JPH10160917A - Liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device showing high contrast and high display quality in which a color display and a gradation display are made possible. SOLUTION: This liquid crystal display device has single color pixels 18 according to R(red), G(green) and B(blue) color filters 19 in a matrix state, and the area of tach single color pixel 18 is divided into sub-pixel regions 181 , 182 in order to perform a gradation display. In this device, a light-shielding film 20 is formed to shield between the single color pixels 18 and the subpixel regions 181 , 182 on one substrate having the color filter 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device, in which a ferroelectric liquid crystal is used, a color filter is provided on one substrate of a display panel, and one pixel is divided into a plurality of areas for gradation display. To a liquid crystal display device that performs

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid crystal display device using a nematic liquid crystal has been mainly used. As a type using such a nematic liquid crystal, there are a twisted nematic type (hereinafter, referred to as “TN type”) and a super twisted type (hereinafter, referred to as “STN type”). In addition, a switching element such as a thin film transistor is provided in each pixel to perform switching for each pixel (hereinafter, “TFT type”).
Is also manufactured in large numbers.

[0003] The TN type liquid crystal display device has a drawback that the drive margin becomes narrower as the multiplexing of the drive system progresses, and a sufficient contrast cannot be obtained. An STN type liquid crystal display device, which is an improved type of a TN type liquid crystal display device and uses a large twist angle,
When used for large-capacity display, there are disadvantages that the contrast is reduced and the response speed is reduced.

[0004] In order to improve such a disadvantage, Clark (NAClark) and Ragawall (STLager) have been proposed.
Wall) has proposed a liquid crystal display device using a chiral smectic C liquid crystal, that is, a ferroelectric liquid crystal (A).
ppl.Phys.Lett. 36, (1980) p899.). This liquid crystal display device is different from a nematic liquid crystal device that uses the electroclinical effect that utilizes the dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules. This is the liquid crystal display device used. Its features include bistability, memory, high-speed response, and a wide viewing angle.

That is, the liquid crystal molecules 51 of the ferroelectric liquid crystal
Has a helical structure in the bulk state as shown in FIG. However, when injected into a cell with a reduced gap,
As shown in FIG. 7A, the helical structure of the ferroelectric liquid crystal is released under the influence of the interface, and the liquid crystal molecules 51 of the ferroelectric liquid crystal are inclined with respect to the smectic layer normal z. A region that is stable by tilting by + θ and a region that is stable by tilting by −θ in the opposite direction are mixed, and have bistability. By applying an electric field to the ferroelectric liquid crystal in this cell, the liquid crystal molecules 51 and their spontaneous polarization 52
Of the liquid crystal molecules 51 can be switched from a fixed state to another state by switching the polarity of the applied electric field (FIGS. 7B and 7C). reference). With this switching operation, the birefringent light changes in the ferroelectric liquid crystal in the cell, so that the light transmitted from the light source 70 can be controlled by sandwiching the cell between two polarizers.

Further, even if the application of the electric field is stopped, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules 51 is maintained in the state before the stop of the application of the electric field by the alignment regulating force at the interface, so that a memory effect can be obtained. In addition, the time required for the switching is such that the spontaneous polarization 52 of the liquid crystal and the electric field act directly on each other, so that the liquid crystal display device has a high-speed response of 1/1000 or less of the liquid crystal display device using the nematic liquid crystal, thereby enabling a high-speed display. . Therefore, application of the excellent characteristics of the ferroelectric liquid crystal to a liquid crystal display device having a high definition and a large display capacity has been actively studied.

Referring to FIG. 8, a configuration of a conventional ferroelectric liquid crystal display device will be briefly described. FIG. 8 (a)
FIG. 8B is a front view schematically showing an example of a conventional structure of a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, and FIG. 8B is a sectional view thereof.

In the above-mentioned ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, two glass substrates 53a and 53b are arranged to face each other. On one glass substrate 53a, a plurality of transparent scanning electrodes 54a made of indium tin oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as "ITO") or the like are arranged in parallel with each other, and furthermore made of SiO ₂ or the like. A transparent insulating film 55a is formed. A transparent signal electrode (data electrode) 5 made of ITO or the like is provided on the surface of the other glass substrate 53b.
A plurality of electrodes 4b are arranged in parallel with each other in a direction perpendicular to the scanning electrodes 54a, and a transparent insulating film 55b made of SiO ₂ or the like is formed thereon to cover the signal electrodes 54b. On each of the insulating films 55a and 55b, alignment films 56a and 56b that have been subjected to a uniaxial alignment process such as a rubbing process are formed. Organic polymer film or SiO oblique deposition film. The two substrates 60 and 61 are provided with a sealing agent 57 except for a part of the injection port.
And the alignment films 56a and 56b
The ferroelectric liquid crystal 58 is injected into the space sandwiched by the above, and the above injection port is sealed with a sealing agent. The two substrates 60 and 61 thus bonded are sandwiched by two polarizing plates 59a and 59b arranged so that their polarization axes are orthogonal to each other. When the two substrates 60 and 61 are bonded to each other, spacers such as spherical spacers 62 and band-shaped projections 68 are arranged so that the two substrates 60 and 61 face each other in parallel with a constant cell thickness. Is done. STN type and TF
Similarly to the T type, color display can be performed by disposing the color filter 63 on one substrate.
In this case, an overcoat layer (color filter protective layer) 66 is laminated on the color filters 63, and each color filter 63 is covered with the overcoat layer 66.

[0009]

However, since the ferroelectric liquid crystal is basically a binary display as described above, there is a problem that gradation display is more difficult than a nematic liquid crystal. As one of the methods for solving this problem, there has been reported a space division gray scale display method in which one pixel is divided into a plurality of areas to perform display (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-70815).

Since the ferroelectric liquid crystal has memory properties and is bistable, the non-pixel portion 64 to which no electric field is applied is provided.
In FIG. 8B, there is a problem that light and dark displays are mixed and the contrast and display quality of the device are reduced. This problem is similar to that of STN type and TFT type.
Black matrix 6 formed of metal film or organic black film
The problem is solved by shielding light between pixels by a light-shielding film referred to as No. 5 (see FIGS. 8A and 8B).

The black matrix 65 is usually mounted on one substrate 60 together with the color filter 63.
When bonding the two substrates 60 and 61,
The black matrix 65 formed in a lattice shape and the signal electrode 54b formed in a stripe shape of the counter substrate 61 are bonded together with their positions aligned. Usually, a color display device forms one pixel as a display device by collecting fine pixels (monochromatic pixels) of three primary colors of R (red), G (green), B (blue) or cyan, magenta, and yellow. Each color of the filter 63 is selected by the corresponding signal electrode 54b, and color display is performed. In general, in a simple matrix type color display device, the overcoat layer 66 is made of an organic material such as acrylic or polyimide.
Since it is difficult to form the O transparent electrode by a method such as etching, the scanning electrode 54a having a large line width is formed on the color filter side substrate 60, and the signal electrode 54b for selecting the color filter 63 having a smaller line width is opposed. It is formed on a substrate 61, and the substrates 60 and 61 are bonded together with their positions aligned. However, as long as the signal electrode 54b can be formed on the overcoat layer 66, there is no problem even if the scanning electrode 54a is formed on the counter substrate 61 side.

In the case of the STN type or the TFT type, the black matrix 65 is formed so as to entirely surround the color filter 63 as shown in FIG. A contrast display is achieved. On the other hand, in order to perform the area gradation display with the ferroelectric liquid crystal, the signal electrode 54b corresponding to each color is further divided and formed into a plurality of electrodes, as compared with the STN type which is the same simple matrix system. Here, as an example, FIG. 9A shows an electrode structure in the case where area gradation is not performed.
(B) shows an electrode structure in the case of performing two-division, three-gradation display. When comparing the two electrode structures, in FIG. 9 (b), the signal electrodes 54b is an area ratio m: 2 two electrodes 54b of n ₁ · 5
4b ₂ (m: n = 2:
1). By two electrodes 54b ₁ - 54b ₂ are selected independently of one another, the sub-pixel regions 67 _1, 67 ₂ of each single color pixel 67 is independently driven to each other, the gradation display is performed.

However, when a color filter layer having a conventional structure is applied to the area gradation electrode structure shown in FIG. 9B to perform area gradation color display with ferroelectric liquid crystal, FIG.
As shown in (b), the non-pixel portion 69 generated by the area division is not shielded from light, resulting in a problem that the contrast is reduced.

