Transflective liquid crystal display, flat panel display device, and electronic apparatus

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display. More particularly, the present invention relates to a transflective LCD.

2. Description of Related Art

To match the life style of modern people, video or imaging equipment is becoming lighter and slimmer. Although the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) has many advantages, the design of the electron gun renders it heavy and bulky. Moreover, there is always some risk of hurting viewer's eyes due to the production of some harmful radiation. With big leaps in the techniques in manufacturing semiconductor devices and opto-electronic devices, flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light-emitting displays (OLED) and plasma display panels (PDP) has gradually become the mainstream display products. According to the light source used, a liquid crystal display can be classified into three types: reflective LCD, transmissive LCD and transflective LCD. Taking a transflective LCD as an example, the transflective LCD mainly includes a transflective liquid crystal panel and a backlight unit. The transflective LCD panel includes a thin film transistor array, a color filter and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween. The backlight unit provides a surface light source to illuminate the transflective LCD panel for displaying images. More specifically, the thin film transistor array includes a plurality of pixels, each pixel has a transmissive region and a reflective region respectively, and wherein the thickness of liquid crystal layer located above the transmissive region is often different from the thickness of liquid crystal layer located above the reflective region.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional liquid crystal display. Referring to FIG. 1 , the conventional LCD 10 includes a transflective LCD panel 100 , a backlight unit 102 disposed under the transflective LCD panel 100 , a polarizer 104 a disposed between the transflective LCD panel 100 and the backlight unit 102 , a polarizer 104 b disposed above the transflective LCD panel 100 , and a quarter wave plate 106 disposed between the transflective LCD panel 100 and the polarizer 104 a. The light is polarized to the desired phase by the polarizer 104 a implemented between the backlight unit 102 and the transflective LCD panel 100 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , the conventional transflective LCD panel 100 includes a thin film transistor array substrate (TFT array substrate) 110 , a color filter substrate 120 disposed above the TFT array substrate 110 , and a liquid crystal layer 130 filled between the TFT array substrate 110 and the color filter substrate 120 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the TFT array substrate 110 includes a transparent substrate 112 , a plurality of thin film transistors (TFT) 114 , a plurality of scan lines (not shown), a plurality of data lines 116 , and a plurality of pixel electrodes 118 . The TFT 114 , the scan lines, the data lines 116 , and the pixel electrodes 118 are all arranged over the transparent substrate 112 . The layout of the TFT 114 , the scan lines, the data lines 116 , and the pixel electrodes 118 should be known by the ordinary skilled artisans, and are not described in detail. Each TFT 114 includes a gate electrode 114 G electrically connected to the corresponding scan line, a source electrode 114 S electrically connected to the corresponding data line 116 , a drain electrode 114 D electrically connected to the corresponding pixel electrode 118 , and a channel layer 114 C capable of turning on or off by a bias (e.g. V gh or V gl ) that is applied to the gate electrode 114 G.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the pixel electrodes 118 includes a transparent electrode 118 T and a reflective electrode 118 R electrically connected to each other such that a plurality of transmissive regions T and reflective regions R of the transflective LCD panel 100 are defined. In detail, the transparent electrodes 118 T permit light emitted from the backlight unit 102 passing through, and the reflective electrodes 118 R reflect ambient light. Generally, the transparent electrodes 118 T are made of indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), or other transparent conductive materials; the reflective electrodes 118 R are made of metals or other reflective conductive materials.

Still referring to FIG. 1 , the color filter substrate 120 includes a transparent substrate 122 , a plurality of color filters 124 R, 124 G, and 124 B, and a common electrode 126 , wherein the color filters 124 R, 124 G, and 124 B are disposed over the substrate 122 , and the common electrode 126 are disposed above the color filters 124 R, 124 G, and 124 B. Usually, the common electrode 126 is made of ITO, IZO, or other transparent conductive materials.

In the conventional LCD 10 described above, a portion of light provided by the backlight unit 102 is reflected back by the reflective electrodes 118 R on the TFT array substrate 110 ; the other portion of light provided by the backlight unit 102 passes through the transparent electrodes 118 T. In detail, the light reflected back by the reflective electrodes 118 R is cut by the quarter wave plate 106 above the backlight unit 102 . Therefore, the light reflected back by the reflective electrodes 118 R can not be recycled. In addition, the manufacturing time and costs can not be reduced significantly because the polarizer 104 a, the analyzer 104 b and the quarter wave plate 106 are necessary for image displaying.

