JP5911029B2 - Method for bonding optical functional film to display cell having flexible thin film structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technical field in which an optical functional film is bonded to a display cell having a flexible thin film structure. In particular, the present invention is not limited, but relates to a technique for attaching an optical functional film to a display cell that can be formed into a flexible thin film structure such as an organic EL display cell.

  Since the organic EL display cell can be formed in a flexible thin film structure, a display device using the display cell is configured to be a curved surface, or the entire display device is configured to be flexible so that it can be rolled or bent. Is also possible. However, since this type of display cell has a flexible thin film structure, it is not easy to handle the display cell at the stage of manufacturing the display device.

  In addition, a display cell having a relatively small size used for a display device of a smartphone or tablet size is manufactured by forming a large number of cells on one substrate. As a document describing a method for industrially manufacturing an organic EL display cell having such a relatively small screen size, there is Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1174834 (Patent Document 1). According to the method described in Patent Document 1, a resin film such as a polyimide resin is formed on a glass substrate, and the resin film is used as a base material for forming a film display cell. Then, a large number of display cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns are formed on the substrate, the entire surface thereof is covered with a process film, and then the substrate on which the display cells are formed is peeled from the glass substrate. After that, in the state where the process film is bonded, the individual film-shaped display cells are divided so that the terminal portions including the electrical terminals for electrical connection formed on one side of the individual film-shaped display cells are exposed. Each film-like display cell is formed by peeling off the process film at a location corresponding to the terminal portion.

  In the process of laminating various films required for subsequent processing to such display cells formed on a glass substrate, generally, a movable support with a vacuum suction function is provided. use. And the resin base material on the glass substrate and the plurality of display cells formed thereon are adsorbed and held on the support base with the glass substrate facing down, and a protective film on the surface of the display cell as necessary Paste together. Next, the display cell on which the protective film is bonded is transported to the glass substrate peeling position together with the glass substrate. Thereafter, at the glass substrate peeling position, the upper surface of the display cell on the resin base material is gripped by a suction plate having a vacuum suction function, and at the same time, the vacuum suction of the movable support base is released to move the glass substrate to the movable support base. And is supported from above by the suction disk. And a glass substrate is peeled from a resin base material by methods, such as performing laser irradiation from the lower side of a glass substrate. This laser irradiation method is described in, for example, International Publication WO2009 / 104371A1 (Patent Document 2). Subsequently, a back surface protective film is bonded to the lower surface of the resin base material to form a display panel.

  Furthermore, this type of display panel has a polarizing plate to prevent or at least reduce external light incident from the display surface side from being reflected from any part of the display cell and returning from the display surface to the viewing side. It is desired that an optical functional film comprising a polarizer and a quarter-wave retardation film bonded to the polarizer is bonded to the display surface side. Even when the optical functional film is bonded, it is necessary to securely hold the display cell having the flexible thin film structure in a predetermined position.

  In order to perform each of these steps, in order to receive a movable support base having a vacuum suction function, and a glass substrate, a resin base material and a display cell formed thereon from the support base, A suction board with a vacuum suction function is required. Therefore, the entire apparatus is large and expensive.

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1174834 International Publication WO2009 / 104371A1 JP 2007-157501 A JP2013-63892A JP 2010-13250 A JP 2013-35158 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070787 Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070789 Japanese Patent No. 5204200 Patent No. 5448264

  The present invention is capable of transferring a display cell having a flexible thin film structure formed on a resin base material to a next process together with a heat-resistant substrate such as a glass substrate without using a suction board having a vacuum suction function. An object to be solved is to provide a method for handling a display cell having a flexible thin film structure.

  The present invention provides a method of laminating an optical functional film to an optical display cell having a flexible thin film structure. This method includes a resin substrate and a flexible substrate formed on the resin substrate. A cell mother board composed of at least one display cell having a thin film structure and having a display surface is sent in a feeding direction in a state in which the display surface of the display cell faces upward, with the mother board structure supported on a heat-resistant mother substrate. Including stages. In this process, an adhesive layer is formed on the display surface of the display cell of the mother board structure that is sent in the feeding direction.

  Further, an adhesive in which a long tape-like optical functional film extending in the feeding direction is formed on the display surface of the display cell while feeding the mother board structure having the adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell in the feeding direction. The optical function film is bonded to the display cell, and the motherboard structure is supported by the long tape-shaped optical function film from the upper surface. Send in the feed direction. And a heat resistant mother board | substrate is peeled from the motherboard structure supported by this optical functional film of a long tape shape, and sent to a feed direction.

