JP2008242031A - Liquid crystal device and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seal shape of a liquid crystal device which can solve uneven alignment due to a formation direction of an inorganic alignment layer. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid crystal element 7 is provided with a circular seal material 8 so as to surround a liquid crystal driving area 9 and an injection port 11 is formed by removing a prescribed portion of the seal material 8. A formation position of the injection port 11 is formed so that a formation direction d6 of a deposited alignment layer composed of a columnar structure is made vertical to a segment h connecting two end parts of the seal material 8 on the injection port 11. By setting the formation position of the injection port 11 about all liquid crystal devices in a mother board, liquid crystal can be injected under an optimum condition in all liquid crystal devices in the mother board, so that uneven alignment due to the formation direction of the deposited alignment layer composed of the columnar structure can be solved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device, and more particularly, to a structure and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal device for improving liquid crystal injection characteristics.

  Currently known liquid crystal alignment methods are roughly divided into two methods: a method of rubbing an organic alignment film and a method of oblique deposition of an inorganic alignment film. Among these, the organic alignment film is excellent in productivity, but heat resistance and light resistance are not sufficient. In addition, in a liquid crystal element that requires a high pretilt angle, such as a liquid crystal element using ferroelectric liquid crystal, it is difficult to obtain a high pretilt angle unless an inorganic alignment film is used.

  The inorganic alignment film is mainly formed by oblique vapor deposition. As the vapor deposition source, SiO, SiO2, or the like is used. These vapor deposition sources are heated by resistance heating or the like and evaporated to adhere to the substrate. The inorganic compound attached to the substrate forms a columnar structure. This aggregate of columnar structures is an alignment film. The alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules is determined by this columnar structure.

  The inorganic alignment film prepared by oblique deposition has the advantage of being excellent in heat resistance and light resistance and easily obtaining a high pretilt angle. On the other hand, the columnar structure formed on the substrate due to the characteristics of oblique deposition It is known that distribution occurs in the formation direction of the object and liquid crystal alignment unevenness is likely to occur.

  As a method for reducing the alignment unevenness of the liquid crystal, for example, a method as disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. According to this, it is stated that the liquid crystal injection direction is important in order to satisfactorily align the ferroelectric liquid crystal in the inorganic alignment film formed by oblique deposition. In particular, a method for matching the forming direction of the columnar structure with the injection direction is described. FIG. 15 is a schematic view of a liquid crystal element described in Patent Document 1. Reference numeral 201 denotes a liquid crystal element, 202 denotes an adhesive seal, 203 denotes an opening provided at a predetermined interval from the adhesive seal, 204 denotes an injection port, and 205 denotes a liquid crystal reservoir. In FIG. 15, the adhesive seal 202 of the liquid crystal panel is doubled, the inner adhesive seal 202 has an opening 203 at a predetermined interval, and the liquid crystal is dispersed and injected when injecting the liquid crystal. This reduces the alignment unevenness.

Utility Model Publication No. Hei 5-59429 (page 7, Fig. 1)

  Normally, when manufacturing liquid crystal elements, a plurality of liquid crystal element cell substrates are arranged in a mother substrate, and a columnar structure deposition alignment film is deposited on the mother substrate. A film is formed so that a large number can be obtained.

  The formation direction of the columnar structure in the mother substrate in general oblique deposition will be described. FIG. 11 shows the positional relationship between the mother substrate to be deposited and the deposition source. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 104 denotes a vapor deposition source, and 105 denotes a jig for fixing the mother substrate. The center of the jig coincides with the center of the vapor deposition source. 106 is a mother substrate, L 1 is a distance from the vapor deposition source to the jig 105, L 2 is a distance from the center of the jig 105 to a place where the mother substrate 106 is fixed, and L 3 is a size of the mother substrate 106. Further, the mother substrate 106 is fixed so that the central portion of the mother substrate 106 is on the circumference of the radius L2 with the vapor deposition source 104 as the center.

In FIG. 12, L1, L2, and L3 in FIG. 11 are respectively L1 = 800 mm, L2 = 500 mm, and L3 =
The formation direction of the columnar structure in the case of 400 mm is shown. The arrow in FIG. 12 is the direction in which the columnar structure is formed. At the center position of the deposition surface of the mother substrate, the columnar structure is formed in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the mother substrate. It is formed with an angle. That is, the orientation of the columnar structure is different depending on the position in the mother substrate, and the orientation direction of the liquid crystal molecules is different.

