Patent Grant
7098883
The present application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/867,124 filed May 29, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,844, which claims priority to Japanese Application No. P2000-159265 filed May 29, 2000, both of which are incorporated herein by reference to the extent permitted by law.
The present invention relates to a method for driving a liquid crystal display device such as a liquid crystal light modulator.
In recent years, there has been growing demand for higher performance projection type displays for use as large displays for personal theaters, flat displays for personal computers and the like.
Studies have been conducted concerning liquid crystal displays (hereinafter called LCD) as a type of display device which comprehensively meets the demand. An LCD can be a low-profile, lightweight model which provides a high picture quality with low power consumption.
Currently available LCDs use either the STN (Super Twisted Nematic) birefringence mode or the TN (Twisted Nematic) mode. Furthermore, next-generation LCDs such as ferroelectric and antiferroelectric LCDs which use the birefringence mode have been studied and are expected to be commercialized in the near future. In addition to already commercialized STN displays, research in FLC (Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal) as a typical birefringence LCD has been actively conducted since the SSFLC (Surface Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal) was proposed.
Usually in ferroelectric liquid crystals, state 1 and state 2 concerning the orientation of liquid crystal molecules M with respect to externally applied electric field E (Ps denotes spontaneous polarization) are switched in the chiral smectic (C) phase, as shown in
SSFLC displays are fast in response (approx. 1000 times faster than conventional nematic LCDs) and have the ability of memory, which solves the problem of flickers often seen in cathode ray tubes and TN displays. Even when a simple X-Y matrix drive is used, the drive can be performed with more than 1,000 scanning lines. Because an active device such as TFT (Thin Layer Transistor) is not used, the manufacturing yield rate can be improved.
Experiments on application of ferroelectric liquid crystals for reflective displays have been carried out. Some such experiments have been disclosed in detail in IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol. 29, no. 2 (1993)699, Journal of the Society for Information Display, vol. 5 (1997)1, SPIE, vol. 3013 (1977) 174, and so on. In these experimental displays, ferroelectric liquid crystal cells are made on a semiconductor memory and the memory voltage is used for drive.
The present invention's applicant et al have already proposed a reflective display which combines a semiconductor memory and ferroelectric liquid crystal. In this display technique, gradations can be expressed by combining the field sequential process and brightness modulation of the light source; in principle, the technique can express gradations which look continuously changing tones to the human eyes.
This reflective ferroelectric LCD has ferroelectric liquid crystal 4 filled between a transparent substrate 1a and a silicon substrate (silicon VLSI circuit board) 2a, as exemplified in
The pixels in the ferroelectric liquid crystal device 11 shown in
The voltage impressed on the reflective film/electrode 2b is controlled for each pixel by a control circuit 7 which is located outside the ferroelectric liquid crystal device 11. However, it may be controlled by a circuit formed on the silicon substrate 2a. Impression of voltage may be done by either scanning for each pixel or a plurality of pixels or scanning for all pixels at a time.
In the TN mode, a continuous transition between the light and dark states can be made according to the effective field strength. On the other hand, it has been thought that in the SSFLC mode, it has been thought that since it features a bistability (or ability of memory) that the light transmittance (or reflectance) suddenly changes at the threshold of impressed voltage, only two states (light or dark) are selectable and middle tones between the light and dark states can be hardly controlled.
The methods for representing middle tones or gradations which have been suggested so far include: an area gradation method in which subpixels are provided and control is done according to the integrated area of the subpixels; and a multi-domain method in which microscopic inverted domains are handled by control of the amount of injected charges for each pixel. The former method has the following problems: practically a larger number of pixels are used, so the drive circuit is complicated and it is difficult to increase the resolution. The latter method has the problem that variation in temperature distribution or active element performance makes it difficult to achieve equal gradation characteristics for every pixel. Therefore, these methods cannot control gradations satisfactorily.
The present invention's applicant et al have proposed an LCD drive method in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Applications No. Hei 7-212686 and No. Hei 9-044130. In principle, this method is intended to digitally represent gradations which look continuously changing tones to the human eyes by using an on/off type spatial light modulator for reflected or transmitted light and combining the field sequential process with light source brightness modulation.
In this LCD drive method, one frame is divided into several sub-frames (defined as bit planes) and each bit plane is weighted by brightness modulation of the light source for gradation representation.
In other words, if a light source with the same light intensity is used, one frame of 16.7 msec is simply time-divided by 8 bits (0 to 256 gradation steps) to represent 8-bit gradations (256 steps). To this end, the ferroelectric liquid crystal must be completely driven in approx. 65.5 μsec. For 10-bit gradation representation, the time for driving the ferroelectric liquid crystal is 16.3 μsec. Considering the response speeds for currently available ferroelectric liquid crystal materials, it is difficult to realize this, so the impressed voltage must be increased to realize it.
As a solution, a light source whose intensity can be modulated is used to drastically lengthen the drive time for the ferroelectric liquid crystal which is determined by time-division of one frame. Here, for 8-bit gradation representation, if the light intensity of the light source can be modulated for 8 bits, it is sufficient to drive the ferroelectric liquid crystal in approx. 2.08 msec. For 10-bit gradation representation, the required drive time for the ferroelectric liquid crystal is approx. 1.67 msec. Therefore, this LCD drive method is practical since it suits the actual response speed of ferroelectric liquid crystals.
