abstract |
Area-division transflective, transmissive and reflective LCDs with an essentially horizontal electric field configuration (such as Fringe Field Switching (FFS)) are disclosed. More than one common electrodes (CE) (9104, 9105, 9305) produce a sufficiently large horizontal field even in liquid crystal regions above the pixel electrode (PE) (9103) and any other CE (9105). The scheme relies on more than one CE-PE pairs. A first pair is made up of a first CE (9104, 9305) and the PE (9103). Both the PE and the first CE are interdigitated (comb- shaped) and the PE is typically arranged on an insulating layer (9204, 9304) over the first CE. A second pair consists of a second CE (9105) typically arranged inside the pixel in substantially the same plane as the PE. The second CE is typically connected to the first CE via a contact hole in the insulating layer. Each pixel may consist of transmissive (1002) and reflective regions (1001), each region exhibiting more than one CE. The CE and the PE may be reflective or transparent or both. In a single pixel the first CE may even be divided into transparent (9104) and reflective (9305) portions. nKeywords: In-plane switching. |