KR101642446B1 - Methode of fabricating electrophoretic display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which comprises forming first and second flexible base substrates on first and second carrier substrates, respectively, and forming a thin film transistor on the first and second base substrates, Forming an array substrate;

Attaching first and second electrophoretic films on the first and second thin film transistor array substrates; Attaching the first and second thin film transistor array substrates so that the first and second carrier substrates are exposed to the outside; Sealing the edges of the first and second thin film transistor array substrates which are bonded together; Attaching a first etch stop film to the first carrier substrate to seal the first carrier substrate; Etching the second carrier substrate to expose a second base substrate; Attaching a second protective sheet on the exposed second base substrate; Exposing the first carrier substrate by removing the first etch stop film; Etching the first carrier substrate to expose a first base substrate; Attaching a first protective sheet on the first base substrate; Cutting the first and second thin film transistor array substrates in a panel unit; And separating the first and second thin film transistor array substrates from each other.

Description

[0001] METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING ELECTROPHORETIC DISPLAY DEVICE [0002]

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, in which a flexible plastic substrate is easily detached from a carrier substrate without using an expensive laser beam irradiating device, ) To the surface of the electrophoretic display device.

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, and an organic electric field display have become mainstream in display devices. However, recently, various types of display devices have been introduced to meet the rapidly diversifying consumer needs.

Especially, it is accelerating the implementation of lightweight, thin, high efficiency, and full color video by enhancing the information utilization environment and portability. As a result, studies on electrophoretic display devices that merely combine the merits of paper and conventional display devices are actively under way.

The electrophoretic display device is attracting attention as a next-generation display device having advantages of ease of portability, and unlike a liquid crystal display device, it does not require a polarizer, a backlight unit, a liquid crystal layer, and the like.

Hereinafter, a conventional electrophoretic display device will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the electrophoretic display device for explaining the driving principle thereof.

1, the conventional electrophoretic display device 1 includes first and second substrates 11 and 36 and an ink layer 57 interposed between the first and second substrates 11 and 36 . The ink layer 57 includes a plurality of capsules 63 filled with a plurality of white pigments 59 and black pigments 61 charged through a condensation polymerization reaction.

A plurality of pixel electrodes 28 connected to a plurality of thin film transistors (not shown) are formed on the first substrate 11 for each pixel region (not shown). That is, the plurality of pixel electrodes 28 are selectively supplied with a positive voltage or a negative voltage. At this time, when the sizes of the capsules 63 including the white pigment 59 and the black pigment 61 are not constant, only capsules 63 of a predetermined size can be selectively used.

When a voltage having a positive polarity or a negative polarity is applied to the ink layer 57, the charged white pigment and the black pigment 59, 61 in the capsule 63 are attracted toward the opposite polarity . That is, when the black pigment 61 moves upward, black is displayed, and when the white pigment 59 moves upward, white is displayed.

The electrophoretic display device 1 having such a configuration uses external light including natural light or room light as a light source and applies the positive or negative polarity selectively to the pixel electrode The white pigment 28 and the black pigment 61 filled in the capsule 63 induce a change in the position of the white pigment 59 and realize images or text.

The electrophoretic display device 1 having the above-described configuration can be largely manufactured by carrying out three processes. The first process is an array process for completing the array substrate 11 including the thin film transistor Tr and the pixel electrode 28 connected thereto and the second process is for attaching the electrophoretic film 60 to the array substrate 11 And the third is a module process for attaching a driving IC and an FPC connected to the driving IC so as to be in contact with a gate and a data pad electrode provided on the array substrate.

On the other hand, the electrophoretic display device completed through these three processes is mainly used as an electronic book or an electronic paper mainly because of its characteristics of low power consumption and thin and light weight. Especially when it is used as an electronic paper, Is required.

Therefore, in recent years, the electrophoretic display device has been commercialized using a substrate made of a plastic material having a thickness of several tens of micrometers as a base in order to maximize flexibility. When an electrophoretic display device is manufactured using such a plastic substrate having excellent flexibility, it is difficult to use the unit process lines due to the flexible nature of the plastic substrate and to keep the flat state on the stage, A separate carrier substrate which is small in generation and can maintain a flat state on the stage is separately provided to adhere the plastic substrate to the carrier substrate and then the carrier substrate is removed in a subsequent step to complete an electrophoretic display device having excellent flexibility .

