JP2005216816A - Inspection method of display panel and inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inspection method of a display panel capable of inspecting a plurality of objects to be inspected within a short processing period, and to provide an inspection device. <P>SOLUTION: The inspection device 40 of the display panel 1 has a plurality of contact pieces 51 contacting a plurality of metal backs 17 formed on the inner face of the display panel 1, and a contact piece 52 contacting a frame-shaped conductor film 2 surrounding the plurality of metal backs 17 in a non-contact state. At the inspection, a potential difference is added between the plurality of contact pieces 51 and the contact piece 52, a voltage of a resistance element formed at every contact piece 51 is detected, and a resistance value between respective metal backs 17 and the conductive film 2 are measured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection method and an inspection apparatus for inspecting a display panel of a flat display device such as an SED, for example.

  Conventionally, as an apparatus for measuring the electrical resistance of a conductive member, for example, a resistance value inspection apparatus for measuring the electrical resistance of a printed circuit board in which bumps are arranged in a plane using a probe is known (for example, a patent) Reference 1). In this apparatus, the electrical resistance is measured by bringing a probe into contact with a pin at a position where a bump exists. Based on the measurement result, the wiring pattern is inspected for disconnection or short circuit.

However, in this apparatus, it is necessary to inspect by changing the contact position of the probe in accordance with the number of wiring patterns to be inspected, and there is a problem that inspection takes time and processing time becomes long.
JP 2001-153909 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a display panel inspection method and an inspection apparatus capable of simultaneously inspecting a plurality of inspection objects and reducing processing time.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the display panel inspection method of the present invention, a plurality of first contacts are brought into contact with a plurality of strip-like conductive films arranged in parallel and spaced apart from each other on the inner surface of the display panel. A second contactor is brought into contact with a conductive member in which a plurality of conductive films are connected in parallel via resistance members provided at both ends of each of the conductive films, and the plurality of first contactors and the second contactor A potential difference is given to the contact via a single power source, the voltages at both ends of the resistance element for inspection provided for each of the first contacts are detected, and the voltage is detected based on the detected voltage value. The resistance value of each resistance member is measured, respectively.

  Further, the display panel inspection apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of first contactors that are brought into contact with a plurality of elongated strip-like conductive films arranged in parallel with each other on the inner surface of the display panel, and the conductive films. Between a plurality of first contactors and the second contactors, each of which is in contact with a conductive member in which a plurality of conductive films are connected in parallel via resistance members provided at both ends of the first contactor. A single power source for applying a potential difference to the first contactor, a plurality of inspection resistance elements provided for each of the first contacts, and voltages at both ends of the plurality of resistance elements, respectively, and based on the voltage values A calculation unit that measures the resistance value of each of the corresponding resistance members.

  According to the above invention, a potential difference is applied between the first contact that contacts each of the plurality of conductive films and the second contact that contacts the conductive member that connects the plurality of conductive films in parallel. The voltage at both ends of the resistance element for inspection provided for each contact is detected, and the resistance value of the resistance member connected to each conductive film is measured based on the detection result. For this reason, the resistance value of a several resistance member can be measured simultaneously using a single power supply.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of inspection objects can be inspected simultaneously, and the processing time can be shortened.

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

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a surface conduction electron emission display device (hereinafter referred to as SED) as a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The SED has a rear plate 10 and a face plate 12 each made of rectangular quartz glass. These plates 10 and 12 are opposed to each other with an interval of about 1.5 to 3.0 mm. The rear plate 10 and the face plate 12 are joined to each other at peripheral edges via a rectangular frame-shaped side wall 14 made of glass, thereby forming a flat rectangular vacuum envelope 15.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a phosphor screen 16 is formed on the inner surface of the face plate 12. As will be described later in detail, the phosphor screen 16 is configured by alternately arranging a plurality of phosphor layers 16R, 16B, and 16G of red, blue, and green, and a black colored layer 16K positioned between the phosphor layers in a stripe shape. (See FIG. 5). Further, on each black colored layer 16K, as will be described later, a plurality of metal backs 17 made of a strip-like aluminum film (conductive film) are formed (see FIG. 5).

  On the inner surface of the rear plate 10, a large number of electron-emitting devices 18 that emit electron beams for exciting and emitting the phosphor layers 16R, 16B, and 16G of the respective colors are provided. These electron-emitting devices 18 are provided in a one-to-one correspondence for each pixel, that is, for each of the phosphor layers 16R, 16B, and 16G, and are arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows. The details of each electron-emitting device 18 and the wiring of the electron-emitting device 18 are not described here.

