JP2003090999A - Liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color filter with which well-balanced color purity in a pixel is obtainable and a liquid crystal display device using the same. SOLUTION: The color filter colors the first light L1 exhibiting a unidirectional optical path and the second light L2 exhibiting a bidirectional optical path for each pixel. The filter contains the first regional part 10t to transmit the first light L1 and the second regional part 10r to transmit the second light L2 for each pixel. The first regional part 10t and the second regional part 10r have structures to exhibit mutually different coloring effects when light with the identical optical path and the identical characteristics is transmitted therethrough.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a color filter. The present invention also relates to a liquid crystal display device using a color filter.

In particular, the present invention provides a unidirectional optical path in which incident light from one principal surface side of a color filter is transmitted through the filter only once, is colored, and is guided to the other principal surface side. The first light to be formed and the incident light from the other main surface side of the color filter are transmitted through the filter to be colored,
A bidirectional optical path is formed in which the transmitted light is reflected by a light reflecting element or the like arranged on the one main surface side, again enters the filter, is transmitted, is colored, and returns to the other main surface side. And a manufacturing method thereof. The present invention further relates to a liquid crystal display device using such a color filter and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Outside light incident from the front side is subjected to light modulation in accordance with an image to be displayed while being reflected and guided to the front side, and similarly to incident light from the back side from a backlight system. A so-called semi-transmissive reflection type liquid crystal display device, in which light is modulated according to an image to be displayed and transmitted to lead to the same front side, is being put into practical use in earnest. This type of liquid crystal display device provides effective image display mainly due to external light (ambient light) (reflection mode) when the environment is bright and mainly due to self-emission light of the backlight system (transmission mode) when the environment is dark. Is.

Prior Art Article M. Kubo, et al. "D
evelopment of Advanced TFT with Good Legibility und
er Any Intensity of Ambient Light ”, IDW'99, Proc
eedings of The Sixth International Display Worksho
ps, AMD3-4, page 183-186, Dec. 1, 1999, sponsored b
y ITE and SID discloses such a type of liquid crystal display device. In this device, each pixel electrode is divided into a reflection area and a transmission area. The reflective area is
The reflective electrode portion is made of aluminum coated on an acrylic resin having an uneven surface, and the transparent region is made of an ITO (indium tin oxide) transparent electrode portion having a flat surface. Further, the transmissive region is arranged in the center of one rectangular pixel region and has a rectangular shape substantially similar to the pixel region, while the reflective region is a portion in the pixel region other than the rectangular transmissive region. It has a shape surrounding it. Visibility is improved by such a pixel configuration.

[0005]

However, in the liquid crystal display device of this prior art, the color purity of the display color is different between the transmissive region and the reflective region even though they are within the same pixel. This is believed to be due to the prior art color filters coloring the light from the backlight system and the ambient light that have different optical paths in the same way. As a result, the quality of the display color in the entire screen is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a color filter capable of obtaining a balanced color purity in a pixel and a liquid crystal display device using the same. There is.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a color filter capable of reproducing a good color over the entire screen and a liquid crystal display device using the color filter.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing such a color filter and a liquid crystal display device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a color filter according to one aspect of the present invention presents a bidirectional optical path with a first light exhibiting a unidirectional optical path for each pixel. A color filter for coloring second light, comprising: a first area portion that transmits the first light and a second area portion that transmits the second light for each pixel, The one area portion and the second area portion are color filters having a structure that exhibits different coloring effects when light having the same optical path and the same characteristic is transmitted.

According to this aspect, by such a structure, the effect of coloring the first light in the transmission mode of the first region portion and the effect of coloring the second light in the reflection mode of the second region portion can be achieved. Since the balance can be set as desired, balanced color purity can be obtained in the pixel.

In this aspect, the first area portion and the second area portion have an intra-pixel coloring effect provided by the first area portion of the first light under a predetermined condition and the second area portion.
There may be a difference in structure so that the effect of coloring light in the pixel provided by the second region portion becomes substantially equal. As a result, the coloring effect can be made substantially equal, and the same good visibility can always be ensured in the reflection mode and the transmission mode.

Further, in the present aspect, the first region portion and the second region portion may have a structure in which their coloring material forming densities are different from each other, and the second region portion is the second region. May have a colored portion for coloring the light and at least one non-colored portion for transmitting the second light substantially uncolored. By doing so, the coloring effect can be easily made different between the first region portion and the second region portion.

Further, in this aspect, the first and second
Each of the area portions is formed of a plurality of coloring material structural units,
The coloring material structural unit of the first region portion may be denser than the coloring material structural unit of the second region portion. According to this, since the coloring material formation densities of the first region portion and the second region portion are changed by the plurality of coloring material structural units, a desired coloring effect can be easily produced by an ordinary patterning process or the like. On the other hand, instead of this, each of the first and second region portions has a coloring material surface patterned by a plurality of unit patterns, and the first region portion and the second region portion are formed.
The area part may have a different density of the unit patterns. According to this, the difference in effective surface area or volume of the coloring material in the first and second regions can be easily obtained by the patterning process. For example, the unit pattern has a convex shape, the unit pattern of the first area portion is a denser color filter than the unit pattern of the second area portion, or the unit pattern has a concave shape. However, the unit pattern of the first area portion is less sparse than the unit pattern of the second area portion, and can be realized reliably and easily by using a color filter.