Here, a picture which consists of one gradation bit is called a “bit plane” and the time required for representing it is called a “bit plane time.” As shown in
It is said that in the recent digital gradation representation method used in what is called “plasma display panels,” 8-bit representation is sufficient for the minimum gradation quality but insufficient for higher picture quality.
On the other hand, digital gradation representation has a problem of false contours. This problem occurs due to a long bit plane time as a result of time division in field sequential drive: this phenomenon arises when the temporal shift of a light emitting pattern is converted into a spatial shift as the human eyes follow light emitting points. This problem can be reduced by shortening the bit plane time.
However, actually the lower limit for one bit plane time is determined by various factors such as ferroelectric liquid crystal drive response time, device structure, electric power consumption and data transmission rate. In addition to the problem of false contours, the upper limit for one bit plane time is determined by color splits, the number of gradation steps or other factors. Considering that the frame frequency is 60 Hz, usually one bit plane time should be set within the range from one hundred micron seconds to hundreds of micron seconds.
For instance, in a display device proposed by this applicant et al, 256 gradation steps are used for each of R (red), G (green) and B (blue); one frame consists of 108 bit planes (36 bit planes×3 colors); and one bit plane time is approx. 150 μsec. In this case, the ferroelectric liquid crystal is designed to be switched at least once for every bit plane.
In field sequential gradation representation, the drive voltage waveform for the ferroelectric liquid crystal must be used in one bit plane time and thus only a simple drive voltage waveform can be used. Besides, for high definition pictures, the unit pixel area is smaller and the relevant drive circuit must be built in that pixel area, which means that a simpler drive voltage waveform is required to reduce the load on the drive circuit, etc.
It is known that in the LCD manufacturing process, the liquid crystal comes to contain mixed or produced impurity ions at various steps such as liquid crystal synthesis, making of alignment layers and injection of liquid crystal, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of displayed pictures.
At present, it seems impossible to remove impurity ions in a liquid crystal panel completely. Even if they can be completely removed, impurity ions are newly generated when a voltage is impressed to drive the LC panel. Behavior of these impurity ions in the liquid crystal panel is considered as follows:
In this ionic behavior, if any of the following a symmetric conditions occurs in the two facing electrode substrates for drive, asymmetric ionic behavior arises in the interface between the liquid crystal and alignment layer.
These asymmetric conditions cause an adsorption/release imbalance in the interface of the cationic and anionic alignment layers or an ionic polarization imbalance in the two facing electrode substrates. In this condition of ionic polarization, relaxation is difficult, so there occurs a condition similar to one which occurs when a DC component (V′) with a certain polarity is externally applied between liquid crystal cells.
This means that, even if voltage impression is stopped later, the condition that voltage V′ is impressed or that a voltage is impressed on liquid crystal molecules, is maintained inside liquid crystal cells. In other words, even when symmetric rectangular waveform voltage (amplitude V) is impressed on liquid crystal cells, the effective voltage impressed inside the liquid crystal is (V+V′) on the positive side and (−V+V′) on the negative side and thus the effective voltage impressed on the liquid crystal is no longer symmetric. In LCDs like TN mode ones in which the effective voltage is reflected in the light transmittance, this asymmetry may cause liquid crystal molecules to waver, which would be observed as a phenomenon called a “flicker,” one of the reasons for picture quality deterioration.
On the other hand, in the SSFLC mode, when a positive voltage signal (V) is used as the voltage signal for selecting one of the On state and Off state and a negative voltage signal (−V) as the voltage signal for selecting the other state, if V′ has a positive value, application of a negative voltage signal has the effect of impression of (−V–V′) while application of a positive voltage signal has the effect of impression of (V–V′). Therefore, response to the state chosen by the negative voltage signal is quickened by the effective voltage increment, while response to the state chosen by the positive voltage signal is slowed by the effective voltage decrement; also as V′ increases, (V–V′) does not reach the threshold, which means no response.
Under the above-said condition that the internal DC voltage component becomes larger, there is even a case that liquid crystal molecules themselves are electrolyzed. Recently, as the stability of liquid crystal materials increases, such electrolysis rarely occurs as far as the drive voltage is within a normal range; however, there still remains the possibility of picture quality deterioration being caused by the effective DC component of drive voltage waveform.
For the above reason, it has been believed that it is a good practice to keep the LCD drive voltage waveform electrically neutral and use an AC drive system in which positive and negative voltages alternate and are symmetrical with respect to 0 V as seen in rectangular waveforms with an offset voltage of 0 V, sinusoidal, cosine and triangular waveforms.
For example, TN mode LCDs use rectangular waveforms with 0 V offset voltage for drive and rectangular waveforms for TFT gate element drive in order to keep the drive voltage waveform electrically neutral.
In SSFLC mode LCDs, the following drive method has been used: when applying a pulse voltage to select either the On state or the Off state, the voltage waveform with the reverse polarity is combined to offset the DC component within one selection time or reverse polarity voltage pulses are inserted so as to offset the DC component on the average over a longer time (e.g. plural frames).
