JP2000147574A - Electric equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the necessity of a driver IC by simultaneously forming a pixel matrix and its peripheral driver circuit by using a-SiTFTs or TFTs to be produced at comparatively low temperature similarly to the a-SiTFTs, to improve yield and to reduce cost. SOLUTION: In the electric equipment having an active matrix type display device forming plural pixels on a substrate, each pixel has a thin film transistor(TFT) having amorphous silicon and the display device is connected to an external driving circuit for driving respective pixels by a TAB system and allowed to display the operating method or operating state of the electric equipment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display or a similar display. The present invention particularly relates to an active matrix display device, a display method thereof, and a manufacturing method thereof. One of the objects of the present invention is a display of a black-and-white display, which does not require a high-speed operation or a high-speed operation such as a gradation display, but requires a visibility and a low price. In particular, a display having such a function is used for a read-only display device such as various information displays.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent miniaturization and power saving of various OA equipments, display devices are also required to use conventional cathode ray tubes (CRs).
T), flat panel displays (FP) such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) and plasma displays
D). In particular, LCDs have been used in portable devices because of their low power consumption.

However, LCDs still have many problems to be solved. At present, the LCD that is widely used is called a simple matrix type LCD, and is sometimes called STN LCD after taking the name of a liquid crystal material. S
Because TNLCD is simple to manufacture, it is low in cost and widely used.

However, the STN as a liquid crystal material has a problem that the response speed which is an inherent characteristic of the material is extremely slow, and when an object moving at a high speed is displayed, the object cannot follow the object and cannot be displayed. .

[0005] Further, from the operation method, the time during which one pixel is lit in one frame (usually 10 to 30 msec) is from several tens μsec to several msec. This is inversely proportional to the number of rows in the matrix. For a matrix of 200 rows, one frame is 30 msec and about 150 μsec.
Only lights up. For this reason, there are drawbacks that the screen has low contrast and is very difficult to see when the screen is viewed obliquely. Furthermore, if there is a very bright or dark part of a part of the screen, a phenomenon (crosstalk) that affects the surrounding area occurs.

On the other hand, in recent years, LCDs having a system in which each pixel has an active element to perform switching of the pixel by using the active element have been proposed and marketed. These are collectively referred to as active matrix LCDs, but are referred to as TFTLCDs or MIMLCDs depending on the type of active element. The TFT is a thin film transistor, and the MIM is a diode having a metal / insulator / metal structure.

In these LCDs, the lighting time of the pixels during one frame is almost equal to one frame, so that the contrast is high and the viewing angle is wide. However, due to technical problems, its production yield is low, its cost and selling price are high, and at present, it is practically used only for high-end computer displays.

[0008] The demand for LCDs at present is such that they are mainly used in portable computers, but a wider range of applications is expected in the future. For example, there is a use as an information display such as a cordless telephone, a display attached to a mobile telephone, or a portable electronic dictionary. In such a case, visibility and low cost are required, and power saving is also required. However, conventional LCDs have not been satisfactory in that respect.

For example, although the cost of the STNLCD is low, it is difficult to see from the above problems. Also, there are two main types of TFTLCDs: TFTLCDs using TFTs using amorphous silicon (hereinafter a-Si TFTLCDs) and TFTLCDs using TFTs using polysilicon (hereinafter polysilicon TFTLCDs). Although the former and the latter have no problem in the visibility of the image, the cost is ST.
NLCD cannot be matched.

In particular, when an a-Si TFT LCD is used as a small-sized read-only display, one of the factors which raises the cost most is that a driver circuit cannot be built in. Therefore, a driver IC must be connected by a TAB method or the like. The cost of this IC becomes a major part of the cost increase.

FIG. 3 shows the number of pixels (number of dots) of the LCD.
And the cost. This relationship is conceptual and semi-quantitative. In a simple matrix system such as STNLCD, the matrix itself is relatively easy to manufacture, and most of the cost of a small-scale matrix is occupied by the driver IC. In other words, the number of driver ICs is proportional to the number of terminals in the matrix, while the number of dots is proportional to the square of the number of terminals. The cost is dominated by the price of The state is shown in a simple matrix: TAB in the figure.

