A patterned twisted-vertical aligned (PTVA) nematic liquid crystal cell with an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrode that is patterned with a fine slit and hole is demonstrated to exhibit excellent electro-optical characteristics of high transmittance with stable liquid crystal orientation. The proposed PTVA cell has a similar liquid crystal (LC) director distribution to that of the continuum domain TVA (CDTVA) cell, but with a more stable optical schlieren. The proposed PTVA cell has a maximum transmittance that is about 24% higher than that of a PVA cell. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics