Electroluminescent displays

1. An electroluminescent layer for a backlight, comprising:

phosphor; and

a fluorescent pigment or dye; wherein

the fluorescent pigment or dye colours light reflected by the backlight and/or the phosphor to match a colour that substantially matches a colour of light emitted by the phosphor.

2. An electroluminescent layer according to claim 1 , wherein the phosphor is part of a binder matrix.

3. An electroluminescent layer according to claim 2 , further comprising the fluorescent pigment; wherein

the fluorescent pigment is mixed in with the binder matrix.

4. An electroluminescent layer according to claim 3 , wherein a phosphor matrix of the binder matrix and the fluorescent pigment comprises less than about 5% fluorescent pigment by weight.

5. An electroluminescent layer according to claim 4 , wherein a phosphor matrix of the binder matrix and the fluorescent pigment comprises about 1% fluorescent pigment by weight.

6. A light comprising an electroluminescent layer according to claim 1 disposed between a front electrode and a rear electrode such that application of a voltage across the front and rear electrodes causes the phosphor in the electroluminescent layer to luminesce.

7. A light according to claim 6 , wherein the light is a backlight for a display.

8. A backlight according to claim 7 , wherein from a front to a back the backlight comprises:

an electrically-insulating transparent front layer defining a substrate;

a first electrically-conductive film defining the front electrode;

the electroluminescent layer;

an electrically-insulating layer made of a material having a dielectric constant of around 50; and

disposed over a rear surface of the electrically-insulating layer, an electrically conductive film defining the rear electrode.

9. A backlight according to claim 8 , wherein one of the front and rear electrodes is a single electrode extending across all areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be illuminated and the other of the front and rear electrode is patterned to define the areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be selectively illuminated.

10. A backlight according to claim 9 , wherein the front electrode is a single electrode extending over all of the areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be illuminated and the rear electrode is patterned to define the areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be selectively illuminated.

11. A backlight according to claim 8 , wherein the both the front electrode and the back electrode are patterned to define areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be selectively illuminated.

12. A backlight according to any one of claim 9 , wherein the electroluminescent layer comprises discrete areas that emit different coloured light.

13. A backlight according to claim 12 , wherein the discrete areas define different icons/pixels for a display and match in size and shape the patterned electrode(s).

14. A display comprising a backlight according to claim 7 .

15. A display according to claim 14 comprising a liquid crystal mask disposed in-front of the electroluminescent layer.

16. A display according to claim 14 without a colour filter in front of areas of the electroluminescent layer that can be illuminated.