While LCDs have played a role in pocket calculators and watches since the 1970s, it was only in the latter half of the 1990s that they came to be used in computer displays. To create these advanced color displays, a variety of technical challenges had to be overcome to enhance LCD image quality and response speed. Moreover, production costs had to come down to make them reasonably affordable.
At the time, the type of LCD that did the best job of covering the technological and economic requirements was the twisted nematic (TN) LCD.* Yet a TN LCD had one big weakness: when looked at from an angle instead of head-on, the colors and levels of brightness in the image would change. This problem would have made TN LCDs unsuitable for use in large displays, but technological innovation from Fujifilm came to the rescue: WV Film.
In an LCD, the liquid crystal molecules in each pixel play the role of transmitting and blocking light that comes from behind them toward the viewer. When TN LCDs are viewed from the side, above, or below, the characteristics of the liquid crystal molecules cause light that should be blocked to leak out, altering the colors and levels of brightness in the image. WV Film optically compensates the liquid crystal molecules oriented in many directions within the liquid crystal layer of the pixels at black state to prevent the leakage of light. When an LCD with WV Film is viewed from any angle, black appears truly as black.
Thanks to its outstanding performance without changing current LCD production process, WV Film is used in almost every TN LCD panel produced worldwide. In fact, there is a good chance that you are currently viewing this website on a computer LCD that incorporates Fujifilm’s WV Film.
*At the time, the only commercially feasible thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD using an active-matrix structure was the TN LCD. Since an active-matrix structure makes possible control of each pixel via a dedicated transistor that can turn voltage on or off, it offers image quality and responsiveness superior to a passive-matrix structure. In addition, since each pixel can be turned on or off, an active-matrix structure works well in displaying a digital signal.