US3719849A - Solid state displays - Google Patents

Solid state displays Download PDF

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Publication number
US3719849A
US3719849A US00183491A US3719849DA US3719849A US 3719849 A US3719849 A US 3719849A US 00183491 A US00183491 A US 00183491A US 3719849D A US3719849D A US 3719849DA US 3719849 A US3719849 A US 3719849A
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Prior art keywords
decimal point
character
display means
chip
display
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US00183491A
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R Steward
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HP Inc
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Hewlett Packard Co
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    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/15Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission
    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09FDISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F9/00Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements
    • G09F9/30Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements
    • G09F9/33Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements being semiconductor devices, e.g. diodes
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L33/00Semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof

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  • ABSTRACT A decimal point element is located within the boundaries of the charaCter element on a monolithic solid state character chip. When a character string is displayed, only the decimal point is energized on one character chip. This results in wide separation between the decimal point and its nearby characters Hence readability of the decimal point in improved in long character strings.
  • the present invention locates the decimal point in the lower half of the character font.
  • a character string When a character string is displayed, one character position is dedicated to the decimal point.
  • readability of long character strings is improved because the decimal point is well separated from its nearby characters.
  • the solid state displays using the monolithic process locates both a character and a decimal point in some or all of the display chips.
  • a character string is displayed, either the decimal point or a selected character is energized in each chip.
  • the same size chip is used to display a character or a decimal point. This eliminates the extra process needed to make a special decimal point chip. Since the decimal point is located within the character boundaries in a chip, a larger chip is not needed to accommodate the decimal point. As a result of this invention, the product cost of solid state displays for medium to long character strings can be decreased.
  • FIG. 1 shows a side view of a light-emitting diode made according to the art.
  • FIGS. 2 and 3 show conventional methods of incorporating a decimal point in monolithic displays.
  • FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an improved monolithic character chip made according to the preferred embodiment of this invention.
  • FIG. 5 shows a character string using conventional decimal point placement.
  • FIG. 6 shows the same character string as shown in FIG. 5, but with the improved decimal point placement of this invention instead of the conventional placement.
  • a light-emitting diode is made from a material that emits photons when minority and majority carriers recombine.
  • a material is gallium arsenide phosphide.
  • an n-type alloy of gallium arsenide phosphide 7 is grown epitaxially on a gallium arsenide sustrate 3.
  • a p region 5 is then created by diffusing a charged material, such as p-type zinc, into the chip. This region is capped with a metal contact 1. The contact provides the anode terminal for the diode while the substrate contact 4 acts as the cathode terminal.
  • the light-emitting regions can be selectively arranged in a monolithic chip by the positioning of the diffused p regions. In this manner, chips can be constructed to provide numeric and alphanumeric displays.
  • a plurality of light-emitting regions are sometimes arranged in the shape of a rectangular or rhomboidal figure eight. (See FIGS. 2-6.) By forward biasing only selected regions, any digit from 0 to 9 can be displayed. This type of display is commonly called a seven-segment font because the figure eight is usually made by seven linear regions. Sometimes small dot-like light-emitting regions are aligned to form the seven segment font.
  • decimal point location To maintain readability of a decimal point in a string of characters, the decimal point is often located below the bottom of the character string.
  • the chip size In conventional monolithic displays, either the chip size must be increased to accommodate both the character and the decimal point, as shown in FIG. 2, or a separate smaller chip must be made for the decimal point, FIG. 3. Either process increases the cost of a display.
  • sixteen diffused regions 11 are positioned to form a seven-segment display and a decimal point.
  • the decimal point is located within the lower half of the character font to keep the chip the same size as a conventional seven-segment display chip without a decimal point. Since the decimal point is contained in the character chip, no additional process is needed to manufacture a special decimal point chip.
  • This improved decimal point placement improves I the readability of long character strings.
  • the readability of a decimal point in a character string using conventional decimal point positioning depends primarily on the vertical separation between the decimal point and the character string.
  • the readability is increased by greater horizontal spacing between the decimal point and its nearby characters.
  • One character position is dedicated to the decimal point in a string of characters. This invention does require an extra character position to display the decimal point, but the cost of this extra position is less than the extra chip area or assembly time required by conventional displays when used in displays of more than seven characters.
  • Visual display apparatus comprising: a plurality of numeric display means disposed in lineal array to display a plurality of adjacent digits; the display means being substantially similar and each including regions which emit light in response to applied excitation and which are arranged in a seven-segment font; and

