1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
2. Discussion of the Background
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used types of flat panel displays. An LCD includes two display panels having field-generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the display panels. The LCD induces an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltages to the field generating electrodes. The electric field determines the orientation of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer, and this orientation controls the polarization of incident light so as to form an image.
Among the LCDs, a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD is used in which the longitudinal axes of the liquid crystal molecules are arranged to be perpendicular to the display panels in a state where the electric field is not applied.
Forming cutouts such as fine slits in the field generating electrodes or forming protrusions on the field generating electrodes may be used to achieve a wide viewing angle in the VA mode LCD. Since the cutouts and the protrusions determine a tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecules, the tilt direction of the liquid crystal molecules may be decentralized by appropriately disposing the cutouts and the protrusions on the field generating electrodes, thereby widening the reference viewing angle.
Furthermore, a VA mode LCD may have poor lateral visibility compared to front visibility. In order to solve this problem, a method of dividing one pixel into two sub-pixels and applying different voltages to the two sub-pixels has been proposed. In an LCD with two sub-pixels, sub-pixels to which a high voltage is applied and gate lines should be spaced apart from each other a certain distance. Spacing the pixel electrodes and gate lines apart may reduce a kickback voltage of the LCD.
However, when pixel electrodes and gate lines are spaced apart, liquid crystal molecules located near the gate lines may not be affected by a tilt direction determining member formed on the pixel electrodes, thus producing an irregular texture. This irregular texture may deteriorate the display quality of the LCD.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds