plasma addressed liquid crystal (display) (PALC)

A PALC display is a hybrid display consisting of an LCD display (LCD) and a plasma display( PDP). The PALC display is designed to compensate for the difficulties in semiconductor manufacturing of large chips used in TFT displays.

In a standard plasma display, the phosphors are excited by UV light, causing them to emit visible light. However, the plasma can also work like a switch, similar to the function of a Thin Film Transistor (TFT). As with the plasma cell, a PALC pixel has three electrodes. Two of them are responsible for discharging the plasma, which becomes conductive during this process and forms an imaginary electrode. The current flows through the imaginary electrode to the third electrode, the transparent electrode.

Between the conductive plasma and the transparent electrode is the liquid crystal, which behaves as it does in a TFT display, namely changing the plane of polarization for the light. When the plasma is not discharged, the liquid crystal does not change the polarization of the light passing through it. In this case, the light cannot pass through the liquid crystal. Only when the plasma is discharged, the imaginary electrode is formed, which changes the polarization properties of the liquid crystal due to the current flow.