METHOD FOR DRIVING A FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTAL ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICE

Abstract: A ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device driven by a time-sharing method comprises a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer (3) having bi-stable alignment characteristics, polarisers (8) for converting the bi-stable alignment state to an optical ON state or an optical OFF state selectively, and a matrix electrode (9,10). The liquid crystal layer (3) is driven by applying voltages thereto through the matrix electrode. A voltage (P1,P2) sufficient to change the stable alignment state of the molecular axis of the molecules of the ferro-electric liquid crystal layer is applied to a selected pixel, a voltage (P5,P6) insufficient to change a stable alignment state is applied to a non-­ selected pixel, and an AC voltage (P3,P4) for holding a stable alignment state is applied to a half-selected pixel. A bias value, which is the ratio of the amplitude of the voltage applied to the selected pixel to the amplitude of the AC voltage applied to the half-­ selected pixel, is set near the maximum value of B satisfying the following equation: B/(B-2) >/=Vsat/Vth, wherein, Vsat is the minimum value of voltage which enable change of one stable alignment state to the other state and Vth is the maximum value of voltage which enables holding of the stable alignment state.

Description: This invention relates to methods for driving ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical devices for mutally changing over the bi-stable state of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material and driving the same. A ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention may, for example, be used as a display device, an optical shutter for a printer, etc. There has been known in the past a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device the driving system of which changes over a bi-stable state of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material by a pulse having a peak value above a threshold voltage to drive the liquid crystal material and which holds the bi-stable state after switching by an AC pulse. Such a device is described, for example, in the article of SID'85 International Symposium 16, 131(1985). The structure of a conventional ferroelectrical liquid crystal electro-optical device (hereinafter called a "liquid crystal cell") will be described with reference to Figure 2. Reference numeral 1 represents a pair of substrates that are arranged to face each other. Reference numeral 3 represents a thin film of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material such as a chiral smectice C liquid crystal material (hereinafter called a "SmC* film") sandwiched between the substrates 1. A uniaxial and random horizontal orientation film 2 is provided on the interface between each substrate 1 and the SmC* film 3 and accomplishes the bi-stable state for the liquid crystal molecules. The major axes of the liquid crystal molecules (hereinafter called the "molecular axes") extend horizontally with respect to the substrate 1 and form a layer. When observed from above, the liquid crystal molecules are divided into two domains. In the first domain, the molecular axes are inclined by +ϑ relative to a normal 4 to the layer. This is a first stable state 5. Spontaneous polarisation 7 of the liquid crystal molecules faces upwards. The second domain is inclined by -ϑ relative to the normal 4 to the layer. This is a second stable state 6. In this case spontaneous polarisation 7 faces downwards. Either one of these bi-stable states is selected by positive and negative AC pulses by utilising the property of spontaneous polarisation 7 that its direction is opposite under the bi-stable state. A pair of polarisers 8 are arranged with their axes of polarisation at right angles. The polarises 8 distinguish optically the bi-stable state by birefringence. For example, they convert the first stable state to a light cut-off state (hereinafter referred to as "black") and the second stable state to a light transmission state (hereinafter referred to as "white"). Reference numerals 9 and 10 represent matrix electrodes for applying driving voltages to the SmC* film 3. As shown in Figure 3, reference numeral 9 represents scanning electrodes (hereinafter called "strobe electrodes") and reference numeral 10 represents signal electrodes. Figure 4 shows a driving waveform applied to one matrix pixel (hereinafter called a "dot") in line-sequence driving by use of an AC bias averaging method. Positive and negative (with reference to the strobe electrode 9) pulses P1 and P2 having peak values above a threshold voltage are applied continuously during a selection period in a first frame. The liquid crystal molecules are aligned to the second stable state by the positive pulse P1 and switched and aligned to the first stable state by the subsequent negative pulse P2. This state is held by the application of AC pulses consisting of subsequent pulses P3 and P4 because the peak values of the AC pulses are below the threshold value. This state is called the "half-selection period". Therefore, black as the first stable state is written in the first frame. In the subsequent second frame, white is written because the polarity of the pulse is opposite. However, white is not written because pulses P5 and P6 are below the threshold value, and black that has been written in the first frame is held as such. The period of pulses P5 and P6 is called the "non-selection period". Figure 4B shows the result of measurement of the change of transmission light intensity at this time measured by a photomultiplier. Here, the peak value of the pulses P1 and P2 in the selection period of the pulses P3 and P4 in the half-selection period and of the pulses P5 and P6 in the non-selection period are determined so as to satisfy the following relationship with V representing the absolute value of the pulses P1 and P2: |P3| = |P4| = V/N, |P5| = |P6| = V·(B - 2)/B where B is a bias value. When driving a known twisted nematic liquid crystal display device time divisionally, a voltage averaging method has been proposed by Alt and Pleshko (IEEE Trans. Ed, 1974, ED21, pp 146-155). They proposed also an optimum driving condition in this method. However, this method cannot be applied to SmC* material for the following reason. Namely, though the change of transmission light intensity of the twisted nematic liquid crystal material depends on the effective voltage value, that of SmC* material depends on the absolute value of the voltage. Therefore, the driving method as well as circuitry are different and the driving conditions naturally also change. No report has been made to date on the optimum driving condition when SmC* material is driven time divisionally, and it has been difficult to represent the optimum condition when driving SmC* material in practice. EP patent applications with publication EP-A-0 149,899 and EP-A-0 177,365 both disclose a time-sharing system but neither discusses the optimum driving conditions and thus are not efficient. According to the present invention, there is provided a time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer having bi-stable alignment characteristics, means for converting the bi-stable alignment state to an optical ON state or an optical OFF state selectively and for each pixel of the said electro-optical device, a matrix electrode and means for driving the liquid crystal layer by applying voltages thereto through the matrix electrode, the method comprising: applying a voltage sufficient to change the stable alignment state of the molecular axis of the molecules of the ferro-electric liquid crystal layer to a selected pixel, applying a voltage insufficient to change a stable alignment state to a non-selected pixel applying an AC voltage for holding a stable alignment state to a half-selected pixel, the method being characterised by a bias value, which is the ratio of the amplitude of said voltage applied to the selected pixel to the amplitude of said AC voltage applied to the half-selected pixel, being set near the maximum value of B satisfying the following equation: B/(B-2)≧Vsat/Vth, wherein, Vsat is the minimum value of voltage which enable change of one stable alignment state to the other state and Vth is the maximum value of voltage which enables holding of said stable alignment state. Preferably Vsat is defined as a value in the range of voltage corresponding to 90% to 100% transmission light intensity of the device. Additionally or alternatively Vth may be defined as a value in the range of voltage corresponding to 0% to 10% transmission light intensity of the device. In one practical embodiment Vsat is defined as a voltage corresponding to 100% transmission light intensity of the device and Vth is defined as a voltage corresponding to 0% transmission light intensity. The ferroelectric liquid crystal layer may be a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer. Preferably the waveform of the voltage applied to the selected pixel comprises a former half having a reverse direction voltage and a latter half having a forward direction voltage. One frame may comprise a first scanning for writing one of ON state and OFF state and a second scanning for writing the other. The AC voltage preferably has no DC component. In one embodiment an interface of the ferroelectric liquid crystal layer is treated with a unixial orientation and the other interface is treated with a random homogeneous orientation. The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the peak pulse value of a liquid crystal material and its transmission light intensity; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a conventional liquid crystal cell; Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the electrodes of the conventional liquid crystal cell; Figures 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the driving waveform and transmission light characteristics of the conventional liquid crystal cell; Figure 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between V2/V1 and a bias value B; Figure 6 is a diagram showing the result of measurement of fluctuation of transmission light intensity when an AC pulse below a threshold voltage is applied; and Figure 7 is a diagram showing the result of measurement of dependence of contrast ratio on the bias value. In the waveforms shown in Figure 4A, the peak values of the pulses P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6 are V, V/B, V·(B - 2)/B as described above. The relationship between these values and the characteristics of SmC* material will be described with reference to Figure 1. In Figure 1, as the pulse height increases, the stable state is switched from the first state to the second state as described already and hence the transmission light intensity also changes. It will be assumed that a voltage for holding the first stable state is a threshold voltage Vth and the minimum voltage for changing to the second stable state is Vsat. These voltages Vth and Vsat are inherent to a given liquid crystal material and change in accordance with this constant of elasticity and viscosity. Here, since the pulses P1 and P2 are those which change the stable state as described already, their maximum pulse peak values must be selected to the voltage Vsat. On the other hand, since the pulses P5 and P6 are pulses below the threshold voltages, their maximum pulse peak values must be selected to the voltage Vth. In other words, SmC* material can be driven in the waveform shown in Figure 4A if the following relationship is satisfied: Vsat/Vth ≦ B/(B - 2) The ratio Vsat/Vth is hereinafter called "threshold sharpness". If B = 4, for example, and SmC* material having the characteristics Vsat/Vth ≦ 2 must be used. In practice, it becomes more difficult to prepare the SmC* material satisfying this condition with a greater B value. Figure 5 shows the result of measurement of the relationship of the above equation with SmC* material consisting of a phenylpyrimidine type compound as its principal component, for example. Solid line (a) represents the measured value of the right side of the above equation and Vsat/Vth = 1.43 . On the other hand, the solid line (b) represents the value of Vsat/Vth when the B value is changed. In Figure 5, the range satisfying the above equation is represented by oblique lines. It can be understood that the bias value B must be below 6. Next, contrast will be explained. Figure 6 shows the change of the transmission light intensity when an AC pulse having a peak value below the threshold voltage Vth shown in Figure 1 is applied to SmC* material. It is to be noted that Figure 1 merely shows the voltage characteristics when the first stable state changes to the second stable state and the transmission light intensity changes even below the threshold voltage Vth. In other words, the transmission light intensity increases instantaneously when a voltage below Vth is applied but returns to the original stable state after the application of the pulse. This is represented by fluctuation ΔI of the transmission light intensity during the half-selection period shown in Figure 4B. This is a great difference from a twisted nematic liquid crystal material. It can be understood from Figure 6 that the higher the voltage of the AC pulse, the greater the fluctuation ΔI of the transmission light intensity. This fluctuation ΔI of the transmission light intensity results in a drop of contrast. Namely, when the frequency of the fluctuation ΔI is set to a level above the frequency at which the human eye notices flicker, the mean value of the change of ΔI is noticed as the transmission light intensity by the human eye. The greater the fluctuation ΔI, the greater becomes the mean value. At this time, the black level comes close to the white level whereas the white level comes close to the black level so that the contrast defined by their ratio falls. Therefore, fluctuation ΔI must be made zero in order to make the contrast ratio as large as possible. As will be understood from Figure 6, this fluctuation ΔI depends on the pulse peak value; hence, the pulse peak value may be decreased. Since this pulse peak value, that is, the peak values of the pulses P3 and P4 applied in the half-selection period shown in Figure 4A, are V/B as described already, B must be increased in order to reduce this value. Figure 7 shows the result of measurement of the dependence of the contrast ratio on this bias value B. The contrast ratio 1 represents an ideal contrast ratio, and it can be understood that the contrast ratio decreases with a smaller bias value B. Therefore, if the bias value B is increased, the contrast becomes closer to the maximum. However, the bias value B is limited by the above equation, as described already and cannot be increased without limit. Therefore, the optimum driving condition of a given liquid crystal material is obtained by selecting the greatest numeric value of the bias value B within the range of the bias value B satisfying the equation. It will be appreciated that in the case of SmC* material consisting principally of a phenyl-pyrimidine type compound shown in Figure 5, for example, the bias value B must be 6. A threshold characteristic similar to that shown in Figure 1 exists in case of changing