The performance of a novel optical compensation film utilizing a negatively birefringent discotic compound was optimized by both simulation and experiment to achieve wide-viewing-angle characteristics of twisted-nematic liquid-crystal displays (TN-LCDs). It was shown that the film remarkably enlarges the viewing angle of TN-LCDs when the discotic compound layer has hybrid molecular orientation which is a similar structure to that of on-state liquid crystals of TN-LCDs.

A novel optical compensation method is proposed utilizing an optical compensation film made of a discotic compound. By precisely controlling the alignment structure of the discotic film, we have succeeded in obtaining excellent viewing angle characteristics. This idea of optical compensation is universal and applicable to any other LCD modes.

We have developed a new TACless Wide-View film, a successor of the current Wide-View film, which makes the polarizer thinner and allows higher light transmittance, by eliminating one of the TAC films and directly attaching the optical compensation layers to the PVA layer of the polarizer. The new TACless Wide-View film gives the same optical effect on the TN mode TFT-LCD as the predecessor.