  The display surface of the display cell is usually a rectangular shape having two short sides and two long sides. In this case, the display cell is electrically connected along one of the short side and the long side. It is preferable that a terminal portion having a terminal is formed, and the cell mother board is sent in the feeding direction in a state where the terminal portion of the display cell is lateral to the feeding direction. In addition, a protective film is attached to the lower surface of the cell motherboard from which the heat-resistant mother board has been peeled, while the cell motherboard from which the heat-resistant mother board has been peeled is sent in the feed direction by moving the optical functional film that moves in the feed direction Can do.

  The cell motherboard can be configured to include a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical row parallel to at least the feed direction. In this case, the terminal portions of the plurality of display cells are all lateral to the feed direction. In this state, it is preferable that the feed direction is sent. In this case, it may include a cutting step of cutting the cell motherboard together with the optical function film for each display cell.

  In the method of the present invention, the optical functional film preferably includes at least a polarizer. In this case, the optical functional film is a laminate of a polarizer and a quarter-wave retardation film, and the laminate is placed on the display surface so that the quarter-wave retardation film faces the display cell. It is preferable that they are bonded together. Furthermore, the display cell can be an organic EL display cell.

  According to the method of the present invention, a mother board structure composed of a heat-resistant mother board such as a glass substrate and a cell motherboard is fed in the feed direction while being fed in the feed direction with the heat-resistant mother board facing down. Forming a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the display surface of the display cell of the mother board structure, contacting the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer with a long tape-like optical functional film, and bonding the optical functional film to the display cell; Since the adhesive tape is moved in the feeding direction by supporting the mother board structure from the upper surface by a long tape-like optical functional film, an adsorption holding disk for adsorbing and holding the mother board structure from the upper side becomes unnecessary, and the configuration of the apparatus Can be simplified.

It is a top view which shows an example of the optical display cell which can be used in the method of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows roughly an example of the manufacturing process of the organic electroluminescent display cell which has a comparatively small display screen. An example of the cell assembly mother board to which the method of the present invention is applied is shown. (A) is a top view and (b) is a sectional view. (A) (b) (c) (d) is a figure which shows each step of surface protection film peeling operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of an optical inspection apparatus, (a) shows a reflection inspection apparatus, (b) shows a lighting inspection apparatus, respectively. It is a top view which shows the pseudo | simulation terminal unit for the lighting test | inspection of the cell assembly motherboard shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which performs a lighting test | inspection using the pseudo terminal unit shown in FIG. It is a schematic side view which shows the whole adhesive layer provision mechanism. (A) (b) (c) (d) (e) is the schematic which shows the bonding order of the adhesive sheet in the cell assembly motherboard by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the optical display panel manufacturing apparatus by one Embodiment for enforcing the optical function film bonding method of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view showing an example of an optical functional film. It is the schematic of the apparatus by other embodiment for enforcing the optical function film bonding method of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of adhesive layer provision in embodiment with which the display cell is arrange | positioned at 1 vertical line. It is a top view which shows an example of the cell motherboard which has a display cell of a flexible sheet structure of a large size. It is a perspective view which shows the adhesive layer provision operation | movement with respect to the example shown in FIG.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of an optical display cell 1 to which the method of an embodiment according to the present invention can be applied. The optical display cell 1 has a rectangular shape having a short side 1a and a long side 1b in plan view, and a terminal portion 1c having a predetermined width is formed along one short side 1a. A number of electrical terminals 2 for electrical connection are arranged on the terminal portion 1c. A region excluding the terminal portion 1c of the optical display cell 1 is a display region 1d. The display area 1d has a width W in the horizontal direction and a length L in the vertical direction. In order to carry out the method of the present invention, the optical display cell 1 is preferably an organic EL display cell, but the method of the present invention can be applied to any display cell having a flexible thin film structure. The optical display cell 1 can have various screen sizes from a relatively small size for mobile phones or smartphones or tablets to a relatively large size for television applications.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an example of a manufacturing process of an organic EL display cell having a relatively small display screen such as a smartphone or a tablet. In this step, first, a glass substrate 3 is prepared as a heat-resistant substrate, and a heat-resistant resin material, preferably a polyimide resin, is applied to the glass substrate 3 to a predetermined thickness and dried, whereby a resin base material is obtained. 4 is formed. As a heat resistant resin material, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), etc. can be used in addition to polyimide resin. In addition, as a material of the base material, a flexible ceramic sheet as described in JP 2007-157501 A (Patent Document 3), or JP 2013-63892 A (Patent Document 4), Flexible glass as described in JP 2010-13250 A (Patent Document 5) and JP 2013-35158 A (Patent Document 6) can also be used. When a flexible ceramic sheet or flexible glass is used as the substrate, it is not necessary to use the glass substrate 3.

