Patent ID: 7189439

Claim:
An active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus having a plurality of switching elements, which comprises: a pair of substrates, at least one of said substrates being transparent; a liquid crystal layer arranged between said pair of substrates; an electrode structure for generating an electric field having a dominant component parallel to a surface of said substrate and passing through said liquid crystal layer, wherein said electrode structure is formed on one of said pair of subtrates; a pair of alignment layers formed on respective surfaces in contact with said liquid crystal layer of said pair of substrates; and a pair of polarizing plates arranged so as to sandwich said pair of substrates, wherein a surface modulus of elasticity of said pair of alignment layers is not less than 1 G Pa, and at least one of said pair of alignment layers is a photoreactive layer, and wherein a parameter d·Δn of said liquid crystal layer arranged between said pair of polarizing plates satisfies the relation 0.2 μm<d·Δn<0.5 μm, where Δn is an anisotropy of refractive index and d is a thickness of said liquid crystal layer.