  Moreover, the side wall 14 which joins the peripheral parts of the face plate 12 and the rear plate 10 which were comprised as mentioned above is the peripheral part of the rear plate 10 with sealing materials 20, such as low melting glass and a low melting metal, for example. The face plate 12 and the rear plate 10 are joined to each other by being sealed to the peripheral edge of the face plate 12.

  Further, the SED includes a spacer assembly 22 disposed between the rear plate 10 and the face plate 12. The spacer assembly 22 includes a plate-like grid 24 having a large number of electron beam passage holes 26, and a plurality of columnar spacers 30a and 30b provided integrally on both sides of the grid. The spacers 30a and 30b support the atmospheric pressure load acting on the plates 10 and 12 from the outside of the vacuum envelope 15 by abutting against the inner surfaces of the face plate 12 and the rear plate 10, and the interval between the plates is a predetermined value. To maintain.

  Next, the display panel 1 and the inspection apparatus 40 for the display panel 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, a structure in which the phosphor screen 16 and the metal back 17 are formed on the inner surface of the face plate 12 is referred to as a display panel 1. FIG. 3 shows a partial perspective view of the state in which the display panel 1 is set on the inspection device 40. FIG. 4 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of a circuit including a metal back 17 having a pattern transferred onto the inner surface of the display panel 1. Further, FIG. 5 shows a partial sectional view of the display panel 1.

  As shown in FIG. 3, on the inner surface of the display panel 1, in order to stably operate the SED, a plurality of strip-shaped metal backs 17 and a rectangular frame-shaped conductor film 2 that surrounds the plurality of metal backs 17 in a non-contact state ( Conductive member) is patterned. A plurality of strip-shaped metal backs 17 are juxtaposed in parallel and spaced apart from each other and electrically insulated, and the rectangular frame-shaped conductor film 2 is disposed along the peripheral edge of the face plate 12. Yes. As shown in FIG. 4, both ends of each metal back 17 are connected in parallel to the conductor film 2 via a resistive film 4 (resistive member) (not shown in FIG. 3) to constitute a parallel circuit.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a phosphor screen 16 in which three color phosphor layers 16R, 16B, 16G and a black colored layer 16K are alternately arranged is formed on the inner surface of the face plate 12, and each color phosphor layer 16R. , 16B, and 16G, a metal back 17 is formed, and an insulating wall 19 is formed on the black colored layer 16K. Each metal back 17 is provided in a valley (recess) between the insulator walls 19.

  In the present embodiment, the parallel circuit including the metal back 17 is formed on the inner surface of the face plate 12 as shown in FIG. 4, so that the problem of discharge generated in the vacuum envelope 15 of the SED is solved, and the SED is It is designed to operate stably. In other words, in order to operate the SED stably, it is important to form the parallel circuit shown in FIG. 4 and make the resistance value between each metal back 17 and the conductor film 2 uniform. The inspection device 40 is for inspecting the display panel 1 by measuring the resistance value, that is, the electric resistance of the resistance film 4 corresponding to each metal back 17.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the inspection apparatus 40 includes a support frame 41 that supports the plate 12 so that the inner surface of the face plate 12 on which the metal back 17 is formed faces upward and the inner surface of the plate is substantially horizontal. The support frame 41 has a vibration isolating member 42 for absorbing vibrations applied from the outside.

  The support frame 41 includes a fine adjustment stage 44 for supporting and fixing a large number of contacts 51 (first contacts) in an insulated state and positioning them in a three-dimensional direction and a rotational direction, and one contact 52 ( A fine adjustment stage 46 is mounted to support and fix the second contact) in an insulated state and to position it in the three-dimensional direction and the rotational direction. Here, the detailed structure of each fine adjustment stage 44, 46 is not described.

  A large number of contacts 51 are arranged at equal intervals at the same pitch as the pitch of the metal back 17 formed on the face plate 12 (0.5 mm in the present embodiment), and a resin plate-like member 53 (insulating member). It is fixed by holding. Further, since it is necessary to maintain the intervals between the multiple contacts 51 with high accuracy, the plate-like member 53 is supported and fixed by an ultra-high accuracy metal assembly jig 54 (rigid member). That is, the pitch of the contacts 51 is controlled with high accuracy by holding a resin member with low dimensional accuracy with a metal member with high dimensional accuracy.