the second stable state to the first stable state also. If the threshold sharpness value in the case of the change is different from the value in the case of Figure 1, it is preferable to choose the larger one. Referring now to setting a bias over the above peak value satisfying the above equation: in Figure 1, the minimum voltage Vsat and the threshold voltage Vth are defined as voltages at 100% and 0% of the transmission light intensity respectively. The definition of the minimum voltage Vsat and the threshold voltage Vth must not be the voltages at 100% and 0% of the transmission in practice. Even if Vsat and Vth are defined as voltages at 90% and 10% of the transmission light intensity respectively, it is possible to drive the ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device with somewhat reduced contrast. The nearer each of Vsat and Vth is to a voltage at 50% of the transmission light intensity, the lower the contrast. The ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device having a driving waveform shown in Figure 4 permits setting of the ratio of the selected pulse amplitude to the non-selected pulse amplitude to a desired value. In order to obtain a high contrast, it is necessary to set the bias value near the maximum value in the range satisfying the above equation. The present invention provides the effect that maximum contrast ratio can be obtained by selecting the maximum bias value within the range in which the ratio of the pulse peak value during selection and the pulse peak value during non-selection is above the ratio between the minimum pulse peak value at which one stable state of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material changes completely to the other stable state and the peak value of the threshold voltage at which such a change occurs.

Claims: A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer (3) having bi-stable alignment characteristics, means (8) for converting the bi-stable alignment state to an optical ON state or an optical OFF state selectively and for each pixel of the said electro-optical device, matrix electrodes (9, 10), and means for driving the liquid crystal layer (3) by applying voltages thereto through the matrix electrodes, the method comprising: applying a voltage (P1,P2) sufficient to change the stable alignment state of the molecular axis of the molecules of the ferro-electric liquid crystal layer to a selected pixel, applying a voltage (P5, P6) insufficient to change a stable alignment state to a non-selected pixel, applying an AC voltage (P3,P4) for holding a stable alignment state to a half-selected pixel, the method being characterised by a bias value, which is the ratio of the amplitude of said voltage applied to the selected pixel to the amplitude of said AC voltage applied to the half-selected pixel, being set near the maximum value of B satisfying the following equation: B/(B-2)≧Vsat/Vth, wherein, Vsat is the minimum value of voltage which enables change of one stable alignment state to the other state and Vth is the maximum value of voltage which enables holding of said stable alignment state. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device, and as claimed in claim 1, in which Vsat is defined as a value in the range of voltage corresponding to 90% to 100% transmission light intensity of the device. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which Vth is defined as a value in the range of voltage corresponding to 0% to 10% transmission light intensity of the device. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in claim 1, in which Vsat is defined as a voltage corresponding to 100% transmission light intensity of the device and Vth is defined as a voltage corresponding to 0% transmission light intensity. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the ferroelectric liquid crystal layer is a chiral smectic liquid crystal layer. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the waveform of the voltage applied to the selected pixel comprises a former half having a reverse direction voltage and a latter half having a forward direction voltage. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceeding claim, in which the pixels are addressed by frame scanning, one frame comprising a first scanning for writing one of ON state and OFF state and a second scanning for writing the other. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceding claims, in which the AC voltage has no DC component. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceding claims in which an interface of the ferroelectric liquid crystal layer is treated with a unixial orientation and the other interface is treated with a random homogeneous orientation. A time-sharing method for driving a ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optical device and as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the device is a display device or an optical shutter for a printer.

Inventors: HARADA, TAKAMASA, ITO, KOKICHI, SHIMODA, SADASHI, TAGUCHI, MASAAKI
Applicants: SEIKO INSTRUMENTS INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G09G3
IPC codes: G09G3, G02F1