Patent 7277148 was granted and assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. on October, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A gate line is formed on a substrate, and a gate insulating layer is formed thereon. A data line is formed on the gate insulating layer, and a passivation layer is formed on the data line. The passivation layer has an opening exposing the gate insulating layer. A pixel electrode is formed on the passivation layer and it overlaps the data line and the passivation layer.