JP2010102038A - Information display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display panel hardly causing disconnection by providing a route wiring part avoiding electric corrosion therein, and capable preventing the generation of a defect in a pixel comprising an electrode present ahead of a wiring line which causes disconnection or is liable to cause disconnection. <P>SOLUTION: The information display panel has a sealant placement part 12 provided in an outer rim of an information display region 11 of the panel so as to seal a gap space between one substrate and the other substrate, and has a substrate gap securing member 13 formed at one of the outer circumference side or the inner circumference side of the sealant placement part wherein the substrate gap securing member is disposed in a part except for the route wiring parts 15-1, 15-2 where electrodes in the information display region are routed to an end of the panel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information display panel that displays information such as an image by enclosing a display medium between two opposing substrates with electrodes that are transparent at least one and electrically driving the display medium. .

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an information display panel that displays information such as an image by enclosing a display medium between two opposing substrates with electrodes transparent at least one and electrically driving the display medium, In order to seal between the substrate and the other substrate, the inter-substrate gap on at least one of the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion provided at the outer edge portion of the information display area of the panel An information display panel in which a securing member is formed is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  4 (a) and 4 (b) are diagrams for explaining an example of a conventional information display panel, FIG. 4 (a) is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 4 (b) is a front view thereof. Show. In the example shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, for example, on the substrate 51 on the back side, on the outer edge of the information display area 61 of the panel composed of a plurality of cells formed by partition walls (not shown here). In addition, a sealant arrangement portion 62 for sealing the gap space between the substrate 51 and the substrate 52 is provided. Then, an inter-substrate gap securing member 63 is provided on the outer peripheral side or the inner peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion 62. In the example shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a plurality of short line-shaped inter-substrate gap securing members 63 are formed on the outer peripheral side of the sealant arrangement portion 62, thereby securing the inter-substrate gap. A gap 64 for venting gas is formed between the members 63. Further, the height of the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 is the same as the height of the partition wall portion serving as the inter-substrate gap securing member provided in the information display area 61.

Pamphlet of International Publication WO2006 / 062155

  In the conventional information display panel described above, the position of the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 provided in a portion other than the information display region 61 is set to the outer periphery with respect to the sealant arrangement portion 62 provided in the outer edge portion of the information display region 61. There are no particular restrictions on the position provided as long as it is at least one of the side and the inner periphery. On the other hand, in the information display panel, in order to supply a driving voltage to the electrodes in the information display area 61, a driving driver or a TCP (Tape Carrier Package) mounted on the edge of the panel using COG (Chip on Glass) technology. There is a lead wiring portion that connects the mounted driver for driving and the electrode of the information display area 61.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 showing the details of the A portion in FIG. 4A, the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 crosses the routing wiring portion 65 from the connection portion with the driving driver to the information display area 61. It was sometimes arranged in. In that case, if the drawing wiring unit 65 is intermittently energized by repeatedly drawing an image in a high temperature and high humidity environment, ions remaining between the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 and the substrate 51 (52). Electrocorrosion may occur depending on the component. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the end portion 66 of the routing wiring portion 65 that comes into contact with the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 is easily disconnected, and the wiring that has been disconnected or easily disconnected is obtained. There has been a problem in that a permanent defect is caused in a pixel formed by the previous electrode. This problem is conspicuous when the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the sealant disposing portion 62 where the inter-substrate gap securing member 63 is in direct contact with the ambient atmosphere and is easily affected by high temperature and humidity. Met.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and eliminate the electric corrosion in the routing wiring portion, thereby making it difficult for the routing wiring portion to be disconnected, and causing the disconnection or making the disconnection easy. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information display panel that can prevent a defect from occurring in a pixel that is formed by a previous electrode.

  An information display panel according to the present invention is for information display in which a display medium is sealed between two opposing substrates with at least one transparent electrode, and the display medium is electrically driven to display information such as an image. In order to seal the gap space between one substrate and the other substrate, at least either the outer peripheral side or the inner peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion provided at the outer edge portion of the information display area of the panel In the information display panel in which the inter-substrate gap securing member is formed on either side, the inter-substrate gap securing member is disposed in a portion other than the routing wiring portion for routing the electrode in the information display area to the end of the panel. It is characterized by.

  As a suitable example of the information display panel of the present invention, the inter-substrate gap securing member is provided on the outer peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion, and the routing wiring portion is formed of indium tin oxide (ITO). is there.

