Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Tadashi Ohtake

Kiyoshi Minoura

Wataru Nakamura

Takatoshi Orui

Masanobu Mizusaki

Mitsuhiro Murata

Shuichi Kozaki

Shoichi Ishihara

Takehisa Sakurai

Makoto Nakazawa

Masako Nakamura

Fumiki Nakano

Hiroyuki Moriwaki

Eiji Satoh

Tomoko Teranishi

Hidefumi Yoshida

Takashi Katayama

Kenichi Kitoh

Satoshi Matsumura

Hao Li

A sealant composition with which a decrease in voltage holding rate is less likely to occur in a liquid crystal cell for a scanning antenna, the sealant composition according to the present invention includes a photo-radical polymerization initiator that generates a radical through application of light with a wavelength of 450 nm or greater and a polymerization component that contains a polymerizable functional group that is polymerizable using the radical.

Sealant composition, liquid crystal cell, and method of producing liquid crystal cell

Disclosed is a liquid crystal panel of a scanning antenna including a transmission and/or reception region in which a plurality of antenna units are arrayed, and a non-transmission and/or reception region, the liquid crystal panel including: a TFT substrate provided with a first dielectric substrate, a TFT supported by the first dielectric substrate, a gate bus line, a source bus line, and a patch electrode; a slot substrate provided with a second dielectric substrate, and a slot electrode formed on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate and including a slot arranged so as to correspond to the patch electrode; a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate and including a plurality of liquid crystal regions; and a plurality of sealing portions that respectively surround the plurality of liquid crystal regions and bond the TFT substrate and the slot substrate together. Each of the plurality of antenna units includes one of the plurality of liquid crystal regions.

Scanned antenna

A seal material composition according to the present invention includes: an epoxy compound including an epoxy group; and a polymerizable epoxy curing agent including a polymerizable functional group configured for cross-linking the epoxy groups and for radical polymerization in a single molecule.

Seal material composition, liquid crystal cell, and scanned antenna

A scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate including a plurality of TFTs supported by a first dielectric substrate and a plurality of patch electrodes, a slot substrate including a slot electrode supported by a second dielectric substrate, a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate, and a reflective conductive plate disposed opposing the second dielectric substrate across a dielectric layer. The slot electrode includes a plurality of slots disposed corresponding to the plurality of patch electrodes, each patch electrode is connected to a drain of the corresponding TFT, the slot electrode includes Cu layers, and lower metal layers and/or an upper metal layer, and the lower metal layer and/or the upper metal layer decrease about a half or more of a tensile stress of the Cu layer.

Scanned antenna and method of manufacturing scanned antenna

A liquid crystal panel of a scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate provided with a first dielectric substrate, a TFT supported by the first dielectric substrate, a gate bus line, a source bus line, and a patch electrode; a slot substrate provided with a second dielectric substrate, and a slot electrode that is formed on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate and includes a slot arranged so as to correspond to the patch electrode; and a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate. One of the TFT substrate and the slot substrate includes a projecting layer formed of resin and disposed on the liquid crystal layer side of the patch electrode or the slot electrode in a region surrounded by a sealing portion. The projecting layer is arranged so as not to overlap the patch electrode or the slot.

To provide a sealant composition with which a decrease in voltage holding rate is less likely to occur in a liquid crystal cell for a scanning antenna, the sealant composition according to the present invention includes a photo-radical polymerization initiator that generates a radical through application of light with a wavelength of 450 nm or greater and a polymerization component that contains a polymerizable functional group that is polymerizable using the radical.

The scanning antenna () is a scanning antenna in which antenna units (U) are arranged, the scanning antenna including: a TFT substrate () including: a first dielectric substrate (), TFTs, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and patch electrodes (); a slot substrate () including: a second dielectric substrate (), and a slot electrode (); a liquid crystal layer (LC) provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; and a reflective conductive plate (). The slot electrode includes slots () arranged in correspondence with the plurality of patch electrodes, and a thickness of the second dielectric substrate () is smaller than the thickness of the first dielectric substrate () at least in a region where the antenna units (U) are arranged.

Scanning antenna

A scanning antenna includes a TFT substrate including a first dielectric substrate, TFTs supported by the first dielectric substrate, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and patch electrodes; a slot substrate including a second dielectric substrate, and a slot electrode formed on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate; a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; and a reflective conduction plate facing a second main surface of the second dielectric substrate&#x2014;on a side opposite the first main surface with a dielectric layer therebetween. The slot electrode includes slots disposed corresponding to the patch electrodes, and each of the patch electrodes is connected to the drain of a corresponding TFT. A low-dielectric-loss material layer is formed in the slot, the low-dielectric-loss material layer being made from a material having a smaller dielectric loss with respect to microwaves than that of the liquid crystal material constituting the liquid crystal layer.

