Liquid crystal cells – elements and systems – Particular excitation of liquid crystal – Electrical excitation of liquid crystal
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-21
2002-06-11
Dudek, James (Department: 2871)
Liquid crystal cells, elements and systems
Particular excitation of liquid crystal
Electrical excitation of liquid crystal
Reexamination Certificate
active
06404466
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) array constituting a liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus and so on.
An active matrix LCD (AM-LCD) using a TFT array in a switching device of a pixel electrode has been well known. This TFT array is configured by arranging plural scanning lines and signal lines so as to intersect at right angles on an insulating substrate and arranging pixel electrodes in the regions surrounded by the scanning lines and the signal lines and providing a TFT (hereinafter called “first TFT”) for supplying a signal voltage to each pixel electrode. The TFT has a source electrode, a drain electrode, a gate electrode, an active layer, and a gate insulating film. The source electrode is connected to one of the pixel electrodes, and the drain electrode is connected to one of the signal lines, and the gate electrode is connected to one of the scanning lines. When the TFT is selected by a signal from the scanning lines, the TFT conducts and the signal voltage is supplied to the pixel electrodes through the signal lines.
Next, a conventional AM-LCD will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1
is a plan view showing a configuration of the conventional AM-LCD. As shown in
FIG. 1
, this AM-LCD is provided with a second TFT
200
for preliminary charging for performing preliminary charging of a pixel electrode
3
other than a first TFT
100
for writing disposed to drive the pixel electrode
3
. This second TFT
200
is formed at a diagonal position to the first TFT
100
within a display region. A second gate electrode
21
of the second TFT
200
is connected to a scanning line
1
a
of the forward row of a scanning line
1
b
connected to a first gate electrode
11
of the first TFT
100
. A second drain electrode
22
of the second TFT
200
is electrically connected to a signal line
2
b
of the next column of a signal line
2
a
electrically connected to a first drain electrode
12
of the first TFT
100
. Further, a second source electrode
23
of the second TFT
200
is connected to the pixel electrode
3
in a manner similar to a first source electrode
13
of the first TFT
100
.
By forming the second TFT
200
in the vicinity of an intersection of the scanning line
1
a
and the signal line
2
b
in this manner, even in case that the first TFT
100
is defected, the second TFT
200
instead of the first TFT
100
can supply a signal voltage to the pixel electrode.
Then, a circuit of the TFT array will be described with reference to FIG.
2
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, in the conventional TFT array, a plurality of scanning lines
1
a,
1
b
and
1
c
are arranged in parallel and a plurality of signal lines
2
a,
2
b
and
2
c
are arranged perpendicular to these scanning lines. One pixel electrode
3
is arranged in each of a plurality of regions configured by these scanning lines and signal lines.
As a switching device for driving the pixel electrode, a first TFT
100
is formed in the vicinity of an intersection of the scanning line
1
b
and the signal line
2
a,
and a first drain electrode
12
of the first TFT
100
for writing is electrically connected to the signal line
2
a.
Further, a gate electrode
11
of the first TFT
100
is connected to the scanning line
1
a
and a first source electrode
13
of the first TFT
100
is connected to the pixel electrode
3
.
However, there was the following problem in the conventional TFT array. The TFT array described above can control occurrence of a point defect etc. by providing two TFTs for driving the pixel electrode.
But, a problem that a decrease in open aperture ratio cannot be ignored in comparison with a TFT array in which only one TFT is arranged in one pixel essentially has occurred. Here, the aperture ratio means a ratio of an area of a portion capable of light modulation to the total area of a pixel. Recently, a decrease in power consumption of the LCD has been desired. For that purpose, it is effective to increase the aperture ratio of the LCD to obtain enough intensity of light. That is, a decrease in aperture ratio has been caused by arranging the two TFTs in an pixel region as a switching device of the pixel electrode.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a TFT array for improving writing characteristics into a pixel electrode without a decrease in aperture ratio in order to solve the problem in the conventional art described above.
In order to solve the above problem, a first invention of the present application is characterized in that at least a second TFT for preliminary charging is configured so as to overlap with a part of a region of intersection of a scanning line and a signal line.
By such a configuration, a decrease in aperture ratio of the TFT array can be prevented and as a result, power consumption of a LCD can be decreased.
A second invention of the present application is characterized in that the second TFT for preliminary charging is configured so as to cover a part of a region of forming the signal line.
By such a configuration, even in case that a first TFT
100
is defected, a pixel electrode
3
can be normally driven using a second TFT
200
instead of the first TFT
100
, and simultaneously the aperture ratio can be improved.
A TFT array of a third invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is characterized in that the second TFT for preliminary charging is formed on a scanning line of the forward row of a scanning line connected to a gate electrode of a first TFT for writing.
By such a configuration, a size of the first TFT for writing can be reduced as well as the prevention of a decrease in aperture ratio.
A TFT array of a fourth invention of the present application is characterized in that contact holes extending through a passivation layer are formed on a source electrode of the first TFT for writing and a source electrode of the second TFT for preliminary charging and the two source electrodes are electrically connected to the pixel electrode.
By such a configuration, when forming the TFT array, a formation step of the passivation layer can be eliminated and as a result, yields can be improved and the production costs can be reduced.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5946060 (1999-08-01), Nishiki et al.
Dudek James
NEC Corporation
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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