In an a-Si TFT LCD, the production of a matrix is complicated, the yield of the matrix itself is low, and the overall shift is higher than that of a simple matrix. A-Si TFT in the figure:
TAB shows the situation. In the a-Si TFT LCD, the factor occupying the price is different between the small matrix and the large matrix. In a small-scale matrix, the cost of the driver IC occupies a large part of the cost, as in the case of the STNLCD. On the other hand, in the case of a large-scale matrix, cost due to a decrease in the yield of the matrix is a major factor.

In the polysilicon TFT LCD, since the driver IC can be formed simultaneously with the formation of the matrix by polysilicon, there is no need to mount the IC, and therefore, the driver IC does not contribute to the cost. In particular, the mounting of the driver IC has a technical problem, and the purpose of thinking of miniaturization is originally unsuitable. Therefore, the polysilicon TFT LCD is also characterized in that it can be miniaturized. However, polysilicon TFT
In LCDs, it is more difficult to fabricate the matrix itself than in a-Si TFT LCDs, and the cost increases significantly as the number of dots increases. However, since there is no cost factor of the driver IC in the small-scale matrix, as shown in the complete polysilicon TFT in FIG.
It is a cost that can compete with TFTLCD.

In the case of the a-Si TFT LCD, if the driver can be constituted by a-Si, a dotted line (complete a-Si
TFT), it can compete with STNLCD.
However, this was not possible with the conventional TFTLCD method. That is, for example, when a relatively small matrix of 160 × 100 is considered, the frame frequency is 30 Hz in a normal operation, and therefore, a signal of 480 kHz is input particularly to the data line driver. However, an a-Si TFT cannot follow such a high-speed operation. The same applies to compound semiconductors such as cadmium selenium (CdSe) based semiconductors. Although these semiconductor materials are not actively used as active devices, they have toxicity and resource problems, but their low response speed is also a serious problem.

To avoid this difficulty, the frame frequency may be reduced. In particular, when it is not necessary to display a moving image, it seems that there is no problem in lowering the frame frequency. However, due to the current technical problems of TFTLCD, the state of frame scanning is visible and the screen is extremely It becomes hard to see.

A conventional TN liquid crystal using TN liquid crystal
FIG. 2 shows a pixel circuit of the FTLCD and an operation example thereof. TF
The T gate electrode is connected to a selection line (also called a gate line), the drain is connected to a data line (also called a drain line), and the source is connected to a pixel electrode. The counter electrode of the pixel electrode is usually kept at a constant voltage as a common electrode. Generally, it is grounded.

As shown in FIG. 2B, a pulse is periodically applied to the selection line, and pixel information is applied to the data line as a voltage signal. The pulse period of the selection line is
In a normal operation, the period is one frame.
0 to 30 msec. The width of the pulse is approximately equal to or less than the period divided by the number of rows of the matrix, and is, for example, 100 to 300 μsec for a relatively small 100-row matrix used for an information display or the like.

The signal on the data line is in a voltage state when the pixel is turned on, and is in a non-voltage state when the pixel is turned off. The polarity of the voltage state is periodically changed. This is because TN liquid crystal material
This is because, when a direct current is applied, electrolysis occurs to cause deterioration. This operation is called alternating current.

Now, the TFT to which such a signal is applied
The source side of the signal is shown in V _1. First, the TFT is turned on by application of the pulse of the selection line, and the voltage of the source rises to become the same as the voltage of the drain. However, at the same time as the pulse is cut off, the voltage has an effect of ΔV due to the parasitic capacitance between the gate electrode of the TFT and the source region. Thereafter, the TFT is turned off, so that the pixel electrode is in an electrically floating state, and the TFT is turned off.
The voltage gradually decreases due to the leakage current of.

Next, a pulse is again applied to the selection line,
When the TFT is turned on, the source voltage approaches the negative drain voltage. Thereafter, the pulse is cut off, and the voltage shifts negatively by ΔV also due to the influence of the parasitic capacitance, and the voltage is attenuated by the leak current. When the pulse of the last selection line is applied, the voltage of the drain is 0, so that the charge stored in the pixel electrode is released, and V
₁ becomes 0.