2A to 2D are process cross-sectional views of a part of a process for manufacturing an array substrate for a conventional electrophoretic display device.

First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a hydrogenated material is deposited on a carrier substrate 5 made of a glass material capable of transmitting a laser beam by generating a hydrogen gas by laser beam irradiation, Amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) is deposited to form the laser ablation layer 7.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, the plastic substrate 11 is formed by coating the ablation layer 7 with liquid plastic and continuously heat-treating it.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, a plurality of gates and data lines (not shown) 19 are formed on the plastic substrate 11 to define a plurality of pixel regions P, A thin film transistor Tr as a switching element and a pixel electrode 28 connected to the drain electrode 22 of the thin film transistor Tr are formed. At this time, the step of forming the thin film transistor Tr and the pixel electrode 28 is performed to complete the array substrate for an electrophoretic display device.

2D, a laser beam LB is irradiated to the back surface of the carrier substrate 5 through the laser beam irradiating device 99 to form hydrogenated amorphous silicon (hereinafter, abbreviated as " a-Si: H), so that the plastic substrate 11 on which the thin film transistor Tr is formed is detached from the carrier substrate 5.

Although not shown in the drawing, an electrophoretic film (not shown) including an electrophoretic ink layer and a common electrode is laminated on the thin film transistor Tr on the plastic substrate 11 desorbed from the carrier substrate 5 And further attaching a protective film (not shown) on the electrophoretic film (not shown), thereby completing the electrophoretic display device.

However, in the conventional electrophoretic display device completed through the above-described steps, the expensive laser beam (LB) irradiating device 99 is used when the plastic substrate 11 is detached from the carrier substrate 5 The time required for irradiating the entire surface of the carrier substrate 5 with the laser beam LB varies depending on the size of the area of the plastic substrate 11 but takes about 10 to 30 minutes The productivity per unit time is relatively decreased.

 Further, in order to prevent the ink layer in the electrophoretic film from being broken by the laser beam irradiation, the electrophoretic film may be formed on the plastic substrate with the thin film transistor and the pixel electrode formed thereon In this case, due to the flexible characteristics of the plastic substrate, it is difficult to handle the laminate, which makes it difficult to proceed with the module process. Therefore, in order to prevent this, a separate auxiliary support substrate is attached after the plastic substrate is detached. As a result, the manufacturing cost is increased and the product productivity per unit time is deteriorating due to the addition of the process.

In addition, by causing the degradation of the characteristics of the thin film transistor Tr by progress of the plastic desorption process through the irradiation of the laser beam LB, or causing defects such as causing the gate and data lines (not shown) The yield of production is deteriorating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, which is capable of reducing a manufacturing cost by eliminating a plastic substrate from a carrier substrate without using an expensive laser beam irradiating device, And to provide a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device capable of improving the production yield of a product.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device, comprising: forming first and second flexible substrates on first and second carrier substrates, respectively, Forming a thin film transistor array substrate on a substrate to form first and second thin film transistor array substrates; Attaching first and second electrophoretic films on the first and second thin film transistor array substrates; Attaching the first and second thin film transistor array substrates so that the first and second carrier substrates are exposed to the outside; Sealing the edges of the first and second thin film transistor array substrates which are bonded together; Attaching a first etch stop film to the first carrier substrate to seal the first carrier substrate; Etching the second carrier substrate to expose a second base substrate; Attaching a second protective sheet on the exposed second base substrate; Exposing the first carrier substrate by removing the first etch stop film; Etching the first carrier substrate to expose a first base substrate; Attaching a first protective sheet on the first base substrate; Cutting the first and second thin film transistor array substrates in a panel unit; And separating the first and second thin film transistor array substrates.

Attaching a driving IC to each of the first and second base substrates so as to be connected to one end of the gate and the data line; And attaching a flexible printed circuit (FPC) to contact the driving IC.

The method may further include attaching a second etch stop film on the second protective sheet before etching the first carrier substrate, wherein the step of cutting the first and second thin film transistor array substrates in a panel unit is performed And removing the second etch-preventive film and the seal before doing so.

 The first and second electrophoretic films may each comprise an ink layer composed of an adhesive layer, a plurality of capsules filled with a plurality of white pigments and black pigments charged through a condensation polymerization reaction, A common electrode, and a base film.

 And forming color filter layers on the first electrophoretic film and the second electrophoretic film, respectively.

The first and second carrier substrates are made of a glass material or a metal material, respectively. In the case of a glass material, the etchant is HF. When the material is a metal material, the etchant is FeCl ₂ .

In addition, the base substrate is formed of an organic film that can be applied using any one of a slit coating apparatus, a bar coating apparatus, and a spin coating apparatus.

The first and second protective sheets may have a thickness of 100 to 500 mu m so as to support the first and second base substrates.

The first and second carrier substrates are etched by a dipping method or a spraying method in which the etchant is sprayed using a nozzle.

The manufacturing method of the electrophoretic display device according to the present invention does not require an expensive laser beam irradiating device by removing the plastic base substrate from the carrier substrate without irradiating the laser beam through the laser beam irradiating device, There is an effect of reducing the manufacturing cost of the product by the deletion.

In addition, defects such as deterioration of the characteristics of the thin film transistor by laser beam irradiation and disconnection of wiring can be prevented originally, and the yield is improved.

There is no need for a separate support substrate when the module process is carried out. Thus, it is possible to improve the productivity per unit time and reduce the manufacturing cost by eliminating the process.

A process of removing the carrier substrate by etching and cutting process in the panel state is carried out by attaching two mother board units of the disk unit having a plurality of array patterns and the electrophoretic film to the processing time per unit time in the etching process and the cutting process .

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display device using a flexible plastic substrate according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

 FIGS. 3A to 3I are process plan views of the electrophoretic display device having a flexible plastic base substrate according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4A to 4N are views showing a process for manufacturing a flexible plastic material according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional view of the electrophoretic display device according to the present invention. In this case, for convenience of description, a region in which the thin film transistor Tr as a switching element is formed in each pixel region P is referred to as a switching region TrA, and a region in which a storage capacitor StgC is formed is defined as a storage region StgA do. At this time, a thin film transistor Tr is formed in each pixel region P, but a thin film transistor is shown only for one pixel region P in the drawing.

 The manufacture of such an electrophoretic display device equipped with a flexible plastic base substrate requires a carrier substrate having an area which is several to several times larger than the size of the electrophoretic display device for improving the productivity per unit time and a mother base substrate formed on the front face thereof In the embodiment of the present invention, two electrophoretic display devices are finally fabricated on one parent base substrate. However, the size of the carrier substrate, the mother base substrate, and the electrophoretic display device Depending on the size, two to tens of electrophoretic display devices may be manufactured through one parent base substrate.

 First, as shown in Figs. 3A and 4A, a liquid polymer material such as polyimide, silica resin, or acrylic is coated on a carrier substrate 101, for example, a substrate made of a metal material or a glass material Coating Apparatus (not shown) A polymer material layer (not shown) is formed by coating on the entire surface using, for example, a spin coating apparatus, a slit coating apparatus, or a bar coating apparatus.

 Thereafter, the carrier substrate 101 on which the polymer material layer (not shown) is formed is heat-treated to cure the polymer material layer (not shown), thereby forming the base substrate 110 having very flexible characteristics. At this time, it is preferable that the base substrate 110 is formed to have a thickness of about 3 μm to 50 μm so as to have very excellent flexibility characteristics.

At this time, an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (SiN x) is deposited on the entire surface of the base substrate 110 to form a buffer layer (not shown). The buffer layer (not shown) may be omitted in order to improve bonding properties between the base substrate 110 and the gate wiring (not shown) and the gate electrode 113 to be formed later. In the case of examples, one example is omitted.

 3B and 4B, a first metal material such as aluminum (Al), aluminum alloy (AlNd), copper (Cu), copper alloy, chromium (Cr) , A titanium alloy is deposited to form a first metal layer (not shown).