Abstract

A decimal point element is located within the boundaries of the charaCter element on a monolithic solid state character chip. When a character string is displayed, only the decimal point is energized on one character chip. This results in wide separation between the decimal point and its nearby characters Hence readability of the decimal point in improved in long character strings.

Description

United States Patent [191 Steward [4 1 March 6, 1973 SOLID STATE DISPLAYS [75] Inventor: Robert L. Steward, San Jose, Calif.
[73] Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto,Calif.
[58] Field of Search ..313/l09.5, I08 D; 340/324, 340/336, 343; 235/643, 60.15; 315/169 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,573,532 4/1971 Boucher ..3l5/l69 Light Emitting Segments 9 Decimal Point Light Emitting Material 3/1970 Lake eta] ..3l5/l09.5 4/1972 Kegelman ..3l3/l09.5
Primary ExaminerJohn Kominski Attorney-A. C. Smith [57] ABSTRACT A decimal point element is located within the boundaries of the charaCter element on a monolithic solid state character chip. When a character string is displayed, only the decimal point is energized on one character chip. This results in wide separation between the decimal point and its nearby characters Hence readability of the decimal point in improved in long character strings.
2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Substrate Diffused Regions ll PATENTED 61915 3.719.849
Diffused Region Contact i r J A T Light Emitting Substrate R Material 1 3 7 Contact igure 1 4 Light Emitting Segments 9 Decimal Point 5 Light Emitting w Material igure 2 i9ure 4 iure3 INVENTOR ROBERT L. STEWARD SOLID STATE DISPLAYS BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The readability of a decimal point in a string of characters depends on the relative position of the decimal point to its nearby characters. In long character strings, for example, it may be difficult to quickly determine the exact location of the decimal point because it blends into the character string and becomes lost in the maze of characters. To remedy this, a decimal point is usually displayed well below the lowest portion of the characters. This distance below the character is often onefifth the character height.
Positioning the decimal point below the characters sometimes increases the manufacturing cost of a display. If a character is formed from a single piece or chip of material, as in monolithic displays, either the chip size must be increased to accommodate both the character and the decimal point, or a special process must be used to provide a separate smaller decimal point chip. Either method increases the product cost.
The present invention locates the decimal point in the lower half of the character font. When a character string is displayed, one character position is dedicated to the decimal point. Thus, readability of long character strings is improved because the decimal point is well separated from its nearby characters.
The solid state displays using the monolithic process, this invention locates both a character and a decimal point in some or all of the display chips. When a character string is displayed, either the decimal point or a selected character is energized in each chip. Thus the same size chip is used to display a character or a decimal point. This eliminates the extra process needed to make a special decimal point chip. Since the decimal point is located within the character boundaries in a chip, a larger chip is not needed to accommodate the decimal point. As a result of this invention, the product cost of solid state displays for medium to long character strings can be decreased.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a side view of a light-emitting diode made according to the art.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show conventional methods of incorporating a decimal point in monolithic displays.
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an improved monolithic character chip made according to the preferred embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 5 shows a character string using conventional decimal point placement.
