Today VFDs are used in a wide range of industrial, automotive, medical, as well as audio and other consumer electronics. The advantages of vacuum fluorescent technology are fundamental. VFDs are brighter and easier to read from any angle than other displays, including LCDs. The result is a small graphics display with extremely high brightness, high resolution and low power requirements. Noritake engineers built a 16 x 16 dot phosphor matrix on top of a 5.4 x 6 mm semiconductor chip that integrates memory functions and display driver circuits.
High precision means that complex characters appear vivid on the display.
Also, because the display uses a self-emitting design, no back light is required. In addition, brightness can be controlled by blanking signals so the appropriate brightness for a given application can be attained. The basic structure of the active matrix display is the same as that of conventional VFDs. However the structure of the anode in the new tube is completely different from that in conventional tubes. In conventional VFDs, a complex design of circuit wiring with insulation and phosphor layers is fabricated on the glass plate.