The advent of color television toward the end of the 1960s had no effect on the size of the cabinet. All three color TV systems — PAL in Western Europe, Africa, southern Asia, South America, and Australia; NTSC in North and Central America; and SECAM in France, Eastern Europe, and West Africa — utilize three parallel electron beams. These generate a dense pattern of beam spots in the three primary colors, which form pixels that are perceptible by the human eye. 

The best TV broadcasts are full of dynamic action. This was a lesson underscored by the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. By then, color television — in accordance with the NTSC standard — was already established in the U.S. People could never be quite sure, though, in which color the action would actually appear on the screen. And the old chestnut about NTSC — “never the same color” — persists to the present day. As the years went by, CRT sets not only provided better color and higher definition but also became larger in size and significantly flatter. Nevertheless, a genuine flat screen was never an option with this technology.
At the same time, the advent of liquid crystal displays in the 1970s seemed to presage the dawn of flat screen TV. One disadvantage of this innovative display technology, however, was the reaction time of the twisted nematic (TN) cells, first developed in 1971. This is the name given to liquid crystal structures twisted through 90 degrees in a spiral. These crystals are sandwiched between two glass plates with polarization filters set at right angles to each other. In the OFF state, the TN cell allows light to pass through. But when a voltage is applied, the liquid crystal structures align themselves parallel to the electrical field, and the cell becomes opaque.

The first liquid crystal displays were a revolution in pocket calculators and wristwatches. These functioned purely reflectively, however, thus offering insufficient contrast for use as TV screens. Three LCD generations later, the Active Matrix Display was unveiled in 1989, which also provided the technical basis for LCD monitors in laptops and desktop computers in the 1990s. The LCD had never been closer to offering the kind of visual experience provided by television. 

Researchers stepped up their hunt for the materials and methods that would further enhance the quality of computer displays and thereby enable the final step toward the development of revolutionary flat screen TVs. The problem of poor contrast when an LCD screen was viewed from an angle was solved with IPS technology, which made its debut in 1996. The VA process, introduced in 1998, further improved contrast from even wider viewing angles.  

VA is also the basis of the PS-VA materials. Here, polymers ensure that the liquid crystal molecules are already tilted in a certain direction when the screen is in the black state. This tilt is what enables the molecules to get off to a flying start in the right direction, thus providing switching times of only a couple of milliseconds. This in turn allows control frequencies as high as 200 hertz and more – for an even more natural presentation of moving images. “With the use of sufficiently fast materials, 400-hertz LCD TVs are also a possibility,” says Becker. 

By the end of the 1990s, plasma technology had gained an edge in the development of flat screen TVs, particularly in the case of large-format screens. With this technology, a noble gas is ionized in a chamber and, as a result, emits UV radiation, which excites a specific phosphor, thus creating a colored picture element. 

It was in 2002, around two years after the launch of plasma technology, that the first totally convincing LCD TVs began to appear in stores. By 2006, flat screen TVs using one of the two systems already commanded the highest market share for new TV sales in Germany. Within two more years, LCD sets had become the undisputed market leader. 

Merck is currently working on future generations of LCD TV. According to Becker, the company is busy preparing “a revolutionary screen concept” for series production. In this new system, the molecules no longer “switch” within the liquid crystal phase but rather change between the nematic optically anisotropic phase and an optically isotropic phase. 

This brings tremendous advantages, including superb optical properties independent of layer thickness, easier production, and faster switching times. The market launch of LCD TVs featuring this new technology can be expected in the medium term.