Alternatively, the first and second area portions have coloring material surfaces patterned by the first and second plural unit patterns, respectively, and the first area portion and the second area portion are formed. The unit patterns may have densities so that the colorant formation densities have different structures. This proposes an example in which a plurality of different types of unit patterns are prepared as the unit pattern. Similarly, it is possible to easily obtain the first and second region portions that produce the desired coloring effect. Here, the first unit pattern may have one of a convex shape and a concave shape, and the second unit pattern may have the other of a convex shape and a concave shape. The first and second region parts can be obtained.

In the structure using the unit pattern, the unit pattern preferably has a shape for diffusing incident light. As a result, the light to which the diffusivity has been imparted improves the viewing angle characteristics on the display surface, thus contributing to good visibility.

In any of the above aspects and various specific embodiments thereof, the first and second region portions can be formed of the same coloring material. Here, it is characterized in that the coloring effect in the first region portion and the second region portion is changed by the same coloring material by changing not the material characteristics but the structure. Due to such a feature, it is possible to avoid the two processes of the colorant forming process for the first region and the colorant forming process for the second region for the same color pixel. That is, since the coloring material forming structure is changed by the same coloring material in order to make the coloring effect different, it is not necessary to form the first region portion and the second region portion with separate materials, and both are the same. A single treatment (simultaneously) with the coloring material is sufficient, which simplifies the production.

In each of the above aspects and modes, the first
It is preferable to further have a protective film that covers the second region portion. By doing so, it is possible to flatten the surfaces of the first region portion and the second region portion having different structures and to strengthen the structure of the color filter.

In a specific form having at least one uncolored part in the second region part, the uncolored part is the second color part.
A plurality of distributed arrangements can be made in the area portion. As a result, the uncolored portion transmits the second light without coloring, so that the coloring effect on the second light is reduced. This makes it possible to maintain a good balance of the color purities of the obtained first light and second light, thereby improving the quality of color display in the entire screen.

Also in this particular form, the area of the pixel is substantially polygonal in a plan view, and the non-colored portion is
It may be arranged in the vicinity of one corner of the polygon in the area of one pixel. In this way, by placing the non-colored portion at the corner of the pixel region, it is easier to form the non-colored portion more accurately than when it is placed in the back (that is, near the center) of the pixel region.

Alternatively, the area of the pixel is substantially polygonal in plan view, and the non-colored portion includes one corner of the polygon in one pixel area and has a hypotenuse facing the corner. It may have a substantially triangular shape.
Such a triangular uncolored portion contributes to minimizing the distance of the contour portion from the colored portion, and thus the step between the colored portion and the uncolored portion is made small to prevent unnecessary light behavior that may occur at the stepped portion. Can be suppressed. Here, the non-colored portion may be an isosceles triangle in the plan view, and in this case, the variation of the effective area is restricted to be uniform with respect to the displacement of the patterning mask of the colored portion. be able to.

Further, in this particular form, it is preferable that a shielding means is provided at a boundary between the pixel regions. This makes it easy to correctly set the uncolored effective area of the uncolored portion to a desired value. In particular, in the case of the triangular uncolored portion, all corner portions of the uncolored portion are hidden by, for example, a black matrix as the shielding means, and the outline portions of the uncolored portion appearing in the pixel are all linear. Therefore, the variation in the obtained coloring effective area can be extremely reduced. That is, this black matrix hides all the outline portions of the uncolored portion that are not considered to be substantially linear from the display surface side of the color filter. However, such an effect is not limited to the configuration in which the black matrix is provided. For example, even when the pixel driving bus line formed on the substrate facing the color filter also has the function of a black matrix as the shielding unit, the same effect can be obtained.

Further, in the particular embodiment, the area of the pixel is a substantially polygonal shape in a plan view, and the non-colored portion is in the vicinity of any one side of the polygon and along the side thereof. It can also be formed as. By doing so as well, the outline of the non-colored portion appearing in the pixel can be entirely linear, so that the above-described effect can be obtained and an advantage that a simple process is sufficient can be achieved.

A further advantageous form of this form is that it further has a protective layer covering the colored part and the non-colored part. This is preferable because not only the protection of the colored layer but also the protection layer can flatten the surfaces of the colored layer and the entire uncolored portion.

In this embodiment, the ratio of the effective area of the uncolored portion to the effective area of the region occupied by the optical path of the second light in one pixel region is defined for each color to be colored,
The chromaticity obtained by the coloring effect of the first light of the first light and the chromaticity obtained by the coloring effect of the second light of the second light in one pixel region for each color to be colored are approximately The effective areas of the non-colored portions may be set to be equal. Thereby, the effect of reducing the coloring effect of the uncolored portion can be rationally defined.

In order to achieve the above object, a liquid crystal display device according to another aspect of the present invention uses the color filter according to the above aspect. Here, the color filter is provided on one substrate of the liquid crystal display device, and the other substrate has a transparent electrode portion that transmits the first light and a reflective electrode portion that reflects the second light. A pixel electrode having :, the first region portion of the color filter corresponds to the transparent electrode portion, and the second region portion of
It is possible to provide a semi-transmissive reflection type liquid crystal display device characterized in that it corresponds to the reflective electrode portion. With such a liquid crystal display device, the color purity in each pixel is well balanced, and high color display quality can be obtained. In the case where the bus line has the function of the black matrix as described above and the non-colored portion is provided, the non-colored portion is arranged so that the non-linear shape portion of the non-colored portion is hidden by the bus line. As described above, the effect of suppressing the variation of the effective area can be obtained.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, a color filter manufacturing method according to still another aspect of the present invention is
A method for manufacturing a color filter for coloring a first light having a unidirectional light path and a second light having a bidirectional light path for each pixel, the method comprising: 2. A coloring material depositing step of depositing a coloring material for coloring the second light, and a first region portion and a second portion that transmit the first light for each pixel based on the deposition layer of the coloring material. Patterning the deposition layer so that the second region portion that transmits light has a structure in which these region portions exhibit different coloring effects when light having the same optical path and the same characteristics is transmitted;
And a method of manufacturing a color filter having Further, in this aspect, it is possible to further include a step of forming a black matrix defining a pixel region on the base layer before the colorant depositing step. Further, a step of forming a protective layer on the first and second region portions may be further included. This makes it possible to manufacture a color filter that exhibits the above-described effects by a relatively simple method.

In order to achieve the above object, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to still another aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the color filter, wherein the color filter is used. Is provided on one substrate of the liquid crystal display device, and on the other substrate,
A pixel electrode having a transparent electrode portion that transmits the first light and a reflective electrode portion that reflects the second light is provided,
The manufacturing method is the first method in the color filter.
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device includes a step of aligning an area portion and the transparent electrode portion, or aligning the second area portion and the reflective electrode portion. By doing so, it is possible to surely manufacture the liquid crystal display device that fully exhibits the advantages of the color filters described above.

[0028]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, each of the above aspects and other aspects of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0029]

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a color filter 1 used in an anti-transmissive reflection type liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The color filter 1 extends in the vertical direction of the display screen (vertical direction in FIG. 1) and has dyes of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), which are three primary colors of light, respectively. It is divided into longitudinal colored regions. These longitudinal colored region portions are cyclically arranged in the horizontal direction of the display screen in the order of R, G, B. One longitudinal colored area portion (one vertical column) can be further divided in the vertical direction,
Each separated part corresponds to one pixel. Hereinafter, this portion will be referred to as a pixel portion 10. A black matrix 1BM for preventing light leakage due to a gap between the pixel parts is provided at the boundary of the pixel parts 10. In addition, although the longitudinal colored region portion is divided in the vertical direction in FIG. 1, each pixel portion 10 in one longitudinal colored region portion is divided.
In this example, the (plurality of vertically arranged pixel portions 10) are not physically or physically separated.

The pixel portion 10 transmits the first light L1 emitted from the backlight and having a unidirectional light path. The first area portion 1 is shown by an area surrounded by a dotted line in the drawing.
0t, and the second light L2 having a bidirectional optical path that is incident from the display surface and is incident again from the opposite side in a portion other than the area of the first area portion 10t in the pixel portion 10 is transmitted. The second region portion 10r is included. First area portion 10
t and the second region portion 10r are as described below.
It has a structure that exhibits different coloring effects when light having the same optical path and the same characteristics is transmitted.

FIG. 2 schematically shows an enlarged plan view of one pixel portion 10, and FIG. 3 shows a case where this color filter is incorporated in a liquid crystal display panel 100.
III-III cross section of FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the pixel section 10 viewed from the front side (upper side of the figure) of the liquid crystal display panel 100 of FIG. Note that FIG. 3 shows a basic configuration of the liquid crystal display panel, and detailed layers, films, and structures are omitted for the sake of simplicity.

The first region portion 10t and the second region portion 10r in the pixel portion 10 are both made of the same coloring material, but have different structures. First area portion 10t
Is a transmissive region (transmissive electrode portion) in the pixel electrode 80 provided on the substrate 70 facing the liquid crystal layer LC.
It corresponds to 8t. The second region portion 10r includes the pixel electrode 8
This corresponds to the reflection area (reflective electrode portion) 8r at 0. The second region portion 10r is provided with a large number of through holes 1h as uncolored portions, as is particularly clear in FIG. Therefore, the second region portion 10r is composed of the non-colored portion and the colored portions other than this.

Since the through hole 1h is a portion having no coloring material, it transmits a part of the second light L2t in the second region 10r without coloring. On the other hand, the colored portion of the second region portion 10r is a portion on which the coloring material is formed, so that the second region portion 10r colors and transmits a part of the second light L2c. On the other hand, the first region portion 10t is composed of a colored layer having no non-colored portion, and the first region that passes through the first region portion 10t passes therethrough.
The light L1 is colored at any part of the area.

The first area portion 10t is a quadrangle whose center is located in the center of the pixel area in plan view, and the second area portion 10r is a portion other than this and is the first area portion. It is said that it surrounds. Therefore, in this example, each electrode portion of the pixel electrode 80 is also formed in the area portion 10.
It is assumed that the shape is the same as t and 10r in a plan view.

The pixel portion 10 is, as shown in FIG.
The substrate 20 and the black matrix 1 are provided on the transparent substrate 20 on the front side of the liquid crystal display panel 100 in a region defined by a black matrix 1BM as a shielding means formed of a light shielding material formed inside the panel.
It is formed on the BM.

The through holes 1h can be easily formed by patterning using a mask for forming the holes when the coloring material is formed for each color in the longitudinal colored region portion. The patterning itself is well known and will not be described in detail.

Next, the function and effect of this embodiment will be described.

