JP2005134464A - Method for manufacturing liquid crystal display, liquid crystal discharging apparatus, liquid crystal display apparatus and electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display for reducing the consumption amount of a liquid crystal material, and to provide a liquid crystal discharging apparatus, a liquid crystal display and electronic apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display includes steps of disposing a cell 1 constituting a part of a liquid crystal display on a substrate 10 and of dropping a liquid crystal material by a liquid drop discharge system onto the cell 1. The method is characterized in that the liquid crystal material is preliminarily discharged to a defective cell 1B in the cell 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal discharge device, a liquid crystal display device, and an electronic apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a droplet discharge type thin film forming method in which a liquid material is discharged from a droplet discharge head such as an ink jet printer or an ink jet plotter, and a predetermined amount of liquid material is applied to a desired position on a substrate. In the droplet discharge method, preliminary discharge may be performed for the purpose of discharging droplets uniformly and stably on a workpiece to be discharged. The conventional preliminary discharge is also called flushing, and generally, droplet discharge is performed on a preliminary discharge area arranged at a place different from the work to be originally discharged before the original discharge. . As a result, it is possible to prevent thickening of the liquid material and precipitation of the solid content in the droplet discharge head.

Also, a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device by dropping an appropriate amount of a liquid crystal material onto a substrate by a droplet discharge method has been devised. As a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, a method called “large-size bonding” is performed in which a substrate (for example, an LCD driving substrate) provided with a plurality of cells is bonded to a counter substrate, and the bonded substrate is cut into cells. Is disclosed.
JP 2003-215624 A

  However, in the conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using a droplet discharge method, in order to make the gap between the cells uniform when the LCD driving substrate and the counter substrate are bonded together, it is already defective before applying the liquid crystal material. An appropriate amount of liquid crystal material needs to be dropped even on a cell (defective cell) that is detected to be present. Therefore, the conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device as described above has a problem that an expensive liquid crystal material is dropped onto a defective cell and does not remain in the final product, which is not economical.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal discharge device, a liquid crystal display device, and an electronic apparatus that can reduce the consumption of liquid crystal material. And

In order to solve the above problems, a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention includes a step of providing a cell forming a part of a liquid crystal display device on a substrate, and dropping a liquid crystal material into the cell by a droplet discharge method. A liquid crystal display device manufacturing method including a step (dropping step) of performing a preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material to a defective cell in the cell.
According to the present invention, since the liquid crystal material ejected by the preliminary ejection is dropped onto the defective cell, the liquid crystal material that has been ejected to the preliminary ejection area or the like and has been completely consumed can be effectively used. That is, conventionally, the liquid crystal material ejected by the preliminary ejection and the liquid crystal material ejected to the defective cell are useless liquid crystal materials that do not become components of the completed liquid crystal display device. According to the present invention, since the liquid crystal material discharged in the preliminary discharge becomes a liquid crystal material discharged in the defective cell, for example, when the discharge amount in the preliminary discharge is the same as the discharge amount in the defective cell, The liquid crystal material that is not a constituent element of the liquid crystal display device can be halved. Here, the remaining half of the liquid crystal material is discharged into a defective cell and is effectively used to make the distance between the substrate holding the liquid crystal material and the counter substrate uniform. Therefore, according to the present invention, the consumption of the liquid crystal material for manufacturing one liquid crystal display device can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display device can be greatly reduced. The cell in the present invention constitutes at least one of a liquid crystal driving electrode, wiring, switching element and the like of one liquid crystal panel formed on a substrate, for example, and one liquid crystal panel (liquid crystal display device). Is a part of In addition, the presence or absence of a defect in the cell is determined by an electrical inspection or an appearance inspection. The defective cell is defined as a defective cell in the present invention.

  In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the liquid crystal material is dropped on the cells of the substrate on which a plurality of cells including the defective cell and the normal cell are provided, and the liquid crystal material is dropped. After the step is completed, it is preferable to include a step of attaching a counter substrate to the substrate and disposing the dropped liquid crystal material between the substrate and the counter substrate. According to the present invention, since the liquid crystal material discharged in the preliminary discharge is dropped onto the defective cell region, the liquid crystal material is applied to both the normal cell and the defective cell while reducing the useless liquid crystal material. Can do. In other words, since the liquid crystal material is dropped on each of the plurality of cell regions dispersedly arranged on the substrate, including dripping by preliminary discharge, the application distribution of the liquid crystal material on the substrate is reduced while reducing wasted liquid crystal material. Can be averaged. Therefore, after applying the liquid crystal material to the substrate, the substrate (for example, LCD drive substrate) and the counter substrate are bonded to each other, so that the liquid crystal material is sandwiched between the substrate and the counter substrate, while The interval can be made uniform as a whole. Thereafter, by cutting the bonded substrate and the counter substrate for each cell, a plurality of liquid crystal display devices formed by each normal cell can be manufactured simultaneously and with high quality.

  In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device of the present invention, it is preferable that the preliminary discharge is performed before the liquid crystal material is dropped onto a normal cell. By doing so, the liquid crystal material thickened or solidified in the droplet discharge head is discharged to the defective cell, and then the liquid crystal material is changed to a normal cell when the discharge state of the droplet discharge head is stabilized. It can be discharged. Therefore, it is possible to stably apply the liquid crystal material to the normal cell with high accuracy while reducing the consumption of the liquid crystal material.

