The present invention relates generally to a liquid crystal display panel and, more particularly, to a reflective or transflective liquid crystal display panel.
Due to the characteristics of thin profile and low power consumption, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are widely used in electronic products, such as portable personal computers, digital cameras, projectors, and the like. Generally, LCD panels are classified into transmissive, reflective, and transflective types. A transmissive LCD panel uses a back-light module as its light source. A reflective LCD panel uses ambient light as its light source. A transflective LCD panel makes use of both the back-light source and ambient light.
As known in the art, a color LCD panel 1 has a two-dimensional array of pixels 10, as shown in
As known in the art, there are many more layers in each pixel for controlling the optical behavior of the liquid crystal layer. These layers may include a device layer 50 and one or two electrode layers. The device layer is typically disposed on the lower substrate and comprises gate lines 31, 32, data lines 21-24 (
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method for making the reflective layer in a transflective or reflective liquid crystal display panel.
The present invention provides a method for producing a light reflecting structure for use in the pixels of a transflective or reflective liquid crystal display. One or two masks are disposed on a substrate for producing an uneven surface pattern in a photoresist layer disposed on the mask when the photoresist layer is exposed by a light beam through the mask and developed. The exposed and developed photoresist layer is softened in a heat treatment process or a UV curing process to produce a reshaped surface. A reflective coating is disposed on the reshaped surface. In particular, when two masks are used for partially blocking the light beam in the exposure process, both masks have light-blocking areas and non-blocking areas. These areas are arranged such that the combined non-blocking areas are smaller than the non-blocking areas in either one of the masks. The masks are designed such that at least part of the uneven surface comprises rod-like bumps. These bumps are partially joined when the photoresist layer is softened in the reshaping process. The masks can also be designed such that at least part of the uneven surface comprises crevices or holes. These crevices or holes are partially filled when the photoresist layer is softened in the reshaping process. The light reflecting structure may have one or more intermediate layers disposed between the masks, between the photoresist layer and the upper mask, and between the substrate and the lower mask.
Thus, the first aspect of the present invention is a method for producing a light reflective structure on a substrate in a liquid crystal display panel. The method comprises the steps of:
providing a mask on the substrate, the mask having light-blocking areas and non-light blocking areas;
disposing a photoresist layer on the mask;
exposing the photoresist layer through the mask for providing an exposed photoresist layer having exposed layer areas;
developing the exposed photoresist layer for producing an uneven surface;
reshaping the uneven surface for producing a reshaped surface; and
disposing a light reflective coating on the reshaped surface, wherein the reshaping step can be a heating process or a UV curing process for softening the photoresist layer.
Advantageously, the method further comprises the step of disposing one or more intermediate layers between the substrate and the mask, and/or disposing one or more intermediate layers between the photoresist layer and the mask.
Advantageously, the method also comprises the step of providing a further mask between the intermediate layers and the photoresist layer, wherein the further mask has light-blocking areas at least partially different from the light-blocking areas in the mask so as to reduce the exposed layer areas.
Advantageously, the method further comprises the step of disposing one or more different intermediate layers between the photoresist layer and the further mask.
The second aspect of the present invention is a light reflecting structure in a pixel in a liquid crystal display having a substrate. The light reflecting structure comprises:
a first mask disposed on the substrate, the first mask having light-blocking areas and non-light blocking areas;
one or more intermediate layers disposed on the first mask;
a second mask disposed on the intermediate layers, wherein the second mask has further light blocking areas and further non-light blocking areas;
a photoresist layer disposed on the second mask; wherein the further light-blocking areas are at least partially different from the light blocking areas and the further non-light blocking areas are partially overlapped with the non-light blocking areas so as to allow a light beam to expose at least part of the photoresist layer through the first and second masks in an exposing process; and
a reflective coating disposed on the photoresist layer.
Advantageous, the masks and the intermediate layers are some of the layers for producing the gate lines, the common electrodes and the transistors in the liquid crystal display. For example, each of the first and second masks is made of a metal layer, one or more of the intermediate layers comprises a dielectric layer, an amorphous silicon layer or a passivation layer.
The third aspect of the present invention is a liquid crystal display panel comprising two substrates and a liquid crystal layer between the substrates to form a plurality of pixels, wherein at least some pixels comprise the light reflecting structure as described above. The liquid crystal display panel can be a reflective LCD panel or a transflective LCD panel.
The present invention will become apparent upon reading the description taken in conjunction with
a is a cross sectional view showing the reflection and transmission of light beams in the pixel as shown in
b is a cross sectional view showing the reflection and transmission of light beams in another prior art transflective display.
a to 4c illustrate the general method of producing a reflective layer, according to the present invention.
a to 5g illustrate the steps in making the reflective layer on a substrate, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
a to 6g illustrate the steps in making the reflective layer on a substrate, according to another embodiment of the present invention.
a to 7g illustrate the steps in making the reflective layer on a substrate, according to a different embodiment of the present invention.
a and 8b illustrate the result of using two masks in producing the reflective layer.
a to 9c show an example of dual masks for making the reflective layer.
a to 10c show another example of dual masks for making the reflective layer.
a to 11c show yet another example of dual masks for making the reflective layer.
It is generally preferred that the reflective layer in the reflection area in a transflective or reflective liquid crystal display (LCD) panel has an uneven surface such as the reflective layer 52 shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, the rod-like objects 60 are fabricated in a number of photolithography and etching processes (PEPs) on a substantially transparent substrate. As shown in
a to 6g show another embodiment of the present invention in which the order of disposing the mask 90 and the intermediate layers 80 is reversed. As shown in
In a different embodiment, two masks are used in the photoresist exposure process as shown in
As mentioned above, the opaque areas 97 areas on the mask 92 and the opaque areas 93 on the mask 92 have some non-overlapping sections, but they still have non-blocking areas to allow part of the backside exposure light beam to transmit through the masks. As shown in
a to 9c show an example of using two shifted mask patterns to produce a composite mask having reduced non-blocking areas. As shown in
a to 10c show another example of using two masks to reduce the non-blocking areas. As shown in
a to 11c show yet another example of using two masks to make the basis of the reflective layer. As shown in
In the fabrication of an LCD panel, many of the layers on the rear substrate can serve as the masks 90, 92, 96 and the intermediate layers 80 for making the reflective layer, according to the present invention.
It should be noted that the present invention has been disclosed as using one or two masks for masking the photoresist layer in the back-side exposure process. Additional masks can also be used. Furthermore, the exposed and developed photoresist layer is softened by a heat treating process or a UV curing process for reshaping the surface. A different process may also be used to reshape the surface.
Thus, although the present invention has been described with respect to one or more embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and deviations in the form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the scope of this invention.
This application is a divisional application of and claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/707,577, filed Feb. 15, 2007, which is now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,059,236.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11707577 | Feb 2007 | US |
Child | 13136511 | US |