Liquid Crystal Device Shoulder Portion Thickness Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid crystal devices face challenges in reducing the thickness of the liquid crystal layer below 1.9 μm due to limitations in manufacturing smaller gap materials, which is necessary for achieving brightness equivalent to transmissive-type devices in reflective-type devices, where light passes through the layer twice.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a shoulder portion on at least one of the substrate bodies in the area overlapped with the sealing material to increase the distance between the substrates, allowing for a thinner liquid crystal layer without reducing the size of the gap material, and using an inter-substrate conductive material for continuity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the outer diameter of the gap material is reduced to reduce the liquid crystal layer thickness, then the response of the liquid crystal layer is improved, but the manufacturing difficulty increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from controlling liquid crystal layer thickness solely through gap material diameter (one-dimensional approach) to using the vertical profile of the substrate body (shoulder portion depth) as an additional dimension for thickness control. This allows the gap material to maintain its manufacturable size while the liquid crystal layer thickness is reduced through the shoulder portion's vertical geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The shoulder portion acts as an intermediary structure between the substrate body and the gap material. It provides a vertical offset that effectively reduces the liquid crystal layer thickness without requiring the gap material itself to be smaller, thus mediating between the conflicting requirements of response speed and manufacturability.
2Illumination intensity
If the liquid crystal layer thickness is reduced to achieve brightness equivalent to transmissive-type devices in reflective-type devices, then the brightness is improved, but the gap material size must be reduced which is difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses the vertical dimension of the shoulder portion to control the effective liquid crystal layer thickness for optical purposes, while the horizontal dimension (gap material diameter) remains at a manufacturable size. This dimensional separation allows brightness improvement without manufacturing difficulty.
Solution Approach 2:
The shoulder portion creates a local geometric feature on the substrate body that specifically affects the liquid crystal layer thickness in the display area. This localized structural modification achieves the desired optical performance without globally reducing the gap material size throughout the entire device.
Data Source
AI summary
In a liquid crystal device, a shoulder portion configured to increase the distance between a element-substrate-side substrate body and a opposed-substrate-side substrate body is provided on the opposed-substrate-side substrate body in an area overlapped with a sealing material including a gap material. Therefore, in an area inside the sealing material, the gap between the element substrate and the opposed substrate is smaller than the gap therebetween in the area overlapped with the sealing material. Therefore, the layer thickness of the liquid crystal layer can be reduced without reducing the size of the gap material.