-E-

Term (Acronym) [units]: Definition

Edge Lighting: A backlight or frontlight where the light source (LED or CCFL) is on the edge of the screen rather than directly behind the screen. Most LCDs smaller than about 15 inches are edge-lit, except for cellphone LCDs, some of which are backlit with EL panels.

E-Ink: Another term for electronic paper; also the name of the company who has made the most progress in developing electronic paper displays (EPD).

Elastomeric Connector: A thin conductive material used to make connections between an LCD and a PC board containing driver chips.

Electroluminescence (EL): An optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to a current passed through it, or to a strong electric field. Examples of devices that use electroluminescent materials include LEDs, OLEDs, EL displays and EL backlights.

Electroluminescent Backlight: A backlight made of a thin sheet of EL material; used in some cellphones and other small devices.

Electroluminescent Display (ELD): A graphic display consisting of electrode-equipped upper and lower substrates between which is sandwiched a material which gives off light when high-frequency voltage is applied. The TDEL display from iFire is also an ELD, although built with different architecture.

Electroluminescent Lamp: A lamp made with EL material.

Electroluminescent Panel (ELP): See Electroluminescent Display.

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI): See RFI.

Electronic Paper Display (EPD): A generic term for a new class of reflective displays that have some of the characteristics of traditional paper (high contrast, low power consumption, flexibility, etc.). The market for EPDs exists in two clearly different segments, active-matrix (e.g., e-books) and segmented (e.g., smartcards). The leading technology used in electronic paper displays is electrophoresis.

Electrophoresis: The movement of an electrically charged substance under the influence of an electric field. In an electrophoretic display, the moveable substances are positively-charged white particles and negatively-charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid inside microcapsules. Multiple microcapsules are combined to make up one pixel.

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD): A build-up and release of static electricity that can damage circuits and create failures. ESD is a significant problem during the movement and processing of large glass substrates.

Emissive Display: A display that directly emits light as a result of chemical or electrical function in the pixels, rather than requiring an external source of light such as a backlight to illuminate the pixels.

Excimer Laser Annealing (ELA): The technique of using a pulsed excimer laser to crystallize amorphous silicon (a-Si) to polysilicon (p-Si) in the LTPS process.