JPH02203322A - Liquid crystal electrooptical element - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a liquid crystal electro-optical device, and particularly to an electrode structure that combines low resistance and prevention of light leakage between transparent electrodes.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, FSC (ferroelectric smectic liquid crystal), DSTN
With the advent of (double bar twist type liquid crystal) etc.
The characteristics of liquid crystal electro-optical elements have improved dramatically. This has led to increased display capacity and larger sizes, and the electrode patterns of liquid crystal electro-optic elements have become finer and longer. Therefore, the electrode resistance is required to be lower than before. In addition, these large-capacity type liquid crystal electro-optical elements have a property that, due to their operating principle, light leakage occurs easily in gaps between electrodes. That is, in FSC, domains that transmit light and domains that do not transmit light coexist between electrodes where no electric field is applied due to bistability, while in DSTN
In this case, the electrode level difference causes light leakage. Conventionally, transparent electrodes for liquid crystal electro-optical elements have been formed by forming a thin film of a mixture of indium oxide and tin oxide by sputtering or vapor deposition, and then patterning it into a desired shape, or by forming a thin film on a transparent electrode as shown in Fig. 2. A structure has been proposed in which a metal pattern is partially provided to reduce resistance.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional method described above, since a metal pattern is provided on the transparent electrode, although it is effective in lowering the resistance, there is a problem in that it cannot prevent light leakage between the electrodes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal electro-optical element in which the resistance of transparent electrodes is reduced and light leakage is prevented.

[Means to solve the problem]

The liquid crystal electro-optical element of the present invention is a liquid crystal electro-optical element in which a liquid crystal is sandwiched between two substrates each having a transparent electrode.
At least one of the substrates has an auxiliary electrode made of metal or resin in the longitudinal direction of a part of the transparent electrode pattern on the transparent electrode for lowering the resistance of the electrode, and is further combined with the other substrate. It is characterized in that a light shielding body made of metal or opaque resin is provided on the transparent electrode of the one substrate, which sometimes corresponds to between the other electrode.

Hereinafter, the details of the present invention will be shown by examples.

[Example] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a liquid crystal electro-optical element in an example of the present invention. FIG. 1(a) is a diagram showing the electrode structure of one substrate, FIG. 1(b) is a diagram seen from the front when combined with the other substrate, and FIG. 1(c) is a diagram showing the electrode structure of one substrate. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal electro-optical element. In the figure, 10 is a liquid crystal cell, and 18 is a polarizing plate. Substrate 11 made of glass or transparent resin.
Transparent electrodes 13 and 14 were formed on 12 by patterning ITO into stripes using photolithography. After that, electroless nickel plating of approximately 3,000 ml was applied on each electrode side substrate.
As shown in FIG. 1(a), when the substrates 11 and 12 are assembled, the portion corresponding to between the transparent electrodes of each substrate,
A portion of nickel along the transparent electrode pattern was left as an auxiliary electrode 15. The width of the auxiliary electrode 15 at this time was arbitrarily set depending on the required resistance within a range that would not short-circuit with the adjacent transparent electrode. In addition, the width of the portion corresponding to the light shield between the transparent electrodes was made slightly wider than that between the transparent electrodes so that the accuracy of the combination could be made rough. Furthermore, in consideration of mounting, an auxiliary electrode was provided on the entire surface of the terminal section on the transparent electrode.

Next, a liquid crystal alignment film was provided on this, and a liquid crystal cell 10 was assembled by alignment treatment, and a ferroelectric smectic liquid crystal 16 was sealed. The obtained liquid crystal electro-optical element had almost no light leakage between the transparent electrodes, so a contrast ratio of 1=30 was obtained, and the contrast property was approximately three times higher than that of the conventional liquid crystal electro-optical element structure. Furthermore, by providing an auxiliary electrode, the resistance of the transparent electrode is equivalent to a sheet resistance of approximately 7Ω/mouth, and the sheet resistance of the transparent electrode used this time is approximately 20Ω.
/ The resistance was extremely low compared to the mouth.

The above embodiment shows one embodiment of the present invention, and although nickel is used as the auxiliary electrode, it is also possible to use other metals, conductive resins, or a combination of these. Further, the method for forming the metal may be vapor deposition, sputtering, etc., and conditions such as thickness can be set arbitrarily, and are not limited to the conditions of this embodiment. Furthermore, liquid crystal materials other than those used in this embodiment can be used in the same manner. In this embodiment, auxiliary electrodes are provided on both side substrates, but depending on the required characteristics, it is possible to use only one substrate.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, light leakage between transparent electrodes of a liquid crystal electro-optical element can be prevented in the perpendicular direction rather than in the length direction of the transparent electrodes, so there is no need to consider short circuits with adjacent electrodes. As a result, the pattern accuracy and assembly accuracy are rough and good, and since the light shield and auxiliary electrodes can be made at the same time, it can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, and the electrodes have low resistance, making it possible to produce large-sized, high-capacity liquid crystal electro-optics with excellent display characteristics. The device has an effect that can be easily obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(C) are diagrams showing a liquid crystal electro-optical element according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical element. 10...ΦLiquid crystal cell 11 and 12 fist 13, 14, 15# 16, 17 18φ ・Substrate, substrate, transparent electrode, transparent electrode, auxiliary electrode, liquid crystal, sealing material, polarizing plate Applicant: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Kisanbe Suzuki (1 other person) (Q) C Yamano Cbn/

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a liquid crystal electro-optical device in which a liquid crystal is sandwiched between two substrates each having a transparent electrode, the longitudinal direction of a part of the transparent electrode pattern on the transparent electrode of at least one of the substrates is It has an auxiliary electrode made of metal or resin to lower the resistance of the electrode, and further has a metal or opaque electrode on the transparent electrode of the one substrate that corresponds to between the other electrodes when combined with the other substrate. 1. A liquid crystal electro-optical element characterized by having a light shielding body made of a resin.