  In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device of the present invention, at least one of information indicating the position of the defective cell on the substrate and information indicating the amount of the liquid crystal material to be discharged to one cell is input to the liquid crystal discharge device. It is good also as having an information input process. In this manner, for example, by connecting online an inspection apparatus for inspecting whether or not a cell provided on the substrate is defective and the liquid crystal ejection apparatus used in the present invention, a spare for irregularly generated defective cells is reserved. Discharging can be performed automatically. Therefore, the consumption of the liquid crystal material can be reduced while reducing labor.

  In the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material for the defective cell is substantially the same as the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material for the normal cell or less than the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material for the normal cell, It is preferable that it is either. By doing so, the distribution of the liquid crystal material can be averaged over the substrate provided with a plurality of cells including normal cells and defective cells. Therefore, the distance (gap) between the substrate (for example, LCD drive substrate) that holds the liquid crystal material and the counter substrate can be made uniform as a whole, and a liquid crystal display device can be manufactured with high accuracy.

  In the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, when the preliminary discharge is not completed in the preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell, the remaining preliminary discharge is performed in an area other than the defective cell and the normal cell (for example, a preliminary discharge area). It is good also to do in. The amount of liquid crystal material required for preliminary discharge is not constant, and the amount may be larger than the discharge amount for defective cells. In some cases, the number of defective cells is smaller than the average. In such a case, preliminary discharge is performed on a defective cell, and the remaining preliminary discharge is performed in a preliminary discharge area arranged on the outside of the substrate (work). As a result, preliminary ejection can be performed sufficiently and sufficiently even when the preliminary ejection amount is large and even when the ejection amount to the defective cell is relatively small. Alternatively, a part of the preliminary ejection may be performed on the preliminary ejection area, and then the remaining preliminary ejection may be performed on the defective cell, and then the ejection on the normal cell may be performed. In this way, the moving distance of the droplet discharge head or the like can be reduced.

  The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention preferably includes a dummy liquid dropping step of dropping a dummy liquid, which is a liquid other than the liquid crystal material, onto the defective cell by a droplet discharge method. According to the present invention, an inexpensive dummy liquid can be applied to a defective cell instead of an expensive liquid crystal material, so that the consumption of the liquid crystal material can be reduced and the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display device can be greatly reduced. be able to. Note that the preliminary ejection may be performed in the preliminary ejection area, or may be performed in some defective cells in a plurality of defective cells.

  In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, it is preferable that the dummy liquid dropping step is performed when a drop amount of the liquid crystal material by preliminary discharge to the defective cell is less than a desired drop amount. For example, when the liquid crystal material to be discharged to one defective cell is larger than the discharge amount of the preliminary discharge, or a plurality of defective cells are generated on one substrate and the liquid crystal material to be discharged to all the defective cells is the discharge of the preliminary discharge. May be more than quantity. In such a case, preliminary discharge for discharging the liquid crystal material is completed for a part of the defective cell and completed, and a dummy liquid is discharged to the other part of the defective cell. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of liquid crystal material that has been wasted for defective cells while effectively utilizing the liquid crystal material that has been completely consumed in the past by pre-discharge. It can be greatly reduced. The dummy liquid is preferably inexpensive and has a compressibility close to that of liquid crystal. For example, glycerin can be applied.

  The liquid crystal ejection device of the present invention is a liquid crystal ejection device including at least a liquid droplet ejection head capable of ejecting a liquid crystal material, based on input means for inputting information on a defective cell, and information input by the input means. And a defect countermeasure means for controlling the operation of the droplet discharge head (at least one of its position and discharge timing) so that the liquid crystal material is preliminarily discharged to the defective cell. . According to the present invention, for example, when a plurality of cells (LCD driving circuit, etc.) are provided on a substrate, and it is detected that one of the cells is a defective cell, the position information of the defective cell on the substrate is discharged from the liquid crystal. The device can be entered. In addition, the liquid crystal discharge device of the present invention can control the position and discharge timing of the droplet discharge head based on the input position information of the defective cell and perform preliminary discharge on the defective cell. Therefore, the liquid crystal discharge device of the present invention can discharge the liquid crystal material discharged in the preliminary discharge to the defective cell, so that the consumption of the liquid crystal material per one liquid crystal display device can be reduced, and the liquid crystal display device is manufactured. Cost can be greatly reduced.

  In the liquid crystal discharge apparatus of the present invention, the input means inputs at least information indicating an attribute of the substrate on which the defective cell and the normal cell are provided and information indicating a position of the defective cell and the normal cell on the substrate. It is good also as what you do. Here, the attribute of the substrate is a model name (panel model name) of a liquid crystal display device manufactured using the substrate, and may include a liquid crystal material name used for the manufacture. The information indicating the position of the defective cell and the normal cell may be constituted by, for example, information that represents a plurality of cells as a bitmap and information that identifies the defective cell. In this way, it is possible to automatically and accurately perform preliminary ejection on defective cells, and to reduce manufacturing costs while improving manufacturing quality.

