Is it really true that they put lead in the CRT glass for X-ray shielding?
(From: Bob Myers (myers@fc.hp.com).) First – yes, the glass is leaded (or contains other “impurities”) to reduce emissions. In short, it’s not just straight sand. 🙂 There are various proprietary formulas used to make the faceplate coating, which often acts both as a conductive layer to reduce low-frequency electric fields and as a glare-reduction layer, but one of the most popular materials for making a transparent conductive layer is indium-tin oxide, a.k.a. “ITO”. Such transparent conductors are also used in LCDs and other flat-panel technologies – at least the top layer of electrodes (row or column lines) has to be transparent! As conductors go, these things aren’t THAT conductive – the age of see-through power lines or Star Trek’s “transparent aluminum” is not upon us (and for certain theoretical reasons CAN’T be) – but they get the job done.
