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Term (Acronym) [units]: Definition

One Drop Fill (ODF): A new method of putting liquid crystal material into large LCDs during manufacture. In the conventional process, the two glass substrates are joined, sealed and cut up into individual displays under normal atmosphere. Then the cell in each display is vacuum-filled with LC material by capillary attraction (which can take three to five days!) and the fill-opening is heat-sealed. This method wastes time and LC material. In one-drop-fill, the LC material is dropped directly on the uncut substrate before the two substrates are joined. The substrates are then assembled in a vacuum, all the displays are sealed at once using UV & thermal methods, and then the finished assembly is cut up into individual displays. The result is 40% more efficient use of material and 70% less process time.

On-Screen Display (OSD): An on-screen control panel for adjusting monitors and TVs. The OSD is used for brightness, contrast, horizontal & vertical positioning and other adjustments.

Optical Bonding: Laminating a cover glass to the front surface of an LCD in order to reduce reflections from the LCD by eliminating the air gap between the cover glass and the LCD. The lamination also enhances the ruggedness of the LCD.

Optical Coating: A thin layer of material placed on an optical component which alters the way in which the component reflects or transmits light.

Optically Compensated Bend (OCB): A high-speed LC that is able to achieve response times of 5 ms or better. Also known as optically compensated birefringence.

Optoelectronics: The study and application of electronic devices that interact with light, and thus is usually considered a sub-field of photonics. Optoelectronics encompasses the study, design and manufacture of hardware devices that convert electrical signals into photon signals and vice versa. Any device that operates as an electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical transducer is considered an optoelectronic. An example of an optoelectronic device is the liquid crystal display on laptop computers, which converts electrical signals into optical information.

Organic Electronics: A branch of electronics that deals with conductive polymers (carbon-based plastics) rather than inorganic conductors such as copper or silicon. Also called "plastic electronics". The goal of companies developing organic electronics in the display industry is to be able to create a completely functional TFT backplane using only organic (printable and flexible) materials.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED): A special type of light-emitting diode in which the light-emitting layer is comprised of thin films of organic compounds. The "D" in OLED is also interchangeably used to mean "Display", in which case an OLED is an emissive flat-panel display where the frontplane contains organic light-emitting elements and the backplane is either a passive matrix (PMOLED) or active matrix (AMOLED) control structure. There are two basic types of organic compounds used in OLEDs, small-molecule (SMOLED) and polymer (P-OLED or PLED).

Organic Vapor-Phase Deposition (OVPD): An OLED manufacturing process that employs an inert carrier gas to precisely transfer films of organic material onto a cooled substrate in a hot-walled, low-pressure chamber.

Original Design Manufacturer (ODM): A company who designs and manufactures a product such as an LCD-TV for an OEM, usually on a contract basis. Both the ODM and the OEM usually try to keep the relationship relatively secret, so the end-customer isn’t aware that the Brand (OEM) didn’t really design and manufacture the product.

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM): A manufacturer who places his brand on a product and sells it. The manufacturer may or may not have designed or manufactured the product himself. OEMs are sometimes referred to generically as "Brands".