JP2003051261A - Front panel of plasma display panel and manufacturing method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a front panel of a PDP and its manufacturing method, which can form a shading layer, having proper position accuracy, and which is simple and low cost. SOLUTION: By this front panel of PDP, a transparent electrode 2 and the shading layer 4 are mutually formed in parallel, in the back of a front board 1, and a bus electrode 3, which covers a part of the width direction, is formed on the transparent electrode 2. The shading layer 4 consists of a 1st shading layer part 4a, which consists of the same conductive material as that of the bus electrode 3, and is formed simultaneously with the bus electrode 3 by the photolithography method, and the 2nd shading layer part 4b formed by printing method. The 1st shading layer part 4a constitutes the outer edge of the shading layer 4, and the 2nd shading layer part 4b constitutes the central part the shading layer 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP) front panel and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3A is a view showing a part of a back surface (inner surface side of a PDP) of a conventional PDP front panel.
(B) is a side sectional view thereof. The front plate 1 which is a base material of the front panel is made of a transparent substrate such as glass. On the back surface of the front plate 1, a plurality of strip-shaped transparent electrodes 2 extending in the lateral direction and parallel to each other are formed. This transparent electrode 2
A conductive bus electrode 3 is formed on the above so as to cover a part of its width, and the resistance value of the transparent electrode 2 is lowered by this bus electrode 3. The bus electrode 3 is formed of, for example, a conductive paste of a metal material such as silver or a conductive thin film,
It is formed by transferring a predetermined shape by a photolithography method or the like.

Usually, a pair of transparent electrodes 2 constitutes a sustain discharge electrode, and a space between one pair of transparent electrodes 2 and another pair of transparent electrodes 2 adjacent to the pair of transparent electrodes 2 is parallel to the transparent electrode 2 in the lateral direction. A band-shaped light-shielding layer 4 extending in the direction is formed. The light-shielding layer 4 is provided to shield unnecessary light-emitting portions to improve the contrast (mainly lower the black level), and is called, for example, a black stripe, which is a pigment having a low reflectance / transmittance such as black. Is formed into a band by a printing method, a photolithography method, or the like using a material to which is added.

[0004]

However, when the light-shielding layer 4 is formed by the above-mentioned printing method, the positioning accuracy between the screen mask and the front plate 1 at the time of printing and the contraction of the screen plate caused at the time of printing may cause a problem. There is a problem in that the positional accuracy of the light-shielding layer 4 is not as good as several tens of microns to hundreds of tens of microns due to deformation and further spreading due to sagging of the printing paste. Also, it is difficult to cope with complicated shapes other than the simple strip shape.

Further, in order to improve these problems due to the printing method, when the light shielding layer 4 is formed by the photolithography method, the positional accuracy of the light shielding layer 4 is several microns which is the alignment accuracy of the exposure mask. It can be improved to about ten and several microns. However, the photolithography method requires exposure and development steps in addition to the printing and drying steps of the photosensitive paste, which requires a long time and complicates the process, and the materials such as the photosensitive paste are expensive and costly. There is a problem that it causes an increase.

When forming the bus electrode 3, it is possible to simultaneously form the light-shielding layer with the same material as the bus electrode 3, but in this case, the light-shielding layer becomes conductive and the PDP has There is a problem in that the discharge characteristics deteriorate and erroneous discharge occurs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a front panel of a plasma display panel and a method for manufacturing the same, in which the light shielding layer can be formed with high positional accuracy, can be formed easily and inexpensively, and the problem of erroneous discharge does not occur.

[0008]

A front panel of a plasma display panel according to claim 1 comprises a transparent substrate,
A strip-shaped transparent electrode formed on the transparent substrate, a strip-shaped opaque electrode formed on the transparent electrode with a width narrower than the transparent electrode, and formed on the transparent substrate in parallel with the transparent electrode. A strip-shaped light-shielding layer, wherein the light-shielding layer is made of the same conductive material as the opaque electrode, is made of a first light-shielding layer portion forming an outer edge portion of the light-shielding layer, and is made of a non-conductive material. A second light-shielding layer portion that overlaps the first light-shielding layer portion and forms a central portion of the light-shielding layer.

In the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the second aspect, the outer edge of the first light shielding layer portion has a non-linear desired shape.

In the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the third aspect, the dielectric layer is interposed between the first light shielding layer portion and the second light shielding layer portion.

A manufacturing method according to a fourth aspect is a method for manufacturing the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the first aspect, wherein the first light-shielding layer portion is formed simultaneously with the opaque electrode by a photolithography method. It is characterized by comprising a first step of forming and a step of forming the second light shielding layer portion by a printing method after the first step.

In the method for manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel according to a fifth aspect, in the first step, the outer edge of the first light shielding layer portion is formed into a non-linear desired shape.

In the method of manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel according to claim 6, a step of forming a dielectric layer is interposed between the first step and the second step, and the dielectric layer is formed under the dielectric layer. Then, a first light-shielding layer portion and a second light-shielding layer portion are formed in the middle of or on the dielectric layer.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments thereof. The same or equivalent members as those in the conventional example shown in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals.

Embodiment 1. FIG. 1A shows a plasma display panel (PD) according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
Part (P) of the rear surface of the front panel (inner surface of the PDP) is shown in an enlarged manner, and FIG. The configuration of the front panel of this PDP is the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, except for the light shielding layer 4. More specifically, the front plate 1 which is the base material of the front panel is made of a transparent substrate such as glass, and a plurality of strip-shaped transparent electrodes 2 extending in the lateral direction and parallel to each other are formed on the back surface of the front plate 1. It A bus electrode (opaque electrode) 3 made of an opaque conductive material such as silver is formed on the transparent electrodes 2 so as to cover a part of the width thereof. In the first embodiment,
The bus electrode 3 is formed by transferring a predetermined shape to a conductive thin film such as silver by a photolithography method.

Further, between the pair of transparent electrodes 2 on the rear surface of the front plate 1 and another pair of transparent electrodes 2 adjacent to the pair of transparent electrodes 2, a strip-shaped light-shielding layer extending laterally in parallel with the transparent electrodes 2. (Black stripe) 4 is formed. In this embodiment, the light shielding layer 4 includes a first light shielding layer portion 4a and a second light shielding layer portion 4b. The first light-shielding layer portion 4a is made of the same conductive material as the bus electrode 3 and constitutes an outer edge portion of the strip-shaped light-shielding layer 4. The second light-shielding layer portion 4b is made of a non-conductive material, and overlaps the first light-shielding layer portion 4a to form a central portion of the strip-shaped light-shielding layer 4.

The first light-shielding layer portion 4a is formed at the same time as the bus electrode 3 by the photolithography method when the bus electrode 3 is formed, that is, using the same exposure mask as the bus electrode 3. As a result, there is no displacement between the bus electrode 3 and the first light shielding layer portion 4a due to the alignment of the exposure mask.

On the other hand, the second light-shielding layer portion 4b is made of a non-conductive material to which a pigment having a low reflectance / transmittance such as black is added, and the first light-shielding layer is formed by a screen printing method. It is formed so as not to protrude from the portion 4a. The second light-shielding layer portion 4b does not protrude from the first light-shielding layer portion 4a to the outside, so that even if the second light-shielding layer portion 4b is slightly displaced or deformed, the first and second light-shielding layer portions 4a, 4a, The light-shielding layer 4 configured as a composite body of 4b is not displaced or deformed.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, normally,
On the transparent electrode 2, the bus electrode 3 and the light shielding layer 4, a dielectric layer for protection from discharge is formed on the entire surface.

As described above, the PDP according to the first embodiment
In the front panel, the light-shielding layer 4 is made of the same conductive material as the bus electrode 3 and is formed simultaneously with the bus electrode 3 by the photolithography method, and the first light-shielding layer portion 4a is made of a non-conductive material. Since it is formed as a composite with the second light shielding layer portion 4b formed by the screen printing method so as to overlap the light shielding layer portion 4a, the light shielding layer 4 can be accurately positioned.
Can be formed.

In particular, the first light-shielding layer portion 4a is connected to the bus electrode 3
At the same time, since it is formed by the photolithography method, it is not necessary to add an exposure / development step different from the formation of the bus electrode 3 for forming the first light-shielding layer portion 4a, and the light-shielding layer 4 can be easily and inexpensively formed. Can be formed.

Further, as compared with the case where the light-shielding layer 4 is formed of only the conductive material, a wider electrical bus electrode interval can be ensured, and erroneous discharge in a place other than the discharge gap can be suppressed to improve discharge performance. Can be improved.

Further, when the light-shielding layer 4 is formed only by the photolithography method, the use efficiency of the material is deteriorated because the unnecessary portion is peeled off in the developing process in the manufacturing process, and the load on the environment is increased. In the case of the present embodiment, the second light-shielding layer portion 4b formed by the screen printing method is provided, and since it is sufficient to transfer the paste only to a necessary portion there, the use efficiency of the material is high and the environment is high. The load on the can also be suppressed.

Embodiment 2. FIG. 2A shows the rear surface of the front panel of the PDP according to the second embodiment of the present invention (PD
FIG. 2 (B) is a lateral cross-sectional view showing a partially enlarged (inner surface of P) rear view. In the front panel of this PDP, in the first embodiment, the shape of the outer edge of the first light shielding layer portion 4a formed by the photolithography method is not linear as in the case of the first embodiment, but is arbitrary. It has a desired shape. The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted here.

In the case of the second embodiment, the light-shielding layer 4 formed as a composite of the first light-shielding layer portion 4a and the second light-shielding layer portion 4b has a complicated outer shape which cannot be obtained only by the printing method. Can be accurately formed. This makes it possible to form the light-shielding layer 4 in a more optimal shape for the light emitting state, improve the contrast ratio of the PDP and the light emitting efficiency, and further improve the image quality. Other effects are similar to those of the first embodiment.

Embodiment 3. In each of the first and second embodiments, after the first light shielding layer portion 4a is formed, the second light shielding layer portion 4a is formed on the first light shielding layer portion 4a.
Although the light shielding layer portion 4b is directly formed, it is not limited to this. That is, for example, after the transparent electrode 2, the bus electrode 3 and the first light shielding layer portion 4a are formed on the back surface of the front plate 1 in the same manner as in the first and second embodiments, a dielectric layer covering these portions is formed. By forming (for protection from discharge) on the entire surface and forming the second light shielding layer portion 4b on the dielectric layer, the first and second light shielding layer portions 4a separated in the height direction, 4b is a light shielding layer 4
May be configured. In addition, a second layer is formed in the middle of the thickness of the dielectric layer.
The light shielding layer portion 4b may be formed. As a result, it becomes possible to form the light shielding layer 4 at a height position that is more optimal for the light emitting state, and it is possible to improve the contrast ratio of the PDP and the light emitting efficiency and further improve the image quality. Other effects are similar to those of the first embodiment.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the second light-shielding layer portion 4b can be fired at the same time as the dielectric layer, whereby a single firing step of the light-shielding layer portion 4b can be omitted.

[0028]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a front panel of a plasma display panel, a transparent substrate, a strip-shaped transparent electrode formed on the transparent substrate, and a width narrower than the transparent electrode on the transparent electrode. A strip-shaped opaque electrode formed on the transparent substrate, and a strip-shaped light-shielding layer formed on the transparent substrate in parallel with the transparent electrode, wherein the light-shielding layer is made of the same conductive material as the opaque electrode. A first light-shielding layer portion that forms an outer edge portion of the layer, and a second light-shielding layer portion that is made of a non-conductive material and that overlaps the first light-shielding layer portion and forms a central portion of the light-shielding layer. Since the first light-shielding layer portion is formed by the photolithography method at the same time as the bus electrode and the second light-shielding layer portion is formed by the printing method, the light-shielding layer can be formed with high positional accuracy, easily and inexpensively. You can Also not occur even discharge of the problem wrong.

