HK1065374B - Liquid crystal display device capable of transmission display and refelction display - Google Patents

Description

Liquid crystal display element for transmissive display and reflective display

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that performs both reflective display and transmissive display.

Background

As a liquid crystal display device, there has been proposed a reflective/transmissive type liquid crystal display device which performs both reflective display using external light of ambient light and transmissive display using illumination light from a light source disposed on the rear side.

As such a liquid crystal display device, as disclosed in japanese patent application laid-open No. 11-264964, a liquid crystal layer is provided between a front substrate as a display observation side and a rear substrate facing the front substrate, at least 1 electrode is provided on one of facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate, and a plurality of electrodes for forming a plurality of pixels from a region facing the at least one electrode are provided on the other inner surface. In the liquid crystal display device, a plurality of reflective films are provided on a rear side of the liquid crystal layer so as to correspond to predetermined regions in the plurality of pixels, respectively, a reflective portion is formed in the reflective films of the plurality of pixels so as to reflect light incident from a front side to a front side, and a transmissive portion is formed in a region other than the reflective portion of the plurality of pixels so as to transmit light incident from the rear side to the front side. Color filters for color display are provided on one of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate, a front polarizing plate and a rear polarizing plate are disposed on the front side and the rear side of the liquid crystal element, and a light source is disposed on the rear side of the rear polarizing plate.

The reflective/transmissive type liquid crystal display device performs reflective display using external light in a use environment with sufficient illuminance, performs transmissive display using the illumination light by emitting the illumination light from the light source when the external light with sufficient luminance is not obtained, performs reflective display using reflective portions of a plurality of pixels of the liquid crystal element, and performs transmissive display using transmissive portions of a plurality of pixels of the liquid crystal element.

However, conventional reflective/transmissive liquid crystal display devices that display color images have a problem that the display image quality in reflective display using external light differs from the display image quality in transmissive display using illumination light from a light source.

That is, in the reflective/transmissive type liquid crystal display device which displays a color image, light which is incident on the liquid crystal element from the front side, transmits the color filter and the liquid crystal layer, and is reflected by the reflective film is transmitted again through the liquid crystal layer and the color filter, and then is emitted to the front side of the liquid crystal element, and in the transmissive display, light which is incident on the liquid crystal element from the rear side and transmits the liquid crystal layer and the color filter is emitted to the front side of the liquid crystal element.

Therefore, the light emitted from the reflective/transmissive liquid crystal display device in the reflective display mode has a lower light intensity than that in the transmissive display mode. Therefore, the liquid crystal display device has poor display quality at the time of reflective display.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese patent application laid-open No. H10-288706, it is also proposed to form a colored portion and a white transparent portion in a pixel to brighten the reflective display.

However, in a liquid crystal element in which a portion corresponding to an opening in a reflective portion of a pixel is formed in a color filter, a cross section around the opening of the color filter is formed in a shape inclined with respect to a normal line of a substrate. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately set the ratio of colored light emitted from a region corresponding to a portion other than the opening of the color filter to non-colored light emitted from a region corresponding to the opening of the color filter among the reflective portions of the plurality of pixels, and the color reproducibility of the reflective display is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a reflective/transmissive liquid crystal display device which can display a color image of good quality both in reflective display and in transmissive display.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device which can emit colored light and non-colored light at a high ratio with high accuracy from the reflective portions of a plurality of pixels and has high light reproducibility, and a method for manufacturing the same.

In order to achieve the above object, a liquid crystal display element according to claim 1 of the present invention is characterized in that: is provided with

A front substrate positioned on the viewing side of the liquid crystal display element;

a rear substrate which is disposed opposite to the surface opposite to the observation side of the front substrate at a predetermined interval, is sealed in the liquid crystal layer between the front substrate, and is bonded to the rear substrate;

a counter electrode formed at least one in one of the opposing inner surfaces of the front-side substrate and the rear-side substrate;

a plurality of pixel electrodes, which are formed in a pixel region by a region facing the counter electrode in the other surface of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate;

a plurality of reflective films provided on the rear substrate side behind the liquid crystal layer disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to predetermined partial regions in each pixel, respectively, each reflective film having a reflective portion for reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and having a transmissive portion for transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front in a region other than the predetermined partial regions in each pixel;

a multicolor color filter provided on an inner surface of one of the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to the plurality of pixels, respectively, and having an opening for removing the color filter formed in a portion corresponding to the reflection portion;

a transparent member provided on at least a reflection portion of each pixel on an inner surface of a substrate on which the color filter is provided, provided in at least an opening of the color filter, and configured to increase transmittance of light of the reflection portion; and

and front and rear polarizing plates disposed on front and rear sides of the front and rear substrates.

According to the invention based on the aspect 1, the transparent member for increasing the transmittance of the light of the reflection portion is provided in at least a portion of the color filter corresponding to the reflection portion, so that a color image with good quality in both reflection display and transmission display can be displayed.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the color filter is formed to have a transmissive film embedded in at least a portion corresponding to the reflection portion, and therefore, a color image with better quality in the reflective display and in the transmissive display can be displayed.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, it is desirable that a plurality of openings are formed in a portion of the multicolor color filter corresponding to the reflection portion, so that a transparent film having a high degree of flatness of film surfaces can be formed on the color filter, and the photoelectric characteristics of the liquid crystal layer in a region corresponding to the reflection portion can be made more uniform, and both colored light and non-colored light can be emitted from the reflection portion with a higher emission ratio.

In this case, when the multicolor color filter is a red, green, and blue 3-color filter, it is preferable that the number of openings of the green filter among the filters is larger than the number of openings of the red filter and the blue filter, so that red, green, and blue colored light with well-balanced colors is emitted from the reflection portion, and a color image with good quality without color variation is displayed.

In this liquid crystal display device, it is preferable that the transparent film formed on the color filter contains light scattering particles, so that the reflective film is not reflected by an external scene, and a higher quality image can be displayed.

In this liquid crystal display device, it is desirable that the liquid crystal layer in the reflective portion of each pixel is formed thinner than the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive portion, and in this case, the liquid crystal layer thickness in the reflective portion of each pixel is adjusted by an adjusting film having a liquid crystal layer thickness formed of the transparent film or the reflective film.

Further, the liquid crystal display device is constituted by elements for applying a retardation change of 1/4 of a light wavelength λ to transmitted light in accordance with a voltage applied between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode, and it is desirable that a λ/4 phase difference plate is disposed between at least the front polarizing plate and the liquid crystal element among the front and rear polarizing plates, and by such a constitution, bright and high-contrast reflective display can be performed.

In this liquid crystal display device, since the transparent member made of a photosensitive resin is formed in the opening of the color filter, the color filter corresponding to each of the plurality of pixels can be provided by bringing the side surface of the filter including the non-colored layer into close contact with the peripheral surface of the non-colored layer, and colored light and non-colored light can be emitted from the reflective portion of the plurality of pixels at a high ratio with high accuracy, thereby achieving good light reproducibility.

At this time, the transparent member may also be formed to have a thickness substantially equal to that of the color filter. Alternatively, the transparent member may be formed with a spacer having a cross-sectional shape substantially equal to the planar shape of the opening of the color filter, a thickness larger than the film thickness of the color filter, and a thickness for setting the thickness of the liquid crystal layer to a predetermined value by abutting against the inner surface of the opposing substrate. With this configuration, the columnar spacer for defining the substrate interval with respect to the non-colored layer can be used.

The liquid crystal display element according to the 2 nd aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: is provided with

A front substrate positioned on the viewing side of the liquid crystal display element;

a rear substrate disposed opposite to the surface opposite to the observation side of the front substrate at a predetermined interval, and bonded to the front substrate after a liquid crystal layer is sealed;

a counter electrode formed at least one in one of the opposing inner surfaces of the front-side substrate and the rear-side substrate;

a plurality of pixel electrodes, which are formed in a pixel region by a region facing the counter electrode in the other surface of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate;

a plurality of reflective films provided on the rear substrate side behind the liquid crystal layer disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to predetermined partial regions in each pixel, respectively, each reflective film having a reflective portion for reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and having a transmissive portion for transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front in a region other than the predetermined partial regions in each pixel;

a multicolor color filter including a transmission portion color filter and a reflection portion color filter, the transmission portion color filter corresponding to the transmission portions of the plurality of pixels, being disposed in an inner surface of one of the front substrate and the rear substrate, having a predetermined thickness, the reflection portion color filter being disposed corresponding to the reflection portions of the plurality of pixels, respectively, and having at least one opening portion formed therein;

a transparent member provided in at least a reflection portion of each pixel on an inner surface of a substrate on which the color filter is provided, provided in at least an opening of the color filter, and configured to set a thickness of a liquid crystal layer in the reflection portion to be thinner than a thickness of a liquid crystal layer in the transmission portion; and

and front and rear polarizing plates disposed on front and rear sides of the front and rear substrates.

In the liquid crystal display device according to the invention of claim 2, since the transparent film for increasing the transmittance of light is provided in at least the reflection portion of each pixel on the inner surface of the substrate on which the color filter is provided, the transmittance of light in the reflection portion can be increased, and a color image with good quality in both reflection display and transmission display can be displayed.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, it is preferable that the reflective portion and the transmissive portion constituting each pixel have a liquid crystal layer having a thickness smaller than that of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive portion, and the transparent member is mixed with the light scattering member.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the liquid crystal display element is constituted by an element which applies a retardation change of 1/4 of a light wavelength λ to transmitted light in accordance with a voltage applied between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode, and it is desirable that a λ/4 phase difference plate is disposed between at least the front polarizing plate and the liquid crystal element among the front and rear polarizing plates, and by such a constitution, a bright and high-contrast reflective display can be performed.

In this liquid crystal display device, it is desirable that the liquid crystal layer in the reflective portion of each pixel be formed thinner than the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive portion.

A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 3 of the present invention is characterized in that: the method comprises the following steps:

forming: a front substrate located on the observation side of the pair of substrates arranged to face each other; a plurality of pixel electrodes on which regions of pixels are formed in a rear substrate facing the front substrate, respectively, by regions facing the counter electrodes formed in the inner surface of the front substrate; a reflective film for forming a reflective portion provided corresponding to a predetermined partial region in each pixel, reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and a transmissive portion transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front side in a region other than the predetermined partial region in each pixel;

coating a photosensitive transparent resin on the rear substrate, exposing and developing the resin film, patterning the resin film into shapes that partially correspond to the shapes of the reflective portions of the pixels, respectively, to form a plurality of non-colored layers, coating a pigment-added photosensitive color resist on the rear substrate, exposing and developing the color resist, patterning the color resist into shapes that correspond to the shapes of the pixels, removing the color resist on the non-colored layers to form a multicolor color filter in which a transparent member is disposed in the opening portion of the reflective portion, and forming a counter electrode that faces the pixel electrode on the non-colored layers and the color filter formed on the rear substrate;

the front substrate and the rear substrate are bonded together with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, with the surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate on which the pixel electrodes are formed facing the counter electrodes; and

polarizing plates are disposed on both sides of the front substrate and the rear substrate bonded to each other.