If the frame frequency is reduced, such voltage fluctuations become visible at the frame frequency. The lowering of the frame frequency is limited to 10 Hz.

Another solution is to manufacture only the driver IC using polysilicon. However, in order not to limit the type of glass substrate, annealing at a high temperature, which is usually performed, cannot be performed. Advanced technology such as laser annealing must be adopted. However, laser annealing is a method that has not yet established its technology and is inferior in mass productivity.

[0023]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a new active matrix system capable of competing with a simple matrix system in terms of cost and realizing an image quality equivalent to that of an active matrix system, particularly in a display device which does not need to display moving images. And a display device thereof.

In particular, the present invention eliminates the need for a driver IC by simultaneously forming a pixel matrix and a peripheral driver circuit using an a-Si TFT or a TFT similar to the TFT which can be manufactured at a relatively low temperature, thereby improving yield and reducing cost. It will be realized.

[0025]

As described above, in a display that does not need to display a moving image, the frame frequency can be reduced by using a low-mobility semiconductor such as an a-Si TFT or a CdSe-based semiconductor. This is an important method for using a TFT in a driver circuit. However, a reduction in frame frequency must not cause visible image quality degradation, such as flicker.

By the way, according to the conventional idea, the meaning of the frame frequency overlaps with the meaning of the frequency of AC conversion and the meaning of the frequency of rewriting. Even if the two were separated, the rewriting frequency was naturally higher than the frequency of the alternating current. Here, pay attention to the word rewriting used in the text. In the text, rewriting does not only mean a change in display contents, but also means that a signal is externally injected or that there is a chance even if the display contents are the same. Therefore, in the conventional TFTLCD, the pixel that was lit in one frame can be maintained in the lit state in the next frame. For this reason, a pulse is applied to the selection line and a signal is sent to the data line at the same time. , Is rewritten.

As described above, the rewriting frequency cannot be set to 10 Hz or less due to visual problems.
In the present invention, the above-mentioned problem is solved by clearly distinguishing between AC and rewriting and controlling both independently. It will be clear that if these elements are separated, it is the alternating frequency that affects vision, not the rewriting frequency. For example,
In the segment type LCD, the operation of rewriting is substantially different from the operation of AC conversion. In fact, the rewriting frequency of the calculator's LCD is extremely slow. However, the frequency of the alternating current is about 30 Hz. The reason why the display on the LCD flickers due to battery exhaustion or the like is due to a decrease in the AC frequency, not because the rewrite cycle has dropped.

Also in the present invention, in order to prevent flicker, the frequency of the alternating current must be 10 Hz or more. However, the rewriting frequency needs to be 1 Hz or less.

For example, if rewriting is 1 Hz, 160
The signal sent to the driver of the data line of the × 100 dot LCD is 1/30 of the conventional 16 kHz,
-The speed is sufficient to drive even the Si TFT.

In order to achieve such an object, the conventional TFT LCD system is extremely inappropriate. In a conventional TFT LCD, one TFT
This is because two roles of selecting a pixel and supplying a voltage to the pixel are performed. Therefore, in the present invention, these two roles are separately performed by the respective active elements. Here, an element for selecting a pixel is a first element, and an element for receiving an output of the first element and supplying a voltage to the pixel is a second element.

These elements are composed of active elements such as TFTs and various diodes, or passive elements such as resistors and capacitors. At the time of manufacturing these, a-Si or one manufactured under conditions equivalent thereto is desired, and adoption of a high-temperature process of 600 ° C. or more is avoided.

In the simplest case, as shown in FIG.
To the first element (Tr₁), Second
Element (Tr_Two). In the present invention, the pixel writing
Regardless of the exchange, the conventional meaning of performing exchange
It is necessary to make a voltage supply line, which is not
It is necessary. As for the connection with each wiring, as shown in the figure
Tr₁To the data line and the gate electrode to the select line
Connect and source is Tr _TwoTo the gate electrode. Ma
The Tr_TwoDrain to the voltage supply line and source to the pixel
Connect to each pole.

