JP2000258775A - Production of liquid crystal display device and liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the picture quality by leaving a photosensitive resin only in the lower part of spacer particles by exposure and development and backing the resin to fix the spacer particles on the wiring part or black matrix part of a substrate. SOLUTION: A positive photosensitive resin 3a, for example, containing spherical spacer particles 4 having a uniform particle size is applied on a transparent substrate 1 having a wiring part 2 or a resin matrix part 2. Then the whole surface of the substrate is irradiated with and exposed to UV rays without using a pattern mask, and then developed with an organic alkali solution to remove all of the resin containing spacer particles on the pixel openings except for the specified part 2. Then after the substrate is irradiated with UV rays through the remaining resin layer side to expose the resin, the resin is also developed so as to firmly hold the spacer particles 4 with the resin 3a on the specified part 2. Then the remaining photosensitive resin 3a is completely cured by baking and the spacer particles 4 is stably fixed with the resin 3a on a predetermined part 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a method of mounting spacer particles for providing a predetermined gap between two opposing substrates provided with transparent electrodes. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device in which uniform spacer particles are securely and easily selected and fixed only on a limited predetermined portion other than a liquid crystal pixel opening portion, and a liquid crystal display excellent in display quality obtained by this method. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a liquid crystal display device, as a supplementary material for assembling a liquid crystal display cell (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a cell), a sealing material for a cell periphery, a sealing material for a liquid crystal injection hole, and a cell thickness are used. There may be mentioned a spacer material to be controlled. Among them, spacers, which greatly affect the display quality of the cell, are particularly important auxiliary materials. In a liquid crystal display device, a certain gap is provided between two opposing transparent substrates by the spacers, so that the liquid crystal display device is suitable for a display device. In addition, a liquid crystal layer having a uniform thickness is maintained.

[0003] From the practical viewpoint of a liquid crystal display cell, it can be said that this spacer is concerned with various characteristics such as high-speed response, high contrast, wide vision, and high reliability. Among these, in particular, response, contrast, vision, and the like are closely related to the thickness of the liquid crystal layer.For example, in a certain display mode, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is highly adjusted in accordance with the optical characteristics of the liquid crystal material. If not set, good contrast cannot be obtained. Further, in some display modes, in particular, the thickness unevenness of the liquid crystal layer causes display unevenness of the device, and reduces visual recognition. Therefore, the spacer for appropriately selecting the spacer from the viewpoint of the right material in the right place and setting the liquid crystal layer to a uniform and desired thickness is a very important member for the liquid crystal display device.

In recent years, this liquid crystal display device has been used in various fields as a display device such as a television or a personal computer, because of its light weight and low power consumption.
In particular, the quality and quantity of color display liquid crystal display devices have been rapidly developing and expanding.
Multi-color display and full-color display are used depending on the purpose and application. In these color liquid crystal display devices, silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) on a glass substrate are arranged in a matrix to maintain a color image while a signal searches for an image, and the switching action is used. . Further, there are a simple matrix drive type having a single main configuration and an active matrix drive type having a switching element for controlling writing of a signal voltage for each of a large number of display pixels such as a color liquid crystal display. is there.

As described above, in a liquid crystal display device used for various applications, a spacer member having a very important purpose is conventionally applied by a method of spraying spacer particles on a substrate by a spray gun or the like. It is common. Further, it has been extremely difficult to apply the spacer particles to the substrate with a uniform thickness by this spraying method, and it is also true that the spacer particles are sprayed on the pixel portion. Accordingly, as already described above, with the recent progress of higher definition and higher definition of the liquid crystal display device, the presence of the spacer particles in the pixel portion of the cell causes a decrease in the contrast of the image and a bright spot. Alternatively, a deduction may occur, resulting in a decrease in display quality. In addition, recently, the liquid crystal display device is often used in projectors as well, and in particular, the presence of spacer particles in the pixel portion is a fatal defect for the above reason.

In such a situation, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-234211 discloses that a spacer particle for controlling the gap between substrates is contained in a sealing material around the cell, and after the substrates are bonded together, the pressure is adjusted. Describes a method of controlling the gap by using the method. In such a proposal, the substrates tend to bend, etc., and minute variations occur in the gaps (gaps) between the substrates. In particular, when performing RGB color synthesis in a liquid crystal projector or the like, the gap variations occur. However, this causes color unevenness, and significantly lowers product quality.

