PLACEMENT AND SHAPE OF ELECTRODES FOR USE IN DISPLAYS

• US 20100207854A1
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Xu, Ming, Chen, Cheng, Chang, Shih Chang, Gettemy, Shawn Robert, Gu, Mingxia
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/87
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133512 Light shielding layers, e.g. black matrix G02F1/136209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134363 for applying an electric field parallel to the substrate, i.e. in-plane switching [IPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134372 for fringe field switching [FFS] where the common electrode is not patterned
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134381 Hybrid switching mode, i.e. for applying an electric field with components parallel and orthogonal to the substrates
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1393 the birefringence of the liquid crystal being electrically controlled, e.g. ECB-, DAP-, HAN-, PI-LC cells G02F1/1396, G02F1/141 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/122 having a particular pattern

Abstract

A liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided having a discontinuous electrode. In certain embodiments, different portions (such as finger- or slit-like extensions) of the discontinuous electrode may be at different depths relative to one another and/or may be of different widths relative to one another. Similarly, in other embodiments, the different portions of the discontinuous electrode may be spaced apart in a non-uniform manner.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising:

an insulating layer;

a first electrode formed on a first side of the insulating layer, the electrode comprising two or more finger-like regions, wherein the two or more finger-like regions are formed at different depths with respect to the insulating layer;

a second electrode formed on a second side of the insulating layer opposite the first side;

a liquid crystal layer, wherein alignment of a plurality of liquid crystals within the liquid crystal layer is determined by operation of the first and the second electrode.

2. The LCD panel of claim 1, wherein the two or more regions are of different widths relative to one another.

3. The LCD panel of claim 1, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are substantially transparent.

4. The LCD panel of claim 1, wherein the first electrode comprises a pixel electrode and the second electrode comprises a common electrode.

5. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more input structures;

a storage structure encoding one or more executable routines;

a processor capable of receiving inputs from the one or more input structures and of executing the one or more executable routines when loaded in a memory; and

a liquid crystal display (LCD) capable of displaying an output of the processor, wherein the LCD comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising;

a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of liquid crystals whose alignment is determined by an electric field, wherein the alignment of the liquid crystals determines the amount of light which passes through the liquid crystal layer at the respective pixel; and

an electrode formed on an insulating layer, wherein the electrode is part of a circuit used to generate the electric field, the electrode comprising two or more slat-like portions disposed at different depths with respect to the insulating layer.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the LCD panel comprises a fringe field switched (FFS) LCD panel.

7. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein at least two of the two or more slat-like portions have different widths.

8. A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, comprising:

a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of liquid crystals whose alignment is determined by one or more electric fields; and

a circuitry layer capable of generating the one or more electric fields, the circuitry layer comprising;

an insulating layer;

a first electrode disposed on a first side of the insulating layer; and

a second electrode disposed on a second side of the insulating layer opposite the first side, wherein the second electrode comprises two or more regions at different depths relative to the insulating layer and wherein at least two of the two or more regions are of different widths.

9. The LCD of claim 8, wherein each pixel comprises a backlight assembly capable of generating light which is modulated based on the alignment of the plurality of liquid crystals at the pixel.

10. The LCD of claim 8, wherein the second electrode is connected to a drain of a thin film transistor (TFT) which controls generation of an electric field between the second electrode and the first electrode.

11. The LCD of claim 8, comprising a backlight assembly capable of emitting light that is modulated by the liquid crystal layer based on the alignment of the plurality of liquid crystals.

12. A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising:

an insulating layer;

a first electrode formed on a first side of the insulating layer;

a second electrode formed on a second side of the insulating layer opposite the first side, the second electrode comprising three or more extensions, wherein at least two of the extensions are at different depths relative to the insulating layer, and wherein the interval spacing between the three or more extensions is not uniform; and

a plurality of liquid crystals whose alignment is determined by an electric field generated between the first electrode and the second electrode.

13. The LCD of claim 12, wherein the at least two of the three or more extensions have different widths.

14. The LCD of claim 12, comprising a backlight assembly capable of emitting light that is modulated based on the alignment of the plurality of liquid crystals.

15. The LCD of claim 12, comprising a thin film transistor electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode to control generation of the electric field.

16. A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising:

a first electrode disposed on a first side of an insulating layer; and

a second electrode disposed on a second side of the insulating layer opposite the first side, wherein the electrode comprises two or more discontinuous regions having different elevations with respect to the first electrode; and

a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of liquid crystals whose alignment is determined by an electric field generated by the first electrode and the second electrode.

17. The LCD of claim 16, wherein at least two of the two or more discontinuous regions have different widths relative to one another.

18. An electronic device, comprising

one or more input structures;

a storage structure encoding one or more executable routines;

a processor capable of receiving inputs from the one or more input structures and of executing the one or more executable routines when loaded in a memory; and

a liquid crystal display (LCD) capable of displaying an output of the processor, wherein the LCD comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising;

a plurality of liquid crystals whose alignment is determined by an electric field;

a first electrode formed on a first side of an insulator layer;

a second electrode formed on a second side of the insulator layer opposite the first side, wherein the second electrode comprises two or more finger-like extensions that have different elevations relative to the first electrode;

a thin film transistor (TFT) electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode such that operation of the TFT controls generation of the electric field; and

a backlight assembly capable of generating light that is modulated by the plurality of liquid crystals.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein at least two of the two or more finger-like extensions have different widths relative to one another.

20. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the two or more finger-like extensions comprise more than three finger-like extensions and wherein the more than three finger-like extensions are not uniformly spaced apart.

21. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a plurality of pixels, comprising:

forming a first electrode;

forming an insulative layer on the first electrode;

forming a second electrode on the insulative layer such that two or more extensions of the second electrode are formed at different depths with respect to the insulative layer;

providing a liquid crystal layer at each pixel such that an electric field generated between the first electrode and the second electrode affects the alignment of a plurality of liquid crystals at the respective pixel.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein forming the second electrode comprises forming the second electrode such that at least two of the two or more extensions have different widths relative to one another.

23. The method of claim 21, comprising installing the LCD as a display of an electronic device.