Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Tadashi Mihara

Osamu Taniguchi

Yoshio Hotta

Yasuto Kodera

Yukio Hanyu

Akira Tsuboyama

Katsutoshi Nakamura

Yoshihiro Onitsuka

Hiroshi Inoue

Atsushi Mizutome

Sunao Mori

Kazunori Katakura

Mitsuo Iwayama

Masanobu Asaoka

Hideaki Takao

Makoto Kojima

Takatsugu Wada

Kenji Onuma

Yutaka Inaba

Masamichi Saito

Masahiro Terada

Seishi Miura

Tetsuro Saito

Bunryo Sato

Kazuhiro Aoyama

Chikako Tsujita

Kazuya Ishiwata

Yuichi Masaki

Hirofumi Iwamoto

Yuko Yokoyama

Yoshinori Shimamura

Shinjiro Okada

Hideyuki Kawagishi

Takashi Yamamoto

Hironobu Mizuno

Akihiko Komura

Kouki Nukanobu

A liquid crystal device, comprising: a pair of substrates each provided with an electrode including one substrate having thereon a color filter and a coating layer, and a liquid crystal layer comprising a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed together with spacer beads between the pair of substrates, wherein the liquid crystal layer has a thickness smaller than a diameter of the spacer beads and a maximum thickness of the coating layer, the coating layer having a pencil hardness of at most 7 H. The above layer structure between the substrates is effective in improving resistance to external shock and providing a uniform cell gap.

LCD having particular align direction with respect to a light-interrupting layer

Liquid crystal device, process for producing same and liquid crystal

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates each provided with a plurality of electrodes and a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed so as to fill a prescribed gap between the substrates together with a plurality of spacers dispersed therein. The substrates includes a substrate having four sides at least one of which has a connecting portion to be connected with a drive circuit supplying a voltage to associated electrodes. The prescribed gap is decreased with an increasing distance from the connecting portion, whereby an uneven temperature distribution within the device resulting from heat generation in the vicinity of the connecting portion for the drive circuit can be alleviated or minimized to improve a display irregularity.

Wedge shaped LCD with change in dispersion density of spacers

A liquid crystal apparatus comprises scanning electrodes and data electrodes intersecting with each other to form a pixel at each intersection, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal disposed between the scanning electrodes and data electrodes. The apparatus includes a first unit for applying to the scanning electrodes at least two scanning selection signals in at least two vertical scanning periods; the scanning selection signals having mutually different waveforms and each having a pulse of one or the other voltage polarity with respect to the level of a voltage applied a scanning electrode when it is not selected; and a second unit for applying data pulses to the data electrodes in phase with said pulse of one or the other voltage polarity. The first unit and second unit in combination apply a fore voltage pulse to a pixel on a scanning electrode selected by application of the pulse of one or the other voltage polarity prior to each application of a writing voltage formed by combination of the pulse of one or the other polarity and an information pulse. The fore voltage pulse has a polarity opposite to that of the writing voltage and an amplitude which is 1/2 or less of that of the writing voltage.

Liquid crystal apparatus

A liquid crystal device is formed by a pair of substrates each having thereon electrodes, and a liquid crystal disposed between the substrates so as to be movable along surfaces of the substrates. The liquid crystal is disposed over regions extending between the surfaces of the substrates including an effective optical modulation region, a first peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region and a second peripheral region formed along a part or an entirety of outer periphery of the first peripheral region. The liquid crystal is disposed to have a higher liquid crystal molecular pretilt angle in the first peripheral region than in the effective optical modulation region. The liquid crystal is disposed in a random alignment state free from uniaxial alignment characteristic or in a layer structure in the second peripheral region. As a result, the liquid crystal molecular movement along the extension of substrates is suppressed in the effective optical modulation region and in the second peripheral region and relatively allowed in the first peripheral region, so that the impurities in the liquid crystal are confined in the second peripheral region while avoiding the liquid crystal thickness irregularity.

