Trinitron

Trinitron is a brand of color cathode-ray-tube displays produced by Sony. Introduced in 1968, it distinguished itself from conventional CRTs by using an aperture grille instead of a shadow mask to segregate the three primary electron beams that illuminate the screen. This design aimed to improve brightness and color accuracy, contributing to a distinctive, vivid picture.

In a Trinitron tube, three electron guns generate red, green, and blue beams that are steered by deflection coils to scan the phosphor-coated screen. The phosphors are arranged in a stripe pattern behind the aperture grille, and the beams pass through the grille’s vertical wires to excite the correct colors. The aperture grille design allows more light to reach the screen and can yield sharper color saturation compared with many shadow-mask tubes, though it requires precise assembly and can show visible vertical lines under certain viewing conditions.

The Trinitron concept became associated with high-quality color reproduction, strong brightness, and good geometric stability, and the tubes were widely used in Sony televisions and computer monitors through the 1970s to the 1990s. Variants and evolutions of the technology appeared over time as models integrated newer electronics and features while maintaining the core aperture-grille approach.

With the global transition to flat-panel display technologies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, CRT production declined. The Trinitron line remains noted in the history of display technology for its impact on image quality and Sony’s reputation for innovative CRT design.