However, in these SSFLC mode LCDs, in order to maintain electrical neutrality, voltage waveforms practically not contributing to liquid crystal drive have to be inserted for as long a time as the state selection voltage waveforms, which necessitates shortening of bit plane time with resultant deterioration in brightness and gradation characteristics. Still further, the time allowed for liquid crystal response is shortened, which increases the load on the liquid crystal material.
In view of the above-said circumstances, the present invention provides a simple LCD drive method which ensures a sufficient bit plane time and prevents impurity ions from deteriorating the displayed picture quality.
The drive method according to the present invention offers an advantage that it suppresses internal DC voltage generation by impurity ions, taking it into consideration that there is the possibility of electrical neutrality being marred by variation in device characteristics even in an “AC drive” system which ideally uses rectangular waveform voltage with 0 V offset voltage to maintain electrical neutrality with no internal DC voltage generation.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the LCD drive method is based on the following LCD structure: a first electrode located on a first substrate and a second electrode located on a second substrate are facing each other and liquid crystal material is filled and sealed between the substrates. The LCD is driven by switching On and Off the voltage signal impressed between the first and second electrodes to select one of the two states of incident light: either reflected or non-reflected state; or either transmitted or non-transmitted state; or either polarized or non-polarized state. For example, in driving a liquid crystal light modulator, generation of internal DC voltage which might be caused by ionic polarization in liquid crystal cells can be efficiently suppressed by using drive voltage waveform consisting of a display signal period and a control signal period irrelevant to display, within a given drive time, or a period of plural frames or one frame.
According to another aspect of the invention, in the LCD drive method, it is preferable to use a combination of positive voltage signals for selecting one of the On and Off states and a combination of negative voltage signals for selecting the other state. Alternatively, a combination of positive and negative voltage signals may be used for selecting at least one of the On and Off states while differentiating the absolute values or durations of these voltages to generate internal voltage DC components.
Namely, in the LCD drive method according to the present invention, it is also possible to use any combination of positive voltage, negative voltage and/or 0 V signals for the drive voltage waveform for incident light state selection during the display signal period, wherein the absolute values of these voltages and their pulse widths are different and the impressed voltage waveform has an asymmetric condition that there may be an imbalance between positive and negative charges or the average voltage in a unit time is not zero.
When either the on state or the off state is selected, electrical neutrality is not maintained: i.e. a potential due to polarization of impurity ions or internal DC voltage is generated between the electrodes. To display a picture over a desired time period, the number of On times and the number of off times are not always equal, or one type of state selection waveform is impressed more frequently than the other type, so internal DC voltage is generated-between the electrodes within a given time period.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the followings, wherein:
In the SSFLC mode, the ability of memory is generally used but it is also possible to use cone angles inherent in ferroelectric liquid crystal materials, by means of simpler rectangular waveforms, etc., without using the ability of memory. In this case, or if the cone angle inherent in a ferroelectric liquid crystal material is used, the reflectance for each bit plane can be increased, though the actual brightness is not influenced.
In this way, when a drive voltage waveform which effectively generates internal DC voltage in the period of selection of one state is used in a given period, generation of internal DC voltage can be suppressed by inserting voltage waveform with the polarity reverse to that of internal DC voltage generated during the period, into a given time period or plural frames or part of one frame.
The key point in the present invention is that the drive for selecting either the On state or Off state is done by means of voltage signal generated by the effective internal DC voltage within the selection period, and also a waveform that controls (reduces) the level of the internal DC voltage which does not practically contribute to liquid crystal drive, such as reverse polarity voltage waveform, is inserted in a given period.
Ideally, the time of insertion of reverse polarity voltage waveform should be the same as the time of impression of drive voltage waveform (impressed voltage) for selection of a liquid crystal state, so that the state of electrical neutrality is attained. However, practically, if the reverse polarity voltage waveform which does not contribute to liquid crystal drive is inserted for as long a period as the state selection waveform is applied, the bit plane time must be shortened accordingly, which might cause a deterioration in displayed picture characteristics including brightness and gradation. To avoid such deterioration, the time of impressing a voltage waveform which controls (reduces) the level of internal DC voltage should be as short as possible.
The inventors of the present invention have developed an LCD drive method to ensure display reliability over an extended period as follows: instead of inserting the voltage waveform for controlling (reducing) the level of internal DC voltage for as long a period as the drive time for liquid crystal state selection, it is inserted for a period shorter than that, so that internal DC voltage generated by impurity ions can be very effectively reduced.
Internal DC voltage in an LCD is defined as a voltage between electrodes which is left after application of a drive voltage waveform. It is thought to be generated as a result of formation of an electric field by impurity ions in a liquid crystal cell which have been polarized by the effective DC component of the drive voltage waveform and the like.
When asymmetric drive voltage waveform is actually applied, the voltage of the DC component which is left between the electrodes is measured, as shown in
Because this internal DC voltage exists in a given period regardless of the drive voltage waveform, it is expected that there will be a phenomenon which looks as if the grounding potential (GND) of the drive voltage waveform is offset by the amount equivalent to the electric field formed by the internal DC voltage.
Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described referring to the drawings.
(1) LCD Manufacturing Process
An explanation will be given below of the manufacturing process for LCDs to which the LCD drive method according to the present invention is applied.
The panels used for the measurements described below are all transparent panels which have a transparent electrode on each of the upper and lower substrates, as shown in
The following is a manufacturing process for LCDs. The whole process up to liquid crystal injection is performed in a clean room.
[Forming Transparent Electrodes]
First, a transparent layer of electrode material ITO is formed on one side of a glass substrate by the sputtering process and a transparent electrode with a prescribed pattern is formed by photolithography. This patterning process consists of the following steps:
The glass substrates are cleaned and dried in a clean room. This cleaning/drying process is performed, for example, using a 3-bath type ultrasonic washer like a model made by Sun Denshi Co., Ltd.
The first bath is used for alkali cleaning (SCAT×20) in which ultrasonic cleaning of a substrate is done at a bath temperature of 45° C. for 3 minutes while the substrate is being vibrated.
The second bath is used for ultrasonic rinsing in which the alkali detergent is washed away by a pure water shower while the substrate is being vibrated; the substrate is subjected to 3-minute ultrasonic rinsing three times.
In the third bath, the substrate is immersed in pure water at a bath temperature of 80° C. for one minute, then gradually pulled up out of the pure water by means of an elevator mechanism before being air-dried.
Furthermore, UV ozone cleaning is done at room temperature for 10 minutes using, for example, the UV dry stepper cleaner made by Samco International Inc.
[Making Alignment Layers]
Liquid crystal orientation methods are roughly classified into two types: One type is by rubbing of organic thin membranes and the other type is by oblique evaporation of inorganic materials such as SiO (silicon oxide). When rubbing membranes are used for alignment layers, the productivity is high and it is easy to produce large area displays. For this reason, recently there has been a growing trend for LCD manufacturers to use rubbing membranes for alignment layers. In contrast, if obliquely evaporated SiO films are used for alignment layers, a satisfactory memory ability can be obtained though productivity is not high.
In view of the above circumstances, we will discuss below about differences in liquid crystal orientation characteristics among LCD alignment layer materials. Here, alignment layer materials include obliquely evaporated SiO film and polyimide (for example, polyimide “AL0656” made by JSR Corporation) (hereinafter called PI).
[Obliquely Evaporated SiO Film]
Obliquely evaporated SiO film is manufactured by the following process. SiO (evaporation substance) as an evaporation source is housed in an evaporation port with a hole as a point source. The angle θ of the line connecting SiO and the point of evaporation with respect to the normal of the glass substrate evaporation plane is set to, for example, 85 degrees for evaporation. For film structural uniformity, the allowable error range for this angle θ should be only a few degrees. The distance between the evaporation source and the point of evaporation should be, for example, 40 cm or more because it affects the SiO pillar form and film thickness distribution.
[Rubbing Membranes]
Polyimide rubbing membrane alignment layers are made by the following process. First, the substrate is rotated at a prescribed rotational speed (e.g. 3,500 rpm) and an alignment layer PI material such as “AL0656” made by JSR Corporation is coated on it by a spin coating technique. Then, after baking at 180° C. for four hours, rubbing is done under the following conditions: roller speed 300 rpm, stage speed 2 mm/sec, and pushing depth 0.200 mm.
[Assembling Cells]
Two glass substrates each of which have the above-mentioned alignment layer and ITO are prepared; the alignment layers are made to face each other to make their orientation parallel. UV curable resin made by dispersion of a gap material is coated on the alignment layer of one of the glass substrates, outside the display area, by seal printing. Recommended gap materials include a gap material made by Catalysts & Chemicals Ind. Co., Ltd (yarn balls with a diameter of 1.0 μm). One example of UV curable resin made by dispersion of such a gap material is a resin made by Toray Fine Chemicals (Photorec). The two glass substrates are joined and ultraviolet rays are irradiated on them to cure the resin to make a cell with a gap of 1.0 μm.
[Injection of Liquid Crystal]
Next, the liquid crystal element is left in a constant-temperature bath until its temperature rises to a level that makes it enter the isotropic phase; then the injection port in the cell is immersed in ferroelectric liquid crystal. Recommended ferroelectric liquid crystals include “ CS-1031,” “CS-1025” and “CS-1028” which are made by Chisso Corporation. After that, the cell is cooled down to the room temperature at the speed of 1° C./min and taken out of the constant-temperature bath. Finally, the injection port is sealed, which concludes the assembly of an LC panel.
(2) Liquid Crystal Materials and Panel Components Suitable for use in Embodiments of the Present Invention
As a ferroelectric liquid crystal material suitable for the LCD drive method according to the present invention, a mixture of chiral and non-chiral compounds is recommended; practically, one type of compounds or a mixture of two or more types of compounds may also be used.
Chiral compounds include pyrimidine, biphenyl and phenylbenzoate compounds (these ferroelectric liquid crystals may become chiral nematic or smectic as the temperature changes). There are such non-chiral compounds as biphenyl, terphenyl and tricyclic-cyclohexyle, cyclohexyle, biphenylcyclohexane, cyclohexylethane, ester, pyrimidine, pyridazine, ethane and dioxane compounds.
