Slit Electrode LCD with Transparent Conductive Layer
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Solution Overview
Problem
IPS-mode LCD devices have a low aperture ratio and optical transmittance due to opaque metal layers in the pixel region, requiring high-intensity backlights and limiting viewing angles, with previous attempts to use transparent conductive materials only slightly improving these metrics.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a liquid crystal display device with a first substrate featuring a lower transparent conductive layer and an upper metal layer, along with a second electrode having slits to generate a horizontal electric field with a parabolic shape, enhancing the aperture ratio and optical transmittance by allowing even light passage and improving the alignment of liquid crystal molecules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If opaque metal layers are used in the pixel region to form electrodes, then the electrical conductivity and field generation capability are improved, but the aperture ratio and optical transmittance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The second electrode is divided into multiple slit patterns instead of forming a continuous opaque layer. This segmentation allows light to pass through the gaps between slits while still maintaining sufficient conductive area to generate the required horizontal electric field, thereby resolving the contradiction between electrical conductivity and optical transmittance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the electrode structure are assigned different properties: the first electrode uses a transparent conductive layer for full light transmission, while the second electrode uses slits in a transparent conductive layer to provide localized field generation where needed while maintaining overall transparency. This local differentiation optimizes both conductivity and transmittance.
2Area of stationary object
If transparent conductive materials are used for electrodes, then the aperture ratio and optical transmittance are improved, but the field generation capability and electrical conductivity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode structure uses composite material configuration: transparent conductive layers are combined with metallic slit patterns formed through photolithography. This composite approach maintains the transparency and light transmission properties of the transparent conductive material while adding the high conductivity and field generation capability of metal structures through the slit patterns.
3Manufacturing precision
If a six mask process is used for fabrication, then the manufacturing precision and pattern alignment are improved, but the fabrication complexity and production time increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple patterning steps are merged into the six mask process sequence. The mask patterns are designed to form multiple structures (gate lines, data lines, electrode patterns, and slit patterns) in an integrated sequence, reducing the total number of separate fabrication processes while maintaining precise alignment through the systematic mask approach.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly increases the aperture ratio and optical transmittance, reducing power consumption and enhancing display quality with wider viewing angles, while also simplifying the fabrication process by reducing the number of masks required.
Implementation Method 1
a second electrode having slits to generate a horizontal electric field with a parabolic shape
Implementation Method 2
The LCD device independently supplies a data signal to pixels arranged in a matrix according to image information. Thus an optical transmittance in each of the pixels is controlled.
Data Source
AI summary
An LCD device, and a fabrication method thereof, having a high aperture ratio and a high optical transmittance that enhances a fabrication yield and reduces the number of masks required in a fabrication process are disclosed. The LCD device includes a first substrate and a second substrate; a gate line arranged on the first substrate in one direction and having a transparent conductive layer formed of a transparent conductive material at a lower portion thereof; a data line; a thin film transistor; a first electrode formed on the first substrate and formed on the same layer as the transparent conductive layer; a second electrode having a plurality of slits and formed on a different layer from the first electrode, wherein the second electrode generates a horizontal field with a parabolic shape on the first substrate with the first electrode; and a liquid crystal layer.