The first light L1 is emitted from a backlight system (not shown), passes through the transparent electrode portion 8t, and is passed through the liquid crystal layer L.
After passing through C, it is colored by the coloring material in the first region 10t and guided to the outside of the panel front side. On the other hand, the second light L2 from the front side of the panel is transmitted through the transparent substrate 20 and then through the colored portion of the second region 10r or the through hole 1h to be colored once or not colored at all. The reflective electrode portion 8r is reached via LC. The reflective electrode portion 8r is the second
When the light L2 is reflected, it is guided to the second region 10r via the liquid crystal layer LC again. The second light L2 returning to the second region 10r in this manner also passes through the colored portion or the through hole 1h of the second region 10r with or without coloring and is guided to the outside on the front side of the panel. The second light L2c shown in FIG.
Indicates a case where the second light L2t is transmitted through the colored portion both when the light is first incident on the second region 10r and when it is incident again, and a second light L2t is a case where the second light L2t is transmitted through the through hole 1h.
In these cases, the second light L2c is fully subjected to the coloring effect, and the second light L2t is not received at all, but in reality, one of the forward path and the return path of the second light L2 is actually received. It also includes the case where only the product is colored or uncolored.

Since the through hole 1h does not color the incident light as described above, the coloring effect of the second light L2 entering the second region 10r is obtained by the first light L1 in the first region 10t. It can be different from the one and reduced as desired. That is, the first area portion and the 10t second area portion 10r
Has a structure in which, when light having the same optical path and the same characteristic is transmitted, different coloring effects are obtained as desired. This has the following advantages.

That is, the first area portion 10t is the transmitted light L1 having a unidirectional light path from the backlight system.
Since the second region portion 10r colors the reflected light L2 having the bidirectional optical path, the opportunity to exert the coloring effect is 2 times.
There are times. Therefore, when considered with light having equivalent characteristics (including intensity and wavelength characteristics), the reflected light L2 is the transmitted light L.
Therefore, the coloring effect is almost twice as large as that of 1. As a result, the color purity reproduced by the reflected light L2 and the transmitted light L1 in the pixel is different, which leads to deterioration of the quality of the display color in the entire screen. However, in the present embodiment, as described above, the structure of the portion for coloring the reflected light and the portion for coloring the transmitted light is changed so that the coloring effect is not biased to the reflected light.
A plurality of through holes 1h are provided as uncolored portions only at t. As a result, the colored area of the reflected light L2 can be reduced and the area through which the reflected light L2 passes can be partially uncolored, so that the coloring effect of the reflected light in the pixel is reduced and the coloring effect of the transmitted light L1 is reduced. Has achieved a balance with. The coloring effect referred to here is a characteristic indicating the degree of coloring such as color purity, chromaticity, brightness and the like obtained under predetermined conditions such as intensity of incident light, wavelength characteristics, and incident area.

As a result, a balanced color purity can be obtained when the transmitted light L1 and the reflected light L2 are comprehensively taken into consideration in the pixel, and it is possible to contribute to the improvement of the display color in the entire screen. is there.

In the above embodiment, the first area portion 10t and the second area portion
In order to make the coloring effect different from that of the region portion 10r, a plurality of through holes 10h scattered in the second region portion 10r are arranged in a grid pattern.
Although the through holes may be intentionally arranged in an irregular manner or arranged in a manner other than this, the number and area of the holes may be appropriately determined.

Although the non-colored portion 10h has been described above for reducing the coloring effect of the reflected light L2, a more specific example of the size of the region will be described below.

Now, in one pixel, the effective area of the pixel is S, the effective area of the first region portion 10t is St, and the effective area of the second region 10t is second.
Letting Sr be the effective area of the region 10r (the area of the reflective electrode portion 8r or the entire incident area of the reflected light L2) and Sn be the total effective area of the uncolored portion 1h, the reflection mode of the liquid crystal layer LC under a predetermined light modulation state. The spectral reflectance R of R can be expressed as R = {L2t.Sn/Sr+L2c. (Sr-Sn) / Sr} .Sr / S (1). On the other hand, the spectral transmittance T in the transmission mode under the same condition can be expressed as T = L1 · St / S (2). In the above equations, L1, L2t, L2
c indicates the ratio of the light incident on the liquid crystal display panel to the original intensity.

Based on the above equation, for each color of R, G, B,
R2 is calculated as L2c and L2t are substantially due to natural light (or light from the front light), and based on this, chromaticity obtained in the colored layer portion and L1 is due to the backlight used, T is Calculate so that the chromaticity obtained in the colored layer portion based on this is equal,
The value of Sn can be determined. With this intent,
Ratio of Sn to Sr for each color of R, G, B (Sn
/ Sr) can be calculated. An example of each ratio expressed as a percentage is as follows, and good results were obtained by adopting these values.

R pixel: 5 to 15%

G pixel: 15 to 30%

B pixel: 3 to 8%

[0050]

Second Embodiment Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the color filter 4 used in the anti-transmissive reflection type liquid crystal display device of this embodiment.

Also in this color filter 4, the arrangement form of the pixel portion 40 which is the divided portion and the constitution of the black matrix 4BM used are basically the same as the corresponding constitution portion in the color filter 1. Also,
The same applies to the presence of the portions 40t and 40r corresponding to the first area portion 10t and the second area portion 10r, respectively.

However, in this embodiment, the through hole 1
Instead of h, the uncolored portion 4H having an effective area determined based on the above calculation or other experience is provided. In other words, the second region portion 40r is a portion of the pixel portion 40 excluding the first region portion 40t, and includes a single uncolored portion 4H and other colored portions. Alternatively, the pixel section 40 includes a colorant layer 4C (see FIG. 5) and an uncolored section 4H. In the present example, the non-colored portion 4H is positioned at the lower left corner of the quadrangular pixel area and has an isosceles triangle to which a right angle is assigned.

