JP2008194601A - Method and apparatus for discharging liquid droplet and method for manufacturing liquid crystal panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for discharging a liquid droplet, in each of which a liquid material is restrained from being distributed unevenly to set an equal cell gap and to provide a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid droplet Fb of a liquid crystal F is discharged to one mother glass substrate 100 of a pair of mother glass substrates 100, 200 which are stuck to each other while being moved relatively at a predetermined tilt angle θ to arrange the liquid crystal F. The liquid crystal F is arranged so that the density of the liquid crystal on the side of a small gap, which is formed according to the tilt angle θ when the mother glass substrates 100, 200 are stuck to each other, is made lower than that of the liquid crystal on the side of a large gap which is formed on the side opposite to that of the small gap. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a droplet discharge method, a droplet discharge device, and a liquid crystal panel manufacturing method.

Conventionally, when a liquid crystal panel is manufactured by an injection method, first, two substrates are bonded together, and then the interior is filled with a liquid crystal in a vacuum atmosphere. This method has a problem that it takes a long time to manufacture one liquid crystal panel, for example, a 20-inch panel requires a liquid crystal injection time of 20 hours or more.

Therefore, in recent years, a method of supplying a necessary amount of liquid crystal to one substrate in advance before bonding the two substrates by a droplet discharge device and then bonding the other substrate (for example, has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-344704 A

By the way, in the method using a droplet discharge device, as shown in FIG. 8, a required amount of liquid crystal 93 is evenly supplied inside a loop-shaped sealing material 92 formed on one substrate 91, and then, for example, in a vacuum And the other substrate 94 facing each other. Here, the height of the discharged liquid droplet 93 a of the liquid crystal 93 is higher than the height of the sealing material 92 (for example, about 10 to 100 μm).
That is, when the two substrates 91 and 94 are bonded together, the substrate 94 comes into contact with the liquid crystal 93 before contacting the sealing material 92.

At this time, the substrate 94 is placed on one side of the liquid crystal 93 (the left side in FIG. 8) due to the influence of the flatness of the upper and lower surface plates for positioning and holding the substrates 91 and 94 and the degree of parallelism between them. When touching first, the liquid crystal 93 flows to the side touching first. Therefore, when the two substrates 91 and 94 are bonded together in the state where the liquid crystal 93 is unevenly distributed, a liquid crystal panel having an uneven cell gap is manufactured. In particular, the substrate 9 is pressed by pressurizing between the upper and lower surface plates and crushing the sealing material 92 by a certain amount.
In the case of bonding 1,94, this cell gap non-uniformity appears remarkably. This non-uniformity of the cell gap causes a deterioration in the display quality of the liquid crystal panel.

An object of the present invention is to provide a droplet discharge method, a droplet discharge device, and a liquid crystal panel manufacturing method capable of setting a more uniform cell gap by suppressing uneven distribution of a liquid material.

In order to solve the above problems, a droplet discharge method according to the present invention applies liquid droplets from discharge means to one of a pair of substrates that are bonded to each other with a predetermined inclination angle while relatively moving. Is a droplet discharge method for disposing the liquid material, and the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger. The liquid material is arranged so as to have a density.

According to the droplet discharge method of the present invention, when bonding the pair of substrates, the gap is arranged on the one substrate on the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle. The other substrate of the pair of substrates comes into contact with the liquid body first, and the liquid body has a side where the gap becomes smaller from a side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes larger, that is, The liquid flows to the side where the density becomes low. For this reason, in the state which suppressed the uneven distribution of the said liquid body as a whole, a pair of said board | substrate can be bonded and a more uniform cell gap can be set.

In one aspect of the droplet discharge method of the present invention, the distribution is performed such that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger. The liquid material is disposed with a gradient in density.

According to the droplet discharge method of the present invention, when the liquid material flows from the side where the gap at the time of bonding of the pair of substrates is increased to the side where the gap is decreased, the liquid material is inclined and distributed. According to the density, it can flow smoothly from the high density side to the low density side. Therefore, the pair of substrates can be bonded in a state in which the uneven distribution of the liquid material is further suppressed as a whole, and a more uniform cell gap can be set.

In another aspect of the droplet discharge method of the present invention, each of the pair of substrates is composed of a plurality of regions that are equally partitioned from each other.
For each of the regions, the liquid material is arranged so that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller in accordance with the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger.