According to the method of manufacturing a display device of claim 3, since the multicolor color filter corresponding to each of the plurality of pixels can be formed by bringing the filter including the non-colored layer into close contact with the peripheral surface of the non-colored layer, colored light and non-colored light can be emitted from the reflective portions of the plurality of pixels at a high ratio with high accuracy, and good light reproducibility can be obtained.

In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, the step of forming the achromatic layer may be performed by forming a spacer, which is in contact with an inner surface of the counter substrate and has a thickness set to a predetermined value as compared with the thickness of the liquid crystal layer, with a photosensitive transparent resin, and maintaining a substrate gap between the front substrate and the rear substrate.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a plurality of pixels and color filters of a liquid crystal element of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 1.

Fig. 4A and 4B are views showing the state of formation of a planarized transparent film when one large-area opening is formed in a color filter and when a plurality of small-area openings are formed in the color filter.

Fig. 5A and 5B are explanatory views of the operation of the reflective display of the liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 6A and 6B are explanatory views of the transmissive display operation of the liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 7 is a partial sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a partial sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the transmissive display of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 3.

Fig. 10 is a partial sectional view of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 4.

Fig. 11 is a partial sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 5 of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a partial sectional view showing an element of embodiment 6 of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a plan view of a plurality of pixels, an achromatic layer and a color filter of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 6.

Fig. 14A, 14B, and 14C are process diagrams showing a method of forming an achromatic layer and a color filter of a liquid crystal device according to example 6.

Fig. 15 is a partial sectional view showing an element of embodiment 7 of the present invention.

Fig. 16A, 16B, and 16C are process diagrams showing a method of forming an achromatic layer and a color filter in the production of a liquid crystal device according to example 7.

Detailed Description

[ 1 st embodiment ]

Fig. 1 to 6A, B show embodiment 1 of the present invention, fig. 1 is an exploded oblique view of a liquid crystal display device, fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of the liquid crystal display device, and fig. 3 is a plan view of a plurality of pixels of a liquid crystal element and a color filter of the liquid crystal display device.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment includes a liquid crystal element 1, a front polarizing plate 15 and a rear polarizing plate 16 disposed on the front side and the rear side of the liquid crystal element 1, a front phase difference plate 17 disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front polarizing plate 15, a rear phase difference plate 18 disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the rear polarizing plate 16, a diffusion layer 19 disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front phase difference plate 17, and a light source 20 disposed on the rear side of the rear polarizing plate 16.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the liquid crystal element 1 is provided with a liquid crystal layer 4 between a transparent substrate 2 on the front side (upper side in fig. 2) which is the observation side and a transparent substrate 3 on the rear side which faces the front substrate 2, at least one transparent electrode 5 is provided on one of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3, and a plurality of transparent electrodes 6 which form a plurality of pixels Pix through the region facing the at least one transparent electrode 5 are provided on the other inner surface. The liquid crystal layer 4 has a plurality of reflection films 8 provided on the rear side thereof so as to correspond to predetermined regions in the plurality of pixels Pix, and a reflection portion Pr for reflecting light incident from the front side by the reflection films 8 and emitting the light to the front side is formed in a region of the plurality of pixels Pix where the reflection films 8 are provided, and a transmission portion Pt for transmitting light incident from the rear side to the front side is formed in a region other than the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix.

The liquid crystal element 1 is an active matrix liquid crystal element in which TFTs (thin film transistors) are active elements, for example, electrodes 5 provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 are a pair of film-like counter electrodes, and electrodes 6 provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 are a plurality of pixel electrodes formed in a matrix arrangement in the row direction and the column direction.

In addition, TFTs 7 are provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 so as to correspond to the pixel electrodes 6, respectively, and a plurality of gate wirings for supplying gate signals to the TFTs 7 in each row and a plurality of data wirings for supplying data signals to the TFTs 7 in each column are provided (both not shown).

In fig. 2, a TFT7 is shown in simplified form, and a TFT7 includes a gate electrode formed on the substrate surface of the rear substrate 3, a gate insulating film formed substantially over the entire substrate 3 so as to cover the gate electrode, an i-type semiconductor film formed on the gate insulating film so as to face the gate electrode, and a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on both side portions of the i-type semiconductor film via an n-type semiconductor film.

Among the gate wiring and the data wiring, not shown, the gate wiring and the gate electrode of the TFT y7 are formed integrally on the substrate surface of the rear substrate 3 and covered with the gate insulating film, and the data wiring is formed on the gate insulating film and connected to the drain electrode of the TFT 7.

The plurality of pixel electrodes 6 are formed on the gate insulating film, not shown, and the source electrodes of the TFTs corresponding to the pixel electrodes 6 are connected to the pixel electrodes 6.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the plurality of reflective films 8 are formed on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 (for example, on a gate insulating film (not shown)) and partially overlap the reflective films 8 to form the plurality of pixel electrodes 6.

The reflective films 8 are provided corresponding to the entire edge portions of the plurality of pixels Pix and substantially half of the area excluding the center portions of the edge portions, respectively, the reflective portions Pr are formed by the edge portions and substantially half of the area of the center portions of the plurality of pixels Pix, and the transmissive portions Pt are formed by the other substantially half of the area of the center portions of the plurality of pixels Pix.

In this embodiment, the area of the reflective part Pr is formed to be 55-75% of the area of the pixel Pix, and the area of the transmissive part Pt is formed to be 25-65% of the area of the pixel Pix.

On the inner surface of one of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 of the liquid crystal element 1, for example, on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, multicolor, for example, red, green, and blue 3-color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B are provided corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively.

As shown in fig. 3, the liquid crystal element 1 is a triangular (delta) array type (also referred to as a mosaic array type) liquid crystal element in which the pixels Pix corresponding to the red filters 9R, the pixels Pix corresponding to the green filters 9G, and the pixels Pix corresponding to the blue filters 9B are alternately arranged in the row direction, and the pixels Pix corresponding to the filters 9R, 9G, and 9B of the same color are alternately arranged in each row with a 1.5 pitch in the left-right direction, and fig. 2 shows a cross section of a pixel array in which the pixels Pix corresponding to the red, green, and blue filters 9R, 9G, and 9B are arranged in a zigzag shape.

The red, green, and blue color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B are formed in such thicknesses that light passing through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B in one direction is emitted as colored light having sufficient color purity and sufficiently high intensity, and a plurality of openings 10 partially penetrating the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B are provided in portions corresponding to the reflection portions Pr of the pixels Pix of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, respectively.

The red, green, and blue color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B respectively emit light incident on a portion other than the aperture 10 after coloring the light into one of red, green, and blue colors by absorption of light having a wavelength in the absorption wavelength range of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, transmit the light incident on the aperture 10 without coloring, emit colored light and non-colored light from a portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the pixel Pix, and emit colored light from all regions of a portion corresponding to the transmission portion Pt of the pixel Pix.

As shown in fig. 3, each of the plurality of openings 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B has a long hole shape having a length approximately equal to the width of the transmission portion Pt of the pixel Pix in the row direction (the left-right direction in fig. 3), and is provided at a plurality of intervals that divide the wide region (a region that extends over the entire filter width and continues) in the column direction (the up-down direction in fig. 3) in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B.

The plurality of openings 10 of the red, green, and blue color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B are formed to have the same area (length and width), and the number of openings 10 of each color filter 9R, 9G, and 9B, that is, the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filter 9R, 9G, and 9B is set so that the light obtained by combining the colored light and the non-colored light that pass through the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filter 9R, 9G, and 9B in a reciprocating manner has sufficient color purity and sufficient intensity.

That is, of the light incident on the reflection portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix from the front side of the liquid crystal element 1 and reflected by the reflection film 8 and directed to the front side of the liquid crystal element 1, the colored light colored in the portions other than the openings 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is light which is repeatedly transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B and then received 2 times of absorption, and therefore, is dark light as compared with the colored light which is incident on the transmission portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix from the rear side of the liquid crystal element 1, is directed to the front side of the liquid crystal element 1 after being transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B only 1 time in one direction.

On the other hand, of the light entering the reflection parts Pr of the pixels Pix from the front side of the liquid crystal element 1, reflected by the reflection film 8 and directed to the front side of the liquid crystal element 1, the light passing through the openings 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is bright non-colored light which is not absorbed by the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B.

Therefore, by appropriately setting the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, that is, the ratio of the amount of colored light that passes through the portion other than the opening 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B to the amount of non-colored light that passes through the opening 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, bright colored light can be emitted from the reflection portion Pr.

Preferably, a ratio of a total area of the plurality of openings 10 to a total area of portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the red, green and blue color filters 9R, 9G and 9B is less than 50%.

At this time, the viewer visually perceives the brightness of the green light as weak light among the lights colored by the red, green, and blue color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the number of the openings 10 of the reflection part Pr of the green filter 9G is made larger than the number of the openings 10 of the reflection part Pr of the red filter 9R and the blue filter 9B among the red, green and blue filters 9R, 9G and 9B. In this way, by making the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the green filter 9G larger than the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the red filter 9R and the blue filter 9B, the green light emitted from the reflection parts Pr of the green filter 9G is brightened, and the red, green, and blue colored light with good color balance is emitted from the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix.

The ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the red filter 9R and the blue filter 9B is preferably 20 to 40%, and the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the green filter 9G is preferably 30 to 50%.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, by forming two openings 10 in the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the red filter 9R and the blue filter 9B and forming 3 openings in the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the green filter 9G, the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is set as described above.

A transparent film (hereinafter referred to as a planarized transparent film) 11 for planarizing a surface of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B facing the liquid crystal layer 4 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is provided over the entire region on the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, and the counter electrode 5 is formed on the planarized transparent film 11.

The planarized transparent film 11 is formed by applying a liquid resin to the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B by screen printing or the like, planarizing the film surface of the applied film by natural flow of the liquid resin, and then curing the liquid resin, and in the present embodiment, a plurality of openings 10 are formed in the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is set so as to obtain sufficient color purity and strength, so that the planarized transparent film 11 having a high degree of flatness of the film surface can be formed.

That is, the number of openings formed in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B may be not only 1, but in this case, by forming the openings to an area corresponding to the total area of the plurality of openings 10, bright colored light may be emitted from the reflection portion Pr.

However, if 1 large-area opening corresponding to the total area of the plurality of openings 10 is formed in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, the flatness of the film surface of the planarized transparent film 11 is deteriorated.

That is, fig. 4A shows the formation state of the planarized transparent film when one large-area opening 10a is formed in the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and at this time, since a large amount of the liquid resin applied to the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B flows into the large-area opening 10a, the planarized transparent film 11 in which the film surface of the portion corresponding to the opening 10a is recessed to some extent is formed.

On the other hand, fig. 4B shows the formation state of the planarized transparent film 11 when the plurality of small-area openings 10 are formed in the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and at this time, the liquid resin applied to the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B flows into the plurality of small-area openings 10a, so that the planarized transparent film 11 having a high flatness is formed in which the film surface of the portion corresponding to the opening 10 and the film surface of the other portion are in the same plane.

