Liquid crystal display panel and manufacturing method thereof

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/487,075, filed Jul. 14, 2006, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2006-0004233, filed on Jan. 16, 2006, and all the benefits accruing therefrom under 35 U.S.C. §119, and the contents of which in its entirety are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) apparatus, and more particularly, to an LCD panel and manufacturing method thereof capable of reducing the number of data lines and minimizing a reduction in an aperture ratio caused by storage lines.

2. Description of the Related Art

An LCD apparatus displays an image by using electro-optical properties of liquid crystals disposed between electrodes of an LCD panel. The LCD apparatus includes the LCD panel for displaying an image through a pixel matrix and a driving circuit for driving the LCD panel. The LCD apparatus further includes a backlight unit for supplying light from the rear of the LCD panel because the LCD panel is a non-emitting device. The LCD apparatus is widely used in display devices ranging from small-sized display devices such as mobile communication terminals, notebook computers and LCD TVs to large-sized display devices.

The LCD panel in which pixels each consisting of red, green and blue subpixels are arrayed in a matrix form displays an image by adjusting the transmittance of light irradiated from the backlight unit while the respective subpixels vary the arrangement of the liquid crystals according to a data signal. The subpixels drive the liquid crystals by charging a difference voltage between a data signal supplied to a pixel electrode through a thin film transistor (“TFT”) of a switching element and a common voltage supplied to a common electrode. A plurality of gate integrated circuits (“ICs”) for driving gate lines connected to TFTs and a plurality of data ICs for driving data lines are connected to the LCD panel. The data ICs have a more complicated circuit structure than that of the gate ICs because the data ICs should convert digital video data into an analog data signal.

In order to lower the cost, the LCD panel has been developed to reduce the number of data lines while maintaining resolution. To reduce the number of data lines, a method of changing an arrangement structure of the subpixels is used. In this case, an aperture ratio should be ensured so as not to degrade luminance and picture quality.

The present invention thus provides an LCD panel and manufacturing method thereof capable of ensuring an aperture ratio while reducing the number of data lines by changing an arrangement structure of the subpixels.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an LCD panel including a plurality of subpixels constituting a display region, a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) connected respectively to the plurality of subpixels, a plurality of gate lines connected to the TFTs and formed along long sides of the subpixels, a plurality of data lines connected to the TFTs and formed along short sides of the subpixels, a plurality of storage lines formed to pass through the subpixels along the short sides of the subpixels, a first common storage line connected commonly to one end of each of the plurality of storage lines, and a second common storage line connected commonly to the other end of each of the plurality of storage lines.

The plurality of subpixels includes red, green and blue subpixels, and the red, green and blue subpixels are alternately repeatedly arrayed along the data lines.

The first and second common storage lines are formed of a first metal layer which is the same as the gate lines, and the storage lines are formed of a second metal layer which is the same as the data lines.

The LCD panel further includes a plurality of first contact electrodes connecting the first common storage line to the plurality of storage lines, and a plurality of second contact electrodes connecting the second common storage line to the plurality of storage lines.

Each of the first and second contact electrodes is formed of a third conductive layer connecting the common storage lines to the storage lines through contact holes exposing the common storage lines and the storage lines.

The first common storage line is connected to an upper part of the plurality of storage lines via an upper non-display region out of a non-display region encompassing the display region, and the second common storage line is connected to a lower part of the plurality of storage lines via a lower non-display region. The second common storage line extends to the upper non-display region along right and left non-display regions in the lower non-display region.

The LCD panel further includes a first common pad connected to opposing ends of the first common storage line, and a second common pad connected to opposing ends of the second common storage line.

Alternatively, the LCD panel further includes a common pad connected commonly to the corresponding opposing ends of each of the first and second common storage lines.

The LCD panel further includes gate drivers installed in the right and left non-display regions, for separately driving the plurality of gate lines. The second common storage line passes by an outbound side of the gate drivers.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an LCD panel, including forming a gate line, a data line and a TFT connected to the gate and data lines on a substrate, forming a subpixel connected to the TFT in each subpixel region defined by a crossing structure of the gate and data lines, the subpixel region having a long side in parallel with the gate line and a short side in parallel with the data line, forming a storage line passing through the pixel electrode in a direction of the short line of the subpixel region, and forming first and second common storage lines connected respectively to one end and an opposite other end of the storage line.

The first and second common storage lines are formed of a first metal layer which is the same as the gate line, and the storage line is formed of a second metal layer which is the same as the data line.