  FIG. 13 is a plan view of a typical conventional liquid crystal element. The liquid crystal element shown in FIG. 13 is formed by cutting out the cell substrate a or the cell substrate b serving as one liquid crystal element from the mother substrate shown in FIG. In FIG. 13, 100 is a liquid crystal element, 101 is a sealing material for bonding the upper and lower glass substrates sandwiching the liquid crystal, 102 is a liquid crystal driving region of the liquid crystal element, and 103 is a liquid crystal injection port.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing an injection process for injecting liquid crystal into the liquid crystal element of FIG. In general, when the liquid crystal drive region 102 of the liquid crystal element is a quadrangle, the seal shape is generally a quadrangle that follows the seal shape. Immediately after the start of liquid crystal injection, it is injected in a semicircular shape around the injection port as in S1. Therefore, the central portion of the liquid crystal element is injected in the d1 direction, but the injection direction is injected in the directions of the predetermined angular inclinations d2 and d3 as the distance from the central portion increases. For this reason, there is a risk of uneven alignment near the inlet. Thereafter, when the liquid crystal reaches the seal portions at both ends with the passage of time, the liquid crystal is almost uniformly injected in the d1 direction as in S2.

  Therefore, if the columnar structure formed in the substrate of the liquid crystal element 100 is formed in the same direction as d1, the alignment unevenness due to the implantation conditions hardly occurs except near the injection port. That is, if the cell substrate a of FIG. 12 is used as a liquid crystal element and is injected from the injection port 103 as shown in FIG. 14, the alignment unevenness hardly occurs. However, as described above, since there is a distribution in the columnar structure formation direction in the mother substrate, for example, when the cell substrate b in FIG. 12 is used as a liquid crystal element and injected from the injection port 103 in FIG. 13, the columnar structure of the cell substrate b. Since the formation direction of the object is different from d1, alignment unevenness is caused. In particular, in ferroelectric liquid crystals where the injection direction and the columnar structure formation direction are related to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules, alignment unevenness is likely to occur if the injection direction and the columnar structure formation direction do not match. Met.

  As described above, the forming direction of the columnar structure is determined by the size of the vapor deposition apparatus and the size of the mother substrate on which the film is formed. Therefore, in order to suppress the distribution in the formation direction of the columnar structures so that all the liquid crystal elements in the mother substrate do not cause alignment unevenness, it is necessary to enlarge the deposition apparatus or reduce the substrate size. However, using a large deposition apparatus or reducing the substrate size has a problem in productivity. Therefore, a method for eliminating the alignment unevenness by a simple method has been desired.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following configuration. Liquid crystal having a liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of substrates on which a columnar structure deposition alignment film is formed by vapor deposition on the substrate, and having a sealing material for bonding the pair of substrates, and an injection port for injecting the liquid crystal In the element, the shape of the sealing material is circular, the injection port is formed on the circumference of the sealing material, and a part of the circular sealing material is removed, and further, a circle in the sealing material forming the injection port A columnar structure forming direction is arranged in a direction perpendicular to a line segment connecting two end portions on the circumference.

  In addition, an electrode for driving the liquid crystal is disposed between the pair of substrates, the liquid crystal driving region for driving the liquid crystal is provided, and the injection port is disposed apart from the liquid crystal driving region. The deposition alignment film is formed by oblique deposition or horizontal deposition.

  The manufacturing method of the present invention includes a step of preparing a mother substrate having a plurality of liquid crystal cell substrates, a vapor deposition step of depositing a vapor deposition alignment film on the mother substrate, and a circular sealing material on each of the liquid crystal cell substrates. At the same time, on the circumference of the sealing material, a part of the circular sealing material is removed to form an injection port, and two end portions on the circumference of the sealing material forming the injection port And a sealing material arranging step of arranging the position of the injection port so that the forming direction of the columnar structure in the deposited alignment film coincides with the direction perpendicular to the line segment connecting the two.

  In addition, two mother substrates are prepared, a vapor deposition process is performed on the two mother substrates, a sealing material arranging step is performed on one of the two mother substrates, and one mother substrate and The method further includes a bonding step of bonding the other mother substrate, a cutting step of cutting individual liquid crystal cells from the pair of bonded mother substrates, and an injection step of injecting liquid crystals into the liquid crystal cells.

