The most basic display configuration that will render ghosting is a two segment display in which one segment is energized and the other segment is driven with a signal identical to that which is applied to the display common plane, normally the "off" condition. As drive frequency and/or voltage are increased, the "off" segment starts to turn "on". Figure 1 is a schematic of such a configuration.

Presented below are the electrical models used to characterize the mechanism of ghosting in such an LCD. In this model RS1 and RS2 are the segment resistance of segments one and two, and CS1 and CS2 are the capacitances of segments one and two.Resistance RCP represents the effective series resistance in the common plane circuit, consisting of contributions by the common plane electrode and lead-out, the crossover conductors, the common plane lead-out on the segment plane glass, and the substrate to terminal pin interface.

Segments are modeled as capacitors (with a non-linear liquid crystal dielectric), with series resistances representing the resistivity of the segment electrodes. In the real display there are actually contributions by both electrodes, but for this argument it will suffice to lump them together for each segment.

Figure 2 is simply Figure 1 redrawn to make the two loop nature of the circuit more evident. Loop current i1 flows through the "on" segment impedances and common plane resistance RCP. Loop current i2 flows through the "off" segment impedances and RCP. From this it can be seen qualitatively that the magnitude of RCP determines the amount of voltage that reaches the "off" segment and causes ghosting. Note that because the display is always operated below the break frequency of network RS1 - CS1, ghosting will be a function of frequency as a result of the changing reactance of CS1 with frequency. If RCP were zero, ghosting could never occur. If RCP were infinite (i.e. common plane open), the "on" and "off" segments are in series, sharing the drive voltage according to the relative magnitude of their impedances. This happens when a crossover connection fails.

In a display consisting of a great number of segments, the electrical model must be expanded to account for contributions of RCP which may be different for each segment location. In general however, the worst case condition for ghosting will occur when all but one segment are turned "on" and the remaining segment is driven "off". This maximizes the voltage drop across RCP, causing the "off" segment to see maximum voltage.