  A plurality of organic EL display cells 1 are formed on the resin base material 4 in a state of being arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix by a known manufacturing method, and the resin base material 4 and the display cells are cell assembly motherboard B. Form. In the case where there is one display formed on the resin base material 4, this is called a cell motherboard. Thereafter, the surface protective film 5 is bonded so as to cover the organic EL display cell 1 formed on the resin substrate 4. Here, the cell assembly motherboard B or the one in which the cell motherboard is bonded to a heat resistant substrate such as the glass substrate 3 is referred to as a motherboard structure.

  FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view showing the cell assembly mother board B where the surface protective film 5 is not bonded, and FIG. 3 (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line bb of FIG. The state where the cell aggregate mother board B on which the surface protective film 5 is bonded is arranged on the glass substrate 3 is shown. As shown in FIG. 3A, in the cell assembly mother board B, the plurality of optical display cells 1 constitute vertical columns and horizontal rows in a state where the terminal portions 1c are oriented in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3A, the cell assembly mother board B has a rectangular shape having a short side B-1 and a long side B-2. A reference mark m serving as a reference point is attached by printing, engraving, or other appropriate technique. The reference mark m is referred to as a reference when the mother board B is positioned. When the optical film is bonded, the cell assembly mother board B is sent in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG.

  The cell assembly mother board B having the glass substrate 3 is sent to the glass substrate peeling position where the glass substrate 3 is peeled after passing through the defect inspection of the optical display cell 1. When the cell assembly mother board B having the glass substrate 3 is transferred to the glass substrate peeling position, the optical functional film according to the present invention is bonded. Prior to transferring the cell assembly motherboard B having the glass substrate 3 to the optical functional film bonding position, an optical inspection of the cell assembly motherboard B is performed. In preparation for this optical inspection, it is necessary to peel the surface protective film 5 from the cell assembly motherboard B. In FIG. 4, the procedure which peels the surface protection film 5 is shown.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the cell assembly mother board B is held by the vacuum holding force on the suction holding board 10 supported by the guide 15 and the support mechanism 13, and the surface protection film is peeled off at the position shown in FIG. It is sent to the position and raised to a predetermined height by the lifting mechanism at the position shown in FIG. This predetermined height is a height at which the upper surface of the surface protective film 5 of the cell assembly mother board B can contact the adhesive tape 16d positioned between the pair of pressing rolls 16c with a predetermined contact pressure.

  The cell assembly mother board B raised to a predetermined height by the elevating mechanism is sent to a position below the peeling adhesive tape driving device 16 as it is. Here, the upper surface of the surface protection film 5 of the mother board B contacts the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape 16d in a pressed state between the pair of pressing rolls 16c. The adhesive force of the adhesive tape 16d to the surface protective film 5 is larger than the adhesive force of the surface protective film 5 to the optical display cell 1, so that the surface protective film 5 adheres to the adhesive tape 16d and is on the resin substrate 4. It peels from the optical display cell 1 arrange | positioned. The peeled surface protective film 5 is taken up together with the adhesive tape 16d by a take-up roll 16b. The mother board B from which the surface protective film 5 has been peeled is lowered to the height at the time of feeding at the position shown in FIG. 4A by the lifting mechanism at the position shown in FIG.

  The optical inspection is performed in two stages: a surface reflection inspection shown in FIG. 5A and a lighting inspection of the display cell 1 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, a light source 70 and a light receiver 71 are provided as an inspection apparatus for the surface reflection inspection, and the cell assembly mother board B is supported by the suction holding board 10 and below the reflection inspection apparatus. Moved to. At this position, light from the light source 70 is applied to the surface of the optical display cell 1 that is the subject, and is reflected by the surface of the optical display cell 1 to enter the light receiver 71, whereby the surface of the optical display cell 1. A defect is detected.

  FIG. 5B shows an outline of the lighting inspection, and a plurality of detectors 72 for detecting the light emission state of the optical display cell 1 are arranged in a line. Since the cell assembly mother board B manufactured by the process shown in FIG. 2 has a configuration in which a plurality of optical display cells 1 are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix, in this embodiment, all of the cell assembly motherboard B in the cell assembly motherboard B is provided. A pseudo terminal unit 75 shown in FIG. 6 is used so that the optical display cell 1 is excited simultaneously.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the pseudo terminal unit 75 includes a rectangular outer frame 75a corresponding to the rectangular shape of the cell assembly motherboard B, a plurality of horizontal bars 75b, and a plurality of vertical bars 75c. In the outer frame 75a, rectangular windows 75d arranged vertically and horizontally so as to correspond to the arrangement of the optical display cells 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B are formed. A connection terminal 76 is disposed at a position corresponding to the terminal 2 provided in the terminal portion of each optical display cell 1 along one short side of each window 75d. The pseudo terminal unit 75 is provided with a power supply terminal 77 for supplying excitation power to the terminal 2 of each optical display cell 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B.

  FIG. 7 shows a state in which the pseudo terminal unit 75 shown in FIG. 6 is used. The pseudo terminal unit 75 is placed on the cell assembly motherboard B so that the outer frame 75a overlaps the peripheral edge of the cell assembly motherboard B. In this state, the window 75d of the pseudo terminal unit 75 overlaps the optical display cell 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B, respectively. Here, when excitation power is supplied to the pseudo terminal unit 75, all of the optical display cells 1 of the cell assembly motherboard B are simultaneously excited. Therefore, the detector 72 inspects the operating state of each cell 1 for each emission color. By using the pseudo terminal unit 75, in a mother board having a plurality of optical display cells, it is possible to inspect all the cells at the same time in an excited state.

  The cell assembly mother board B that has finished the optical inspection is then sent to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application position including the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application mechanism 20. FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing the entire pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application mechanism 20.

  The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application mechanism 20 includes a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape roll 22 obtained by winding a long pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 21 in a roll shape. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 21 is fed out from the roll 22 at a constant speed by a pair of drive rolls 23. In this embodiment, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 21 has a configuration in which a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 21b is formed on one surface of the tape base material 21a.

  Referring to FIG. 8, the adhesive tape 21 fed from the adhesive roll 22 by the pair of drive rolls 23 is cut through a guide roll 24, a dancer roll 25 that is movable in the vertical direction, a guide roll 26, and a guide roll 27. It is sent to the forming mechanism 28. The cut forming mechanism 28 includes a cutting blade 29 and a pair of drive rolls 30 for feeding. The cut forming mechanism 28 operates the cutting blade 29 in a state where the drive roll 30 is stopped and the feeding of the adhesive tape 21 is stopped at the cut forming position, and only the adhesive layer 21b is left leaving the tape base material 21e. In addition, a cut 28a is formed in the width direction. The interval between the notches 28a is a distance corresponding to the length L in the vertical direction of each display cell 1 on the mother board B. Therefore, the optical film is cut in the width direction by the cuts 28a, and becomes the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21c having the horizontal width W and the vertical method length L of the display cell. Thus, the some adhesive sheet 21c is continuously formed on the tape base material 21a, and these adhesive sheets 21c are supported by the tape base material 21a, and are sent to a bonding position.

  The dancer roll 25 is elastically biased upward, and a pair of drive rolls 23 that continuously drive the adhesive tape 21 in the feeding direction, and the feeding of the adhesive tape 21 is stopped at the time of cutting, and the cutting ends. It is an adjustment roll that acts to adjust the tape feed between a pair of drive rolls 30 that are driven for a predetermined distance later. That is, during the stop period of the drive roll 30, the dancer roll 25 moves upward so as to absorb the feed of the drive roll 23 by the urging force, and when the drive roll 30 starts operating, By the tensile force applied to the adhesive tape 21 by 30, it operates to move downward against the urging force.

  A series of adhesive sheets 21c formed by the cuts 28a are supported by the tape base material 21a, pass through the guide roll 31 and the guide roll 32, pass through the dancer roll 33 having the same configuration as the dancer roll 25, and are guided. Guided by rolls 34, 35, 36, 37 and sent to the bonding position.

  A laminating roll 38 and a carrier film peeling mechanism 39 are provided at the laminating position. The laminating roll 38 is movably disposed between the upper drawing position and the lower pressing position, and among the continuous adhesive sheets 21c supported by the tape base material 21a, the leading adhesive sheet 21c. When the tip is aligned with the tip of the display cell 1 to be bonded, the tip is lowered from the upper position to the lower pressing position, and the adhesive sheet 21c is pressed against the display cell 1 on the mother board B, An adhesive layer is provided on the display surface.

