Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Hiroyuki Ohgami

Masumi Kubo

Shinya Yamakawa

Yoshihiro Okada

Masaya Okamoto

Atsushi Ban

Yoshito Hashimoto

Yuichi Saito

Masayuki Soga

Masakazu Shibasaki

Yutaka Takafuji

Koujiro Tsubota

Yohji Yoshimura

Kazuyoshi Fujioka

Yuichi Iyama

Katsumi Nomura

Hirokazu Kamei

Takashi Ochi

Takayuki Shimada

Akihiro Yamamoto

Junichi Morinaga

Yoshinori Shimada

Yoshikazu Sakuhana

Takahiro Koshiba

Yasutoshi Tasaka

Katsuhiro Kikuchi

Hiroshi Yoshida

Kohhei Tanaka

Kazuhiko Tsuda

Keisuke Yoshida

Ryohji Yayotani

Kazuhiro Ishizuka

Kazuyohsi Fujioka

Noritaka Ajari

Iyama Yuichi

A display apparatus includes: a pixel electrode; a switching element that is connected to the pixel electrode; a scanning line that transfers a signal by which the switching element is driven; an image line that transfers a signal by which the pixel electrode is charged; a liquid crystal layer that includes liquid crystal molecules; a plurality of domains that are different in alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules when a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer; an alignment boundary portion that is positioned in a boundary of the plurality of domains; an alignment film that aligns the liquid crystal molecules, and a capacitor line that extends along the transverse direction and is arranged so as to be overlapped with the pixel electrode with an insulating film in between and overlapped with at least a part of the alignment boundary portion.

Display apparatus

A display apparatus includes: a liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules; a plurality of domains; an alignment boundary portion; an alignment film; a pixel electrode; a connection portion arranged to be overlapped with at least a part of the alignment boundary portion; and a capacitor forming portion that is arranged to be partially overlapped with a part of the connection portion with an insulating film in between and forms electrostatic capacitance. The connection portion and the capacitor forming portion extend along at least a part of the alignment boundary portion, have respective non-overlapping portions in which the connection portion and the capacitor forming portion are not overlapped with each other in a crossing direction crossing an extension direction of the connection portion and the capacitor forming portion, and arrangement of the non-overlapping portions in the crossing direction is switched between one side and another side in the extension direction.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device which allows an improvement in contrast ratio by compensating retardation given in a liquid crystal layer, even if a retardation layer has an inclined portion, and a desired retardation is varied at the inclined portion. The present invention is a vertical alignment liquid crystal display device, including:

Liquid crystal display device and display device substrate

There is provided a liquid crystal display device of high picture quality with high brightness and small display unevenness. A vertical alignment type liquid crystal display device which has a plurality of pixels includes: a first electrode which includes, in each of the plurality of pixels, a plurality of first branch portions extending in a first direction and a plurality of second branch portions extending in a second direction that is different from the first direction; a second electrode disposed so as to oppose the first electrode; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein a width of each of the plurality of first branch portions and the plurality of second branch portions is in a range not less than 1.4 &#x3bc;m and not more than 8.0 &#x3bc;m.

Liquid crystal display device

There is provided a liquid crystal display device of high image quality, which has high brightness and excellent viewing angle characteristics. A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a pair of polarizing plates, a first electrode, a second electrode provided so as to oppose the first electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. Each of a plurality of pixels includes a first region and a second region which are separated by a line parallel to or perpendicular to the directions of the transmission axes of the pair of polarizing plates. The first electrode includes, in each of the first region and the second region, a plurality of first branch portions extending in a first direction and a plurality of second branch portions extending in a second direction that is different from the first direction. Each of the plurality of first branch portions in the first region has a first width. Each of the plurality of first branch portions in the second region has a second width that is different from the first width.

