JP2003248238A - Active matrix type liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress reflection on an electrode, suppress a decrease in contrast of a display picture under a bright ambient environment, increase the opening ratio of a pixel, and improve the brightness of a picture in an active matrix type liquid crystal display device using a liquid crystal molecule driven with an electric field in the horizontal direction with respect to a substrate surface. <P>SOLUTION: In black display, part of light of linearly polarized light which is made incident from a substrate 1b side, and passed through a polarizing plate passes through a liquid crystal layer, and is then made incident on electrodes 22, 23 formed of a transparent electric conductor, and is transmitted as-is in the lower direction. Thus, reflected light going into the observing point of an observer is substantially decreased compared with conventional active matrix type liquid crystal display devices. A rise in luminance in the black display is suppressed even in bright surroundings to retain the high-contrast picture. Reflectance is decrease by about 40% compared with the conventional active matrix type liquid crystal display devices. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an active matrix type liquid crystal display device using liquid crystal molecules driven by an electric field in a horizontal direction with respect to a substrate surface in a liquid crystal display device driven by an active element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a conventional liquid crystal display device using liquid crystal molecules driven by an electric field in the horizontal direction with respect to a substrate surface will be described. Here, as an example thereof, a liquid crystal display device driven in a normally black mode as a display mode and a thin film transistor as an active element will be described. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of the present liquid crystal display device, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram. This configuration is Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-219
No. 07, etc. As shown in FIG. 6, the gate wiring 24 extends in the row direction and the source wiring 21 extends in the column direction on the transparent substrate 1a. At the orthogonal intersection,
The TFT 20 is arranged. Further, the drain electrode 22 which is the first electrode connected to the TFT is formed in a comb shape. The common electrode 23, which is the second electrode, extends in parallel with the gate wiring while branching in a comb shape for each pixel. The common electrode and the drain electrode are opposed to each other on the same substrate with a distance of about 10 μm. On the other hand, the transparent substrate 1b
The black matrix is formed on the gate wiring, the source wiring, the TFT, and the vicinity thereof in a region projected onto the transparent substrate 1b. A region which is not shielded by the black matrix in one pixel is defined as a display region. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, two transparent substrates 1a, 1
The liquid crystal molecules 10 are injected while b is arranged with a constant gap. In addition, an alignment film is applied to the surface of each of the two substrates in contact with the liquid crystal, and each substrate is
Alignment treatment is performed along the direction in which the electrode pattern extends. The polarizing plates 16a and 16b are installed outside the two substrates so that the polarization axes of the two polarizing plates are orthogonal to each other.

Next, the operation principle of the present liquid crystal display device will be described. (A) is a case where no voltage is applied, and the long axis of the rod-shaped liquid crystal molecule 10 is substantially parallel to the substrate, and the electrode pattern 2
2 and 23 are arranged along the extending direction. At this time, first, of the input light having a random polarization direction from the light source, only linearly polarized light parallel to the polarization axis of the polarizing plate 16a passes. Next, in the liquid crystal layer, the light passes as it is without changing the polarization direction. Then, the polarizing plate 1 on the emission side
In 6b, since the polarization axis is perpendicular to the polarization direction of light, the light does not pass through the polarizing plate. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the observer, it looks like a black state.

Next, the case where the voltage (b) is applied will be described. An electric field substantially horizontal to the substrate between the two electrodes 22 and 23 causes the long axis direction of the rod-shaped liquid crystal molecules to tilt in the direction of the electric field. Since the electric field becomes weaker from the substrate 1a toward the substrate 1b, the inclination angle becomes smaller. As a result, the rod-shaped liquid crystal molecules are arranged in a spiral pattern from the substrates 1a to 1b. The light incident on the liquid crystal layer changes its polarization direction by 90 degrees along the helical arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules. As a result, in the polarizing plate on the exit side, the polarization direction of the light becomes substantially parallel to the polarization axis of the polarizing plate 16b, so that the light passes. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the observer from the transparent substrate 1b side, the image appears white.

The above structure is an example of a liquid crystal display device driven by an electric field in the horizontal direction. By changing the direction of the polarization axis and the alignment direction of the polarizing plate, a white state and a voltage are applied when no voltage is applied. It is also possible to have a normally white mode configuration in which the black state sometimes occurs.

