JP2006293045A - Manufacturing method of liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal panel manufactured by manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal panel by which dividing of liquid crystal panels can be easily performed when a corner of a substrate of the liquid crystal panel used for a liquid crystal display whose display region is formed in a nearly elliptical or a nearly circular shape is cut to a part near to the display region, and to provide the liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method. <P>SOLUTION: After a sealing material is provided in the vicinity of a terminal part of a mother substrate and the mother substrate is parted into individual panel regions for every panel region, each region is cut between a liquid crystal sealing material and the sealing material in the vicinity of the terminal part so as to straddle them and then the other mother glass piece covering the terminal part is removed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel manufacturing method and a liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device in which a display area is formed in a substantially elliptical or substantially circular shape. A liquid crystal panel having a high display quality that can be easily divided when the substrate constituting the liquid crystal panel is cut to the vicinity of the display area, and that there is almost no cracking or cracking in the vicinity of the dividing surface. The present invention relates to a panel manufacturing method and a liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method.

  In recent years, various small portable devices such as a mobile phone, a game machine, and an electronic dictionary equipped with a liquid crystal display device have been widely used. Among these devices, in particular, mobile phones have added functions such as games, clocks, cameras, e-mails, and Internet terminals in addition to normal calling functions. It has become an indispensable item.

  As such various functions are mounted on a mobile phone, the phone itself, so-called hardware side, is required to be more convenient, lighter and more portable on the one hand, and on the other hand, is designed or user-friendly. Fashion that matches the taste is required, and the shape of the equipment is adapted to this.

  In response to this trend, the display screen of the display panel has been devised, and the display screen is mostly rectangular, but some non-rectangular are also used. (See, for example, Patent Document 1 below).

  4A and 4B show a mobile phone described in Patent Document 1 shown below. FIG. 4A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of a liquid crystal display device mounted on the mobile phone shown in FIG. is there.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cellular phone 10 includes liquid crystal panels 11A and 11B and a housing 12 that accommodates these liquid crystal panels. The housing 12 has a circular opening 12a formed on the surface thereof. The display screen of the liquid crystal panel 11B is exposed from the opening 12a.

  This display screen is formed by combining a rectangular liquid crystal panel 11B and a housing 12 provided with a circular display window. That is, when the liquid crystal panel is accommodated in the housing, the housing covers the surface of the rectangular liquid crystal panel, and the display surface is exposed from the circular opening of the housing, that is, the display window.

The applicant of the present application has also filed a patent application (hereinafter referred to as a prior application) relating to a liquid crystal display device having a non-rectangular display surface as described above. That is, the liquid crystal panel has a display area formed in a substantially elliptical shape or a substantially circular shape, and a substrate constituting the liquid crystal panel is cut to the vicinity of the display area. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that solves the problem that the liquid crystal panel is not used as a display area and occupies a predetermined space in the housing, thereby reducing the size of the housing or restricting the storage of other components. Is. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal panel accommodated in the liquid crystal display device according to the embodiment of the prior application. As shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal panel 1 has a configuration in which two substrates PNL1 and 2 made of glass or the like are arranged to face each other, and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) is formed between the substrates PNL1, No. 2 has a shape in which the corner of the substrate having substantially the same vertically long rectangular shape is cut to the vicinity of the display area D.
JP 2002-287144 A

In FIG. 3, in order to divide the corner portion of the substrate in accordance with the elliptical or circular display area, the two dividing lines at the bottom of the figure straddle the portion (terminal portion) where the driver LSI is mounted. However, only PNL1 exists in the terminal portion, and there is a problem in that it is difficult to separate the substrate PNL1 and PNL2 in the vicinity of the terminal portion where the two dividing lines cross over each other. If an attempt is made to forcibly divide across the steps, cracks, hooks, etc. are likely to occur near the end surfaces of the overlapping portions of the substrates. Further, since the portion where only PNL1 exists is low in strength, there is a problem that cracks, chipping, and the like are likely to occur at the end face of PNL1 at the time of division.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device in which a display region is formed in a substantially elliptical or substantially circular shape. A liquid crystal panel with a high display quality that can be easily divided in the vicinity of the display area when the substrate constituting the liquid crystal panel to be used is cut, and is less prone to cracking and cracking near the dividing surface. And a liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method.

  The object of the present invention can be achieved by the following configurations. That is, the invention of the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel according to claim 1 of the present application has a rectangular panel region having one or a plurality of substantially elliptical or substantially circular display regions, and at least of the panel region. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel from a pair of mother substrates having a terminal portion on one side, wherein one or each of the mother substrates has a substantially contour adjacent to the substantially elliptical or substantially circular display area. A step of providing a sealant and providing a sealant in the vicinity of the terminal portion; a step of bonding a pair of mother substrates with the sealant; and Forming a dividing line at an end portion on the display area side of a portion corresponding to the terminal portion, and cutting each panel area; in each divided panel area A step of cutting the corner of the panel region so as to straddle the sealing material provided so as to form a substantially contour in the vicinity of the display region, and the sealing material provided in the vicinity of the terminal portion, which corresponds to the terminal portion And the process of removing the mother substrate portion.

  The invention according to claim 2 relates to the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the sealing material provided in the vicinity of the terminal portion is provided on a substrate different from the substrate having the terminal portion. It is characterized by being able to.

  A liquid crystal panel according to claim 3 is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2.

  By providing the above configuration, the present invention has the following excellent effects. That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, after dividing each panel region, when dividing the corner of each panel across the terminal part in the side having the terminal part or the side corresponding to the terminal part, the terminal Since the pair of substrates are bonded to each other at the corners of the portion, there is no place where only one substrate exists, so that no step is generated in the dividing portion, and the division can be easily performed. In addition, this makes it possible to provide a high-quality liquid crystal panel that is unlikely to be cracked or cracked near the end surface where the substrates overlap. In addition, since the strength of the panel is improved by overlapping the substrates in the terminal portion where only one substrate is present, cracks, chipping, etc. near the end surface of the portion where only one substrate exists due to the force applied at the time of division It is possible to provide a liquid crystal panel that can reduce the occurrence of the above.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the seal material provided at the side having the terminal portion or at the corner portion of the side corresponding to the terminal portion removes the portion corresponding to the terminal portion by a pre-formed dividing line. In this case, since it is naturally removed, a separate process for removing the provided sealing material is not necessary.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 3, since there is no cracking or cracking in the sectional surface, a high-quality liquid crystal panel can be provided without impairing the aesthetic appearance.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiments described below exemplify a liquid crystal panel manufacturing method for embodying the technical idea of the present invention and a liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method, and specify the present invention. It is not intended, and other embodiments within the scope of the claims are equally applicable.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view of a liquid crystal panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a mother substrate including a plurality of panel regions of an array substrate of the liquid crystal panel of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal panel 1 of the present invention is composed of a panel having a substantially elliptical display area D.

  The liquid crystal panel 1 has a configuration in which two substrates PNL1 and 2 made of glass or the like are disposed to face each other, and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) is formed between the substrates. The corner of the substrate having the shape is cut to the vicinity of the display area D.

  These substrates may have any shape as long as an elliptical display area D having a predetermined area can be formed at the center.

    Of the two substrates PNL1 and 2 facing each other, one substrate PNL1 is an array substrate provided with a semiconductor switching element on the surface, and the other substrate PNL2 is a color filter and a surface facing the surface of the array substrate. This is a color filter substrate on which a common electrode is formed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the array substrate PNL1 and the color filter substrate PNL2 having the same shape are formed in a plate shape having a vertically long rectangular shape having long sides 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ and short sides 2 ₃ , 2 ₄ facing each other. Each corner of the body is cut to the vicinity of the display area D along the oblique dividing lines A1 to A2.

  Corner seal materials S1 and S2 are arranged at the corners of the side corresponding to the terminal part T of PNL1 on the surface of the color filter substrate PNL2 facing the array substrate PNL1.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the liquid crystal panel 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. The array substrate PNL1 and the color filter substrate PNL2 of the liquid crystal panel 1 of the present invention are each formed from a large mother substrate. Therefore, FIG. 2 illustrates the mother substrate M1 on the array substrate PNL1 side.

The mother substrate M1 for forming the array substrate PNL1 is provided with a plurality of panel regions P _{1 to} P ₄ for forming the array substrate PNL1. Note that four panel regions P1 to P4 of the array substrate PNL1 are formed in parallel in the horizontal direction on the mother substrate M1 in FIG.

  A plurality of panel regions P1 to P4 are first formed on the mother substrate M1, and the panel regions P1 to P4 are partitioned by a panel dividing line B.

  Next, a transparent electrode or the like arranged by a known process is arranged, and an alignment film made of polyimide or the like is applied and baked thereon. Then, after rubbing the surface of the alignment film, the sealing material S is applied to the peripheral portion of the panel region so that the display region D has a substantially elliptical shape or a substantially circular shape. When the sealing material S is applied, after the mother substrate M1 is bonded to the color filter substrate-side mother substrate (not shown), liquid crystal injection holes for injecting liquid crystal therein are provided in the panel regions P1 to P1. Formed on one side of P4.

  Thereafter, the corner sealing materials S1 and S2 are also provided at the corners of the sides having the terminal portions T outside the sealing material S provided in the panel regions P1 to P4.

  The mother substrate M1 to which the sealing material S is applied in the above process has a panel region, a counter electrode and a color filter layer formed on the surface thereof, and a color filter substrate side mother on which spacers are provided. Affixed to face the substrate. Since the color filter substrate side mother substrate does not need to be provided with the terminal portion T, it is smaller than the array substrate side mother substrate M1.

  Of the pair of mother substrates bonded together, a terminal partial disconnection C is formed on the color filter substrate-side mother substrate at the end of the portion corresponding to the terminal portion T of the array substrate-side mother substrate on the display area D side. Form.

  The panel assembly thus formed injects liquid crystal into the display region D by immersing the liquid crystal injection port in a liquid crystal tank filled with liquid crystal in the same manner as the conventional one.