Instead of any of the above ferroelectric liquid crystal materials, an antiferroelectric liquid crystal material is also usable. Besides, a nematic liquid crystal material for TN or STN mode may be used as well.
Regarding liquid crystal device components, transparent glass plates for substrates, ITO or aluminum for electrode layers, and polyimide films made by rubbing or obliquely evaporated SiO films for liquid crystal alignment layers may be used. In addition to ITO, transparent materials such as tin oxide and indium oxide may be used as materials for electrode layers. For transparent substrates, spacers and sealants for LCDs, various materials which have been conventionally used for these purposes are usable. If a reflective LCD is to be made, a material with high reflectance such as aluminum and silver may be used for reflective layers.
Liquid crystal devices as mentioned above may be used not only as light modulators, but also as optical shutters, light switches and optical window shades. When combined with electro-optical devices, they can also be used for A/D converters and optical logic circuits.
(3) Measurement of Electro-Optical Properties
The liquid crystal panel is observed through a microscope of a crossed Nicols state and the desired drive voltage waveform is impressed on the liquid crystal panel using, for example, the arbitrary waveform generator AWG-2021 made by Sony/Tektronix Corporation. Then, the intensity of transmitted light in the state corresponding to each drive voltage waveform is detected through a photomultiplier. Output of this photomultiplier is loaded into the control circuit (computer) through a digital oscilloscope like the one made by Sony/Tektronix Corporation.
(4) Measurement of Internal DC Voltage
Measurement of internal DC voltage is performed as follows: the drive voltage waveform generated by an arbitrary waveform generator such as the BIOMATION Pragmatic 2202A from Toyo Corp. is impressed on the liquid crystal panel in the sealed box through, for example, the high voltage sample hold amplifier VHR-AMP01 made by Toyo Corp.
When the control voltage waveform synchronously generated from the waveform generator becomes off, the high voltage sample hold amplifier VHR-AMP01 detects the voltage between the “VG” terminal and “OUT” terminal with an open circuit voltage between the electrodes of the liquid crystal panel. The result of detection is loaded into the control circuit (computer) through an A/D converter or oscilloscope.
The sealed box is placed in the constant-temperature bath which enables measurement at a desired constant temperature (usually 40° C.). If the voltage waveform which is impressed just before open circuit operation is other than 0 V, electric charges by electrostatic (electronic) injection from the liquid crystal panel may affect measurement. Therefore, such component is removed by short-circuiting the electrodes (0 V) for a short time (e.g. 100 μsec), so that the internal DV voltage generated by ionic polarization, which is slower than relaxation of electrons, can be observed.
The internal DC voltage just before this short-circuiting cannot be directly measured because of the presence of eletrostatically (electronically) injected charges. Hence, as shown in
For the above reason, the result (Va) of measurement under normal conditions is combined with the result (Vb) obtained when 50 μsec reverse polarity voltage waveform for reversing the Ps state just before short-circuit operation is impressed, and the internal DC voltage generated by ionic polarization is calculated by the equation ((Va+Vb)/2) so that the voltage component induced by Ps can be eliminated.
To ensure uniformity in the initial state at each measurement for high repeatability in measurement, the object is heated for 10 minutes just before measuring until it becomes isotropic in a shorted state, and held, then cooled down to room temperature.
(5) Measurement of Transient Currents
Measurement of transient currents is made as follows: the drive voltage waveform generated by an arbitrary waveform generator such as the BIOMATION Pragmatic 2202A from Toyo Corp. is impressed on the liquid crystal panel in the sealed box through, for example, the voltage-current conversion amplifier Model 6250 from Toyo Corp.
The current-voltage conversion amplifier Model 6250 stops current detection when the control voltage waveform synchronously outputted from the waveform generator is turned on, and resumes current detection when the control voltage waveform is turned off. Taking advantage of this characteristic, the on-state of the control voltage waveform is synchronized with the area where the voltage of the drive voltage waveform impressed on the liquid crystal panel suddenly changes (typically, first 10 μsec then 50 μsec, or 60 μsec in total when the voltage change is stepped) so that relatively large rush current (eletrostatically or electronically injected current component) can be removed. So, the current component to be measured, which is caused by impurity ion displacement and has a relatively small value, can be observed accurately.
In an SSFLC panel, as shown in
(6) Various Shapes of Waveform Constituting One Bit Plane According to the Present Invention
[1 Bit Plane Waveform A]
Waveform A (
[1 Bit Plane Waveform B]
Waveform B (
[1 Bit Plane Waveform C]
Waveform C (
[1 Bit Plane Waveform D]
Waveform D (
[1 Bit Plane Waveform E]
Waveform E (
The voltage waveform for 1 bit plane for controlling internal DC voltage according to the present invention is as shown in
The voltage waveform for controlling internal DC voltage is not limited to the one shown in
From another point of view, 1-bit-plane waveforms shown in
The major feature of the voltage waveform for controlling internal DC voltage according to the present invention, which uses one bit plane or uses a succession of bit planes, is that it is DC voltage waveform whose polarity is reverse to that of the effective internal DC voltage which is generated in the period of selection of one state, or in case of waveforms A, D and E shown in
(7) Examples of Insertion of Internal DC Voltage Control Waveforms According to the Present Invention
Even when the voltage waveforms for 1 bit plane are waveforms C, D and E in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 1]
As shown in
Assuming that parameters for waveform E in
Here, it is assumed that drive voltage waveform 1 consists of a succession of 108 bit planes of waveforms, where each bit plane comprises a positive voltage for liquid crystal state selection waveform period and a negative voltage for control voltage waveform period.