  Then, by operating the fine adjustment stage 44, the tips of the respective contacts 51 are simultaneously brought into contact with and separated from the respective metal backs 17, respectively. The resin plate-like member 53 and the metal jig 54 may be provided for each contact 51. In this case, the pitch of the contact 51 can be easily changed.

  In the present embodiment, the pitch between adjacent contacts 51 can be arranged with an accuracy of ± 50 μm by the combination of the resin member and the metal member described above. Further, by adopting a structure in which the resin plate-like member 53 is held by the metal jig 54, it is possible to easily cope with the change in the pitch of the contact 51 accompanying the change in the pitch of the metal back 17. It was.

  On the other hand, the only contact 52 is also held by a resin plate-like member 55 supported and fixed by a metal jig 56. By operating the fine adjustment stage 46 to which the jig 56 is attached, The tip is in contact with the rectangular frame conductor film 2.

  Note that the tips of the contacts 51 and 52 are rounded as shown in FIG. 5 so as not to damage the film because they contact the metal back 17 and the conductor film 2 made of a thin metal film. For the same reason, spring-type probes are employed as the contacts 51 and 52 in order to set the contact pressure to an appropriate pressure. Further, in the present embodiment, since each metal back 17 is disposed in the valley of the insulator wall 19, the tip of the contact 51 is rounded into the metal back 17 as shown in FIG. 5. And a slight deviation in the pitch of the contact 51 is allowed. Further, in the inspection device 40 of the present embodiment, since the required measurement accuracy of the resistance value is in the unit of “KΩ” and the contact location of the contact 51 is on the display screen, the contact of the contact 51 Since it is necessary to minimize the number of locations, the two-terminal method was adopted.

  Next, a method for measuring a resistance value by the above-described inspection apparatus 40, that is, a method for inspecting the display panel 1 will be described with reference to a measurement circuit diagram shown in FIG. Here, since the resistance films 4 are provided at both ends of each metal back 17, the resistance value measured by the inspection device 40 is a parallel value of the resistance values of the resistance films 4 at both ends. In this embodiment, the stable operation of the SED is managed by managing the parallel values of the resistance values at both ends.

  For inspection, first, the display panel 1 as an inspection object is set on the support frame 41 of the inspection apparatus 40. Then, the fine adjustment stage 44 is operated to bring the tips of the plurality of contacts 51 into contact with the corresponding metal backs 17, and the fine adjustment stage 46 is operated to bring the contacts 52 into contact with the conductor film 2. At this time, for example, the nth contact 51n contacts the nth metal back 17n. In this state, a voltage E [V] (potential difference) is applied between all the contacts 51 and the contacts 52 through the power supply 61.

  At this time, a calculation unit (not shown) detects the voltage E1 at both ends of the inspection resistance element 62 provided in advance for each contact 51, and based on the detected voltage value, the corresponding resistor The resistance value of the film 4 is calculated. That is, a specific resistance element 62 is individually individually connected in series to each contact 51 in advance, and the arithmetic unit of the inspection device 40 can detect the voltage across each resistance element 62.

That is, the resistance value of a specific resistance film 4n to be measured is Rn [Ω], the voltage applied to both ends of Rn is E2n [V], and the resistance value of the resistance element 62n previously installed on the measurement circuit is Ran [Ω], the voltage applied to both ends of Ran, that is, the voltage detected by the calculation unit is E1n [V], and the voltage of the power supply 61 is E [V].
E = E1n + E2n
The following relational expression holds. At this time, the current In [A] flowing through the two resistors Ran and Rn is constant.

Transforming the above equation based on Ohm's law,
E = In × Ran + In × Rn
And transform to the equation for Rn,
Rn × In = E−In × Ran
Rn = (E-In × Ran) / In
Rn = E / In-Ran
It becomes.

Also, since In = E1n / Ran,
Rn = E / (E1n / Ran) -Ran
And
Rn = Ran × (E / E1n−1)
It becomes.