FIG. 5 schematically shows an enlarged plan view of one pixel portion 40, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5 when this color filter is incorporated in a liquid crystal display panel 100 '. Is shown. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the liquid crystal display panel 100 ′ shown in FIG. 6 viewed from the front side (upper side in the figure). Note that FIG. 6 shows a basic configuration of the liquid crystal display panel, and detailed layers, films, and structures are omitted for the sake of clarity.

The colored portion 4C in the pixel portion 40 includes a first area portion 40t for the first light L1 and a part L of the second light L.
2c, the uncolored portion 4H of the second region portion 40r
Including part except. Similar to the first area portion 10t,
The first region portion 40t also corresponds to the transmissive electrode portion 8t,
The second region portion 40r (including the uncolored portion 40H) corresponds to the reflective electrode portion 8r in the pixel electrode 80.

The non-colored portion 4H is a region for transmitting the non-colored reflected light L2t which is a part of the second light. In this example, the colored portion 4C forms an opening and is a layer thereunder, that is, a support layer. It is formed by exposing the substrate 20. Therefore, the light transmitted through the uncolored portion 4H is not affected by the coloring effect.

The first area portion 40t positioned in the colored portion 4C is a quadrangle whose center is located at the center of the pixel area, and the second area portion 4 including the uncolored portion 4H.
0r is a portion other than this and is shaped to surround the first region portion. Therefore, in this example, the pixel electrode 8
It is premised that the respective electrode portions at 0 have the same shape in plan view as the area portions 40t and 40r.

The pixel section 40, as shown in FIG.
A black matrix 4BM, which is provided on the transparent substrate 20 on the front side of the liquid crystal display panel 100 'and is made of a light blocking material formed inside the panel, and a black matrix 4
The substrate 20 and the black matrix 4BM are formed on the substrate 20 and the black matrix 4BM in a region defined by the BM. The coloring layer 4C is made of, for example, a synthetic resin having a coloring component, and in this example, an opening (a void) whose outer shape or contour is determined by this. The non-colored portion 4H is included.

As shown in FIG. 5, the colored portion 4C is patterned in the rectangular pixel portion 40 so as to lack the triangular portion of the uncolored portion 4H.

In the present embodiment, the coloring material is removed from the non-colored portion 4H, and an opening (or window) is formed in the transparent substrate 20 in that portion.

Light L from a backlight system (not shown)
After passing through the transparent electrode portion 8t and passing through the liquid crystal layer LC, 1 is guided to the outside of the panel front side while being colored by the coloring material of the first region portion 40t. On the other hand, one outside light L2c from the front side of the panel is transmitted through the transparent substrate 20 and the colored portion 4C, is once colored by the coloring material of the colored portion 4C in the second region 40r, and is reflected by the reflective electrode portion 8r via the liquid crystal layer LC. And is returned to the colored portion 4C in the second region 40r through the liquid crystal layer LC after being reflected by the reflective electrode portion 8r, where it is colored again and transmitted through the transparent substrate 20 to the outside on the front side of the panel. Be led to. Further, the other external light L2t entering the uncolored portion 4H from the front side of the panel reaches the reflective electrode portion 8r through the liquid crystal layer LC without being colored by the dye of the color filter after passing through the transparent substrate 20, and is reflected. The light is reflected by the electrode portion 8r, returns to the non-colored portion 4H via the liquid crystal layer LC, again passes through the transparent substrate 20 without being colored, and is guided to the outside on the front side of the panel.

As described above, since the non-colored portion 4H does not color the incident light, the coloring effect of the external light entering the pixel area can be reduced. As a result, the first
The same effect as that of the embodiment is obtained.

In this structure, since the reflected light which should originally be colored is not colored in one independent region, microscopically, a mottled region is formed in the pixel, but the screen is macroscopically displayed. When viewed as a whole, such partially uncolored light becomes negligible in displaying an image.

Further, with respect to the effect of reducing the coloring effect of the reflected light by the non-colored portion 4H, the size of the area can be set by the same idea as in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the non-colored portion 4H has a triangular shape as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a more practical enlarged view of the non-colored portion 4H, and FIG. 8 shows a comparative example given to explain such a peculiar effect.

In order to form the uncolored portion 4H, the colored portion 4
C becomes the shape (a kind of sawtooth-like shape) shown in FIG. 5 by the patterning which is partially removed by etching similarly to the patterning using the normal stripe-shaped mask corresponding to the above-mentioned longitudinal colored region. It is formed. However, when viewed microscopically, the colored portion 4C actually obtained
Is as shown in FIG. That is, the corners of the contour in the plan view of the colored portion 4C are not sharp as shown in FIG. 5, but are blunt as shown in FIG. In other words, the corners of the colored portion 4C are rounded. On the other hand, the straight line portion of the contour of the colored portion 4C in the plan view is relatively accurate and easily formed into a straight line shape almost as expected.

In the present embodiment, the uncolored portion 4H is formed into a triangle which can be obtained by chamfering one corner of the quadrangular pixel portion 40 so that the rounded portion of the colored portion 4C becomes a pixel boundary. It is possible to limit only the portions corresponding to the portions, that is, the left side and the lower side in FIG. 7, and it is possible to hide all of these round portions by the black matrix 4BM. By combining with this black matrix, the non-colored portion 4H having a desired shape and area can be accurately formed. In addition, the triangular uncolored portion 4H
Also has a small variation and is easy to form in a relatively equal area.

