Liquid crystal display panel with wide column spacers for keeping gap constant and process for fabrication thereof
AssigneeNEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
InventorHideo Shibahara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An IPS (In-Plane-Switching) liquid crystal display panel has column spacers for spacing an active matrix substrate structure from a counter substrate structure, and liquid crystal fills the gap therebetween, wherein the ratio of total contact area between the column spacers and the active matrix substrate structure to the total area occupied by the pixels is fallen within the range from 0.050 percent to 0.150 percent so as to prevent the liquid crystal display panel from irregularity of brightness by keeping the gap constant.
Claims19
A liquid crystal display panel comprising:
- a pair of substrate structures having plural pixels where an image is produced,
- liquid crystal filling a gap between said pair of said substrate structures and selectively making said pixels dark and bright for producing said image,
- column spacers formed on one of said substrate structures of said pair and held in contact with the other of said substrate structures, the ratio of the total contact area between said column spacers and said other of said substrate structures to the total area occupied by said plural pixels being within the range from 0.050 percent to 0.150 percent, at least one of said column spacers being formed within a matrix of said plural pixels, said matrix of said plural pixels being formed by rows and columns of said plural pixels, and
- a sealing layer formed between said matrix of said plural pixels and a peripheral area, and
- a reservoir formed between said substrate structures for preventing said pair of substrate structures from increasing said gap by accumulating part of said liquid crystal,
- wherein no column spacers are formed in an area of said sealing layer, and
- wherein the liquid crystal display panel is an In-Plane-Switching display panel.
A process for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel, comprising the steps of:
- a) preparing a pair of substrate structures having column spacers;
- b) assembling the substrate structures of said pair in alignment with one another for creating a gap therebetween, the assembled substrate structure providing a reservoir between said substrate structures for preventing said pair of substrate structures from increasing said gap by accumulating part of said liquid crystal;
- c) injecting liquid crystal into said gap;
- d) evacuating part of said liquid crystal from said gap so as to make a pressure exerted on the inner surfaces of said substrate structures lower than the atmospheric pressure;
- and
- e) confining the remaining part of said liquid crystal in said gap, in which said column spacers formed in one of said substrate structures are held in contact with the other of said substrate structures for creating said gap, and the ratio of total contact area between said column spacers and said other of said substrate structures to the area occupied by pixels is within the range between 0.050% to 0.150%, at least one of said column spacers being formed within a matrix of said pixels, said matrix of said pixels being formed by rows and columns of said pixels,
- wherein no column spacers are formed in an area of a sealing layer formed between said matrix of said plural pixels and a peripheral area, and
- wherein the liquid crystal display panel is an In-Plane-Switching display panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.