Seiko Epson Corporation

Masayuki Yazaki

Hidekazu Kobayashi

Hidehito Iisaka

Eiji Chino

Shuhei Yamada

Yutaka Tsuchiya

Kazunari Sakamoto

The invention provides a liquid crystal device including a first substrate and a second substrate opposing each other, a plurality of pixel electrodes disposed on the first substrate in a matrix, drive voltages having opposite polarities with respect to a reference voltage being applied to adjacent pixels, a common electrode disposed on the second substrate, and an electro-optical substance disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The device can also include a second alignment layer disposed on the second substrate and subjected to a uniform alignment operation, a first alignment layer formed of an alignment material on the first substrate subjected to alignment operations so that the alignment operation at strip areas and the alignment operation at areas other than the strip areas are different. Each strip area can be disposed near a first edge of its corresponding pixel electrode and is an area where the electro-optical substance is affected by an electric field produced between the adjacent pixel electrodes by the drive voltages having opposite polarities. By this, the aperture ratio can be increased by reducing reverse tilts caused by the effects of the transverse electric field.

Liquid crystal device, method for producing the liquid crystal device, and electronic apparatus

A polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) display element for use in an electronic apparatus wherein the display element operates in a PDLC mode or reverse PDLC mode providing for reduction of visual display haze, improved display contrast. The particular medium includes a liquid crystal portion and a polymer portion and may include a chiral component. In cases where visual display haze and contract is a particular problem in the utility of the reverse PDLC display element, such as in the case where the display element is combined with a solar battery, a sufficient amount of dichroic dye is added to the liquid crystal portion of the medium, and, further, a compound showing no fluorescence emission with respect to a liquid crystal portion, or a polymer or a chiral polymer precursor portion of the medium, is employed. The resulting electronic apparatus can, therefore, incorporate a reverse PDLC type display element in combination with a solar battery or other component that affects display quality in such elements to improve the overall visual quality and contrast in the display rendering the display more useful in more miniaturized applications.

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) display element for use in an electronic apparatus

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Suwa, Japan

Masayuki Yazaki