 Thereafter, the first metal layer (not shown) is patterned by performing a mask process including coating of a photoresist, exposure using a mask, development of a photoresist, etching, and stripping of a photoresist, (Not shown) extending in one direction on the buffer layer and a pad portion (not shown) located in a non-display region outside the display region DA, the gate wiring (not shown) (Not shown) connected to one end of the gate pad electrode. At the same time, a gate electrode 113 connected to the gate wiring (not shown) is formed in the switching region TrA and a first storage electrode 115 is formed in the storage region StgA. At this time, the first storage electrode 115 is formed as a part of the common wiring (not shown) by forming a common wiring (not shown) in parallel with the gate wiring (not shown) . In the drawing, a common wiring (not shown) is formed, so that a part of the common wiring (not shown) forms the first storage electrode 115.

Next, an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (SiNx) is deposited on the entire surface of the gate wiring (not shown), the gate electrode 113 and the first storage electrode 115, The gate insulating layer 120 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 110.

 Next, a pure amorphous silicon layer (not shown) and an impurity amorphous silicon layer (not shown) are formed by continuously depositing pure amorphous silicon and impurity amorphous silicon on the gate insulating layer 120, and patterning is performed by performing a mask process An active layer 125a and an impurity amorphous silicon pattern (not shown) are formed on the active layer 125a corresponding to the gate electrode 113 in the switching region TrA.

 Next, a second metal material such as molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), titanium alloy, aluminum alloy (AlNd), or the like is formed on the active layer 125a, the impurity amorphous silicon pattern (not shown) And a second metal layer (not shown) is formed on the entire surface.

 Next, the second metal layer (not shown) is patterned to form a data line 129 crossing the gate line (not shown) in the display region to define the pixel region P, A data pad electrode (not shown) connected to one end of the data line 129 is formed in the pad portion. At the same time, source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 are formed in the switching region TrA in each pixel region P so as to be spaced apart from each other on the impurity amorphous silicon pattern (not shown). In the storage region StgA, And a second storage electrode 134 connected to the drain electrode 132 is formed. At this time, the source electrode 130 is connected to the data line 129.

 Thereafter, dry etching is performed to remove the impurity amorphous silicon pattern (not shown) between the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 so that the active layer 125a is exposed between the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 And an ohmic contact layer 125b of impurity amorphous silicon is formed on the active layer 125a and is in contact with the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 and is spaced apart from each other. At this time, the active layer 125a and the ohmic contact layer 125b, which are separated from each other on the active layer 125a, constitute the semiconductor layer 125.

 Although the steps of forming the semiconductor layer 125 and the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 are performed through two different masking processes, the gate insulating layer 120 ), A pure and an impurity amorphous silicon layer (not shown) is formed, and the second metal layer (not shown) is formed on the impurity amorphous silicon layer before patterning the same, a mask process using diffraction exposure or halftone exposure The semiconductor layer 125 and the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 may be formed through a single mask process in which a photoresist pattern (not shown) having different thicknesses is formed . In this case, a semiconductor pattern (not shown) having a bilayer structure is formed under the data line 129 using the same material as the semiconductor layer 125.

 The source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 spaced apart from the gate electrode 113, the gate insulating layer 120 and the semiconductor layer 125 sequentially stacked in the switching region TrA are connected to the thin film transistor Tr, Respectively.

Next, an organic insulating material such as photo acryl or benzocyclobutene (BCB) is coated on the entire surface of the data line 129, the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132, and the second storage electrode 134 A first protective layer 140 having a flat surface is formed. In this case, an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) or silicon nitride (SiN x) is deposited on the entire surface of the thin film transistor Tr before forming the first passivation layer 140, (Not shown) may be preferentially formed, and the first passivation layer 140 may be formed continuously.

 A drain contact hole 142 exposing the drain electrode 132 of the thin film transistor Tr is formed by patterning the first and second passivation layers 140 (not shown) A gate pad contact hole (not shown) and a data pad contact hole (not shown) are formed to expose a data pad electrode (not shown) and a data pad electrode (not shown), respectively. In this case, a third protective layer (not shown) may be further formed by depositing an inorganic insulating material on the first passivation layer 140 made of an organic insulating material as a modification. In this case, the drain contact hole And the patterning process for forming the gate and data pad contact holes (not shown) proceeds after forming the third passivation layer (not shown).