  The tape base material peeling mechanism 39 includes a peeling blade that acts to fold back the tape base material 21a at an acute angle and peel the leading optical film sheet 21c from the tape base material 21a at the bonding position. A tape base material take-up roll 40 is disposed to take up the tape base material 21a folded back at an acute angle. The tape base material 21 a peeled off from the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21 c is sent to the take-up roll 40 through the guide roll 41 and the pair of take-up drive rolls 42, and is taken up by the take-up roll 40.

  The operation of the drive roll 30 and the cutting blade 29 is controlled by a control device not shown in FIG. That is, the control device stores information related to the size and position of the display cell 1 on the mother board B, and the control device drives the driving roll 30 and the cutting blade based on the information about the longitudinal length L of the display cell 1. 29 is controlled to form cuts 28a in the adhesive tape 21 at longitudinal intervals corresponding to the longitudinal length L of the display cell 1. In addition, a sheet position detection device 43 that detects the front end of the adhesive sheet 21c is provided on the upstream side of the pasting position, and information about the front end position of the adhesive sheet 21c sent to the pasting position is controlled. To provide. This adhesive sheet tip position information is stored in the control device, and the control device uses the adhesive sheet tip position information and the position information of the mother board B acquired from the suction holding board 10 to take up the driving roll 30 and the winding roll. The operation of the drive roll 42 is controlled in accordance with the movement of the suction holding board 10, and the bonding of the adhesive sheet 21 c peeled off from the tape base material 21 a on the mother board B in the bonding position is performed. The display cell 1 is adjusted so as to align with the tip of the display cell 1. When the alignment is achieved, the adhesive sheet 21c and the mother board B are sent at a synchronized speed. The laminating roll 38 is lowered to the lower pressing position and presses the adhesive sheet 21 c against the display surface of the display cell 1. In this way, the adhesive layer is applied to the display cell 1.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an order in which the adhesive sheets 21c are sequentially bonded to the display cells 1 arranged in a matrix form on the mother board B. In this illustrated example, the laminating mechanism 20 has a fixed lateral position with respect to the feed direction, and the suction holding disk 10 that holds the mother board B is mounted on the support mechanism 13 so as to be movable in the lateral direction. ing. As shown in FIG. 9A, the position of the mother board B is controlled so that the first display cell 1 in the leftmost display cell row is first positioned at the bonding position. In this state, as described above with reference to FIG. 8, the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display portion 1d of the display cell 1 at the head of the left end column.

  Next, by moving the suction holding board 10 in the horizontal direction, the mother board B is displaced in the left horizontal direction with respect to the feed direction by a distance corresponding to the horizontal interval of the display cell rows. By this lateral displacement, as shown in FIG. 9B, the first display cell 1 in the second column from the left is positioned at the bonding position. Then, the adhesive sheet 21f is bonded to the display portion 1d of the display cell 1 by the same operation as described above. Thereafter, the mother board B is displaced leftward by the same operation, and the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded. In the illustrated example in which the display cells 1 are arranged in three rows, the bonding of the adhesive sheet 21c to the first display cell is completed. This state is shown in FIG.

  Next, the suction holding platen 10 is driven in the feed direction by a distance corresponding to the interval between the display cells 1 in each column, and the second display cell 1 from the top of the rightmost column is positioned at the bonding position, and similarly. As shown in FIG. 9 (d), an adhesive sheet 21 c is bonded to the display portion 1 d of the cell 1. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9 (e), the mother board B is driven in the feeding direction, and the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded by the same operation.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 according to an embodiment for carrying out the optical functional film laminating method of the present invention. When the bonding of the adhesive sheet 21c to all the display cells 1 is completed by the above-described steps, the mother board B is sent to the optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 while being held on the suction holding board 10. It is done.