  In the liquid crystal element of the present invention, the position of the injection port can be arbitrarily changed by taking a circular seal shape so as to surround the liquid crystal drive region, and thereby the injection direction of the vapor deposition alignment film formed by the columnar structure. Can be injected along the direction. Thereby, the alignment unevenness due to the mismatch between the deposited alignment film and the injection direction can be eliminated. In addition, since the liquid crystal driving region is away from the injection port, uneven alignment in the vicinity of the injection port due to the liquid crystal spreading in a semicircular shape immediately after injection is also eliminated.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. In the embodiment, a ferroelectric liquid crystal element using an inorganic alignment film formed by oblique vapor deposition as an evaporation alignment film will be described as an example.

  First, the structure of the liquid crystal element in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a cross section of a liquid crystal element in order to explain a liquid crystal element incorporating a ferroelectric liquid crystal. In FIG. 2, 1 is a glass substrate, 2 is a transparent electrode film, 3 is an inorganic alignment film, 4 is a ferroelectric liquid crystal, and 5 is a spacer.

  A transparent electrode film 2 is formed on the glass substrate 1. The transparent electrode film 2 is formed by forming an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) film on a glass substrate 14 and patterning the film into a predetermined shape using a photolithography technique. An alignment film 3 of an inorganic compound such as SiO (Silicon Oxide) was formed on the transparent electrode film 2 by a vacuum deposition method or the like.

  A pair of glass substrates 1 on which an alignment film 3 is formed are opposed to each other, and a ferroelectric liquid crystal 4 is sandwiched therebetween. In order to keep the distance between the alignment films 3 called a cell gap constant, an appropriate number of spacers 5 that are not deformed by pressure or the like are disposed between the two glass substrates.

  Next, the electro-optic effect of the ferroelectric liquid crystal will be described. FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram of transmittance and voltage of the ferroelectric liquid crystal. The ferroelectric liquid crystal has two stable states, and the two stable states are switched by applying a voltage exceeding a certain threshold value, and the first stable state or the second stable state is changed depending on the polarity of the applied voltage. You can choose.

In a liquid crystal having a memory property such as a ferroelectric liquid crystal, the liquid crystal molecules are positioned in one of the first stable state and the second stable state before voltage application, and this state is maintained unless a voltage is applied. Can be held. As shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal molecules that have been in one of the stable states before the voltage application are gradually switched to the first stable state when the applied voltage is gradually increased as shown in FIG. All the liquid crystal molecules reach the first stable state when the value is reached. Thereafter, when the voltage is gradually lowered from V2, the liquid crystal molecules remain in the first stable state until V3 is reached, but when the applied voltage becomes higher than V3, the liquid crystal molecules enter the second stable state. Start switching. Further, when the applied voltage reaches V4, all liquid crystal molecules are in the second stable state. Therefore, when no voltage is applied at which the applied voltage is 0, either the first stable state or the second stable state is maintained. In order to reverse the state, it is necessary to apply a voltage having a reverse polarity equal to or higher than a threshold value.

  The behavior of the ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules due to voltage application will be described with reference to FIG. The ferroelectric liquid crystal can take only two stable states inclined by a tilt angle θ from the columnar structure forming direction when voltages having different polarities equal to or higher than a threshold value are applied. Here, 6 is a liquid crystal molecule, and the arrow in FIG. 4 is the direction of spontaneous polarization. That is, when a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold is applied, the optical axis of the liquid crystal molecules changes 2θ by changing from one stable state to the other stable state. The relationship between the amount of incident light and the amount of transmitted light at this time is expressed by the following formula.

Formula 1 I _out = I _in * Sin ² (2θ) * Sin ² (πΔnd / λ)

In the above formula, I _in is the amount of incident light, I _out is the amount of transmitted light, Δn is the birefringence anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules, d is the cell gap, and λ is the incident wavelength.

  In the case of a ferroelectric liquid crystal, the optical axis of liquid crystal molecules changes 2θ by changing from a stable state to another stable state. The direction in which the columnar structure is formed is exactly the midpoint between the positions of the liquid crystal molecules when these two stable states are reached.

  There are various alignment films used in liquid crystal elements sandwiching a ferroelectric liquid crystal, but it is necessary to give the liquid crystal molecules a large pretilt angle in order to develop the memory characteristic that is a major feature of the ferroelectric liquid crystal. Become. For this purpose, it is common to produce the film by oblique vapor deposition using an inorganic alignment film.