Conventionally, most of the liquid crystal display devices that have been commercialized so far have electrodes arranged on each of two substrates sandwiching a liquid crystal, and a voltage is applied between the electrodes arranged on each substrate. Then, display is performed by changing the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules by an electric field in the direction perpendicular to the substrate surface. However, in such a configuration, although the display performance seen from the front is excellent, there is a problem that the display performance such as contrast and gradation display when observed from an oblique direction is very poor. .

On the other hand, the present liquid crystal display device driven by the electric field in the horizontal direction is characterized by a small difference in display performance between the front and diagonal directions and excellent viewing angle characteristics.

[0008]

However, the conventional structure as described above has the following problems.
In the configuration of the present liquid crystal display device, as shown in FIG.
The region between the drain electrode 22 and the source line 21, and in some cases, the region between the common electrode 23 and the source line does not function as a display unlike the electric field between the drain electrode and the common electrode, and is therefore normally shielded by a black matrix.
Therefore, the aperture ratio of the liquid crystal display device (the ratio of the area occupied by the effective display region per pixel. The effective display region means the electrode 22, among the display regions not shielded by the black matrix,
It is defined as a region which is not shielded by 23 and contributes to display. ) Is reduced, and the brightness of the display image is reduced. Further, when the common electrode and the drain electrode extend in parallel to the gate wiring, the same problem occurs between the gate wiring and the common electrode or between the gate wiring and the drain electrode.

In order to solve the above conventional problems, the present invention increases the aperture ratio of pixels in an active matrix type liquid crystal display device using liquid crystal molecules driven by an electric field in the horizontal direction with respect to a substrate surface. The purpose is to improve the brightness of the image.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, an active matrix type liquid crystal display device of the present invention comprises:
A liquid crystal is sandwiched between two transparent substrates, and an active element and a first electrode connected to the active element are provided on a surface of the two transparent substrates in contact with the liquid crystal of the first transparent substrate. It has the 1st electrode and the 2nd electrode formed so as to oppose on the plane of the 1st transparent substrate, and was impressed between the 1st electrode and the 2nd electrode. An active matrix liquid crystal display device in which the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules is changed by a voltage, wherein the second electrodes are arranged in columns (or
The column (or row) extends in the direction orthogonal to the (row) wiring and intersects with the column (or row) wiring of the second electrode.
A second electrode pattern having a width wider than the width of the column (or row) wiring is formed in a strip shape above or below the wiring along the direction in which the column (or row) wiring extends. To do.

In the above structure, it is preferable that the black matrix is not disposed on the column (or row) wiring portion located at the lower or upper portion of the strip-shaped second electrode pattern.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION With the above structure, there is no region between the first electrode and the column (or row) wiring or the second electrode and the column (or row) wiring. Therefore, there is an effect that the area of the effective display area is increased and the brightness of the display image is improved.

Further, in the structure of the present invention, the strip-shaped common electrode pattern is configured so that the column (or row) wiring portions arranged above or below the strip-shaped common electrode pattern are not shielded by the black matrix, thereby providing an effective display area. Has the effect of further enlarging the area and further improving the brightness of the display image.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Reference Examples and Examples. Reference Example 1 A first reference example will be described with reference to FIGS. (A) is a plane configuration diagram of the TFT liquid crystal display device of this reference example, and (b) is II in (a).
It is a cross-sectional block diagram when it sees from a horizontal direction cut | disconnected by a line.
A method of manufacturing the present TFT liquid crystal display device will be described with reference to FIGS. First, on the transparent substrate 1a, the ITO films 2a and 2b, which are transparent conductors, are used to form the drain electrode part 2
2 and part of the common electrode 23 are formed. Next, after forming the silicon oxide film 3, a part of the ITO film 2b is opened and a hole 4 is formed. Then, using the chromium films 5a and 5b,
The gate wiring and a part of the common electrode 23 are formed at the same time. At this time, the gate wiring 5a and the common electrode 5b are formed so as to extend in parallel in the row direction. Further, the ITO film 2b and the chromium film 5b, which function as the common electrode, are formed in the holes 4
Electrically connected via. Next, the silicon nitride film 6 as the gate insulating film of the TFT and the semiconductor layer serving as the channel layer of the TFT are successively deposited. Then, only the semiconductor layer 7 is patterned. Then IT
In a part of the drain electrode 23 formed of the O film 2a,
A hole 8 is opened in the insulating film thereabove. Finally, the titanium / aluminum metal films 9a and 9b are used to simultaneously form part of the source electrode and the drain electrode. The drain electrode 9b is electrically connected to the drain electrode formed of the ITO film 2a through the hole 8. The common electrode 23 and the drain electrode 22 are formed to face each other with a distance of about 10 μm. The transparent substrate 1a completed through the above steps
Then, an alignment film is applied to the other transparent substrate 1b on which the black matrix 11 is formed, and then an alignment treatment is applied to each substrate along the direction in which the source wiring extends. After that, the two substrates are bonded to each other with a constant gap of about 5 μm, the liquid crystal 10 is injected into the gap, and a polarizing plate is arranged outside each of the two substrates. Is completed.