  The apparatus 80 includes a tape feeding roller 81 and a plurality of guide rollers 84a, 84b, 84c, 84d, and 84e. A tape 83 roll 83 a of an optical functional film 83 is attached to the tape supply roller 81. As shown in FIG. 11, the optical functional film 83 includes a long web-shaped polarizing film in which a protective film 83c such as a TAC film is bonded to both sides of a polarizer 83b, and an adhesive layer 83e. A laminated web composed of a quarter-wave (λ) retardation film 83d bonded to the long web. The polarizer 83b and the retardation film 83e are arranged so that the absorption axis of the polarizer 83b and the slow axis or fast axis of the retardation film 83e intersect at an angle in the range of 45 ° ± 5 °. The optical functional film 83 has a long continuous web shape, but has a width that can cover the upper surface of the entire display cells arranged in multiple rows on the mother board B. In another aspect, the optical functional film 83 may be configured such that, in the configuration shown in FIG. 11, a ½ retardation film is interposed between the polarizing film and the ¼ wavelength retardation film 83d. . In this case, the slow axis or the fast axis of the 1 / retardation film is arranged so as to intersect the absorption axis of the polarizer 83d at an angle in the range of 15 ° ± 5 °, and the 1/2 wavelength phase difference The slow axis or fast axis of the film and the slow axis or fast axis of the quarter-wave retardation film 83d are arranged to intersect at an angle of 60 ° C. ± 5 °.

  Alternatively, a roll 83a of the optical functional film 83 configured so that each optical functional film has a width corresponding to the lateral width W of each of the display cells 1 arranged in a plurality of rows on the motherboard B. As many as the number of columns in the vertical direction of the display cells 1 on the mother board B are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the optical functional film 83 is simultaneously bonded to the display surface of the display cells 1 in each column. You can also

  In this embodiment, the absorption axis of the polarizer 83b is parallel to the length direction of the polarizer 83b, and the slow axis of the retardation film 83d is 45 ° with respect to the length direction of the retardation film 83d. The structure is oriented obliquely by an angle in the range of ± 5 °. For this purpose, it is necessary to obliquely stretch the film at the stage of producing the retardation film 83d. Regarding this oblique stretching, there are detailed descriptions in Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070787 (Patent Document 7) and Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070789 (Patent Document 8), and the phase difference stretched by the methods described in these documents. A film can be used. In addition, as the retardation film 83d, a film having reverse dispersion characteristics in which the retardation becomes smaller toward the shorter wavelength side according to the wavelength can be used. Retardation films having reverse dispersion characteristics are described in Japanese Patent No. 5204200 (Patent Document 9), Japanese Patent No. 5448264 (Patent Document 10), etc., and in the method of this embodiment, described in these patent specifications. A retardation film having reverse dispersion characteristics can be used.

  The optical functional film 83 is fed out from the roll 83a and is passed in the horizontal direction along the lower traveling path of the guide rollers 84b, 84c, 84d, 84e so that the adhesive layer 83c faces downward. The cell assembly mother board B in which the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display surface of the optical display cell 1 is held in the horizontal direction while being held on the suction holding board 10 together with the glass substrate 3 bonded to the mother board B. To the position below the carrier tape 83 extending in

  The optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 includes an optical function film bonding position I, a glass substrate peeling position II, an adhesive layer application position III, a composite film bonding position IV, and an optical display cell cutting position V. And have. Before reaching the optical function film bonding position I, the cell assembly mother board B in which the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display surface of the optical display cell 1 and the glass substrate 3 are supported by the support mechanism 13 of the suction holding disk 10. The height is adjusted using a height adjusting mechanism provided in the. The height to be adjusted is such that the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21c bonded to the optical display cell 1 on the cell assembly motherboard B comes into contact with the retardation film 83d of the optical function film 83 with a predetermined contact pressure. is there. The cell assembly mother board B and the glass substrate 3 on the suction holding board 10 adjusted in height are fed under the second guide roller 84b from the left in FIG. Here, the optical functional film 83 fed out from the roll 83a has its retardation film 83d pressed against the adhesive sheet 21f on the cell assembly motherboard B by the guide roller 84b. In this way, the optical functional film 83 is bonded to the cell assembly motherboard B.

  In this process, the optical functional film 83 is driven at a speed synchronized with the suction holding disk 10 in the feeding direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. While the cell assembly motherboard B passes through the optical function film bonding position I, the optical function film 83 is bonded to the adhesive sheets 21c of all the display cells on the cell assembly motherboard B. After the cell assembly motherboard B passes through the optical function film bonding position I, the vacuum suction force of the suction holding board 10 is released, and the cell assembly motherboard B and the glass substrate 3 are supported only by the optical function film 83. It becomes a state.

  The cell assembly mother board B and the glass substrate supported by the optical functional film 83 are then sent to the glass substrate peeling position II. At this position II, the glass substrate 3 is peeled off from the resin base material 4 by a known method such as laser irradiation. A technique for peeling a glass substrate from a resin base material by laser irradiation is described in, for example, International Publication No. WO2009 / 104371 (Patent Document 2). The cell assembly mother board B from which the glass substrate 3 has been peeled is sent to the adhesive layer application position III.