The operation of this example will be described below with reference to FIG. Here, for the sake of simplicity, two
It is assumed that rewriting is performed once during the rewriting. Of course, the case where the rewriting is performed once while the AC conversion is performed ten times or the case where the rewriting is performed once while the AC conversion is performed 30 times can be similarly expanded.

In this example, it is assumed that the pixel which was initially turned off is turned on and then turned off again at the next rewriting. The select line V _G, a pulse as in the prior art are regularly applied. On the other hand, necessary signals are also applied to the data lines. The signal applied to the data line has two values, positive and negative,
Alternatively, two values of a voltage state and a non-voltage state are used. Here, it is assumed that both Tr ₁ and Tr ₂ are NMOS. Further, the potential of the counter electrode of the pixel is set to 0.

When a pulse is first applied to the selection line, since the signal on the data line is positive, the potential V ₁ on the source side of Tr ₁ becomes a positive value, similar to the conventional TFT LCD. The voltage increases, drops at the end of the pulse, and then discharges spontaneously. The time required for this discharge is determined by the OFF resistance of Tr ₁ and the capacitance C between the gate electrode of Tr ₂ and the channel. For example, a-Si
In a TFT, the OFF resistance is about 10 ¹³ Ω, and the C is about 10 ^-13 F, so that the attenuation constant is about 1 second. That is, after 1 second, the voltage is about 40%
It has become. By making C larger, it is possible to extend this time.

On the other hand, a signal synchronized with the pulse of the selection line is sent to the voltage supply line, and an AC pulse is sent to the voltage supply line as shown in FIG. Here, for each selection pulse, the signal polarity of the voltage supply line changes twice between positive and negative. Of course, the polarity may be changed more for one selection pulse.

[0037] Since the gate electrode of Tr ₂ already takes a positive voltage, Tr ₂ is turned ON, the voltage of the voltage supply line is directly applied to the pixel electrode, the voltage V ₂ of the pixel electrode, FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 1 (B), it takes a negative value,
Thereafter, as the voltage of the voltage supply line is inverted, the value becomes positive. It can be said that this is a feature of the present invention. By such a two-stage operation, the pixel is supplied with substantially the same voltage as the voltage of the voltage supply line, and this is caused by natural discharge as in the prior art. It does not decrease. Therefore, black and white are clearly distinguished.

Next, a pulse is again applied to the selection line. At this time, since the voltage of the data line is 0, the electric charge stored in C is discharged, and V ₁ becomes 0. As a result, Tr _{2 is} also turned off, and the supply of the voltage to the pixel is stopped.

In the prior art, since the cycle of the alternating current is the same as or longer than the cycle of rewriting, it is necessary to apply a pulse as shown by a dotted line to the selection line. However, with the present invention, the pulse is not needed and the operating signal is halved.

Considering the effect of the present invention, if rewriting is performed once per second by the same method as that of FIG. 1, for example, this is 1/30 of the conventional speed. This means that the pulse applied to the selection line and the signal on the data line can be 30 times longer. For example, in the case of the pulse of the selection line, it is about 100 μsec in the case of the matrix of 200 rows in the related art, but in the present invention, it can be set to 30 times as long as 3 msec. This means that the required voltage can be charged and supplied in a reliable manner even if the operation of the TFT is slow. Conventionally, the response of the a-Si TFT was a short time in which the operation of the TFT was difficult. Therefore, variations in the characteristics of each TFT resulted in pixels that were sufficiently charged and pixels that were not sufficiently charged, leading to deterioration in image quality.

According to the present invention, a semi-analog voltage is not applied to the pixel by the operation of the two-stage TFT. However, such a feature further reduces TFT defects and improves the yield. Contribute.

