Patent ID: 7982836

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device in which first and second substrates carrying respective first and second electrodes thereon face each other across a liquid crystal layer, said liquid crystal layer being sealed between the first and second substrates, said liquid crystal display device including an insulating layer provided on said first substrate such that the insulating layer varies electric field orientations in a pixel region when a voltage is applied between the first and second substrates; a pair of polarizers being disposed at respective outer sides of said first and second substrates; said insulating layer comprising a plurality of insulating patterns each having a dielectric constant different from a dielectric constant of a surrounding area surrounding said insulating pattern, each of said plurality of insulating patterns occupying a limited area in said pixel region and changing the direction of an electric field passing therethrough when an electric field is applied to said pixel region; said plurality of insulating patterns controlling an in-plane direction of liquid crystal molecules in said liquid crystal layer when a voltage is applied across said electrodes, first and second horizontal alignment layers being formed on said first and second substrates respectively such that said first horizontal alignment layer covers said first electrode on said first substrate and said second horizontal alignment layer covers said second electrode on said second substrate, wherein said first horizontal alignment layer is formed on the first substrate so as to cover the insulating layer, and the liquid crystal is a nematic liquid crystal with a positive dielectric constant, each of said plurality of insulating patterns existing between said first horizontal alignment layer and said first electrode, wherein the insulating layer comprises a portion which covers at least half the pixel region, and extends continuously across a plurality of pixels and at least one data bus line at substantially same thickness.