Patent ID: 7843541

Claim:
A liquid crystal device including a liquid crystal layer having liquid crystal which is optically isotropic when no electric field is applied and shows optical anisotropy which is proportional to the square of an electric field which is applied to the liquid crystal, and a pair of substrates which sandwich the liquid crystal layer, comprising: sub-pixels each including a reflective display area for reflective display and a transmissive display area for transmissive display; and first and second electrodes, provided in both of the reflective display area and the transmissive display area, wherein the liquid crystal layer is driven by an electric field generated between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the distance between the first electrode and the second electrode in the transmissive display area is smaller than the distance between the first electrode and the second electrode in the reflective display area, and wherein the electrode width of at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode provided in the transmissive display area is smaller than the electrode width of at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode provided in the reflective display area, wherein the first electrode includes a plurality of first branch-shaped electrodes in the transmissive display area and the reflective display area, and the second electrode includes a plurality of second branch-shaped electrodes in the transmissive display area and the reflective display area, and the plurality of first branch-shaped electrodes are arranged alternately within the plurality of second branch shaped electrodes in both the transmissive display area and the reflective display area, and wherein each of the first branch-shaped electrodes in the reflective display area split into two branch portions in the transmissive display area near a boundary between the reflective display area and the transmissive display area.