As described above, it is difficult to fabricate a ferroelectric liquid crystal color display device that can display gradation with high contrast and high display quality by directly applying the color filter layer having the conventional structure as it is. ing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a high-contrast, high-quality ferroelectric liquid crystal display device capable of color display and gradation display. Is to provide.

[0016]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device in which a plurality of electrodes are formed in a stripe shape and opposed to each other so that both electrodes intersect. A pair of substrates and a ferroelectric liquid crystal sealed between the pair of substrates, and each color of a plurality of color filters formed in a predetermined pattern on one of the pair of substrates. Monochromatic pixels are arranged in a matrix according to a color filter, and in order to perform gradation display, in a liquid crystal display device in which each of the monochromatic pixels is divided into areas and has a plurality of sub-pixel regions, A light-shielding film is provided on the substrate for shielding light between the single-color pixels and between the sub-pixel regions.

According to the above configuration, the light-shielding film not only shields the light between the single-color pixels, but also removes the non-pixel portions resulting from the area division of the single-color pixels, that is, the portions between the sub-pixel regions. It is shaded. That is, since the light-shielding film that shields all the non-display pixel regions is provided on the substrate having the color filters, it is possible to prevent a decrease in contrast due to the area gray scale display. Therefore, in a color-compatible ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, high-contrast gradation display is achieved.

Further, by adopting the above structure, it is possible to manufacture a high-contrast ferroelectric liquid crystal display device capable of performing color display and gradation display at a low cost without increasing the number of manufacturing steps. Can be. That is,
There is no need to perform a step of shielding the non-pixel portion resulting from the area division of each single-color pixel on the counter substrate in order to perform the area gradation color display. Since the non-display pixel portion can be shielded from light, an increase in cost in the manufacturing process can be suppressed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device as set forth in the first aspect, wherein:
The color filters of the respective colors are divided and formed so as to correspond to the respective sub-pixel regions.

According to the above arrangement, the light-shielding film for shielding the light between the single-color pixels and between the sub-pixel regions is provided, and the color filters of the respective colors are divided and formed so as to correspond to the respective sub-pixel regions. As a result, a high-contrast gradation color display can be easily achieved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device comprising:
The color filters of the respective colors are formed integrally with each of the single color pixels.

According to the above arrangement, a light-shielding film for shielding light between each single-color pixel and between each sub-pixel region is provided, and a color filter for each color is integrally formed for each single-color pixel. High-contrast gradation color display can be easily achieved.

In addition, with the above-described structure, it is not necessary to form each color filter finer than in the past, and the color filters can be formed with the same accuracy as in the prior art. Can be prevented.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, a pair of substrates 1 and 2 are arranged to face each other, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal 3 is sealed between the two substrates 1 and 2. The polarizing plates 1 are provided on the outside of the substrates 1 and 2 such that the respective polarizing axes are orthogonal to each other.
6.17 are arranged.

On one substrate 1, a plurality of signal electrodes (data electrodes) 5 are formed in stripes on a transparent substrate 4 made of glass or the like, and a transparent insulating film 6 made of SiO ₂ or the like is formed thereon. Are formed to cover each signal electrode 5. On the insulating film 6, an alignment film 7 which has been subjected to a uniaxial alignment process by rubbing is provided.

On the other substrate 2, a color filter layer 9 described later is provided on a transparent substrate 8 made of glass or the like, and a plurality of scanning electrodes 10 are arranged on the color filter layer 9 in a stripe shape. ing. An insulating film 11 is formed on the scanning electrode 10, and an alignment film 12 that has been subjected to a uniaxial alignment process by rubbing is provided on the insulating film 11.

The two substrates 1 and 2 are provided with a signal electrode 5 and a scanning electrode 1.
The substrates 1 and 2 are bonded with a sealant 13 at a predetermined interval. In order to strictly control the distance between the substrates at the time of the bonding, spacers such as the spherical spacers 14 and the band-shaped protrusions 15 are arranged.

