Liquid crystal display with a uniform common voltage and method thereof

• US 7,298,448 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2004
• Issued: 11/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Yang-En
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelms; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THANH NHAN P
• Application Number:
  US10/708,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20040201813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,365 Days
• Field of Search: 349/106, 349/107, 349/108, 349155-157, 349/110
• US Class Current: 349/155
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13394 spacers regularly patterned on the cell subtrate, e.g. walls, pillars G02F1/133377 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1345 Conductors connecting electrodes to cell terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/121 common or background

Abstract

An LCD with a uniform common voltage and a method thereof. The present invention method includes providing a lower substrate, forming scan lines and data lines, then forming common electrodes and common electrode pads electrically connecting the common electrodes. The method also includes providing an upper substrate, forming photo spacers corresponding to each of the electrode pad, then forming a conductive material layer covering each photo spacer, combining the two substrates and connecting the conductive material layer on the photo spacers to the common electrode pads, and sealing the two substrates.

Claims

1. A method for fabricating a liquid crystal display (LCD) with a uniform common voltage, the method comprising:

providing a lower substrate having a display area and a non-display area;

forming a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of common electrodes, and a plurality of common electrode pads on an upper surface of the lower substrate simultaneously, wherein the common electrodes are adapted to transmit a common voltage and are positioned at the same plane as a plane where the common electrode pads are positioned on the lower substrate, and the common electrode pads are electrically connected to the common electrodes;

forming a plurality of data lines on the upper surface of the lower substrate, wherein the data lines are arranged substantially perpendicular to the scan lines to form a pixel matrix in the display area, the pixel matrix comprising a plurality of pixels;

providing an upper substrate having a plurality of color filters, and black matrices disposed between adjacent color filters, the black matrices being covered by the color filters, and each color filter having a lower surface;

forming a plurality of photo spacers on the upper substrate, each photo spacer being in direct contact with the lower surfaces of adjacent color filters, and corresponding to one of the black matrices and one of the common electrode pads on the lower substrate;

forming a conductive material layer on the upper substrate and covering the surface of the photo spacers;

combining the upper substrate and the lower substrate face to face by the photo spacers to support a space between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, and electrically connecting the conductive material layer covering the surface of each of the photo spacers to the common electrode pads corresponding to each of the photo spacers; and

filling a plurality of liquid crystal molecules in the space between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, and sealing the space between the upper substrate and the lower substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) on the upper surface of the lower substrate, wherein the TFTs are positioned on each intersection of the scan lines and the data lines as switching elements of the pixels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the lower substrate further comprises an alignment film having a plurality of openings disposed on the common electrodes, and the dimension of each photo spacer plus the dimension of the conductive material layer covering the photo spacer substantially equal to the dimension of each opening so that the alignment film is in contact with the conductive material layer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the color filters comprise red color filters, green color filters, and blue color filters.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a polarizer on a bottom surface of the lower substrate and forming a polarizer on an upper surface of the upper substrate.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the pixels contains one of the photo spacers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the conductive material layer is a transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) layer.

8. A LCD with a uniform common voltage, the LCD comprising:

a lower substrate having a display area and a non-display area on an upper surface thereof the lower substrate comprising;

a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines, wherein the data lines are arranged substantially perpendicular to the scan lines to form a pixel matrix in the display area, the pixel matrix comprising a plurality of pixels;

a plurality of common electrodes adapted to transmit a common voltage; and

a plurality of common electrode pads electrically connected to the common electrodes, the common electrode pads and the common electrodes are positioned at a same plane on the lower substrate;

an upper substrate positioned on the lower substrate oppositely, the upper substrate comprising;

a plurality of color filters, and black matrices disposed between adjacent color filters, the black matrices being covered by the color filters, and each color filter having a lower surface;

a plurality of photo spacers positioned on the upper substrate for supporting a space between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, wherein each of the photo spacers is in direct contact with the lower surfaces of adjacent color filters and corresponding to one of the black matrices and one of the common electrode pads of the lower substrate; and

a conductive material layer positioned on the upper substrate covering the photo spacers, wherein the conductive material layer covering the photo spacers is connected to each of the common electrode pads corresponding to each of the photo spacers; and

a plurality of liquid crystal molecules filled in the space between the upper substrate and the lower substrate.

9. The LCD of claim 8, wherein the lower substrate further comprises a plurality of TFTs positioned on each intersection of the scan lines and the data lines as switching elements of the pixels.

10. The LCD of claim 8, wherein the lower substrate further comprises an alignment film having a plurality of openings disposed on the common electrodes, and the dimension of each photo spacer plus the dimension of the conductive material layer covering the photo spacer substantially equal to the dimension of each opening so that the alignment film is in contact with the conductive material layer.

11. The LCD of claim 8, wherein the color filters comprise red color filters, green color filters, and blue color filters.

12. The LCD of claim 8 further comprising a polarizer positioned on the upper surface of the upper substrate and a polarizer positioned on the bottom surface of the lower substrate.

13. The LCD of claim 8, wherein each of the pixels contains one of the photo spacers.

14. The LCD of claim 8, wherein the conductive material layer is a transparent ITO layer.