This is an iPad under a low-power microscope. You’re seeing the pixels of the liquid crystal display (LCD), each composed of red, green, and blue su

Modern Displays Up Close

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2024-11-07 22:30:03

This is an iPad under a low-power microscope. You’re seeing the pixels of the liquid crystal display (LCD), each composed of red, green, and blue subpixels. There’s a light behind these pixels - the backlight - and by darkening the subpixels in varying amounts, you can create a wide range of colors, which is the principle behind most color displays.

On this iPad, the LCD subpixels have a chevron shape - the red and blue subpixels together bear a strong resemblance to the Chevron logo, albeit pointed in the wrong direction. Each pixel is absolutely miniscule, yet you can see there’s fine detail in them. LCDs are manufactured using photolithography, a technique also used to make integrated circuits. That’s how each pixel and subpixel can be so sophisticated and precisely manufactured.

You probably also noticed the large amount of seemingly unused black space between the rows of pixels and around the subpixels. This is called the black matrix; it’s needed to separate the subpixels from each other and prevent light leaking between them, and it apparently also increases contrast. As to why it takes up so much space between the rows of pixels here, while taking up little space between subpixels, I’m not sure.