High aperture LCD with insulating color filters overlapping bus lines on active substrate

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THIS INVENTION Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like is parts throughout the several views.
FIG.
1 is a top view of four different colored pixels (red, green, blue, and white) in an array on the active plate of an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) 2 according to an embodiment of this invention.
This particular portion of the display includes an array pixel electrodes 3, drain address lines 5, gate address lines 7, an array of four thin-film transistors (TFTs) 9, auxiliary storage capacitors 11, and finally insulating color filters 101-103 (the peripheries of these color filters are illustrated in broken or dotted lines) and optional substantially clear polymer layer 104.
The color layer 104 defines white pixel(s).
Each storage capacitor 11 is defined on one side by a gate line 7 and on the other side by an independent storage capacitor electrode 12.
Storage capacitor electrodes 12 are formed along with drain electrodes 13.
For example, the number of total process steps on the active and passive plates is reduced, and the active to passive plate alignment is much easier and less important.
In some embodiments, up to three or more photo steps in manufacturing can be eliminated.
As shown, the longitudinally extending edges of each pixel electrode 3 and each color filter 101-103 at least partially overlap both drain lines 5 and gate lines 7, respectively, along edges thereof so as to increase the pixel aperture ratio (or pixel opening size) of the color AMLCD.
The optically clear layer 104 in each white pixel also overlaps the address lines.
Optionally, only one of the gate lines and drain lines may be at least partially overlapped by the pixel electrode and color filter of a given pixel.
The red, green, and blue pixels are provided with color filters 101-103, respectively, while the white pixel may or may not be provided with clear layer 104.
The areas of overlap between the address lines (e