A transflective liquid-crystal display is a

liquid-crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liq ...

(LCD) with an optical layer that reflects and transmits light (''transflective'' is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''transmissive'' and ''reflective'').

Technology

Under bright illumination (e.g. when exposed to daylight) the display acts mainly as a reflective display with the contrast being constant with

illuminance In photometry (optics), photometry, illuminance is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area. It is a measure of how much the incident light illuminates the surface, wavelength-weighted by the luminosity function to correlate ...

. However, under dim and dark ambient situations the light from a

backlight A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) that provides light from the back or side of a display panel. LCDs do not produce light on their own, so they require illumination—either from available light, ambie ...

is transmitted through the transflective layer to provide light for the display. The transflective layer is called a transflector. It is typically made from a sheet polymer. It is similar to a

one-way mirror A one-way mirror, also called two-way mirror (or one-way glass, half-silvered mirror, and semi-transparent mirror), is a reciprocal mirror that appears reflective from one side and transparent from the other though this is an illusion and would ...

but is not

specular Specular reflection, or regular reflection, is the mirror-like reflection of waves, such as light, from a surface. The law of reflection states that a reflected ray of light emerges from the reflecting surface at the same angle to the surf ...

. An application is digital LCD wristwatches. In dim ambient light or at night a backlight allows reading of the display in its transmissive mode.: W. Boller, M. Donati, J. Fingerle, P. Wild, ''Illuminating Arrangement for a Field-Effect Liquid-Crystal Display as well as Fabrication and Application of the Illuminating Arrangement'', filed Oct. 15, 1976. Digital time displays in alarm clocks for bedrooms may also work this way. If they are battery-powered, the backlight may be push-button operated. The backlighting is usually dim, so that the display is comfortably readable at night. Some 21st century

smartwatch A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer that resembles a wristwatch. Most modern smartwatches are operated via a touchscreen, and rely on mobile apps that run on a connected device (such as a smartphone) in order to provide core functions. ...

es such as the Pebble Smartwatch and the Amazfit Stratos also use transflective LCDs. When an illuminance sensor is added for control of the backlight, such a transflective LCD can be read over a wide range of illuminance levels. This technique is often found in automotive instrumentation. In portable electronic devices the transflective mode of operation helps to save battery charge, since in bright environments no

ing is required. Some displays that transmit light and have minor reflectivity are best readable in the dark and fairly readable in bright sunlight, but only under a particular angle; they are least readable in bright daylight without direct sunlight.

Trade names

Display manufacturers label their transflective screens under a variety of trade names: * BE+: SolarbON * Boe Hydis: Viewiz * Daylight (computer): LivePaper *

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

: DirectVue or DirectView. * DEMCO CSI: SOLARBON *

LG Display LG Display Co., Ltd. ( Korean: LG 디스플레이) is one of the world's largest manufacturers and supplier of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display ( TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. LG Display is headquartered in Seoul, S ...

: Shine-Out * Motion Computing: View Anywhere *

Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility LLC, marketing as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android (operating system), Android. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese te ...

: AnyLight3 * NEC Displays: ST-NLT *

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

: BlackView (BVD) *

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

: CircuLumin * Pebble (watch): E-paper * Pixel Qi: 3Qi

References

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External links

Close up views of transflective pixel structure
Display technology

Technology

Trade names

See also

References

External links