Patent ID: 7087929

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a pair of substrates; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the substrates; common electrodes in the form of stripes arranged on an inner surface of one of the substrates; and pixel electrodes, having a generally rectangular shape, arranged on an inner surface of the other substrate; the liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules with negative dielectric anisotropy, which are vertically aligned in an initial state; outer edges of the pixel electrodes being positioned inside or outside of corresponding outer edges of the common electrodes so that tilt directions of the vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules are controlled; at least one of slit apertures and protrusions being provided on at least one of the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes that control the tilt directions of the vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules; the outer edges of one of a pixel electrode and a common electrode having at least one of outermost apertures and protrusions within one pixel that are positioned outside the outer edges of the other electrode; and the outer edges of the pixel electrodes being positioned approximately W/ 2 inside or outside the outer edges of the common electrodes, where W is the width of at least one of an aperture and a protrusion.