  At the adhesive layer application position III, the optical functional film 83 and the cell assembly motherboard B supported by the optical functional film 83 are sandwiched below the guide rollers 84c and 84d located above the optical functional film 83. The rollers 85a and 85b are disposed so as to face the guide rollers 84c and 84d. Further, an adhesive tape supply roller 87 is provided at the adhesive layer application position III, and a roll 86 a of the adhesive tape 86 is supported on the supply roller 87. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 86 includes a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b, a first release liner 86c bonded to one side of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b, and a second release bonded to the other side of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b. It comprises a liner 86d. The adhesive tape 86 fed out from the roll 86 a passes through the guide roller 88 and is sent between the roller 85 a and the cell assembly mother board B supported by the carrier tape 83.

  In this process, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 86 is unwound from the roll 86a and before reaching the guide roller 88, the first release liner 86c is peeled off and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b is exposed. The peeled first release liner 86c is taken up by the take-up roller 89a. Next, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 86 is sent between the roller 84 c and the roller 85 a so that the exposed pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86 b is in contact with the resin base material 4 on the lower surface of the cell assembly motherboard B supported by the carrier tape 83. . The adhesive layer 86b is pressed against the resin substrate 4 on the lower surface of the cell assembly motherboard B by the rollers 84c and 85a and joined to the cell assembly motherboard B. In this state, the cell assembly motherboard B and the adhesive tape 86 are sent between the rollers 84d and 85b, and the second release liner 86d is peeled from the adhesive layer 86b. The peeled second release liner 86d is taken up by the take-up roller 89b.

  The cell assembly mother board B having the adhesive layer 86b on the lower surface is supported by the optical function film 83 and sent to the composite film bonding position IV. At this position IV, a roll 90a of the composite film 90 is disposed, and the composite film 90 fed out from the roll 90a is below the guide roller 84e by a guide roller 91 disposed below the guide roller 84e. It is pressed against the adhesive layer 86b applied to the lower surface of the cell assembly mother board B that has reached the position. In this way, the composite film is bonded to the cell assembly motherboard B. Thereafter, the cell assembly mother board B is supported by the optical function film 83 bonded to the upper surface and the composite film 90 bonded to the lower surface. A pair of drive rollers 91a and 91b can be provided in order to drive the laminate composed of the optical function film 83, the composite film 90, and the cell assembly mother board B in the feeding direction. In this embodiment of the present invention, the composite film 90 is configured as a laminate including a light shielding film layer and a film layer having impact resistance and heat dissipation. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, an ordinary back surface protective film may be used instead of the composite film.

  The cell assembly mother board B in which the optical functional film 83 is bonded to the upper surface and the composite film 90 is bonded to the lower surface is sent to the optical display cell cutting position V. This cutting position V is provided with a support belt 92 made of a synthetic resin that receives the composite film 90 and a cutting blade 93, and the cell assembly mother board B is cut to separate individual optical display cells 1. In this case, the optical functional film 83 bonded to the upper surface of the cell assembly mother board B is cut in accordance with the size of the display surface 1d of each display cell 1. The mechanism and operation for cutting described above are well known, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  FIG. 12 shows an apparatus according to another embodiment for carrying out the optical functional film laminating method of the present invention. Since this apparatus has the same basic configuration and operation as the apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10, the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The apparatus shown in FIG. 12 is different from the apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 in that the cell assembly mother board B which is passed between the rollers 84c and 85a and the adhesive layer 86b is provided on the lower surface is provided with the optical functional film 83 and It is to be wound around the roll 100 in the form of a laminate together with the second release liner 86d. The laminated body wound up by the roll 100 can be unwound from the roll 100 and processed at the composite film laminating position IV and the optical display cell cutting position V in another step.

  The method of the present invention can also be applied to the display cells 1 arranged in a vertical row on the mother board B. An example is shown in FIG. In this case, the display cell 1 is arranged on the mother board B so that the terminal portion 1c is lateral to the column direction. The application of the adhesive layer to the display surface 1 of the display cell 1 is performed by displaying the adhesive sheet 21c cut in advance from the top of the column in the display cell 1 in the same manner as the operation described with reference to FIG. This can be done by bonding to the part 1d.