[Drive Voltage Waveform 2]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 3]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 4]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveforms 5 through 9]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveforms 10 through 12]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveforms 13 through 19]
In the above-said drive voltage waveforms 1 through 12, a negative voltage waveform is used as a control voltage waveform to reduce the internal DC voltage generated by one frame or successive frames for one of the two liquid crystal states selected with a positive voltage in the display-related drive voltage waveform period. This means that, in the display-related voltage waveform period, a negative voltage is applied for the voltage waveform period to control internal DC voltage which is accumulated with the impression of a positive voltage.
We will discuss below the process to see whether application of reverse polarity voltage waveform to control internal DC voltage is effective or not, even if the display-related voltage waveform period is not completely positive in waveform. Described below for this purpose are the results of impression of negative voltage to control internal DC voltage with different ratios of positive to negative voltage waveforms for the display-related voltage waveform period, ranging from the condition in which one state is selected only with a positive voltage to the condition in which the applied waveform is electrically neutral with no internal DC voltage accumulation.
Further, we will examine the following cases (
In these cases, if the positive and negative components of the drive voltage waveform amplitude are symmetric to each other, i.e. (|V1|=|V2|), it is desirable to impress 0 V DC voltage in the control period because no internal DC voltage accumulation occurs in the display-related period. However, if 0 V should be generated in addition to positive and negative voltages in the internal DC voltage control waveform period, a more complicated circuit for selecting the most suitable waveform from the three choices and dealing with output thereof would be needed. So, for the sake of simplification, there may be a situation in which logically the control waveform should be negative or positive even if no internal DC voltage accumulation occurs in the display-related waveform period. In this situation, internal DC voltage might be generated in the control voltage waveform period which is primarily intended to reduce internal DC voltage, as shown in
However, as it is apparent from the results stated later, in such a situation, the voltage waveform in the display-related period is such that no internal DC voltage accumulation occurs, which implies that the internal DC voltage which may be generated during the control period can be controlled in the display-related period.
Next is a typical example of waveform based on the bistable memory of SSFLC which is 1 bit plane waveform A as shown in
When the waveform shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 20]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 21]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveform 22]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveforms 23 through 27]
As shown in
[Drive Voltage Waveforms 28 through 30]
As shown in
(8) Effective DC Voltage per Unit Time for the Drive Voltage Waveforms used in the Present Invention
For the above-said drive voltage waveforms 1 through 30, the positive and negative impressed voltages are intentionally asymmetric to each other so it can be said that the DC voltage here is virtual.
Tables 1 through 3 and 4 through 6 show the effective DC voltage component per unit time as calculated based on drive voltages indicated next.
Here, for drive voltage waveforms 1 through 16, display/selection waveform V1=+7V and internal DC voltage control waveform voltage V2=−5V, while for drive voltage waveforms 17 through 19, display/selection waveform V1=+5V and internal DC voltage control waveform voltage V2=−5V.
In addition, there are also different versions of drive voltage waveforms 5 and 7 which use a combination of V1=−5V and V2=+7V, and a combination of V1=+7V and V2=0 V.
Also, there is a different version of drive voltage waveform 17 which uses a combination of V1=+7V or −5V and V2=0 V.
For drive voltage waveforms 20 through 30, display/selection waveform V1=+5V and internal DC voltage control waveform voltage V2=−5V.
(9) Asymmetric Parameter for Voltage Integrated Intensity Per Unit Time in the Drive Voltage Waveforms Used in the Present Invention
For drive voltage waveforms 1 through 30 used in the present invention, as shown in Tables 1 though 3 and Tables 4 through 6, based on the drive voltages described earlier in (7), the voltage integrated intensity per unit time has been calculated as a value normalized by the maximum absolute value of impressed voltage for the entire waveform (integrated intensity asymmetric parameter R).
If a drive voltage waveform is continuously impressed on a cell as described below at 40° C., the amounts of accumulation of internal DC voltage after 24 hours of impression are listed in Tables 1 through 3 and Tables 4 through 6.
In embodiments 1 through 72, the alignment layer used is a PI alignment layer and the liquid crystal materials used in the embodiments listed in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3 are CS-1031, CS-1025 and CS-1028, respectively.
In embodiments 73 through 105, the alignment layer used is an obliquely evaporated SiO layer, and the liquid crystal materials used in the embodiments listed in Table 4, Table 5 and Table 6 are CS-1031, CS-1025 and CS-1028, respectively.
