Detailed Description
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention is a transflective liquid crystal display, including: the liquid crystal display panel comprises a color film substrate 11 and an array substrate 12 which are arranged oppositely, polarizing plates 141 and 142 are respectively arranged on the outer side faces, away from each other, of the color film substrate 11 and the array substrate 12, and an included angle between the polarizing directions of the polarizing plates 141 and 142 is 90 degrees; a transparent electrode 15 and a reflective layer 16 are arranged on the surface of the array substrate 12 opposite to the color film substrate 11, the area opposite to the transparent electrode 15 is a transmission area of the liquid crystal display, and the area opposite to the reflective layer 16 is a reflection area of the liquid crystal display. Wherein the thickness of the liquid crystal layer 13 in the transmissive region and the reflective region is the same. The transmissive region adopts a normally white mode, and the reflective region adopts a SBTN (Sub-Twisted Nematic) normally white mode.
According to the transflective liquid crystal display provided by the embodiment of the invention, the thicknesses of the liquid crystal layers in the transmission area and the reflection area are the same, the transmission area adopts a normally white mode, the reflection area adopts an SBTN normally white mode, the transflective combination can be realized in the liquid crystal display, the contrast of a picture can be improved during image display, and the display quality of the picture is improved.
On the basis of the above embodiments, it is a preferable mode of the embodiments of the present invention that the areas of the transmissive region and the reflective region are equal. The principle of implementation of the present invention will now be described by taking a TN (Twisted Nematic) normally white mode as an example of the transmissive region. In the TN normally white mode liquid crystal display, the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer is 90 °.
As shown in fig. 2, when no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, the light entering the transmission region from the polarizer 142 becomes linearly polarized light, and due to the action of the alignment films (not shown) on the array substrate 12 and the color filter substrate 11, the linearly polarized light can just exit from the polarizer 141 after rotating 90 ° in the liquid crystal layer 13, so that the liquid crystal display panel appears in a bright state. For transflective liquid crystal displays, the transmissive and reflective regions should have the same bright or dark state when not powered or when powered.
When no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, the linearly polarized light entering the reflective region from the polarizing plate 141 still becomes linearly polarized light when reaching the reflective layer 16, the polarization state remains unchanged after being reflected by the reflective layer 16, and the polarization state of the light after passing through the liquid crystal layer for the second time is consistent with that when entering the liquid crystal layer, and the light can exit from the polarizing plate 141, so that the liquid crystal display panel appears in a bright state.
The reflective layer can obtain the maximum reflectivity when the liquid crystal layer of the reflective region adopts a twist angle of 53 degrees. The principle of the reflective area in the liquid crystal display mode of the 53 SBTN type in the embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below. The contents described below can be referred to a book of "liquid crystal optics and liquid crystal display" published by the scientific press.
Important parameters for TN mode liquid crystal cells include: liquid crystal twist angle phi, liquid crystal birefringence deltan, cell thickness d, etc.
The reflectance R of the reflective layer 16 in the TN mode liquid crystal display is expressed as:
wherein,
λ is the wavelength of the incident beam.
When in use (m 1, 2, 3.. times.), the reflectance R is maximum.
From (1) and (2) and the condition of the maximum reflectance, it is inferred that:
if Φ is 53 °, Δ nd is 0.50 μm, the reflectance of the reflective layer 16 is maximum in the non-energized state. When phi is 53 deg., Δ nd is 0.50 μm, an SBTN liquid crystal display is obtained.
The principle of operation of a 53 ° SBTN type liquid crystal cell can also be illustrated by the poincare (pengalite) sphere, as shown in fig. 3. Curves a and B in the figure represent the change in the director of the liquid crystal and the change in the polarization state of the light, respectively, when no voltage is applied. For the point representing the polarization state of the light, the point on the poincare sphere that falls on the equator indicates that the light is linearly polarized light, and the point that falls on the center of the circle indicates that the light is circularly polarized light. The light entering the liquid crystal layer from the polarizer 141 is very close to linearly polarized light as shown by point N1 in the figure. Still linearly polarized light upon reaching the reflective sheet, as shown by N2 in the figure, and just twisted by the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecules. On the return path, the trajectory of the polarization state of the light ray is opposite to that on the forward path, i.e., the polarization state of the light ray returns to the original state along the curve B, and then returns to the point N1, so that the emergent light just passes through the polarizing plate.
The most preferable way of the embodiment of the present invention is that the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is 53 deg., and the corresponding optical retardation is 0.50 μm, i.e., the reflective region has the highest reflectivity at power-off in the 53 deg. SBTN mode. In practical manufacturing of the liquid crystal display, there are factors in transmittance, process, viewing angle, and the like, and thus, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is 40 ° to 75 °, and the corresponding optical retardation is: 0.50 μm to 0.54 μm, in which case the reflective region has a high reflectivity in the off state and is in a bright state.