[0007] Also, JP-A-3-146927, JP-A-4-37720 and JP-A-4-93924 disclose a method of forming a support on a substrate other than a pixel opening by using a photoresist or a color resist. A method of forming is also described. Obviously, with this proposal, it is extremely difficult to control the normal gap of 4-7 μm with these struts. Further, as a method other than using a photoresist as a means, a method using a silicone film (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-4227), a method using a silk screen or a metal mask (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-21921), and the like have been proposed. However, none of them can control the gap to a high degree.

[0008]

As described above, the spacer used in the liquid crystal display device not only maintains the gap between the substrates but also controls the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in accordance with the optical characteristics of the liquid crystal material. This is closely related to various practical characteristics of the liquid crystal display device, such as response speed of display, high contrast, wide vision, and high reliability.
In addition, the contrast is good, especially the prevention of the occurrence of display unevenness due to the unevenness of the thickness of the liquid crystal layer, and further, regarding the improvement of visual recognition, etc., the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is uniform and thinner by the spacer, It is important that it be maintained to a higher degree. Also, in particular, with the recent increase in definition (or high definition) of image display and the increase in the number of pixels, it is necessary to arrange spacers with increasingly higher precision. The variation in the threshold voltage, the lighting state, and the interference phenomenon cause color tone unevenness of the image quality, and significantly destabilize or stabilize the display quality of the liquid crystal display device.

Under these circumstances, in order to achieve these objects, many proposals have conventionally been made as a method of mounting a spacer. However, a method of spraying spacer particles on a substrate, or a method of using a photoresist or the like instead of a method of spraying these spacer particles as variously proposed in the above-mentioned publications, as already described above, is still in use. There are many problems, and it is a reality that uniformity of a substrate gap (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as a gap) and a technique of mounting and fixing spacer particles are not yet sufficiently satisfied.

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-270806 describes
As shown in FIG. 5, a method proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260, pp. 1 to 3 shows that after forming an alignment film 31 on a substrate, a heat fusible material containing an organic pigment or carbon black serving as a resin black matrix layer 28b (resin BM28b). After applying a resin 28a and performing selective exposure using a mask 27 as shown in FIG. 5 (a), as shown in FIG. 5 (b), a spray method is performed on this hot-melt resin layer 28a. With spacer particles 3
Spray 2 Next, a heating treatment is performed at a temperature of about 100 ° C. to half-melt the resin, and the spacer particles 32 are brought into close contact with the resin layer 28a. As shown in (), the spacer particles 32 and the hot-melt resin 28a on the pixel electrode 29 are removed. Next, the resin BM2 is baked (baked) at a temperature of about 200 ° C.
This is a method in which spacer particles are fixed only on the 8b layer.

Certainly, according to the proposal of this publication, there is provided a method of mounting spacer particles which can effectively avoid the problems often seen in the conventional method as described below. As an example of the problem, for example, as shown in FIG.
After the spacer particles 34a coated with the photosensitive resin are sprayed thereon, only the pixel portions 36 are selectively exposed by exposure from the substrate surface as shown in FIG. 6A. Next, the pixel portion 36 shown in FIG.
The upper spacer particles are stripped (or dissolved) of the coating resin, and the spacer particles are removed. However, since the resin BM film 35 and the pixel electrode 36 are usually provided with a region where the resin BM film 35 and the pixel electrode 36 overlap to some extent in order to suppress a decrease in cell contrast, FIG.
Under the exposure as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the spacer particles at the site such as 34b shown in FIG. 6 (a) tend to remain on the pixel electrode 36 without being removed [see FIG. 6 (b)]. In addition, when the spacer particles are generally used plastic beads, the absorption or refraction of the UV light of the plastic beads at the time of exposure may cause the spacer particles to be deteriorated. The lower part of the resin, which is not sufficiently exposed and is negative, is removed at the time of development as shown in FIG. 7C, and the resin BM4 shown in FIG.
The spacer particles 45 on 4 may also be removed.

As described above, according to the proposal of this publication, the spacer particles can be selectively attached to a predetermined portion on the substrate, and can be seen in FIGS. Although such a problem can be avoided, the method of mounting the spacer particles on the substrate is the same as the conventional method, and the method is performed by spraying the spacer particles together with the compressed fluid (gas or solvent) on the substrate using a spray nozzle or the like. Have been done.