  According to the present invention, by disposing the inter-substrate gap securing member in a portion other than the routing wiring portion that routes the electrode in the information display area to the end portion of the panel, by eliminating the electric corrosion in the routing wiring portion, An information display panel capable of preventing the occurrence of a defect in a pixel formed by an electrode at the tip of a wiring that is difficult to cause disconnection in the routing wiring portion, or has been disconnected, or is easily disconnected is obtained. be able to.

  First, a basic configuration of a charged particle movement type information display panel which is an example of the present invention will be described. In the information display panel, an electric field is applied to a display medium configured as a particle group including a chargeable particle sealed between two opposing substrates. Along with the applied electric field direction, the display medium is attracted by an electric field force or a Coulomb force, and the display medium is moved by a change in the electric field direction, whereby information such as an image is displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to design the information display panel so that the display medium can move uniformly and maintain stability when rewriting the display repeatedly or when displaying the display information continuously. Here, as the force applied to the particles constituting the display medium, in addition to the force attracting each other by the Coulomb force between the particles, an electric mirror image force between the electrode and the substrate, an intermolecular force, a liquid cross-linking force, gravity and the like can be considered.

  An example of an information display panel of a charged particle electric field drive system that is an object of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (a) and (b) to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).

  In the example shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), at least two types of display media having different optical reflectivity and charging characteristics (here, configured as a particle group including particles having at least optical reflectivity and chargeability) The white display medium 3W configured as a particle group including the negatively charged white particles 3Wa and the black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including the positively charged black particles 3Ba are shown). In the cell, in response to an electric field generated by applying a voltage to a pixel electrode pair formed by facing an electrode 5 (pixel electrode with TFT) provided on the substrate 1 and an electrode 6 (common electrode) provided on the substrate 2. The substrate 1 and 2 are moved vertically. Then, the white display medium 3W is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 1A, or the black display medium 3B is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 1B. Are displayed in a matrix with black and white dots. Here, the pixels (dots) and the cells are associated with each other, but they may not be associated. In addition, in FIG. 1 (a), (b), the partition in front is abbreviate | omitted.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, at least two types of display media having different optical reflectance and charging characteristics (here, configured as a particle group including particles having at least optical reflectance and charging properties (here) The white display medium 3W configured as a particle group including the negatively charged white particles 3Wa and the black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including the positively charged black particles 3Ba are shown). In the cell, the substrate 1, 2 corresponds to an electric field generated by applying a voltage to a pixel electrode pair formed by the line electrode 6 provided on the substrate 2 and the line electrode 5 provided on the substrate 1 facing each other. And move vertically. Then, the white display medium 3W is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 2A, or the white display is displayed by the observer, or the black display medium 3B is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 2B. Are displayed in a matrix with black and white dots. Here, the pixels (dots) and the cells are associated with each other, but they may not be associated. In addition, in FIG. 2 (a), (b), the partition in front is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 3 is a view for explaining an example of the information display panel of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 3, for example, on the substrate 1 on the back side, the substrate 1, the substrate 2, The sealing agent arrangement | positioning part 12 for sealing this space is provided. And the board | substrate gap ensuring member 13 is provided in the outer peripheral side or the inner peripheral side with respect to the sealing agent arrangement | positioning part 12. FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of short line-shaped inter-substrate gap securing members 13 are formed on the outer peripheral side of the sealant disposing portion 12, thereby degassing between the inter-substrate gap securing members 13. An air gap 14 is formed. In addition, the height of the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is the same as the height of the partition wall provided in the information display area 11 for ensuring the inter-substrate gap. In the information display area 11, the height of the partition that is responsible exclusively for cell formation may be the same as or slightly lower than the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 or the partition that is responsible for securing the inter-substrate gap. The above configuration is the same as the configuration of the conventional information display panel shown in FIGS.

  The feature of the information display panel according to the present invention is that, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is disposed in a portion other than the routing wiring portion for routing the electrode of the information display region 11 to the end of the panel. It is. Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is provided in a portion of the routing wiring portion 15-1 that leads the electrode 5 of the back-side substrate 1, which is one substrate, to the end portion of the panel. While not provided, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is not provided also in the portion of the routing wiring portion 15-2 for routing the electrode 6 of the front substrate 2 as the other substrate to the end of the panel. Therefore, in this example, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 and the routing wiring portions 15-1 and 15-2 do not contact each other.

  In the configuration of the information display panel of the present invention described above, when the wirings of the lead wiring portions 15-1 and 15-2 are formed of indium tin oxide (ITO), the ITO is not easily affected by electrolytic corrosion. It can be suitably applied. In addition, a control device such as a driver IC for driving can be mounted on the routing electrode portions 15-1 and 15-2 at the panel end by connecting a TCP or forming a COG structure. Become.

