JP2003076297A - Display panel and apparatus for holding substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexible display panel and a substrate holding apparatus having high manufacturing efficiency. SOLUTION: This display panel contains a display region part consisting of a plurality of light emitting elements and a flexible substrate integrated with a magnetic member for carrying the display region part. This substrate holding apparatus for holding the flexible substrate of the display panel consists of the magnetic member to be integrated with the flexible substrate and a carrier substrate which is brought into contact with the flexible substrate and is provided with a magnet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display panel and a substrate holding device including a display area portion including a plurality of light emitting elements and a flexible substrate carrying the display area portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electric display devices
An organic electroluminescence display panel is known as one of the display panels of e). The organic electroluminescence display panel is a display panel in which at least one organic electroluminescence element that emits light is formed in a predetermined pattern on a substrate. An organic electroluminescence device is one or more thin films (hereinafter, referred to as “electron emission layer”) including a light emitting layer made of an organic compound material that exhibits electroluminescence (hereinafter, also referred to as “EL”) that emits light by current injection.
It is a light emitting device having an organic functional layer).

To construct a full-color display device by arranging a plurality of organic EL elements having organic functional layers for emitting three primary colors of red R, green G, and blue B on a transparent substrate in a matrix and appropriately connecting them. You can Such an organic EL
An important step in manufacturing the display panel of the element full-color display device is a step of separately coating the R, G, B organic functional layers on the substrate by mask vapor deposition or the like. Since the organic material used for the organic EL element does not like moisture and oxygen, the wet process cannot be used. Therefore, as a method of separately coating the RGB organic functional layers, a method of moving a mask in vacuum and performing vapor deposition is generally used.

[0004]

In recent years, it has been proposed to use resin or plastic for a transparent substrate of an organic EL display panel. However, since the plastic film used as the transparent substrate of the organic EL element is light and soft, it is extremely difficult to fix the plastic film substrate to manufacture an organic EL display panel using such a plastic film as the transparent substrate. High precision R, G,
This is because it is necessary to position the organic functional layers B, and thus the plastic film substrate must be fixed accurately.

Further, in the case of manufacturing a small display panel, in a manufacturing process using a vapor deposition method, a plurality of small display panel substrates are cut from a large substrate to improve the manufacturing efficiency. When a plastic film substrate is used, the problem that the substrate itself bends is more serious and there is a problem that a fine pattern cannot be formed. Therefore, complication of the manufacturing process and increase of manufacturing cost become problems.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a display panel and a substrate holding device capable of forming a light emitting element and the like accurately and improving manufacturing efficiency.

[0007]

The display panel of the present invention comprises:
A display panel comprising: a display area portion including a plurality of light emitting elements; and a flexible substrate carrying the display area portion, wherein the flexible substrate is integrated with a magnetic member. . In the display panel of the present invention, the flexible substrate includes a magnetic member arranged in a region surrounding the display region portion.

In the display panel of the present invention, the flexible substrate includes a magnetic member arranged in a region surrounding the light emitting element. In the display panel of the present invention, the magnetic member is provided as a magnetic member layer on at least one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the flexible substrate. In the display panel of the present invention, the magnetic member is provided with a recess on at least one of an upper surface and a lower surface of the flexible substrate, and is embedded as a magnetic member layer in the recess.

The display panel of the present invention is characterized in that the magnetic member is covered with an insulating material. In the display panel of the present invention, the magnetic member is a magnetic member layer provided between the upper surface film and the lower surface film as a joined body of the upper surface film and the lower surface film of the flexible substrate. To do.

In the display panel of the present invention, the flexible substrate is made of plastic. In the display panel of the present invention, the flexible substrate is transparent. In the display panel of the present invention,
The magnetic member and the flexible substrate are transparent, and the magnetic member is dispersed in the flexible substrate or formed on the surface of the flexible substrate.

In the display panel of the present invention, the light emitting element is an organic EL element comprising at least one organic functional layer laminated on each other and a pair of display electrodes sandwiching the organic functional layer. To do. The substrate holding device of the present invention is a substrate holding device for holding the flexible substrate of a display panel, which includes a display region part including a plurality of light emitting elements and a flexible substrate carrying the display region part. A magnetic member integrated with the flexible substrate, and a carrying substrate in contact with the flexible substrate and having a magnet.

In the substrate holding device of the present invention, the carrying substrate is a flat glass plate or a non-magnetic flat substrate. In the substrate holding device of the present invention, the magnet is an electromagnet or a permanent magnet.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of an organic EL display panel and a substrate holding device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the organic EL display panel according to the present invention is, as a first embodiment, a thin film formed on a surface of a transparent film substrate 2 as a flexible substrate except a portion to be a pixel. A magnetic member 20 in the shape of a circle. Magnetic member 2
As the material of 0, a material containing any one of magnetic materials such as Fe, Ni and Co, or various magnetic alloys can be used. The transparent film substrate 2 is a flexible plastic film such as polycarbonate, polyether sulfone or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Although a transparent film substrate is used as the flexible substrate,
A semi-transparent, colored or opaque substrate may be used.

The back side of the film substrate 2 integrated with the magnetic member 20 is brought into close contact with the front main surface of a flat carrier substrate 30 such as a glass flat plate. Next, the electromagnet or the magnet 40 is arranged on the back side of the carrying substrate 30, the film substrate 2 is attached to the carrying substrate 30, and the film substrate 2 is held. Although the magnet 40 and the supporting substrate 30 are separate bodies, they may be ones in which an electromagnet is provided inside a flat supporting substrate capable of generating a magnetic field on the surface.

As described above, the substrate holding device for holding the substrate of the display panel, which includes the display area portion including a plurality of light emitting elements and the flexible substrate carrying the display area portion, is integrated with the film substrate 2. Magnetic member 20 and film substrate 2
Of the carrier substrate 30 in contact with the magnet 40 and integrated with the magnet 40.
The three-layered substrate assembly is integrated into a display panel manufacturing process for cleaning the substrate, resist patterning,
Performs processing such as vapor deposition and transport. After processing, the magnet 40 and the supporting substrate 30 are sequentially removed and reused. Also,
If necessary, the magnet 40 may be removed from the carrier substrate 30 to form the film substrate 2 alone. Thus, when water or the like adheres to the back side of the film substrate 2 during cleaning, the film substrate 2 can be removed from the carrier substrate 30 and dried. When the final protective film sealing step of the display panel manufacturing step is completed, the magnet 40 is removed to complete the film organic EL display panel. In addition, on the surface of the film substrate 2, indium tin oxide (ITO) is formed before the magnetic member.
A transparent electrode made of a transparent conductive material or an insulating thin film may be formed in advance.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the above-mentioned three-layer substrate assembly, a layer (thin film) of the magnetic member 20 may be provided on the lower surface of the film substrate 2, that is, so as to be in contact with the carrier substrate 30. Good. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in the above-mentioned three-layer substrate assembly, a flexible substrate is used as a joined body of the upper surface film 21 and the lower surface film 22, and a layer of the magnetic member 20 is provided between the upper surface and the lower surface film. It may be provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, in the bonded body of the upper surface film 21 and the lower surface film 22 of the flexible substrate 2 sandwiching the layer of the magnetic member 20, the internal magnetic property is formed on the lower surface (and at least one of the upper surfaces). It is also possible to provide an additional layer 20a of magnetic material so that it does not overlap the layer 20 of material.

Although not shown, in the above-mentioned three-layer substrate assembly, a concave portion is provided on the upper surface (and at least one of the lower surface) of the film substrate 2, and the magnetic member 20 is embedded in the concave portion. Good. As described above, in any of the forms, a display area portion including a plurality of light emitting elements,
In a display panel including a flexible substrate carrying a display area portion, the flexible substrate is integrated with a magnetic member.

In the above-mentioned three-layer substrate assembly, as shown in FIG. 5, a region 23 (a front surface, a back surface, or an inner portion of the film substrate 2) surrounding the portion DR where the layer of the magnetic member 20 is to be the display region portion is formed. Can be arranged, for example, in the form of a frame or a frame. When multiple small display panel substrates are to be multifaceted from a large film substrate, as shown in FIG. 6, the layer of the magnetic member 20 is arranged as, for example, a common frame region 23a surrounding and defining the display region DR. You may do it. In this case, when cutting into a display panel having a small area, unnecessary portions of the panel edge can be cut off.

In order to strengthen the bond in the above-mentioned three-layer substrate assembly, the layer of the magnetic member 20 may be arranged not only in the periphery of the display region DR but also in the display region DR. it can. That is, in a large-area display panel, the display region portion DR may be bent as a place where the magnetic member is deposited. Therefore, the place where the magnetic member is formed can be the bus line 3b portion. However, since the bus line needs to have a low resistance, a multilayer film of a magnetic member and a material having a low resistance value is used.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged front view of the obtained organic EL display panel seen through from the front. The organic EL display panel has a display region portion DR including a plurality of light emitting pixels 1 arranged in a matrix on the transparent film substrate 2 and each including a light emitting portion. Light emitting part, that is, organic EL
The element includes a first display electrode line 3 in the horizontal direction, that is, an anode, and a second display electrode line 9 in the vertical direction, that is, a cathode.
Is formed at the position of the transparent electrode 3a in the intersecting portion. The first display electrode 3 as an anode is composed of an island-shaped transparent electrode 3a and a multilayer film of a conductive bus line 3b for electrically connecting these in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. 8, the bus line 3b is made of a ferromagnetic material layer such as Fe, Ni, Co and Al, A.
Laminated with a layer of low resistivity metal such as g. Organic E
The L display panel includes a plurality of partition walls 7 provided between the organic EL elements on the substrate 2. Each of the organic EL elements,
On the transparent electrode (first display electrode) 3a, for example, an organic hole injection layer made of copper phthalocyanine, an organic hole transport layer made of TPD (triphenylamine derivative), Alq ₃
Organic emission layer composed of (aluminum chelate complex), Li ₂ O
An electron injection layer made of (lithium oxide) is sequentially deposited to form an organic functional layer, and a second display electrode line 9 is further formed thereon. When a multicolor organic EL display panel is used, the organic EL elements are red R and green G, respectively.
It is also possible to have an organic functional layer that emits blue and blue light.

For example, a method of manufacturing an organic EL display panel in which the layers of the magnetic member 20 are linearly arranged as bus lines in the display region portion DR will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 9, a film substrate 2 having a plurality of island-shaped transparent electrodes 3a made of a material having a high work function such as ITO on its main surface is prepared, and these island-shaped transparent electrodes 3a are prepared. Fe and N for electrically connecting and connecting in the horizontal direction
A ferromagnetic film such as i or Co is formed by a sputtering method or the like. Then, the bus line lower layer 31 is formed through a photolithography process and an etching process.

The back side of the film substrate 2 integrated with the magnetic member 20 is brought into close contact with the front main surface of a flat carrier substrate 30 such as a glass flat plate. Next, the electromagnet or the magnet 40 is arranged on the back side of the carrying substrate 30, and the film substrate 2 is attached to the carrying substrate 30. The following steps are performed for each of the substrate holding devices of the substrate assembly that is integrally composed of these three layers.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a low-resistivity metal such as Al or Ag is formed on the film substrate 2 by a sputtering method or the like, followed by a photolithography step,
After the etching process, the bus line upper layer 32 is formed to form the bus line 3b. The order of stacking the bus line multilayer films may be, for example, a low resistance metal layer, a ferromagnetic layer, and a low resistance metal layer from the substrate side, and further oxidation resistance on the uppermost surface,
Corrosion resistant metals may be laminated. The width of the bus line is smaller than the transparent electrode width so that the island-shaped transparent electrode 3a is exposed and protrudes. A plurality of first display electrode lines 3 including the island-shaped transparent electrodes and the bus lines are formed in parallel with each other. The connection pad 3P can also be formed at the end of the bus line outside the display region DR. In order to partition the pixels,
Except for the pixel portion of the island-shaped transparent electrode, the first display electrode line may be covered with an insulating film.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of electrically insulating partition walls 7 are formed so as to extend in the vertical direction with respect to the first display electrodes 3a and 3b and to be located between the island-shaped transparent electrodes. Form. Here, the partition wall material is formed by using a photoresist and a method such as a normal photolithography method. The partition wall 7 has a substantially T-shaped or inverted taper (inverted isosceles trapezoid) shape in cross section, which is composed of a partition wall main body and an overhang portion protruding above the partition wall body in a direction parallel to the substrate.

The end 7a of the partition 7 is formed so as to extend outside the display region DR in order to prevent a short circuit between the second display electrodes formed later, and the height of the partition 7 from the substrate. Is
The height may be any number as long as the second display electrodes are not short-circuited with each other. Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the through holes of the metal mask are aligned with the exposed transparent electrodes 3a between the partition walls 7, the metal mask is placed on the partition walls, and the organic hole transport layer, Various organic compound materials 8a necessary for EL such as an organic light emitting layer and an organic electron transport layer are alternately deposited by vapor deposition to a predetermined thickness to form an organic functional layer. Next, after the metal mask is shifted and aligned, the metal mask is similarly placed on the partition wall to form the second and third organic functional layers having different emission colors. In this manner, the light emitting layer forming step of sequentially moving the metal mask so that one opening is arranged from one first display electrode to the adjacent first display electrode is sequentially repeated.

For example, when the metal mask is removed after forming the three kinds of organic functional layers of RGB light emission, as shown in FIG. 13, the uppermost portion is formed on each exposed transparent electrode portion of the first display electrode line 3. The organic compound material 8 appears. 14
As shown in FIG. 3, a metal such as Al is vapor-deposited on a thin film of an organic compound material to form cathodes of a plurality of second display electrodes 9 extending in the vertical direction, and each intersection with the first display electrode. Defines the light emitting portion. Here, the top of the partition wall 7 and the overhang portion 7b shown in FIG. 15 serve as a roof and an eave for the flow of metal vapor, and the adjacent second display electrodes are separated from each other. Thus, in the organic EL display panel, each of the organic EL elements of the light emitting element is formed of at least one organic functional layer laminated on each other and a pair of display electrodes sandwiching the organic functional layer.