  In the liquid crystal ejection device according to the present invention, the defect countermeasure unit calculates an amount of liquid crystal material to be ejected to the defective cell based on information input by the input unit, and the calculated amount of the liquid crystal material is stored in the spare unit. It is good also as having a defective part discharge amount calculation means discharged to a defective cell as all or a part of discharge. According to this, it is possible to accurately and quickly control the amount of liquid crystal material to be applied to the defective cell while performing preliminary ejection on the defective cell. Further, when the preliminary ejection is not completed by the ejection to the defective cell, the remaining preliminary ejection can be performed to the preliminary ejection area.

  The liquid crystal discharge device of the present invention includes dummy liquid discharge means for discharging a dummy liquid which is a liquid material other than the liquid crystal material, and the defect countermeasure means is configured such that the amount of liquid crystal material to be discharged to the defective cell is the reserve amount. It is good also as having a dummy discharge control means to discharge a dummy liquid with respect to this defective cell from the said dummy liquid discharge means, when larger than the quantity of the liquid crystal material discharged by discharge. According to this, it is possible to effectively utilize the pre-discharged liquid crystal material that has been wasted in the past by discharging it to the defective cell. Furthermore, when the discharge amount of the liquid material to the defective cell is not preliminary discharge, the amount that does not exist can be supplemented with the dummy liquid. Therefore, the liquid crystal ejection device of the present invention eliminates wasteful liquid crystal material that is not used at all in the manufacturing process regardless of the value of the ejection amount in the preliminary ejection and the ejection amount to the defective cell. Can do.

  In the liquid crystal discharge device of the present invention, the droplet discharge head includes a liquid crystal discharge unit that discharges the liquid crystal material and a dummy liquid discharge unit that discharges the dummy liquid, which are arranged in one head unit. Also good. In this way, for example, during or immediately after performing preliminary ejection on a defective cell, if it is determined that there is no ejection volume in the preliminary ejection, the position of the head unit (droplet ejection head) is changed. The dummy liquid can be discharged to the defective cell as it is. Therefore, according to the present invention, the position control of the nozzle that discharges the dummy liquid can be simplified and the manufacturing time can be shortened.

  The liquid crystal display device of the present invention is manufactured using the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal display device or the liquid crystal discharge device. According to the present invention, since the consumption of the liquid crystal material in the manufacturing process can be reduced, it is possible to provide a liquid crystal display device that is less expensive than the conventional one. An electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes the liquid crystal display device. According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress wasteful consumption of the liquid crystal material, and it is possible to provide an inexpensive electronic device including a liquid crystal display device.

Hereinafter, a liquid crystal display device manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention and a liquid crystal discharge device capable of executing the manufacturing method will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Outline configuration of liquid crystal discharge device>
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall configuration of a liquid crystal ejection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The liquid crystal discharge device 30 of this embodiment includes a droplet discharge head 34, a base 31, a substrate moving unit 32, a head moving unit 33, a liquid tank 35, and the like. The liquid crystal discharge device 30 discharges a liquid crystal material from the liquid droplet discharge head 34 onto the substrate 10 and applies the liquid crystal material in a film form. Here, the liquid crystal discharge device 30 may discharge a liquid material other than the liquid crystal material to the substrate 10 from the droplet discharge head 34 and may apply the liquid material in a film form. The substrate 10 is a substrate that constitutes a component of the liquid crystal display device, and is one of the two substrates that sandwich the liquid crystal material. However, any other substrate can be applied as the substrate 10.

  The base 31 has a substrate moving means 32 and a head moving means 33 installed thereon. The substrate moving means 32 functions as a substrate holding unit for holding the substrate 10 and has a guide rail 36 and a slider 37 arranged along the Y-axis direction. The substrate moving means 32 is configured to move the slider 37 along the guide rail 36 by, for example, a linear motor. The slider 37 is provided with a θ-axis motor (not shown). This motor is composed of, for example, a direct drive motor, and its rotor (not shown) is fixed to the table 39. Under such a configuration, when the motor is energized, the rotor and the table 39 rotate along the θ direction, and the table 39 is indexed (rotational indexing).

  The table 39 positions and holds the substrate 10. That is, the table 39 has a known suction holding means (not shown), and the substrate 10 is sucked and held on the table 39 by operating the suction holding means. The substrate 10 is accurately positioned and held at a predetermined position on the table 39 by positioning pins of the table 39. Further, the table 39 is provided with a preliminary discharge area which is an area for the liquid droplet discharge head 34 to predischarge liquid crystal material. In the preliminary ejection, the liquid crystal material is discarded from the droplet ejection head 34 or is subjected to trial ejection. That is, the preliminary discharge is also called flushing, and is performed to prevent the liquid crystal material from being thickened and deposit solids in the liquid droplet discharge head 34, thereby achieving a stable and accurate discharge operation. This preliminary discharge area is formed, for example, extending in the X-axis direction, and can be provided on the rear end side of the table 39. However, the liquid crystal discharge device 30 of the present embodiment may be configured not to provide a preliminary discharge area. The reason will be described in detail later.

