Patent ID: 8009254

Claim:
A liquid crystal display apparatus comprising: a liquid crystal layer sealed between a first substrate and a second substrate opposed to each other, inner surfaces of the first and second substrates having been subjected to aligning treatment to align liquid crystal molecules in a splay configuration; and a plurality of electrodes formed on the inner surfaces of the first and second substrates to generate an alignment transition electric field to cause the liquid crystal molecules to transition from splay alignment to bend alignment, the alignment transition electric field comprising a vertical electric field in a thickness direction of the liquid crystal layer and a horizontal electric field in a direction parallel to the inner surfaces of the first and second substrates to twist the liquid crystal molecules between the first and second substrates; wherein the electrodes comprise first electrodes and second electrodes formed on the inner surface of the first substrate to be insulated from each other to generate the horizontal electric field in a direction substantially parallel to the inner surface of the first substrate, and a third electrode formed on the inner surface of the second substrate to generate the vertical electric field in the thickness direction of the liquid crystal layer with respect to at least one of the first and second electrodes; wherein each first electrode comprises a conductive film with an area corresponding to a pixel to form one display element of the liquid crystal display apparatus, and each second electrode comprises a transparent electrode formed to overlap the first electrode via an insulating film and having an area smaller than the area of the first electrode, to generate the horizontal electric field between the first electrode and an edge of the second electrode which overlaps the first electrode.