Next, a method of driving the present liquid crystal display device will be described. A constant voltage Vc is applied to the common electrode 23 from the outside. A scanning signal Vg having a pulse waveform of one fixed cycle is input to the gate wiring 24 from the outside. When this pulse signal is input, the TFT 20 on this gate wiring is turned on. On the other hand, an AC video signal Vs centered on Vsc is input to the source line 21. Then, from the source wiring to the drain electrode 2 through the TFT in the on state.
A video signal is input to 2. The pixel signal Vd at the drain electrode is held at the same voltage until the next pulse signal from the gate wiring is input. And as mentioned above,
The degree of twist of liquid crystal molecules interposed between the electrodes changes depending on the voltage difference between the pixel signal Vd applied to the drain electrode 22 and the constant voltage Vc applied to the common electrode 23. Then, depending on the twisted state of the liquid crystal molecules, the polarization direction of the light passing through the liquid crystal layer changes, and the amount of light passing through the pixel in the liquid crystal display device changes.

With such a configuration, the first
In addition, when black display is performed, part of the linearly polarized light that is incident from the substrate 1b side and passed through the polarizing plate is incident on the electrodes 22 and 23 formed of transparent conductors after passing through the liquid crystal layer. Then, it is transmitted downward as it is. Therefore, the reflected light entering the observer's viewpoint is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case. That is, even if the surroundings are bright, there is an effect that an increase in luminance during black display is suppressed and a high-contrast image is maintained.

Specifically, in a VGA display having a diagonal size of 26 cm and a pixel number of 480 × (640 × 3), the area occupied by the black matrix in one pixel is about 30% of the area of one pixel. . The area occupied by the electrodes 22 and 23 in the display area per pixel is about 20%. The reflected light entering the observer is roughly divided into a black matrix portion and electrodes 22 and 23 portions. When the black matrix and the electrodes 22 and 23 are made of the same metal material, the reflection at the electrodes 22 and 23 accounts for 40% of the total reflection. Therefore, by performing this example, the reflectance could be reduced by about 40% as compared with the conventional case.

(Reference Example 2) A second reference example is shown in FIG.
It will be described together with (a) and (b). (A) is a plan configuration diagram of the TFT liquid crystal display device of this reference example, (b) is II of (a).
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram taken along line II. A method of manufacturing the present TFT liquid crystal display device will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the gate wiring and a part of the common electrode are simultaneously formed using the chromium films 5a and 5b. At this time, the gate wiring and the common electrode are formed so as to extend in the row direction in parallel. Next, the silicon nitride film 6 as the gate insulating film of the TFT and the semiconductor layer serving as the channel layer of the TFT are successively deposited. Then, only the semiconductor layer 7 is patterned. Next, the common electrode 2 made of chromium 5b
A hole 12 is opened in the gate insulating film on a part of 3. Then, the titanium / aluminum films 9a and 9b are used to form part of the source electrode and the drain electrode. A part of the drain electrode is electrically connected to a part of the drain electrode formed of the ITO film 2a. The common electrode 23 and the drain electrode 22 are formed so as to face each other with a distance of about 10 μm. The following manufacturing process is the same as that of the first embodiment.