The front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 are joined by a frame-shaped seal member, not shown, surrounding a display region in which the plurality of pixels Pix are arranged in a matrix, and a nematic liquid crystal having positive dielectric anisotropy is filled in a region surrounded by the seal member between the substrates 2 and 3, thereby forming a liquid crystal layer 4.

Alignment films 13 and 14 are provided on surfaces of the liquid crystal layer 4 in contact with the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3, respectively, liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 are aligned in the vicinity of the substrates 2 and 3 by the alignment films 13 and 14, and are twisted (twist) between the front and rear substrates 2 and 3 at a predetermined twist angle Φ.

In this example, when the liquid crystal layer thickness of the reflective part of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1 is d1 and the liquid crystal layer thickness of the transmissive part Pt is d2, the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1 and d2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt are set to d1 * d2, and the twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 4 and the product Δ nd of the liquid crystal anisotropic refractive indices Δ n and the liquid crystal layer thickness d of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix (hereinafter, Δ nd of the reflective part Pr is denoted as Δ nd1 and Δ nd of the transmissive part Pt is denoted as Δ nd2) are set to such values that, when the liquid crystal molecules are in the electric field-free state of the initial twist alignment state, there is a retardation which gives a phase difference of 1/4 wavelength (about 140nm) between the ordinary light and the extraordinary light of the transmitted light, and between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the pixels Pix, liquid crystal molecules are applied to the substrate 2, The retardation becomes substantially 0 in the case of an electric field in which the 3-plane is oriented substantially vertically upward.

The twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 4 is preferably in the range of 60 to 70 degrees, and the values of Δ nd1 of the reflection part Pr and Δ nd2 of the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are preferably in the range of 195 ± 10nm to 235 ± 10nm, and by setting the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement and the values of Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 in this range, the liquid crystal layer 4 can have a retardation of 1/4 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field.

In this example, the twist angle Φ at which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned is set to 64 degrees, and the values of Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 of the reflection part Pr and the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are set to 195 ± 10nm, so that the liquid crystal layer 4 has a retardation of 1/4 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field.

In this embodiment, the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 3a near the rear substrate 3 is shifted by 64 degrees to the left with respect to the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 2a near the front substrate 2 when viewed from the front side, the twist direction of the liquid crystal molecules is shown by a broken line arrow in fig. 1, and the liquid crystal layer 4 is twisted and aligned at a twist angle Φ of 64 degrees to the left from the rear substrate 3 toward the front substrate 2 when viewed from the front side, and therefore, the liquid crystal layer 4 can be seen as a phase plate having a retardation axis 4a shifted by 45 degrees to the right (a direction opposite to the twist direction of the liquid crystal molecules) with respect to the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 2a near the front substrate 2 when viewed from the front side.

As shown in fig. 1, the liquid crystal element 1 is arranged such that, for example, the liquid crystal molecular alignment direction 2a in the vicinity of the front substrate 2 is parallel to the horizontal axis x of the screen (the front surface of the front polarizing plate 15) of the liquid crystal display device, and the slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 intersects the horizontal axis x of the screen at an intersection angle of 45 degrees.

The front polarizing plate 15 is disposed such that a transmission axis 15a thereof intersects a slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal device 1 at an intersection angle of 45 degrees, and the rear polarizing plate 16 is disposed such that a transmission axis 16a thereof is perpendicular to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the front polarizing plate 15 is disposed in a direction in which the transmission axis 15a is 45 degrees to the left with respect to the slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal element 1, that is, in a direction parallel to the horizontal axis x of the screen when viewed from the front side, and the rear polarizing plate 16 is disposed in such a manner that the transmission axis 16a thereof intersects the horizontal axis x of the screen at an intersection angle of 90 degrees.

On the other hand, the front side phase difference plate 17 and the rear side phase difference plate 18 are λ/4 phase difference plates that impart a phase difference of 1/4 wavelengths between normal light and abnormal light of transmitted light, respectively, the front side phase difference plate 15 is disposed such that the slow axis 15a thereof intersects the transmission axis 15a of the front side polarizing plate 15 at an intersection angle of 45 degrees, and the rear side phase difference plate 18 is disposed such that the slow axis 18a thereof is perpendicular to the slow axis 17a of the front side phase difference plate 17.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the front side phase difference plate 17 is disposed such that the slow axis 17a thereof is oriented at 45 degrees to the left when viewed from the front side with respect to the horizontal axis x of the screen parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front side polarization plate 15, and the rear side phase difference plate 18 is disposed such that the slow axis 18a thereof is oriented at 135 degrees to the left when viewed from the front side with respect to the horizontal axis x of the screen.

The diffusion layer 19 disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front phase difference plate 17 is a front diffusion layer for diffusing light incident from one surface and emitting the light from the other surface, and the diffusion layer 19 is made of an adhesive or a transparent resin film mixed with light diffusion particles.

The light source 20 disposed on the rear side of the rear polarizing plate 16 is a surface light source that emits illumination light with a uniform luminance distribution to the entire rear surface of the rear polarizing plate 16, and the surface light source 20 is composed of a transparent plate such as an acryl-based resin plate as shown in fig. 1, and includes a light guide plate 21 having an end surface on which light is incident, and a light emitting element 22 provided so as to face the incident end surface of the light guide plate 21.

The surface light source 20 used in the present embodiment is configured such that a plurality of light emitting elements 22 made of LEDs (light emitting diodes) are disposed facing the incident end surface of the light guide plate 21, but the light emitting elements disposed facing the incident end surface of the light guide plate 21 may be a straight-tube-shaped cold cathode tube or the like.

The surface light source 20 emits the illumination light emitted from the light emitting elements 22 to the front side from the front surface thereof by lighting the light emitting elements 22 and guiding the illumination light by the light guide plate 21, and the illumination light from the light emitting elements 22 enters the light guide plate 21 from the entrance end surface, and is guided into the light guide plate 21 while repeating total reflection at the interfaces between the front and rear surfaces of the light guide plate 21 and the outside air (air), and is emitted from the entire front surface of the light guide plate 21.

In this liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal element 1 is provided in correspondence with predetermined regions in the plurality of pixels Pix, the plurality of reflection films 8 are provided on the rear side (the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 in the present embodiment) of the liquid crystal layer 4, the reflection portion Pr for reflecting light incident from the front side by the reflection films 8 and directing the reflected light to the front side is formed in the region where the reflection films 8 of the plurality of pixels Pix are provided, and the transmission portion Pt for transmitting light incident from the rear side to the front side is formed in the region other than the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix. Further, a front polarizing plate 15 and a rear polarizing plate 16 are disposed on the front side and the rear side of the liquid crystal cell 1, the front phase difference plate 17 and the rear phase difference plate 18 are disposed between the liquid crystal cell 1 and the front polarizing plate 15 and between the liquid crystal cell 1 and the rear polarizing plate 16, and a surface light source 20 is disposed on the rear side of the rear polarizing plate 16. Therefore, in a use environment with sufficient illuminance, reflective display using external light as use environment light is performed, and when external light with sufficient brightness is not obtained, illumination light is emitted from the surface light source 20 to perform transmissive display.

That is, the liquid crystal display device performs reflective display by the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1 and performs transmissive display by the transmissive portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1.

First, a reflective display by external light will be described, and fig. 5A, B is an explanatory view of the operation of the reflective display of the liquid crystal display device, showing the display of the portion corresponding to the reflective portion Pr of 1 pixel Pix of the liquid crystal element 1.

Fig. 5A shows a state where no electric field is applied when the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the pixel Pix are in an initial twisted alignment state, and fig. 5B shows a state where an electric field for aligning the liquid crystal molecules substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2, 3 is applied between the electrodes 5, 6 of the pixel Pix.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, in the reflective display, 1-polarization plate type reflective display which serves as both a polarizer and a light detector is performed on the front-side polarizer 15 disposed on the front side of the liquid crystal element 1. In this liquid crystal display device, since the front side phase difference plate 17 that gives a phase difference of 1/4 wavelengths between the normal light and the abnormal light of the transmitted light is disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front side polarizing plate 15, as shown by the arrow in fig. 5A, B, the external light (unpolarized light) Lro entering from the front side as the display observation side is changed into the linearly polarized light Lr1 having the polarized light component parallel to the transmission axis 15a by the front side polarizing plate 15, and is changed into the circularly polarized light Lr2 by the front side phase difference plate 17 to enter the liquid crystal element.

In the liquid crystal display device, the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal cell 1 and the values of Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 of the reflection part Pr and the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are set to values such that a phase difference of 1/4 wavelength is applied between normal light and abnormal light of transmitted light in the absence of an electric field, and that retardation becomes substantially 0 when an electric field in which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2 and 3 is applied. Therefore, of the light incident on the liquid crystal element 1 after being converted into circularly polarized light Lr2 by the front phase difference plate 17, the light incident on the electric field-free pixel having the liquid crystal molecules in the initial twist alignment state is converted into linearly polarized light Lr3 having the same polarization state as the linearly polarized light Lr1 by applying a phase difference of 1/4 wavelength to the liquid crystal layer 4 of the electric field-free pixel, and the linearly polarized light Lr3 is reflected by the reflective film 8, as shown in fig. 5A.

Of the light that has been converted into linearly polarized light Lr3 after passing through the electric field-free pixel, the light that has passed through the transmission portion Pt of the electric field-free pixel is directed to the rear side of the liquid crystal element 1 and converted into circularly polarized light by the rear-side phase difference plate 18, and of this light, the polarized light component parallel to the absorption axis of the rear-side polarizing plate 16 is absorbed by the rear-side polarizing plate 16, and the polarized light component parallel to the transmission axis 16a of the rear-side polarizing plate 16 is directed to the rear side after passing through the rear-side polarizing plate 16. Therefore, the reflective display is not disturbed.

The linearly polarized light Lr3 transmitted through the liquid crystal layer 4 of the reflection part Pr of the electric field free pixel and reflected by the reflection film 8 enters the liquid crystal layer 4 again, is changed into circularly polarized light Lr4 by the liquid crystal layer 4, is transmitted, is changed into linearly polarized light Lr5 parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 by the front phase difference plate 17, enters the front polarizing plate 15 from the rear side, passes through the front polarizing plate 15, and is emitted to the front side.

Of the light incident on the liquid crystal element 1 after being changed into the circularly polarized light Lr2 by the front side phase difference plate 17, the light incident on the electric field application pixel (pixel whose extension becomes substantially 0) in which the liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3 is transmitted through the electric field application pixel as is the circularly polarized light Lr2 without changing the polarization state, and is reflected by the reflection film 8, as shown in fig. 5B.

The circularly polarized light Lr2 transmitted through the transmission part Pt of the electric field application pixel is not shown, but after striking the rear side of the liquid crystal element 1, it is converted into linear light parallel to the absorption axis of the rear polarizing plate 16 by the rear phase difference plate 18, and is absorbed by the rear polarizing plate 16, so that the reflection display is not disturbed.