In this description, the TFT is a-SiT
It is desirable to use FT. And both are NM
An a-Si TFT of OS may be used, but an enhancement type TFT may be used for Tr ₁ and a depletion type TFT may be used for Tr ₂ . When an a-Si TFT is used, a PMOS is not suitable for the purpose because the operation speed is extremely slow. However, in a silicon semiconductor in an intermediate state between amorphous silicon and polysilicon, the mobility of holes is considerably large, so that a PMOS can be used. In that case, the peripheral circuit can also be CMOS.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the overall configuration of the apparatus of the present invention. The number of dots of this LCD is, for example, 320 × 480.
(Half the screen of a normal laptop computer). However, the screen is roughly divided into four parts, up, down, left and right, and each is driven by a driver (401) of four selection lines and voltage supply lines arranged beside the LCD matrix (406). Further, each of the four divided screens is further divided into halves and driven by data line drivers (402) provided above and below. Each driver has a wire bonding terminal (40
From 3), the wiring (405) connected by the wire bonding method is connected to an external circuit.

For example, paying attention to the lower left screen, the pixel located here is 9600, which is one eighth of the whole. if,
If the operation of rewriting only once per second is performed, the frequency of the signal transmitted from the wiring 405 to the data line driver 402 is 9.6 kHz. Also,
The signals sent to the selection line and the voltage supply line need to be sent at least a 30 Hz signal for one line to the voltage supply line, and the number of lines is half of 240 lines, ie, 120 lines (the other 120 lines are opposite). The driver on the side)
A 3.6 kHz signal is sent. In each case, the frequency is extremely small, and the driver is a-Si
Even if it is constituted by a TFT, there is almost no problem.

Further, when the driver circuit is formed simultaneously with the matrix as described above, the reduction in yield due to this is almost negligible. The capacitance C is especially problematic between the gate electrode and the channel of the Tr ₂ in the present invention. As mentioned earlier, in order to maintain the potential of V _1, Tr
The OFF resistance of ₁ and C are the parameters. The OFF resistance of the TFT can be changed to some extent by changing the thickness and width of the channel. However, it is difficult to achieve a high resistance of 10 ¹³ Ω or more. On the other hand, C is determined by the size of the gate electrode of Tr ₂ . For example, 10 × 10
If the thickness of the insulating film is 100 nm in a gate electrode of 0 μm ² , C is 10 ⁻¹³ to 10 ⁻¹² F. If silicon nitride having a high dielectric constant is used as the insulating film, C increases.

[0046] The use of 10 × 100 [mu] m stuff area to the gate electrode of Tr ₂ is undesirable leads to reduction in the aperture ratio. In fact, it is not advisable to devote much more area to TFTs. Therefore, to resolve this conflict, the voltage supply line, the overlapping source electrode and wiring Tr ₁ may. In this case, a large capacity can be obtained without lowering the aperture ratio. In this case, one of the methods is to use a material having a large dielectric constant for the interlayer insulator.

[0047] Thus, since the connection to large C to Tr _1, there may be some who are concerned about a reduction in the operating speed of the ON / OFF Tr _1. However, in the present invention,
The signal on each data line also lasts much longer than the pulse on the select line, for example, 30 times longer. On the other hand, the conventional T
In FTLCD, capacitance of the pixel electrode is a load 10 ^{-1 3}
It was about F. In the case of the present invention, a load capacity that is as large as that of the related art or about one order of magnitude is required. May be able to respond and operate.

When rewriting (including maintaining) the display according to the present invention, there is a method in which the display is rewritten (by an appropriate number of lines) in accordance with the timing of the AC conversion. For example, a method as shown in FIG. For example, let's say you have a 100 row matrix. Then, the first line, the 21st line, the 41st line, and the sixth line
It is assumed that the same signal is applied to the voltage supply lines of five rows, that is, the first row and the 81st row. Similarly, the second row and the 22nd
It is assumed that the five rows of the row, the 42nd row, the 62nd row, and the 82nd row, and the other rows also form a set, and operate in synchronization with each other.

At the time of the first AC conversion (FIG. 5A),
Assume that rewriting of pixels from the first row to the twentieth row is performed. At this time, a pulse is applied to the selection line and a positive voltage is applied to the voltage supply line to the pixels in the first row. On the other hand, the 21st
A voltage is applied to the voltage supply line, but no pulse is applied to the selection line, for the row and other pixels that move in synchronization with the first row. Therefore, at this time, rewriting is performed only on the first row among the rows operating in groups of five. The same is true for the other sets. At this time, only the first to twentieth rows are rewritten.

