JP2006210233A - Lighting inspection device for organic el panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lighting inspection device preventing an overcurrent from flowing through a specific pixel part at whole-face lighting inspection of an organic EL panel performed by making probes simultaneously contact with respective lead terminals of a terminal part even when a contact disorder is generated. <P>SOLUTION: The lighting inspection device, for organic EL panel simultaneously supplying lighting current to the plurality of lead terminals arranged at the terminal part thereof for whole face lighting inspection of an organic EL panel 1, comprises a probe 60 for inspection capable of contacting respective lead terminals 25, and a power supply part 30 supplying lighting current to the probe 60 for inspection, and a protection resistor 50 (preferably, a conductive rubber 51) for limiting current is arranged between the probe 60 for inspection and the power supply part 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a lighting inspection device for an organic EL panel. More specifically, when an organic EL panel is subjected to a lighting inspection on the entire surface, an overcurrent does not flow through a specific pixel portion (organic EL element) due to poor contact of a probe. It is related to the technology.

  An organic EL panel (organic electroluminescence panel) is configured by arranging organic EL elements that emit light on the panel body in a matrix, and FIG. 3 shows the configuration of one pixel of the organic EL panel. To do.

  The organic EL panel 1 includes a light-transmitting substrate (in many cases, a glass substrate) 10, and an anode electrode 21, an EL forming layer 22 containing an organic light emitting material, and a cathode electrode 23 are provided on the back surface side that is the opposite observation surface side. The organic EL elements 20 that are sequentially stacked are arranged in a matrix, and the sealing substrate 24 is placed on the back side of the light-transmitting substrate 10 so as to cover the whole. A polarizing plate 12 is attached to the observation surface side of the light transmissive substrate 10.

  The sealing substrate 24 is used mainly for the purpose of preventing deterioration of the EL formation layer 22 due to moisture. Usually, the sealing substrate 24 is made of a glass material, and a concave portion 24a is formed on the inner surface side thereof by frost treatment, hydrofluoric acid etching, or the like, and the periphery is not shown in the state in which, for example, nitrogen gas is sealed in the concave portion 24a. Sealed with a material.

  The light transmissive substrate 10 is provided with a terminal portion on which lead terminals of the anode electrode 21 and the cathode electrode 23 are formed. FIG. 4 shows the terminal portion 11 in which the lead terminal 25 on the anode electrode 21 side (segment side) is formed. Although not shown, the terminal portion on the cathode electrode 23 side (common side) is provided on another side of the light-transmitting substrate 10.

  The organic EL panel 1 emits light by passing a current through each organic EL element 20. After the panel is made, the entire panel is turned on and the brightness and lighting state (including the presence or absence of uneven lighting and disconnection) are inspected. In the pin contact method in which needle-like probe pins are applied to each lead terminal, It is necessary to create a pin board at a cost for each model. Moreover, in order to accurately align each probe pin with the lead terminal, a highly accurate alignment mechanism is required for the jig, and therefore, the pin contact method is not preferable in terms of cost.

  When the entire panel is lit, it is not necessary to individually contact the probe pins with each lead terminal. Therefore, a solid probe method in which the lead terminals are brought into contact with each lead terminal without any particular positioning is preferably employed for the entire panel lighting inspection. FIG. 4 shows an example of the solid probe method.

  In the solid probe method, for example, a strip-shaped solid probe electrode 32 having a length straddling each lead terminal 25 of the terminal portion 11 is formed on one end side of the flexible substrate 31 with a copper foil material, and solid probe is performed by a driving unit (not shown). The electrode 32 is pressed against the terminal portion 11 to supply lighting currents to the lead terminals 25 all at once. A solid probe electrode is similarly applied to the terminal portion on the common side.

