LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY

• US 20090174836A1
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hak-Sun Chang, Hee-Wook Do, Hyun-Wuk Kim, Jong-Ho Son, Seung-Hoo Yoo, Yoon-Sung Um
• Inventors: Son, Jong-Ho, Kim, Hyun-Wuk, Yoo, Seung-Hoo, Do, Hee-Wook, Chang, Hak-Sun, Um, Yoon-Sung
• Granted Patent: US 7,973,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 349/48
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134336 Matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134345 Subdivided pixels, e.g. for grey scale or redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13624 having more than one switching element per pixel
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/52 RGB geometrical arrangements

Abstract

A liquid crystal display includes: a substrate; a pixel electrode disposed on the substrate and having a first subpixel electrode and a second subpixel electrode; and a common electrode facing the pixel electrode, wherein the first subpixel electrode has a pair of bent edges substantially parallel to each other, the second subpixel electrode has a pair of bent edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second subpixel electrode has a height greater than a height of the first subpixel electrode.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal display comprising:

a first substrate;

a second substrate;

a plurality of first signal lines formed on the first substrate;

a plurality of second signal lines formed on the first substrate;

a first subpixel electrode formed on the first substrate and having a bent edge;

a second subpixel electrode formed on the first substrate, having a bent edge, and being disposed adjacent the first subpixel electrode in a first direction;

a third subpixel electrode formed on the first substrate, having a bent edge, and being disposed adjacent the second subpixel electrode in a second direction;

a fourth subpixel electrode formed on the first substrate, having a bent edge, and being disposed adjacent the third subpixel electrode in the first direction and adjacent the first subpixel electrode in the second direction;

a common electrode formed on the second substrate and facing the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes on the first substrate; and

a plurality of switching elements, each of the switching elements being coupled to one of the first signal lines, to one of the second signal lines, and to one of the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes,

wherein the bent edge of the second subpixel electrode is longer than the bent edge of the first subpixel electrode,

the bent edge of the fourth subpixel electrode is longer than the bent edge of the third subpixel electrode, and

the fourth subpixel electrode has an edge contacting an edge of the second subpixel electrode.

2. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein first-directional lengths of the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes are substantially equal to each other.

3. The liquid crystal display of claim 2, wherein a length of the bent edge of each of the second and the fourth subpixel electrodes is about twice a length of the bent edge of each of the first and the third subpixel electrodes.

4. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, further comprising a tilt direction determining member formed at the common electrode.

5. The liquid crystal display of claim 4, wherein the tilt direction determining member comprises a cutout having a bent portion passing through one of the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes and extending substantially parallel to the bent edge of the one of the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes.

6. The liquid crystal display of claim 5, wherein a distance between the bent portion of the cutout and the bent edge of the one of the first to the fourth subpixel electrodes is equal to about 20-35 microns.

7. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the first subpixel electrode and the second subpixel electrode are supplied with different voltages obtained from a single image information.

8. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the first subpixel electrode and the fourth subpixel electrode are supplied with different voltages obtained from a single image information.

9. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein the switching elements comprise a first thin film transistor coupled to the first subpixel electrode, and a second thin film transistor coupled to the second or the fourth subpixel electrode, and the first and the second thin film transistors are connected to two different ones of the first signal lines and to a single one of the second signal lines.

10. The liquid crystal display of claim 9, wherein the first and the second thin film transistors turn on to transmit signals from the single one of the second signal lines in response to the two different signals of the first signal lines.

11. The liquid crystal display of claim 9, wherein the first and the second thin film transistors turn on to transmit signals from the two different signals of the first signal lines in response to a signal from the single one of the second signal lines.

12. The liquid crystal display of claim 9, further comprising a tilt direction determining member formed at the common electrode.

13. The liquid crystal display of claim 12, wherein the tilt direction determining member comprises a cutout comprising a bent portion passing through the first or the second subpixel electrode and extending substantially parallel to the bent edges of the first or the second subpixel electrode.

14. The liquid crystal display of claim 13, wherein a distance between the bent portion of the cutout and one of the bent edges of the first or the second subpixel electrodes adjacent to the bent portion is equal to about 20-35 microns.

15. The liquid crystal display of claim 12, wherein the first subpixel electrode and the second subpixel electrode have different respective voltages.

16. The liquid crystal display of claim 15, wherein the first subpixel electrode and the second subpixel electrode are supplied with different respective voltages obtained from a single image information.

17. The liquid crystal display of claim 15, further comprising:

a first thin film transistor coupled to the first subpixel electrode;

a second thin film transistor coupled to the second subpixel electrode;

a first signal line coupled to the first thin film transistor;

a second signal line coupled to the second thin film transistor; and

a third signal line coupled to the first and the second thin film transistors and intersecting the first and the second signal lines.

18. The liquid crystal display of claim 17, wherein the first thin film transistor turns on to transmit a signal from the third signal line in response to a signal from the first signal line, and the second thin film transistor turns on to transmit a signal from the third signal line in response to a signal from the second signal line.

19. The liquid crystal display of claim 17, wherein the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor are disposed opposite each other with respect to the third signal line.

20. The liquid crystal display of claim 17, wherein the first thin film transistor turns on to transmit a signal from the first signal line in response to a signal from the third signal line, and the second thin film transistor turns on to transmit a signal from the second signal line in response to a signal from the third signal line.

21. The liquid crystal display of claim 17, further comprising a fourth signal line extending in a straight line connecting bent points of the bent edges of the first and the second subpixel electrodes.

22. The liquid crystal display of claim 21, wherein each of the first and the second thin film transistors comprises a drain electrode overlapping the fourth signal line.

23. The liquid crystal display of claim 12, wherein the first subpixel electrode and the second subpixel electrode are capacitively coupled to each other.

24. The liquid crystal display of claim 12, further comprising:

a thin film transistor coupled to the first subpixel electrode;

a first signal line coupled to the thin film transistor; and

a second signal line coupled to the thin film transistor and intersecting the first signal line.