Further, in the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, in order to perform gradation display, each signal electrode 5 has a predetermined area ratio of 2%.
It is divided into _two electrodes 5 ₁ and 5 ₂ . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1A, each signal electrode 5 and each scanning electrode 10
Are overlapped with each other to form a monochrome pixel 18, and furthermore, the electrode 5
Depending on the _1, 5 _2, each single color pixel 18 is in the area divided structure having two sub-pixel regions 18 _1, 18 _2.

The color filter layer 9 described above
As shown in FIG. 1B, a color filter 19 of R, G, and B colors formed in a predetermined pattern is provided. A color filter 19 of each color is formed for each single-color pixel 18, and the electrodes 5 ₁ and 5 ₂ and the sub-pixel region 1
It is formed so as to correspond to 8 ₁ · 18 ₂ .

Further, the color filter layer 9 has a structure shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), a light-shielding film 20 for shielding light between the single-color pixels 18 and between the sub-pixel regions 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ is provided. The light-shielding film 20 and the color filter 19 are covered with an overcoat layer 21, and the scanning electrodes 10 are formed on the overcoat layer 21 in a stripe shape.

In the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, two electrodes 5 ₁ and 5 _{2 of} each signal electrode 5 and each scanning electrode 10
And a voltage applying means (not shown) for selectively applying a voltage thereto. When a voltage is selectively applied to the signal electrode 5 and the scanning electrode 10 by this voltage applying means, the optical axis of the ferroelectric liquid crystal 3 between the electrodes 5 and 10 is switched (see FIG. 7). The change in the optical axis is optically identified by the transmitted light from the light source (not shown), so that the display is performed. Further, by selecting the _two electrodes 5 ₁ and 5 _{2 of} each signal electrode 5 independently of each other, the sub-pixel regions 18 ₁ and 18 _{2 of} each single-color pixel 18 are driven independently of each other, and the gradation display is performed. Is performed.

In the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, the light-shielding film 20 not only shields the light between the single-color pixels 18 but also generates a non-pixel portion where each single-color pixel 18 is divided into areas, that is, each sub-pixel. The structure between the regions 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ is also shielded from light. That is, since the light-shielding film 20 that shields all the non-display pixel regions is provided, it is possible to prevent a decrease in contrast caused by performing the area gradation display.

Next, a method of manufacturing the color filter layer 9 in the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device will be briefly described.

First, a 2000-cm thick C is placed on the transparent substrate 8.
The r-deposited film was patterned by a photolithography method using a photomask corresponding to the pattern of the non-display pixel portion to form a light-shielding film 20. Thereafter, color filters 19 of R, G, and B colors are formed in a pattern corresponding to each of the sub-pixel regions 18 ₁ and 18 _2. Subsequently, an acrylic resin is formed as an overcoat layer 21 by a spin coating method. Layer 9 was produced. The color filter 19 can be formed by a method of patterning a polyimide in which a pigment or a dye is dispersed using a photosensitive resist, or a method of directly patterning a photosensitive polyimide in which a pigment or a dye is dispersed.

After forming a transparent scanning electrode 10 made of ITO or the like on the overcoat layer 21, an insulating film 11 and an alignment film 12 are formed. Substrate 2 fabricated in this way
And the substrate 1 on which the insulating film 6 and the alignment film 7 are similarly formed.
Then, the ferroelectric liquid crystal 3 was injected between the two substrates 1 and 2 while precisely positioning them.

In the ferroelectric liquid crystal display device manufactured as described above, all non-display portions are completely shielded from light by the light-shielding film 20, so that high contrast and excellent display quality can be obtained. Was.

Further, the above-mentioned manufacturing method does not increase the number of manufacturing steps compared to the conventional method, so that a high-contrast ferroelectric liquid crystal display device capable of color display and gradation display can be manufactured at low cost. . That is,
In the case of manufacturing a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device that performs area gradation display using a conventional color filter layer as shown in FIG. 10, in order to achieve high contrast display, a light shielding film (black) of the color filter layer is required. The step of shielding the non-pixel portion 69 which is not shielded by the matrix 65 must be performed on the counter substrate separately from the step of manufacturing the color filter layer. However, according to the manufacturing method of this embodiment, the same color as in the related art is used. Since all non-display pixel portions can be shielded from light in the manufacturing process of the filter layer, an increase in cost in the manufacturing process can be suppressed.

