LIQUID CRYSTAL DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

• US 20070064178A1
• Filed: 09/18/2006
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Japan Display West Incorporated (Japan Display Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Murai, Ichiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,688,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 349/108
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133371 Cells with varying thickness of the liquid crystal layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133514 Colour filters
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133555 Transflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133784 by rubbing
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13394 spacers regularly patterned on the cell subtrate, e.g. walls, pillars G02F1/133377 takes precedence

Abstract

There is provided a liquid crystal device, wherein a liquid crystal layer is interposed between a first substrate and a second substrate, and at least a display pixel corresponding to a colored region of a color from blue to green in a visible light region of which the color varies depending on a wavelength is included, wherein at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a spacer which defines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer and an alignment film which is subjected to a rubbing process in a predetermined direction, and wherein a relative positional relationship between the spacer and the display pixel is defined such that a region of the alignment film, which is not subjected to the rubbing process due to existence of the spacer at the time of the rubbing process, is positioned in the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal device,

a liquid crystal layer interposed between a first substrate and a second substrate;

and

at least one display pixel corresponding to a colored region of a color from blue to green in a visible light region of which the color varies depending on a wavelength is included,

wherein at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a spacer which defines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer and an alignment film which is subjected to a rubbing process in a predetermined direction, and

wherein a relative positional relationship between the spacer and the display pixel is defined such that a region of the alignment film, which is not subjected to the rubbing process due to existence of the spacer at the time of the rubbing process, is positioned in the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green.

3. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein the rubbing process is performed from the spacer to the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green, based on the position of the spacer.

4. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein the region, which is not subjected to the rubbing process, is positioned on an extension line of the direction of the rubbing process.

5. The liquid crystal device according to claim 3, wherein the length of the region, which is not subjected to the rubbing process, in the direction of the rubbing process is greater than the thickness of the spacer and the width of the region, which is not subjected to the rubbing process, in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the rubbing process is equal to that of the spacer.

6. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1,

wherein one of the first substrate and the second substrate is a color filter substrate including at least a colored layer including the colored region of the color from blue to green and a common electrode, and the other of the first substrate and the second substrate is an element substrate including a source line and a gate line which extend perpendicular to each other, a switching element which is provided in correspondence with an intersection between the gate line and the source line and is connected to the gate line and the source line, and a pixel electrode which is disposed at a position corresponding to the colored layer and is connected to the switching element, and

wherein the spacer is provided on the color filter substrate or the element substrate.

7. The liquid crystal device according to claim 6,

wherein, in a state that the element substrate and the color filter substrate face each other, the source line and the gate line for driving the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green are disposed in the vicinity of the outer side of the pixel electrode corresponding to the display pixel, and the switching element connected to the source line and the gate line is disposed at a corner of the display pixel, and

wherein the spacer is disposed at a position which overlaps the gate line, the source line or the pixel electrode corresponding to the display pixel in a two-dimensional direction, a position which overlaps the intersection between the source line and the gate line in a two-dimensional direction, or a position which overlaps the switching element in a two-dimensional direction.

8. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein, in the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green, a light shielding film having light shielding effect is provided at a position corresponding to the region which is not subjected to the rubbing process.

9. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein, in the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green, a light shielding film having light shielding effect is not provided at a position corresponding to the region which is not subjected to the rubbing process.

10. The liquid crystal device according to claim 6,

wherein the color filter substrate includes four colored regions including a colored region of blue color series, a colored region of red color series, a colored region of a color from blue to green, and a colored region of a color from green to orange in the visible light region of which the color varies depending on the wavelength, and

wherein one color display pixel which is a minimum unit of color display has a structure in which display pixels corresponding to the four colored regions are arranged in a stripe shape or a mosaic shape.

11. The liquid crystal device according to claim 10,

wherein each of the display pixels corresponding to the four colored regions has a transmissive region for performing a transmissive display mode and a reflective region for performing a reflective display mode,

wherein the optical concentrations of the four colored regions which are provided in correspondence with the reflective region are less than those of the four colored regions which are provided in correspondence with the transmissive region, and

wherein the spacer is provided in correspondence with the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green in the reflective region.