  In the above-described example, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the sealing agent arranging portion 12. However, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is provided on the inner peripheral side of the sealing agent arranging portion 12. The present invention can be suitably applied to the provided examples. However, when the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is arranged on the inner peripheral side of the sealant arrangement part 12, the sealant arrangement part 12 is protected against the outside atmosphere and is hardly affected by the outside atmosphere. Therefore, the present invention can obtain more effects when the inter-substrate gap ensuring member 13 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the sealant arrangement portion 12.

  In the information display panel of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is not arranged so as to cross the routing wiring portions 15-1 and 15-2 from the TCP or COG to the information display region 11. Therefore, even if the drawing wiring portions 15-1 and 15-2 are energized intermittently by repeatedly drawing an image in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, galvanic corrosion due to residual ion components cannot occur. Further, the portion where the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 is not arranged is limited as a whole, and the effect of securing the gap space obtained by the uniform arrangement of the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 claimed in Patent Document 1 is still maintained. Secured.

  Further, in order to reduce the residual ion component between the inter-substrate gap securing member 13 and the substrate 1 or the substrate 2, it is necessary to further strengthen the cleaning process of the substrate 1 or the substrate 2. However, it is practically impossible to reduce the residual ion component to a level at which there is no risk of electrolytic corrosion. According to the present invention, it can be dealt with only by changing the formation pattern of the inter-substrate gap securing member 13, without increasing the cost and having no adverse effects on other performances.

  Hereinafter, each member which comprises the information display panel of this invention is demonstrated.

  As for the substrate, at least one substrate is the transparent substrate 2 from which the color of the display medium can be confirmed from the outside of the information display panel, and a material having high visible light transmittance and good heat resistance is preferable. The substrate 1 may be transparent or opaque. Examples of the substrate material include a polymer sheet such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyethersulfone, polyethylene, polycarbonate, polyimide, and acrylic, or a flexible sheet such as a metal sheet covered with the polymer sheet, In addition, inorganic sheets having no flexibility such as glass and quartz can be used. The thickness of the substrate is preferably 2 to 2000 μm, more preferably 5 to 1000 μm. If it is too thin, it will be difficult to maintain the strength and the uniformity of the distance between the substrates, and if it is thicker than 2000 μm, it will be a thin information display panel. Is inconvenient.

  Examples of electrode forming materials include metals such as aluminum, silver, nickel, copper, and gold, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium oxide, aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), conductive tin oxide, Examples include conductive metal oxides such as antimony tin oxide (ATO) and conductive zinc oxide, and conductive polymers such as polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene. As a method for forming the electrode, a method of forming the above-described materials into a thin film by sputtering, vacuum vapor deposition, CVD (chemical vapor deposition), coating, or the like, or a method of laminating metal foil (for example, rolled copper foil) Etc.), and a method in which a conductive agent is mixed with a solvent or a synthetic resin binder and applied. The electrode provided on the display surface side substrate 2 which is on the viewing side and needs to be transparent needs to be transparent, but the electrode provided on the back side substrate 1 does not need to be transparent. In any case, the above-mentioned material that can be patterned and is electrically conductive can be suitably used. The electrode thickness may be 0.01 to 10 [mu] m, preferably 0.05 to 5 [mu] m, as long as electrical conductivity can be ensured and light transmittance is not hindered. The material and thickness of the electrode provided on the back side substrate 1 are the same as those of the electrode provided on the display surface side substrate described above, but need not be transparent.

The shape of the partition 4 in the case where the partition is provided on the substrate is appropriately set appropriately depending on the type of display medium involved in display, the shape and arrangement of the electrodes to be arranged, and is not limited in general. The height of the partition is adjusted to 100 to 100 μm, preferably 3 to 50 μm, and the height of the partition wall to 10 to 100 μm, preferably 10 to 50 μm. The height of the partition provided for securing the inter-substrate gap is the same as the height of the inter-substrate gap securing member disposed on the outer edge of the information display panel of the present invention, and is 10 to 500 μm. The partition for cell formation may be a partition lower than the inter-substrate gap as long as it is formed within the range of 10 to 500 μm.
In forming the partition wall, a both-rib method in which ribs are formed on each of the opposing substrates 1 and 2 and then bonded, and a single-rib method in which ribs are formed only on one substrate are conceivable. In the present invention, any method is preferably used.
The cells formed by the partition walls made of these ribs are exemplified by a square shape, a triangular shape, a line shape, a circular shape, and a hexagonal shape when viewed from the substrate plane direction, and the arrangement is exemplified by a lattice shape, a honeycomb shape, or a mesh shape. The It is better to make the portion corresponding to the cross section of the partition wall visible from the display surface side (the area of the cell frame) as small as possible, and the sharpness of the display image increases.
Here, examples of the method for forming the partition include a mold transfer method, a screen printing method, a sand blast method, a photolithography method, and an additive method. Any of these methods can be suitably used for the information display panel of the present invention, and among these, a photolithography method using a resist film and a mold transfer method are suitably used.