When a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, since the transmissive region is in the TN mode, linearly polarized light obtained by the polarizing plate 142 passes through the liquid crystal layer 13 without changing its polarization state, and is blocked by the upper polarizing plate 141 and does not exit, and the liquid crystal display panel shows a dark state.
At this time, the linearly polarized light entering the reflective region from the polarizing plate 141 is converted into circularly polarized light by the liquid crystal layer 13, and the circularly polarized light reflected from the reflective layer is converted into linearly polarized light again by the liquid crystal layer 13, and is rotated by 90 ° with respect to the linearly polarized light emitted from the polarizing plate 141 for the first time, and is blocked by the polarizing plate 141 and is not emitted, so that the liquid crystal display panel also exhibits a dark state. This result can also be seen by the poincar é sphere.
As shown in fig. 3, after the voltage is applied, the trajectory of the liquid crystal director is curve C, and the trajectory of the polarization state of the light is curve D. When the light encounters the reflector, the point representing the polarization state of the light falls almost exactly on the north pole (center of circle), i.e. it becomes circularly polarized. Then the light returning to the 180 ° equator of the poincare sphere, i.e. point N3, shows that the light reaching the polarizer 141 is linearly polarized but has a polarization direction at 90 ° to the polarization direction of the polarizer 141, and the light is blocked by the polarizer and the cell is in a dark state.
For the transmissive region, in addition to the TN normally white mode, in other embodiments of the present invention, an ECB (Electrically Controlled Birefringence) parallel alignment mode may be used. In the ECB parallel alignment mode, when the upper and lower polarizing plates are orthogonal, if a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, effective refractive index anisotropy in the liquid crystal layer varies with the alignment of liquid crystal molecules, and thus an optical path difference varies. Thus, the transmitted light intensity can be controlled by the voltage, thereby realizing the synchronization of the bright state and the dark state of the liquid crystal display panel corresponding to the reflective region.
The transflective liquid crystal display according to the embodiment of the invention can improve the contrast of a picture and the display quality of the picture when displaying an image because the thicknesses of the liquid crystal layer 13 in the transmission region and the reflection region are the same, thereby realizing transflective display under the condition of single cell thickness. The transflective liquid crystal display provided by the embodiment of the invention has a simple manufacturing process, and compared with the traditional technology, the transflective liquid crystal display can reduce the production cost and improve the production efficiency.
As shown in fig. 4, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the reflective layer 16 and the transparent electrode 15 of the transflective lcd may be spaced apart from each other on the array substrate, so as to form a reflective layer and a transmissive layer in a stripe shape parallel to the data lines. The width of each region may include one pixel unit or a plurality of pixel units. In this case, different control voltages may be applied to the liquid crystal layers of the transmissive region and the reflective region. For example, the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive region is controlled with a voltage of 5V, and the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is controlled with a voltage of 4.5V. To implement this scheme, different pixel voltages need to be applied to the pixel cells in the reflective area and the transmissive area. By adopting different voltages for modulation, the gray scales of the pictures in the transmission area and the reflection area can be adjusted to be consistent, and the picture display quality of the liquid crystal display is improved.
The transmission area adopts a TN (twisted nematic) normally white mode, and the reflection area adopts an SBTN type normally white mode. Similarly, in the embodiment, the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region may be 40 ° to 75 °.
The transparent electrode 15 and the reflective layer 16 may also be disposed at intervals as shown in fig. 5, thereby forming the transmissive region and the reflective region arranged at intervals, respectively. Similarly, in this embodiment, the thicknesses of the liquid crystal layers in the transmissive region and the reflective region are the same, the transmissive region adopts a TN normally white mode, and the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is 40 ° to 75 °.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transmissive region and the reflective region are respectively disposed in each pixel unit. Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, each pixel unit is divided into four regions on the array substrate, wherein the transparent electrode 15 is disposed in two regions, and a transmissive region is formed accordingly; the other two areas are provided with a reflective layer 16, forming reflective areas accordingly. The thicknesses of the liquid crystal layers in the transmission area and the reflection area are the same, in each pixel unit, the transmission area adopts a TN normally white mode, and the reflection area adopts a TN normally white mode with the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer of 40-75 degrees.
The formation of the transmissive and reflective regions on a single pixel cell can be accomplished by existing masking techniques. The transparent electrode and the reflective layer may be formed separately in each pixel unit using a mask technique. The twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection region and the twist angle of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region can be different by matching with the mask technology, the photo-alignment technology and the like. And the number of the reflective regions and the transmissive regions provided in each pixel unit, and the size of the corresponding area of each region are not limited.
The embodiment can realize the combination of the transmission area and the reflection area in a single pixel unit, improve the contrast of a picture when displaying an image, improve the display quality of the picture, and realize transflective display under the condition of single box thickness. The embodiment of the invention has simple process, and compared with the traditional technology, the invention can reduce the production cost and improve the production efficiency.
The above description is only for the specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.