  The head moving means 33 includes a pair of mounts 33a and 33a standing on the rear side of the base 31, and a travel path 33b provided on the mounts 33a and 33a. In the head moving unit 33, the traveling path 33 b is arranged along the X-axis direction, that is, the direction orthogonal to the Y-axis direction of the substrate moving unit 32. The travel path 33b has a holding plate 33c passed between the gantry 33a and 33a and a pair of guide rails 33d and 33d provided on the holding plate 33c. The travel path 33b movably holds a slider 42 that holds the droplet discharge head 34 in the length direction of the guide rails 33d and 33d. The slider 42 is configured to run on the guide rails 33d and 33d by operation of a linear motor (not shown) or the like, thereby moving the droplet discharge head 34 in the X-axis direction.

  The droplet discharge head 34 is connected to motors 43, 44, 45, 46 as swing positioning means. When the motor 43 is actuated, the droplet discharge head 34 moves up and down along the Z axis, and positioning on the Z axis is possible. The Z axis is a direction (vertical direction) perpendicular to the X axis and Y axis. Further, when the motor 44 is operated, the droplet discharge head 34 swings along the β direction in FIG. 1 and can be positioned. When the motor 45 is operated, the droplet discharge head 34 swings in the γ direction. When the motor 46 is operated, the droplet discharge head 34 swings in the α direction and can be positioned.

  In this manner, the droplet discharge head 34 can be positioned by linear movement on the slider 42 in the Z-axis direction, and can be positioned by swinging along α, β, and γ. Therefore, the ejection surface of the droplet ejection head 34 can be accurately controlled as the position or orientation with respect to the substrate 10 on the table 39 side.

  Next, a configuration example of the droplet discharge head 34 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the droplet discharge head 34, FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the main part of the discharge head 34, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the discharge head 34. Further, the ejection head 34 shown in FIG. 2 is an example of a liquid crystal ejection unit in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2A, the droplet discharge head 34 includes a nozzle plate 12 made of, for example, stainless steel and a vibration plate 13, and both are joined via a partition member (reservoir plate) 14. A plurality of cavities 15 and reservoirs 16 are formed between the nozzle plate 12 and the diaphragm 13 by the partition member 14, and the cavities 15 and the reservoirs 16 communicate with each other via a flow path 17. ing.

  Each cavity 15 and the interior of the reservoir 16 are filled with a liquid crystal material (liquid material), and the flow path 17 between them functions as a supply port for supplying the liquid crystal material from the reservoir 16 to the cavity 15. It has become. In addition, a plurality of hole-shaped nozzles 18 for injecting liquid crystal material from the cavity 15 are formed in the nozzle plate 12 in a state of being aligned vertically and horizontally. On the other hand, a hole 19 that opens into the reservoir 16 is formed in the diaphragm 13, and a liquid tank 35 is connected to the hole 19 via a tube 24 (see FIG. 1).

  Also, a piezoelectric element (piezo element) 20 is joined to the surface of the diaphragm 13 opposite to the surface facing the cavity 15 as shown in FIG. The piezoelectric element 20 is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes 21 and 21 and is configured to bend so as to protrude outward when energized, and functions as an ejection unit.

  The diaphragm 13 to which the piezoelectric element 20 is bonded in such a configuration is bent together with the piezoelectric element 20 at the same time, thereby increasing the volume of the cavity 15. Then, the cavity 15 and the reservoir 16 communicate with each other, and when the reservoir 16 is filled with a liquid crystal material, the liquid crystal material corresponding to the increased volume in the cavity 15 flows from the reservoir 16. It flows in through the path 17. When the energization to the piezoelectric element 20 is released from such a state, both the piezoelectric element 20 and the diaphragm 13 return to their original shapes. Therefore, since the cavity 15 also returns to its original volume, the pressure of the liquid crystal material inside the cavity 15 rises, and the liquid crystal material droplet 22 is discharged from the nozzle 18.

  The discharge means of the droplet discharge head 34 may be other than the electromechanical converter using the piezoelectric element (piezo element) 20, for example, a method using an electrothermal converter as the energy generating element, or a charge control type. It is also possible to employ a continuous method such as a pressure vibration type, an electrostatic suction method, or a method in which an electromagnetic wave such as a laser is irradiated to generate heat, and a liquid material is discharged by the action of this heat generation.

  The liquid tank 35 is disposed in the vicinity of the droplet discharge head 34 as shown in FIG. 1 and stores liquid crystal material (liquid) to be discharged from the droplet discharge head 34. is there. The liquid tank 35 may be provided with a heater inside or outside thereof. This heater is for heating the stored liquid crystal material. In particular, when the liquid crystal material has a high viscosity, the heater lowers the viscosity by heating, so that the liquid material tank 35 moves to the droplet discharge head 34. The liquid can be easily flowed in. In addition, a heater is provided outside the droplet discharge head 34 so that the liquid crystal material in the droplet discharge head 34 is heated so that the highly viscous liquid crystal material can be easily discharged from the droplet discharge head 34. Good. By heating the liquid crystal material in this manner, the amount of the liquid crystal material discharged in the preliminary discharge can be reduced.

<Operation of liquid crystal ejection device>
Next, the operation of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 and a method for manufacturing the liquid crystal display device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a main operation example of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. That is, in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal material is a part of the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device, and is applied to the desired region (cell 1) of the substrate 10 by the droplet discharge method by the droplet discharge head 34 in the liquid crystal discharge device 30. The process of dripping is shown.