   The reason for forming the second and third protective layers (not shown) in addition to the first protective layer 140 with the organic insulating material is that the characteristics of the thin film transistor Tr are improved and the bonding strength with the pixel electrode 150 to be formed later To strengthen it. Since the bonding force between the organic insulating material and the conductive material is weaker than the bonding force between the organic insulating material and the inorganic insulating material and the bonding force between the inorganic insulating material and the conductive material, the inorganic insulating material layer is interposed between the organic insulating material and the conductive material .

 In addition, when the active layer 125a exposed between the source and drain electrodes 130 and 132 is in contact with the organic insulating material, the interface characteristics of the active layer 125a are poor. This is to improve the characteristics by interposing a superior inorganic insulating material.

 Next, a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO), indium-zinc-oxide (IZO), and indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) is deposited on the first passivation layer 140 (or a third passivation layer -Tin-zinc-oxide (ITZO) to form a conductive material layer (not shown).

 A pixel electrode 150 is formed in each pixel region P so as to contact the drain electrode 132 through the drain contact hole 142 by patterning the conductive material layer (not shown) (Not shown) which is in contact with the gate pad electrode (not shown) through the gate pad contact hole (not shown) and a data pad contact hole (not shown) A data assist pad electrode (not shown) is formed to contact the data pad electrode (not shown).

 The pixel electrode 150 overlaps with the first storage electrode 134 to overlap the first storage electrode 134 and the pixel electrode 150 and between the two storage electrodes 134 and 150 The interposed first protective layer 140 forms a storage capacitor StgC.

 Hereinafter, the gate and data lines formed on the base substrate 110, the thin film transistor Tr, the storage capacitor StgC, and the pixel electrode 150 are collectively referred to as an array element 152 .

 3C and 4C, on the pixel electrode 150 formed in each pixel region P, a base film made of a material having a transparent and flexible property corresponding to the display region (for example, PET) A plurality of white pigments 166 charged by a condensation polymerization reaction and a plurality of capsules 167 filled with a black pigment 168 are formed on the lower surface of the common electrode 163, The ink layer 173 including the first adhesive layer 175 and the electrophoretic film 177 including the first adhesive layer 175 are laminated by using a transfer device (not shown) 173 are positioned between the common electrode 163 and the pixel electrode 150 so that the first adhesive layer 175 and the pixel electrode 150 are in contact with each other.

 At this time, the electrophoretic film 177 is attached corresponding to the display area, so that the pad part is exposed. At this time, the electrophoretic film 177 has a thickness of about 200 μm to 500 μm.

 After the electrophoretic film 177 is attached, red, green, and blue color filter patterns are sequentially formed on the electrophoretic film 177 corresponding to each pixel region P (not shown) (Not shown) is formed on the color filter layer (not shown), and a color layer protective film (not shown) for protecting the color filter layer (not shown) is attached on the color filter layer It is possible.

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3D and 4D, two carrier substrates 101 each having an array element 152 and an electrophoretic film 177 on the base substrate 110 The two carrier substrates are referred to as a first carrier substrate 101a and a second carrier substrate 101b respectively and the constituent elements constituting the first carrier substrate 101a are referred to as "first" The second electrophoretic film 177a and the second electrophoretic film 177b are arranged so as to be opposed to each other, with respect to the components constituting the second carrier substrate 101b.

 Next, as shown in FIG. 3D and FIG. 4E, a second etching prevention film 193b for preventing etching is attached to the back surface of the second carrier substrate 101b, and the first and second electrophoretic films ( The first and second carrier substrates 101a and 101b are disposed in a spaced-apart region between the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b including a predetermined width of a side surface and a back surface of the first and second carrier substrates 101a and 101b, A sealing pattern 191 is formed on the first and second carrier substrates 101a and 10b1 to form the panel 103 with the first and second carrier substrates 101a and 10b1 attached thereto. In this case, the sealing pattern 191 is formed of a material which is not affected by the etching solution. The sealing pattern 191 may be replaced with a tape (not shown) including an adhesive layer in a taping manner.

 When the color filter layer (not shown) is formed, the color layer protective film (not shown) is brought into close contact with each other, and then the sealing pattern 191 is formed to form a panel.