The circularly polarized light Lr2 reflected by the reflection film of the reflection part Pr of the electric field application pixel passes through the liquid crystal layer 4 as is the circularly polarized light Lr2 without changing the polarization state, and then reaches the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1, and is converted into linearly polarized light Lr6 perpendicular to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 by the front phase difference plate 17, and enters the front polarizing plate 15 from the rear side and is absorbed by the front polarizing plate 15.

That is, the liquid crystal display device performs a normally white mode reflective display in which a bright display is displayed when no electric field is applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the liquid crystal element 1, and the display becomes a brightest bright display when the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal element 1 are aligned in an initial twisted alignment state, and becomes a darkest dark display when the liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3.

According to this liquid crystal display device, among light which is transmitted through the front polarizing plate 15 and the front phase difference plate 17 from the front side which is the display observation side and then enters the liquid crystal cell 1, light which is transmitted through the reflection portion Pr of the electric field-free pixel in which liquid crystal molecules are in the initial twist alignment state, reflected by the reflection film 8, transmitted through the electric field-free pixel again and then enters the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1 is changed into linearly polarized light Lr5 parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 by the front phase difference plate 17, enters the front polarizing plate 15, and then is changed into bright display by the light transmitted through the front polarizing plate 15. Light transmitted through the reflection portion Pr of the electric field application pixel in which the liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3 is reflected by the reflection film 8, and transmitted again through the electric field application pixel to the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1, is converted into linearly polarized light Lr6 perpendicular to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 by the front phase difference plate 17, and then is incident on the front polarizing plate 15, and is absorbed by the front polarizing plate 15, thereby being displayed in dark.

Therefore, in this liquid crystal display device, the brightness of bright display corresponding to the pixel having no electric field of the liquid crystal element 1 is sufficient, and the brightness of dark display corresponding to the pixel having an electric field applied to the liquid crystal element 1 is also sufficient, so that reflective display with high contrast can be performed.

Next, transmissive display using illumination light from the surface light source 20 will be described, and fig. 6A and 6B are explanatory views of the operation of the transmissive display of the liquid crystal display device, showing the display of the portion corresponding to the transmissive portion Pt of 1 pixel Pix of the liquid crystal element 1.

Fig. 6A shows a state where the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the pixel Pix are in an initial twisted alignment state without an electric field, and fig. 6B shows a state where an electric field in which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2, 3 is applied between the electrodes 5, 6 of the pixel Pix.

In the liquid crystal display device, during transmissive display, a rear polarizing plate 16 disposed on the rear side of the liquid crystal element 1 is used as a polarizer, and a front polarizing plate 15 disposed on the front side of the liquid crystal element 1 is used as a light detector. In this liquid crystal display device, since the rear-side phase difference plate 18 that gives a phase difference of 1/4 wavelengths between the normal light and the abnormal light of the transmitted light is disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the rear-side polarizing plate 16, the illumination light (unpolarized light) Lto that is emitted from the surface light source 20 and enters the rear-side polarizing plate 16 from the rear side as shown by the arrow in fig. 6A, B is changed into the linearly polarized light Lt1 having the transmission axis 16a parallel thereto by the rear-side polarizing plate 16, and is changed into the circularly polarized light Lt2 by the rear-side phase difference plate 18 and enters the liquid crystal element 1 from the rear side.

Among the light incident on the liquid crystal element 1 from the rear side, the light incident on the reflective portion Pr of each pixel Pix of the liquid crystal element 1 is reflected to the rear side by the reflective film 8, and does not interfere with the transmissive display.

Of the light incident on the transmission part Pt of each pixel Pix of the liquid crystal cell 1 after being changed into circularly polarized light Lt2 by the rear-side phase difference plate 18, the light incident on the electric field-free pixel having liquid crystal molecules in the initial twist alignment state is changed into linearly polarized light Lt3 perpendicular to the linearly polarized light Lt1 after passing through the rear-side polarizing plate 16 by applying a phase difference of 1/4 wavelength to the liquid crystal layer 4 of the electric field-free pixel as shown in fig. 6A, and is incident on the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1, and is changed into circularly polarized light Lt4 by the front-side phase difference plate 17, and is incident on the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1, and is changed into circularly polarized light Lt4 by the front-side phase difference plate 17, and is incident on the front-side polarizing plate 15 from the rear side, and the light Lt5 of the polarized light amount of the circularly polarized light Lt4 parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the polarizing plate 15 is transmitted through the front-side polarizing plate 15.

Of the light incident on the transmission part Pt of each pixel Pix of the liquid crystal device 1 after being changed into the circularly polarized light Lt2 by the rear-side phase difference plate 18, the light incident on the electric field application pixel (pixel having a retardation of substantially 0) in which the liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3 transmits the circularly polarized light Lt2 as it is without changing the polarization state as shown in fig. 6B, reaches the front side of the liquid crystal device 1, is changed into the linearly polarized light Lt6 perpendicular to the transmission axis 15a of the front-side polarization plate 15 by the front-side phase difference plate 17, enters the front-side polarization plate 15 from the rear side, and is absorbed by the front-side polarization plate 15.

That is, even in the case of the transmissive display using the illumination light from the surface light source 20, the liquid crystal display device performs the normally white mode display in which the brightest bright display is performed when the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal cell 1 are aligned in the initial twisted alignment state and the darkest dark display is performed when the liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3.

Therefore, in this liquid crystal display device, the brightness of bright display corresponding to the pixel having no electric field of the liquid crystal element 1 is sufficient, and the brightness of dark display (black display) corresponding to the pixel having an electric field applied to the liquid crystal element 1 is also sufficient, so that reflective display with high contrast can be performed.

The surface light source 20 can be used as an auxiliary light source in a reflective display using external light, and in this case, since both the reflective display and the transmissive display are in a normally white mode, a high-contrast display can be obtained.

The display of the liquid crystal display device is a display in which the liquid crystal element 1 is colored by red, green, and blue color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B provided corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, both in the reflective display and in the transmissive display.

That is, in the liquid crystal display device, when a reflective display is performed by external light, the external light is transmitted from the front side through the front side polarizing plate 15 and the front side phase difference plate 17 to enter the liquid crystal element 1, and is colored by the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1, and at the same time, the light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer 4 of the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix is reflected by the reflection film 8, and is transmitted again through the liquid crystal layer 4 and the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B to reach the front side of the liquid crystal element 1, and of the light transmitted through the front side phase difference plate 17, the front side polarizing plate 15 absorbs a polarized light component parallel to the absorption axis of the polarizing plate 15, and emits a polarized light component parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the polarizing plate 15 to the front side, and performs a display.

In the liquid crystal display device, when the display is performed by the transmission of the illumination light from the surface light source 20, the light passes through the rear-side polarizing plate 16 and the rear-side phase difference plate 18 from the rear side, enters the liquid crystal cell 1, passes through the liquid crystal layer 4 of the transmission portion Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal cell 1, is colored by the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, then enters the front side of the liquid crystal cell 1, passes through the front-side phase difference plate 17, and the polarized light component parallel to the absorption axis of the polarizing plate 15 is absorbed by the front-side polarizing plate 15, and the display is performed by the polarized light component parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the polarizing plate 15 entering the front side.

Therefore, the emitted light during the reflective display of the liquid crystal display device is colored light that has been repeatedly transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and the emitted light during the transmissive display is colored light that has been transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B only 1 time in one direction.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, as described above, the openings 10 are partially formed in the portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, so that bright colored light obtained by mixing colored light colored in portions other than the openings of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B with non-colored light passing through the openings 10 of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B can be emitted from the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1.

In this liquid crystal display device, since the planarized transparent film 11 is formed by embedding the openings 10 in the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, the difference between the liquid crystal layer thickness in the regions corresponding to the portions other than the openings of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B in the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1 and the liquid crystal layer thickness in the regions corresponding to the openings can be reduced, the photoelectric characteristics of the liquid crystal layer 4 in the regions corresponding to the reflection portion Pr can be made substantially uniform in the entire reflection portion Pr, and both the colored light and the non-colored light can be controlled from the reflection portion Pr through the liquid crystal layer in the absence of the electric field.

In the present embodiment, as described above, a plurality of openings 10 are formed in the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and the ratio of the total area of the plurality of openings 10 to the total area of the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B is set so that the light obtained by mixing the colored light and the non-colored light that pass through the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B in a reciprocating manner has sufficient color purity and sufficient intensity.

Therefore, according to the liquid crystal display device, the difference between the color purity and the intensity of the emitted light between in the reflective display and in the transmissive display can be reduced, and a color image with good quality can be displayed both in the reflective display and in the transmissive display.

In addition, in the present embodiment, since the diffusion layer 19 is disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front side phase difference plate 15, an external scene such as the face of the display observer is not seen on the reflection film 8 in both the reflective display and the transmissive display, and thus a higher quality image can be displayed.

[ example 2 ]

Fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention, and the liquid crystal element 23 of the liquid crystal display device of this embodiment omits the diffusion layer 19 between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front side phase difference plate 15 in embodiment 1, and by providing the flattened transparent film 11a in which the light scattering particles are mixed over the entire area of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B provided on the inner surface of the front side substrate 2 of the liquid crystal element 23, the external view such as the face of the display observer can be prevented from reflecting on the reflective film 8.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment, the diffusion layer 19 of embodiment 1 is omitted, and the configuration is the same as that of embodiment 1 except that the light scattering particles are mixed in the flattening transparent film 11a provided on the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B of the liquid crystal element 1, so that the same reference numerals are given to the repeated explanation in the drawings, and the explanation is omitted.

[ example 3 ]

Fig. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 3 of the present invention, wherein the liquid crystal element 32 of the liquid crystal display device of this embodiment omits the diffusion layer 19 in embodiment 1, and the flattened transparent films 31 in which the light scattering particles are mixed are provided on the color filters 9R, 9G, 9B provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal element 32, respectively corresponding to the entire regions of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix except for the parts corresponding to the transmission parts Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix, and the liquid crystal layer thickness d1 of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix and the liquid crystal layer thickness d2 of the transmission parts Pt have a relationship of d1 < d 2.

In this example, the twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal cell 32 and the Δ nd1 of the reflection part Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix were set to values such that, when the liquid crystal molecules were in the electric field-free state of the initial twist alignment state, a phase difference of 1/4 wavelengths was applied between the ordinary light and the extraordinary light of the transmitted light, and when an electric field was applied in which the liquid crystal molecules were aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2 and 3, the retardation was substantially 0. In addition, Δ nd2 in the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix is set to a value such that a phase difference of 1/2 wavelengths is applied between normal light and abnormal light of transmitted light in the absence of an electric field, and retardation becomes substantially 0 when an electric field in which liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2 and 3 is applied.

The twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 4 is preferably in the range of 60 to 70 degrees, the value Δ nd1 of the reflective part Pr is preferably in the range of 195 ± 10nm to 235 ± 10nm, and the value Δ nd2 of the transmissive part Pt is preferably in the range of 390 ± 10nm to 470 ± 10nm, and by setting the twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement and the values Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt in these ranges, the liquid crystal layer 4 of the reflective part Pr can be made to have a retardation of 1/4 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field, and the liquid crystal layer 4 of the transmissive part Pt can be made to have a retardation of 1/2 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field.

In the liquid crystal display device of this embodiment, the diffusion layer 19 of embodiment 1 is omitted, and the flattened transparent film 31 in which the light scattering particles are mixed is provided on the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B of the liquid crystal cell 32 so as to correspond to the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, and Δ nd1 of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal cell 32 and Δ nd2 of the transmission parts Pt are different from each other, and other configurations are the same as those of embodiment 1, and therefore, the same reference numerals are given to the drawings and the description is omitted.

The liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment also performs reflective display using the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 32, and performs transmissive display using the transmissive portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 32, and the reflective display is the same as the reflective display of the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 1. In the transmissive display, the operation when an electric field is applied to align the liquid crystal molecules substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3 is the same as that in the transmissive display shown in fig. 6B of embodiment 1, and thus the description of the same operation is omitted.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory view of the operation of the transmissive display of the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment, showing the display of the portion corresponding to the transmissive portion Pt of the 1 pixel Pix of the liquid crystal element 1. Fig. 9 shows the pixel Pix in which the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 are in the initial twist alignment state without an electric field.

In the transmissive display, as shown by the arrow lines in fig. 9, the illumination light (unpolarized light) Lto emitted from the surface light source 20 and incident on the rear polarizing plate 16 from the rear side passes through the rear polarizing plate 16 to become linearly polarized light Lt1 parallel to the transmission axis 16a, passes through the rear phase difference plate 18 to become circularly polarized light Lt2 and enters the liquid crystal cell 32 from the rear side, and of this light, the light incident on the transmission portion Pt of each pixel Pix of the liquid crystal cell 32 enters the liquid crystal layer 4.

As shown in fig. 9, the light that has been converted into circularly polarized light Lt2 by the rear-side phase difference plate 18 and then enters the transmission portion Pt of each pixel Pix of the liquid crystal cell 32 passes through the liquid crystal layer 4 without an electric field pixel, is imparted with a phase difference of 1/2 wavelength, is converted into circularly polarized light Lt7 again, then enters the front side of the liquid crystal cell 32, is converted into linearly polarized light Lt8 parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front-side polarizing plate 15 by the front-side phase difference plate 17, enters the front-side polarizing plate 15 from the rear side, passes through the front-side polarizing plate 15, and then enters the front side.

That is, the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment can perform the reflection display in the normally white mode similar to the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 1 described above, and the transmission display in the normally white mode shown in fig. 9 and 6B, which are display with sufficient luminance and good contrast in both the reflection display and the transmission display.

In the liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 1, when performing transmissive display, the light transmitted through the field-free pixel of the liquid crystal element 1 is changed from the front phase difference plate 17 to circularly polarized light Lt4 as shown in fig. 6A, and light Lt5 of the polarized light component parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 in the circularly polarized light Lt4 is transmitted through the front polarizing plate 15 and then emitted to the front side, thereby performing bright display. In contrast, in the liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 3, in the transmissive display, the circularly polarized light Lt7 transmitted through the field-free pixel of the liquid crystal cell 32 passes through the front phase difference plate 17 and becomes linearly polarized light Lt8 parallel to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15 as shown in fig. 9, and enters the front polarizing plate 15, and the linearly polarized light passes through the front polarizing plate 15 and then reaches the front side. Therefore, since substantially all of the circularly polarized light Lt7 passes through the front polarizing plate 15, the bright display in the transmissive display becomes brighter than the liquid crystal display device of example 1, and a higher contrast ratio can be obtained.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment, the multicolor filters 9R, 9G, and 9B having the plurality of openings 10 formed in the portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the pixels Pix are provided in the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal element 32 so as to correspond to the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, and the planarized transparent film 31 is formed in the portions corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B so as to be embedded in the openings.

In the liquid crystal display device according to embodiments 2 and 3, the flattened transparent film 31 in which the light scattering particles are mixed is provided on the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B of the liquid crystal elements 23 and 32 so as to correspond to the entire regions of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix except for the parts corresponding to the transmission parts Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix, and the reflection phenomenon of the exterior scene is prevented by the flattened transparent film 31, so that the light emitted to the front side during the transmissive display by the transmission parts Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 32 can be made non-diffused light, and the display image during the transmissive display can be made a high-quality image without blurring by light diffusion.

In the above-described 1 to 3 rd embodiments, the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32 are twisted and aligned from the rear substrate 3 to the front substrate 2 at the twist angle Φ of 64 degrees to the left as viewed from the front, but in the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32, the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 3a near the rear substrate 3 is shifted by 64 degrees to the right with respect to the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 2a near the front substrate 2 as viewed from the front, and the liquid crystal molecules are twisted and aligned from the rear substrate 3 to the front substrate 2 at the twist angle Φ of 64 degrees to the right as viewed from the front, so that the slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 is shifted by 45 degrees to the left with respect to the liquid crystal molecule alignment direction 2a near the front substrate 2 as viewed from the front.

In the above-described embodiment, the front polarizing plate 15 is disposed in a direction in which the transmission axis 15a is 45 degrees to the left with respect to the slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32 when viewed from the front, but the front polarizing plate 15 may be disposed in a direction in which the transmission axis 15a is 45 degrees to the right with respect to the slow axis 4a of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal element 1 when viewed from the front, and the rear polarizing plate 16 may be disposed so that the transmission axis 15a is perpendicular to the transmission axis 15a of the front polarizing plate 15.

In the above embodiment, the front side phase difference plate 17 is disposed in a direction in which the slow axis 17a thereof is 45 degrees to the left from the front side view with respect to the transmission axis 15a of the front side polarizing plate 15, but the front side phase difference plate 17 may be disposed in a direction in which the slow axis 17a thereof is 45 degrees to the right from the front side view with respect to the transmission axis 15a of the front side polarizing plate 15, and the rear side phase difference plate 18 may be disposed in a direction in which the slow axis 18a thereof is perpendicular to the slow axis 17a of the front side phase difference plate 17.

In the liquid crystal display device of the above embodiment, the incident light is changed to circularly polarized light and linearly polarized light by the λ/4 retardation plates 17 and 18 and the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 both in the reflective display and in the transmissive display, but the incident light may be changed to circularly polarized light and linearly polarized light in the reflective display and the incident light may be changed to light in another polarization state in the reflective display.

In this case, the λ/4 phase difference plate 18 on the rear side may be omitted, and the value of Δ nd2 in the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32 and the direction of the transmission axis 16a of the rear-side polarizing plate 16 may be set so that, in the absence of an electric field, the linearly polarized light incident through the rear-side polarizing plate 16 is changed into the polarized light transmitted through the front-side polarizing plate 15 by the liquid crystal layer 4 and the front-side phase difference plate 17, an electric field in which liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2, 3 is applied, and, when the retardation of the liquid crystal layer 4 becomes substantially 0, the linearly polarized light incident through the rear-side polarizing plate 16 is changed into the polarized light absorbed by the front-side polarizing plate 15 by the front-side phase difference plate 17. In this case, a retardation plate (a retardation plate other than λ/4) for compensating the contrast of the transmissive display may be disposed between the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 and the rear polarizing plate 16.

In both the reflective display and the transmissive display, the incident light may be changed to a light of another polarization state, and in this case, the front and rear λ/4 phase difference plates 17 and 18 may be omitted, and the orientation state of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal element 1, the values of Deltand 1 and A nd2 of the reflection part Pr and the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1, and the directions of the transmission axes 15a and 15a of the front and rear polarizing plates 15 and 15 are set, so that the linearly polarized light incident through one of the front and rear polarizing plates 16, 16 is changed into the polarized light transmitted through the other polarizing plate by the liquid crystal layer 4 without an electric field, an electric field in which liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2, 3 is applied, when the retardation of the liquid crystal layer 4 becomes substantially 0, the other polarizer absorbs the linearly polarized light incident after passing through the one polarizer.

In this case, the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 may be a twisted alignment of substantially 90 degrees or 230-and 270 degrees such as TN-type or STN-type, or may be an alignment state other than twisted alignment, for example, an alignment state in which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned uniformly after aligning the long axes of the molecules in one direction, or a phase difference plate for compensating the display contrast may be disposed between the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 and the front polarizing plate 15, or between the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 and the front and rear polarizing plates 15 and 15.

In this way, when the liquid crystal molecular alignment state of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal element 1 is the twist alignment or the uniform alignment of substantially 90 degrees or 230-270 degrees, the relationship d1 * d2 is satisfied by the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1 and d2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32, but the relationship d1 < d2 is preferably set, whereby the difference in display characteristics between the reflective display and the transmissive display can be reduced.

That is, in this liquid crystal display device, during the reflective display, the light incident on the reflective portion Pr of the pixel Pix from the front side of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32 and passing back and forth through the liquid crystal layer 4 and then traveling to the front side is delayed by a value of Δ nd1 of the liquid crystal layer 4 corresponding to the reflective portion Pr by 2 times, whereas during the transmissive display, the light incident on the transmissive portion Pt of the pixel Pix from the rear side of the liquid crystal element and passing through the liquid crystal layer 4 of the transmissive layer Pt in one direction and traveling to the front side is delayed by a value of Δ nd2 of the liquid crystal layer 4 corresponding to the transmissive portion Pt.

However, if the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1 and d2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32 satisfy the relationship d1 < d2, the difference in display characteristics between the reflective display and the transmissive display can be reduced.

In the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32, the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1, d2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are preferably set such that the liquid crystal layer thickness d2 of the transmissive part Pt is 0.5 to 6 μm larger than the liquid crystal layer thickness d1 of the reflective part Pr, that is, d2 is 2.5 to 10 μm, for example, when the liquid crystal layer thickness d1 of the reflective part Pr is 2 to 4 μm.

In the above-described embodiment, the reflective portions Pr are formed in substantially half of the edge portions and the center portions of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32, and the transmissive portions Pt are formed in substantially the other half of the center portions of the plurality of pixels Pix.

In the above embodiment, a plurality of openings 10 are formed in the liquid crystal element 1 at the portions corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the red, green and blue filters 9R, 9G and 9B, however, 1 opening having an area equivalent to that of the plurality of openings 10 may be formed in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and at this time, by forming the planarized transparent film 11 or 11a by burying at least in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filter 9R, 9G, 9B in the opening, the difference between the liquid crystal layer thickness of the region corresponding to the opening of the color filters 9R, 9G, 9B and the liquid crystal layer thickness of the region corresponding to the opening can be reduced, so that the electro-optical characteristics of the liquid crystal layer 4 in the region corresponding to the reflection part Pr are substantially uniform in the entire region of the reflection part Pr, both the colored light and the non-colored light can be emitted from the reflection part Pr with a high emission ratio.