In the above-described ferroelectric liquid crystal display device,
Although a Cr film is used for the light shielding film 20,
It is also possible to apply an organic material in addition to a metal material represented by Cr or Cr oxide. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example in which a light shielding film 22 made of an organic material such as a black pigment is provided instead of the light shielding film 20 which is a metal light shielding film. In this configuration, the color filters 19 of each color can be formed by an electrodeposition method. However, the light-shielding film 22, which is an organic light-shielding film, needs to be thick because the optical density (OD value) is lower than that of metal.

[Embodiment 2] Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. For the sake of convenience, members having the same functions as those described in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In the ferroelectric liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 4, the color filters 23 of the respective colors are not separately formed so as to correspond to the electrodes 5 ₁ and 5 ₂ and the sub-pixel regions 18 ₁ and 18 _2. It has a configuration that has been. That is, the color filter 23 of each color is formed integrally for each single color pixel 18 without being divided, and the other configuration is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

Next, a method for manufacturing the color filter layer 9 of the present ferroelectric liquid crystal display device will be briefly described.

First, a 2000-cm thick C is placed on the transparent substrate 8.
The r-deposited film was patterned by a photolithography method using a photomask corresponding to the pattern of the non-display pixel portion to form a light-shielding film 20. After this, instead of a pattern directly corresponding to each sub-pixel area 18 ₁ , 18 ₂ ,
R, G, B color filters 2 for each single color pixel 18
Then, an acrylic resin was formed as an overcoat layer 21 by a spin coating method to produce a color filter layer 9. The color filter 23 can be formed by a method of patterning a polyimide in which a pigment or a dye is dispersed using a photosensitive resist, or a method of directly patterning a photosensitive polyimide in which a pigment or a dye is dispersed.

After forming the transparent scanning electrode 10 made of ITO or the like on the overcoat layer 21, an insulating film 11 and an alignment film 12 are formed. Substrate 2 fabricated in this way
And the substrate 1 on which the insulating film 6 and the alignment film 7 are similarly formed.
Then, the ferroelectric liquid crystal 3 was injected between the two substrates 1 and 2 while precisely positioning them.

In the ferroelectric liquid crystal display device manufactured as described above, all the non-display portions are completely shielded from light by the light shielding film 20, so that the display device can have high contrast and excellent display quality. Was.

Further, the above-mentioned manufacturing method does not increase the number of manufacturing steps as compared with the conventional method, so that a high-contrast ferroelectric liquid crystal display device capable of color display and gradation display can be manufactured at low cost. . That is,
According to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to perform a step of shielding the non-pixel portion resulting from the area division of each single-color pixel for the counter substrate in order to perform the area gradation color display with respect to the conventional substrate. Since all non-display pixel portions can be shielded from light in a similar color filter layer manufacturing process, cost increase in the manufacturing process can be suppressed.

Further, in this embodiment, the color filter 23 can be formed with the same accuracy as in the prior art without being affected by the miniaturization of the color filter pattern, as compared with the first embodiment. This is advantageous in terms of yield and the like.

In this embodiment, a step due to the thickness of the light-shielding film 20 occurs in the portion 24 where the color filter 23 is formed on the light-shielding film 20. Since this step particularly adversely affects the orientation and switching characteristics of the ferroelectric liquid crystal, measures such as polishing the surface of the color filter 23 and forming the overcoat layer 21 thicker than in the first embodiment are taken. It is desirable.

In the ferroelectric liquid crystal display device described above, a Cr film is used for the light shielding film 20, but as shown in FIG. 5, instead of the light shielding film 20 which is a metal light shielding film, a black pigment or the like is used. A light-shielding film 22 made of an organic material may be used. In this case, the color filters 23 of the respective colors can be formed by an electrodeposition method. However, since the optical density (OD value) of the light-shielding film 22, which is an organic light-shielding film, is lower than that of metal, it is necessary to increase the film thickness. Therefore, the color filter 23 is formed on the light-shielding film 22. Part 25
Then, it is desirable to further reduce the step.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be implemented with various modifications within the spirit of the present invention and the scope of the claims.

[0051]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device.
As described above, on one substrate having a color filter,
In this configuration, a light-shielding film that shields light between the single-color pixels and between the sub-pixel regions is provided.