Regardless of whether the spraying is a wet method or a dry method, when the spacer particles are sprayed on the substrate,
As shown in FIG. 8A, even if a mask 52 is interposed on the substrate 53 to be sprayed, the substrate after the mask is removed after the spraying overlaps as shown in FIG. 8B. It tends to cause particles and reaggregated particles on the substrate. Therefore, such a variation in the thickness of the gap between the substrates must be avoided from the viewpoint of achieving the above-described problems, and as long as the spraying method is used, it is difficult to form a uniform layer thickness of the spacer particles on the substrate. In view of making the substrate gap more uniform, this proposal is not yet satisfactory. Further, this spraying method is extremely complicated in terms of equipment and method itself, and is not sufficiently satisfactory from the viewpoint of further reducing costs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to use spherical spacer particles having a uniform particle diameter and to ensure that the spacer is provided only at a specific portion other than the pixel portion on the substrate, without using the dispersion method having the above-mentioned problem. , And easily, and with a uniform thickness,
A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device capable of selectively fixing the spacer particles to provide a predetermined gap between the substrates and reducing the variation in the substrate gap, and further, fixing the spacer particles only to selected portions to form an image. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device with improved display quality.

[0015]

Means for Solving the Problems In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have intensively studied to solve these problems, and contained spherical regular spacer particles on a rubbed transparent glass substrate. Photosensitive resin (photoresist)
Was applied, and the exposure and development treatments were examined in various ways. As a result, the spacer particles were selectively applied only to a predetermined portion of the substrate without using a complicated method of dispersing the spacer particles on the substrate as in the related art. The present inventors have found a method for fixing the present invention, and have completed the present invention.

That is, according to the present invention, in manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a predetermined gap between two opposing substrates provided with transparent electrodes, (1) spacer particles are contained on at least one entire surface of the substrate. (2) removing the photosensitive resin other than on the wiring portion or the black matrix portion, and (3) removing the photosensitive resin.
A step of leaving the photosensitive resin only under the spacer particles by exposure and development treatment; (4) baking the residual photosensitive resin to deposit the spacer particles on the wiring portion or the black matrix portion on the substrate; Fixing the liquid crystal display device.

Further, based on the above-described method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display device having a predetermined gap between two opposing substrates provided with transparent electrodes, wherein the predetermined gap is A liquid crystal display device provided by spacer particles selectively fixed at least on a wiring portion or a black matrix portion between substrates.

According to the present invention, as shown in the manufacturing process shown in FIG. 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 1A, a transparent substrate having a wiring portion 2 or a resin black matrix portion 2 (or a resin BM portion 2) 1 containing spherical spacer particles 4 having a uniform particle size, for example, a positive photosensitive resin 3a.
Is applied by, for example, a spin coating method or the like [Step (1) above].

Next, the entire surface of the substrate is exposed to UV light for exposure without using a pattern mask. Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), all of the resin including the spacer particles on the pixel opening portion except for the predetermined portion 2 is removed by developing with an organic alkali aqueous solution. As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the spacer particles applied together with the resin remain together with the resin 3a only on the predetermined site 2 selected in the present invention [the above step (2)].

Next, UV light is applied from the remaining resin layer surface side.
After light irradiation and exposure, development is performed in the same manner. As shown in FIG. 1C, the spacer particles 4 are formed on the predetermined portion 2 and slightly adhered to the particles 4 below the predetermined portion 2. The remaining resin 3a is securely supported on the predetermined portion 2 (the above step (3)).

Then, by baking at a temperature of about 200 ° C., the remaining photosensitive resin 3a becomes a completely cured resin 3b as shown in FIG. It is fixed and stably fixed [Step (4) above].

The substrate for one liquid crystal cell provided with the spacer particles obtained as described above corresponds to Steps 15 to 22 in FIG. 4 for explaining the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process according to the present invention. By passing through a liquid crystal injection step 24 and a liquid crystal injection hole sealing step 25 through a step 23 of attaching one substrate to this substrate, for example, as shown in FIG. The liquid crystal is a limited part on the wiring part and is precisely and stably mounted on the selected part, and the height of the wiring film thickness and the spacer particle diameter fixed on this is the liquid crystal. A liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, which is provided as a gap between display cells, is obtained.