  As shown below, the information display panels of the comparative example and the example of the present invention were manufactured, and the evaluation under the high-temperature and high-humidity environment shown below was performed for each of the manufactured comparative example and the information display panel of the present invention example. Evaluation was performed according to the method, and the obtained results were compared.

<Panel configuration conditions>
-Comparative example: The board | substrate gap ensuring member was arrange | positioned two places also on the ITO routing wiring part.
-Example of the present invention: Except for placing the inter-substrate gap securing member on the ITO routing wiring part, the configuration was exactly the same as the comparative example.

<Evaluation method under high temperature and high humidity>
Display rewriting (= continuous) 50,000 times while the information display panels of the comparative example and the example of the present invention are placed in a constant temperature and humidity chamber set to 40 ° C. and 85% RH. Energized drive). After the continuous display rewriting, the electric corrosion and disconnection state of the information display panels of the comparative example and the example of the present invention were observed with the naked eye and a microscope.

<Result>
Comparative Example: Electrolytic corrosion occurred on four of the four information display panels on the ITO routing wiring portion and on the member contact portion for securing the gap between the substrates. In two of the four information display panels, disconnection occurred on the ITO lead-out wiring portion and the inter-substrate gap securing member contact portion (when the display was rewritten 20,000 times). In the pixel connected to the disconnected portion, a display defect has occurred and a display abnormality has occurred. Further, a display defect occurs in a pixel connected to a portion that is not broken but is likely to be broken, causing a display abnormality.
-Example of the present invention: None of the four information display panels caused electro-corrosion or disconnection on the ITO routing wiring portion or the inter-substrate gap securing member contact portion. Therefore, it was confirmed that there was no abnormality in the image displayed in the information display area, there was no pixel in which a display defect occurred, and there was no portion that was likely to be disconnected.

  The information display panel according to the present invention includes a notebook computer, an electronic notebook, a portable information device called PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a display unit of a mobile device such as a mobile phone and a handy terminal, an electronic paper such as an electronic book and an electronic newspaper. , Billboards such as signboards, posters, blackboards (whiteboards), electronic desk calculators, display units for home appliances, automotive products, card display units such as point cards, IC cards, electronic advertisements, information boards, electronic POPs (Point Of) Presence, Point Of Purchase advertising), electronic price tag, electronic shelf label, electronic score, display part of RF-ID equipment, as well as other electronic equipment display parts such as POS terminals, car navigation devices, watches, etc. , It is also suitably used as a display unit (rewritable paper) for rewriting display by connecting to external rewriting means

  As for the display medium used in the information display panel of the present invention, in addition to particles including charged particles, particles including conductive particles, particles including semiconductive particles, liquid crystal, electrochromic and other passive Various types of display media capable of driving and active driving can be used.

(A), (b) is a figure which shows an example of the drive principle of the information display panel of a charged particle movement display system which is an example of this invention, respectively. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the other example of the drive principle of the information display panel of a charged particle movement display system which is an example of this invention, respectively. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information display panel of this invention. (A), (b) is a figure for demonstrating an example of the conventional information display panel, respectively. It is a figure for demonstrating the problem of the conventional information display panel.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Substrate 3W White display medium 3Wa Negatively charged white particle 3B Black display medium 3Ba Positively charged black particle 4 Partition 5, 6 Electrode 11 Information display area 12 Sealing agent arrangement | positioning part 13 Member for board | substrate gap ensuring 14 For degassing Air gap 15-1, 15-2 Lead wiring part

Claims (3)

  An information display panel for displaying information such as an image by enclosing a display medium between at least two transparent substrates with electrodes and electrically driving the display medium, In order to seal the gap space with the other substrate, a gap between the substrates is secured on at least one of the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion provided at the outer edge portion of the information display area of the panel. An information display panel in which an inter-substrate gap securing member is arranged in a portion other than a lead wiring portion for routing an electrode in an information display region to an end portion of the panel.   The information display panel according to claim 1, wherein the inter-substrate gap securing member is provided on the outer peripheral side with respect to the sealant arrangement portion.   The information display panel according to claim 1, wherein the lead wiring portion is made of indium tin oxide (ITO).

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