After forming the second display electrode, a plurality of organic E
When the moisture-proof treatment and the sealing treatment are completed on the L element side, the magnet is removed and the flexible film organic EL display panel is completed. When it is necessary to adhere to a strong carrier substrate, as shown in FIG. 16, the region of the layer of the magnetic member 20 surrounding the transparent electrode 3a to be the light emitting element in the region surrounding the display region DR, that is, the pixel. Can be placed in a place other than the opening of the. In this case, as shown in FIG.
Magnetic member 20 composed of two upper and lower insulating films 50 such as iO ₂
It is also possible to arrange them as a sandwich structure of layers. This structure also improves the rigidity of the flexible display panel itself.

Subsequently, in order to increase the contrast between the light emitting portion of the organic EL element and the other portions, a black pigment such as chromium oxide or copper oxide may be applied to a place other than the opening of the pixel. For the same purpose, a black pigment may be mixed and molded in the magnetic member 20 described later, or a black pigment may be applied between the magnetic member 20 and the substrate.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the magnetic member layer is provided in the portion other than the pixel portion. However, a predetermined amount of cobalt is added to titanium dioxide on the entire surface of the transparent film substrate 2 by a laser ablation method or the like. By forming the transparent magnetic member thin film, partial patterning of the magnetic member layer becomes unnecessary. Further, in the case of a transparent magnetic member or a magnetic member having a low coloring, even if the fine particles of the magnetic member are dispersed in plastic and molded into the film substrate 2 instead of the magnetic member layer, partial magnetic member layer patterning is performed. Is unnecessary.

Further, the present invention can be applied as long as it has a structure in which a film-shaped display element is laminated on a transparent substrate, and can be applied to, for example, a liquid crystal display panel.

[0031]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, a hard film substrate can be handled in the same manner as a glass substrate by sticking a soft film substrate to a glass substrate or the like with a magnet. Positioning of the organic functional layer such as the organic EL element in the patterning process can be performed easily and with high precision, and
It is possible to increase the manufacturing yield of a flexible film organic EL element display panel.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel of another embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel of another embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a substrate holding device that holds a substrate of an organic EL display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial front view of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

8 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the organic EL display panel taken along the line AA in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view perpendicular to the partition wall extension direction of the substrate in the manufacturing process of the organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view perpendicular to the partition wall extension direction of the substrate in the manufacturing process of the organic EL display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic partial perspective view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel of another embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a substrate in a manufacturing process of an organic EL display panel of another embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 light emitting pixel 2 transparent substrate 3 First display electrode line 3a Island transparent electrode 3b bus line 7 partition 7a Partition end 7b Overhang part 9 Second display electrode line 31 Lower bus line 32 upper bus line

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A display area portion including a plurality of light emitting elements,
A display panel comprising: a flexible substrate carrying the display area portion, wherein the flexible substrate is integrated with a magnetic member. 2. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate includes a magnetic member arranged in a region surrounding the display region portion. 3. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate includes a magnetic member arranged in a region surrounding the light emitting element. 4. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic member is provided as a magnetic member layer on at least one of an upper surface and a lower surface of the flexible substrate. 5. The magnetic member according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the flexible substrate is provided with a recess, and the magnetic member is embedded as a magnetic member layer in the recess. Display panel according to any one. 6. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic member is covered with an insulating material. 7. The magnetic member is a magnetic member layer provided between the upper surface film and the lower surface film as a joined body of the upper surface film and the lower surface film of the flexible substrate. The display panel according to any one of 1 to 3. 8. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate is made of plastic. 9. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the flexible substrate is transparent. 10. The magnetic member and the flexible substrate are transparent, and the magnetic member is dispersed in the flexible substrate or formed on the surface of the flexible substrate. The display panel according to claim 1. 11. The organic EL element comprising at least one organic functional layer stacked on each other and a pair of display electrodes sandwiching the organic functional layer, the light emitting element being an organic EL element. Display panel according to any one of. 12. A substrate holding device for holding the flexible substrate of a display panel, comprising: a display region portion including a plurality of light emitting elements; and a flexible substrate carrying the display region portion. A substrate holding device comprising: a magnetic member that is integrated with a flexible substrate; and a carrying substrate that is in contact with the flexible substrate and has a magnet. 13. The substrate holding device according to claim 12, wherein the supporting substrate is a flat glass plate or a non-magnetic flat substrate. 14. The substrate holding device according to claim 12, wherein the magnet is an electromagnet or a permanent magnet.