  An outline of this manufacturing method will be described. First, a plurality of cells 1 are provided on a substrate 10, and then a liquid crystal material is applied to each cell 1 by a liquid crystal discharge device 30 as shown in FIG. 3. In this application of the liquid crystal material, preliminary discharge of the droplet discharge head 34 in the liquid crystal discharge device 30 is performed on the defective cell 1B, and then the liquid crystal material is discharged to the normal cell 1A. Next, a counter substrate is bonded to the substrate 10, and so-called large format bonding is performed in which the liquid crystal material is disposed between the substrate 10 and the counter substrate. Next, the substrate 10 and the counter substrate are cut so as to be divided for each cell 1. As a result, one liquid crystal display device is completed for one cell 1, and a plurality of liquid crystal display devices are completed at one time. And since this manufacturing method preliminarily discharges to the defective cell 1B, the consumption of a liquid crystal material can be reduced. This will be specifically described below.

  In the pre-process of the step of dropping the liquid crystal material shown in FIG. 3, a step of providing the substrate 10 with the cells 1 forming a part of the liquid crystal display device is performed. The substrate 10 is made of, for example, glass or transparent resin. A plurality of cells 1 are provided on the substrate 10. Each cell 1 is composed of electrodes for driving a liquid crystal of a liquid crystal display device (liquid crystal panel unit), wiring, switching elements (for example, transistors), and the like. Each cell 1 provided on the substrate 10 is inspected before the step of dropping the liquid crystal material, and is identified as a normal cell 1A having no defect and a defective cell 1B having a defect. The defective cell 1B may be provided with a visible mark (for example, “x” mark as shown in FIG. 3), and positional information on the substrate 10 of the defective cell 1B is input to the liquid crystal discharge device 30. May be. The inspected substrate 10 is accurately positioned and held at a predetermined position on the table 39 of the liquid crystal ejection device 30.

  After that, as shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal material is dropped onto each cell 1 by the droplet discharge method by the droplet discharge head 34 of the liquid crystal discharge device 30. In this dropping step, first, the droplet discharge head 34 is moved along the virtual scanning line a so as to be positioned above the defective cell 1B, and preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material is performed on the defective cell 1B. The movement of the head 34 as described above is performed by any of the substrate moving means 32, the head moving means 33, and the motors 43, 44, 45, and 46 as the swing positioning means. By this preliminary discharge, a liquid crystal material droplet is discharged from the nozzle 18 of the droplet discharge head 34, and the droplet lands on the defective cell 1B. Therefore, this preliminary discharge prevents thickening of the liquid crystal material and precipitation of solids in the droplet discharge head 34, and enables a stable and accurate discharge operation. In addition, a desired liquid crystal material can be applied onto the defective cell 1B by this preliminary discharge.

  After the preliminary ejection, the droplet ejection head 34 is moved along the virtual scanning line b, and a predetermined amount of liquid crystal material is dropped on each of the normal cells 1A. This predetermined amount is set in the liquid crystal discharge device 30 in advance. Thus, the step of dropping the liquid crystal material into each cell 1 is completed.

  Application of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell 1B in the step of dripping the liquid crystal material described above makes the gap between the substrates uniform throughout when the substrate 10 and the counter substrate are bonded together in a later step. In order to make the gap between the substrates of each cell (each liquid crystal display device) uniform, it is required. For example, when the liquid crystal material is not applied to the defective cell 1B, the peripheral portion of the defective cell 1B is recessed when the substrate 10 and the counter substrate are bonded together and pressure is applied to the whole of these two substrates from the outside. End up. Therefore, in this case, the gap between the substrates of the liquid crystal display device having the normal cell 1A arranged around the defective cell 1B as a constituent element becomes non-uniform.

  According to the liquid crystal ejection device 30 of the present embodiment, the liquid crystal material ejected by the preliminary ejection is dropped onto the defective cell 1B, so that the gap between the substrates of the liquid crystal display device having the normal cell 1A as a component can be accurately determined. Conventionally, it is possible to effectively use liquid crystal materials that have been discharged to a preliminary discharge area or the like and have been consumed in vain. Therefore, according to the liquid crystal discharge device 30 of the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the consumption of the liquid crystal material for manufacturing one liquid crystal display device, and to significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display device. .

  In the application of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell 1B in the step of dropping the liquid crystal material, the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to one defective cell 1B is almost the same as the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to one normal cell 1A. Or less than the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material for one normal cell 1A. By doing in this way, the application distribution density of the liquid crystal material on the substrate 10 can be accurately averaged. Therefore, the gap between the substrate (for example, LCD drive substrate) 10 sandwiching the liquid crystal material and the counter substrate can be made uniform accurately as a whole, and a liquid crystal display device can be manufactured with high accuracy.

<Modification>
Next, a modified example of the operation of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing another main operation example of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Similarly to the operation example shown in FIG. 3, in this modified example, after the step of providing the cell 1 constituting a part of the liquid crystal display device on the substrate 10 is performed, the liquid droplet discharge head 34 of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 performs the liquid discharge. The liquid crystal material is dropped on each cell 1 by using a droplet discharge method. However, in the present modification, an operation example of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 when the preliminary ejection is not completed by ejection to the defective cell 1B is shown.

