JP2001066612A - Liquid crystal display panel and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent contamination of a liquid crystal due to a sealing member and to enable controlling the excess of a liquid crystal and high quality display by providing a hollow region in a spacer member and providing an opening communicating with the hollow region in an inner wall of the spacer member. SOLUTION: A spacer member 4 is provided with a hollow region 6 and an opening communicating with the hollow region 6 is provided in an inner wall of the spacer member 4.The frame shaped spacer member 4 which combines roles for preventing contamination of a liquid crystal 5 with a sealing member 3 and for controlling a cell gap of a panel is provided with the pocket-shaped hollow region 6 so that excess of the liquid crystal 5 enters into the hollow region and the quantity of the liquid crystal 5 in a display region of the liquid crystal display panel is suitably controlled. In this construction, as the excess of the liquid crystal can enter into the hollow region 6 provided in the spacer member 4, the spacer member 4 functions also as a buffer and a gap between counter substrates can be fixedly maintained and high display quality can be maintained.

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 panel and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display panel manufactured by employing a dropping method as a liquid crystal sealing method and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal display panel, a dip injection method and a drop injection method are known, but from the viewpoint of injection speed, the drop injection method is superior.
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel employing this drop injection method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-194615.

In this publication, as shown in a transparent plan view in FIG. 6, a frame-shaped spacer member 41 is formed on one substrate 1 so as to surround a display area thereof, and a seal member is formed on the outer periphery of the other substrate 2. 3 is provided, and a viscous liquid crystal 5 is dropped at the center of one of the substrates as much as the amount of liquid to be enclosed, and both substrates are bonded to each other. In such a liquid crystal display panel, the frame-shaped spacer member 41 serves to prevent the liquid crystal from coming into contact with the uncured sealing member 3 and prevents impurities from entering the liquid crystal 5 from the sealing member 3.

However, in such a structure, it is necessary to strictly control the amount of the liquid crystal to be dropped, so that a manufacturing margin is narrowed. Furthermore, looking at the completed liquid crystal display panel, if there is a large difference in the use environment temperature, the gap at the center of the panel changes due to the difference in thermal expansion of the enclosed liquid crystal,
Problems such as display unevenness occur.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei.
It is disclosed in JP-A-1-0348424. In this publication, as shown in a sectional view in FIG. 7, a frame-shaped convex wall 72 is provided separately from a spacer member on the substrate 1 on the side where liquid crystal is dropped. Its height is kept below a predetermined cell thickness. That is, it is formed so as to be smaller than the diameter of the spherical spacer member 42 scattered in the liquid crystal in the frame, so that a minute gap (about 0.5 μm) is generated between the counter spacer 2 and the spherical spacer member 42. The amount of the liquid crystal dropped is set to be larger than the volume of the space in the cell and to be slightly smaller than the volume of the space inside the seal member 3 provided on the outer periphery. Is superimposed, the excess liquid crystal 5 is trapped in the space between the sealing member 3 and the convex wall 72.

[0006]

However, in the above structure, a manufacturing margin is widened, but a spacer member is separately required. Furthermore, because a gap is intentionally formed,
Even after the sealing member 3 is cured, the liquid crystal 5 may come into contact with the liquid crystal 5, so that it is difficult to say that the liquid crystal 5 is perfect as a countermeasure against liquid crystal contamination.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display panel capable of preventing contamination of liquid crystal by a sealing member, maintaining a constant gap between opposing substrates, and easily controlling an excess amount of liquid crystal to increase a manufacturing margin. It is assumed that.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a pocket-shaped hollow region is provided in a frame-shaped spacer member having both a function of preventing the liquid crystal from being contaminated by a sealing member and a control of a cell gap of a panel. It is characterized in that the liquid crystal in the display area of the liquid crystal display panel is controlled to an appropriate amount within the area.

According to the present invention, a liquid crystal is dripped and injected between substrates opposed to each other by disposing a spacer member outside the display area, and a seal is provided on the outer wall side of the spacer to seal the space between the substrates. In a liquid crystal display panel provided with a member, a liquid crystal display panel is provided, wherein a hollow region is provided in the spacer member, and an opening communicating with the hollow region is provided on an inner wall of the spacer member.

[0010] The liquid crystal is characterized in that an excess amount of the liquid crystal enters a part of the hollow region through the opening.
Further, a plurality of the hollow regions are provided in the spacer member.

[0011] Furthermore, a total volume of the plurality of hollow regions is larger than a volume of the spacer member.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display panel characterized in that a projection member having a height lower than the height of the spacer member is provided in a region between the spacer member and the seal member. Can be

Further, according to the present invention, a step of forming a frame-shaped spacer member on one substrate of the liquid crystal display panel, a step of dropping liquid crystal inside the spacer member, and Bonding a substrate to the one substrate so as to sandwich the spacer member and the liquid crystal, and sealing between the two substrates using a seal member. A hollow region is formed in the spacer member, and an opening communicating with the hollow region is formed in an inner wall of the spacer member.

Further, before the sealing step, a protruding member having a height lower than the height of the spacer member is provided on the other substrate side so as to be located between the spacer member and the seal member. It is also characterized by having a step.

[0015]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. 3 which is a cross-sectional view taken along a line.