The present invention is directed to a transflective LCD, a flat panel display, and an electronic apparatus.

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a liquid crystal panel having an internal reflective surface that is provided on a panel substrate that is different from the panel substrate on which the pixel switching device matrix (e.g., a TFT array) is provided, to enhance the image quality of the liquid crystal panel. In one embodiment, the internal reflective surface is placed on the same substrate that supports the color filters. In another embodiment, the internal reflective surface is placed on the substrate that is positioned adjacent a backlight unit. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal panel is of the transflective type.

In another aspect, an optical film may be provided internal within the liquid crystal panel to enhance the image quality of the liquid crystal panel. The internal optical film may be, for example, a polarizer, or an optical compensator. In one embodiment, the internal optical film may be supported by the substrate that supports an internal reflective surface.

As embodied and broadly described herein, in one embodiment, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display having an internal reflective surface, e.g., a transflective LCD. The transflective LCD includes a backlight unit for providing a light, a liquid crystal panel comprising a pixel switching device matrix substrate such as an active matrix substrate, an opposite substrate with an internal reflector disposed between the active matrix substrate and the backlight unit, an optical film such as internal polarizer or optical compensator disposed on the opposite substrate, and a liquid crystal layer filled between the active matrix substrate and the optical film. In the transflective LCD of the present invention, a portion of the light provided by the backlight unit is reflected back by the internal reflector such that the light provided by the backlight unit can be recycled.

As embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention also provides a flat panel display device. The flat panel display device includes the transflective LCD mentioned above, and a driving circuit electrically connected to the transflective LCD.

As embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention further provides an electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes a flat panel display device mentioned above, a user interface, and a control circuit electrically connected to the flat panel display device and the user interface.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional liquid crystal display.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates cross-sectional views of a liquid crystal display according to another embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a flat panel display device according to the various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a flat panel display device according to the various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a general electronic apparatus according to the various embodiments of the present invention.

In the present invention, a novel liquid crystal display panel is proposed. By way of example and not limitation, an inventive transflective LCD is proposed. In the transflective LCD of the present invention, an opposite substrate with an internal reflector is disposed between an active matrix substrate and a backlight unit such that the light provided by the backlight unit can be reflected back by the internal reflector for further recycling. In addition, a quarter wave plate used in FIG. 1 is not necessary in the transflective LCD of the present invention because an optical film is formed over the opposite substrate and between the active matrix substrate and the opposite substrate. As a result, the light reflected back by the internal reflector can be re-used without cutting by the quarter wave plate.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2 , the transflective LCD 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is provided. The transflective LCD 20 includes a backlight unit 260 for providing a light L 0 , and an LCD panel 200 . The LCD panel 200 comprises a substrate on which an array of pixel switching matrix is disposed, e.g., an array of TFTs for an active matrix substrate 210 , an opposite substrate 220 with an internal reflector 201 , an internal polarizer 230 disposed on the opposite substrate 220 , and a liquid crystal layer 240 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the liquid crystal layer 240 is filled between the active matrix substrate 210 and the internal polarizer 230 . The internal polarizer 230 can adjust the phase of an ambient light L 1 and image quality of the reflective region R can be improved. It should be noted that, the opposite substrate 220 is disposed between the active matrix substrate 210 and the backlight unit 260 and a portion of the light L 0 provided by the backlight unit 260 is reflected back by the internal reflector 201 . The architecture of the transflective LCD 20 is quite different from the conventional transflective LCD 10 (shown in FIG. 1 ). Specifically, the arrangement of the backlight unit 260 , the active matrix substrate 210 , and the opposite substrate 220 is novel.

The detail structures of backlight unit 260 , the active matrix substrate 210 and the opposite substrate 220 are discussed below. Referring to FIG. 2 , the backlight unit 260 of the present embodiment may be an edge-lighting type backlight module, a direct type backlight module, cathode fluorescence flat lamp (CCFFL), or organic electro-luminescence device (OEL device). In either the edge-lighting type backlight module or the direct type backlight module, the light source may be light emitting diode array (LED array), cold cathode fluorescence lamp (CCFL), or other light source.