Specifically, first, the droplet discharge head 34 is moved along the virtual scanning line a so as to be positioned above the defective cell 1B, and preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material is performed on the defective cell 1B.
The amount of liquid crystal material ejected by this preliminary ejection is not constant and varies depending on the tone, temperature, humidity, and the like of the droplet ejection head 34. Further, although the amount of liquid crystal material dropped on one defective cell 1B is constant, the number of defective cells 1B generated on one substrate 10 is not constant. Therefore, the preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell 1B may not be completed.

  In this case, after the preliminary discharge with respect to the defective cell 1B, the droplet discharge head 34 moves backward along the virtual scanning line a and further moves along the virtual scanning line a ′. The discharge is performed on the preliminary discharge area 38 arranged at a predetermined position on the table 39. Thus, the preliminary discharge is completed. Thereafter, the droplet discharge head 34 is moved along the virtual scanning line b, and a predetermined amount of liquid crystal material is dropped on each of the normal cells 1A. Thus, the step of dropping the liquid crystal material into each cell 1 is completed.

  Thus, according to the present modification, even when the preliminary discharge amount is large and the discharge amount to the defective cell 1B is relatively small, the preliminary discharge can be performed sufficiently and sufficiently while reducing the consumption of the liquid crystal material. it can. In addition, when it can be recognized or predicted that the preliminary discharge is not completed in the preliminary discharge for the defective cell 1B, a part of the preliminary discharge is performed on the preliminary discharge area 38, and then the remaining discharge is performed on the defective cell 1B. Preliminary ejection may be performed, and then ejection to the normal cell 1A may be performed. In this way, the moving distance of the droplet discharge head 34 can be reduced.

<Operation example using dummy liquid>
Next, a liquid crystal discharge apparatus 30 according to another embodiment of the present invention, which manufactures a liquid crystal display device using a dummy liquid that is a liquid other than the liquid crystal material, and a manufacturing method thereof, refer to FIG. To explain. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline operation of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using a dummy liquid. The operation of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 can be realized by adding the functional means shown in FIG. 5 to the function of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 shown in FIGS.

  The pre-process in FIG. 5 includes a process of providing a plurality of cells 1 on the substrate 10 and a process of checking whether each cell 1 has a defect and recognizing a normal cell 1A and a defective cell 1B. It is. Further, the post-process in FIG. 5 is a process after the process of dropping the liquid crystal material onto the substrate 10. That is, in the post-process, a so-called large-size bonding is performed in which the counter substrate is bonded to the substrate 10 on which the liquid crystal material is dropped by steps S1 to S9 in FIG. 5 and the liquid crystal material is disposed between the substrate 10 and the counter substrate. And a step of cutting the substrate 10 and the counter substrate so as to be divided for each cell 1 thereafter. By completing the post-process, a plurality of liquid crystal display devices are completed at one time. Next, this embodiment will be specifically described.

  The liquid droplet discharge head 34 of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 includes a liquid crystal discharge unit 34a for discharging a liquid crystal material as shown in FIG. 2 and a dummy liquid discharge unit (dummy liquid for discharging a dummy liquid which is a liquid material other than the liquid crystal material. Discharge means) 34b.

First, input means (not shown) of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 inputs common data including a panel model name, which is a model name of a liquid crystal display device to be manufactured, and a liquid crystal material name used for the manufacturing ( Step S1).
Then, the basic calculation unit of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 generates a droplet ejection waveform that is an electrical signal for driving the piezoelectric element 20 of the droplet ejection head 34 based on the common data input by the input means. In addition, the basic calculation unit of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 is based on information included in the common data and indicating the arrangement state of the plurality of cells 1 on the substrate 10, with the application pattern of the liquid crystal material to each cell 1. A basic application pattern is generated. This basic application pattern may be expressed as a bitmap indicating the arrangement state (liquid crystal layer formation region) of each cell on the substrate 10, for example. Further, the basic calculation unit of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 generates a flushing sequence indicating the preliminary ejection operation procedure (step S2). The droplet discharge waveform, basic application pattern, and flushing sequence may be created in advance for each model and registered in the database, and may be called from the general database by collating with the panel model name when inputting common data.

  Further, the input means of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 performs an information input process for inputting work-specific data including the lot number of the substrate (work) 10 and the position information of the defective cell 1B on the substrate 10 (step S3). . Here, the position information of the defective cell 1B may be input on-line by the input unit from an inspection apparatus that inspects the cell 1. In this way, preliminary ejection can be automatically performed on the irregularly generated defective cells 1B, and the consumption of the liquid crystal material can be reduced while reducing labor.

  Thereafter, the defect countermeasure correction calculation unit that constitutes the defect countermeasure means of the liquid crystal ejection device 30 determines a flushing place (for example, the area of the defective cell 1B in the substrate 10), which is a place to perform preliminary ejection, based on the work specific data. The defect countermeasure correction calculation unit also functions as a defective portion discharge amount calculation unit, and calculates a defective portion required amount that is a discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell 1B. In addition, the defect countermeasure correction calculation unit generates a defective portion exclusion application pattern that is a liquid crystal material application pattern for the normal cell 1A (step S4).

