JP2003140122A - Manufacturing method and washing device for liquid crystal display element - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to uniformly remove alignment layer dregs and to prevent re-adhesion of the alignment layer dregs after removal. SOLUTION: A mechanism producing air pressure of air jetted from an air knife by a guide parallel to a substrate for preventing water infiltration into a non-washed area is provided in the stage prior to a shower washing mechanism to make it possible to rapidly discharge the polluted washing water generated simultaneously with washing by shower jetting to the both ends of the substrate without infiltration of the polluted washing water into the non-washed area. Thereby, the alignment layer dregs can be satisfactorily removed and re-adhesion thereof can be prevented and the problem of display unevenness occurring when a panel is lighted and due to washing unevenness in the washing after rubbing is solved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device used in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display element, and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display element using the cleaning device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device has a rubbing treatment process in which an alignment film is formed on a substrate in order to align liquid crystals, and the surface of the alignment film is rubbed with a cloth. Further, it has a cleaning step for removing the alignment film dust on the surface of the substrate that has been subjected to the rubbing treatment at that time. This cleaning apparatus uses a single-wafer processing apparatus that performs cleaning by each cleaning mechanism while finally transporting the substrate by roller transportation or the like and finally drying. However, the alignment film residue is easily replaced by a cleaning liquid and reattached to the alignment film again, and the reattached alignment film residue has a characteristic that it cannot be removed by subsequent cleaning. It is important to remove the film dust and uniformly wash the entire surface of the substrate while preventing reattachment.

In the case of the shower cleaning as shown in FIG. 5, the substrate 2 transferred in one direction of the substrate transfer direction 3 by the transfer roller-1 is transferred to the substrate by the cleaning liquid 4 sprayed by the shower mechanism 9. Clean the surface. At that time, as shown in FIG.
Since 0 enters the uncleaned area 5 on the substrate surface 11 and causes uneven cleaning, it is not suitable for initial cleaning. Therefore, in the cleaning step, removal of alignment film residue and prevention of redeposition and uniform in-plane cleaning are performed. For the purpose, a mechanism such as an aqua knife is installed before the cleaning.

As shown in FIG. 4, the aqua knife mechanism 6 is a mechanism for ejecting a large amount of cleaning liquid 7 and cleaning the surface of the substrate with a water flow 8 that cleans the substrate from the beginning to the end all at once.

[0005]

In a liquid crystal display device, an appropriate gap is formed between an array substrate and a color filter substrate, liquid crystal is filled between them, and the liquid crystal is oriented in a direction in which an alignment film is rubbed. The surface of the alignment film is one of the important factors that determine the display optical characteristics because it is a display element that is aligned in the vertical direction and uses the optical characteristics by controlling the alignment of liquid crystals by controlling the electric field.

This surface condition depends on the cleaning after the rubbing treatment, and if the cleaning is abnormal, display unevenness occurs in the liquid crystal display element and the display quality is deteriorated. The alignment film residue generated by the rubbing process is easily replaced by the cleaning liquid and reattached to the alignment film again, and the alignment film residue reattached has a characteristic that it cannot be removed by the subsequent cleaning. It is important to remove the alignment film dust and uniformly wash the entire surface of the substrate while preventing redeposition. In order to solve this, as shown in FIG. 4, an aqua knife mechanism 6 installed at a low angle with respect to the substrate is provided, and the surface of the substrate is removed and redeposited by a large amount of washing water 7 to remove the alignment film. Is being prevented.

However, in this mechanism, the water flow 8 flowing on the surface of the substrate has a problem in terms of uniform cleaning of the substrate because a difference in water flow velocity between the head and the end of the substrate 2 is inevitable. As a result, there is a problem of insufficient cleaning capacity. Therefore, in order to increase the size of production substrates and improve the display quality of panels, which is a technological trend in the future, there are problems with uniform cleaning of substrates and improvement of cleaning capacity.

[0008]

A cleaning mechanism is adopted for cleaning a substrate, and the surface of the substrate is cleaned by the water pressure of the cleaning liquid sprayed by the shower to improve the cleaning performance. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning water 4 is attenuated in the cleaning portion, and the contaminated cleaning liquid 10 that has lost its momentum spreads into the uncleaned area 5 while being flooded 11 and contaminated. The region flooded with the cleaning liquid 10 induces replacement and reattachment of the alignment film residue, which hinders uniform cleaning of the substrate 2 and causes uneven cleaning.

In order to prevent this, as shown in FIG. 1, a mechanism for preventing the infiltration of the cleaning liquid by the wind pressure 14 in the horizontal direction with respect to the substrate surface is installed in front of the shower mechanism 9.
The contaminated cleaning liquid 10 is prevented from flowing into the uncleaned area, and as shown in FIG. 2, the drainage 15 is drained at the shortest distance to both ends of the substrate without stopping the water flow of the contaminated cleaning liquid 10.
By solving the problems caused by the adoption of the shower mechanism,
Achieving both improved cleaning ability and uniform cleaning of substrates.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is
An alignment film for aligning liquid crystals is formed on a substrate, and after the alignment film is subjected to a rubbing treatment, a cleaning liquid for removing dirt on the surface of the substrate is sprayed while the substrate is conveyed by roller conveyance to sequentially wash the substrate. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display element, wherein the flow direction of the sprayed cleaning liquid is controlled.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is
Controlling the flow direction of the cleaning liquid containing contaminants generated when the cleaning liquid pumped is sprayed on the substrate surface and the contaminants on the substrate surface are removed by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid, by the pressurized high pressure air or nitrogen gas air. It is characterized by doing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the cleaning liquid containing the dirt is drained to both ends of the substrate by the wind pressure of the pressurized high-pressure air or nitrogen gas and the water pressure of the cleaning liquid containing the dirt, and the dirt is removed. The cleaning liquid containing is prevented from moving on the surface of the substrate and flooding the uncleaned region behind the substrate.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning device which comprises a cleaning mechanism for spraying the cleaning liquid pumped onto the surface of the substrate, and which removes dirt on the surface of the substrate by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid. Controlling the flow direction of the cleaning liquid containing dirt generated when removing the dirt on the substrate surface by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid so that the cleaning liquid containing the dirt moves on the surface of the substrate and floods the uncleaned area. The cleaning device is provided with a water infiltration prevention mechanism for preventing the above.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the water immersion prevention mechanism, an air knife for injecting a compressed fluid, and a flow direction of the compressed fluid ejected from the air knife mechanism are directed to the substrate surface. It is characterized by being configured with a guide for making it substantially horizontal.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, an air knife is installed at a distance of 50 to 300 mm with respect to the cleaning mechanism, and a guide for the substrate to be cleaned is 0.5 to 0.5 mm.
It is characterized by being fixed at a low gap of 5.0 mm.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 3, the shower cleaning mechanism 9 for injecting the cleaning liquid prevents the infiltration 11 of the contaminated cleaning liquid 10 on the substrate by the wind pressure 14.
Install at a distance of 0-300 mm. This water infiltration prevention mechanism requires a horizontal wind pressure 14 with respect to the substrate surface in order to prevent water flow on the substrate surface, and an air knife 1 for injecting compressed nitrogen gas air to achieve this.
2 and a guide 13 for forming the wind pressure 14 in the horizontal direction with respect to the surface of the substrate. The shape of this guide 13 is composed of a surface 17 that comes into contact with the air-knife side surface and a surface 18 that is parallel to the substrate. Air that is jetted from the air-knife 12 and scattered on the substrate is It has a function of suppressing the wind pressure 14 in the horizontal direction on the surface 18 that is parallel to. This prevents the contaminated cleaning liquid 10 generated by the shower cleaning from being flooded into the uncleaned region 5 by the wind pressure 14, and the contaminated cleaning liquid 10 can be applied to both ends of the substrate at the shortest distance as shown in FIG. Drain 15 Although nitrogen gas was used as the air, high pressure air can also be used.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the shower
Since the cleaning performance is improved by cleaning and the contaminated cleaning liquid is prevented from entering the uncleaned area and drained in the shortest distance, the contamination of the substrate can be minimized.