FIG. 6 shows the same character string as shown in FIG. 5, but with the improved decimal point placement of this invention instead of the conventional placement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a light-emitting diode, wellknown in the art, is made from a material that emits photons when minority and majority carriers recombine. Such a material is gallium arsenide phosphide. To make a light-emitting diode, an n-type alloy of gallium arsenide phosphide 7 is grown epitaxially on a gallium arsenide sustrate 3. A p region 5 is then created by diffusing a charged material, such as p-type zinc, into the chip. This region is capped with a metal contact 1. The contact provides the anode terminal for the diode while the substrate contact 4 acts as the cathode terminal.
When a forward bias is applied to the diode, the potential barrier at the p-n junction is reduced so current can flow. Just as in the operation of a standard diode, electrons are injected into the p region and holes are injected into the n region. However, when these minority carriers recombine with the majority carriers, energy is given off as photons. Some of these photons are emitted from the surface of the doped gallium arsenide phosphide. Thus the diode emits light in response to forward bias voltage.
The light-emitting regions can be selectively arranged in a monolithic chip by the positioning of the diffused p regions. In this manner, chips can be constructed to provide numeric and alphanumeric displays. To provide a numeric display chip, a plurality of light-emitting regions are sometimes arranged in the shape of a rectangular or rhomboidal figure eight. (See FIGS. 2-6.) By forward biasing only selected regions, any digit from 0 to 9 can be displayed. This type of display is commonly called a seven-segment font because the figure eight is usually made by seven linear regions. Sometimes small dot-like light-emitting regions are aligned to form the seven segment font.
A problem with this type of font is decimal point location. To maintain readability of a decimal point in a string of characters, the decimal point is often located below the bottom of the character string. In conventional monolithic displays, either the chip size must be increased to accommodate both the character and the decimal point, as shown in FIG. 2, or a separate smaller chip must be made for the decimal point, FIG. 3. Either process increases the cost of a display.
Referring now to FIG. 4, eight diffused regions 11 are positioned to form a seven-segment display and a decimal point. The decimal point is located within the lower half of the character font to keep the chip the same size as a conventional seven-segment display chip without a decimal point. Since the decimal point is contained in the character chip, no additional process is needed to manufacture a special decimal point chip.
This improved decimal point placement improves I the readability of long character strings. As shown in FIG. 5, the readability of a decimal point in a character string using conventional decimal point positioning depends primarily on the vertical separation between the decimal point and the character string. In the improved positioning, as shown in FIG. 6, the readability is increased by greater horizontal spacing between the decimal point and its nearby characters. One character position is dedicated to the decimal point in a string of characters. This invention does require an extra character position to display the decimal point, but the cost of this extra position is less than the extra chip area or assembly time required by conventional displays when used in displays of more than seven characters.
I claim: 1. Visual display apparatus comprising: a plurality of numeric display means disposed in lineal array to display a plurality of adjacent digits; the display means being substantially similar and each including regions which emit light in response to applied excitation and which are arranged in a seven-segment font; and
in each of said display means, an additional region which emits light in response to applied excitation when excited in lieu of a digit in the digit place occupied by the associated display means.
2. A display chip as in claim 1 wherein the decimal point is located within the lower area of the font and which is located within the periphery of the bounded y Said regions-