In the above-described embodiment, the reflective film 8 for forming the reflective portion Pr is provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, 32, and the transparent electrode (a plurality of pixel electrodes) 6 provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 is formed on the reflective film 8 in a superposed manner, but the portion of the electrode 6 corresponding to the reflective portion Pr may be formed of a metal film, and the portion of the electrode 6 corresponding to the reflective portion Pr may also be used as the reflective film, and the reflective film 8 may be provided on the outer surface of the rear substrate 3, for example, if it is located further behind the liquid crystal layer 4.

The color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B and the planarized transparent films 11, 11a, and 31 may be provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32, and the liquid crystal elements 1, 23, and 32 are not limited to the active matrix type, and may be simple matrix type liquid crystal elements.

[ example 4]

Fig. 10 is a partial sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to embodiment 4 of the present invention. The liquid crystal display device of this embodiment is different from that of embodiment 1 in the structure of the color filter and the transparent member, and the same members are given the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In the liquid crystal element 42 of embodiment 4, a plurality of transparent non-colored films 41 respectively corresponding to the entire regions of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix are provided on the inner surface of one of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3, for example, the inner surface of the front substrate 2, and in the inner surface of the front substrate 2, portions of the reflection parts Prx corresponding to the respective color filters 49R, 49G, 49B are overlapped on the non-colored films 41 to form 3-color filters 49R, 49G, 49B respectively corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix, for example, red, green, blue. The non-colored film 41 and the color filters 49R, 49G, 49B are formed on the substrate surface of the front side substrate 2, and the counter electrode 5 is formed thereon.

The red, green, and blue color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B are formed in portions overlapping the non-color film 41, that is, in portions corresponding to the reflection portions Pr, each having a film thickness smaller than that of portions corresponding to the transmission portions Pt.

The film thickness of the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B is set to a value that allows light incident from the front side to the reflection portion Pr, reflected by the reflection film 8, and emitted to the front side, that is, light passing back and forth through the portions corresponding to the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B to be emitted as colored light having sufficient color purity and sufficiently high intensity, and the film thickness of the portion corresponding to the transmission portion Pt is set to a value that allows light incident from the rear side to the transmission portion Pt, transmitted through the transmission portion Pt, and emitted to the front side, that is, light passing in one direction through the portions corresponding to the transmission portions Pt of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B to be emitted as colored light having sufficient color purity and sufficiently high intensity.

Since the thickness of the non-colored film 41 is set to correspond to the difference in thickness between the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr and the portion corresponding to the transmission portion Pt of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B, the surface (the surface on which the counter electrode 5 is formed) of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B is flat from the reflection portion Pr to the transmission portion Pt.

The non-color film 41 is formed of, for example, an organic film such as a photosensitive resist or an inorganic film such as ITO, the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B are first provided with a 1 st color resist layer having the same film thickness as the non-color film 49 in a portion corresponding to the transmission portion Pt of the front substrate 2, and the 2 nd color resist layer having the same color as the 1 st color resist layer is formed on the non-color film 41 and the 1 st color filter layer by being provided to the same film thickness as a portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B.

The front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 are bonded via a frame-shaped sealing material that surrounds a display region in which the plurality of pixels Pix are arranged in a matrix, and a nematic liquid crystal having positive dielectric anisotropy is filled in a region surrounded by the sealing material between the substrates 2 and 3, thereby forming a liquid crystal layer 4.

Alignment films 13 and 14 are provided on the surfaces of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 that are in contact with the liquid crystal layer 4, respectively, and liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 are twisted and aligned between the front and rear substrates 2 and 3 at a predetermined twist angle by defining the alignment direction near the substrates 2 and 3 by the alignment films 13 and 14.

In this example, when the liquid crystal layer thickness of the reflective part of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 42 is d1 and the liquid crystal layer thickness of the transmissive part Pt is d2, the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1 and d2 of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt are set to d1 * d2, the twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 4, and the product Δ nd of the liquid crystal anisotropic refractive indices Δ n of the reflective part Pr and the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix and the liquid crystal layer thickness d (hereinafter, Δ nd of the reflective part Pr is referred to as Δ nd1 and Δ nd of the transmissive part Pt is referred to as Δ nd2) are set to such values that, when the liquid crystal molecules are in the electric field-free state of the initial twist alignment state, there is a retardation in which a phase difference of 1/4 wavelength (about 140nm) is applied between the ordinary light and the extraordinary light of the transmitted light, and the liquid crystal molecules are applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the pixels Pix to the substrate 2, The retardation becomes substantially 0 in the case of an electric field in which the 3-plane is oriented substantially vertically upward.

The twist angle Φ of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 4 is preferably in the range of 60 to 70 degrees, and the values of Δ nd1 of the reflection part Pr and Δ nd2 of the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are preferably in the range of 195 ± 10nm to 235 ± 10nm, and by setting the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecular arrangement and the values of Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 in this range, the liquid crystal layer 4 can have a retardation of 1/4 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field.

In this example, the twist angle Φ at which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned is set to 64 degrees, and the values Δ nd1 and Δ nd2 of the reflection part Prx and the transmission part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are set to 195 ± 10nm, so that the liquid crystal layer 4 has a retardation of 1/4 wavelengths in the absence of an electric field.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the retardation axis 17a is disposed in the direction of 45 degrees to the left along the transverse axis x of the screen parallel to the transmission axis 14a of the front polarizer 14 when viewed from the front, and the retardation axis 17a is disposed in the direction of 135 degrees to the left along the transverse axis x of the screen when viewed from the front, as the retardation axis 17 a.

The diffusion layer 18 disposed between the liquid crystal element 1 and the front side retardation plate 16 is a front diffusion layer for diffusing light incident from one surface and emitting light from the other surface, and the diffusion layer 1 is made of an adhesive or a transparent resin film mixed with light diffusion particles.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment, as in embodiment 1, the reflective display is performed by the reflective portions Prx of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1, and the transmissive display is performed by the transmissive portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 42.

That is, the liquid crystal display device performs reflective display in a normally white mode in which display is bright when no electric field is applied between the electrodes 5 and 6 of the liquid crystal element 42, and the display is brightest bright when the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal element 42 are aligned in the initial twist alignment state and darkest dark when the liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the substrates 2 and 3.

In this liquid crystal display device, the light emitted during the reflective display is colored light that has been repeatedly transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B, and the light emitted during the transmissive display is colored light that has been transmitted through the color filters 9R, 9G, and 9B only 1 time in one direction. As described above, in order to improve the transmittance of the color filters 49R, 49G, 49B of the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, the plurality of non-colored films 41 corresponding to the reflection parts Pr are provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal element 42, and the parts corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the respective color filters 49R, 49G, 49B are superimposed on the non-colored film 9 on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, and the red, green, blue 3-color filters 49R, 49G, 49B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix are formed so that the film thickness of the parts corresponding to the reflection parts Pr is smaller than the film thickness of the parts corresponding to the transmission parts Pt, respectively, so that the transmittance of light incident on the filters 49R, 49G, 49B from the reflection parts Pr becomes high, and the difference in color purity and intensity of the emitted light between the reflection display and the transmission display can be reduced, color images with good quality in both reflective display and transmissive display can be displayed.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the film thickness of the portions corresponding to the reflection portions Pr of the color filters 49R, 49G, and 49B is set to a value at which the light incident from the front side to the reflection portions Pr, reflected by the reflection film 8, and emitted to the front side is emitted as colored light of sufficient color purity and brightness, and the film thickness of the portions corresponding to the transmission portions Pt is set to a value at which the light incident from the rear side to the transmission portions Pt, transmitted through the transmission portions Pt, and emitted to the front side is emitted as colored light of sufficient color purity and brightness, so that a high-quality color image can be displayed both in the reflective display and in the transmissive display.

[ example 5 ]

Fig. 11 is a partial sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to example 5 of the present invention, in which the thickness of the non-colored film 51 provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal cell 52 is thicker than that in example 1, and the liquid crystal layer thickness d1 of the reflective part Pr and the liquid crystal layer thickness d2 of the transmissive part Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix are set to have a relationship of d1 < d 2. In this embodiment, the portions corresponding to the reflection portions Prx are respectively superposed on the non-colored films 5, and the color filters 59R, 59G, and 59B on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal device 51 are formed so that the film thickness of the portions corresponding to the reflection portions Pr is smaller than the film thickness of the portions corresponding to the transmission portions Pt.

In this embodiment, the twist angle Φ at which the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 4 of the liquid crystal element 52 are aligned and the Δ nd1 at which the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix are reflective are set to values such that, in the absence of an electric field in which the liquid crystal molecules are in the initial twist alignment state, with a retardation that imparts a phase difference of 1/4 wavelengths between ordinary light and extraordinary light of transmitted light, when an electric field in which the liquid crystal molecules are oriented substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2, 3 is applied, the retardation becomes substantially 0, meanwhile, Δ nd2 of the transmission portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix is set to a value, so that, in the absence of an electric field, there is a retardation that imparts a phase difference of 1/2 wavelengths between ordinary light and extraordinary light of transmitted light, when an electric field in which liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertically upward with respect to the surfaces of the substrates 2 and 3 is applied, the retardation becomes substantially 0.

The liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment is different from that of embodiment 1 in that: the liquid crystal layer thicknesses d1 and d2 of the reflective portion Pr and the transmissive portion Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 1 are d1 < d2, and Δ nd1 of the reflective portion Pr and Δ nd2 of the transmissive portion Pt are different from each other, and other configurations are the same as those of the above-described embodiment 1, and the same reference numerals are given to the repeated explanation in the drawings, and the explanation thereof is omitted.

The liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment performs a reflective display by using the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 52 and performs a transmissive display by using the transmissive portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix of the liquid crystal element 52, and performs a reflective display and a transmissive display in the same manner as the liquid crystal display device of embodiment 3.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present embodiment, since the plurality of non-colored films 51 corresponding to the reflection parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix are provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 of the liquid crystal element 52 and the color filters 59R, 59G, and 59B are formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 at the above film thickness ratio, the difference between the color purity and the intensity of the light emitted during the reflective display and the transmissive display can be reduced, and a color image with good quality can be displayed during both the reflective display and the transmissive display.

In the 4 th and 5 th embodiments, the diffusion layer 18 disposed between the liquid crystal elements 42 and 52 and the front side phase difference plate 17 is omitted, and in the 4 th and 5 th embodiments, the light scattering particles are mixed in the non-colored films 41 and 51 provided on the inner surfaces of the front side substrates 2 of the liquid crystal elements 42 and 52 so as to correspond to the reflection portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, and the non-colored films are made to be light diffusing non-colored films, whereby the reflection phenomenon of the external view such as the face of the viewer being displayed on the reflection film 8 of the liquid crystal element 1 can be prevented.

[ 6 th example ]

Fig. 12 to 14 show embodiment 6 of the present invention, fig. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal element, fig. 13 is a plan view of a plurality of pixels, an achromatic layer, and a color filter of the liquid crystal element, and fig. 14 is a process diagram showing a method for forming the achromatic layer and the color filter in the production of the liquid crystal element.

