Character display

Small monochrome displays such as those found in personal organizers, electronic weighing scales, older laptop screens, and the original Gameboy have a passive-matrix structure employing super-twisted nematic (STN) or double-layer STN (DSTN) technology (the latter of which addresses a colour-shifting problem with the former), and colour-STN (CSTN) in which colour is added by using an internal filter. Each row or column of the display has a single electrical circuit. The pixels are addressed one at a time by row and column addresses. This type of display is called passive-matrix addressed because the pixel must retain its state between refreshes without the benefit of a steady electrical charge.