This study examined the electro-optical characteristics and stability of a liquid crystal director depending on the electrode patterning of a common electrode on the top substrate in patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode. The new type of common electrode pattern suggests that the dark state of the device is improved by reducing the interfering electrical field caused by the signal lilies, which call help to improve the aperture ratio and also the load-on signal lines were reduced, resulting in a decrease in power consumption. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.