Active matrix display with capacitive light shield

An active matrix display apparatus, comprising:

• a first transparent insulation substrate;
• a thin film transistor formed on said first transparent insulation substrate and including a gate electrode made of an opaque material, a gate insulating film disposed on said gate electrode, a semiconductor thin film disposed on said gate insulating film, and source and drain electrodes;
• a transparent display pixel electrode disposed on said first transparent insulation substrate coupled to said thin film transistor to be selectively addressed by said thin film transistor;
• a gate thus formed on said first transparent insulation substrate and connected to said gate electrode;
• a drain bus formed on said gate insulating film and connected to said drain electrode;
• a connecting portion on said first transparent insulation substrate for connecting said thin film transistor with said transparent display electrode;
• a second transparent insulation substrate;
• an opposing electrode formed on said second transparent insulation substrate and formed of a transparent conductive film;
• a liquid crystal medium disposed between said first and second transparent insulation substrates and forming a signal voltage storing capacitor with said transparent display pixel electrode and said opposing electrode;
• an insulation film, formed on said thin film transistor;
• and
• electrically conductive light shielding layer means for shielding against light penetration, maintained at a predetermined potential and formed over and insulating from said thin film transistor on said insulation film to oppose said gate electrode through said semiconductor thin film, with said light shielding layer means not being connected to and being insulated from said gate bus, said drain bus and said source electrode, and a part of said light shielding layer means opposing a part of said display pixel electrode with said insulation film therebetween, for forming a supplemental storage capacitor.

An active matrix type display apparatus comprising:

• a first transparent insulating substrate;
• gate buses formed on said first transparent insulating substrate, said gate buses being sequentially scanned and driven by a scanning signal;
• drain buses formed on said first transparent insulating substrate and having parallel image signal voltages applied thereto;
• a thin film transistor array formed on said first transparent insulating substrate, said thin film transistor array having a plurality of thin film transistors including a semiconductor thin film, a source electrode, a drain electrode, a gate electrode and an insulating thin film between said gate electrode and said semiconductor thin film;
• transparent display pixel electrodes formed on said first transparent insulating substrate, each of said pixel electrodes being selectively addressed by said thin film transistor array;
• a second transparent insulating substrate;
• a counter electrode formed on said second transparent electrode and made of transparent conductive film;
• a liquid crystal medium disposed between said first and second transparent insulating substrates and forming a signal voltage storing capacitor with said transparent display pixel electrode and said counter electrode;
• and
• an electrically conductive light shielding layer fixed at a predetermined potential, said conductive light shielding layer not being in contact with and being insulated from said thin film transistor and overlapping a part of said transparent display pixel electrode through an insulating film so as to form a supplemental storage capacitor layer, said light shielding layer not being connected to and being insulated from said gate buses, said drain buses and said source electrode, said light shielding layer and said gate electrode sandwiching said semiconductor thin film.