According to the droplet discharge method of the present invention, even when each liquid droplet is discharged to each of the plurality of regions of one of the pair of substrates, a more uniform cell gap is provided for each region. Can be set.

The droplet discharge device of the present invention discharges a liquid droplet from a discharge means to one of a pair of substrates bonded while moving relative to each other with a predetermined inclination angle, and the liquid material The liquid droplet ejection apparatus is arranged such that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower in density than the side where the gap becomes larger. Place the body.

According to the droplet discharge device of the present invention, when the pair of substrates are bonded, the one substrate is arranged on the side where the gap at the time of bonding of the pair of substrates is reduced according to the predetermined inclination angle. The other substrate of the pair of substrates comes into contact with the liquid body first, and the liquid body has a side where the gap becomes smaller from a side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes larger, that is, The liquid flows to the side where the density becomes low. For this reason, in the state which suppressed the uneven distribution of the said liquid body as a whole, a pair of said board | substrate can be bonded and a more uniform cell gap can be set.

In the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel according to the present invention, liquid crystal droplets are ejected by ejection means, the liquid crystal is disposed on a first substrate, and then the second substrate is inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the first substrate. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel to be bonded to the first substrate while relatively moving, the side on which the gap between the first and second substrates is reduced according to the predetermined inclination angle, The liquid crystal is arranged so as to have a lower density than the side where the gap becomes larger.

According to the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel of the present invention, when the first and second substrates are bonded, the gap at the time of bonding the first and second substrates is reduced according to the predetermined inclination angle. The liquid crystal disposed on the first substrate comes into contact with the second substrate first, and the liquid crystal has a small gap from the side where the gap when the first and second substrates are bonded becomes large. To the side where the liquid crystal becomes low density. For this reason, in the state which suppressed uneven distribution of the said liquid crystal as a whole, said 1st
And the 2nd board | substrate can be bonded and the liquid crystal panel which has a more uniform cell gap can be manufactured.

Hereinafter, a droplet discharge device embodying the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view for explaining the droplet discharge device 10. In FIG. 1, a droplet discharge device 10 has a base 11 formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape. A pair of guide grooves 12 extending along the longitudinal direction (Y arrow direction) is formed on the upper surface of the base 11. Guide groove 1
2 is provided with a stage 13 that moves in the main scanning direction (Y arrow direction and anti-Y arrow direction) along the guide groove 12. On the upper surface of the stage 13, a mounting portion 14 is formed,
A mother glass substrate 100 as one substrate (first substrate) of the pair of substrates is placed. The mother glass substrate 100 is positioned and fixed at the mounting portion 14 and conveyed in the Y arrow direction and the counter-Y arrow direction.

The mother glass substrate 100 is a large glass substrate as shown in FIG. 2, and forms an element substrate of a liquid crystal display device on which a thin film transistor, a scanning line, a data line, etc. are formed as shown by a two-dot chain line. A large number of cells 101 are formed in a matrix. In each cell 101 partitioned and formed on the mother glass substrate 100, for example, a rectangular frame-shaped sealing material 102 drawn by a printing device or a dispenser is formed at a predetermined position, and a range surrounded by the sealing material 102 ( Hereinafter, the liquid crystal F (see FIG. 5) is arranged by the droplet discharge device 10 in the arrangement region Z). Each cell 101 is provided with a predetermined amount of liquid crystal F required.

Note that the mother glass substrate 100 in which the liquid crystal F is disposed in each cell 101 is bonded to a mother glass substrate 200 (see FIG. 5) as the other substrate (second substrate) of the pair of substrates in a subsequent process. The mother glass substrate 200 is a large glass substrate, and a large number of cells 201 forming a counter substrate of a liquid crystal display device on which a common electrode is formed are formed in a matrix. These mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are respectively set on the upper and lower surface plates of a bonding apparatus (superposition apparatus) in a vacuum chamber, and bonded so that the corresponding cells 101 and 201 face each other. And the bonded mother glass substrates 100, 200
Are cut for each of the cells 101 and 201, so that a large number of liquid crystal panels of a liquid crystal display device in which the liquid crystal F is sealed between the element substrate and the counter substrate via the sealing material 102 are manufactured.

Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the vertical direction of the mother glass substrate 100 is defined as the Y arrow direction, and the horizontal direction of the mother glass substrate 100 is defined as the X arrow direction.
In FIG. 1, a base 11 has a sub-scanning direction (X arrow direction and anti-X direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction).
A gate-shaped guide member 15 straddling the arrow direction is erected. On the upper side of the guide member 15,
A tank 16 extending in the direction of the arrow X is disposed, and the liquid crystal F is stored in the tank 16.

The liquid crystal F accommodated in the tank 16 has a predetermined pressure applied to a droplet discharge head (hereinafter simply referred to as a discharge head) 20 as discharge means via a supply tube T (see FIG. 4) connected to the tank 16. It comes to be supplied with. Then, the liquid crystal F supplied to the ejection head 20
Is discharged from the discharge head 20 toward the mother glass substrate 100 placed on the placement portion 14 as droplets Fb (see FIG. 4).

The guide member 15 is formed with a pair of upper and lower guide rails 18 extending in the X arrow direction over substantially the entire width in the X arrow direction. The pair of upper and lower guide rails 18 includes a carriage 1.
9 is attached. The carriage 19 is guided by the guide rail 18 and moves in the X arrow direction and the counter X arrow direction. A discharge head 20 is mounted on the carriage 19.

FIG. 3 is a view of the ejection head 20 as viewed from the mother glass substrate 100 side (lower side). The nozzle plate 25 of the ejection head 20 includes a pair of nozzle rows NL. In the pair of nozzle rows NL, as viewed from the direction of the arrow X, each nozzle N of one nozzle row NL
Interpolate between each nozzle N of L. That is, the ejection head 20 has 180 × 2 = 360 nozzles N per inch in the X arrow direction (the maximum resolution is 360 dpi).
.

FIG. 4 is a main part cross-sectional view for explaining the internal configuration of the ejection head 20.
In FIG. 4, a supply tube T is connected to the upper side of the discharge head 20. The supply tube T supplies the liquid crystal F in the tank 16 to the ejection head 20.

On the upper side of each nozzle N of the nozzle plate 25, there is a cavity 2 communicating with the supply tube T.
6 is formed. The cavity 26 accommodates the liquid crystal F from the supply tube T and supplies the liquid crystal F to the corresponding nozzle N. A vibration plate 27 is attached to the upper side of the cavity 26 to vibrate in the vertical direction and expand and contract the volume in the cavity 26. A piezoelectric element PZ corresponding to the nozzle N is disposed on the upper side of the diaphragm 27. The piezoelectric element PZ contracts and expands in the vertical direction to vibrate the diaphragm 27 in the vertical direction. Diaphragm 2 that vibrates vertically
No. 7 causes the liquid crystal F to be ejected from the corresponding nozzle N as a droplet Fb of a predetermined size. The ejected droplet Fb flies in the direction opposite to the arrow Z of the corresponding nozzle N and lands on the ejection surface 100a of the mother glass substrate 100 that passes immediately below.

That is, when the mother glass substrate 100 moves directly below the ejection head 20 in the main scanning direction, from the ejection head 20 in order with respect to the arrangement region Z surrounded by the sealing material 102 of each cell 101 of the mother glass substrate 100. A droplet Fb is discharged. Thereby, the mother glass substrate 1
A predetermined amount of liquid crystal F is arranged in each cell 101 of 00.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an arrangement pattern of the liquid crystal F formed by the ejection head 20 ejecting the droplets Fb onto the mother glass substrate 100 (cell 101). For convenience, the mother glass substrate 10
The mother glass substrate 200 (cell 201) being bonded to 0 is also illustrated. Here, the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 have a predetermined inclination angle θ due to the flatness of the upper and lower surface plates for positioning and holding them and the degree of parallelism with each other, and the vertical direction (Z arrow direction or anti-Z). It is assumed that bonding is performed while relatively moving in the direction of the arrow). This inclination angle θ is a relative inclination angle of the upper and lower platen obtained in advance by experiments and tests with respect to the upper and lower platen provided in the bonding apparatus (superposition apparatus) to be used. The reason why the relative inclination angle of the upper and lower surface plates is grasped in advance is that it is difficult to make the upper and lower surface plates completely parallel by initial adjustment or the like, that is, to make the inclination angle θ zero. is there.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the inclination angle θ that is sharp on the side of the mother glass substrate 100 (cell 101) in the direction opposite to the Y arrow. In the present embodiment, the liquid crystal F disposed on the mother glass substrate 100.
In the arrangement pattern of FIG. 5, the side (left side in FIG. 5) on which the gap (distance in the Z arrow direction) when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded is reduced according to the inclination angle θ. The density is lower than that on the right side of FIG. Specifically, the mother glass substrate 1 according to the inclination angle θ.
The side where the gap at the time of bonding of 00 and 200 becomes smaller (the left side in FIG. 5) is the side where the gap becomes larger (
The liquid crystal F is arranged so that the distribution density is inclined so that the density is lower than that on the right side of FIG. At this time, it goes without saying that the height of the droplet Fb discharged onto the mother glass substrate 100 is higher than the height of the sealing material 102.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state when the mother glass substrate 200 is bonded to the mother glass substrate 100 on which the liquid crystal F is disposed. As shown in FIG. 6, when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded, the liquid crystal F on the side (left side in FIG. 6) on which the gap during bonding of the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 becomes smaller according to the inclination angle θ. The mother glass substrate 200 comes in contact first,
The liquid crystal F flows from the side where the gap when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded (the right side in FIG. 6) to the side where the gap is reduced, that is, the side where the liquid crystal F is low density. Thereby, the liquid crystal F arrange | positioned at the mother glass substrate 100 (cell 101) spreads equally, and the uneven distribution is eliminated. Note that the tilt angle θ, that is, the liquid crystal F in consideration of the flow of the liquid crystal F at the time of bonding is shown in FIG.
The arrangement pattern shown in the above is obtained in advance through experiments and tests.

In FIG. 4, a rubber heater H is attached to the side surface of the ejection head 20 on the Y arrow side, and the liquid crystal F accommodated in the cavity 26 is heated to a predetermined target temperature. Here, the target temperature is the temperature of the liquid crystal F that becomes viscous so that the ejection head 20 can eject it as the droplets Fb, and is set to 70 ° C. in this embodiment. A temperature detection sensor SE is attached to the side surface of the ejection head 20 on the side opposite to the arrow Y, and detects the temperature of the liquid crystal F accommodated in the cavity 26 via the ejection head 20.

Next, the electrical configuration of the droplet discharge device 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 7, the control device 50 includes a CPU 50A, a ROM 50B, a RAM 50C, and the like. The control device 50 executes the transport process of the stage 13, the transport process of the carriage 19, and the droplet discharge process of the discharge head 20 according to the stored various data and various control programs. Similarly, the control device 50 performs drive control of the rubber heater H.

An input / output device 51 having various operation switches and a display is connected to the control device 50. The input / output device 51 displays the processing status of various processes executed by the droplet discharge device 10. The input / output device 51 generates bitmap data BD for forming a pattern with the droplets Fb on the mother glass substrate 100, and inputs the bitmap data BD to the control device 50.

The bitmap data BD is data that specifies whether each piezoelectric element PZ is turned on or off according to the value (0 or 1) of each bit. The bitmap data BD is stored in the ejection head 20
This data defines whether or not the droplets Fb are ejected to each position of the arrangement region Z surrounded by the sealing material 102 of each cell 101 through which each nozzle N passes. That is, the bitmap data BD is data for ejecting the droplets Fb to the target formation position for forming a predetermined arrangement pattern in the arrangement region Z surrounded by the sealing material 102 for each cell 101.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the bitmap data BD of the present embodiment has an inclination angle θ.
In accordance with the liquid crystal F, the liquid crystal F is disposed so that the distribution density is inclined so that the side on which the gap when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded becomes smaller than the side on which the gap becomes larger. This is data for discharging the droplet Fb. Needless to say, the bitmap data BD is created from an arrangement pattern of the liquid crystal F in consideration of the inclination angle θ, that is, the flow of the liquid crystal F at the time of bonding, obtained in advance by experiments and tests.

An X-axis motor drive circuit 52 is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 outputs a drive control signal to the X-axis motor drive circuit 52. The X-axis motor drive circuit 52 is connected to the control device 5
In response to the drive control signal from 0, the X-axis motor MX for moving the carriage 19 is rotated forward or reverse. A Y-axis motor drive circuit 53 is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 outputs a drive control signal to the Y-axis motor drive circuit 53. In response to the drive control signal from the control device 50, the Y-axis motor drive circuit 53 rotates the Y-axis motor MY for moving the stage 13 forward or backward.

A head drive circuit 54 is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 outputs a discharge timing signal LTa synchronized with a predetermined discharge frequency to the head drive circuit 54. The control device 50 outputs a drive voltage COMa for driving each piezoelectric element PZ to the head drive circuit 54 in synchronization with the ejection frequency.

The control device 50 generates a pattern formation control signal SIa synchronized with a predetermined frequency using the bitmap data BD, and serially transfers the pattern formation control signal SIa to the head drive circuit 54. The head drive circuit 54 sequentially serial / parallel converts the pattern formation control signal SIa from the control device 50 in correspondence with each piezoelectric element PZ. Each time the head drive circuit 54 receives the ejection timing signal LTa from the controller 50, the head drive circuit 54 latches the serial / parallel converted pattern formation control signal SIa, and the pattern formation control signal SIa.
A drive voltage COMa is supplied to each of the piezoelectric elements PZ selected by.

A rubber heater drive circuit 55 is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 outputs a drive control signal to the rubber heater drive circuit 55. The rubber heater drive circuit 55 drives and controls the rubber heater H in response to a drive control signal from the control device 50. The rubber heater H attached to the ejection head 20 heats the liquid crystal F in the ejection head 20 to a predetermined target temperature. That is, the liquid crystal F supplied to the ejection head 20 is heated to a predetermined target temperature (70 ° C. in the present embodiment) by the rubber heater H.

A temperature detection sensor SE is connected to the control device 50. The control device 50 receives a detection signal from the temperature detection sensor SE and obtains the temperature of the liquid crystal F in the ejection head 20 at that time. The control device 50 compares the calculated temperature of the liquid crystal F with the preset target temperature, and drives and controls the rubber heater H via the rubber heater drive circuit 55 so that the temperature of the liquid crystal F becomes the target temperature. It has become.

Next, a method for arranging a predetermined amount of the liquid crystal F in each cell 101 of the mother glass substrate 100 using the droplet discharge device 10 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the ejection head 20 is waiting at a standby position in the direction of the anti-X arrow that is separated from the stage 13. In this standby state, the control device 50 performs the temperature detection sensor S.
The detection signal from E is input, and the rubber heater H is driven via the rubber heater drive circuit 55 to control the heating so that the liquid crystal F in the ejection head 20 reaches the target temperature.

Also, the bitmap data BD for forming the arrangement pattern of the liquid crystal F is provided as the input / output device 5.
1 to the control device 50. Therefore, the control device 50 stores the bitmap data BD from the input / output device 51.

Then, the mother glass substrate 100 is placed on the stage 13. At this time, the mother glass substrate 100 is arranged on the side of the stage 13 opposite to the Y arrow direction on the placement unit 14, and the input / output device 5.
1, an operation start command signal is output to the control device 50.

The control device 50 drives the X-axis motor MX via the X-axis motor drive circuit 52 to move the ejection head 20 from the standby position in the X arrow direction. When the discharge head 20 moves to a position where each cell 101 (arrangement region Z) on the most anti-X arrow direction side of the mother glass substrate 100 passes in the Y arrow direction, the control device 50 moves to the X axis. The X-axis motor MX is stopped via the motor drive circuit 52, and the Y-axis motor M is stopped via the Y-axis motor drive circuit 53.
Y is driven to move the mother glass substrate 100 in the Y arrow direction.

When the mother glass substrate 100 is moved in the direction of the arrow Y, the control device 50 generates a pattern formation control signal SIa based on the bitmap data BD, and sends the pattern formation control signal SIa and the drive voltage COMa to the head drive circuit. To 54. That is, the control device 50
Controls the driving of each piezoelectric element PZ via the head driving circuit 54, and forms the liquid crystal arrangement pattern corresponding to the cell 101 when the arrangement area Z of each cell 101 passes directly under the ejection head 20. Therefore, the droplet Fb is discharged from the nozzle N selected for this purpose.

