Patent ID: 7450211
Filing Date: 2008-11-11
Classification: G02F

Abstract:
1. A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate; a liquid crystal layer formed from liquid crystal molecules and held between the first substrate and the second substrate, said liquid crystal molecules being aligned to be substantially perpendicular to the first substrate and the second substrate in an un-driven state, and being aligned to be along a first direction in a plane substantially parallel to the first substrate and the second substrate in a driven state, said un-driven state corresponding to a state in which a driving electrical field is not applied on the liquid crystal layer, said driven state corresponding to a state in which the driving electrical field is applied on the liquid crystal layer; a pixel electrode formed on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate; a patterned structure that is provided on the pixel electrode, extends along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and is capable of aligning the liquid crystal molecules to be along the first direction in the driven state, said patterned structure including at least one of a first alignment control pattern formed on the first substrate and extending along the second direction and a second alignment control pattern formed on the second substrate and extending along the second direction; and a spacer that is arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate to maintain a gap between the first substrate and the second substrate to be a constant, said spacer being separate from the first alignment control pattern and the second alignment control pattern, wherein the spacer is arranged to cover at least a portion of the pixel electrode so that the spacer is close to the first alignment control pattern and the second alignment control pattern while being separated from the first alignment control pattern and the second alignment control pattern by a predetermined distance, and the spacer, together with the first alignment control pattern and the second alignment control pattern, align the liquid crystal molecules near the spacer to be substantially along the first direction.