Liquid crystal light valve and projection type liquid crystal display using such valve

Abstract

A liquid crystal light valve for a projection type display such that a pixel circuit area in which a plurality of switching elements are disposed in a matrix state, a drive circuit area in which drive circuit elements are disposed, and the peripheral area are formed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate and further metal layers are provided through insulating layers. The uppermost layer of the metal layers are partitioned by slits to arrange reflectors as output terminals of the switching elements. As middle layers, a shading layer of the pixel circuit area for interrupting an incident light from the slits and a shading layer for interrupting an irradiation to the peripheral area and the drive circuit area are formed.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A liquid crystal light valve including: 
 a semiconductor substrate having on one of the surfaces a pixel circuit area comprising a plurality of switching elements disposed in a matrix state, a drive circuit area comprising elements for driving said switching elements, and peripheral areas of the areas;    a plurality of metal layers having wiring means hierarchically constructed through insulating layers on said one of the surfaces of said semiconductor substrate; a plurality of pixel electrodes formed by diving said metal layer in the uppermost section by slits and which serve as output terminals of said switching elements;    first shading means formed on a metal layer lower than the uppermost section so as to overlap plane space of the slits of said uppermost section;    second shading means obtained by making at least one of said metal layers cover the surface space of said drive circuit area and said peripheral area; and    a transparent substrate having a common electrode facing to said pixel electrodes on the surface opposite to the surface to which the light is irradiated,    wherein a liquid crystal is filled between said semiconductor substrate and said transparent substrate.