In contrast, the shapes of LED segments tend to be simple rectangles, reflecting the fact that they have to be physically moulded to shape, which makes it difficult to form more complex shapes than the segments of 7-segment displays. Unlike LEDs, the shapes of elements in an LCD panel are arbitrary since they are formed on the display by photolithography. The seven-segment pattern is sometimes used in posters or tags, where the user either applies color to pre-printed segments, or applies color through a seven-segment digit template, to compose figures such as product prices or telephone numbers.įor many applications, dot-matrix LCDs have largely superseded LED displays in general, though even in LCDs, seven-segment displays are common. Some included magnifying lenses onto the design in an attempt to make the digits more legible. 1970s) LED seven-segment displays had each digit built on a single die.

Vacuum fluorescent display versions were also used in the 1970s. These worked similarly to modern LED segment displays. There were also segment displays that used small incandescent light bulbs instead of LEDs or incandescent filaments. Minitrons are filament segment displays that are housed in DIP packages like modern LED segment displays. A variation (minitrons) made use of an evacuated potted box. Some early seven-segment displays used incandescent filaments in an evacuated bulb they are also known as numitrons.

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