12. The liquid crystal device according to claim 10,

wherein each of the display pixels corresponding to the four colored regions has a transmissive region for performing a transmissive display mode and a reflective region for performing a reflective display mode,

wherein the optical concentrations of the four colored regions which are provided in correspondence with the reflective region are equal to those of the four colored regions which are provided in correspondence with the transmissive region,

wherein a region in which the colored region is not provided in the reflective region is provided in at least one of the four colored regions corresponding to the reflective region, and

wherein the spacer is provided in correspondence with the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green in the reflective region.

13. The liquid crystal device according to claim 10,

wherein each of the display pixels corresponding to three colored regions including the colored region of blue color series, the colored region of red color series and the colored region of the color from green to orange has a transmissive region for performing a transmissive display mode and a reflective region for performing a reflective display mode, and the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green has only a transmissive region,

wherein a region in which the colored region is not provided in the reflective region is provided in at least one of the three colored regions corresponding to the reflective region, and

wherein the spacer is provided in correspondence with the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green in the transmissive region.

14. The liquid crystal device according to claim 10,

wherein each of the display pixels corresponding to three colored regions including the colored region of blue color series, the colored region of red color series and the colored region of the color from green to orange has a transmissive region for performing a transmissive display mode and a reflective region for performing a reflective display mode, and the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green has only a transmissive region,

wherein the area of the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green is less than that of each of the display pixels corresponding to the three colored regions, and

wherein the spacer is provided in correspondence with the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green in the transmissive region.

15. The liquid crystal device according to claim 10,

wherein each of the display pixels corresponding to the four colored regions has a transmissive region for performing a transmissive display mode and a reflective region for performing a reflective display mode, and the colored region of the color from blue to green is not provided in the reflective region of the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green or the colored region of the color from blue to green is provided in the reflective region of the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green and the area of the colored region of the color from blue to green is less than those of the colored region of blue color series, the colored region of red color series and the colored region of the color from green to orange corresponding to the reflective region,

wherein a region in which the colored region is not provided in the reflective region is provided in at least one of the four colored regions corresponding to the reflective region, and

wherein the spacer is provided in correspondence with the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green in the reflective region.

16. The liquid crystal device according to claim 12, wherein the region, which is not subjected to the rubbing process, is positioned in a region in which the colored region of the color from blue to green is not provided in the reflective region.

18. An electronic apparatus comprising the liquid crystal device according to claim 1 as a display unit.

2. A liquid crystal device,

a liquid crystal layer is interposed between a first substrate and a second substrate;

a reflective region which reflects light incident from one surface of the first substrate;

a transmissive region which transmits light incident from one surface of the second substrate to the one surface of the first substrate; and

at least one display pixel corresponding to a colored region of a color from blue to green in a visible light region of which the color varies depending on a wavelength are included,

wherein at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a step-difference forming film which is provided at a position corresponding to the reflective region, a spacer which is provided on the step-difference forming film and defines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer, and an alignment film which is subjected to a rubbing process in a predetermined direction,

wherein the thickness of the liquid crystal layer corresponding to the reflective region is less than that of the liquid crystal layer corresponding to the transmissive region, and

wherein a relative positional relationship between the spacer and the display pixel is defined such that a region of the alignment film, which is not subjected to the rubbing process due to existence of the spacer at the time of the rubbing process, is positioned in the display pixel corresponding to the colored region of the color from blue to green.

17. A liquid crystal device,

a liquid crystal layer is interposed between a first substrate and a second substrate;

and

at least one display pixel including a colored region having a wavelength peak of 485 to 535 nm of transmitted light is included,

wherein at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a spacer which defines the thickness of the liquid crystal layer and an alignment film which is subjected to a rubbing process in a predetermined direction, and

wherein a relative positional relationship between the spacer and the display pixel is defined such that a region of the alignment film, which is not subjected to the rubbing process due to existence of the spacer at the time of the rubbing process, is positioned in the display pixel including the colored region having the wavelength peak of 485 to 535 nm of the transmitted light.