As a result, the manufacturing method of the present invention does not cause the above-described problems shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 by using a photoresist containing spacer particles which is significantly different from the conventional method. In addition, since the conventional spraying method is not used for mounting the spacer particles, the spacer particles can be reliably and easily applied to the light shielding portion (resin BM portion 2) without any problem as shown in FIG. ) To prevent light leakage from around the spacer to the pixel opening, and the absence of spacer particles in the pixel opening improves contrast and improves image quality. Can be improved.

The uniformity of the particle size of the spacer particles contained in the photosensitive resin can be determined by performing a classification process in advance.
It is easily controlled, and if such particles are used for the spacer, there is no need to strictly control the thickness of the coating resin film applied on the substrate. In addition, the spacer particles can be securely fixed only at a predetermined site.

Further, as described above, according to the present invention, particularly in the step 23 shown in FIG. 4, since this processing does not require a mask, the alignment apparatus usually required for bonding substrates is usually used. This eliminates the need for (or alignment work) and eliminates the use of a complicated spacer spraying device, so that the production cost can be reduced and the productivity of the liquid crystal display device can be improved.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, when spacer particles are mounted on a substrate, spherical spacer particles having a uniform particle diameter and containing spherical spacer particles are used instead of the conventional spraying method. The feature is that the spacer particles are stably supported only at specific portions other than the pixel portions on the substrate by using a photoresist.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a liquid crystal display device and a method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In the present invention, the spacer particles include
Any known materials can be used without any particular limitation, and are preferably insulative, for example, plastic spacers such as polystyrene, amorphous or crystalline silica particles, and inorganic materials such as glass beads. Spacer and the like, particle size, particle shape and particle size uniformity, dispersion density, elastic modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion or from the viewpoint of the relationship with the optical properties of the liquid crystal material, from the viewpoint of appropriately selecting these. used.

Further, the particle shape is a regular particle such as a sphere or a column, and preferably a spherical and true sphere from the viewpoint of easy control of the thickness. Also,
If necessary, these two types of regular particles can be used in combination. The particle size can be appropriately selected depending on the substrate gap required for the liquid crystal cell, but usually a particle size in the range of 3 to 5 μm is suitably used. In the present invention, preferably, the particle diameter is 2 μm.
From the viewpoint of spherical particles having a size of not less than m and not more than 8 μm and having little thermal and mechanical deformation, preferably, silica-based particles and glass-based spherical particles are suitably used.

When the particle diameter is less than 2 μm, the gap is insufficient for applications, and the particles themselves tend to be relatively agglomerated and coarse particles.
Dispersion as a single particle in the resist becomes impossible, and agglomerated particles are observed in the coating film, and the uniformity is significantly impaired. Further, when the particle diameter exceeds 8 μm, recently, a gap generally considered to be about 4 to 7 μm is formed,
Since it is larger than necessary, it is not satisfactory in terms of use.

As the photosensitive resin (photoresist), a positive type in which a light-irradiated portion is easily denatured and easily dissolved in a developing solution, and a negative type which is photocrosslinked and insolubilized by irradiation. There is a type, and in the present invention, it can be used as appropriate without any particular limitation. For example, as a positive type photoresist, o-naphthoquinonediazidesulfonic acid is a novolak resin, 2,3,4-trihydroxybenzophenone Alternatively, there is a mixture of a photosensitive agent esterified with tetrahydroxybenzophenone or the like and a cresol-type novolak resin. In these photoresists, the solubility of the light-irradiated portion in an alkaline aqueous solution increases, so that only the exposed portion is dissolved and removed, and a positive pattern is formed. Particularly, as a heat-resistant positive type photoresist, a positive type photoresist in which an o-nitrobenzyl group or o-naphthoquinonediazide is introduced as a photoreactive group into a polyimide precursor, is obtained by irradiation of light with o-nitrobenzyl. The group or o-naphthoquinonediazide forms an aldehyde and a carboxyl group and is solubilized in an alkaline developer.

Further, as a negative type photoresist, a methacryloyl group is used as a photosensitive group, and is ester-bonded to a carboxyl group of a polyamic acid (polyimide precursor). For example, after development, each post-baking at 250 ° C. and 400 ° C. generates an imide ring, forming a polyimide film,
In the case where a polyamic acid is introduced by ionic bonding of an amine compound having a photosensitive group, the photosensitive group is completely eliminated at the time of post-baking, resulting in high heat resistance. In addition, a solvent-soluble photosensitive polyimide can be obtained by the molecular design of the primary structure of the polymer, and high-temperature heat treatment with the precursor is not required.

