Liquid crystal display device having a patterned spacer and method of fabricating the same

1. A liquid crystal display device, comprising:

first and second substrates facing each other and spaced apart by a uniform cell gap;

an array element having a switching element on the first substrate and a first transparent electrode connected to the switching element;

a first patterned spacer disposed on the array element having a first height less than the uniform cell gap;

a second transparent electrode under the second substrate;

a second patterned spacer disposed beneath the second transparent electrode, the second patterned spacer having a second height less than the uniform cell gap and connected to the first patterned spacer;

a first alignment layer covering the first patterned spacer; a second alignment layer covering the second patterned spacer; and

a liquid crystal material layer interposed between the first and second alignment layers,

wherein the first and second spacers are connected to each other and a summation of the first and second heights of the first and second patterned spacers is equivalent to the uniform cell gap, and

wherein a first one of the first and second heights is between 80% and 90% of the uniform cell gap and a second one of the first and second heights is between 10% and 20% of the uniform cell gap.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second substrates both have a pixel region and a non-pixel region, and the first and second patterned spacers are formed within the non-pixel regions of the first and second substrates.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the array element includes a gate line extending along a first direction and a data line extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

4. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the first patterned spacer is formed within an area overlapping the gate line.

5. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the first and second alignment layers are rubbed along the second direction and the first patterned spacer is laterally offset from a longitudinal centerline of the gate line along a third direction opposite to the second direction.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the second substrate includes color filter layers on the second transparent electrode and a black matrix layer within a boundary region of two adjacent color filter layers.

7. The device according to claim 6 , wherein the second patterned spacer is formed within an area overlapping the black matrix layer.

8. The device according to claim 6 , wherein the first and second alignment layers are rubbed along the second direction and the first patterned spacer is laterally offset from a longitudinal centerline of the gate line along a third direction opposite to the second direction.

9. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the one of the first and second patterned spacers having a height between 80% to 90% of the uniform cell gap has a width larger than the other of the first and second patterned spacers having a height between 10% to 20% of the uniform cell gap.

10. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the uniform cell gap is between about 5 μm and about 6 μm.

11. The device according to claim 10 , wherein the liquid crystal display device is an optically compensated bireflingence mode liquid crystal display device.

12. The device according to claim 11 , wherein the first and second alignment layers are rubbed along similar directions.

13. The device according to claim 12 , wherein an orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal material layer has a bend structure when a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal molecules.

14. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second patterned spacers are formed by photolithographic processes using photoresist material.