  After the liquid crystal injection is completed by the above process, the panel assembly is pressed from both the display surface and the back surface thereof, and the liquid crystal inside is made uniform and the extra liquid crystal is discharged. Then, each of the panel regions P1 to P4 is discharged. The liquid crystal inlet is sealed with a sealing material. Then, the panel assembly in which the liquid crystal inlet is sealed is divided along the panel dividing line B for each of the panel regions P1 to P4.

    After being divided for each panel region, as shown in FIG. 1, the panel regions are divided along the sealing material S at oblique dividing lines A1 and A2. In the side having the terminal portion T in the array side substrate PNL1, between the sealing material S and the corner sealing material S1 formed in a substantially elliptical shape or a substantially circular shape, and between the S and the corner sealing material S2, A3 And A4, respectively. The dividing lines A3 and A4 are formed so as to straddle the terminal partial line C at the end of the terminal part T on the display area D side. At this time, since each of the substrates PNL1 and PNL2 is bonded by the corner sealing materials S1 and S2, there is no portion of only PNL1 as in the prior art, and therefore, the corner of each panel straddling the terminal portion T. When dividing, there is no step at the dividing portion, and the division can be easily performed. This also makes it difficult for cracks, cracks, and the like to occur near the end surfaces of the overlapping portions of the substrates. In addition, since the strength of the panel is improved by stacking the substrates in the terminal portion T where only one substrate is present, cracks and cracks occur near the end surface of the portion where only one substrate exists due to the force applied at the time of division. Etc. can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the mother substrate is described in which the panel regions are provided in a row in the horizontal direction. For example, a liquid crystal panel is manufactured by a mother substrate in which a plurality of panel regions are provided in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. In the liquid crystal injection process, after dividing the scribe line in one direction (for example, in the vertical direction) so that the liquid crystal injection port is exposed at the end thereof, a plurality of strip-shaped mother substrates are obtained. Liquid crystal is injected.

  As described above, the present invention provides a pair of mothers having a rectangular panel region having one or a plurality of substantially elliptical or substantially circular display regions, and having a terminal portion on at least one side of the panel region. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel from a substrate, wherein a sealing material is provided so as to form a substantially contour in the vicinity of a substantially elliptical or substantially circular display region in one or each of the mother substrates, and in the vicinity of the terminal portion. A step of providing a sealing material, a step of bonding a pair of mother substrates with the sealing material, and an end of a portion of the pair of mother substrates corresponding to a terminal portion on a substrate different from a substrate having a terminal portion on the display region side Forming a parting line in each part and cutting each panel region, and in each individual panel region, a sealing material and a terminal part provided so as to form a substantially contour near the display region A step of cutting the corner of the panel area so as to straddle the sealing material provided near is obtained by and a step of removing the portion of the other mother substrate corresponding to the terminal portion.

  In the above embodiment, the method of applying the sealing material S and the corner sealing materials S1 and S2 to the panel region provided on the mother substrate on the array substrate side has been described. Further, the corner seal materials S1 and S2 may be provided on the color filter side mother substrate, or conversely, only the seal material S may be provided on the color filter side mother substrate, and the corner seal materials S1 and S2 may be provided on the array side mother substrate. Is possible. However, since the corner seal materials S1 and S2 are naturally removed when the portion corresponding to the terminal portion T is removed if applied to the panel region provided on the color filter side mother substrate side, the disposed seal materials This is more preferable because a separate process for removing the film is unnecessary.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal panel housed in a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a mother substrate including a plurality of panel regions of the array substrate of the liquid crystal panel of FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal panel housed in the liquid crystal display device according to the embodiment of the prior application, 4A and 4B are views showing a known mobile phone, FIG. 4A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of a liquid crystal display device mounted on the mobile phone of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid crystal panel PNL1, PNL2 Board | substrate P1-P4 Panel area | region A1-A4 Diagonal parting line B Panel parting line C Terminal part disconnection T Terminal part D Display area S Sealing material S1, S2 Corner part sealing material

Claims (3)

A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel from a pair of mother substrates having a rectangular panel region having one or a plurality of substantially elliptical or substantially circular display regions and having a terminal portion on at least one side of the panel region. And the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal panel characterized by including the process of the following (1)-(5).
A step of providing a sealing material in the vicinity of the display area in the vicinity of the elliptical or substantially circular shape in one or each of the mother substrates, and providing a sealing material in the vicinity of the terminal portion;
A step of bonding a pair of mother substrates with the sealing material;
A step of forming a dividing line at an end portion on the display region side of a portion corresponding to the terminal portion on a substrate different from the substrate having the terminal portion of the pair of mother substrates, and cutting each panel region; ,
In each of the divided panel regions, the corners of the panel region are disposed so as to straddle the sealing material provided so as to form a substantially contour in the vicinity of the display region and the sealing material provided in the vicinity of the terminal portion. Cutting the part,
A step of removing a portion of the other mother substrate corresponding to the terminal portion; The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the sealing material provided in the vicinity of the terminal portion is provided on a substrate different from the substrate having the terminal portion. A liquid crystal panel manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1.

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