The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 03, 2001
Makoto Hashimoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Takusei Sato, Tokyo, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A thin film semiconductor device includes pluralities of signal and gate interconnections crossing each other on an insulating substrate. Pixels are disposed at crossing points between the signal and gate interconnections. Each pixel has at least a pixel electrode, a thin film transistor for driving the pixel electrode, and a light shield band for shielding the thin film transistor from external light. A source of the thin film transistor is connected to the signal interconnection, a drain thereof is connected to the pixel electrode, and a gate electrode thereof is connected to the gate interconnection. The light shield band is formed of a first conductive layer, and at least part of the light shield band is used as the gate interconnection. The gate electrode is formed of a second conductive layer different from the first conductive layer. The first conductive layer used for the gate interconnection is electrically connected via a contact hole to the second conductive layer forming the gate electrode within each pixel region. A pixel opening ratio of the thin film semiconductor device used as a drive substrate for an active matrix type liquid crystal display unit is thus improved.