The liquid crystal display device of this embodiment is different from that of embodiment 1 in the structure of the color filter and the transparent member, and the same members are given the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

As shown in fig. 12, a liquid crystal element 62 used in the liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal layer 4 provided between a transparent substrate 2 on a front side (upper side in fig. 12) which is a display observation side and a transparent substrate 3 on a rear side which faces the front substrate 2, at least one transparent electrode 5 provided on one of inner surfaces of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 which face each other, and a plurality of transparent electrodes 6 which form a plurality of pixels Pix in a region facing the transparent electrode 5 provided on the other inner surface. Further, the liquid crystal element 62 has a plurality of reflection films 8 provided on the rear side of the liquid crystal layer 4 so as to correspond to predetermined regions in the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, a reflection portion Pr for reflecting light incident from the front side by the reflection film 8 and emitting the light to the front side is formed in a region where the reflection film 8 is provided in the plurality of pixels Pix, and a transmission portion Pt for transmitting light incident from the rear side to the front side is formed in a region other than the reflection portion Pr in the plurality of pixels Pix.

The liquid crystal element 62 is an active matrix liquid crystal element in which, for example, a TFT (thin film transistor) is used as an active element 7, the electrode 5 provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 is a film-like counter electrode, and the electrode 6 provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 is a plurality of pixel electrodes formed in a matrix arrangement in the row direction and the column direction.

A light shielding film 9 in a grid shape corresponding to a portion between the plurality of pixels Pix is formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 2.

In addition, on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, a filter side surface surrounding the non-colored layer 61 is brought into close contact with the peripheral surface of the non-colored layer 61 in accordance with the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, and a non-colored layer 10 made of a non-light-scattering photosensitive transparent resin and multicolor, for example, red, green, and blue 3-color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix except for the portion where the non-colored layer 10 is provided are provided in partial reflective portions, and the counter electrode 5 is formed on the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B and the non-colored layer 61.

As shown in fig. 13, the liquid crystal element 62 is a delta-array type (also referred to as a mosaic array type) liquid crystal element in which pixels Pix provided with a red filter 69R, pixels Pix provided with a green filter 69G, and pixels Pix provided with a blue filter 69B are alternately arranged in a row direction, and pixels Pix of filters 69R, 69G, and 69B of the same color are alternately arranged in a left-right direction at a pitch of 1.5 pitch in each row, and fig. 12 shows a cross section of a pixel row arranged in a shape of a letter PixZ of each pixel corresponding to the red, green, and blue filters 69R, 69G, and 69B.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 12 and 13, the non-colored layer 61 is formed corresponding to the center portion of the edge portion of the reflection portion Pr of each pixel Pix, and the red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed to have a larger outline than the pixel Pix, that is, the outline of the portion between the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B corresponding to the entire region other than the portion corresponding to the non-colored layer 61 of each pixel Pix.

In this embodiment, the red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed to have the same film thickness in the portion corresponding to the reflection portion Pr to the transmission portion Pt of each pixel Pix, and the non-colored layer 61 is formed to have the same film thickness as the film thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B.

The red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed to have a film thickness that gives sufficient color reproducibility to light transmitted through the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B while paying attention to color reproducibility of light emitted from the transmission part Pt of each pixel Pix, and the ratio of the area of the part corresponding to the reflection part Pr of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B to the area of the achromatic layer 61 is set to a ratio that gives sufficient color reproducibility to light obtained by mixing colored light that is transmitted back and forth through the part corresponding to the reflection part Pr of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B and non-colored light that is transmitted through the achromatic layer 61.

Although not shown in the drawings, a plurality of columnar spacers of a predetermined height are provided at the same interval as the pixel pitch in the portion between the plurality of pixels Pix on the inner surface of one of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3, for example, the rear substrate 3, and alignment films 13 and 14 are provided on the inner surfaces of the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 so as to cover the electrodes 5 and 6 and the columnar spacers, respectively.

The front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 are joined by a frame-shaped sealing member, not shown, which surrounds a display region in which the plurality of pixels a are arranged in a matrix, so that the front ends of a plurality of column-shaped partition plates, not shown, provided on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 are brought into contact with the inner surface of the other front substrate 2, thereby defining the interval between the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 by the plurality of column-shaped partition plates.

The liquid crystal element 62 is manufactured by forming the light shielding film 9, the plurality of achromatic layers 61, the red, green and blue color filters 69R, 69G and 69B, the counter electrode 5 and the alignment film 13 on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, forming the plurality of TFTs 7, the gate and data wirings not shown, the plurality of pixel electrodes 6, the plurality of columnar spacers and the alignment film 14 on the inner surface of the rear substrate 3, bonding the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 to each other with the substrate spacing defined by the plurality of columnar spacers and the frame-shaped sealing member interposed therebetween, then filling a liquid crystal injection port, not shown, formed by partially cutting one side of the frame-shaped sealing member, with a liquid crystal in a region surrounded by the frame-shaped sealing member between the substrates 2 and 3 by a vacuum injection method, and then sealing the liquid crystal injection port.

In the present manufacturing method, the achromatic layer 61 and the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed as follows.

First, after the light shielding film 9 is formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, a non-light-scattering photosensitive transparent resin is applied on the inner surface of the substrate 2, and the resin film is exposed and developed, so that a plurality of non-colored layers 61 are formed to have a thickness larger than the thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B by a shape pattern corresponding to a part of the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, as shown in fig. 14A.

Since the photosensitive transparent resin is a non-light scattering resin containing no light scattering particles or pigments, the irradiation light is not scattered when the resin film coated on the inner surface of the substrate 2 is exposed, and therefore, by irradiating light from a direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 2, the plurality of non-colored layers 61 can be formed in a shape in which the peripheral surfaces thereof are substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 2 with high accuracy.

Next, a photosensitive color resist to which a pigment is added is applied on the substrate 2 on which the plural non-colored layers 61 are formed, and the color resist is exposed and developed, and is patterned into an outline larger than the pixels Pix in accordance with the plural pixels Pix, whereby red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed in this order, with edge portions corresponding to the outline of portions between the plural pixels Pix, as shown in fig. 14B.

In forming the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, since the light irradiated upon exposure of the color resist is diffused by the pigment in the color resist, the non-exposed regions of the color resist film are also exposed to a certain degree, and the edge portions of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B patterned by development after exposure are formed into a sectional shape that gradually becomes thinner and inclined toward the outer edge of the filter as shown in fig. 14B, but in the present embodiment, the color resist film is patterned into an outer shape that is larger than the pixels Pix, that is, an outer shape in which the edge portions correspond to the portions between the plurality of pixels a, so that the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B having a corresponding portion whose film thickness is uniform after removing the portions on the non-colored layer 61 can be formed in the plurality of pixels Pix.

Next, by etching or cutting the portions of the plurality of achromatic layers 61 protruding above the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B, and the like, the color resist attached to the protruding portions is removed together, and as shown in fig. 14C, the surfaces of the portions around the achromatic layers 61 of the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B are made to be in the same plane as the surfaces of the other portions, and simultaneously, the top surfaces of the plurality of achromatic layers 61 are made to be in the same plane as the surfaces of the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B.

That is, in the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device, a plurality of non-colored layers 61 are formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 62 to a thickness larger than the film thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, then a photosensitive color resist is applied on the substrate 2, and patterned to correspond to the outer shape of the plurality of pixels a, to form red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, and then the color resist on the non-colored layers 61 is removed.

In the liquid crystal device 62 of the present embodiment, the non-colored layer 61 is provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 so as to correspond to a part of the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, and the red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix are provided on the inner surface of the substrate 2 except for the non-colored layer 61, so that colored light colored after passing through the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B in one direction is emitted from the transmissive portions Pt of the plurality of pixels Pix, and colored light colored after passing through the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B in the reciprocating direction and non-colored light passing through the non-colored layer 10 are emitted from the reflective portions Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix.

Further, in the present liquid crystal device, since the non-colored layer 61 is formed of a non-light-scattering photosensitive transparent resin, the non-colored layer can be formed into a shape having a peripheral surface substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 2 with high accuracy by applying the photosensitive transparent resin to the inner surface of the substrate 2 and then performing exposure and display processing.

In the liquid crystal element, since the filter side surfaces of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B surrounding the achromatic layers are brought into close contact with the peripheral surfaces of the achromatic layers, the film thicknesses of the portions of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B corresponding to the reflection parts Pr can be made uniform over the entire regions.

Therefore, according to this liquid crystal, the ratio of colored light to non-colored light emitted from the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix can be set at an accurate ratio, and the color reproducibility of light emitted from the reflection portion Pr can be improved.

As shown in fig. 14A, B, C, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device is characterized in that a non-light-scattering photosensitive transparent resin is applied to the inner surface of the front substrate 2, the resin film is exposed and developed, and then patterned into a shape corresponding to a part of the reflective portions Pr of the pixels Pix, and the non-colored layers 61 are formed to a thickness larger than the film thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, then a photosensitive color resist to which a pigment is added is applied to the substrate 2, and the color resist film is exposed and developed, and then patterned into an outer shape corresponding to the pixels Pix, thereby forming the red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, and removing the color resist on the non-colored layers 61. According to this manufacturing method, the liquid crystal element can be obtained, in which the non-colored layer 61 is provided in a part of the inner surface of the front substrate 2 corresponding to the reflective parts Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, and after the part of the inner surface of the substrate 2 where the non-colored layer 61 is provided is removed, the red, green, and blue color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, are provided by bringing the filter side surface surrounding the non-colored layer 10 into close contact with the peripheral surface of the non-colored layer 61.

In addition, in the present embodiment, when the achromatic layer 61 and the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B are formed in the inner surface of the front side substrate 2, the non-colored layer 61 is formed to be thicker than the film thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B, after the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B are formed, the portions of the achromatic layer 61 protruding over the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B are removed together with the color resist attached to the protruding portions, thereby making the surfaces of the achromatic layer 61 and the color filters 69R, 69G, 69B in the same plane, therefore, the liquid crystal layer thickness of the reflection portion Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix is made uniform from the colored light emission region corresponding to the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B to the non-colored light emission region corresponding to the non-colored layer 61, and the colored light emission region and the non-colored light emission region of the reflection portion Pix have the same photoelectric characteristics of the liquid crystal layer.

In the case where the achromatic layer 61 and the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, it is preferable that the achromatic layer 61 is initially formed to have the same thickness as the film thickness of the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B, and in this case, after the color filters 69R, 69G, and 69B are formed, the color resist on the achromatic layer 61 is removed.

[ 7 th example ]

Fig. 15 and fig. 16A to 16C show embodiment 7 of the present invention, fig. 15 is a partial cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal element, and fig. 16A to 16C are process views showing a method for forming an achromatic layer and a color filter in the production of the liquid crystal element.

