Optical modeling of small pixels in reflective mixed-mode twisted nematic cells

Abstract

We present optical modeling of small pixels in reflective liquid crystal display (LCD). The optical analysis is divided into two parts. In the first part, the two-dimensional (2D) director configuration of the LCD in rectangular mesh was calculated by simultaneously solving the 2D Poisson equation and a 2D continuum theory equation. In the second part, the generalized Jones matrix was used to simulate for the optical reflectance through the LCD with the 2D director configuration obtained from the first part. This optical modeling was applied to analyze optical reflectance of small pixels in reflective mixed-mode twisted nematic (MTN) cells on silicon substrate. Both the simulated and experimental data of the MTN cells with a pixel pitch of 10 to 25 /spl mu/m under frame and column inversion of polarities are presented.