Data Pack F Issued November 2005 1502984629

Electronic displays
Data Sheet

Three types of display are available; each has differences as Liquid crystal
far as the display appearance, operation and electrical Unlike all other types of displays these do not emit light but
characteristics are concerned. Section I describes each reflect incident or transmit back light. Power consumption is
device type, section II contains details of suitable extremely low making them ideally suited for battery
decoder/drivers with circuit applications. Separate data powered equipment. The types available are field effect
sheets are available. devices with either 2, 31/2, 4, 41/2, 6 or 8 digit, 7-segment
Section III details pin connections and physical dimensions format. Operation is from an ac supply, typically 5Vrms. For
of direct drive 7 segment LCD’s. this reason special forms of decoding are necessary; this is
For the latest range of display products available consult the further explained in section II. Panel mounting bezels are
opto-electronics section of the current RS Catalogue. available to accommodate LCD displays.
For information on counter/driver ICs consult the
semiconductor section of the current RS Catalogue. Note: The maximum dc component allowed to appear
across the device is 25mV.
Section I - types of display
LED LED backlight panels
A range of solid state semiconductor displays having the A range of coloured solid state light guides which have been
advantages of mechanical ruggedness, long life and easy specially processed to give bright even illumination.
interface with semiconductor circuitry. Miniature LED light sources are optically connected to the
● Display bezels are available to accommodate the edge of the backlight panel producing a panel of light which
majority of the LED displays: is efficient, reliable, has low power consumption and is easy
● Discrete LED displays in a range of character heights 0.3, to drive (dc-current limited). These backlight panels can be
0.43, 0.56, 1 and 2.24in. Certain types have segment used to illuminate the Transflective range of direct drive 7
colours available in red and green, with common anode segment LCD’s. RS stock nos. 215-6464, 185-8535, 215-6458,
or common cathode connections and dual format i.e. 7- 185-0159, 185-0171, 185-0200, 185-0187, 185-0193 and 185-
segment or ±1, thus providing many possible multi-digit 0216.
display versions. These operate from 2mA drive
currents making them ideal for battery powered
applications. Displays utilising the industry standard 5 x 7
dot matrix font are available in heights of 1.16 and 2in as
either common anode or common cathode row
configurations.
● 0.5in multiplexed displays in four digit format in either
common anode or common cathode versions. Displays
may be edge stacked to give increased number of digits.
Multiplexing reduces the number of decoders and
drivers and requires less power than dc drive to achieve
the same display intensity.
● 0.11in 4 digit multiplexed display housed in a 14 pin dual
in-line clear moulded package incorporating magnifier
lens. Device may be end stacked for longer displays and
is typical of the types used in desktop calculators, hand-
held instruments, metering devices and various
consumer products, where low power consumption and
battery supplies are required.
● 0.27in discrete displays with logic. Two different displays
are available with integrated logic chip. One version
offers a hexadecimal display with TTL compatible 4-bit
latch and decoder/driver, whilst the other offers a
7-segment display with BCD counter, 4-bit latch and
decoder/driver.
● 10 segments LED bar arrays. These types, red and green
versions, are in a 20 pin DIL package which may be end
stacked as desired.
Suitable Bar Array driver is the 3914 device, RS stock no.
308-174 (see semiconductor section of the RS Catalogue).
1502984629

Section II decoders/drivers 4543B

7447A Similar to the 4511B but designed specifically for liquid
crystal displays although the phase input may be tied 'high'
BCD to 7-segment TTL decoder/driver for use with filament or 'low' enabling other types of display driving. Source or
or LED displays. Incorporating open collector output sink current 10mA maximum. Figure 3 shows various output
transistors capable of sinking 40mA. Figure 1 gives details of connections.
interconnecting filament and common anode LED displays
with the 7447A.
Figure 3 Segment Outputs
Figure 1 V+ a b c d e f g

7 resistors required to limit IF

when using LED’s 9 10 11 12 13 15 14
Resistors not required for VDD 16
filament displays 7 Blanking
a 4534B
f b 6 Phase
g
1 Latch
VSS 8
e c 5 3 2 4
d