Still referring to FIG. 2 , the active matrix substrate 210 includes a first substrate 212 (e.g., a transparent substrate such as a glass substrate), a plurality of control lines 214 disposed on the first substrate 212 , a plurality of thin film transistor 216 , and a plurality of storage capacitance Cst disposed on the first substrate 212 and arranged in array, wherein each of the thin film transistor 216 is electrically connected to the corresponding control lines 214 . In the active matrix substrate 210 , the control lines 214 disposed on the first substrate 212 may be scan lines and data lines. In the present embodiment, the active matrix substrate 210 may be fabricated by low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) technology or other array processes. Moreover, the storage capacitance Cst includes a first electrode 213 a, a second electrode 213 b, and a dielectric layer 213 c disposed between the first electrode 213 a and the second electrode 213 b.

It should be noted that the first electrodes 213 a and the second electrodes 213 b may be made of ITO, IZO, or other transparent conductive materials such that the light provided from the backlight unit 260 can pass through the storage capacitance Cst. As a result, the transmittance of the active matrix substrate 210 can achieve about 85%˜90%. However, the material of the first electrodes and the second electrodes is not limited to be transparent; i.e. the first electrodes 213 a and/or the second electrodes 213 b may be opaque electrode. For example, the first electrodes 213 a may be made of poly-silicon and the second electrodes 213 b may be made of opaque metal.

Although the thin film transistors 216 illustrated in FIG. 2 are top-gate transistors and the material of the channel layers C is low temperature poly-silicon fabricated by excimer laser anneal (ELA) process, the structure of the thin film transistors 216 and the material of the channel layers C are only illustrated for elaboration and not limited by FIG. 2 . In other words, the thin film transistors T of the present invention may be bottom gate transistors, also, the material of the channel layers C may be amorphous silicon fabricated by chemical vapor deposition.

In the conventional transflective LCD 10 (shown in FIG. 1 ), the transmissive regions T and the reflective regions R are defined respectively by the transparent electrodes 118 T and the reflective electrodes 118 R the same side of the LCD panel 100 on the TFT array substrate 110 . On the contrary, in the transflective LCD 20 of the present invention, the transmissive regions T and the reflective regions R are defined on the opposite side of the LCD panel 200 , on the side of the opposite substrate 220 instead of the active matrix substrate 210 in the illustrated embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the opposite substrate 220 includes a second substrate 202 (e.g., a transparent substrate such as a glass substrate), a polymer layer 203 , a plurality of color filters 204 R, 204 G, 204 B, an over-coating 205 , and a common electrode 206 . The internal reflector 201 is disposed on the polymer layer 203 . The polymer layer 203 is disposed on the second substrate 202 . The color filters 204 R, 204 G, 204 B are disposed on the polymer layer 203 and the internal reflector 201 such that a portion of the internal reflector 201 is covered by the color filters 204 R, 204 G, 204 B. The over-coating 205 is disposed on the color filters 204 R, 204 G, 204 B and the internal reflector 201 that is not covered by the color filters 204 R, 204 G, 204 B. In addition, the common electrode 206 is disposed on the over-coating 205 and the internal polarizer 230 is disposed on the common electrode 206 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , the internal reflector 201 includes a plurality of first reflective patterns 201 a for reflecting the light L 0 provided by the backlight unit 260 and a plurality of second reflective patterns 201 b for defining a plurality of reflective regions R on the opposite substrate 220 , i.e. ambient light L 1 can be reflected by the second reflective patterns 201 b. (While the illustrated embodiment shows the internal reflector 201 having a discontinuous structure comprising separate sections 201 a and 201 b, it is contemplated that for certain applications dependent on the image quality desired, the internal reflector may have a continuous structure across the planar area.) Specifically, regions that are not occupied by the internal reflector 201 are defined as transmissive regions T. It is noted that, the first reflective patterns 201 a facilitate recycling of the light L 0 so as to improve the display quality of the transmissive regions T. The reflective patterns 201 a have a smooth undersurface towards the backlight unit 260 . The reflective patterns 201 a are covered by the color filters, but does not need to be.