A pair of substrates 1 and 2 made of a transparent material such as a glass plate are bonded together by a seal member 3 around the substrates, and a liquid crystal 5 is interposed between the two substrates. A spacer member 4 made of a frame-shaped insulating resin or the like is formed around the substrate 1 so as to be located inside the seal member 3. The frame-shaped spacer member 4 keeps the gap between the substrate 1 and the substrate 2 constant, and prevents the sealing member 3 from contacting the liquid crystal 5 so that the liquid crystal 5 is
To prevent contamination by Further, a plurality of hollow regions 6 are provided in the spacer member 4 so that excess liquid crystal can enter the hollow regions 6.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hollow region 6 has a slit-shaped entrance on the inner wall surface of the spacer member 4, and has a hollow region wider than the entrance inside the spacer member 4.

Next, an embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention will be described with reference to a plan view shown in FIG. 1 and sectional views shown in FIGS. First, a spacer member 4 having a hollow portion as a hollow region 6 is formed on a substrate 1 on which a TFT or the like is formed so as to be located inside a seal member 3. Can be employed. Examples of the dimensions of the spacer member 4 include, for example, a width of 0.5 mm and a height of 5 mm.
μm, and the volume ratio with the hollow portion constituting the hollow region 6 is:
The effect as a buffer is enhanced by selecting a larger hollow portion. More preferably, spacer member 4: hollow region 6 =
It is about 3: 7.

Next, the sealing member 3 is formed in a frame shape by printing or coating on the substrate 1 so as to be located outside the spacer member 4. Finally, after the liquid crystal 5 is dropped into the inner region of the spacer member 4 on the substrate 1, the substrate 2 is overlaid and the sealing member 3
Is cured by light or heat.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a plan view of FIG. 4 and a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. The difference from the above embodiment is that the frame-shaped inner wall 7 is provided between the spacer member 4 and the seal member 3. In the above embodiment, the substrate 2 on which the spacer member 4 is not formed and the spacer member 4
Is in mechanical contact with, but is not bonded, so if there is a small gap between them,
It is also conceivable that a minute gap is temporarily generated due to an external pressure, an internal pressure, or the like. At this time, it does not necessarily mean that the liquid crystal 5 does not pass through the gap. In such a case, the sealing member 3 or the adhesive portion of the sealing member 3 may be contaminated and the adhesiveness of the sealing member 3 may be degraded. However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. The inner wall 7 having a height lower than the height is attached to the spacer member 4.
By forming the substrate 2 on the side where no is formed by a photolithography method or the like, it is possible to increase the creepage distance against liquid crystal outflow. Therefore, the configuration is such that it is possible to prevent the liquid crystal 5 from contaminating the sealing member 3 or the bonding site along the substrate.

The reason why the height of the inner wall 7 is made lower than that of the spacer member 4 is not to impair the spacer function of the spacer member, and in consideration of this, if the height dimension is slightly lower than the spacer member. good. It is desirable that the height is at least half the height of the spacer member in order to secure the creeping effect.

[0023]

According to the present invention, the gap between the substrate 1 and the substrate 2 is kept constant by the spacer member 4, and the sealing member 3 and the liquid crystal 5 are separated by the spacer member 4, so that the liquid crystal 5 is contaminated by the sealing member. Is prevented. In addition, since excess liquid crystal can enter the hollow region 6 provided in the spacer member 4, the spacer member 4 also functions as a buffer, and can maintain a constant gap between opposed substrates, thereby maintaining high display quality. This has the effect of being able to do so.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of a part of a liquid crystal display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a part of a liquid crystal display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention in a see-through manner.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view showing a part of a conventional liquid crystal display panel.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of another conventional liquid crystal display panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 substrate 3 sealing member 4 spacer member 5 liquid crystal 6 hollow region 7 inner wall

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H088 EA03 FA02 FA04 FA09 FA16 FA20 FA24 FA30 HA03 HA08 MA16 MA17 2H089 LA10 LA16 LA18 MA04X NA14 NA17 NA24 NA41 NA49 NA53 NA56 PA16 QA13 QA14 TA06 TA09

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A spacer member is disposed outside a display area, and liquid crystal is dropped between substrates opposed to each other, and a seal member for sealing between the substrates is provided on an outer wall side of the spacer. In a liquid crystal display panel, a hollow region is provided in the spacer member, and an opening communicating with the hollow region is provided on an inner wall of the spacer member. 2. The liquid crystal display panel according to claim 1, wherein an excess portion of said liquid crystal enters said part of said hollow region through said opening. 3. The liquid crystal display panel according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said hollow regions are provided in said spacer member. 4. The liquid crystal display panel according to claim 3, wherein the entire volume of the plurality of hollow regions is larger than the volume of the spacer member. 5. The liquid crystal display panel according to claim 1, wherein a protruding member having a height lower than a height of the spacer member is provided in a region between the spacer member and the seal member. 6. A step of forming a frame-shaped spacer member on one substrate of the liquid crystal display panel, a step of dropping liquid crystal inside the spacer member, and the step of forming the other substrate of the liquid crystal display panel with the spacer member and Adhering the liquid crystal to the one substrate so as to sandwich the liquid crystal, and sealing the two substrates with a seal member. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, wherein a region is formed and an opening communicating with the hollow region is formed on an inner wall of the spacer member. 7. A protruding member having a height lower than the height of the spacer member is provided on the other substrate side so as to be located between the spacer member and the seal member before the sealing step. 5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising a step.
The manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display panel described in the above.