  In this solid probe method, there is no problem when the solid probe electrode 32 is in contact with all the lead terminals 25. However, when contact failure occurs in several places, the current that is passed through the lead terminals that are not in contact is passed through the lead terminals that are in contact. For this reason, the lead terminals that are normally in contact with each other become overcurrent, and this may cause destruction of a specific pixel portion.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent an overcurrent from flowing in a specific pixel portion even when a contact failure portion occurs when a probe is brought into contact with each lead terminal of the terminal portion to inspect the entire surface of the organic EL panel. There is in doing so.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an organic EL panel that supplies a lighting current simultaneously to each of a plurality of lead terminals formed in the terminal portion of the organic EL panel in order to inspect the entire surface of the organic EL panel. The lighting inspection apparatus includes an inspection probe that can contact each of the lead terminals, and a power supply unit that supplies the lighting current to the inspection probe, and is provided between the inspection probe and the power supply unit. It is characterized in that a protective resistor for current limiting is connected.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to use an anisotropic conductive film in which a large number of columnar conductors are penetrated at a pitch that does not straddle between the lead terminals in an electrically insulating flexible support film as the inspection probe. .

  Moreover, it is preferable to use conductive rubber as the protective resistance. Also, if the resistance value of the protective resistor is too low, the effect of preventing overcurrent is not recognized, and if it is too high, an appropriate lighting current cannot be applied to the lead terminals that are in normal contact. Therefore, the resistance value of the protective resistor is preferably 100Ω to 1 kΩ ± 10%.

  According to the present invention, by connecting a protective resistor for current limiting between the inspection probe and the power supply unit, even if contact failure occurs in some of the lead terminal side of the panel terminal unit, Since the corresponding current does not wrap around the lead terminals that are in normal contact, pixel destruction due to overcurrent is prevented.

  In addition, as an inspection probe, exact alignment is achieved by using an anisotropic conductive film in which a large number of columnar conductors are penetrated at a pitch that does not straddle between lead terminals in a flexible support film with electrical insulation properties. Therefore, the inspection probe can be brought into contact with each lead terminal individually.

  In addition, by using conductive rubber as the protective resistance, it is possible to provide protective resistance in a lump between the inspection probe and the power feeding unit, and use the elasticity of the conductive rubber to connect the inspection probe and the lead terminal. Contact can be made more reliable.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, but the present invention is not limited to this. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the main part of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view for explaining the operation of the present invention.

  The panel to be inspected is the organic EL panel 1 of FIG. 3 described above, but only the terminal portion 11 is shown in FIG. In this case, since the organic EL panel 1 is set on a support base (not shown) of the inspection apparatus with the observation surface side (light emission surface side) facing upward, the terminal portion 11 is arranged with the lead terminal 25 facing downward.

  The inspection apparatus includes a lifting table 40 disposed below the terminal portion 11, and a power feeding unit 30 for supplying a lighting current is provided on the lifting table 40. In this example, the flexible substrate 31 having the solid probe electrode 32 made of the copper foil material described in FIG. In this case, the flexible substrate 31 is disposed on the lifting table 40 with the solid probe electrode 32 on the upper side.

  The inspection apparatus includes an inspection probe 60 that actually contacts each lead terminal 25 of the terminal portion 11 separately from the solid probe electrode 31 as the power supply unit 30. The inspection probe 60 and the solid probe electrode A protective resistor 50 for current limiting is interposed between the current limiting resistor 31 and the terminal 31.

  As the inspection probe 60, for example, a probe pin that contacts each lead terminal 25 individually may be used. However, a columnar conductor 63 is straddled between the lead terminals 25 on an electrically insulating flexible support film 62. It is preferable to use an anisotropic conductive film 61 that is formed in a large number with no pitch.

  According to this anisotropic conductive film 61, the columnar conductor 63 (inspection probe) can be brought into contact with each lead terminal 25 individually without requiring precise alignment. Further, no current flows between the lead terminals 25 via the conductor 63. Examples of this type of anisotropic conductive film include an anisotropic conductive film Cupil (trade name) manufactured by Nitto Denko Corporation.

  As the protective resistance 50, for example, a protective resistance element may be connected to each portion of the conductor 63 in contact with the lead terminal 25 ignoring the cost. However, for example, a conductive rubber 51 based on silicone rubber or the like is used. Is preferred.