+Vcc 1 2 4 8
B.C.D. Input

LED LED +V
13 15 9 10 11 14 12 Liquid Crystal Common Cathode Common Cathode
16 5
4 Any
7447A Segment
8 3 Output Segment
7 1 2 6
Phase Phase Phase
Lamp Test Backplane
Ripple Blanking Output
1 2 4 8 Ripple Blanking Input
B.C.D. Input External Square Wave VSS VDD
30 - 100Hz
To determine value of resistors Where V+ = Supply voltage
for LED’s use the following VF = Voltage drop across LED
formula VOL = 7447A low output
voltage (typ. 0.27V)
IF = Required segment current
R = V+ -V -V Phosphorescent
F OL 180Vdc typ.
I Display
F
Gas discharge Segment
Anode
Phase
4511B
BCD to 7-segment C-MOS decoder/driver with integral
latch. Active pull up output capable of sourcing 25mA. Will Phase VSS
Filament
drive a filament, common cathode LED or phosphorescent Supply
display directly. Figure 2 shows methods of driving various VSS
displays.

Figure 2
Segment Outputs
a b c d e f g 4070B
Not strictly a decoder, the 4070B C-MOS quad exclusive OR
13 12 11 10 9 15 14
gates are used for single segment driving of liquid crystal
VDD 16
3 Lamp test
displays. Figure 4 shows the interconnections required.
4511B 4 Blanking Note: The use of 4543B and 4070B C-MOS drivers with
5 Latch liquid crystal displays produces an artificial ac drive
VSS 8 by applying a square wave to the phase input.
7 1 2 6

Figure 4
1 2 4 8
B.C.D. Input
VDD ‘High’ segment on
LED +V
Common
Anode ‘Low’ segment off 1
/4 4070B
Segment
LED
Common R Liquid crystal
Cathode 1k2 Phosphorescent
Display Phase input Back plane
Any Segment
Output Anode External Square Wave
4511B R
Filament

Filament
Supply

2
 1502984629

8880
A high voltage 7-segment decoder/driver designed to Figure 7a
LATCH O P QB
decode BCD and drive gas filled 7-segment display tubes, (BINARY WT 2) 1 16 VCC
LATCH O PQC
(Figure 5). (BINARY WT 4)
2 15 CLOCK I/P
LATCH O PQD
(BINARY WT 8)
3 14 BLANKING I/P
Figure 5 LATCH O PQA
4 13 DECIMAL POINT I/P
2k2 (BINARY WT 1)
+170 Vdc to 200Vdc LATCH STROBE 5 12 CLEAR
RIPPLE BLANKING I/P 6 11 RIPPLE BLANKING O/P
Anode Gas discharge
display MAX COUNT O/P 7 10 SERIAL CARRY
S
100n Segment cathodes GND 8 9 PARALLEL CARRY
400V
0V a b c d e f g TOP VIEW

Vcc 1312 11 10 9 15 14 Figure 7b

+5V 16 5 RBI
8880 BCD o/p
Rp DRIVER I/C
3 7 1 2 6 8 4 BI/RBO VCC

Clock 1k
Counter Latch Decoder
Driver
1 2 4 8
B.C.D. INPUT 0V
Clear
(FROM T.T.L.) ON
Parallel carry i/p
DP
Serial carry i/p OFF
0.27in with logic (hexadecimal TIL 311) Latch strobe

Full hexadecimal decoding with integral latch, blanking and Max count o/p 0V
Blanking i/p
constant current drive to LED display. The two decimal
points require external limiting resistors, (Figure 6). Ripple blanking i/p
Ripple blanking o/p

Figure 6
LED SUPPLY VLED 1 14 LOGIC SUPPLY VCC

LATCH DATA INPUT B 2 13 LATCH DATA INPUT C

Additional information
LATCH DATA INPUT A 3 12 LATCH DATA INPUT D

LEFT D.P. CATHODE 4 11 NO PIN

Multi-digit displays
The simplest method of direct driving multi-digit displays is
LATCH STROBE INPUT 5 10 RIGHT D.P. CATHODE
to use a decoder/driver for each digit and operate each
NO PIN 6 9 NO PIN independently, however, various facilities may be required
GROUND 7 8 BLANKING INPUT
necessitating interconnections between each decoder. (See
multiplexing.)
VCC VLED
(5Vdc regulated) (+5Vdc)
Multiplexing
Time division multiplexing can reduce the number of
decoders required together with a reduction in the number
of interconnections between display and driver circuitry.
A
This form is particularly suited for remote displays.
Multiplexing is already incorporated in some multi-digit
T.T.L. B Decoder Display drivers when the number of output pins is limited, such
Latch
Input Driver
C devices as the ZN1040E and the 7217 have full multiplexing
D over four digits. The basic operation for this method of
D.P. D.P. driving is shown in Figure 8.