As clearly seen from Tables 1 through 3, the amount of accumulation of internal DC voltage depends not on the liquid crystal material used but on the type of drive voltage waveform: the same type of waveform delivers the same type of profile. When “drive voltage waveform 2,” which has no internal DC voltage control waveform, is used, the level of accumulated DC voltage reaches approx. 2.5 V.
When positive voltage waveform is used for the whole display/selection period, even if the ratio of inserted internal DC voltage control waveform is only 5.6% or so as in the case of “drive voltage waveform 3” and “drive voltage waveform 4,” an effect of reducing internal DC voltage can be observed: the internal DC voltage level becomes as low as 1V or less. As the ratio of internal DC voltage control waveform is increased, the level of internal DC voltage is dramatically decreased: it finally goes down to zero or so.
As compared with drive voltage waveforms 4 through 9 in which 108 bit planes are treated as one unit and the ratio of internal DC voltage control period is varied, drive voltage waveform 1, in which the ratio of internal DC voltage control period is 25%, is as effective as drive voltage waveform 4 in which the ratio of internal DC voltage control period is only 5.6%. It has been confirmed that, because a smaller ratio of internal DC voltage control waveform period is better in terms of display characteristics, the effect of insertion of internal DC voltage control waveform on a per-108-bit-planes basis (one frame 16.6 msec or less) is larger than on a per-bit-plane basis (or 154.3 μsec). The reason for this seems to relate to the polarization and relaxation speeds resulting from ion movement in the panel; polarized ions do not response to a high frequency of waveform in the internal DC voltage control period.
Among drive voltage waveforms 10 through 12 in which 3.6 msec (24 bit planes) internal DC voltage control period is inserted in divided form, the accumulation of internal DC voltage for drive voltage waveform 11 of which control period is divided into 9 parts is larger than that for drive voltage waveforms 10 (3 parts) and 12 (12 parts). The effectiveness of drive voltage waveform 6 of which control period is not divided is almost the same as that of drive voltage waveform 11. These results demonstrate that division of internal DC voltage control period into a certain number of parts, for example, 3 or 12 parts, is more effective in reducing the accumulation of internal DC voltage.
For drive voltage waveforms 7 and 13 through 16 in which the ratio of positive voltage waveform to negative voltage waveform for the display/selection waveform period is varied step by step from 100% to 50% and negative voltage is impressed for the internal DC voltage control period, the accumulation of internal DC voltage is almost zero. Particularly, even for drive voltage waveforms 16 through 19 in which internal DC voltage is not accumulated in the display/selection waveform period but such accumulation occurs due to impression of negative voltage in the internal DC voltage control period, the level of internal DC voltage (negative) is very low or virtually zero.
For embodiments 58 through 63 in which, contrary to the above, negative voltage waveform is used for all the display/selection waveform periods and positive voltage waveform is used for the internal DC voltage control period, it has been confirmed that the accumulation of internal DC voltage can be controlled.
As compared with embodiments 13 through 15 and 19 through 21 based on drive voltage waveform 5 or 7 in which positive voltage waveform is used for the entire display/selection period and 14 or 36 bit planes of negative voltage waveform are inserted for the internal DC voltage control period, it has been confirmed that the effect of reducing internal DC voltage is very low in the case of embodiments 64 through 66 and 67 through 69 in which 0 V voltage waveform is inserted for the internal DC voltage control period.
It has also been confirmed that the accumulation of internal DC voltage is within the tolerable range for embodiments 70 through 72 in which no internal DC voltage accumulation occurs in the display/selection period and 0 V is impressed for the internal DC voltage control waveform period.
As clearly seen from Tables 4 through 6, the amount of accumulation of internal DC voltage depends not on the liquid crystal material used but on the type of drive voltage waveform; the same type of waveform delivers the same type of profile. Also a comparison is made between two types of alignment layers: embodiments 1 through 72 which use PI films are compared with embodiments 73 through 105 which use obliquely evaporated SiO films. The amount of accumulation of internal DC voltage is much larger in the latter type of film than in the former type of film. Particularly, for the embodiments which have no internal DC voltage control period or have a very short internal DC voltage control period, almost all of the effective DC voltage component of the impressed drive voltage waveform is accumulated as internal DC voltage. This difference between PI film and obliquely evaporated SiO film is caused by the fact that, even if the same liquid crystal material is used, the quantity of ions in the assembled panel is larger by one digit or more in the latter film type than in the former film type.
For drive voltage waveforms 20, and 22 through 27, as the ratio of internal DC voltage control period is increased, the amount of accumulation of internal DC voltage can be reduced. For drive voltage waveforms 28 through 30 in which negative DC voltage pulse waveform is used in place of the pulse waveform as used in the internal DC voltage control period for drive voltage waveforms 22 through 24, it has been confirmed that the amount of accumulation of internal DC voltage is much smaller than with the latter pulse waveform.
