(a) Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to liquid crystal displays. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to liquid crystal displays having reduced distortion and improved response speed.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is one of the types of flat panel display devices that has found wide use. The liquid crystal display commonly includes two display panels where field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed, and a liquid crystal layer is interposed therebetween.
The liquid crystal display generates an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying a voltage to the field generating electrodes, to determine orientations of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and control polarization of incident light, thereby displaying an image.
The liquid crystal display also includes a switching element connected to each pixel electrode, and a plurality of signal lines, including gate lines and data lines, for applying the voltage to the pixel electrode by controlling the switching element.
In one type of liquid crystal display, the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display, long axes of the liquid crystal molecules are arranged to be vertical to a display panel when no electric field is applied. This configuration results in relatively high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle.
Particularly, in vertical alignment (VA) mode liquid crystal displays, a lower panel is formed with an electrode that has a minute slit, and an upper panel is formed with one continuous electrode body thereon, so that a common voltage can be applied to the entire panel. However, as the width of the minute slit is designed to be small, distortion of the electric field is increased. Therefore, the degree that the liquid crystal molecules are slanted is different at a portion where the electrodes are positioned, a portion corresponding to the edge of the electrode, and a portion where the electrodes do not exist, thereby generating a deterioration of transmittance and a deterioration of response time.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information not in the prior art.