Liquid crystal display and method for fabricating the same

A liquid crystal display including:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, the liquid crystal display comprising:
• a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film,
• the projection having a prescribed height and/or a prescribed dielectric constant so that a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in a region where the projection is formed is substantially equal to or below a liquid crystal threshold voltage.

A liquid crystal display including:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, the liquid crystal display comprising:
• a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film,
• the first alignment film or the second alignment film having a prescribed film thickness and/or a prescribed dielectric constant so that a the voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in the region where the projection is formed is substantially equal to or below a liquid crystal threshold voltage.

A liquid crystal display including:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, the liquid crystal display comprising:
• a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film,
• when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in a region where the projection is formed being controlled to be substantially equal to or below a liquid crystal threshold voltage, wherein
• the first alignment film and the second alignment film have higher vertical alignment ability in the region where the projection is formed than in the other region, whereby a liquid crystal threshold voltage in the region where the projection is formed is higher than in the other region.

A liquid crystal display including:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, the liquid crystal display comprising:
• a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film;
• and
• a high-resistance electrode layer disposed between the first electrode and the projection and/or between the second electrode and the projection, a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in a region where the projection is formed being controlled by voltage reduction by the high-resistance electrode layer,
• when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, the voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in the region where the projection is formed being controlled to be substantially equal to or below a liquid crystal threshold voltage.

A liquid crystal display including:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• and a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, the liquid crystal display comprising:
• a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film, wherein
• the first electrode or the second electrode is made highly resistive in the region where the projection is formed, and the voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in the region where the projection is formed is controlled by voltage reduction in the region where the first electrode or the second electrode is made highly resistive.

A voltage control method for a liquid crystal display comprising:

• a first substrate including a first electrode to which a drive voltage is applied, and a first alignment film formed on the first electrode and aligning liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the first alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a second substrate including a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, and a second alignment film formed on the second electrode and aligning the liquid crystal molecules vertically to a surface of the second alignment film when the drive voltage is not applied;
• a liquid crystal layer sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy;
• and a projection for restricting a tilting direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, disposed between the first electrode and the first alignment film, and/or between the second electrode and the second alignment film,
• when the drive voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in the region where the projection is formed being controlled to be substantially equal to or below a liquid crystal threshold voltage and a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer in the region where the projection is not formed being controlled to be above the liquid crystal threshold voltage.

A liquid crystal display comprising:

• a first substrate and a second substrate opposed to each other in parallelism with each other at a certain gap therebetween;
• a liquid crystal material loaded between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy;
• a first electrode and a second electrode respectively formed on opposed surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate and defining a picture element region;
• a first projection for restricting tilting directions of liquid crystal molecules formed on the surface of the first electrode, a side surface of the first projection forming a contact angle of above 30° to the surfaces of the first electrode;
• an alignment restricting means formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate for restricting together with the first projection the tilting directions of the liquid crystal molecules;
• a first alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the first substrate, covering the first electrode and the first projection, for vertically aligning the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material;
• and
• a second alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate, covering the second electrode and the alignment restricting means, for vertically aligning the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material.

A liquid crystal display comprising:

• a first substrate and a second substrate opposed to each other in parallelism with each other at a certain gap therebetween;
• a liquid crystal material loaded between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy;
• a first electrode and a second electrode respectively formed on opposed surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate and defining a picture element region;
• a first projection formed on the surface of the first electrode, a ratio of a width of the bottom surface of the first projection to a height thereof being above 0.5;
• an alignment restricting means formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate for restricting together with the first projection tilting directions of liquid crystal molecules;
• a first alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the first substrate, covering the first electrode and the first projection for vertically aligning the liquid crystal material;
• and
• a second alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate, covering the second electrode and the alignment restricting means, for vertically aligning liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material.

A liquid crystal display comprising:

• a first substrate and a second substrate opposed to each other in parallelism with each other at a certain gap therebetween;
• a liquid crystal material loaded between the first substrate and the second substrate and having negative dielectric constant anisotropy;
• a first electrode and a second electrode respectively formed on opposed surfaces of the first substrate and the second substrate and defining a picture element region;
• a first projection formed of acrylic high molecular material on the surfaces of the first electrodes;
• an alignment restricting means formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate for restricting together with the first projection tilting directions of liquid crystal molecules;
• a first alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the first substrate, covering the first electrode and the first projection for vertically aligning the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material;
• and
• a second alignment film formed on the opposed surface of the second substrate, covering the second electrode and the alignment restricting means, for vertically aligning liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material.