Large Area LIquid Crystal Display Device

Abstract

A liquid crystal display device includes at least one cell which provides a rectangular array of addressable pixels having an average area of at least 4 mm2. The cell comprises: two substrates (11, 12) defining therebetween a cavity; a layer of liquid crystal material in the cavity; and a respective conductive layer (13, 14) formed on each of the substrates (11, 12). The conductive layers (13, 14) are patterned to provide a rectangular array of separate drive electrodes (51) each capable of driving an area of the layer of liquid crystal material adjacent the respective drive electrode as one of said pixels. The conductive layers (13, 14) also provide a separate track (33) connected to each of the separate drive electrodes (51) and extending to a position outside the array of addressable pixels where the tracks (33) form terminals (34) each capable of receiving a respective drive signal. This allows direct addressing of the pixels. The relatively large size of the pixels allows such direct drive without an unacceptable reduction in the contrast ratio. In addition, the conductive layers may be patterned in a variety of ways to further improve the contrast ratio, e.g. the second conductive layer (14) is patterned to provide a common electrode (72) and a plurality of separate counter electrodes (76). Each respective counter electrode (76) extends over an area opposite one of the gaps (35) between the lines of the electrodes (51).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.