Next, it is assumed that a negative voltage is applied to the voltage supply line simultaneously with a pulse to the selection line in the 21st row. However, at this time, no pulse is applied to the selection line in the first row and other rows that operate synchronously. A voltage is applied to the voltage supply line in the same manner as in the 21st row. The same applies to other sets of rows, as shown in FIG.
Only the 0th row is rewritten.

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated. FIG. 5 (C)
In this case, lines 41 to 60 are rewritten. At this time, a positive voltage is applied to the voltage supply line. FIG.
In (D), lines 61 to 80 are rewritten. At this time, a negative voltage is applied to the voltage supply line. In FIG. 5E, the 81st to 100th rows are rewritten. At this time, a positive voltage is applied to the voltage supply line.

Thus, in FIG. 5F, the first to twentieth rows are rewritten again. At this time, the voltage applied to the voltage supply line is negative. FIG.
Each pixel has been rewritten once between (A) and (E), but the voltage of the pixel has changed five times, such as positive, negative, positive, negative, and positive. This is exactly what should be the feature of the present invention. That is, the rewriting cycle is longer than the alternating cycle. In particular, in the present invention, the load on the driver circuit is significantly reduced by setting the ratio of the period to 30 times or more.

In the present invention, the power for driving the LCD can be reduced. Conventional TFTLCD or STNL
In CD, the frequency of the signal output to each data line is
(Number of rows × 30) Hz. However, in the present invention, if rewriting is performed only once per second, for example, the frequency is (the number of rows × 1) Hz.

On the other hand, in the conventional LCD, the frequency of the signal output to each selection line is 30 Hz, whereas in the present invention, it is 1 Hz. However, in the present invention, since a signal of 30 Hz is output to the voltage supply line, this point is almost the same as the conventional one.

As a result, power consumption can be reduced by reducing the number of data line signals. Further, in the conventional STNLCD, since the operation is performed in the dynamic mode, it is necessary to illuminate the screen with a backlight in order to make the screen easy to see. However, in the present invention, since the operation is performed in the static mode, the backlight is operated in the static mode. Good visibility can be obtained without it.

In order to carry out the present invention, a known thin film semiconductor manufacturing technique may be used. Although the details thereof will not be described one by one, embodiments will be shown and described below.

[0057]

FIG. 6 shows an example of a pixel driving circuit for implementing the present invention and a method of manufacturing the same. This shows a state when the pixel circuit is viewed from above. The circuit of this embodiment has an inverted stagger type double TFT with triple metal wiring. In order to manufacture such a circuit, the following may be performed.

First, a selection line 601 (which becomes a gate electrode and wiring of Tr ₁ ) made of a metal material such as aluminum is patterned on an appropriate substrate (mask 1). At this time, if a metal oxide film having good insulating properties is formed on the surface of the selection line by an anodic oxidation method or the like, the probability of occurrence of a defect in a later process is reduced. Then, a first insulating layer functioning as a gate insulating film and an interlayer insulating film is formed. Next, an amorphous silicon or polysilicon film is formed by a CVD method or the like, and is patterned (mask 2). Next, using the mask 1, an etching stopper such as a silicon nitride film is formed so as to overlap the selection line. Alternatively, light may be irradiated from the back surface of the substrate to pattern the etching stopper in a self-aligned manner so as to overlap the selection line.

Next, a semiconductor film doped with impurities is formed and patterned (mask 3). Thus, the semiconductor region 602 of the first TFT is manufactured. FIG. 6 (A)
Shows the situation.

Next, the data line 603 is formed of a metal material. The data line is formed so as to be connected to the source of the first TFT (mask 4). At the same time, the first
The wiring 604 extending from the drain electrode of the TFT is formed. At this time, the reason why the metal wiring 604 exhibits such a complicated calculation is to make it overlap with the voltage supply line later. FIG. 6B shows this state.