Claims (2)

1. Visual display apparatus comprising: a plurality of numeric display means disposed in lineal array to display a plurality of adjacent digits; the display means being substantially similar and each including regions which emit light in response to applied excitation and which are arranged in a seven-segment font; and in each of said display means, an additional region which emits light in response to applied excitation and which is located within the periphery of the surrounding regions for displaying a decimal point when excited in lieu of a digit in the digit place occupied by the associated display means.
1. Visual display apparatus comprising: a plurality of numeric display means disposed in lineal array to display a plurality of adjacent digits; the display means being substantially similar and each including regions which emit light in response to applied excitation and which are arranged in a seven-segment font; and in each of said display means, an additional region which emits light in response to applied excitation and which is located within the periphery of the surrounding regions for displaying a decimal point when excited in lieu of a digit in the digit place occupied by the associated display means.
US00183491A 1971-09-24 1971-09-24 Solid state displays Expired - Lifetime US3719849A (en)

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Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4019196A (en) * 1974-11-22 1977-04-19 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Indicating element and method of manufacturing same
US4092638A (en) * 1977-03-11 1978-05-30 Textron Inc. Display device employing special purpose monograms
US4163230A (en) * 1976-07-14 1979-07-31 Citizen Watch Co. Ltd. Display device for electronic timepieces
US4165474A (en) * 1977-12-27 1979-08-21 Texas Instruments Incorporated Optoelectronic displays using uniformly spaced arrays of semi-sphere light-emitting diodes
US4176318A (en) * 1977-03-28 1979-11-27 Motorola, Inc. Radio transmitter display indicator
US4227201A (en) * 1979-01-22 1980-10-07 Hughes Aircraft Company CCD Readout structure for display applications
USRE30556E (en) * 1974-11-22 1981-03-24 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Indicating element and method of manufacturing same
US5003298A (en) * 1986-01-15 1991-03-26 Karel Havel Variable color digital display for emphasizing position of decimal point
US6119073A (en) * 1986-01-15 2000-09-12 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color digital measuring instrument for sequentially exhibiting measured values
US6121944A (en) * 1986-07-07 2000-09-19 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Method of indicating and evaluating measured value
US6310590B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-10-30 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Method for continuously controlling color of display device
US6414662B1 (en) 1999-10-12 2002-07-02 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color complementary display device using anti-parallel light emitting diodes

Cited By (24)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4019196A (en) * 1974-11-22 1977-04-19 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Indicating element and method of manufacturing same
USRE30556E (en) * 1974-11-22 1981-03-24 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Indicating element and method of manufacturing same
US4163230A (en) * 1976-07-14 1979-07-31 Citizen Watch Co. Ltd. Display device for electronic timepieces
US4092638A (en) * 1977-03-11 1978-05-30 Textron Inc. Display device employing special purpose monograms
US4176318A (en) * 1977-03-28 1979-11-27 Motorola, Inc. Radio transmitter display indicator
US4165474A (en) * 1977-12-27 1979-08-21 Texas Instruments Incorporated Optoelectronic displays using uniformly spaced arrays of semi-sphere light-emitting diodes
US4227201A (en) * 1979-01-22 1980-10-07 Hughes Aircraft Company CCD Readout structure for display applications
US6208322B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-03-27 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Color control signal converter
US6300923B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-10-09 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Continuously variable color optical device
US6734837B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2004-05-11 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color display system for comparing exhibited value with limit
US6577287B2 (en) 1986-01-15 2003-06-10 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Dual variable color display device
US6166710A (en) * 1986-01-15 2000-12-26 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color display system for sequentially exhibiting digital values
US5003298A (en) * 1986-01-15 1991-03-26 Karel Havel Variable color digital display for emphasizing position of decimal point
US6535186B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2003-03-18 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Multicolor display element
US6239776B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-05-29 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Multicolor multi-element display system
US6281864B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-08-28 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Digital display system for variable color decimal point indication
US6119073A (en) * 1986-01-15 2000-09-12 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color digital measuring instrument for sequentially exhibiting measured values
US6310590B1 (en) 1986-01-15 2001-10-30 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Method for continuously controlling color of display device
US6424327B2 (en) 1986-01-15 2002-07-23 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Multicolor display element with enable input
US6219014B1 (en) 1986-07-07 2001-04-17 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color display device having display area and background area
US6147483A (en) * 1986-07-07 2000-11-14 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color digital voltmeter with analog comparator
US6690343B2 (en) 1986-07-07 2004-02-10 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Display device with variable color background for evaluating displayed value
US6121944A (en) * 1986-07-07 2000-09-19 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Method of indicating and evaluating measured value
US6414662B1 (en) 1999-10-12 2002-07-02 Texas Digital Systems, Inc. Variable color complementary display device using anti-parallel light emitting diodes

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MY7500219A (en) 1975-12-31
DE2243357A1 (en) 1973-04-12
GB1354997A (en) 1974-06-05
FR2154217A5 (en) 1973-05-04

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