Redundant conductor structures for thin film fet driven liquid crystal displays

Claim 2

A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of thin film field effect transistor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines said data lines having a multilayer structure extending for at least a portion of their length with at least two of these layers comprising conductive material in electrical contact along a portion of their lengths; and a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines.

Claim 3

The display of claim 1 in which said switch elements include a gate metal layer, a gate insulating layer and distinct source and drain patterns in a metal layer overlying said gate insulation layer.

Claim 4

The display of claim 2 in which said multilayer structure includes three layers.

Claim 5

The display of claim 3 in which said data lines include a first, conductive layer disposed in the same layer as said gate metal. ,

Claim 6

The display of claim 4 in which said first data line layer includes gaps through which said gate lines pass.

Claim 7

The display of claim 5 in which said data lines include a second, insulating layer disposed in the same layer as said gate insulation.

Claim 8

The display of claim 6 in which said second, insulating layer extends across said gate lines, whereby additional data line conductor layers cross said gate lines without traversing vertical step jumps.

Claim 9

The display of claim 7 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer disposed over said insulating layer.

Claim 10

The display of claim 7 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer disposed in the same layer as said source and drain metal patterns.

Claim 11

The display of claim 7 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer in contact with said first, conductive layer.

Claim 12

The display of claim 10 in which said contact is made on either side of said insulation layer.

Claim 13

The display of claim 1 in which said gate lines include first and second conductive layers.

Claim 14

The display of claim 12 in which said gate lines comprise conductive material in said first layer thereof lying in the same layer as said gate metal with said second layer conductive material applied in the same layer as said source and drain patterns.

Claim 15

The display of claim 13 in which said second layer of said gate lines include gaps through which said data lines pass.

Claim 16

The display of claim 13 in which said first layer of said gate lines is substantially continuous.

Claim 17

The display of claim 1 in which said electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, and said data lines are electrically connected so as to reverse the roles of said gate lines and said data lines with respect to their extending in horizontal and vertical directions.

Claim 18

The display of claim 1 in which said switch elements comprise amorphous silicon field effect transistors.

Claim 19

A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of thin film field effect transistor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes, said transistor switch elements including source and drain electrodes with at least one of said electrodes exhibiting multiple finger projections; a set of electrically conductive data lines; and a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines.

Claim 20

A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of thin film field effect transistor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes, said transistor switch elements including source and drain electrodes with at least one of said electrodes exhibiting multiple finger projections; a set of electrically conductive data lines; and a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines.

Claim 21

The display of claim 18 in which said thin film field effect transistor switch elements include amorphous silicon transistors.

Claim 22

A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of thin film field effect transistor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes, said transistor switch elements having source and drain electrodes with at least one of said electrodes exhibiting multiple projections; a set of electrically conductive data lines, said data lines having a multilayer structure extending for at least a portion of their length with at least two of these layers comprising conductive material in electrical contact along a portion of their lengths; and a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines, and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines.

Claim 23

A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of thin film field effect transistor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes, said transistor switch elements having source and drain electrodes with at least one of said electrodes exhibiting multiple projections; a set of electrically conductive data lines, said data lines having a multilayer structure extending for at least a portion of their length with at least two of these layers comprising conductive material in electrical contact along a portion of their lengths; and a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines, and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines.

Claim 24

The display of claim 20in which said switch elements include a gate metal layer, a gate insulating layer and distinct source and drain patterns in a metal layer overlying said gate insulation layer.

Claim 25

The display of claim 21 in which said multilayer structure includes three layers.

Claim 26

The display of claim 22 in which said data lines include a first, conductive layer disposed in the same layer as said gate metal. 1

Claim 27

The display of claim 23 in which said first data line layer includes gaps through which said gate lines pass.

Claim 28

The display of claim 24 in which said data lines include a second, insulating layer disposed in the same layer as said gate insulation.

Claim 29

The display of claim 25 in which said second, insulating layer extends across said gate lines, whereby additional data line conductor layers cross said gate lines without traversing vertical step jumps.

Claim 30

The display of claim 26 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer disposed over said insulating layer.

Claim 31

The display of claim 26 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer disposed in the same layer as said source and drain metal patterns.

Claim 32

The display of claim 26 in which said data lines include a third, substantially continuous, conductive layer in contact with said first, conductive layer.

Claim 33

The display of claim 29 in which said contact is made on either side of insulation layer.

Claim 34

The display of claim 20 in which said gate lines include first and second conductive layers.

Claim 35

The display of claim 31 in which said gate lines comprise conductive material in said first layer thereof lying in the same layer as said gate metal with said second layer conductive material applied in the same layer as said source and drain patterns.

Claim 36

The display of claim 32 in which said second layer of said gate lines includes gaps through which said data lines pass.

Claim 37

The display of claim 32 in which said first layer of said gate lines is substantially continuous.

Claim 38

The display of claim 20 in which said electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, and said data lines are electrically connected so as to reverse the roles of said gate lines and said data lines with respect to their extending and horizontal and vertical directions.

Claim 39

The display of claim 20 in which said switch elements comprise amorphous silicon field effect transistors.