Thereby, in the arrangement | positioning area | region Z of each cell 101 of a Y arrow direction, the side where the clearance gap at the time of bonding of the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 becomes small according to inclination-angle (theta) is lower density than the side where this clearance gap becomes large. The liquid crystal F is arranged with an inclination in the distribution density so that

When the supply of the liquid crystal F (droplet Fb) to each cell 101 (arrangement region Z) on the most anti-X arrow direction side of the mother glass substrate 100 is completed, the control device 50 passes through the Y-axis motor drive circuit 53. The Y-axis motor MY is stopped, and the X-axis motor MX is driven via the X-axis motor drive circuit 52 so that the ejection head 20 is placed in each cell 101 (arrangement on the side opposite to the X arrow direction of the mother glass substrate 100). The region Z) is moved (feeded) to a position where it passes immediately below it in the direction of the anti-Y arrow.

When the ejection head 20 is fed, the controller 50 drives the Y-axis motor MY via the Y-axis motor drive circuit 53 to move (scan) the stage 13 in the anti-Y arrow direction.
When the movement of the stage 13 in the direction opposite to the Y arrow is started, the control device 50 generates the pattern formation control signal SIa based on the bitmap data BD, and the pattern formation control signal S.
Ia and drive voltage COMa are output to the head drive circuit 54. That is, the control device 50
Each piezoelectric element PZ is driven and controlled via the head drive circuit 54, and the arrangement region Z of each cell 101 is controlled.
, The liquid droplet Fb is ejected from the nozzle N selected to form the liquid crystal arrangement pattern corresponding to the cell 101.

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated to arrange a predetermined amount of the liquid crystal F in all the cells 101 of the mother glass substrate 100 in the arrangement pattern described above, and supply of the liquid crystal F to each cell 101 with respect to one mother glass substrate 100 Is completed.

Then, the mother glass substrate 100 in which the liquid crystal F is disposed in each cell 101 is bonded to the mother glass substrate 200. At this time, the liquid crystal F arranged in each cell 101 is
In accordance with the inclination angle θ, the gap flows when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded from the side where the gap becomes larger, that is, the side where the liquid crystal F becomes lower in density, and spreads evenly.

Then, by cutting the bonded mother glass substrates 100 and 200 for each cell 101 and 201, a large number of liquid crystal panels in which the liquid crystal F is sealed between the element substrate and the counter substrate via the sealant 102 are manufactured.

As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) In this embodiment, when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded, the mother on the side where the gap when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle θ. The mother glass substrate 200 comes into contact with the liquid crystal F disposed on the glass substrate 100 first, and the liquid crystal F has the gap from the side where the gap when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded increases. It flows to the side where it becomes smaller, that is, the side where the liquid crystal F becomes low density. For this reason, in the state which suppressed uneven distribution of the said liquid crystal F as a whole, the said mother glass substrate 10
0,200 can be bonded, and a liquid crystal panel having a more uniform cell gap can be manufactured. In addition, the display quality of the liquid crystal panel (liquid crystal display device) can be further stabilized and the yield can be improved.

(2) In this embodiment, the liquid crystal F has a lower density on the side where the gap when the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 are bonded becomes smaller than the side where the gap becomes larger, according to the predetermined inclination angle θ. So that the distribution density is inclined. Therefore, the mother glass substrate 1
When the liquid crystal F flows from the side where the gap between 00 and 200 is increased from the side where the gap is increased to the side where the gap is reduced, the liquid crystal F is reduced from the side where the density increases according to the inclined distribution density. It can flow smoothly to the side. Therefore, the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 can be bonded in a state in which the uneven distribution of the liquid crystal F is further suppressed as a whole, and a liquid crystal panel having a uniform cell gap can be manufactured.

(3) In the present embodiment, even when the liquid crystal F droplets Fb are respectively discharged to the plurality of cells 101 (arrangement region Z) of the mother glass substrate 100, a more uniform cell gap is provided for each cell 101. Can be set. Then, by cutting the bonded mother glass substrates 100 and 200 for each of the cells 101 and 201, a large number of liquid crystal panels having a more uniform cell gap can be manufactured.

(Modification)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made as follows, for example.

The inclination angle θ is grasped in advance by experiments and tests with respect to the upper and lower surface plates provided in the bonding apparatus (overlapping apparatus) to be used, and the arbitrary direction side of the mother glass substrate 100 (cell 101) The inclination angle may be sharp.