In the present invention, as described above, a photosensitive resin (photoresist) containing these spacer particles is coated on the substrate in order to fix the spacer particles on the substrate. . here,
When applying a photosensitive resin containing a predetermined amount of spherical spacer particles, it is preferable to apply the photosensitive resin to a substrate that has been subjected to an orientation treatment in advance.

The method of the alignment treatment is not particularly limited, and a method such as a horizontal alignment, a vertical alignment, and a tilt alignment treatment is used. Can be appropriately selected, or the processing can be performed by combining two or more types. Further, a method of performing a rubbing treatment after forming an organic alignment film is also generally used for the orientation treatment. The formation of the organic alignment film is also performed by immersing the substrate in the alignment agent,
Alternatively, it is easily formed by roll coating or the like. Also, those having an amino group, a carboxylic acid group,
In an alignment treatment using a polyimide resin, there is a tendency that excellent alignment properties are exhibited for a liquid crystal material. In particular, in the case of horizontal alignment, liquid crystal molecules cannot usually be aligned simply by applying an alignment agent, and the surface of the alignment film is rubbed in a certain direction to align the liquid crystal molecules in the rubbed direction. It is necessary. Therefore, in the present invention, it is more preferable to perform a rubbing treatment before providing (fixing) the spacer particles on the substrate.

In the present invention, preferably, a resin solution containing the spacer particles in an amount of 3 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the photosensitive resin is rotated on the substrate subjected to the alignment treatment. On a substrate to be formed, and can be formed as a resist film by a spin coating method. In this case, since the thickness of the coating film is appropriately controlled by the viscosity of the resin and the number of rotations of the substrate disk, the number concentration (number / mm ² ) of the spacer particles to be fixed to a predetermined portion is determined. By setting in advance, the content of the spacer particles in the above-mentioned photosensitive resin is appropriately used within the above-mentioned range, irrespective of the resin viscosity before use and the rotation speed of the substrate disk during spin coating. If the content is less than the lower limit, the coating efficiency of the particles is low, and if the content exceeds the upper limit, the coating amount of the particles becomes unnecessarily high. Will come.

Therefore, in the present invention, as described above, this coating layer is finally formed of a spacer resin on a predetermined portion of the substrate and a photosensitive resin left slightly below the particle [step (4). ) Is a resin baked in
The feature is that all are removed. Therefore, for example, at the time of spin coating, this coating layer
As shown in (a), it may be carried out so as to completely cover the spacer particles contained in the resin film thickness.
As shown in FIG. 2, it is a feature of the present invention that there is no problem even when the resin film thickness is such that the spacer particles contained therein are exposed.

Further, as described above, the photosensitive resin layer containing the spacer particles coated as described above is exposed to UV light such as exposure-development shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In the development treatment with an organic alkali aqueous solution, the UV light for exposure used is irradiated with wavelength light [436 nm (g line), 365 nm (gi line), excimer laser light (KrF: 248 nm)] which is usually used. do it. In the present invention, the processing step (2) is preferably performed by irradiating UV light from the substrate surface via a predetermined pattern mask from the viewpoint of performing more selective exposure as required. Exposure. Next, normal development processing is performed.

In the present invention, if necessary, FIG.
The exposure of the substrate surface and the exposure of the resin layer surface in the steps shown in FIG. 1A and FIG.
Even if the order is reversed, the spacer particles are formed on the substrate in the same manner as described above.

In the above-described alignment treatment, the spacers can be formed before the rubbing by selecting the rubbing direction, if necessary. However, the liquid crystal can be formed without being affected by the kind of the liquid crystal material. From the viewpoint of implantation, it is more preferable to form a spacer after rubbing as described above.