On the other hand, when the non-colored portion (4H) is a quadrangle, as shown in FIG. 8, even when combined with the black matrix (4BM), the colored portion (4C) has a rounded portion 4Co. Will remain. Such a rounded portion is difficult to predict in that degree, and it is extremely disadvantageous in forming a non-colored portion having a desired shape and area with a large variation.

In this embodiment, the plane shape of the non-colored portion 4H is an isosceles triangle, which is more advantageous than the case where it is an isosceles triangle. That is, if the uncolored portion 4H is an isosceles triangle, no matter whether the mask used for patterning the colored portion 4C is vertically or horizontally displaced, the uncolored portion 4H presents a similar isosceles triangle and the deviation thereof occurs. Accordingly, the area changes in a uniform degree, whereas in the case of the scalene triangle, the area change degree differs depending on whether the triangle is vertically displaced or horizontally displaced. Therefore, in the case of the isosceles triangle as in the present embodiment, it is possible to easily grasp the area change of the non-colored portion 4H with respect to the shift of the mask, and it is possible to obtain the effect that high accuracy is not required in mask formation and the like.

Further, in the case of forming a non-colored portion having the same area, by making the area triangular, when the distance of the edge of the colored portion 4C forming the contour of the non-colored portion 4H is set to another shape. Since it can be easily shortened, the step between the colored portion 4C and the non-colored portion 4H can be reduced, which contributes to the flattening of the color filter surface, which is convenient. .

[0072]

[Third Embodiment] In the second embodiment, an example in which the non-colored portion 4H has a triangular shape has been described, but it is possible to obtain a unique effect by using another shape.

FIG. 9 is a plan view schematically showing an overall image of the color filter 4'of the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged view thereof, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI of FIG. Is shown.

As can be seen from FIG. 9, the uncolored portion 4H '
Is formed in a rectangular shape that extends linearly along one entire side of the rectangular pixel portion 40 'and in the vicinity of that side. This non-colored portion 4H 'can be a groove-shaped portion extending in the vertical direction of the display screen in this example, as can be seen from FIG.

Even with such a non-colored portion 4H ', since the edges of the colored portion 4C' appearing in the pixel area are all linear, there is little variation and the non-colored portion 4H 'is formed.
There is an advantage that it is easy to accurately form H'in a desired area. Moreover, in this embodiment, merely by narrowing the width of the colored portion 4C ', the patterning of the striped colored portion, which has been conventionally used, can be substantially the same, which is advantageous in manufacturing process control. .

[0076]

Fourth Embodiment In order to give different coloring effects to the first region portion and the second region portion, the structure shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 may be adopted.

FIG. 12 schematically shows an enlarged plan view of the pixel portion 50 of the color filter according to the fourth embodiment, and FIG. 13 shows this color filter in the liquid crystal display panel 1.
00 ″ ″ when incorporated into XIII- of FIG.
The XIII cross section is shown.

In the present embodiment, the first area portion 50t and the second area portion 50r have a structure in which the coloring material forming densities are different from each other. Therefore, each of the first region portion 50t and the second region portion 50r has a plurality of coloring material structural units, in this example, a coloring material convex body portion (bump, bump,
More specifically, at least the surface layer portion thereof is formed by using a substantially hemispherical protrusion) as a structural unit pattern, and the bumps 5b in the first region portion 50t are the bumps 5b in the second region portion 50r.
It is formed with a density higher than b.

By doing so, it is possible to make a difference in structure between the first region portion and the second region portion for achieving the intended purpose, and at the same time, the first region is formed by the patterning process.
Also, it is possible to easily obtain the difference in effective surface area or volume of the coloring material in the second region portions 50t and 50r on the effect of coloring incident light.

[0080]

Fifth Embodiment Alternatively, the structure shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 may be adopted.

FIG. 14 schematically shows an enlarged plan view of the pixel portion 60 of the color filter according to the fifth embodiment, and FIG. 15 shows this color filter in the liquid crystal display panel 1.
XV-XV of FIG. 14 when incorporated into 00 ″ ″
The cross section is shown.

Also in this embodiment, the first region portion 60t and the second region portion 60r have a structure in which the coloring material forming densities are different from each other. Therefore, each of the first and second region portions 60t and 60r has a plurality of coloring material structural units, in this example, a coloring material concave body portion (dimple,
More specifically, at least the surface layer portion thereof is formed by using a substantially hemispherical depression as a structural unit pattern, and the dimples 6d of the second region portion 60r have a higher density than the dimples 6d of the first region portion 60t. Is formed by.

Even in this case, it is possible to make a difference in the structure between the first region portion and the second region portion for achieving the intended purpose, and at the same time, the first and second region portions 50t can be formed by the patterning process. , 50r, the difference in effective surface area or volume of the coloring material on the effect of coloring incident light can be easily obtained.

In the fourth and fifth embodiments, since the first and second area portions are formed based on the raised or depressed pattern, their surfaces are roughened.
Incident light can be diffused. The light thus diffused improves the viewing angle characteristics on the display surface and contributes to further improvement in visibility. Particularly, it is effective for the light L2 in the reflection mode.

Further, the features of the fourth and fifth embodiments may be combined. That is, the desired coloring effect difference is obtained by combining the first area portion 50t (colorant high-density forming structure) in the fourth embodiment and the second area portion 60r (same low-density forming structure) in the fifth embodiment. You can
A desired difference in coloring effect may be obtained by combining the first region portion 60t (same high-density formation structure) in the fifth embodiment and the second region portion 50r (same low-density formation structure) in the fourth embodiment. .