Thereafter, the control means (not shown) of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 applies to the defective cell 1B with respect to the liquid crystal discharge unit 34a of the droplet discharge head 34 based on the calculation results of the basic calculation unit and the defect countermeasure correction calculation unit. The preliminary discharge condition and the liquid crystal discharge condition are instructed (step S5).
Further, the control means of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 determines whether or not the required amount of defective portion is larger than the preliminary discharge amount (step S6).
If “No” is determined in step S6, that is, if the preliminary discharge amount is larger than the discharge amount to the defective cell 1B, the dummy liquid is not discharged (step S7), and the liquid crystal as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. Liquid droplets of liquid crystal material are discharged from the droplet discharge unit 34a to the normal cell 1A and the defective cell 1B using only the material. That is, in this case, the droplet discharge unit 34a performs preliminary discharge on the defective cell 1B, and further performs the remaining preliminary discharge in the preliminary discharge area 38. Thereafter, the droplet discharge unit 34a applies to the normal cell 1A. To discharge the liquid crystal material.

  On the other hand, if “Yes” is determined in step S6, that is, if the preliminary discharge amount is smaller than the discharge amount to the defective cell 1B, the dummy application control unit forming the dummy discharge control means of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 supplies the dummy liquid. A dummy application pattern (for example, a region of the defective cell 1B in the substrate 10) that is a pattern to be applied is generated (step S8). Then, the control means of the liquid crystal discharge device 30 generates a dummy liquid discharge condition based on the dummy application pattern (step S9), and controls the dummy liquid discharge unit 34b according to the discharge condition. By controlling in this way, when “Yes” is determined in step S6, the liquid crystal material is preliminarily discharged to the defective cell 1B, and the defective cell 1B is replenished with dummy liquid, The total amount of the material and the dummy liquid is approximately the same as the amount of liquid crystal material applied to the normal cell 1A.

  Thus, the liquid crystal discharge device 30 of the present embodiment does not replenish the missing amount with the liquid crystal material when the discharge amount for the defective cell 1B is not the liquid crystal material by the preliminary discharge, but does not replenish the missing amount. Can be refilled with a dummy liquid. For example, the preliminary discharge for discharging the liquid crystal material is performed on a partial region of the defective cell 1B to complete the preliminary discharge, and the dummy liquid is discharged to the defective cell 1B to the other region of the defective cell 1B. On the other hand, a necessary amount of liquid (for example, the amount of liquid crystal material discharged to the normal cell 1A) is applied. Therefore, whatever the value of the discharge amount in the preliminary discharge and the discharge amount to the defective cell 1B, the liquid crystal material that is not used at all in the manufacturing process and is wasted can be eliminated. That is, the liquid crystal discharge device 30 of the present embodiment can reduce the amount of liquid crystal material consumed and the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display device can be greatly reduced as compared with the liquid crystal discharge device shown in FIGS. The preliminary discharge may be performed in the preliminary discharge area 38 or may be performed in some defective cells 1B in the plurality of defective cells 1B.

  The dummy liquid is not expensive like a liquid crystal material, and an inexpensive liquid can be applied. The dummy liquid preferably has a compressibility close to that of a liquid crystal material. For example, glycerin can be applied. Further, the liquid crystal discharge device 30 of the present embodiment includes a liquid crystal discharge unit 34a and a dummy liquid discharge unit 34b in which the droplet discharge head 34 is integrally arranged as one head unit. In view of this, the liquid crystal ejection device 30 according to the present embodiment, for example, during the preliminary ejection for the defective cell 1B or immediately after that, when it is determined that there is no ejection amount in the preliminary ejection, The dummy liquid can be discharged to the defective cell 1B with the position of 34 as it is. Therefore, the position control of the nozzle for discharging the dummy liquid (dummy liquid discharge unit 34b) is simplified, and the manufacturing time can be shortened.

<Configuration example of liquid crystal display device>
Next, a configuration example of a liquid crystal display device manufactured by using the liquid crystal ejection device and the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view illustrating a configuration example of a liquid crystal display device manufactured by using the liquid crystal ejection device and the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to the present embodiment.

The basic configuration of the liquid crystal display device 100 includes an upper substrate 111 obtained from the substrate 10, a lower substrate 121 obtained from the counter substrate, and a liquid crystal material sandwiched between the upper substrate 111 and the lower substrate 121. And a liquid crystal layer 140. Here, the upper substrate 111 corresponds to the cell (normal cell 1A) 1.
The upper substrate 111A is inspected to be electrically connected to the upper transparent electrode 113 having a predetermined pattern, the external connection terminal 112, and the lower transparent electrode 123 formed on the lower substrate 121 by a photolithography method or the like. A service wiring 172 and the like are formed. In the upper substrate 111, an alignment film (not shown) is formed on the upper transparent electrode 113. Further, a sealing material 130 is formed on the peripheral edge of the upper substrate 111 by printing, and a liquid crystal layer 140 made of a liquid crystal material is disposed in an inner region of the sealing material 130.