  That is, the values of Ran, E, and E1n are required to obtain a specific Rn to be measured. Since Ran is a fixed resistance value set in advance for each contact 51, E is also a known value, and E1n is a value that can be detected by the calculation unit. Therefore, Rn that is a measurement target can be calculated by the calculation unit. Further, since the above equation can be applied to all the resistance films 4 on a circuit parallel to the electromotive voltage E, the resistance values of the plurality of resistance films 4 can be simultaneously obtained without using a switching circuit or a relay circuit. It can be measured.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a parallel circuit including a plurality of metal backs 17 is formed on the inner surface of the face plate 12, and a plurality of contacts 51 are simultaneously brought into contact with the plurality of metal backs 17. The resistance value of the resistance film 4 was measured. For this reason, it is not necessary to measure the resistance value of the resistance film by bringing a contact element into contact with each metal back 17, and the processing time can be shortened.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to perform inexpensive evaluation and measurement with a relatively simple apparatus configuration without requiring an advanced technique and an expensive apparatus like measurement of a resistance value in a semiconductor manufacturing process, for example. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, since the tip of the contact 51 that contacts the metal back 17 is rounded, the metal back made of a thin metal film is not damaged.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, you may delete some components from all the components shown by embodiment mentioned above.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the spring-type probe is employed as the contacts 51 and 52 that are brought into contact with the metal back 17 or the conductor film 2 is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other contacts may be used. good.

1 is an external perspective view showing a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the display device of FIG. 1. The partial perspective view which shows the state which set the display panel of the display apparatus of FIG. 1 to the test | inspection apparatus. FIG. 4 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing a parallel circuit formed on the inner surface of the display panel of FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the display panel of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a measurement circuit diagram showing a circuit configuration for measuring the resistance value of the resistance film of the parallel circuit of FIG. 4.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Display panel, 2 ... Conductor film, 4 ... Resistive film, 10 ... Rear plate, 12 ... Face plate, 14 ... Side wall, 15 ... Vacuum envelope, 16 ... Phosphor screen, 17 ... Metal back, 18 ... Electronics Emission element, 19 ... black colored layer, 22 ... spacer assembly, 40 ... inspection device, 44, 46 ... fine adjustment stage, 51, 52 ... contactor, 53, 55 ... plate-like member, 54, 56 ... jig, 61 ... power source, 62 ... resistance element.

Claims (6)

A method for inspecting a display panel of a flat display device,
A plurality of first contactors are brought into contact with each of a plurality of elongated strip-like conductive films arranged side by side on the inner surface of the display panel,
The second contactor is brought into contact with a conductive member in which a plurality of conductive films are connected in parallel through resistance members provided at both ends of each conductive film,
A potential difference is applied via a single power source between the plurality of first contacts and the second contacts,
Detecting the voltage across the resistance element for inspection provided for each of the first contacts,
A display panel inspection method, comprising: measuring a resistance value of each of the resistance members based on a detected voltage value.   The potential difference given by the single power source is E [V], and the resistance value of the resistance element for inspection provided in any first contact among the plurality of first contacts is Ran [Ω]. When the detection voltage at both ends of the resistance element is E1n [V], the resistance value Rn [Ω] of the resistance member provided on the conductive film in contact with the first contact is Rn = Ran The display panel inspection method according to claim 1, wherein the display panel is represented by × (E / E1n−1). A device for inspecting a display panel of a flat display device,
A plurality of first contacts that are brought into contact with a plurality of elongated strip-like conductive films arranged in parallel to each other on the inner surface of the display panel;
A second contactor for contacting a conductive member in which a plurality of conductive films are connected in parallel through resistance members provided at both ends of each conductive film;
A single power supply for providing a potential difference between the plurality of first contacts and the second contact;
A plurality of inspection resistance elements provided for each of the first contacts;
An arithmetic unit that detects voltages at both ends of each of the plurality of resistance elements and measures the resistance values of the corresponding resistance members based on the voltage values, and
A display panel inspection apparatus comprising:   The potential difference given by the single power source is E [V], and the resistance value of the resistance element for inspection provided in any first contact among the plurality of first contacts is Ran [Ω]. When the detection voltage at both ends of the resistance element is E1n [V], the resistance value Rn [Ω] of the resistance member provided on the conductive film in contact with the first contact is Rn = Ran 4. The display panel inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display panel inspection apparatus is represented by x (E / E1n-1).   The display panel inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a tip end portion where the plurality of first contacts come into contact with the conductive film is rounded. An insulating member that holds the plurality of first contacts independently from each other at the same pitch as the pitch of the plurality of conductive films;
A rigid member that supports and fixes the insulating member in order to maintain the pitch of the plurality of first contacts with high accuracy;
The display panel inspection apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

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