Cathode-ray tubes produce signal-generated light patterns in a (typically) round or rectangular format. Bulky CRTs were used in the black-and-white household television (TV) sets that became popular in the 1950s, as well as first-generation, tube-based color TVs, and most earlier computer monitors. CRTs have also been widely used in scientific and engineering instrumentation, such as oscilloscopes, usually with a single phosphor color, typically green. Phosphors for such applications may have long afterglow, for increased image persistence.
The phosphors can be deposited as either thin film, or as discrete particles, a powder bound to the surface. Thin films have better lifetime and better resolution, but provide less bright and less efficient image than powder ones. This is caused by multiple internal reflections in the thin film, scattering the emitted light.
White (in black-and-white): The mix of zinc cadmium sulfide and zinc sulfide silver, the  is the white P4 phosphor used in black and white television CRTs. Mixes of yellow and blue phosphors are usual. Mixes of red, green and blue, or a single white phosphor, can also be encountered.
Red: Yttrium oxide-sulfide activated with europium is used as the red phosphor in color CRTs. The development of color TV took a long time due to the search for a red phosphor. The first red emitting rare-earth phosphor, YVO:Eu, was introduced by Levine and Palilla as a primary color in television in 1964. In single crystal form, it was used as an excellent polarizer and laser material.
Yellow: When mixed with cadmium sulfide, the resulting zinc cadmium sulfide , provides strong yellow light.
Green: Combination of zinc sulfide with copper, the P31 phosphor or , provides green light peaking at 531 nm, with long glow.
Blue: Combination of zinc sulfide with few ppm of silver, the ZnS:Ag, when excited by electrons, provides strong blue glow with maximum at 450 nm, with short afterglow with 200 nanosecond duration. It is known as the P22B phosphor. This material, zinc sulfide silver, is still one of the most efficient phosphors in cathode-ray tubes. It is used as a blue phosphor in color CRTs.
The phosphors are usually poor electrical conductors. This may lead to deposition of residual charge on the screen, effectively decreasing the energy of the impacting electrons due to electrostatic repulsion (an effect known as "sticking"). To eliminate this, a thin layer of aluminium (about 100 nm) is deposited over the phosphors, usually by vacuum evaporation, and connected to the conductive layer inside the tube. This layer also reflects the phosphor light to the desired direction, and protects the phosphor from ion bombardment resulting from an imperfect vacuum.
To reduce the image degradation by reflection of ambient light, contrast can be increased by several methods. In addition to black masking of unused areas of screen, the phosphor particles in color screens are coated with pigments of matching color. For example, the red phosphors are coated with ferric oxide (replacing earlier Cd(S,Se) due to cadmium toxicity), blue phosphors can be coated with marine blue (CoO·nalumina|) or ultramarine (). Green phosphors based on ZnS:Cu do not have to be coated due to their own yellowish color.