In a embodiment of the present invention, a portion surface of the polymer layer 203 covered by the second reflective patterns 201 b is bumpy and the second reflective patterns 201 b is conformal with the covered (bumpy) surface of the polymer layer 203 . The bumpy surface of the polymer layer 203 can facilitate reflectivity of the second reflective patterns 201 b so as to improve the display quality of the reflective regions R.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal display according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3 , the transflective LCD 20 a of the present embodiment is similar with the transflective LCD 20 of the first embodiment except that the position of the common electrode 206 and the internal polarizer 230 . In the present embodiment, the internal polarizer 230 is disposed on the over-coating 205 and the common electrode 206 is disposed on the internal polarizer 230 . It should be noted that, position of the internal polarizer 230 is not limited by FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the internal polarizer also can be a discontinuous structure, wherein the discontinuous internal polarizer comprises separate sections, each section is disposed between any two laminated layers and located above the second reflective patterns 201 b.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates cross-sectional views of a liquid crystal display according to another embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4 , the transflective LCD 20 b of the present embodiment is similar with the transflective LCD 20 of the first embodiment except for the disposition of the optical compensators 250 instead of an internal polarizer. In the present embodiment, the optical compensators 250 are disposed on the common electrode 206 and located above the second reflective patterns 201 b such that the phase of the ambient light L 1 can be compensated by the optical compensators 250 . Image quality of the reflective region R can be improved.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the transflective LCD 20 c of the present embodiment is similar with the transflective LCD 20 a of the second embodiment except for the disposition of the optical compensators 250 instead of an internal polarizer. In the present embodiment, the optical compensators 250 are disposed on the second reflective patterns 201 b such that the phase of the ambient light L 1 can be compensated by the optical compensators 250 . Image quality of the reflective region R can be improved. It should be noted that, position of the optical compensators 250 is not limited by FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , the optical compensators 250 may be disposed between any two laminated layers located above the second reflective patterns 201 b.

In general, the LCD of the present invention as described above can be applied to a flat panel display device, which may be further implemented into an electronic apparatus. FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a flat panel display device according to the various embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 6 , the flat panel display device 300 , in general, can include a driving unit 302 and a transflective LCD 304 of the present invention as described above. The driving unit 302 includes source driver, gate driver, and control board electrically connected to the transflective LCD 304 through the source driver and gate driver. Generally, the driving unit 302 may be fabricated by chip-on-glass technology (COG technology), chip-on-board technology (COB technology), tape automated bonding technology (TAB technology), or chip-on-film technology (COF technology).

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a general electronic apparatus according to the various embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 7 , the electronic apparatus 400 , such as a mobile phone, an LCD television set, a computer system, a game player, or a device with a display region, and so on, includes a user interface 402 , a circuit unit 404 , and a flat panel display 300 shown in FIG. 6 .

The circuit unit 404 is electrically connected to the user interface 402 and the display 300 , so that the user can use the electronic apparatus 400 , and the information is display on the flat panel display 300 . In other words, the flat panel display 300 of the present invention can be implemented into any electronic apparatus to serving as the display unit.

According to foregoing descriptions of the present invention, the internal reflector is formed on the opposite substrate to define reflective regions and transmissive regions of the transflective LCD panel. Because the opposite substrate is arranged between the backlight unit and the active matrix substrate, the light primarily traveling along the direction toward the LCD panel can be reflected by the reflector back to the backlight unit for recycling use. As a result, the aperture ratio of the LCD panel of the present invention can be effectively improved. In addition, the optical film (e.g., an internal polarizer or an optical compensator) is disposed at the inner surface of the opposite substrate and no quarter wave plate is required to attach on the outer surface of the opposite substrate. In this way, the light reflected by the internal reflector can be re-used effectively.

While the illustrated embodiments show the optical film supported on the opposite substrate, the optical film (e.g., a polarizer or optical compensator) may be supported on the matrix substrate. While the optical film is shown deployed in connection with an internal reflector, the internal optical film may be used independent of an internal reflector. While the pixel switching device substrate is shown to be an active matrix substrate, other types of pixel switching device may be supported on the matrix substrate. The internal reflector aspect and/or the internal optical film aspect may be deployed in connection with transmissive type and/or reflective type LCD, in addition to the illustrated transflective type LCD.

The foregoing description of the embodiment of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its best mode practical application, thereby to enable persons skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. It should be appreciated that variations may be made in the embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Moreover, no element and component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims.