Abstract: An emissive liquid crystal display has a backlight and a liquid crystal cell for modulating the light. A phosphor layer receives the modulated light and converts the light into visible light. The phosphor layer may contain just red and green phosphors, with blue light being produced by the backlight, or may contain red, green, and blue phosphors based on near-ultraviolet light produced by the backlight. The use of the phosphor layer eliminates the need for a color filter within the liquid crystal cell and provides a greater transmittance efficiency. The liquid crystal display also provides an optimal viewing angle, correct chromacity for television, an increased contrast ratio, and a reduction in smear and flicker for a passive-matrix display. The liquid crystal display enables the use of redundant transistors in active-matrix displays and eliminates the need for retardation films or multiple domain architectures and, as a result, presents a lower manufacturing cost for the display.