  According to this, a protective resistance can be provided collectively between the anisotropic conductive film 61 (inspection probe 60) and the solid probe electrode 31 (feeding portion 30), and the elasticity of the conductive rubber 51 is utilized. Thus, the contact between the inspection probe 60 and the lead terminal 25 can be made more reliable.

  The conductive rubber 51 does not necessarily need to be disposed over the entire back surface of the anisotropic conductive film 61, and may be disposed as a series of strips within the contact range of the anisotropic conductive film 61 with respect to each lead terminal 25.

  When the entire surface of the organic EL panel 1 is inspected for lighting, the elevating table 40 is lifted to bring the anisotropic conductive film 61 as the inspection probe 60 into contact with the terminal portion 11, and the power feeding portion 30 (in this example, the flexible substrate 31 of the flexible substrate 31. A lighting current is supplied to each lead terminal 25 from the solid probe electrode 32) through the conductive rubber 51 and the conductor 63 of the anisotropic conductive film 61. Note that the solid probe electrode 32 shown in FIG. 4 may be applied to a common-side terminal portion (not shown) of the organic EL panel 1.

  At this time, if the lead terminal 25a out of the three adjacent lead terminals 25a to 25c illustrated in the enlarged view of FIG. 2 has a poor contact, the current supplied to the lead terminal 25a is adjacent to the lead terminal 25a. However, since there is a resistance of the conductive rubber 51 in the current path to be flown, most of it is converted into Joule heat and disappears. There is no possibility that the overcurrent is concentrated on the lead terminal 25b that is in normal contact.

  Note that the lighting current required for a normal organic EL panel is about 100 mA. From the relationship with the current value, the resistance value of the conductive rubber 51 is preferably 100Ω to 1 kΩ ± 10%. If it is too low, the effect of preventing overcurrent is not recognized, and if it is too high, an appropriate lighting current may not be applied to the lead terminal 25 that is in normal contact.

  In addition, even if the conductive rubber 51 is brought into direct contact with each lead terminal 25 without using the inspection probe 60, as in the above example, from the poor contact portion to the lead terminal that is normally in contact. Although current wraparound can be prevented, especially when the conductive rubber 51 is made of silicone rubber, the terminal portion 11 may be contaminated by silicone, and the contact surface of the conductive rubber 51 with the lead terminal 25 is joule. It is not preferable that the conductive rubber 51 is brought into direct contact with each lead terminal 25 because it may be melted by heat.

Sectional drawing which shows the principal part of this invention. The schematic diagram for demonstrating the effect | action of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration for one pixel of an organic EL panel. The perspective view which shows an example of the electric power feeding part for the whole surface lighting test | inspection with the terminal part of an organic electroluminescent panel.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Organic EL panel 11 Terminal part 20 Organic EL element 25 Lead terminal 30 Power supply part 31 Flexible substrate 32 Solid probe electrode 40 Lifting table 50 Protection resistance 51 Conductive rubber 60 Probe for inspection 61 Anisotropic conductive film 62 Support film 63 Conductor

Claims (4)

In order to inspect the entire surface of the organic EL panel, in the lighting inspection device for the organic EL panel that supplies a lighting current simultaneously to each of the plurality of lead terminals formed in the terminal portion of the organic EL panel,
A test probe that can contact each of the lead terminals; and a power supply unit that supplies the lighting current to the test probe; and a current limiting protection between the test probe and the power supply unit. A lighting inspection apparatus for an organic EL panel, wherein a resistor is connected.   The anisotropic conductive film formed by penetrating a large number of columnar conductors at a pitch that does not straddle between the lead terminals in an electrically insulating flexible support film as the inspection probe. 1. A lighting inspection apparatus for an organic EL panel according to 1.   The organic EL panel lighting inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protective resistance is made of conductive rubber.   4. The organic EL panel lighting inspection device according to claim 1, wherein a resistance value of the protective resistor is 100Ω to 1 kΩ ± 10%.

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