Further, a second insulating film (which becomes a gate insulating film of the second TFT) is formed in the same manner as in the case of manufacturing the first TFT, and the activated semiconductor film of the second TFT is patterned. (Mask 5), and then using the mask 4,
An etching stopper is formed, and a semiconductor film doped with impurities is formed and patterned (mask 6). Thus, the semiconductor region 605 of the second TFT is formed.
Further, a voltage supply line 606 is formed of a metal material (mask 7), and a drain and a contact of the second TFT are formed. In this way, a circuit as shown in FIG. 6C is obtained. Finally, as shown in FIG. 6D, the transparent conductive film 607 is patterned (mask 8) to complete the circuit.

In the above steps, a total of eight masks are required, and the mask process is required ten times. In order to actively reduce the mask process, it is desirable to introduce a self-alignment process. In order to form a TFT without using an etching stopper, first, a source,
An impurity semiconductor serving as a drain region may be formed by patterning, and then an activated semiconductor film may be formed.

In this circuit, the voltage supply line and the second TFT
Are designed to overlap intentionally. This is the capacity of both (corresponding to C in FIG. 1A)
This is intended to increase the length of time for holding the charge accumulated in the gate electrode of the second TFT and reduce the number of rewrites.

[0064]

According to the present invention, in terms of legibility, T
L which is equivalent to an active matrix type such as FTLCD and can compete with STNLCD in price
A CD can be provided.

An object of the present invention is to provide an LCD used for a display device that does not need to display a moving image. For example, as an accessory of an electric device, a device used for displaying a method of operating the device or an operation state of the device is used. Traditionally, such applications have been extremely limited and the market has been small. Conventionally, a segment type LCD or SETN LCD has been used as a read-only display.

However, the segment system has a limited display capacity. Also, in STNLCD, it was necessary to mount a driver IC. At present, the TAB method is generally used as a technique for mounting such an IC, but it becomes technically difficult to adopt the TAB method as the pixels become smaller. Generally, the TAB method cannot be used when one side of the pixel is 100 μm or less.

In the present invention, such a problem does not occur because the driver IC is also integrally formed. However, in the conventional a-Si TFT LCD, it was difficult to configure the driver IC with the a-Si TFT due to the difficulty in the operation method. The present invention has successfully solved this point.

According to the present invention, a completely new use of a read-only LCD is expected. For example, in the present invention, an external I
Since C is not required, the size can be extremely reduced. Therefore, it can be used for a card type display device. For example,
It can be used for card-type pagers, display devices for various credit cards, and the like. Although such uses are expected, they cannot be put to practical use due to the lack of appropriate display devices and LCDs. At present, the market scale for such purposes is small, but it is expected that there will be enormous potential demand, and it is expected to grow into a large market.

In the present invention, the material of the TFT is 600
It is desirable to use a material manufactured at a low temperature of not more than ° C. Although the a-Si TFT is taken up in the embodiment, CdS
Even if it is a compound semiconductor such as CdSe or CdSe, there is no particular problem.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a circuit example of a pixel of a TFTLCD of the present invention and an operation example thereof.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit example of a pixel of a conventional TFTLCD and an operation example thereof.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the relationship between the number of pixels and the cost of various LCDs.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of a panel of the TFTLCD of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a display method of the TFTLCD of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a circuit of a pixel of a TFTLCD of the present invention and an example of a manufacturing method thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

 401 ... selection line / voltage supply line driver circuit 402 ... data line driver circuit 403 ... bonding pad 405 ... bonding wire 406 ... matrix area

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device having an active matrix display device in which a plurality of pixels are formed on a substrate, wherein the pixels include thin film transistors including amorphous silicon, and wherein the display device includes the pixel. And an external drive circuit for driving
The electric device, wherein the display device displays an operation method of the electric device or an operation state of the electric device. 2. An electric apparatus having an active matrix display device including a pixel including a first thin film transistor including amorphous silicon formed on a substrate having an insulating surface, wherein the display device drives the pixel. External drive circuit and T
The electric device, wherein the display device displays an operation method of the electric device or an operation state of the electric device. 3. An electric apparatus having an active matrix display device having a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, wherein the pixels have a first thin film transistor made of amorphous silicon, and Is an external driving circuit for driving the pixel and T
The electric device, wherein the display device displays an operation method of the electric device or an operation state of the electric device. 4. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein said electric device is a card-type display device. 5. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the electric device is a card-type pager.