Liquid crystal device, image display apparatus and image forming

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal assuming two stable states disposed between the opposing electrodes. The opposing inner surfaces of the pair of substrates have been subjected to an aligning treatment such that the liquid crystal placed in one of the two stable states moves under application of an electric field in a direction identical to one in which the liquid crystal placed in the other of the two stable states moves under the application of the electric field. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region, wherein the effective optical modulation region and the photosensitive member have been subjected to different aligning treatments. In the liquid crystal device thus constituted, a liquid crystal movement liable to cause yellowing or fluctuation in drive parameters otherwise is effectively compensated by a liquid crystal movement in the peripheral region.

Liquid crystal device and process for production thereof

A ferroelectric liquid crystal device of a cell structure having a suppressed increase of cell thickness along a cell side is constituted by disposing a ferroelectric liquid crystal between a pair of electrode plates each sequentially provided with an electrode, an insulating film and an alignment film on a substrate. The alignment film is provided with a surface unevenness for suppressing a liquid crystal movement causing the increase in cell thickness. The surface unevenness is provided to the alignment film directly or to the insulating film below the alignment film, e.g., by wet forming the relevant film by using at least two solvents having different boiling points or dispersing fine particles within the relevant film, optionally followed by removal of the fine particles.

Method of making ferroelectric liquid crystal device using particles to

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely disposed substrates having opposing inner surfaces and opposing electrodes thereon, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal disposed between the opposing electrodes. The liquid crystal device has an effective optical modulation region and a peripheral region outside the effective optical modulation region. In the device, liquid crystal molecules in the peripheral region have a pretilt angle which is larger than a pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules in the effective optical modulation region. As a result, a local pressure irregularity or a cell thickness change caused by a liquid crystal molecular movement along an extension of the device is effectively suppressed.

Liquid crystal device

A liquid crystal apparatus comprises a) a liquid crystal device comprising an electrode matrix composed of scanning electrodes and data electrodes, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal; and b) a driving means. The driving means includes a first drive means for applying a scanning selection signal two or more scanning electrodes apart in one vertical scanning so at to effect in one picture scanning in plural times of vertical scanning, and a second drive means for applying data signals in synchronism with the scanning selection signal.

A liquid crystal apparatus includes: a ferroelectric liquid crystal device comprising an electrode matrix including a plurality of scanning lines and a plurality of data lines intersecting with the scanning lines, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal disposed between the scanning lines and data lines, and a driver for sequentially applying a scanning signal to the scanning lines for selecting a particular scanning line, and for applying data signals for the pixels on the selected scanning line to the data lines. Each of the data signals has a plurality of pulses including a pulse in a controlled phase and a pulse in an auxiliary phase, and the scanning signal for the selected scanning line has a compensation pulse for compensating the pulse in the auxiliary phase of a data signal for a pixel on the selected scanning line.

Chiral smectic liquid crystal display and method of selectively driving

A ferroelectric liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing a ferroelectric liquid crystal between a pair of substrates having thereon electrodes for voltage application and provided with uniaxial alignment axes, as by rubbing, so as to provide a high pretilt angle of at least 10 degrees. A problematic liquid crystal movement in such a high-pretilt angle ferroelectric liquid crystal device is suppressed by improving a smectic layer structure therein, inclusive of a symmetry of pretilt angles at the pair of substrate boundary surfaces. Such an improved smectic layer structure is accomplished by a realigning treatment after cooling to the chiral smectic phase or in the final stage of the cooling to the chiral smectic phase as by application of an AC electric field and/or by repetitive heating-cooling in the chiral smectic phase. The improved smectic layer structure is represented by, e.g., an X-ray diffraction peak having an increased peak area and/or a decreased half-value width.

Ferroelectric liquid crystal device and treatment method therefor

Liquid crystal device with different pretilt in peripheral portion

Growing community of inventors

Isehara, Japan

Tadashi Mihara