In the embodiment, the inside of each cell 101 is divided into a plurality of ranges in accordance with the inclination angle θ from the side where the gap between the mother glass substrates 100 and 200 is increased toward the side where the gap is reduced. Then, the liquid crystal F may be arranged so that the distribution density of the liquid crystal F in each adjacent range changes in a step shape.

In the embodiment, the pair of substrates may be a combination of an element substrate and a counter substrate that constitute only one liquid crystal panel.
-In the said embodiment, the bonding apparatus which bonds the mother glass substrate 100,200 (
The superimposing apparatus) may be a pressure type that crushes the sealing material 102 by a certain amount, for example.

In the embodiment, the stage 13 (mother glass substrate 100) is moved in a state where the ejection head 20 is stopped, and the droplet Fb is ejected from the ejection head 20. Alternatively, the ejection head 20 may be moved in a state where the stage 13 (mother glass substrate 100) is stopped, and the droplet Fb may be ejected from the ejection head 20.

In the embodiment, the sealing material 102 is formed in each cell 101 of the mother glass substrate 100 for the element substrate, and the liquid crystal F is arranged in the range (arrangement region Z) surrounded by the sealing material 102. A sealing material may be formed in each cell 201 of the mother glass substrate 200 for use, and the liquid crystal F may be arranged in a range (arrangement region) surrounded by the sealing material.

In the above-described embodiment, the liquid crystal F is ejected by the ejection head 20 to cause the liquid crystal F to drop.
However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an appropriate liquid droplet for forming a resist, an interlayer film, or a wiring layer is applied by the discharge head 20. The liquid material may be disposed by being discharged. Needless to say, this resist formation, interlayer film formation, and wiring layer formation may be applied to other substrates such as organic EL display devices other than liquid crystal display devices.

In the above-described embodiment, the ejection unit is embodied as the piezoelectric element drive type ejection head 20.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the discharge means may be embodied as a resistance heating type or electrostatic drive type discharge head.

The whole perspective view of a droplet discharge device. The top view for demonstrating a mother glass substrate. The bottom view which looked at the droplet discharge head from the mother glass substrate side. The principal part sectional side view of a droplet discharge head. The side view which shows the arrangement pattern of the liquid crystal arrange | positioned at each cell. The side view which shows the movement of the liquid crystal arrange | positioned at each cell. The electric block circuit diagram for demonstrating the electrical structure of a droplet discharge apparatus. The side view which shows the movement at the time of bonding and the arrangement pattern of the liquid crystal arrange | positioned at each cell.

Explanation of symbols

F ... Liquid crystal, Fb ... Droplet, PZ ... Piezoelectric element, 10 ... Droplet ejection device, 13 ... Stage, 20
... Discharge head, 50 ... Control device, 100,200 ... Mother glass substrate, 101,201 ...
Cell, 102 ... sealing material.

Claims (5)

This is a droplet discharge method in which a liquid droplet is discharged from a discharge means onto one of a pair of substrates that are bonded while moving relative to each other with a predetermined inclination angle. And
The droplet is characterized in that the liquid material is arranged so that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger. Discharge method. The liquid material is disposed with an inclination in the distribution density so that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger. The droplet discharge method according to claim 1, wherein: The pair of substrates is composed of a plurality of regions that are equally divided from each other.
For each of the regions, the liquid material is arranged so that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower in density than the side where the gap becomes larger. The droplet discharging method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: A droplet discharge device that discharges liquid droplets from a discharge means to one of a pair of substrates that are bonded while moving relative to each other with a predetermined inclination angle, and disposes the liquid material. And
The droplet is characterized in that the liquid material is arranged so that the side where the gap when the pair of substrates is bonded becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle is lower than the side where the gap becomes larger. Discharge device. Liquid crystal droplets are ejected by ejection means, the liquid crystal is disposed on the first substrate, and then the second substrate is moved relative to the first substrate with a predetermined inclination angle while the first substrate is moved relative to the first substrate. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel to be bonded to a substrate,
The side where the gap at the time of bonding of the first and second substrates becomes smaller according to the predetermined inclination angle,
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel, wherein the liquid crystal is disposed so as to have a lower density than a side where the gap is increased.

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