Thus, since all the non-display pixel regions are shielded from light by the light-shielding film, it is possible to prevent a decrease in contrast caused by performing the area gray scale display.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device which can perform color display and gradation display and has high contrast and high display quality.

Further, by adopting the above-mentioned structure, a high-contrast ferroelectric liquid crystal display device capable of performing color display and gradation display without increasing the number of manufacturing steps as compared with the conventional one can be manufactured at low cost. Can be. That is,
There is no need to perform a step of shielding the non-pixel portion resulting from the area division of each single-color pixel on the counter substrate in order to perform the area gradation color display. Since the non-display pixel portion can be shielded from light, an increase in cost in the manufacturing process can be suppressed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the liquid crystal display device according to the first aspect, the color filters of the respective colors are formed so as to be divided so as to correspond to the respective sub-pixel regions. Configuration.

Thus, a light-shielding film for shielding light between each single-color pixel and between each sub-pixel region is provided, and color filters of each color are formed so as to be divided corresponding to each sub-pixel region. High-contrast gradation color display can be easily realized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device according to the first aspect, wherein the color filters of the respective colors are formed integrally with each of the single color pixels. .

Accordingly, a light-shielding film for shielding light between each single-color pixel and between each sub-pixel region is provided, and a color filter of each color is integrally formed for each single-color pixel. A gradation color display can be realized.

Further, with the above configuration, it is not necessary to form each color filter finer than in the prior art, and the color filters can be formed with the same accuracy as in the prior art, so that the manufacturing cost and the yield are reduced. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention,
(B) is a schematic diagram viewed from a cross section.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example when an organic material is used for a light-shielding film in the liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 4A is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device according to another embodiment of the present invention,
(B) is a schematic diagram viewed from a cross section.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example in a case where an organic material is used for a light shielding film in the liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a molecular arrangement of a ferroelectric liquid crystal.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a display principle of a ferroelectric liquid crystal;
(A) is a view showing a state in which the helical structure of the ferroelectric liquid crystal is unwound in a thin cell, and (b) is an electric field applied to the ferroelectric liquid crystal in this cell, and the liquid crystal molecules and their spontaneous It is a figure which shows the state in which the direction of polarization was uniform, (c)
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which the orientation of liquid crystal molecules is switched from a certain state to another state by switching the polarity of an applied electric field to the reverse of that shown in FIG.

FIG. 8A is a front view schematically showing a configuration example of a conventional ferroelectric liquid crystal display device, and FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view thereof.

FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an electrode structure in a case where area gray scale is not performed in a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device.
(B) is an explanatory view showing an electrode structure in a case where two-division three-gradation display is performed.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration in a case where a color filter layer having a conventional structure is applied to the area gradation electrode structure shown in FIG. 9B.

[Reference Numerals] 1 - 2 substrate 3 ferroelectric liquid crystal 5 signal electrodes 5 _1, 5 ₂ electrode 10 scan electrode 18 monochrome pixels 18 _1, 18 ₂ sub-pixel regions 19 and 23 color filter 20, 22 light shielding film

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuation of the front page (71) Applicant 390040604 United Kingdom THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENSE IN HER BRITANNIC MAJES TY'S GOVERNMENT OF THE THE UNTERED KINGDOM OF GREEN REGISTER MONEY REGISTER MAN Borrow Ivey Road (without address) Defens Evaluation and Research Agency (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Ito 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka

Claims (3)

[Claims] A plurality of electrodes are formed in a stripe shape, and each of the electrodes includes a pair of substrates disposed to face each other such that the electrodes cross each other, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal sealed between the pair of substrates. The single-color pixels are arranged in a matrix in accordance with the color filters of the respective colors of a plurality of color filters formed in a predetermined pattern on one of the pair of substrates. In a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of sub-pixel regions in which a single-color pixel is area-divided, a light-shielding film that shields light between the single-color pixels and between the sub-pixel regions is provided on one substrate having the color filter. A liquid crystal display device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the color filters of the respective colors are formed so as to correspond to the respective sub-pixel regions. 3. A color filter according to claim 1, wherein the color filters of the respective colors are formed integrally with each of the single color pixels.
The liquid crystal display device as described in the above.