  The method of the present invention can also be applied to display cells of a relatively large size flexible sheet structure. Examples thereof are shown in FIGS. When the display cell is an organic EL cell, the cell itself can have a thin flexible sheet structure. Referring to FIG. 14, an optical display cell 101 having a flexible sheet structure has a rectangular shape having a short side 101a and a long side 101b, a terminal portion 101c positioned along the short side 101a, and a length L in the vertical direction. And a display portion 101d having a lateral width W. The display cell 101 is formed on a base material 102 made of a heat-resistant resin material such as polyimide at the manufacturing stage. The manufacturing process is the same as the process described with reference to FIG. 3, the resin base material 102 is formed in a film shape on the glass substrate 3, and the optical display cell 101 such as an organic EL display cell is formed thereon. The A difference from the case of FIG. 3 is that one display cell is formed on the substrate 102 in the present embodiment. As in the process described with reference to FIG. 3, after the optical display cell 101 is formed on the substrate 102, the adhesive sheet 21 c is bonded to the display surface 101 d of the display cell 101. In this embodiment, a mechanism similar to the bonding mechanism 20 shown in FIG. 8 can be employed for this purpose. In this case, the optical film 21 fed out from the tape-shaped adhesive roll 22 has a width corresponding to the width W of the display cell 101 shown in FIG. In FIG. 15, the structure of the bonding part is shown schematically. The operation in the bonding portion is the same as that described above with reference to FIG. 8, and corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to specific embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims of the claims. It is.

I ... Optical functional film laminating position II ... Glass substrate peeling position III ... Adhesive layer application position IV ... Composite film laminating position V ... Optical display cell cutting position W ... Horizontal Directional width L ... Vertical length B ... Cell assembly motherboard 1 ... Optical display cell 1a ... Short side 1b ... Long side 1c ... Terminal part 1d ... Display Part 3 ... Glass substrate 4 ... Base material 5 ... Surface protective film 10 ... Suction holding board 20 ... Adhesive layer application mechanism 21 ... Adhesive tape 21f ... Adhesive sheet 22 ... roll 28 of adhesive tape ... cut forming mechanism 28a ... cut 29 ... cutting blade 83 ... optical functional film 83a ... optical functional film roll 83b ... polarizer 83d ... 1/4 wavelength retardation film 86 ... Chakuzai tape 90 ... composite film

Claims (9)

A mother board structure comprising a resin base material and at least one display cell formed on the resin base material and having a display surface with a flexible thin film structure is supported on a heat resistant mother board. Sending in the feed direction with the display surface of the display cell facing upward,
Forming an adhesive layer on the display surface of the display cell of the motherboard structure that is sent in the feed direction;
A long tape-like optical functional film extending in the feeding direction is formed on the display surface of the display cell while feeding the mother board structure having an adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell in the feeding direction. The optical functional film is moved in a state where the optical functional film is brought into contact with the adhesive layer, the optical functional film is bonded to the display cell, and the mother board structure is supported from the upper surface by the long tape-shaped optical functional film. Sending the mother board structure in the feed direction;
The step of peeling the heat-resistant mother substrate from the mother board structure supported by the long tape-like optical functional film and fed in the feeding direction;
A method for laminating an optical functional film to a display cell having a flexible thin film structure.   2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the display surface of the display cell has a rectangular shape having two short sides and two long sides, and the display cell includes the short side and the long side. A terminal portion having an electrical connection terminal is formed along one side of the cell motherboard, and the cell motherboard has the terminal portion of the display cell in a direction transverse to the feeding direction in the feeding direction. A method characterized by being sent.   The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cell motherboard from which the heat-resistant mother substrate has been peeled is sent in the feeding direction by movement of the optical functional film that moves in the feeding direction. A method comprising a step of attaching a protective film to the lower surface of the cell motherboard from which the heat-resistant mother substrate has been peeled off.   3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cell motherboard includes at least a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical row parallel to the feeding direction, and the terminal portions of the plurality of display cells include: , All of which are fed in the feed direction in a state of being transverse to the feed direction.   5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising a cutting step of cutting the cell motherboard together with the optical function film for each display cell.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the optical functional film includes at least a polarizer.   7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the optical functional film is an antireflection film comprising a laminate of a polarizer and a quarter wavelength retardation film, and the laminate is the quarter wavelength. A method, wherein a retardation film is bonded to the display surface so as to face the display cell. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the optical functional film is a reflection body made of a laminate in which a polarizer, a half- wave retardation film, and a quarter-wave retardation film are laminated in this order. It is a prevention film, This laminated body is bonded together to the said display surface so that the said 1/4 wavelength phase difference film may face the said display cell.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the display cell is an organic EL display cell.

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