JP2000089021A - Color filter manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a color filter manufacturing device, which can cut an insulating substrate having parts having been defective in cleaning and defective in drying and a color filter manufacturing method using this device. SOLUTION: The color filter manufacturing device is constituted by having a means (1) for holding the insulating substrate (hereinafter referred to as an insulating substrate), on which at least a transparent electrode is formed, and has flexibility, a means (2) for immersing the insulating substrate into an electrolyzer and electrodeposition-forming a pigment layer and a means (3) for performing cleaning and drying. In this device, the pigment layer of the color filter, which is constituted by laminating the insulating substrate, the transparent electrode and the pigment layer in this order, is formed on the transparent electrode by the use of an electrochemical technique. In this case, the color filter manufacturing device is provided with a means for cutting the end part of the insulating substrate behind this means (3), and the means for holding the insulating substrate in this means is intended to be a means for double-holding this insulating substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a color filter used in a color liquid crystal display. In particular, the present invention relates to a color filter manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method suitable for a plastic film substrate having excellent portability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid crystal display devices have been used in various fields, and are increasingly being used as information display devices on CRTs. In particular, devices that require portability are used in many devices because of their small size, light weight, and low power consumption. In addition, color technology has been advanced, and various methods such as a dyeing method, a pigment dispersion method, an electrodeposition method, a printing method, and a micelle electrolytic method have been proposed as methods for producing a dye layer of a liquid crystal color filter, and some of them have been put into practical use. There are also things.

The dyeing method is to form an anti-staining film on gelatin by a photolithography method,
The pigment dispersion method is a method in which a UV-curable resist in which a pigment is dispersed is applied to a substrate, and mask exposure and thermal curing by photolithography are performed.
The electrodeposition method is a method in which a pigment layer is repeatedly formed three times in GB. The electrodeposition method is a method in which an electrodeposition polymer and a pigment are dispersed and electrodeposited on a patterned electrode on a substrate. In the method of printing inks of three primary colors of RGB, the micellar electrolysis method is a method in which a pigment is dispersed using a surfactant to form a dye layer on a patterned electrode on a substrate. Among these, in the dyeing method, the pigment dispersion method, the printing method, etc., in the formation of the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) patterns, the respective positions are accurately aligned with other patterns. There is a need to do. In addition, it is necessary to align the dye layer and the liquid crystal driving electrode.

In this respect, in the electrochemical means such as the electrodeposition method and the micelle electrolytic method, a photolithography method is used for patterning a transparent electrode, but such precise alignment is not required. Further, the micelle electrolysis method can form a conductive color filter layer, and can use the dye layer as a liquid crystal drive electrode without laminating a liquid crystal drive electrode on the dye layer again. For this reason, the micelle electrolysis method has established a basic technology (J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 1991, 113, 450-456;
146001, JP-A-2-149797, JP-A-3-
102302), various studies have been made toward practical use. In particular, since precise alignment is not required, the present invention is highly adaptable to a plastic film substrate in addition to a normal glass substrate. Recently, a liquid crystal display device using a plastic film has been used for portable equipment such as a mobile phone and an electronic organizer. The plastic film has a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.3 mm,
Light weight makes it ideal for portable equipment.

When a dye layer is formed by an electrochemical method such as an electrodeposition method or a micellar electrolysis method, steps such as washing and blow drying are required in the course of the steps. Therefore, when the insulating substrate has flexibility and a dye layer is formed on the insulating substrate one by one in batch production, it is necessary to hold the insulating substrate. However, in this case, it is difficult to clean and dry the held portion of the substrate satisfactorily. For example, when a single substrate is provided with R, G, B, and three color dye layers, it remains on the substrate due to poor cleaning. In some cases, the dye of the first color shifts to the second and subsequent colors, which causes contamination of the electrolytic solution.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for cleaning
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a color filter capable of cutting an insulating substrate having a portion where drying has failed, and a method for manufacturing a color filter using the apparatus.

[0007]

A first aspect of the present invention is a means (1) for holding at least a flexible insulating substrate on which a transparent electrode is formed, immersing the insulating substrate in an electrolytic bath, and dyeing the dye. A dye layer of a color filter, comprising means (2) for electrodepositing a layer and means (3) for washing and drying, and comprising an insulating substrate, a transparent electrode and a dye layer laminated in this order. An apparatus for manufacturing a color filter formed on the transparent electrode by using an electrochemical method, further comprising means for cutting the end of the insulating substrate after the means (3), and holding the insulating substrate in the means. The means for performing the operation is a means for double-holding the insulating substrate.

