Flat screen computer displays

Many computers, such as laptops, have flat-panel screens or displays that contain liquid crystals (Bahadur 1990). Liquid crystals are composed of small semirigid molecules that are elliptical or oblong in shape and spontaneously orient, forming anisotropic fluids (Collings 1990). Liquid crystals commonly used in flat-panel displays have orientational order but do not have long-range positional order. The direction of the preferred orientation in a liquid... 

Electronics giant NEC of Japan has entered the fray with a polycarbonate containing a silicone FR. The company has licensed Sumitomo Dow to be the manufacturers of this special polycarbonate. Sold as NuCycle, the new material is used to make NEC s liquid crystal display monitors and battery packs for portable computers. It is also applied for other polycarbonate applications, covering projectors and plasma flat screens. 

Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are used in watches, calculators, mobile phones, computer monitors, and flat-screen televisions. Since 1995, plasma display panels (PDFs) had been big business for television manufacturers. Now LCDs are rapidly rising to be a major competitor. Both employ liquid crystals as an important ingredient PDFs use them as auxiliary components, whereas in LCDs it is the main component. 

Carbon nanotubes also have unique and structure-sensitive electrical characteristics. Depending on the orientation of the hexagonal units in the graphene plane (i.e., tube wall) with the tube axis, the nanotube may behave electrically as either a metal or a semiconductor. As a metal, they have the potential for use as wiring for small-scale circuits. In the semiconducting state they may be used for transistors and diodes. Furthermore, nanotubes are excellent electric field emitters. As such, they can be used for flat-screen displays (e.g., television screens and computer monitors). 

The usual input device is a keyboard which may contain 90 or more keys. For the novice computer user, simply finding the correct key can be a daunting task, so alternative input devices have been developed. These include touch-sensitive screens, tracker balls, light pens and so on. Perhaps the most common alternative to the keyboard is the mouse. This is simply a small box with one or more buttons on the top and a tracker ball on its underside. The mouse is connected to the computer via a single cable. As the mouse is moved over a flat surface, sensors detect the movement of the ball and the computer can calculate the position of the mouse. An arrow or similar symbol is usually displayed on the screen and this symbol moves in synchrony with the mouse. The mouse can be used to move the symbol to indicate choices on the screen and these can then be selected by pressing one of the buttons on the mouse. While experienced computer-users sometimes complain that mouse-based... 

Other, more recently created amorphous solids have been placed in many important applications. Amorphous semiconductors are used in electronic devices, including solar cells, copiers, laser printers, and flat-panel displays for computer monitors and television screens. 

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