An active matrix liquid crystal display device includes: a liquid crystal layer; two substrates sandwiching the liquid crystal layer; and electrodes respectively provided in the two substrates, the electrodes applying voltage across the liquid crystal layer. A first electrode () in the substrate including a pixel selecting element () has a striped electrode pattern () aligning liquid crystal molecules along a stripe line direction when voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer. A contact () of the first electrode () with the selecting element () is formed in a region opposed to, along a film thickness direction, a first region to which a signal liner (GLi) is allocated. This provides a liquid crystal display device in which a contact is made with the pixel electrode having the striped electrode pattern having the periodical arrangement, while alignment disorder of the liquid crystal molecules is not reflected on display.

The present invention provides a multi-domain type liquid crystal display device with a vertical alignment liquid crystal layer that can get a display operation done without making the viewer sense any unnaturalness and with the decrease in optical transmittance minimized. In the liquid crystal display device of this invention, the liquid crystal layer of each pixel has liquid crystal regions in which liquid crystal molecules tilt in multiple different directions when a voltage is applied between first and second electrodes. Each pixel has an opaque portion arranged on a boundary between the liquid crystal regions. The opaque portion is provided for at least one of the substrates so that when a voltage is applied between the first and second electrodes, the liquid crystal molecules neighboring the boundary will tilt while turning one of their end portions, which is closer to the substrate with the opaque portion, away from the boundary. The opaque portion includes a first shielding layer and a second shielding layer, which overlaps with the first shielding layer with a predetermined gap left between them.

An active matrix substrate includes base substrate, gate lines, data lines, thin-film transistors and pixel electrodes. The gate lines are formed on the base substrate. The data lines are formed over the gate lines. Each of the data lines crosses all of the gate lines with an insulating film interposed therebetween. The thin-film transistors are formed over the base substrate. Each of the thin-film transistors is associated with one of the gate lines and operates responsive to a signal on the associated gate line. Each of the pixel electrodes is associated with one of the data lines and one of the thin-film transistors and is electrically connectable to the associated data line by way of the associated thin-film transistor. Each of the pixel electrodes and the associated thin-film transistor are connected together by way of a conductive member. Each of the pixel electrodes crosses one of the gate lines, while the conductive member for the pixel electrode crosses another one of the gate lines that is adjacent to the former gate line.

Active matrix substrate, method of making the substrate, and display device

A VA-mode liquid crystal display device which includes a pair of alignment sustaining layersandformed by a photopolymerized material on surfaces of a pair of vertical alignment filmsandwhich are closer to a liquid crystal layer, and a cruciform openingprovided only in a counter electrode. When a predetermined voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer, four liquid crystal domains are formed such that the azimuths of the directors of the respective liquid crystal domains are different from one another and form an angle of about 45' relative to the polarization axes of a pair of polarizing plates. When no voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer, the pretilt azimuths of liquid crystal molecules included in regions respectively corresponding to the four liquid crystal domains are regulated by the alignment sustaining layersand

An alignment-divided vertical alignment liquid crystal display device permitting high-definition moving image display when OS driving is adopted. The device has a plurality of pixels each having a first electrode, a second electrode facing the first electrode, and a vertical alignment liquid crystal layer placed between the first and second electrodes. The device includes: first alignment regulating structure having a first width Wplaced in the first electrode side of the liquid crystal layer; second alignment regulating structure having a second width placed in the second electrode side of the liquid crystal layer; and a liquid crystal region having a third width defined between the first and second alignment regulating structures. The third width Wis in a range between 2 &#x3bc;m and 14 &#x3bc;m in certain embodiments.

Liquid crystal display device and driving method for the same

An object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display apparatus of high display quality by which a reflecting plate having excellent reflection characteristics can easily be manufactured with excellent reproducibility. A negative or positive photosensitive resin is applied to a substrate, asperities are formed in a first region of the applied photosensitive resin film by exposing the first region with various integrals of exposure amount so that the photosensitive resin in the first region is left in different film thicknesses and a concave is formed in a second region of the applied photosensitive resin film so that the photosensitive resin in the second region is left in a thickness smaller than those of the first region by exposing the second region with an integral of exposure amount different from those for the first region.

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Osaka, Japan

Hiroyuki Ohgami