US-12625404-B2 - Electro-optical apparatus and electronic device

US12625404B2US 12625404 B2US12625404 B2US 12625404B2US-12625404-B2

Abstract

An electro-optical apparatus includes a first substrate, a second substrate, an electro-optical layer, and a sealing member, and has a display area, a sealing area, and an intermediate area, the first substrate includes a first electrode provided for each of pixels included in the display area, a first coupling electrode, a first contact that electrically couples the first electrode to the first coupling electrode, a second electrode provided in an intermediate area and located in the same layer as the first electrode, a second coupling electrode, and a second contact that electrically couples the second electrode to the second coupling electrode, and the second electrode is divided into a plurality of electrode portions directed from an outer edge of the first substrate to the display area.

Inventors

Mayuko SHIBATA

Assignees

SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240627
Priority Date: 20230629

Claims (12)

1 . An electro-optical apparatus including a first substrate, a second substrate, an electro-optical layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having optical characteristics changing depending on an electric field, and a sealing member disposed outside the electro-optical layer between the first substrate and the second substrate in plan view, the electro-optical apparatus comprising: a display area for displaying an image, a sealing area located outside the display area in plan view and provided with the sealing member, and an intermediate area located between the display area and the sealing area in plan view, wherein the first substrate includes a first electrode provided for each of pixels included in the display area; a first coupling electrode provided in the display area and farther from the electro-optical layer than the first electrode in a first direction in which the first substrate and the second substrate overlap; an insulating layer provided between the first electrode and the first coupling electrode; a first contact provided in the insulating layer and configured to electrically couple the first electrode to the first coupling electrode; a second electrode provided in the intermediate area and located in the same layer as the first electrode; a second coupling electrode provided in the intermediate area and farther from the electro-optical layer than the second electrode in the first direction; and a second contact provided in the insulating layer and configured to electrically couple the second electrode to the second coupling electrode, the first contact has a plug shape and is disposed in a first through hole provided in the insulating layer, the second contact has a plug shape and is disposed in a second through hole provided in the insulating layer, and the second electrode is divided into a plurality of electrode portions directed from an outer edge of the first substrate to the display area, wherein the insulating layer includes a recess provided at a position different from the plurality of electrode portions in plan view in the intermediate area.
2 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of electrode portions is disposed along an outer edge of the display area in plan view.
3 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of electrode portions surround the display area in plan view.
4 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recess is disposed along an outer edge of the display area in plan view.
5 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the recess surrounds the display area in plan view.
6 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the insulating layer is provided with a plurality of recesses including the recess, and the plurality of electrode portions and the plurality of recesses are disposed alternately in plan view.
7 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the recess is provided at a different position from the second contact in plan view.
8 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein a depth of the recess is smaller than a depth of the second through hole.
9 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode is a pixel electrode, a dummy pixel electrode disposed outside the display area in plan view is included, and the second electrode is disposed outside the dummy pixel electrode in plan view.
10 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a width of each of the plurality of electrode portions is smaller than a width of the first electrode.
11 . The electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second substrate includes a counter electrode provided in the display area and facing the first electrode, and the counter electrode has a plurality of irregularities in the intermediate area.
12 . An electronic device comprising: the electro-optical apparatus according to claim 1 ; and a control unit configured to control an operation of the electro-optical apparatus.

Description

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2023-106810, filed Jun. 29, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an electro-optical apparatus and an electronic device. 2. Related Art For electronic devices such as projectors, for example, electro-optical apparatuses such as liquid crystal display apparatuses whose optical characteristics can be changed for each pixel are used. As an example of an electro-optical apparatus, an electro-optical apparatus described in JP-A-2021-33073 is known. The electro-optical apparatus described in JP-A-2021-33073 includes an element substrate, a counter substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the substrates, and a sealing member disposed between the substrates and configured to seal the liquid crystal layer. Further, the electro-optical apparatus includes a display area and a surrounding area surrounding the display area in plan view. A sealing member is disposed in the surrounding area. A drive circuit is disposed in the surrounding area of the element substrate. Further, a pixel electrode and an alignment film disposed on the pixel electrode are provided in the display area of the element substrate. The pixel electrode is electrically coupled to a relay electrode located at a layer under the pixel electrode via a contact portion that is a columnar plug that penetrates the insulating layer. Since the contact portion is the columnar plug, it is possible to improve flatness on the pixel electrode. Therefore, a decrease in adhesion of the alignment film provided on the pixel electrode is curbed. Therefore, it is considered that a decrease in transmittance can be curbed. Further, a case in which, for example, an electrode coupling the drive circuit to the pixel electrode is disposed on the same layer as the pixel electrode in an area between the display area and the sealing member is considered. In this case, when a columnar plug is coupled to the electrode, flatness on the electrode improve, similar to that of the pixel electrode. However, when the flatness of the electrode improves, there is concern that impurities generated from the sealing member may easily infiltrate the display area. As a result, there is concern that display stains may be generated and display quality may be degraded due to impurity infiltration into the display area. SUMMARY An aspect of an electro-optical apparatus of the present disclosure is an electro-optical apparatus including a first substrate, a second substrate, an electro-optical layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and having optical characteristics changing depending on an electric field, and a sealing member disposed outside the electro-optical layer between the first substrate and the second substrate in plan view, the electro-optical apparatus including: a display area for displaying an image, a sealing area located outside the display area in plan view and provided with the sealing member, and an intermediate area located between the display area and the sealing area in plan view, wherein the first substrate includes a first electrode provided for each of pixels included in the display area, a first coupling electrode provided in the display area and farther from the electro-optical layer than the first electrode in a first direction in which the first substrate and the second substrate overlap, an insulating layer provided between the first electrode and the first coupling electrode, a first contact provided in the insulating layer and configured to electrically couple the first electrode to the first coupling electrode, a second electrode provided in the intermediate area and located in the same layer as the first electrode, a second coupling electrode provided in the intermediate area and farther from the electro-optical layer than the second electrode in the first direction, and a second contact provided in the insulating layer and configured to electrically couple the second electrode to the second coupling electrode, the first contact has a plug shape and is disposed in a first through hole provided in the insulating layer, the second contact has a plug shape and is disposed in a second through hole provided in the insulating layer, and the second electrode is divided into a plurality of electrode portions directed from an outer edge of the first substrate to the display area. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electro-optical apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of the electro-optical apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an equivalent circuit diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a first substrate in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a surrounding electrode in FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a portion of the first substrate i