Multilayer dielectric film transflector

Figure 9.4 Schematic illustration of the first three major types of transflectors (a) opening transflector, (b) half-mirror metal transflector, and (c) multilayer dielectric film transflector. Zhu 2006. Reproduced with permission from IEEE.

Multilayer dielectric film is a well-developed technique in thin-film optics, but only very recently was it incorporated in transflective LCDs [16]. As illustrated in Figure 9.4(c), two dielectric inorganic materials with refractive indices and 2 are periodically deposited as thin films on the substrate. By controlling the refractive index and thickness of each thin layer, as well as the total number of layers, one can obtain the desired reflectivity and transmissivity. Similar to the half-mirror transflector, the transmittance/reflectance ratio of the multilayer dielectric film is sensitive to each layer s thickness. In addition, to produce several layers successively increases the manufacmring cost. Therefore, the multilayer dielectric film transflector is rarely used in commercial transflective LCDs. 

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