In each of the above embodiments, the hole 1 is formed in the pixel portion.
h, the non-colored portions 4H and 4H 'are formed, and the bumps 5b are formed.
Since the unevenness is formed by or the dimples 6d, some level difference is formed in the colored portion, and the surface flatness of the entire color filter is deteriorated. Such a step is often disadvantageous in terms of optical characteristics and other aspects.

FIG. 16 shows a representative example in which the second embodiment is improved in this respect. In this example, a protective layer 9 made of a synthetic resin as an overcoat layer is laminated on the colored portion 4C and the uncolored portion 4H to protect the colored portion 4C and to fill the opening in the uncolored portion 4H. The surface of the color filter is flattened. This protective layer is made of an optically transparent material so that it does not affect the coloring effect of the color filter.

By flattening the surface of the color filter by the protective layer 9, the incident surface of light on the surface is made uniform, and the unexpected light leakage due to the unevenness in the gap of the non-colored portion 4H is eliminated. It will greatly contribute to the improvement.

Even if another layer such as an alignment film (not shown) is provided on the color filter, the colored portion 4C is formed on the other layer.
There is also an advantage that it is possible to prevent the liquid crystal layer from being contaminated because it is not touched directly. Further, since the surface of the color filter is flat, it is possible to avoid alignment disorder in the alignment layer and the liquid crystal layer LC arranged above and above it, which is advantageous.

The same effects can be obtained by providing the protective film 9 in the other embodiments as well, but in the case of the specific constructions such as the first embodiment and the fourth and fifth embodiments,
Since the degree of unevenness formed is small, the protective film can be made thinner than when applied to the second embodiment when the same filter flatness is to be maintained. That is, it can be said that the specific configuration itself has high flatness of the color filter surface, and has little influence on other layers due to the uneven shape.

Heretofore, an example has been described in which the pixel portion of the color filter has a rectangular shape and includes the rectangular first transmission area and the surrounding second reflection area.
The present invention is not necessarily limited to such an example. The pixel portion (pixel area) may have a shape other than a rectangle, for example, a polygon having five or more sides, and the first area portion may also have a shape other than a quadrangle, or may be divided into a plurality of areas. May be.

Basically, the transmissive area and the reflective area in the color filter are allocated to the first light and the second light handled in the display device, respectively (see here. In the embodiment, corresponding to the respective regions of the transmissive portion and the reflective portion formed on the pixel electrode),
It has the same shape, arrangement, and number. Therefore, in place of the rectangular first area portion and the second area portion surrounding the first area portion as in the above embodiment, the first area portion may be circular in a plan view, or may be a substantially rectangular but rounded shape. It may be (including an ellipse), or may be a polygon surrounded by line segments having five or more sides.

It goes without saying that various other modified examples are possible in the present invention. For example, it goes without saying that the pixel portion does not have to have the lattice shape as shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 9. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the color filter is directly formed on the substrate 20 has been described, but some underlayer may be interposed between the substrate 20 and the color filter. That is, the present invention is directed to a color filter that can be supported by a base layer including such an underlayer and a substrate.

The protective layer 9 may be completely colorless and transparent, and may have some colorability for a desired purpose. Further, in the above embodiment,
Although the color filters for the three primary colors of R, G, and B have been described in order to form a full-color image, the present invention
The present invention can also be applied to a color filter for a single color dedicated to a monochrome image.

Thus, the preferred embodiments described herein are illustrative and not limiting. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims, and all variations that come within the meaning of such claims are intended to be included in the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a color filter used in a liquid crystal display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged plan view showing an area for one pixel of the color filter of FIG.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a color filter obtained by the III-III break line in FIG. 2 in a liquid crystal display panel incorporation mode.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a color filter used in a liquid crystal display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic enlarged plan view showing a region of one pixel of the color filter of FIG.

6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a color filter obtained by the VI-VI break line in FIG. 5 in a liquid crystal display panel incorporation mode.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of a color filter according to a second embodiment for explaining the effect of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of a color filter according to a comparative example for explaining the effect of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of a color filter used in a liquid crystal display device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a schematic enlarged plan view showing a region of one pixel of the color filter of FIG.

11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a color filter obtained by the broken line XI-XI in FIG. 10 in a liquid crystal display panel built-in mode.

FIG. 12 is a schematic enlarged plan view showing a region for one pixel of a color filter used in a liquid crystal display device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a color filter obtained by the broken line XIII-XIII in FIG. 12 in a liquid crystal display panel incorporation mode.

FIG. 14 is a schematic enlarged plan view showing an area for one pixel of a color filter used in a liquid crystal display device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

15 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a color filter obtained by the broken line XV-XV in FIG. 14 in a liquid crystal display panel incorporating mode.

