Liquid crystal display device
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAkiyoshi Fujii, Tadashi Kawamura, Yuichiro Yamada
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate placed to face the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates. The liquid crystal layer further includes: a splay-aligned region in which a transformation from splay alignment to bend alignment or from bend alignment to splay alignment occurs according to a voltage applied; and a nucleation region serving as a nucleation site for initiating the transformation to occur in the splay-aligned region. A plurality of first splay-aligned regions include two first splay-aligned regions connected to each other via one of a plurality of second splay-aligned regions.
Claims14
A liquid crystal display device comprising:
- a first substrate, a second substrate placed to face the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates,
- wherein the liquid crystal layer includes:
- a splay-aligned region in which a transformation from splay alignment to bend alignment or from bend alignment to splay alignment occurs according to a voltage applied;
- and a nucleation region adjacent to the splay-aligned region and serving as a nucleation site for initiating the transformation to occur in the splay-aligned region,
- the nucleation region includes a plurality of first nucleation regions, each of the plurality of first nucleation regions extending in a first direction, and a plurality of second nucleation regions, each of the plurality of second nucleation regions extending in a second direction different from the first direction,
- the splay-aligned region includes a plurality of first splay-aligned regions having a first width in the second direction and a plurality of second splay-aligned regions having a second width smaller than the first width in the second direction, and
- the plurality of first splay-aligned regions include two first splay-aligned regions connected to each other via one of the plurality of second splay-aligned regions, and wherein the first width of the plurality of first splay-aligned regions and the second width of the plurality of second splay-aligned regions are defined by the nucleation region.
A liquid crystal display device comprising:
- a first substrate, a second substrate placed to face the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates, the liquid crystal layer containing a chiral dopant,
- wherein the liquid crystal layer includes:
- a twist-aligned region exhibiting 180-degree twisted alignment during non-voltage application;
- and a splay-aligned region exhibiting splay alignment during non-voltage application and bend alignment during voltage application, to be used for display,
- at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate has a plurality of steps on the surface facing the liquid crystal layer, each having an upper face, a lower face, and a side face connecting the upper face and the lower face, the splay-aligned region is formed above the upper faces of the plurality of steps, and the twist-aligned region is formed above the lower faces of the plurality of steps, and
- the plurality of steps include a first step and a second step, the side face of the first step has an angle exceeding 90° with respect to the lower face, and the side face of the second step has an angle less than 90° with respect to the lower face, so that the side face of the second step, but not the first step, is characterized by a top portion thereof overhanging a lower portion thereof so that the side face of the second step defines a recess which is located in an area where the upper face of the second step overhangs the lower portion of the second step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.