In the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the invention of claim 2, in the invention of claim 1, the outer edge of the first light-shielding layer portion has a desired non-linear shape, so that the outer shape is complicated. The shaped light-shielding layer can be formed easily with good positioning accuracy and at low cost. Further, it becomes possible to form the light-shielding layer in a more optimal shape for the light emission state, and it is possible to improve the contrast ratio and the light emission efficiency of the plasma display panel and further improve the image quality.

The front panel of the plasma display panel according to the invention of claim 3 is claim 1 or claim 2.
In the invention, since the dielectric layer is interposed between the first light-shielding layer portion and the second light-shielding layer portion, the first and second light-shielding layer portions are separated from each other with good positional accuracy, and easily. The light shielding layer can be formed at low cost. Further, it becomes possible to form the light-shielding layer at a height position which is more optimal for the light emitting state, and it is possible to improve the contrast ratio and the light emitting efficiency of the plasma display panel and further improve the image quality.

A manufacturing method according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the first light-shielding layer portion is formed at the same time as the opaque electrode by photolithography. Since the method includes a first step of forming by a lithographic method and a step of forming the second light-shielding layer portion by a printing method after the first step, the light-shielding layer is formed with high positional accuracy, easily and inexpensively. The problem of erroneous discharge does not occur.

In the method for manufacturing the front panel of the plasma display panel according to the invention of claim 5, in the invention of claim 4, the outer edge of the first light-shielding layer portion has a non-linear desired shape. However, the light-shielding layer having a complicated shape can be formed with high positional accuracy, easily and inexpensively. Further, it becomes possible to form the light-shielding layer in a more optimal shape for the light emission state, and it is possible to improve the contrast ratio and the light emission efficiency of the plasma display panel and further improve the image quality.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel according to the fourth or fifth aspect, wherein a dielectric layer is formed between the first step and the second step. The first light-shielding layer portion is formed below the dielectric layer, and the second light-shielding layer portion is formed in the middle of or above the dielectric layer.
It is possible to form the light-shielding layer easily and inexpensively with good positional accuracy while separating the light-shielding layer portions. Further, it becomes possible to form the light-shielding layer at a height position which is more optimal for the light emitting state, and it is possible to improve the contrast ratio and the light emitting efficiency of the plasma display panel and further improve the image quality.

[0034]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear view and a lateral cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of a front panel of a PDP according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view and a lateral cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of a front panel of a PDP according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view and a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of a front panel of a conventional PDP.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 front plate (transparent substrate), 2 transparent electrodes, 3 bus electrodes (opaque electrodes), 4 light-shielding layer, 4a first light-shielding layer portion, 4
b Second light shielding layer portion.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A transparent substrate, a strip-shaped transparent electrode formed on the transparent substrate, a strip-shaped opaque electrode formed on the transparent electrode with a width narrower than the transparent electrode, and on the transparent substrate. A strip-shaped light-shielding layer formed in parallel with the transparent electrode, wherein the light-shielding layer is made of the same conductive material as the opaque electrode, and a first light-shielding layer portion forming an outer edge portion of the light-shielding layer, A second light-shielding layer portion made of a non-conductive material and overlapping the first light-shielding layer portion to form a central portion of the light-shielding layer, and a front panel of a plasma display panel. . 2. The front panel of the plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein an outer edge of the first light shielding layer portion has a desired non-linear shape. 3. The dielectric layer is interposed between the first light-shielding layer portion and the second light-shielding layer portion.
The front panel of the plasma display panel described in. 4. A method for manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the first light shielding layer portion is formed simultaneously with the opaque electrode by a photolithography method, And a step of forming the second light-shielding layer portion by a printing method after the first step, the method of manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel. 5. The method for manufacturing a front panel of a plasma display panel according to claim 4, wherein in the first step, an outer edge of the first light shielding layer portion is formed into a desired non-linear shape. 6. A step of forming a dielectric layer is interposed between the first step and the second step, and the first light-shielding layer portion and the intermediate portion of the dielectric layer are under the dielectric layer. Or the manufacturing method of the front panel of the plasma display panel according to claim 4 or 5 which forms the 2nd shade layer part on it.