FIG. 16 is a schematic sectional view of a color filter showing a modified example of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 4 ... Color filters 10, 40, 40 ', 50, 60 ... Pixel portions 1BM, 4BM, 5BM, 6BM ... Black matrixes 10t, 40t, 50t, 60t ... First region portions 10r, 40r, 40r', 50r, 60r ... 2nd area | region part 1h ... Through-hole (uncolored part) 4H, 4H '... Uncolored part 4C ... Colored part 5b ... Bump 6d ... Dimple 100,100', 100 ", 100"', 100 ""
Liquid crystal display panel 20 Transparent substrate LC Liquid crystal layer 70 Backside substrate 80 Pixel electrode 8t Transmissive electrode portion 8r Reflective electrode portion L1 Transmitted light L2c Colored reflected light L2t Uncolored reflected light 9 Protective layer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme code (reference) G02F 1/1343 G02F 1/1343 (72) Inventor Toshiya Inada 4-3 Takazukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo No. 1 Philips Mobile Display Systems Kobe Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Noriyuki Matsuura 4-3-1 Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Prefecture Philips Mobile Display Systems Kobe Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Miho Ii Hyogo 4-3-1, Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi F-Term in Philips Mobile Display Systems Kobe Co., Ltd. (reference) 2H042 BA04 BA13 BA15 BA20 2H048 BA02 BB02 BB07 BB08 BB10 BB42 2H091 FA02Y FA14Y FA34Y FC25 GA02 KA10 LA16 LA30 2H092 GA12 GA20 GA20 HA05 KA18 NA01 PA02 PA08 PA09 PA12

Claims (23)

[Claims] 1. A first unidirectional optical path for each pixel
Liquid crystal display device using a color filter for coloring the second light and the second light having a bidirectional optical path, wherein the color filter transmits the first light for each pixel. An area portion and a second area portion that transmits the second light, wherein the first area portion and the second area portion have different coloring effects when light having the same optical path and the same characteristic is transmitted. A liquid crystal display device having a structure to exhibit. 2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the first region portion and the second region portion are formed by the first region portion of the first light under a predetermined condition. The liquid crystal display device is characterized in that there is a difference in structure such that the in-pixel coloring effect according to the second region portion of the second light and the in-pixel coloring effect due to the second region are substantially equal to each other. 3. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the first region portion and the second region portion have a structure in which their colorant formation densities are different from each other. Liquid crystal display device. 4. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the second area portion is a coloring portion that colors the second light, and the second light is substantially uncolored. A liquid crystal display device, comprising: at least one non-colored portion that transmits light. 5. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein each of the first and second region portions is formed of a plurality of coloring material structural units, The liquid crystal display device, wherein the coloring material structural unit is denser than the coloring material structural unit of the second region portion. 6. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein each of the first and second region portions has a coloring material surface patterned with a plurality of unit patterns. ,
The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the first region portion and the second region portion have different unit pattern densities. 7. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the unit pattern is convex, and the unit pattern of the first area portion is denser than the unit pattern of the second area portion. A liquid crystal display device characterized by the above. 8. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the unit pattern is concave, and the unit pattern of the first region portion is sparser than the unit pattern of the second region portion. A liquid crystal display device characterized by the above. 9. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the first and second region portions are each a first region.
And a coloring material surface patterned with a second plurality of unit patterns, wherein the first region portion and the second region portion are
A liquid crystal display device, wherein the densities of the unit patterns are determined so that the coloring material formation densities have structures different from each other. 10. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the first unit pattern has one of a convex shape and a concave shape, and the second unit pattern has a convex shape and a concave shape. A liquid crystal display device characterized by exhibiting the other of them. 11. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, wherein the unit pattern has a shape for diffusing incident light. 12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.
7. The liquid crystal display device according to item 6, wherein the first and second region parts are formed of the same colored material. 13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.
7. The liquid crystal display device according to item 6, further comprising a protective film that covers the first and second region portions. 14. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of the non-colored portions are dispersed and arranged in the second region portion. 15. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, wherein the pixel region has a substantially polygonal shape in a plan view, and the non-colored portion has one of the polygonal shapes in one pixel region.
A liquid crystal display device, which is arranged in the vicinity of one corner. 16. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, wherein the pixel region has a substantially polygonal shape in a plan view, and the non-colored portion has the polygonal shape in one pixel region. A liquid crystal display device having a substantially triangular shape including one corner and having a hypotenuse facing the corner. 17. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 16, wherein the non-colored portion is an isosceles triangle in the plan view. 18. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, 15, 16 or 17, wherein a shielding means is provided at a boundary of the pixel region. 19. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 18, wherein the shielding means hides all contour portions of the uncolored portion that are not considered to be substantially linear from the display surface side of the color filter. A liquid crystal display device characterized by the above. 20. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, wherein the region of the pixel has a substantially polygonal shape in a plan view, and the non-colored portion is on one side of the polygonal shape. A liquid crystal display device, characterized in that the liquid crystal display device is formed in the vicinity along the side edge thereof. 21. The liquid crystal display device according to any one of claims 4 and 14 to 20, wherein the effective area of the optical path of the second light in one pixel area for each color is colored. A liquid crystal display device, wherein a ratio of an effective area of the uncolored portion to an area is defined. 22. The liquid crystal display device according to any one of claims 4 and 14 to 20, wherein the first region portion of the first light in one pixel region for each color is colored. The effective area of the non-colored portion is determined such that the chromaticity obtained by the coloring effect and the chromaticity obtained by the coloring effect of the second region of the second light are substantially equal to each other. Liquid crystal display device. 23. Any one of claims 1 to 22.
5. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the color filter is provided on one substrate of the liquid crystal display device, and the other substrate is provided with a transmissive electrode portion that transmits the first light and a second electrode. A pixel electrode having a reflective electrode portion that reflects the light is provided, the first region portion in the color filter corresponds to the transmissive electrode portion, and the second region portion corresponds to the reflective electrode portion. A semi-transmissive reflective liquid crystal display device.