A second aspect of the present invention is that at least one of the holding jigs is provided.
The shape of the portion in contact with the other substrate is in the first color filter manufacturing apparatus having a needle-shaped portion.

A third aspect of the present invention resides in the above-mentioned two color filter manufacturing apparatus, wherein the other holding jig has a projection at a position where it can come into contact with the needle-shaped part.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the above-described color filter manufacturing apparatus, wherein the other holding jig has a depression on a surface which can be brought into contact with the needle-shaped portion.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the above-mentioned third color filter manufacturing apparatus, wherein the projection has a depression on the surface in contact with the substrate.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to any one of the above items 1 to 5, wherein the flexible insulating substrate on which the transparent electrode is formed is held. The insulative substrate is immersed in an electrolytic bath and the dye layer is electrodeposited, then washed and dried, and the insulative substrate, the transparent electrode and the dye layer of the color filter are laminated in this order by an electrochemical method. In the method for producing a color filter formed on the transparent electrode by using the method, a color filter characterized in that the insulating substrate is double-held and an end of the insulating substrate is cut after the washing and drying processes. Manufacturing method.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be further described with reference to the drawings. Using the apparatus for manufacturing a color filter of the present invention, a color filter was manufactured as follows according to the process shown in FIG.

The flexible substrate 1 with only the right and left ends of the substrate held by the holding jigs 3 and 4 is immersed in an electrolytic cell 5, and after electrodeposition, dried by water washing and air blowing. The left and right ends of the substrate are double-held by holding jigs 3, 7 and 4, 8 and cut between the jigs 3 and 7 and between the jigs 4 and 8. By performing such a cut, a portion that has been held by the holding jig during cleaning and drying and thus has been subjected to cleaning failure and drying failure is cut, and the next portion of these cleaning failure and drying failure is cut. An adverse effect on the process can be prevented. The width of the cut is determined by the width of the portion that has been defectively cleaned or dried. Therefore, in the case of a color filter having three color layers, the above process is repeated three times,
In this case, it is necessary to increase the cutting margin between the insulating substrate and the transparent electrode.

As a holding jig employed in the present invention, which can double-hold each end of the substrate, at least one of a pair of holding jigs comes into contact with the substrate as shown in FIG. It is preferable that the portion has a needle shape.
The holding jig having such a shape bites into the substrate,
The substrate can be securely held.

A plurality of the needle-shaped portions may be provided on one holding jig. In addition, in order to increase the amount of bite into the substrate, as shown in FIG. 2B, the other holding jig has a recess formed on the surface at a position where it can come into contact with the needle-shaped portion. Things.

As another form of holding jig, one holding jig provided with a projection at a position corresponding to the needle-shaped portion can reduce the contact area between the holding jig and the substrate. It is preferred. Further, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), it is more preferable to form a depression on the top surface of the protrusion because the protrusion into the substrate increases.

The holding jig having the needle shape as described above,
As described above, not only can the substrate be securely held, but also the contact area between the holding jig and the substrate can be made extremely small, so that the area where cleaning failure or drying failure can be reduced is reduced. Can be smaller.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

Embodiment 1 As shown in FIG. 3, an insulating substrate 1 on which a transparent electrode (ITO) 2 is formed is held at a constant load by a pair of holding jigs 3 and 4 having a width of 30 mm. After performing immersion in the electrolytic solution 6 and electrolysis according to the process shown in (1), washing and blow drying are performed, and then another pair of holding jigs 7 and 8 are additionally provided. In a state where the insulating substrate 1 was double-holded at 7, 4 and 8, all the contaminated portions of the insulating substrate 1 were cut. This process was performed on the same insulating substrate in the order of red, green, and blue electrolytes, and 1,000 insulating substrates were processed. This example was performed under the following conditions.

Insulating substrate: 150 μm in thickness, PES (polyethersulfone) Electrolysis condition: electrolysis potential: 0.5 V (vs Ag / Ag)
Cl), electrolysis time 3 min.・ Washing conditions: flow rate 30 mm / sec. 10 in pure water
sec. Immersion ・ Blow conditions: wind speed 20 m / sec. , 10 sec. Table 1 shows the results of this example.

