As one of display devices, there is a liquid crystal display device provided with a liquid crystal element. For example, an active matrix liquid crystal display device, in which pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix and transistors are used as switching elements connected to respective pixel electrodes, has attracted attention.
For example, an active matrix liquid crystal display device including transistors, in which a metal oxide is used for a channel formation region, as switching elements connected to respective pixel electrodes is already known (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
It is known that an active matrix liquid crystal display device is classified into two major types: transmissive type and reflective type.
In a transmissive liquid crystal display device, a backlight such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp or a light-emitting diode (LED) is used, and optical modulation action of liquid crystal is utilized to select one of the two states: a state where light from the backlight passes through liquid crystal to be output to the outside of the liquid crystal display device and a state where light is not output to the outside of the liquid crystal display device, whereby a bright or dark image is displayed. Furthermore, those images are combined to display an image.
In a reflective liquid crystal display device, a state in which external light, in other words, incident light is reflected at a pixel electrode and output to the outside of the device or a state in which incident light is not output to the outside of the device is selected using optical modulation action of a liquid crystal, whereby bright and dark images are displayed. Furthermore, those displays are combined to display an image. Compared with the transmissive liquid crystal display device, the reflective liquid crystal display device has the advantage of low power consumption since the backlight is not used.