ON OFF

word on P0 and P1

ON
P0

P1
 How to show a fixed LED pattern?
This LED ON but
• by fixed control ON we want it OFF
word on P0 and P1 1
1
ON
P0

You cannot show a pattern

with fixed signals on P0 and P1
0 0
P1
 To display
“E” Step 1

• display one column in Step 2

each step
• fast scan to make users
seeing a fixed pattern
Step 3

Step 4

Step 5
Display a pattern for just one column

P0

P1
Display a pattern for just one column

0
1
P0
0
0

1 0 1 1 1
P1
Display a pattern for just one
column
all OFF
1

0
1
P0
0
0

1
set “1” for columns
not to be displayed
1 0 1 1 1
P1
 Display a pattern for just one
column
1

0
1
P0
0
0

1
set “0” for the column to be
displayed
1 0 1 1 1
P1
 Display a pattern for just one
column
set “1” to turn On
the LED

1 ON
display this 0
pattern
0
1
P0
0
0

1
set “0” for the column to be
displayed
1 0 1 1 1
P1
 Display a pattern for just one
column
set “0” to turn OFF
the LED

display this 0 OFF

pattern
0
1
P0
0
0

1
set “0” for the column to be
displayed
1 0 1 1 1
P1
Display a pattern for just one column

0
1
P0
0
0

1 0 1 1 1
P1