Scanning antenna and method for manufacturing scanning antenna

A scanning antenna () in which a plurality of antenna units (U) are arranged, the scanning antenna including: a TFT substrate () including a first dielectric substrate (), TFTs, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and patch electrodes (); a slot substrate () including a second dielectric substrate () and a slot electrode () formed on a first main surface of the second dielectric substrate; a liquid crystal layer (LC) provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; and a reflective conductive plate () disposed opposing via a dielectric layer () a second main surface opposite to the first main surface of the second dielectric substrate, () wherein the slot electrode includes slots disposed corresponding to the respective patch electrodes, and a heater part () is further provided on the outside of the TFT substrate () or on the outside of the slot substrate ().

The optical device () includes a first substrate (), a second substrate (), and an optical layer (). The first substrate includes a first electrode () and a second electrode () configured to be provided with mutually different electrical potentials within a pixel. The optical layer may include a medium () and a plurality of shape-anisotropic particles () dispersed in the medium. At least one of the first electrode and the second electrode may include a plurality of comb teeth portions () arranged at predetermined intervals along the first direction (D). When an electric potential difference is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, the pixel may be configured to have an electrical field distribution in which a strong electric field region having a stronger field intensity than another region is periodically formed parallel to the surface of the optical layer along a second direction (D) orthogonal to the first direction.

Optical device

The present invention provides an optical modulator that prevents aggregation of shape-anisotropic particles. The optical modulator of the present invention includes: () a first substrate and a second substrate that are disposed to face each other; () an optical modulation layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and () a vertical alignment film. The optical modulation layer () contains: (A) liquid crystal molecules that have a positive anisotropy of dielectric constant with a value of the anisotropy &#x394;&#x3b5; of 10 or more; and (B) shape-anisotropic particles each including a core material and a coating layer that is formed of a material containing a fluorine atom and constitutes an outer surface of the shape-anisotropic particles. The first substrate includes a pair of electrodes. The liquid crystal molecules and the shape-anisotropic particles are aligned perpendicular to the first substrate with no voltage applied to the electrodes and are tilted parallel to the first substrate by a transverse electric field generated by application of voltage to the electrodes. The liquid crystal molecules have a surface energy in the range of 27 to 35 mN/m. The vertical alignment film has a surface energy in the range of 30 to 40 mN/m.

Optical modulator and display device

A scanned antenna () is a scanned antenna including antenna elements (U) arranged together, the scanned antenna including: a TFT substrate () including a first dielectric substrate (), TFTs, gate bus lines, source bus lines, and patch electrodes (); a slot substrate () including a second dielectric substrate () a slot electrode (); a liquid crystal layer (LC) provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate; and a reflective conductive plate (). The slot electrode includes slots () arranged so as to correspond to the patch electrodes. As seen from the normal direction to the first dielectric substrate, a plurality of spacer structures () provided between the TFT substrate and the slot substrate are arranged so as not to overlap with first regions (Rp) and/or second regions (Rp), where the first regions are regions that are within a distance of 0.3 mm from edges of the slots and the second regions are regions that are within a distance of 0.3 mm from edges of the patch electrodes.

Picture element electrodes () and common electrodes () are provided in one of two substrates facing each other. Each picture element () has a plurality of sub picture elements (). In a range in which a signal voltage of an image signal is low, a display is carried out only in a first sub picture element () having narrower electrode spacing, whereas in a range in which the signal voltage of the image signal is high, a display is carried out in both of the first sub picture element () and a second sub picture element () having wider electrode spacing.

Liquid crystal display element, liquid crystal display device, and display method employed in liquid crystal display element

An vertical alignment type liquid crystal display element () which controls an orientation of liquid crystal molecules () in a liquid crystal layer () by use of a transverse electric field so as to carry out display. A CF-side first insulating layer () and a CF-side second insulting layer () which have respective different dielectric constants are provided, within a pixel in a planar view, on or above a CF substrate () so that a first electric field region () and a second electric field region () which differ in shapes of equipotential lines are formed in the pixel due to generation of a transverse electric field.

Liquid crystal display element comprising at least two insulating layers having different dielectric constants and at least two pixel regions which differ in shapes of equipotential lines

A vertical alignment liquid crystal panel based on a transverse electric field drive system is provided which shows few changes in color when looked squarely at. A liquid crystal panel () is a vertical alignment liquid crystal panel based on a transverse electric field drive system, which carries out a display by driving, with a transverse electric field, a liquid crystal layer () sandwiched between substrates (), and the substrate () is provided with an insulating layer () having at least two regions that are different in relative permittivity from each other in a pixel () composed of a red subpixel (R), a green subpixel (G), and a blue subpixel (B). Those regions of the insulating layer () which correspond to the blue, green, and red subpixel (B,G,R) in the liquid crystal panel () have relative permittivities of 3, 3 to 7, and 4 to 7, respectively.

Growing community of inventors

Sakai, Japan

Tadashi Ohtake