Patent ID: 7804568

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device comprising: a first substrate having one surface on which a first electrode is provided; a second substrate which is arranged to face the first substrate, and is provided with a second electrode which forms a pixel region in accordance with a region facing the first electrode on one surface facing the first substrate; homeotropic aligning films formed on mutually faced surfaces of the first electrode and the second electrode, respectively; a liquid crystal layer which is interposed between the first and second substrates and has a negative dielectric anisotropy; a pair of polarizing plates each arranged on an exterior surface opposite to the respective mutually faced surfaces of the first and second substrates; a first optical compensation plate which is provided on one side between the substrates and the polarizing plates, the first optical compensation plate being set in such a manner that values of Nx, Ny and Nz have a relationship of Nx>Ny>Nz and an in-plane retardation in a plane parallel to a main surface of the substrate has a value which is substantially ¼ of a wavelength λ of visible light, where Nx is a refractive index in a first axial direction parallel to the main surface of each of the pair of substrates, Ny is a refractive index in a second axial direction which is parallel to the main surfaces of the substrates and vertical to the first axial direction, and Nz is a refractive index in a third axial direction vertical to the main surfaces of the substrates; and a second optical compensation plate which is provided on the other side between the substrates and the polarizing plates, in which an in-plane retardation in a plane parallel to the main surface of the substrate has a value which is substantially ¼ of a wavelength λ of visible light.