 Next, as shown in FIG. 3D and FIG. 4F, the second etching preventive film 193b and the sealing pattern 191 are formed on the back surface of the first carrier substrate 101a, The panel 103 is immersed in the water tank 192 containing the etchant or the like and etched by the dipping method or the back surface of the exposed first carrier substrate 101a of Figure 4e is exposed through a nozzle And the first base substrate 110a is exposed by etching the first carrier substrate 101a (FIG. 4E) by spraying. At this time, the edges of the first carrier substrate (101a of FIG. 4E) overlapping with the sealing pattern 191 are prevented from being etched by the sealing pattern 191, so that the first carrier substrate pattern 105a remains do.

When the first and second carrier substrates 101a and 101b are made of glass, the etchant is HF, and when the first and second carrier substrates 101a and 101b are made of metal, the etchant is FeCl ₂ .

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3E and 4G, the first electrophoretic film 177a corresponding to the first electrophoretic film 177a is formed on the back surface of the first base substrate 110a exposed outside the sealing pattern 191, A first protective sheet 195a having an area equal to or larger than that of the first array element 152a and completely overlapping the first array element 152a and having a thickness of about 100 to 500 mu m in a separated form, .

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3E and 4H, a first protective sheet 195a corresponding to the first base substrate 110a is adhered to the first protective sheet 195a, (193a), and the second etch stop film (193b in Fig. 4F) attached to the back surface of the second carrier substrate 110b is removed. Meanwhile, since the first protective sheet 195a and the first base substrate 110a do not react with the etchant, the process of attaching the first etch stop film 193a may be omitted.

 3E and 4I, the second etch stop film 193b is removed to expose the second carrier substrate 101b exposed to the outside of the seal pattern 191, The second base substrate 110b is exposed by removing the etching by the dipping method or the spraying method using the second base substrate 110b. At this time, in the case of the second carrier substrate 101b, the edges of the second carrier substrate 101b are prevented from being etched by the sealing pattern 191, so that the second carrier substrate pattern 105b ).

 Next, as shown in Figs. 3E and 4J, on the back surface of the second base substrate 110b, the second electrophoretic films 177b are formed to have the same or larger size than the second array elements 152b A second protective sheet 195b having a thickness of about 100 μm to 500 μm is attached to the second array element 152b so as to completely overlap the second array element 152b.

 By attaching the first and second protective sheets 195a and 195b to the rear surfaces of the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b, the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b, And 110b to prevent UV light from penetrating the backside of the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b and to prevent damage and stretch that may occur during transportation, To prevent the first and second base boards 110a and 110b from curling and wrinkling, and to serve as a support for the first and second base boards 110a and 110b.

 In addition, since the first and second carrier substrate patterns 105a and 105b are left without being removed at the edges of the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b, the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b In the present embodiment.

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3F, 3G, 4K and 4L, the sealing pattern 191 and the first etching preventive film 193a remaining on the panel 103 are removed. Thereafter, the panel 103 is attached to the edge of the first or second protective sheet 195a or 195b using a cutting device (not shown) having a cutting wheel 190 or the like or a laser cutting device Followed by separation into a unit electrophoretic display device 107. At this time, in the proceeding of the cutting process, the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b proceed in the state of a panel (103 in FIG. / 2, which is advantageous in shortening the cutting process time.

 On the other hand, first and second protective sheets 195a and 195b are formed on the back surfaces of the first and second base substrates 110a and 110b, respectively, even in the state of being separated by the unit electrophoretic display device 107 by the cutting process. The first and second base boards 110a and 110b can be prevented from being curled or creased due to the state where the first and second base boards 110a and 110b are mounted on the stage It is not necessary to separately carry out a process for achieving a flat state, so that the unit process time can be shortened.

 Meanwhile, in the drawing, the step of removing the sealing pattern (191 of FIG. 4J) is preferentially performed before the cutting step, and the cutting process is proceeded with the sealing pattern (191 of FIG. 4J) removed However, the cutting process may be performed without removing the sealing pattern (191 in FIG. 4J).

 Hereinafter, the components are referred to without using "first" and "second" which are named in the panel state since they are separated by a single unit electrophoretic display device for convenience of explanation.

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3H and 4M, by advancing the bonding process in each unit electrophoretic display device 107, a gate and a data auxiliary (not shown) connected to a gate and a data line The driving IC 183 is attached so as to be in contact with the pad electrode (not shown).

