Patent ID: 7646459

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device comprising: a first substrate, a second substrate opposed to the first substrate, and a substantially vertically aligned liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the liquid crystal display device has a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix having rows and columns, each pixel including a first electrode formed on the first substrate, a second electrode formed on the second substrate, and the liquid crystal layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, the first substrate has a shading region in gaps between the plurality of pixels, and a wall structure is placed regularly on the surface of the first substrate facing the liquid crystal layer in the shading region, at least either one of the first electrode and the second electrode has at least one opening formed at a predetermined position in the pixel, at least either one of an arbitrary row and an arbitrary column of the plurality of pixels is composed of first pixels each having the first electrode to which a voltage of positive polarity with respect to the potential at the second electrode as the reference potential is supplied and second pixels each having the first electrode to which a voltage of negative polarity is supplied, arranged alternately, in a given vertical scanning period, at least one liquid crystal domain having axisymmetric alignment is formed when at least a predetermined voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer, and the center axis of the axisymmetric alignment of the at least one liquid crystal domain is formed in or near the at least one opening, and wherein said opening is located proximate a middle portion of the pixel and does not extend to any side of the pixel so that the axisymmetric alignment is formed around all lateral sides of said opening; and wherein the first electrode has at least one first opening formed at a predetermined position in each pixel, the second electrode has at least one second opening formed at a predetermined position in each pixel, and the center axis of the axisymmetric alignment of the at least one liquid crystal domain is formed in or near at least one of the at least one first opening and the at least one second opening.