The driving method of this reference example is also exactly the same as that of the first embodiment. This reference example also has the same effect as the first reference example. Further, comparing this reference example with the first reference example, the deposition of the silicon oxide film 3 used in the first reference example,
Since it is not necessary to open the hole 8 in the insulating film, the manufacturing process can be further simplified.

(Reference Example 3) A third reference example will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A is a plan configuration diagram of the TFT liquid crystal device of this reference example, and FIG. 3B is a sectional configuration diagram taken along line III-III of FIG. A method of manufacturing the present TFT liquid crystal display device will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the gate wiring 24 and the common electrode 23 are simultaneously formed by using a two-layer film of the chromium 5a, 5b and the chromium oxide film 13a, 13b. At this time, the gate wiring and the common electrode are formed so as to extend in the row direction in parallel. Further, the chromium film and the chromium oxide film can be deposited by the same film forming apparatus, and can be patterned at the same time. Next, the silicon nitride film 6 as the gate insulating film of the TFT and the semiconductor layer serving as the channel layer of the TFT are successively deposited.
Then, only the semiconductor layer 7 is patterned. And
The source electrode 21 and the drain electrode 22 are formed at the same time by using a two-layer film of chromium 14a, 14b and chromium oxide film 15a, 15b. The common electrode and the drain electrode are formed so as to face each other with a distance of about 10 μm. The following manufacturing steps are the same as those in the first and second embodiments.

With this structure, the first
In the black display, a part of the linearly polarized light which is incident from the substrate 1b side and passed through the polarizing plate is incident on the electrodes 22 and 23 after passing through the liquid crystal layer and the action of the chromium oxide film. The reflection is greatly reduced by. Therefore, the reflected light entering the observer's viewpoint is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional configuration. That is, even if the surroundings are bright, there is an effect that an increase in luminance during black display is suppressed and a high-contrast image is maintained. Further, in this embodiment, the steps of forming and patterning the ITO film are omitted as compared with the second embodiment. Therefore, the present liquid crystal display device can be manufactured by a simpler process as compared with the first and second embodiments. Furthermore,
In this embodiment, the drain electrode 22 and the common electrode 23
The gate insulating film 6 is interposed between them. Therefore, even if a large conductive foreign substance that extends over the drain electrode 22 and the common electrode 23 is attached, the two electrodes are not short-circuited and the pixel does not have a point defect defect. Therefore, the point defect defect is reduced and the manufacturing yield is improved.

(Embodiment 1) A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan configuration diagram of the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment. The manufacturing process is the same as that of the third reference example. Here, the common electrode 23 forms a strip-shaped pattern with a width wider than the source wiring along the direction in which the source wiring extends below the source wiring at the intersection with the source wiring 21. Further, the black matrix is formed in a strip shape along the gate wiring, and the source wiring portion on which the strip-shaped common electrode pattern is arranged below is not shielded by the black matrix.

FIG. 8 shows the structure near the source wiring part of the conventional liquid crystal display device of the present invention. In the conventional configuration, the width of the black matrix depends on the width of the source wiring, the width of the non-display portion between the source wiring and the common electrode, and the alignment accuracy of the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate. It becomes the combined width. On the other hand, by carrying out the present embodiment, the width of the black matrix becomes only the width that matches the width of the source wiring and the alignment accuracy of the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate. That is, the area of the non-display portion between the common electrode and the source wiring disappears, and instead, the area of the effective display area between the common electrode and the drain electrode increases, and the brightness of the display image improves.

Further, as in this embodiment, by forming an antireflection film on the source wiring and not disposing the black matrix on the source wiring, the light shielding band on the source wiring side is the source. Wiring only. As a result, there is an effect that the brightness of the display image is further improved.

Specifically, in a VGA display having a diagonal size of 26 cm and a pixel number of 480 × (640 × 3), the pixel aperture ratio, which is the ratio of the area occupied by the effective display area in one pixel, is the same as that of the conventional configuration. Was about 40%. On the other hand, the pixel aperture ratio in the configuration of the present invention is about 55.
%, And an improvement in image brightness of about 38% is expected. Further, as in the present embodiment, the black matrix is not arranged on the source wiring, the pixel aperture ratio is about 65%, and the brightness of the image is improved by about 63% as compared with the conventional case. did it.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan configuration diagram of the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment. The manufacturing process is the same as that of the third reference example. Here, the common electrode 23 forms a strip-shaped pattern with a width wider than that of the gate wiring along the direction in which the gate wiring extends above the gate wiring at the intersection with the gate wiring 21. Further, the black matrix is formed in a strip shape along the source wiring, and the gate wiring portion on which the strip-shaped common electrode pattern is arranged is not shielded by the black matrix.