 Next, as shown in FIGS. 3F and 4N, an FPC 193 is formed on the other side of the driving IC 183 in contact with the gate and data auxiliary pad electrodes (not shown) provided on the base substrate 110, And finally the electrophoretic display device 108 according to the embodiment of the present invention, which is finally mounted up to the driving IC and the FPC, is completed.

1 is a view for explaining a driving principle of an electrophoretic display device;

FIGS. 2A to 2D are process cross-sectional views of a part of a process for manufacturing an array substrate for a conventional electrophoretic display device. FIG.

FIGS. 3A through 3I are cross-sectional views illustrating steps of manufacturing an electrophoresis apparatus having a flexible plastic substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4N are process plan views showing steps of manufacturing an electrophoresis apparatus having a flexible plastic substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

101a, 101b: first and second carrier substrates

103: Panel

105a and 105b: first and second carrier substrate patterns

110a, 110b: first and second base substrates

152a, 152b: first and second array elements

177a, 177b: First and second electrophoretic films

191: Sealing pattern

193a: First etching preventive film

Claims (12)

First and second flexible base substrates are formed on the first and second carrier substrates, and the thin film transistor formation process is performed on the first and second base substrates to form the first and second thin film transistor array substrates ; Attaching first and second electrophoretic films on the first and second thin film transistor array substrates; Attaching the first and second thin film transistor array substrates so that the first and second carrier substrates are exposed to the outside; Sealing the edges of the first and second thin film transistor array substrates which are bonded together; Attaching a first etch stop film to the first carrier substrate to seal the first carrier substrate, the first etch stop film being on the opposite side of the first base substrate; Exposing one surface of the second base substrate by etching the second carrier substrate; Attaching a second protective sheet to one surface of the exposed second base substrate; Removing the first etch stop film to expose the first carrier substrate; Etching the first carrier substrate to expose one surface of the first base substrate; Attaching a first protective sheet to one surface of the exposed first base substrate; Cutting the first and second thin film transistor array substrates in a panel unit; And separating the first and second thin film transistor array substrates. Claim 2 has been abandoned due to the setting registration fee.  The method according to claim 1, Attaching a driving IC to each of the first and second base substrates to be connected to one end of a gate and a data line connected to the respective thin film transistors; Attaching a flexible printed circuit (FPC) to each of the driving ICs attached on the first and second base substrates, respectively  And the electrophoretic display device.  The method according to claim 1, And attaching a second etch stop film on top of the second protective sheet before etching the first carrier substrate.  The method of claim 3, And removing the second etch stop film and the seal before proceeding to cut the first and second thin film transistor array substrates on a panel basis.  The method according to claim 1,  The first and second electrophoretic films may each have a thickness  An electrophoretic display device comprising an adhesive layer, an ink layer composed of a plurality of capsules filled with a large number of white pigments and black pigments charged through a condensation polymerization process sequentially stacked on the adhesive layer, a transparent common electrode, and a base film Gt;  The method according to claim 1, And forming color filter layers on the first electrophoretic film and the second electrophoretic film, respectively.  The method according to claim 1, Wherein the first and second carrier substrates are made of a glass material or a metal material, respectively, wherein the etchant is HF in the case of a glass material, and FeCl ₂ is an etchant in the case of a metal material.  The method according to claim 1,  Wherein the first and second base substrates are formed of an organic film that can be coated using any one of a slit coating apparatus, a bar coating apparatus, and a spin coating apparatus.  The method according to claim 1,  Wherein the first and second protective sheets have a thickness of 100 to 500 mu m so as to support the first and second base substrates. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the etching of the first and second carrier substrates is performed by a dipping method in which the etching solution is contained in the water tank, and a spraying method in which the etching solution is sprayed using a nozzle. The method according to claim 1, Wherein a sealing pattern is located at the edges of the first and second thin film transistor array substrates, and etching the second carrier substrate by the sealing pattern includes forming a second carrier substrate pattern Is formed on the surface of the electrophoretic display device. 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein a sealing pattern is located at an edge of the first and second thin film transistor array substrates, and etching the first carrier substrate by the sealing pattern includes forming a first carrier substrate pattern Is formed on the surface of the electrophoretic display device.

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