EP0310403A2
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EP
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Liquid crystal electro-optical device
Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co Ltd
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Filing: 1988-09-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-09-29
Abstract
Abstract A liquid crystal display comprises a pair of substrates provided with an electrode arrangement in matrix form. A chiral smectic C phase liquid crystal material is interposed between the substrates. In the liquid crystal layer, each pixel consists of a number of micro-domains which can be compared to polycrystalline structures. Interaction between adjacent pixels is suppressed by virtue of the discontinuities represented by the micro-domains.
Inventors
- 👤 Shunpei Yamazaki
- 👤 Masahiko Sato
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 20:54
CPC Classifications
C; C09; C09K; C09K19/00; C09K19/04; C09K19/06; C09K19/08; C09K19/10; C09K19/20; C09K19/2007; C09K19/2021; G; G02; G02F; G02F1/00; G02F1/01; G02F1/13; G02F1/137; G02F1/139; G02F1/141
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
125 words
A liquid crystal device comprising: a pair of substrates; a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates; an electrode arrangement for defining a plurality of cell regions in said liquid crystal layer and for enabling the application of an electric field selectively to each of said regions; and an orientation control surface formed on at least one inside surface of said substrates; said liquid crystal layer comprising a material conforming to the formula, where R₁ is a hydrocarbon, and R₂ is a hydrocarbon comprising at least two asymmetric carbon atoms; and each region comprises a plurality of individual micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro- domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
125 words
A liquid crystal device comprising: a pair of substrates; a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates; an electrode arrangement for defining a plurality of cell regions in said liquid crystal layer and for enabling the application of an electric field selectively to each of said regions; and an orientation control surface formed on at least one inside surface of said substrates; said liquid crystal layer comprising a material conforming to the formula, where R₁ is a hydrocarbon, and R₂ is a hydrocarbon comprising at least two asymmetric carbon atoms; and each region comprises a plurality of individual micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro- domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
12 words
The device of cliam 1 wherein: R₁ is -C₈H₁₈ and R₂ comprises
Claim 4
Independent Claim
12 words
The device of cliam 1 wherein: R₁ is -C₈H₁₈ and R₂ comprises
Claim 5
Independent Claim
157 words
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device comprising of a pair of substrates, a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates, and an electrode arrangement formed on the inside surfaces of said substrates in order that a plurality of cell regions are defined in the device, said method comprising blending a plurality of chiral smectic liquid crystals materials in order to obtain a blended liquid crystal material which changes its phase from an isotropic phase to a smectic phase over a wide temperature range, introducting said blended liquid crystal material between said pair of substrates at a temperature at which said blended liquid crystal material is in its isotropic phase, and cooling said liquid crystal to a temperature at which said liquid crystal is in its smectic phase and forms micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro-domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
157 words
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device comprising of a pair of substrates, a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates, and an electrode arrangement formed on the inside surfaces of said substrates in order that a plurality of cell regions are defined in the device, said method comprising blending a plurality of chiral smectic liquid crystals materials in order to obtain a blended liquid crystal material which changes its phase from an isotropic phase to a smectic phase over a wide temperature range, introducting said blended liquid crystal material between said pair of substrates at a temperature at which said blended liquid crystal material is in its isotropic phase, and cooling said liquid crystal to a temperature at which said liquid crystal is in its smectic phase and forms micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro-domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 3 wherein said liquid crystal materials are esters.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 3 wherein said blended liquid crystal materials include a material conforming to the formula: where R₁ is a hydrocarbon, and R₂ is a hydrocarbon comprising at least two asymmetric carbon atoms.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 5 wherein R₁ comprises -C₈H₁₈ and R₂ comprises
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
97 words
A liquid crystal device comprising: a pair of substrates; a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates; an electrode arrangement for defining a plurality of cell regions in said liquid crystal layer and for enabling the application of an electric field selectively to each of said regions; and an orientation control surface formed on at least one inside surface of said substrates; and wherein each region comprises a plurality of individual micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro-domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
97 words
A liquid crystal device comprising: a pair of substrates; a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer interposed between said substrates; an electrode arrangement for defining a plurality of cell regions in said liquid crystal layer and for enabling the application of an electric field selectively to each of said regions; and an orientation control surface formed on at least one inside surface of said substrates; and wherein each region comprises a plurality of individual micro-domains in each of which liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction which is different from the alignment direction of micro-domains contiguous thereto.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
15 words
The device of claim 7 wherein said electrode arrangement defines pixels in a matrix form.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The device of claim 8 wherein said orientation control surface is adapted to orient the molecules of said liquid crystal layer in parallel with the columns of said matrix.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
31 words
The device of claim 9 wherein the average dimension of said micro-domains with reference to the row direction is one or more orders of magnitude smaller than that of a pixel.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
20 words
The device of claim 10 wherein the dimension of said micro-domains with reference to the row direction is several microns.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
28 words
The device of claims 10 or 11 wherein the dimension of said micro-domains with reference to the column direction is of same order as that of a pixel.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
21 words
The device of claim 12 wherein the dimension of said micro-domains with reference to the column direction is several hundreds microns.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
24 words
The device of any preceding claim wherein stripes are formed within each micro-domain in correspondence with the spiral pitch of the smectic liquid crystal.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
16 words
The device of claim 14 wherein said stripes are aligned at the interface between neighbouring micro-domains.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
43 words
A liquid crystal display device wherein the liquid crystal material has a micro-domain structure whereby individual pixels of the display device comprise a plurality of individual micro-domains each of which is subject to a change of state when the respective pixel changes state.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
43 words
A liquid crystal display device wherein the liquid crystal material has a micro-domain structure whereby individual pixels of the display device comprise a plurality of individual micro-domains each of which is subject to a change of state when the respective pixel changes state.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
50 words
The device of any preceding claim wherein the liquid crystal material comprises a composite of a plurality of smectic liquid crystal materials having different properties, such composite exhibiting a broad transition range in which the phase of the liquid crystal changes gradually from an isotropic phase to a quasi-crystalline phase.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
35 words
The device of claim 17 wherein the plural liquid crystal materials are selected so as to have diverse transition temperatures for transition between their isotropic and quasi-crystalline phases distributed over a relatively wide temperature range.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
58 words
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 17 or 18 which comprises introducing the composite liquid crystal material into the display at a temperature at which the material is in its isotropic phase, and cooling the material slowly to a temperature at which the composite liquid crystal material is in its smectic phase.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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