Latch 680R 680R Figure 8

(’High’ = Latch)

Blanking Clock Counter To additional

(’High’ = Blank) digits
Ground
0V

0.27in with logic (7-segment TIL 306) Scan Digit Digit Digit
decoder 1 2 3
7-segment decoder/driver with integral BCD counter and
four bit latch. Features allow high speed fully synchronous
multi-digit counter-systems to be realised without resort to
external logic, (Figure 7).

7 segment
Multiplexer decoder

Input - Parallel Data

3
1502984629

Intensity control Lamp test

Adjustment of the light output of LED and filament displays A lamp test facility is incorporated in some of these
may be achieved by pulse width modulating the blanking decoders. When operated all segments of the display are
input of the decoder. Refer to Figure 9. The frequency of this illuminated regardless of the input data.
modulation should be high enough to prevent display flicker
at short duty cycles.
Display/Decoder selection
The 7447A decoder does not have blanking inputs but the
ripple blanking output may be used. In this case commoning Decoder/Driver 7447A 4511B 4543B 4070B ZN1040E 7412
more than one input may only be done when each RBO pin Display type:
is individually buffered thereby preventing interaction. Common anode LED √ √ √* √
Intensity control cannot be incorporated into liquid crystal Common cathode LED √ √ √*
displays. Multi-digit multiplexed
Common anode √* √
Figure 9 Liquid crystal √ √
High brightness
Gas discharge √*
Low brightness
Phosphorerscent √ √ √*
0.27 hexadecimal
INTEGRAL LOGIC
0.27 7-segment
Blanking input
* requires buffer transistors

7447A Note: Apart from the display/decoder pairs show above

For active high blanking inputs include additional forms of display driving may be achieved
an inverter at the blanking pin
using external buffer or inverting stages.

Zero suppression Section III Liquid Crystal Display

Leading or trailing zero suppression, often termed ripple
blanking, is a means by which unnecessary zeros in the
display are blanked. The connections required are shown in Direct Drive 7 segment reflective and transflective
Figure 10. pin connectors.

Figure 10 Figure 11 A

F
B

Display with zero suppression

G
COL

C
E D
Display without zero suppression P

Least
Inter-connection of decoders to Significant
achieve leading zero suppression Digit
RBI RBO RBI RBO RBI RBO RBI RBO

RBO = Ripple Blanking Output

RBI = Ripple Blanking Input
Figure 12
COM

2G
1G

2A
2B
2F
1A
1B
1F

The 7447A incorporates ripple blanking input and output 10

18
connections whilst the 4511B and 4543B do not. However, by
using external gating the blanking input may be
incorporated to achieve this facility.
1 2

Storage
A storage of latching operation (i.e. where once 'latched'
further changes in the BCD input information do not affect the
display) may be achieved either by using the internal latches
of the 4511B or 4543B, or separate latches such as the 7475 DP1 DP2
Quad bi-stable latch in conjunction with the 7447A. Multi-
digit drivers incorporate latching facilities.

1 9
COM

2C
2P

2D
1D

1C

2E
1E
1P

RS stock nos. 215-6442 and 215-6464

4
 40

1
40

1
40
COM COM
COM COM
COM COM Y X
Y X
NC NC 1BC ARROW
1BC LO BAT
NC NC

Figure 14
Figure 13

NC NC

Figure 15
NC NC
NC 1G NC NC
NC NC
1E 1F NC NC
NC LO BAT NC
1D 1A NC NC
NC NC
1C 1B 1P NC
1P NC
1P NC 2E 2G
1E 1G
2E 2G 2D 2F
1D 1F
2D 2F 2C 2A
1C 1A
2C 2A 2P 2B
2P 1B
2P 2B 3E COL

.
2E COL

.
3E COL 3D 3G
2D 2G
3D 3G 3C 3F
2C 2F

RS stock nos. 215-6436 and 215-6458

RS stock nos. 185-8529 and 185-8535
3F

RS stock nos. 294-8825 and 294-8831

RS stock nos. 184-7743 and 185-0200
RS stock nos. 184-7715 and 185-0171
3C

RS stock nos. 184-7709 and 185-0159

3P 3A
3P 2A
3P 3A 4E 3B
3E 2B
4E 3B 4D 4G
3D 3G
4D 4G 4C 4F
3C 3F
4C 4F 4B 4A
3B 3A
4B 4A

20
21
20
21

20
21

4 Digit
8.8.8.8
31/2 Digit
LO BAT
31/2 Digit

68

1
1

50

1
40

COM 8G
8E 8F COM 1G COM COM
8D 8A 1E 1F -
8C 8B :
1D 1A
7P 7G 1BC ARROW
7F 1C 1B
7E
Figure 16

Figure 17

1P 1G

Figure 18
7D 7A 1P 2G
7C 7B 2E 2F 1E 1F
6P L3 2D 2A
COM 6G 1D 1A
6E 6F 2C 2B 1C 1B
6D 6A 2P COL 1
6C 6B 2P COL 1

.
3E 3G
5P 5G 2E 2G

RS stock no. 185-0216

5F 3D 3F
5E
.

5D 5A 3C 3A 2D 2F
5C 5B 3P 3B 2C 2A
L2
.

4P 4E 4G
4E 4G 3P 2B
4F 4D 4F

. .
4D 3E COL 2
4C 4A 4C 4A
3P 4B 4P 4B 3D 3G
3E 3G 3F
5E 3C
..

COL 2
.

3D 3F
. ..

3C 3A 5D 5G 4P 3A
RS stock nos. 184-7737 and 185-0193
RS stock nos. 184-7721 and 185-0187

2P 3B 5C 5F 3B
L1 4E

. .
2E

.
5P 5A
2D 2G 4D 4G
2C 2F 6E 5B
2A 6D 6G 4C 4F
1P
1E 2B 6C 6F 4B 4A
1D 1G
1F 6B 6A
20
21

1C
1A
26

1B
25

35

34
41/2 Digit

6 Digit

8 Digit

5
1502984629

8.8.8.8.8.

8.8.8.8.8.8.8
1502984629

Dimensions
Display type RS stock no. No. of digits Character L. H. D. Lead Row
Height (ex. pins) Pitch Spacing
Reflective 215-6442 2 12.7 30.5 28 2.2 2.54 32.7
Transflective 215-6464
Reflective 185-8529 31/2 8.9 50.8 22.8 2.2 2.54 25.40
Transflective 185-8535 LOBAT
Reflective 215-6436 31/2 12.7 50.8 30.5 2.2 2.54 33.02
Transflective 215-6458 LOBAT
Reflective 184-7709 31/2 12.7 50.8 30.5 2.2 2.54 33.02
Transflective 185-0159
Reflective 184-7715 4 12.7 50.8 30.5 2.2 2.54 33.02
Transflective 185-0171
Reflective 184-7743 4 17.8 69.9 30.5 2.2 2.54 40.64
Transflective 185-0200
Reflective 294-8825 4 25.4 93.98 45.72 2.2 2.54 48.26
Transflective 294-8831
Reflective 184-7721 41/2 10.2 50.8 38.1 2.2 2.54 33.02
Transflective 185-0187
Reflective 184-7737 6 12.7 69.9 30.5 2.2 2.54 33.02
Transflective 185-0193
Transflective 185-0216 8 12.7 93.8 30.5 2.2 2.54 33.02

The information provided in RS technical literature is believed to be accurate and reliable; however, RS Components assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies
or omissions, or for the use of this information, and all use of such information shall be entirely at the user’s own risk.
No responsibility is assumed by RS Components for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use.
Specifications shown in RS Components technical literature are subject to change without notice.

RS Components, PO Box 99, Corby, Northants, NN17 9RS Telephone: 01536 201234
An Electrocomponents Company © RS Components 1998