In the liquid crystal device 72 of the present embodiment, the gap between the front substrate 2 and the rear substrate 3 is defined by the non-colored layer 71 by projecting the non-colored layer 71 provided on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 at the part corresponding to the reflection part Pr of each of the plurality of pixels Pix to a predetermined height above the color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B and by bringing the projecting end of the non-colored layer 71 into contact with the inner surface of the rear substrate 3 as another substrate.

The liquid crystal element 72 of this embodiment also serves as a columnar spacer for defining a substrate interval in the non-colored layer 71, but the other configurations are the same as those of the liquid crystal element of embodiment 1 described above, and therefore the same reference numerals are given to the drawings, and redundant description is omitted.

In the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal element of the present embodiment, the achromatic layer 71 and the color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B are formed as follows.

First, after forming the light shielding film 9 on the inner surface of the front substrate 2, a non-light scattering photosensitive transparent resin is applied on the inner surface of the substrate 2, and the resin film is exposed and developed, and is patterned into a partial shape of the reflection part Pr by the reflection parts Pr corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix, respectively, and as shown in fig. 16A, a plurality of non-colored layers 71 are formed to have a thickness obtained by adding a predetermined height to the film thickness of the color filter filters 79R, 79G, and 79B.

In this case, since the photosensitive transparent resin is also a non-light scattering resin containing no light scattering particles or pigments, the plurality of non-colored layers 71 can be formed with high accuracy in a shape in which the peripheral surfaces thereof are substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 1.

Next, a photosensitive color resist to which a pigment is added is applied on the substrate 2 on which the plurality of non-colored layers 71 are formed, and the color resist is exposed and developed, and is patterned into an outline larger than the pixels a in accordance with the plurality of pixels a, whereby red, green, and blue color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B are formed in this order, with edge portions thereof corresponding to the outline of portions between the plurality of pixels Pix, as shown in fig. 16B.

Next, as shown in fig. 16C, of the color resists attached to the parts of the plurality of achromatic layers 70 protruding above the color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B, the color resist on the top surface of the achromatic layer 71 is removed by etching, cutting, or the like.

That is, in the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device, a plurality of non-colored layers 71 are formed on the inner surface of the front substrate 2 to have a thickness of a predetermined height in the film thickness of the color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B, then a photosensitive color resist is applied on the substrate 1 and patterned to correspond to the outer shape of the plurality of pixels Pix, thereby forming red, green, and blue color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B, and further, the color resist (colorresist) on the top surface of the non-colored layer 71 is removed.

The liquid crystal device of the present embodiment emits colored light colored by the color filters 79R, 79G, 79B from the colored light emitting regions corresponding to the color filters 79R, 79G, 79B of the reflection part Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix and the entire region of the transmission part Pt through the liquid crystal layer 4, and emits non-colored light transmitted through the non-colored layer 71 from the non-colored light emitting region corresponding to the non-colored layer 71 of the reflection part Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix without transmitting the liquid crystal layer 4.

In addition, in the present embodiment, since the non-colored layer 71 also serves as a columnar spacer for defining the substrate interval, the step of forming the columnar spacer is not required, and the step of manufacturing the liquid crystal element can be simplified.

As shown in fig. 16A to 16C, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device of the present embodiment is characterized in that a non-light-scattering photosensitive transparent resin is applied to the inner surface of the front substrate 2, and after the resin film is exposed and developed, the resin film is patterned into a partial form corresponding to the reflective portions Pr of the pixels Pix, whereby the plurality of non-colored layers 71 are formed to have a thickness obtained by adding a predetermined height to the thickness of the color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B, and the color resist on the non-colored layers 71 is removed. According to this manufacturing method, the liquid crystal element 72 is obtained, the non-colored layer 71 serving also as a columnar spacer defining the substrate interval is provided in the reflective part Pr of the plurality of pixels Pix in the inner surface of the front substrate 2, and after the part where the non-colored layer 71 is provided is removed in the inner surface of the substrate 2, the red, green, and blue color filters 79R, 79G, and 79B corresponding to the plurality of pixels Pix are provided by bringing the filter side surface surrounding the non-colored layer 71 into close contact with the peripheral surface of the non-colored layer 71.

Claims (19)

1. A liquid crystal display element, characterized in that: is provided with

A front substrate positioned on the viewing side of the liquid crystal display element;

a rear substrate which is disposed opposite to the surface opposite to the observation side of the front substrate at a predetermined interval, is sealed in the liquid crystal layer between the rear substrate and the front substrate, and is bonded to the front substrate;

a counter electrode formed at least one in one of the opposing inner surfaces of the front-side substrate and the rear-side substrate;

a plurality of pixel electrodes, which are formed in a pixel region by a region facing the counter electrode in the other surface of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate;

a plurality of reflective films provided on the rear substrate side behind the liquid crystal layer disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to predetermined partial regions in each pixel, respectively, each reflective film having a reflective portion for reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and having a transmissive portion for transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front in a region other than the predetermined partial regions in each pixel;

a multicolor color filter provided on an inner surface of one of the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to the plurality of pixels, respectively, and having an opening for removing the color filter formed in a portion corresponding to the reflection portion;

a transparent member provided on at least a reflection portion of each pixel on an inner surface of a substrate on which the color filter is provided, provided in at least an opening of the color filter, and configured to increase transmittance of light of the reflection portion; and

and front and rear polarizing plates disposed on front and rear sides of the front and rear substrates.

2. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of the openings are formed in the color filter corresponding to the reflective portion of the pixel.

3. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 2, wherein:

the color filter is composed of 3 colors of red, green and blue, and the number of openings formed by the color filter of green is larger than that of the openings formed by the color filters of other colors.

4. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein:

the transparent member has dispersed therein light scattering particles for light scattering.

5. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein:

the liquid crystal layer sealed between the front substrate and the rear substrate is formed so that the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection portion of each pixel is smaller than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission portion.

6. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 5, wherein:

the transparent member is formed on the color filter and is composed of a transparent film for adjusting the thickness of the liquid crystal layer of the reflection part of the pixel to a predetermined thickness.

7. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 5, wherein:

the reflecting film is formed on the inner surface of the rear substrate on the side of the pixel electrode, and the liquid crystal layer thickness of the reflecting portion of each pixel is adjusted.

8. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein:

the liquid crystal display element is constituted by elements for applying a retardation change of 1/4 of a light wavelength lambda to transmitted light in accordance with a voltage applied between a counter electrode and a pixel electrode, and lambda/4 phase difference plates are disposed between at least a front polarizing plate and the liquid crystal element among front and rear polarizing plates.

9. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein:

a transparent member made of a photosensitive resin is formed in the opening of the color filter.

10. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 9, wherein:

the transparent member is formed to have a thickness substantially equal to that of the color filter.

11. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 9, wherein:

the transparent member forms a spacer having a cross-sectional shape substantially equal to the opening planar shape of the color filter, having a thickness thicker than the film thickness of the color filter, and abutting against the inner surface of the opposing substrate for setting the thickness of the liquid crystal layer to a predetermined value.

12. A liquid crystal display element, characterized in that: is provided with

A front substrate positioned on the viewing side of the liquid crystal display element;

a rear substrate which is disposed opposite to the surface opposite to the observation side of the front substrate at a predetermined interval, is sealed in the liquid crystal layer between the rear substrate and the front substrate, and is bonded to the front substrate;

a counter electrode formed at least one in one of the opposing inner surfaces of the front-side substrate and the rear-side substrate;

a plurality of pixel electrodes, which are formed in a pixel region by a region facing the counter electrode in the other surface of the facing inner surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate;

a plurality of reflective films provided on the rear substrate side behind the liquid crystal layer disposed between the front substrate and the rear substrate corresponding to predetermined partial regions in each pixel, respectively, each reflective film having a reflective portion for reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and having a transmissive portion for transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front in a region other than the predetermined partial regions in each pixel;

a multicolor color filter including a transmission portion color filter corresponding to transmission portions of the plurality of pixels, arranged in an inner surface of one of the front side substrate and the rear side substrate, having a predetermined thickness, and a reflection portion color filter arranged corresponding to reflection portions of the plurality of pixels, respectively, and formed with at least one opening portion;

a transparent member provided in at least a reflection portion of each pixel on an inner surface of a substrate on which the color filter is provided, provided in at least an opening of the color filter, and configured to set a thickness of a liquid crystal layer in the reflection portion to be thinner than a thickness of a liquid crystal layer in the transmission portion; and

and front and rear polarizing plates disposed on front and rear sides of the front and rear substrates.

13. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 12, wherein:

in the reflective part and the transmissive part constituting each pixel of the liquid crystal display element, the reflective part has a liquid crystal layer having a thickness smaller than that of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive part.

14. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 12, wherein:

the transparent member incorporates a light diffusing member.

15. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 12, wherein:

the liquid crystal display element is constituted by an element for applying a retardation change of 1/4 of a light wavelength lambda to transmitted light in accordance with a voltage applied between a counter electrode and a pixel electrode,

further, of the front and rear polarizing plates, a λ/4 phase difference plate is disposed at least between the front polarizing plate and the liquid crystal element.

16. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 12, wherein:

in the reflective part of each pixel of one of the front substrate and the rear substrate, a color filter and a transparent film composed of a transparent member are formed, and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective part of each pixel is made thinner than that in the transmissive part.

17. The liquid crystal display element according to claim 12, wherein:

the reflecting film is formed on the inner surface of the rear substrate on the side of the pixel electrode, and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflecting portion of each pixel is adjusted.

18. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that: the method comprises the following steps:

forming: a front substrate located on the observation side of the pair of substrates arranged to face each other; a plurality of pixel electrodes on which regions of pixels are formed in a rear substrate facing the front substrate, respectively, by regions facing the counter electrodes formed in the inner surface of the front substrate; a reflective film for forming a reflective portion provided corresponding to a predetermined partial region in each pixel, reflecting light incident from the front substrate and emitting the reflected light toward the front substrate, and a transmissive portion transmitting light incident from the rear substrate and emitting the transmitted light toward the front side in a region other than the predetermined partial region in each pixel;

coating a photosensitive transparent resin on the rear substrate, exposing and developing the resin film, patterning the resin film into shapes that partially correspond to the shapes of the reflective portions of the pixels, respectively, to form a plurality of non-colored layers, coating a pigment-added photosensitive color resist on the rear substrate, exposing and developing the color resist, patterning the color resist into shapes that correspond to the shapes of the pixels, removing the color resist on the non-colored layers to form a multicolor color filter in which a transparent member is disposed in the opening portion of the reflective portion, and forming a counter electrode that faces the pixel electrode on the non-colored layers and the color filter formed on the rear substrate;

the front substrate and the rear substrate are bonded together with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, with the surfaces of the front substrate and the rear substrate on which the pixel electrodes are formed facing the counter electrodes; and

polarizing plates are disposed on both sides of the front substrate and the rear substrate bonded to each other.

19. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element according to claim 18, wherein:

the step of forming the non-colored layer includes the steps of: the spacer is formed of a photosensitive transparent resin, and has a thickness which abuts against the inner surface of the opposing substrate, and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is set to a predetermined value, and a substrate gap is maintained between the front substrate and the rear substrate.