Perfecting the picture: A guide is offered for handicapping the race for first place in flat-panel displays; none can yet match CRTs for price and performance

The three techniques being developed for flat-panel displays-liquid-crystal, plasma, and electroluminescent-are discussed. The underlying principles are reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach are outlined. Special attention is given to the problem of addressing a single picture element, and the potential role of the active matrix in solving this problem in liquid-crystal displays is discussed. It is explained how in electroluminescent devices the addressing problem can be solved by operating the display in a region that will provide memory, or hysteresis, in the luminance-voltage curve.