  An example of a typical oblique deposition process will be described below. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a vapor deposition apparatus used for oblique vapor deposition and a mother substrate position in the vapor deposition apparatus. Reference numeral 12 denotes a vacuum chamber provided with exhaust means. In FIG. 5, the exhaust means is omitted for simplification. Reference numeral 13 denotes an evaporation source. Vapor deposition materials such as SiO and SiO2 disposed here are heated by resistance heating, ion beam, etc. and scattered in the vacuum chamber 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes a mother substrate on which a large number of liquid crystal cell substrates are arranged. Reference numeral 15 denotes a rotating means for rotating the mother substrate. The center of the rotating means 15 coincides with the position of the vapor deposition source 13, and the mother substrate 14 is rotated in the vacuum chamber 12 to uniformly deposit the inorganic material scattered from the vapor deposition source 13 on all the mother substrates 14. Can do. Reference numeral 16 denotes a jig for fixing the mother substrate 14 and the rotating means 15 and has an angle adjustment function, whereby the deposition angle of oblique deposition can be adjusted. In this example, the mother substrate 14 is fixed using the rotation rolling means 15 and the jig 16, but the present invention is not limited to this method, and the mother substrate 14 may be rotated and fixed by other methods.

  As described above, the inorganic alignment film formed by oblique deposition has a distribution in the forming direction of the columnar structure in the mother substrate surface as a characteristic by oblique deposition. Hereinafter, the distribution in the forming direction of the columnar structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 6, 7 a, and 7 b.

A point O in FIG. 6 is a middle point in the horizontal direction of the mother board in the uppermost part of the mother board. This point O is located on the circumference of the rotary rolling means 15. Point A is the intersection of a line extending horizontally from O and the central axis of the rotating means 15. Z1 is the distance from the vapor deposition source 13 to the point A. Z2 is the distance from the vapor deposition source 13 to the point O on the mother substrate 14. R is the radius distance of the rotating means 15. That is, (Z1 ² + R ² ) ^0.5 = Z2. Point P is an arbitrary point on the mother substrate 14. In this case, at the position on the mother substrate 14 on Z2, the forming direction of the columnar structure formed by oblique vapor deposition is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the mother substrate 14.

  Next, the columnar structure formation direction at an arbitrary point P on the mother substrate 14 will be considered with reference to FIGS. 7a and 7b. FIG. 7A is a view of the mother substrate 14 viewed from the side, and FIG. 7B is a view of the mother substrate 14 viewed from the front. The point O in FIGS. 7a and 7b is the center position of the mother board 14, and the position is (0, 0). The position of the point P is expressed as (Xp, Yp) when the point O is (0, 0). Z3 is (Z2-Yp). Here, as shown in FIG. 7a, if the angle formed by the mother substrate 14 and z1 is an angle θ and the angle in the formation direction of the columnar structure at the point P is an angle θp, θp is expressed by the following equation.

Equation 2 θp = Atan (Xp / Z3)
Formula 3 Z3 = {(R-Ypsinθ) ² + (Z1−Ypcosθ) ² } ^0.5

  As shown in the above formula, the columnar structure is formed by the height (Z1) from the vapor deposition source 13 to the mother substrate 14, the radius (R) of the rotating means 15, and the position (Xp, Yp) on the mother substrate 14. It is determined. Therefore, in order to suppress the variation in the angle θp, it can be said that it is necessary to increase Z1 and R, that is, to increase the vapor deposition apparatus itself, or to reduce the size of the mother substrate 14.

  Next, the sealing material arrangement process of the present embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 8 is a schematic view when a plurality of liquid crystal cell substrates are arranged in the surface of the mother substrate 14. 8a to 7e in FIG. 8 are liquid crystal cell substrates, and the positions where the injection ports 11 are formed are different. d6 to d10 are the formation directions of the columnar structures on the liquid crystal cell substrates 7a to 7e, respectively, and this can be calculated from θp in the above-described equation 2. Thus, in order to make the formation direction of the columnar structure and the injection direction the same direction, θp is determined from the position of the liquid crystal element 7 in the mother substrate 14 and the arrangement position of the injection port 11 is inclined by that angle. Good.

  Each of the liquid crystal cell substrates 7a to 7e is provided with drive electrodes for driving the liquid crystal, and the central region of the liquid crystal cell substrate has a liquid crystal drive region in which the liquid crystal is driven. In 7a to 7e, the alignment unevenness in the liquid crystal element plane is best eliminated by matching the forming direction of the columnar structure in the central portion of the liquid crystal driving region with the injection direction.

  Next, the arrangement position of the injection port will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 8. As described above, the columnar structure formation direction d6 at the center position of the mother substrate 14 is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the mother substrate 14. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the injection port 11 of the liquid crystal cell substrate 7 (in FIG. 8, the liquid crystal cell substrate 7 a) created at the center position has two sealing materials 8 forming the injection port 11. The injection port 11 is provided by removing a part of the sealing material 8 so that the line segment h connecting the end portions is perpendicular to the forming direction d6. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 8, the liquid crystal cell substrate 7b is formed in the forming direction d7, the liquid crystal cell substrate 7c is formed in the forming direction d8, the liquid crystal cell substrate 7d is formed in the forming direction d9, and the liquid crystal cell substrate 7e is formed in the forming direction. The injection port 11 is formed so that d10 is perpendicular to each other. By arranging the injection port in this way, the formation direction of the columnar structures of the liquid crystal cell substrates 7a to 7e and the injection direction become the same direction, and uneven alignment is eliminated.

  Here, in the mother substrate 14, the direction in which the columnar structures are formed changes as it goes from the lower surface to the upper surface. In FIG. 8, the arrangement positions of the inlets 11 of the liquid crystal cell substrates in the vertical columns are the same. However, if the arrangement positions of the injection holes 11 are set for individual liquid crystal cell substrates, all the liquid crystal cells in the m mother substrate 14 are set. For the substrate, the columnar structure can be formed in the same direction as the injection direction.

  Next, a bonding process of bonding the liquid crystal cell substrate, a cutting process of the liquid crystal cell, and an injection process will be described. Two mother substrates are prepared, the two mother substrates are subjected to the vapor deposition process as described above, and the sealing material arranging process is performed on one of the two mother substrates. . Then, after performing a bonding step of bonding one mother substrate to the mother substrate, a cutting step of cutting individual liquid crystal cells from the pair of bonded mother substrates is performed. A liquid crystal element can be obtained by performing an injection process of injecting liquid crystal into the obtained one liquid crystal cell.

  The injection process with this circular seal shape will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 is a plan view of the liquid crystal element and shows an injection process in the liquid crystal element. 7 is a liquid crystal cell substrate, 8 is a sealing material for adhering the upper and lower glass substrates to sandwich the liquid crystal, 9 is a liquid crystal driving region of the liquid crystal element, 10 is a liquid crystal filling region (including the liquid crystal driving region 9), and 11 is a liquid crystal It is an inlet.

  First, the liquid crystal element is baked at a high temperature to remove moisture adsorbed on the inorganic alignment film formed inside the liquid crystal element. Next, after returning a liquid crystal element to normal temperature, a liquid crystal element is arrange | positioned inside a vacuum chamber and the liquid crystal filling area | region 10 in a liquid crystal element is pressure-reduced. After sufficiently reducing the pressure, liquid crystal is applied to the inlet 11 to close the inlet 11. In this state, the liquid crystal is heated to lower the viscosity. This is because the ferroelectric liquid crystal has high viscosity at room temperature and does not enter the liquid crystal filling region 10. When the inside of the vacuum chamber is returned to the atmospheric pressure, the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal element due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside. When the liquid crystal filling region 10 is filled with liquid crystal, the injection port 11 is sealed with a sealing agent such as a photo-curing resin.

  As in the case of the conventional quadrangular seal shape, immediately after the start of liquid crystal injection, the liquid is injected in a semicircular shape like S3 around the injection port 11. After that, unlike the square seal shape, the liquid crystal is injected in the direction d4 perpendicular to the line connecting both ends of the injection port as in S4 immediately after injection because it reaches the seals 8 on both sides earlier than the square. Go. In addition, since the liquid crystal drive region 9 is separated from the injection port 11, the alignment unevenness in the vicinity of the injection port 11 due to the liquid crystal spreading in a semicircular shape immediately after the injection is eliminated.

  FIG. 10 is a plan view of a liquid crystal element in which a circular sealing material is formed, as in FIG. However, the position of the injection port 11 is different from that shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is also a diagram showing a process of injecting liquid crystal into a circular seal-shaped liquid crystal element. Even if the injection port 11 is shifted as shown in FIG. 10, since the seal shape is circular, the position of the injection port 11 and the relative position of the liquid crystal filling region 10 do not change. Thereby, the injection processes S5 and S6 are the same as the injection processes S3 and S4 in FIG. 9, and the liquid crystal is injected in the columnar structure formation direction d5.

  That is, the injection port 11 has the same injection characteristic regardless of the position on the circumference of the sealing material 8. Further, since the shape of the sealing material 8 is circular, even if the position of the injection port 11 is changed, the outer size and the seal shape of the liquid crystal element are not changed except for the portion of the injection port 11.

