What Does CRT Stand For?

Sony VAIO Trinitron CRT Monitor

Cathode Ray Tube.
Read below to see how it works.

How Does CRT Work?

• Before we could see the images displayed on the monitor. The digital image data that are produced by the computer have to be transformed into analog data through the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in the display card.
• The display card sends signals to three electron guns located at the back of the monitor's cathode-ray tube (CRT). Each electron gun shoots out a stream of electrons, one stream for each of the three primary colors (blue, red and green).
• The electron streams will be bend by electromagnetic fields called the yoke, which helps to determine the monitor's resolution and refresh rate.
• The beams pass through holes in a metal plate called a shadow mask. The purpose of the mask is to keep the electron beams precisely aligned with their targets on the inside of the CRT's screen.
• The electrons will then strike the phosphors (which will glow if struck by electrons) coating the inside of the screen. The different colors we see on the screen are due to the different level of intensity of the electron beams that hit the phosphors.
• After the beams make one horizontal sweep across the screen, the electron streams are turned off as the electron guns refocus the paths of the beams back to the left edge of the screen at a point just below the previous scan line. This process is called raster scanning.
• The magnetic deflection yoke continually changes the angles at which the electron beams are bent so the they sweep across the entire screen surface from the upper-left corner of the screen to the lower-right corner. The screen is normally redrawn, or refreshed, about 60 times a second.

Sony Trinitron Technology

[A More Detailed Illustration on How CRT Works]
[Sony Computing: Display Feature Guide]