According to the present invention as described above, FIG.
As shown in (d), the spacer particles to be fixed on the predetermined portion 2 are classified in advance to a high degree, and spherical particles having a more uniform particle diameter can be appropriately used. Moreover, since the resin applied at the same time, except for the resin remaining at the lower part of the spacer particles, is completely removed, the method of spraying the spacer particles on a certain resin film applied as in the related art is: Notably, there is no need to strictly control the resin film thickness. Therefore, in the present invention, since maintaining the gap constant can easily depend on the uniformity of the spacer particle diameter, when one of the substrates is bonded as a gap support by the spacer particles, particularly, an aligner is used. This eliminates the need for an aligner operation using the device, and thus it can be said that the present invention significantly improves the productivity of the liquid crystal display device.

The substrate material used in the present invention may be a conventionally known transparent glass substrate or a plastic substrate such as polycarbonate (PC), amorphous polyolefin, or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Can be appropriately selected and used.

[0042]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be further described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 3 is an example of an embodiment according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, after applying a polyamic acid by an offset printing method to a TFT substrate 5 on which a TFT element 16 and a transparent pixel electrode ITO10 are formed on a glass substrate, about 200
It was baked at a temperature of ℃ to form a polyimide alignment film 7. In addition, an ITO film was formed on the protective film 13 by a sputtering method, and was patterned by photolithography and etching to form a pixel electrode ITO10.

Next, after a rubbing treatment, a number average diameter of 4 μm (the uniformity: 4 ± 0.1 μm) per 100 parts by weight of the positive type photosensitive resin made of Nippon Synthetic Rubber on this substrate.
m) A resin solution containing 15 parts by weight of silica beads manufactured by Ube Nitto Kasei was spin-coated and applied to a thickness of about 5 μm [see FIG. 1 (a)].

Next, without using a pattern mask,
The substrate 5 was exposed to UV light (g-line 436 nm) from the rear surface [see FIG. 1 (a)]. Next, development processing is performed with a 0.5% organic alkali aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide to remove the resin layer containing spacer particles other than the upper part of the wiring 2 [FIG.
Next, after the same UV light is exposed to the surface of the remaining resin layer, development processing is performed with the same organic alkali aqueous solution, and the spacer particles 4 are formed on the wiring 2 on the substrate 5 under the lower surface. It was fixed on the wiring 2 while being supported by the resin 3a [see FIG. 1 (c)].

Then, the spacer particles 4 were fixed on the wiring 2 with a resin 3b by baking at a temperature of about 180 ° C. [see FIG. 1 (d)]. After bonding one of the CF substrates 6 to the TFT substrate 5 thus manufactured, sealing the peripheral portion of the substrate, vacuum-evacuating the space between the substrates, injecting a nematic liquid crystal 14, and aligning the TN. The injection hole was sealed to produce a liquid crystal display device as shown in FIG. The gap between the obtained cells was about 4.5 μm ± 0.1 μm, the variation in the gap width was extremely small, and the uniformity was very good.

(Embodiment 2) The transparent pixel electrode IT shown in FIG.
Using a CF substrate on which O10 and resin BM2 were formed, spacer particles 4 were fixed on resin BM2 on this substrate in the same manner as in Example 1. Next, between the spacer particles 4 formed on the resin BM2 corresponding to the pixel electrodes 10, red (R), green (G), and blue ( The color filter of B) was sequentially and repeatedly formed. In particular, although not shown, these red, green,
The blue color filter is formed in a stripe shape extending in the vertical direction, and a black mask is coated between the filters by a photolithography method.

On this, a protective film of an acrylic resin is formed. Next, in the same manner as in Example 1, one of the TFT substrates 5 similar to that used in Example 1 was bonded to the CF substrate 6 thus manufactured, and the peripheral portion of the substrate was sealed. After vacuum degassing, nematic liquid crystal was injected, TN aligned, and completely sealed to produce a color mode liquid crystal display device. As in Example 1, the gap of the obtained cells has a very small variation in the gap width.
The uniformity was extremely good, the aperture ratio of effective pixels was increased, and the quality of color display was good.

[0048]

According to the present invention, spacer particles for providing a predetermined gap in a liquid crystal display cell are fixed on a substrate.
Instead of the conventional spraying method, a photosensitive resin (photoresist) containing spherical spacer particles having a uniform particle diameter is applied on a substrate, so that a predetermined portion of the substrate other than the pixel electrode is selected. , For example, a wiring portion or resin B
The spacer particles can be easily, reliably, and stably fixed on the M site.

