BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the present invention may be readily carried into effect, it will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1A to 1C show the patterns of the color layers used in a prior-art color filter. FIG. 1A is an explanatory partial plan view of the red color layer, FIG. 1B is an explanatory partial plan view of the blue color layer, and FIG. 1C is an explanatory partial plan view of the green color layer.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory partial plan view of the prior-art color filter comprising the color layers of FIGS. 1A to 1C, which shows an example of the layout of the photo spacers.
FIG. 3A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line IIIA-IIIA in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view showing the state where the TFT substrate is coupled with the structure of FIG. 3A.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are explanatory partial plan views of the prior-art color filter of FIGS. 1A to 1C showing other examples of the layout of the photo spacers, respectively.
FIG. 5A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line VA-VA in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 5B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view showing the state where the TFT substrate is coupled with the structure of FIG. 5A.
FIG. 6A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line VIA-VIA in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 6B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view showing the state where the TFT substrate is coupled with the structure of FIG. 6A.
FIG. 7 is a partial plan view showing the structure of the TFT substrate coupled with the prior-art color filter of FIG. 2.
FIGS. 8A to 8C show the patterns of the color layers of a color filter according to a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 8A is an explanatory partial plan view of the red color layer, FIG. 8B is an explanatory partial plan view of the blue color layer, and FIG. 8C is an explanatory partial plan view of the green color layer.
FIGS. 9A to 9C show the process steps of a method of fabricating the color filter according to the first embodiment of FIG. 2. FIG. 9A is an explanatory partial plan view of the filter showing the state where the red and blue color layers of FIGS. 8A and 8B are formed on the transparent glass plate. FIG. 9B is an explanatory partial plan view of the filter showing the state where the green color layer of FIG. 8C is formed on the structure of FIG. 9A. FIG. 9C is an explanatory partial plan view of the filter showing the state where the overlapped parts of the island-shaped green pixel formation sections with the light-shielding sections are removed by polishing from the state of FIG. 9B.
FIG. 10A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XA-XA in FIG. 9B, and FIG. 10B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XB-XB in FIG. 9C.
FIG. 11A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XIA-XIA in FIG. 9B, and FIG. 11B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XIB-XIB in FIG. 9C.
FIG. 12A is an explanatory partial plan view of the color filter according to the first embodiment, which shows an example of the layout of the photo spacers, and FIG. 12B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XIIB-XIIB in FIG. 12A.
FIG. 13A is an explanatory partial plan view of the color filter according to the first embodiment, which shows another example of the layout of the photo spacers, and FIG. 13B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XIIIB-XIIIB in FIG. 13A.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view showing the state where the TFT substrate is coupled with the color filter according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B.
FIG. 15 is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view showing the state where the TFT substrate is coupled with the color filter according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B.
FIG. 16 is a partial plan view showing the structure of the TFT substrate coupled with the color filter according to the first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 17 is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view of a LCD device comprising an opposite substrate using the color filter according to the first embodiment of the invention and the TFT substrate of FIG. 16 coupled with the opposite substrate, which shows the cross-sectional structure of the device along the line XVII-XVII in FIG. 16.
FIG. 18A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XVIIIA-XVIIIA in FIG. 16, which shows the cross-sectional structure of the TFT substrate of FIG. 16, and FIG. 18B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XVIIIB-XVIIIB in FIG. 16, which shows the cross-sectional structure of the TFT substrate of FIG. 16.
FIGS. 19A to 19C show the patterns of the color layers of a color filter according to a second embodiment of the invention. FIG. 19A is an explanatory partial plan view of the red color layer, FIG. 19B is an explanatory partial plan view of the blue color layer, and FIG. 19C is an explanatory partial plan view of the green color layer.
FIGS. 20A to 20C show the process steps of a method of fabricating the color filter according to the second embodiment of FIGS. 19A to 19C. FIG. 20A is an explanatory partial plan view showing the state where the red and blue color layers of FIGS. 19A and 19B are formed on the transparent glass plate. FIG. 20B is an explanatory partial plan view showing the state where the green color layer of FIG. 19C is formed on the structure of FIG. 20A. FIG. 20C is an explanatory partial plan view showing the state where the overlapped parts of the island-shaped green pixel formation sections with the light-shielding sections are removed by polishing from the state of FIG. 20B.
FIG. 21 is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view along the line XXI-XXI in FIG. 20B.
FIG. 22 is a partial plan view showing the structure of the TFT substrate coupled with one of color filters according to third and fourth embodiments of the invention.
FIG. 23A is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view of the TFT substrate along the line XXIIIA-XXIIIA in FIG. 22, and FIG. 23B is an explanatory partial cross-sectional view of the TFT substrate along the line XXIIIB-XXIIIB in FIG. 22.