Particularly, it is effective in cleaning after rubbing, and by using this mechanism, it is possible to uniformly remove the alignment film dust, and it is possible to prevent re-adhesion of the alignment film dust after the removal, which results in high quality. It can realize various panel displays. Also,
It is possible to provide a cleaning mechanism that does not depend on the substrate size.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simple structural diagram of a shower mechanism and a water flow control mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified view of the structure of FIG. 1 seen from above.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram showing the structure of the water flow control mechanism in FIG. 1 in detail.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a conventional aqua knife.

FIG. 5 is a simple structural diagram of a shower mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram as viewed from above in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Conveyor Roller 2 Substrate 3 Substrate Conveying Direction 4 Shower Spray Cleaning Liquid 5 Uncleaned Area 6 Aqua Knife Mechanism 7 Aqua Knife Spray Cleaning Liquid 8 Aqua Knife Water Flow 9 Shower Mechanism 10 Contaminated Cleaning Liquid 11 Contaminated Cleaning Liquid Immersion Water Flow 12 Air-knife mechanism 13 Guide 14 Wind pressure for preventing water infiltration 15 Drainage of contaminated cleaning liquid 16 Installation distance of water flow control mechanism 17 Guide installation surface 18 Wind pressure constituent surface 19 Jet air- (N ₂ )

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masaaki Tanaka             1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric             Sangyo Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 2H088 FA21 FA30 HA01 HA03 MA04                       MA18                 2H090 JC19 LA04 LA15 MB01                 3B201 AA01 AB14 BB22 BB90 BB92                       BB98 CC12 CD31 CD41

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning liquid for removing dirt on the surface of a substrate while forming an alignment film for aligning liquid crystals on a substrate, rubbing the alignment film, and transporting the substrate by roller transport. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element, which comprises spraying and sequentially cleaning the liquid crystal display element, wherein the flow direction of the sprayed cleaning liquid is controlled. 2. A high-pressure air or nitrogen gas pressure-fed in which a cleaning liquid containing a stain is generated when the cleaning liquid pumped is sprayed onto the substrate surface and the contaminants on the substrate surface are removed by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid. 2. The method for producing a liquid crystal display element according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display element is controlled by air. 3. The cleaning liquid containing the dirt is drained to both ends of the substrate by the pressure of the pressurized high-pressure air or the wind pressure of nitrogen gas and the water pressure of the cleaning liquid containing the dirt, and the cleaning liquid containing the dirt moves on the surface of the substrate. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element according to claim 2, wherein the unwashed area behind the substrate is prevented from being flooded. 4. A cleaning device, comprising a cleaning mechanism for spraying a cleaning liquid pumped onto a substrate surface, for removing dirt on a substrate surface by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid, wherein the substrate surface is driven by the water pressure of the sprayed cleaning liquid. Is provided with a water immersion prevention mechanism that controls the flow direction of the cleaning liquid containing dirt generated when removing the dirt, and prevents the cleaning liquid containing the dirt from moving on the surface of the substrate and entering the uncleaned area. And cleaning equipment. 5. A water immersion prevention mechanism comprises an air knife for ejecting a compressed fluid and a guide for making the flow direction of the compressed fluid ejected from the air knife mechanism substantially horizontal to the substrate surface. The cleaning device according to claim 4, wherein the cleaning device is configured. 6. An air knife for the cleaning mechanism is 50 to 3
The cleaning device according to claim 5, wherein the cleaning device is installed at a distance of 00 mm, and the guide is fixed to the substrate to be cleaned with a low gap of 0.5 to 5.0 mm.