  By using the shape of the sealing material as described above and changing the arrangement of the injection port for each liquid crystal element, the formation direction of the columnar structure and the injection direction can be made to coincide for all the liquid crystal cell substrates in the mother substrate. . The degree to which the inlet of each liquid crystal cell substrate in the mother substrate should be tilted is determined by the characteristics of vapor deposition.

  In this embodiment, the oblique vapor deposition in which the substrate is tilted at an appropriate angle has been described as an example, but this characteristic is not limited to the case of using a jig having an oblique vapor deposition and a rotation mechanism, and can be applied even in the case of horizontal vapor deposition. Is done.

The formation direction of the columnar structure by oblique vapor deposition described in this embodiment varies depending on the fixing position of the mother substrate, the rotating means, and the jig, and the positional relationship between the mother substrate and the vapor deposition source. What is necessary is just to set according to the vapor deposition characteristic, and it is applicable also in other conditions. Since all the liquid crystal elements cut out from the mother substrate are injected from an appropriate injection direction, the alignment unevenness is not reduced and the quality of the liquid crystal elements is improved.

It is a top view which shows typically the structure of the liquid crystal element of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the liquid crystal element of this invention typically. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic of the ferroelectric liquid crystal used for the Example. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic of the ferroelectric liquid crystal used for the Example. It is a figure for demonstrating the vapor deposition process of the liquid crystal element of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the formation direction of the columnar structure of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the formation direction of the columnar structure of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the formation direction of the columnar structure of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the mother board | substrate and liquid crystal cell substrate of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the injection | pouring process of the liquid crystal element of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the injection | pouring process of the liquid crystal element of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic of vapor deposition. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic of vapor deposition. It is a top view of the conventional liquid crystal element. It is a figure for demonstrating the injection | pouring process of the conventional liquid crystal element. It is a figure explaining a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate 2 Transparent electrode 3 Inorganic alignment film 4 Ferroelectric liquid crystal 5 Spacer 6 Liquid crystal molecule 7 Liquid crystal cell substrate 8 Seal material 9 Liquid crystal drive area 10 Liquid crystal filling area 11 Inlet 12 Vacuum tank 13 Deposition source 14 Mother substrate 15 Rotating means 16 jig 100 liquid crystal element 101 seal 102 liquid crystal drive region 103 inlet 104 deposition source 105 jig 106 jig 201 liquid crystal element 202 adhesive seal 203 opening 204 inlet 205 liquid crystal reservoir

Claims (5)

A liquid crystal is sandwiched between a pair of substrates on which a columnar structure deposition alignment film is formed by vapor deposition on the substrate, and has a sealing material for bonding the pair of substrates, and an injection port for injecting the liquid crystal. In the liquid crystal element
The shape of the sealing material is circular, and the injection port is formed on the circumference of the sealing material and by removing a part of the circular sealing material, and further, the seal forming the injection port A liquid crystal element, wherein a direction in which the columnar structure is formed is arranged in a direction perpendicular to a line segment connecting two end portions on a circumference of a material.   An electrode for driving the liquid crystal is disposed between the pair of substrates, has a liquid crystal driving region for driving the liquid crystal, and the injection port is disposed apart from the liquid crystal driving region. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1. The liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein the vapor deposition alignment film is formed by oblique vapor deposition or horizontal vapor deposition. Preparing a mother substrate having a plurality of liquid crystal cell substrates;
A deposition step of depositing a deposition alignment film on the mother substrate;
A circular sealing material is provided on each of the liquid crystal cell substrates, and at the same time, an injection port is formed by removing a part of the circular sealing material on the circumference of the sealing material, and further forming the injection port Of the injection port so that the direction of formation of the columnar structures in the vapor deposition alignment film coincides with the direction perpendicular to the line connecting the two ends on the circumference of the sealing material. The manufacturing method of the liquid crystal element which has a sealing material arrangement | positioning process which arrange | positions a position.   Two mother substrates are prepared, a vapor deposition process is performed on the two mother substrates, a sealing material arranging step is performed on one of the two mother substrates, and the one mother substrate 5. A bonding step of bonding the other mother substrate together, a cutting step of cutting individual liquid crystal cells from the pair of bonded mother substrates, and an injection step of injecting liquid crystal into the liquid crystal cells. The manufacturing method of the liquid crystal element as described in 1 ..

Images