Also, instead of the conventional spraying method, a coating method is used,
By using a photoresist containing spacer particles dispersed in a photoresist on a substrate, in the conventional spraying method, it is usually necessary to mix spacer particles coated with an adhesive or a bonding agent into the spray spacer particles. In addition, the spacer particles are easily and stably fixed on the substrate.

Further, since the predetermined gap provided in the liquid crystal display cell depends on the uniform particle diameter of the spacer particles, the uniformity of the gap is good, and the uniform cell gap is Easily applied, and limited by the other than the pixel electrode, for example, due to spacer particles on the wiring site, the pixel opening is widened, improving the transmittance,
The display quality of image quality can be improved.

Further, the uniformity of the diameter of the spacer particles contained in the photosensitive resin is easily controlled in advance, and it is necessary to strictly control the thickness of the coating resin film on the substrate on which the spacer particles are dispersed as in the conventional case. Since there is no need to perform alignment work for bonding substrates, and because there is no need to use a complicated and space-consuming spraying device, the production cost can be reduced and the productivity of the liquid crystal display device can be improved. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing process for selectively attaching and fixing spacer particles to a predetermined portion on a transparent substrate according to the present invention. FIG. 1A shows an example of an exposure process in a step (2) after the step (1), and FIG. 2B shows a step (2) in which a spacer particle-containing portion other than on a wiring portion and a black matrix portion is exposed. After the application resin is removed, the exposure treatment in the step (3) is shown. FIG. (C) shows spacer particles remaining on the wiring part and the black matrix part by the development treatment after the exposure in the step (3),
FIG. 4D shows a state in which the spacer particles are fixed on the substrate by the baking in the step (4).

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the step (1) in which the spacer particles are coated with the photosensitive resin containing the spacer particles in the step (1) and the spacer particles are exposed from the photosensitive resin layer in another embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing showing an example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color liquid crystal display device in which spacer particles are mounted and fixed only at predetermined portions of a liquid crystal cell according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block process diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a step of mounting spacer particles on a substrate according to an example of a comparative example.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a problem that occurs when spacer particles are mounted on a substrate according to a conventional method.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating another example of a problem that occurs when spacer particles are mounted on a substrate according to a conventional method.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view conceptually showing an example of a state of a representative spacer particle on a substrate when the spacer particles are sprayed on the substrate by a spraying method (spray method) ((b) is an enlarged view thereof). FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,15,33,41,53 Glass substrate (or transparent substrate) 2 Wiring 3a Photosensitive resin (photoresist) 3b Photosensitive resin after baking (photoresist) 4,32,45,51 Spacer particles 5,30 TFT Substrate 6 Color filter substrate 7, 8, 17, 31, 35, 43 Alignment film 9 Counter electrode 10, 29, 36, 42 Pixel electrode (transparent electrode) 11, 13 Insulating film 12, 37 Protective film 14 Liquid crystal 16 TFT element 18 Rubbing treatment 19 Coating of resist containing spacer particles 20 Exposure 22 Baking treatment 27, 46, 52 Mask 28, 44 Resin BM 34a, 34b Photosensitive resin-coated spacer particles 50 Spray nozzle

Claims (9)

[Claims] In manufacturing a liquid crystal display device having a predetermined gap between two opposing substrates provided with a transparent electrode, (1) a photosensitive resin containing spacer particles on at least one entire surface of the substrate. (2) a step of removing the photosensitive resin other than on the wiring portion or the black matrix portion; (3) the photosensitive resin remains only under the spacer particles by exposure and development. (4) a step of fixing the spacer particles on the wiring portion or the black matrix portion on the substrate by baking the residual photosensitive resin. 2. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein in the processing step (2), a developing process is performed after exposing the substrate surface through a pattern mask. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive resin is one of a positive acrylic resin and a polyimide resin. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step (1) is performed after a rubbing process. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spacer particles are spherical silica having a particle diameter of 2 μm or more and 8 μm or less. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spacer particles are contained in an amount of 3 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the photosensitive resin. 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of bonding the substrate after the step (4). 8. In a liquid crystal display device having a predetermined gap between two opposing substrates provided with transparent electrodes, the predetermined gap is selectively formed at least on a wiring portion or a black matrix portion between the substrates. A liquid crystal display device, wherein the liquid crystal display device is provided with spacer particles fixed to the substrate. 9. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 8, wherein the spacer particles are spherical silica having a particle diameter of 2 μm or more and 8 μm or less.