In the conventional structure, the width of the black matrix is the width of the gate wiring, the width of the non-display portion between the gate wiring and the common electrode, and the width of the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate. The width will match the alignment accuracy. On the other hand, by carrying out the present embodiment, the width of the black matrix becomes only the width that matches the width of the gate wiring and the alignment accuracy of the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate. That is, the region of the non-display portion between the common electrode and the gate wiring disappears, and instead, the area of the effective display region between the common electrode and the drain electrode increases, and the brightness of the display image improves.

Further, as in the present embodiment, an antireflection film is formed on the gate wiring so that the black matrix is not arranged on the gate wiring. Wiring only. As a result, there is an effect that the brightness of the display image is further improved.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the area of the effective display area is increased, the aperture ratio of the pixel is increased, and the brightness of the displayed image is improved. Further, in the second aspect of the present invention, the area of the effective display area is further expanded and the brightness of the display image is further improved by configuring the column wiring or the row wiring portion so as not to be blocked by the black matrix. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows T in the TFT liquid crystal display device of the first reference example.
Plan view and cross-sectional configuration diagram of the FT array substrate

FIG. 2 shows T in the TFT liquid crystal display device of the second reference example.
Plan view and cross-sectional configuration diagram of the FT array substrate

FIG. 3 shows T in the TFT liquid crystal display device of the third reference example.
Plan view and cross-sectional configuration diagram of the FT array substrate

FIG. 4 shows T in the TFT liquid crystal display device of the first embodiment.
Plan view of FT array substrate

FIG. 5 shows T in the TFT liquid crystal display device of the second embodiment.
Plan view of FT array substrate

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a conventional liquid crystal display device driven by a horizontal electric field.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional configuration diagram of a conventional liquid crystal display device driven by a horizontal electric field.

FIG. 8 is a plan configuration diagram of a liquid crystal display device in a source wiring portion according to a first embodiment of the present invention and a plan configuration diagram of a liquid crystal display device in a conventional source wiring portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b transparent substrate 2a, 2b ITO film 3 Silicon oxide film 4 holes 5a, 5b Chrome film 6 Silicon nitride film 7 Semiconductor film 8 holes 9a, 9b titanium / aluminum film 10 Liquid crystal molecules 11 Black Matrix 12 holes 13a, 13b Chromium oxide film 14a, 14b Chrome film 15a, 15b Chromium oxide film 16a, 16b Polarizing plate 20 thin film transistor 21 Source wiring 22 Drain electrode 23 Common electrode 24 gate wiring

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Satoshi Asada             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H092 GA33 JA24 JA34 JA37 JA41                       JB22 JB26 JB31 JB35 JB52                       MA10 NA01 NA07 PA01 PA02                       PA04 PA09 PA11 PA13

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A column wiring, a row wiring orthogonal to the column wiring, an active element, a first electrode connected to the active element, the first electrode, and the first electrode on one main surface. 1
A first transparent substrate having a second electrode formed to face each other on the plane of the transparent substrate, a second transparent substrate having a black matrix formed thereon, and the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate. A liquid crystal sandwiched between a transparent substrate and an active matrix liquid crystal display device that changes the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules according to a voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode. The second electrode extends in a direction orthogonal to the column wiring or the row wiring, and at the intersection of the second electrode with the column wiring or the row wiring, the column wiring or the row wiring is formed. An active matrix type liquid crystal display device in which a second electrode pattern having a width wider than the width of the column wiring or the row wiring is formed in a strip shape along an extending direction of the column wiring or the row wiring at an upper portion or a lower portion. 2. A black matrix is formed in a region of the second transparent substrate where the strip-shaped second electrode pattern corresponds to a column wiring portion or a row wiring portion located at a lower portion or an upper portion. The active matrix liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, which is not provided.