It can be understood from Table 31 that for drive voltage waveform 2, which has no internal DC voltage control waveform inserted, the accumulation of internal DC voltage sharply increases as the voltage impression time increases. There is a tendency that the accumulation of internal DC voltage decreases with increase in the ratio of internal DC voltage control waveform period to the whole waveform period. In case of drive voltage waveform 4, although the time ratio of internal DC voltage control period is as low as 5.6%, the accumulation of internal DC voltage does not exceed 1.0 V or so after 1000 hours of continuous impression. As compared with 2.5 V as a result of 24 hours of impression of drive voltage waveform 2 which has no internal DC voltage control period, this amount of accumulation is obviously small, so insertion of internal DC voltage control waveform is apparently effective.
For drive voltage waveforms 5 through 9 which have a higher time ratio of internal DC voltage control period than drive voltage waveform 4, the accumulation of internal DC voltage is more effectively reduced: it is almost zero even after 1000 hours of continuous impression.
In panels which use obliquely evaporated SiO films, due to a larger quantity of ions, the speed of internal DC voltage accumulation is faster than in the case of using PI alignment layers as shown in
Therefore, for panels which use obliquely evaporated SiO films and thus have many ions, insertion of internal DC voltage control waveform is less effective in reducing internal DC voltage accumulation.
According to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, the drive for selecting either the On state or Off state is done by the voltage waveform generated by the effective internal DC voltage in the selection period, and a waveform for controlling (reducing) the level of internal DC voltage which does not practically contribute to liquid crystal drive, like reverse polarity voltage waveform, is inserted in a certain period, so that the accumulation of internal DC voltage can be substantially reduced.
Ideally, the time of insertion of reverse polarity voltage waveform should be the same as the time of impression of drive voltage waveform (impressed voltage) for selection of a liquid crystal state, so that the state of electrical neutrality is attained.
Instead, by inserting it for a shorter period, internal DC voltage generated by impurity ions can also be very effectively reduced. Thus, LCD drive conditions which prevent display trouble and ensure high display reliability over an extended period have been found.
Namely, the accumulation of internal DC voltage can be reduced by increasing the ratio of internal DC voltage control period up to 50% of the whole waveform period as far as possible. However, when it is 50%, the ratio of the internal DC voltage control period to the drive period for selection of one liquid crystal state is 1:1, which is the same as in conventional LCD drive methods. Besides, an increase in the ratio of internal DC voltage control period necessitates a decrease in bit plane time, which might cause deterioration in display characteristics such as picture brightness and gradations.
Taking into consideration this conflicting result, the conditions for the waveform for controlling (reducing) the level of internal DC voltage without deteriorating the displayed picture brightness or gradations are that the ratio of internal DC voltage control period should be preferably 5% or more and less than 50% per unit time for each field, and more preferably within the range from 10% to 35%.
The polarity of the internal DC voltage control waveform to be inserted into the drive voltage waveform should be the reverse of the dominant polarity of voltage signals (positive or negative) generated in the display waveform period. For this reason, a mechanism for determining which polarity the inserted internal DC voltage control waveform should have should be incorporated in the drive circuit.
In the display waveform period, it is not always necessary to generate internal DC voltage control waveform whose polarity is the reverse of the dominant polarity which is decided according to the difference between the numbers of positive-voltage-dominant bit planes and negative-voltage-dominant ones. If the polarity of internal DC voltage control waveform is decided only according to the difference in the number of bit planes, particularly when the number of positive-voltage-dominant bit planes and that of negative-voltage-dominant ones are almost equal, the polarity of control voltage waveform may reverse the moment the difference in the number of bit planes reaches a certain level.
Consequently, depending on the voltage of each of bit plane waveforms (A through E) as drive voltage waveforms shown in
According to the above-mentioned embodiments of the invention, it is possible to provide an LCD which displays high definition pictures with high contrast and can represent gradations within pixels, and features high reliability, low power consumption and compactness (low profile)/lightness. Another advantage of the present invention is that the LCD manufacturing process can be shortened to realize improved productivity and cost reduction, which implies that LCDs with satisfactory display characteristics can be manufactured at lower cost and also projection type displays based on this LCD technology can be provided.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the technological concept thereof. For instance, the above-said drive voltage waveforms and other drive conditions may be varied as far as the object of the invention can be achieved. Regarding choices for selection of one of two states of incident light in LCDs, in the above-mentioned embodiments, choice between reflected and non-reflected light, or between transmitted and non-transmitted light is made; however, it is also acceptable that a choice is made between polarized and non-polarized light or between twisted and non-twisted light by selecting the On state or the Off state practically.
In the LCD drive method according to the present invention, an LCD has the following structure: a first electrode located on a first substrate and a second electrode located on a second substrate are facing each other and liquid crystal material is filled and sealed between the substrates. In the drive method for the LCD which displays pictures by means of the voltage signal impressed between the first and second electrodes to select the state of incident light, generation of internal DC voltage which may be caused by ionic polarization in liquid crystal cells can be efficiently reduced by using drive voltage waveform consisting of a display signal period and a control signal period irrelevant to display, within a given drive time, or a period of plural frames or one frame.
In other words, the present invention provides a simple LCD drive method which guarantees a sufficient bit plane time, preventing deterioration in display picture quality due to impurity ions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2000-159265 | May 2000 | JP | national |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09867124 | May 2001 | US |
| Child | 11109580 | US |