The lower substrate 121 is inspected to be electrically connected to the lower transparent electrode 123, the external connection terminal 122, and the upper transparent electrode 113 formed on the upper substrate 111 by a photolithography method or the like. A lead-out wiring 152 and the like are formed. In the lower substrate 121, an alignment film (not shown) is formed on the lower transparent electrode 123.
In the liquid crystal display device 100 having such a configuration, in the manufacturing process, whether each cell (upper substrate 111) of the substrate 10 is a normal cell 1A or a defective cell 1B is identified by using a test wiring 172 or the like. can do. Further, in the manufacturing process, since the preliminary discharge can be performed on the defective cell 1B as described above, the consumption of the liquid crystal material can be reduced.

<Electronic equipment>
An example of an electronic apparatus including the liquid crystal display device manufactured by using the liquid crystal ejection device and the liquid crystal display device manufacturing method according to the above embodiment will be described. FIG. 7A is a perspective view showing an example of a mobile phone. In FIG. 7A, reference numeral 1000 denotes a mobile phone body, and reference numeral 1001 denotes a display unit using the liquid crystal display device. FIG. 7B is a perspective view showing an example of a wristwatch type electronic device. In FIG. 7B, reference numeral 1100 denotes a watch body, and reference numeral 1101 denotes a display unit using the liquid crystal display device. FIG. 7C is a perspective view showing an example of a portable information processing apparatus such as a word processor or a personal computer. In FIG. 7C, reference numeral 1200 denotes an information processing apparatus, reference numeral 1202 denotes an input unit such as a keyboard, reference numeral 1204 denotes an information processing apparatus body, and reference numeral 1206 denotes a display unit using the liquid crystal display device.
The electronic device illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a liquid crystal display device as a component, which can reduce the amount of liquid crystal material consumed in the manufacturing process and can reduce manufacturing costs.

  The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the specific configurations and materials mentioned in the embodiment. These are merely examples, and can be changed as appropriate.

  For example, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device of the present invention can be applied to a method for manufacturing a device other than a liquid crystal display device using a droplet discharge method. In this case, instead of dropping the liquid crystal material by the droplet discharge method, the liquid material constituting the device is dropped by the droplet discharge method. Preliminary discharge may be performed in a corresponding area. Further, the liquid crystal discharge device of the present invention may discharge a liquid other than the liquid crystal material instead of the liquid crystal material. Also in this case, the preliminary ejection is performed on the defective area as in the above embodiment.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall configuration of a liquid crystal ejection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the droplet discharge head in a liquid crystal discharge apparatus same as the above. It is a schematic plan view which shows the main operation examples of the liquid crystal discharge apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the modification of the main operation example same as the above. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example using the dummy liquid of the liquid crystal discharge apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the structural example of the liquid crystal display device manufactured using the liquid crystal discharge device and manufacturing method which concern on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the electronic device manufactured using the liquid crystal discharge apparatus same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cell, 1A ... Normal cell, 1B ... Defective cell, 10 ... Board | substrate, 30 ... Liquid crystal discharge apparatus, 34 ... Droplet discharge head, 34a ... Liquid crystal discharge unit, 34b ... Dummy liquid discharge unit,
38 ... Pre-discharge area

Claims (12)

A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, comprising: a step of providing a cell forming a part of the liquid crystal display device on a substrate; and a step of dropping a liquid crystal material into the cell by a droplet discharge method.
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, wherein the liquid crystal material is preliminarily discharged to a defective cell in the cell. The liquid crystal material is dropped on the cells of the substrate on which a plurality of cells including the defective cell and the normal cell are provided,
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of attaching a counter substrate to the substrate after the dropping of the liquid crystal material is finished, and disposing the dropped liquid crystal material between the substrate and the counter substrate. Liquid crystal display device manufacturing method.   3. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the preliminary discharge is performed before the liquid crystal material is dropped on a normal cell.   An information input step of inputting at least one of information indicating a position of the defective cell on the substrate and information indicating an amount of the liquid crystal material to be discharged into one cell to the liquid crystal discharge device. Item 4. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   The discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell is either substantially the same as the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to the normal cell or less than the discharge amount of the liquid crystal material to the normal cell. Item 5. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to any one of Items 1 to 4.   The preliminary discharge of the liquid crystal material to the defective cell, when the preliminary discharge is not completed, the remaining preliminary discharge is performed in an area other than the defective cell and the normal cell. The manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of description.   The liquid crystal display according to claim 1, further comprising a dummy liquid dropping step of dropping a dummy liquid, which is a liquid material other than the liquid crystal material, onto the defective cell by a droplet discharge method. Device manufacturing method.   The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 7, wherein the dummy liquid dropping step is performed when a drop amount of the liquid crystal material by preliminary discharge to the defective cell is less than a desired drop amount.   9. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 7, wherein the dummy liquid is made of glycerin. A liquid crystal discharge apparatus including a liquid droplet discharge head capable of discharging at least a liquid crystal material,
An input means for inputting information on the defective cell;
And a defect countermeasure means for controlling the operation of the liquid droplet ejection head so as to preliminarily eject the liquid crystal material to the defective cell based on the information input by the input means. Discharge device.   A liquid crystal display device manufactured by the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1.   An electronic apparatus comprising the liquid crystal display device according to claim 11.

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