Example 2 Example 1 was carried out using a holding jig provided with a needle-shaped member having a tip R0.5 as shown in FIG. 4 as a holding jig. Table 1 shows the results.

Embodiment 3 The embodiment is the same as the embodiment except that the holding jig used in the second embodiment and the holding jig as shown in FIG. Performed similarly to 2. Table 1 shows the results.

Example 4 The holding force of the holding jig in Examples 1 to 3 was measured by the method shown in FIG. The load when the holding position of the insulating substrate was shifted was taken as the holding force, and the holding force of the holding methods of Examples 2 and 3 was measured with the value obtained by the holding method of Example 1 as 1. Table 2 shows the results.

Comparative Example 1 The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that the insulating substrate was not cut. Table 1 shows the results.

Comparative Example 2 The same procedure as in Example 1 was carried out except that the position of the holding jig of Example 1 was arranged above and below the insulating substrate as shown in FIG. 7, and dirt on the insulating substrate was visually determined. did. Table 1 shows the results.
Shown in

[0027]

[Table 1]

[0028]

[Table 2]

[0029]

According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for producing a color filter, which can satisfactorily wash or dry a flexible insulating substrate and can cut the insulating substrate satisfactorily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a color filter manufacturing process of Example 1. (A) Substrate holding step (b) Dye layer forming step by electrolysis (c) Water washing and air blowing step (d) Substrate edge cutting step

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state where a substrate is held by a pair of holding jigs. (A) is a diagram in which one of a pair of holding jigs uses a holding jig having a needle-shaped shape portion. (B) It is the figure which used what has a hollow in the other holding jig among the pair of holding jigs of (a). (C) It is the figure which used the holding jig of (a) which has the projection which has the other holding jig in the holding jig.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an electrolysis step (a dye layer forming step) in Example 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a holding jig according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a holding jig according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a measurement of the holding force of the holding jigs of Examples 1 to 3 on the insulating substrate.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a position of a holding jig of Comparative Example 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insulating substrate 2 Transparent electrode 21 Holding jig 22 Holding jig 23 Holding jig 24 Holding jig 25 Holding jig 26 Holding jig 27 Depression 28 Depression 3 Holding jig 4 Holding jig 41 Holding jig 5 Electrolyte tank 51 Holding jig 52 Holding jig 6 Electrolyte 61 Holding jig 62 Holding jig 7 Holding jig 71 Holding jig 72 Holding jig 8 Holding jig 9 Needle-shaped shape part 10 Projection

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Fumiyoshi Matsumoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tomohiro Inoue 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo F term in Ricoh Co., Ltd. (reference) 2H048 BA62 BB02 BB15 BB42 2H091 FA02Y FC06 FC16 FC24 FC29 GA01 LA12

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A means (1) for holding at least a flexible insulating substrate on which a transparent electrode is formed (hereinafter, also referred to as an insulating substrate). The dye layer of the color filter, which has means (2) for electrodeposition formation and means (3) for washing and drying, is formed by laminating an insulating substrate, a transparent electrode, and a dye layer in this order. An apparatus for manufacturing a color filter formed on the transparent electrode by using a conventional method, further comprising: means for cutting the end of the insulating substrate after the means (3), and means for holding the insulating substrate in the means. Is a means for double-holding the insulating substrate. 2. The color filter manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the holding jigs in contact with the substrate has a needle-like shape. 3. The color filter manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the other holding jig has a projection at a position where it can be brought into contact with the needle-shaped portion. 4. The apparatus for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 2, wherein the other holding jig has a depression on a surface that can be brought into contact with the needle-shaped portion. 5. The color filter manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the projection has a depression on a surface that contacts the substrate. 6. An apparatus for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the insulating substrate on which the transparent electrode is formed is held, and the insulating substrate is immersed in an electrolytic cell. After the dye layer is formed by electrodeposition, the dye layer of the color filter formed by laminating the insulating substrate, the transparent electrode and the dye layer in the order of washing and drying is formed on the transparent electrode using an electrochemical method. A method for producing a color filter, comprising: after the washing and drying treatments, the insulating substrate is double-supported and an end of the insulating substrate is cut.