JP4393721B2 - Liquid crystal display panel manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a manufacturing ZoSo location for liquid crystal display panels using a film substrate, particularly, performs predetermined processing raw film substrate by a roll-to-roll (Roll to Roll) method, single wafer by cutting after, in a case of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel using the sheet-haka and substrate, it relates to equipment for suppressing the curl of a single grave the film substrate. It should be noted that the present invention may be the equipment for performing the processing of the roll-to-roll method on the film substrate, it is widely applied.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel (PF-LCD) using a film substrate, a transparent electrode film is deposited on a raw film substrate wound around a core, that is, a roll-shaped raw film substrate, and desired patterning is performed. In general, a liquid crystal cell is formed using two patterned substrates, and a polarizing plate and a reflection plate are bonded to the upper and lower surfaces of the liquid crystal cell to obtain a finished product panel. In addition, as a raw material film board | substrate, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PES (polyether sulfone), a polycarbonate, and a polyarylate are employ | adopted, for example. In these raw film substrates, an undercoat layer and an ITO film (transparent conductive film) are usually formed on one side, a gas barrier layer is formed on the opposite side, and a hard coat layer is formed thereon.
[0003]
3A and 3B are explanatory views showing an example of a conventional manufacturing process of a general liquid crystal display panel, where FIG. 3A is a front view of a front-end processing step, and FIG. 3B is a cutting step of a rear-end processing step. It is a front view and (c) is a top view of (b).
[0004]
As shown in FIG. 3 (a), the film substrate 52 is unwound from the raw material roll 51 and intermittently travels between the guide rollers 53 and 54 in the preceding processing step, and the substrate is cleaned, exposed, developed and etched. A predetermined electrode pattern is formed (patterning of the electrode) by performing a process such as resist stripping, and then the electrode pattern processed film substrate 55 is temporarily wound around the core 56 to form a processed roll 57. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3B, the processed film substrate 55 is fed out from the processed roll 57 and cut (punched) by the cutting device 61 while being intermittently run between the guide rollers 58 and 59. Thus, a film substrate cut into a rectangle, that is, a single substrate 62 is produced.
[0005]
By the way, in the process of forming the liquid crystal cell, it is important that the flatness of the two substrates is high, that is, there is almost no curl (curl). Even if stored as it is for a long time, as shown in FIG. 3C, the sheet substrate 62 obtained by cutting the outer peripheral film substrate (the portion having a large roll diameter) far from the core 56 has curls. It hardly occurs.
[0006]
However, even if the storage time of the processed roll 57 is 1 day, as shown in FIGS. In the obtained single wafer substrate 62, a large curl (small curvature radius of curvature) occurs, and it becomes difficult to form a liquid crystal cell having a normal function. Thus, in the conventional processed roll 57, the entire film substrate wound around the core 56 cannot be used for the production of a liquid crystal cell, and the film substrate on the core side corresponding to about 30% of the whole is not used. There was a serious problem that had to be discarded. In FIG. 4, (a) is a front view showing a cutting step among the latter-stage processing steps, and (b) is a plan view of (a).
[0007]
To explain this specifically,
(1) In the conventional technique, if the substrate after electrode patterning is wound around the core and stored for a long period of time, for example, for one week, a large curl is generated on the single substrate corresponding to the initial winding portion.
(2) If the single-wafer substrate has a large curl, when the substrate is automatically transported between processes for subsequent processing, troubles such as dropping off of the substrate are likely to occur due to handling failure.
(3) In the liquid crystal cell forming process, it becomes impossible to properly print the sealing material, or it becomes difficult to evenly spread the gap material over the entire substrate.
[0008]
If it is a plastic film for general use, it is possible to correct the curl by rewinding the curled film around another core in reverse or by heat setting between a pair of flat plates. However, in the case of a film substrate that has been subjected to a predetermined processing treatment for the production of a liquid crystal display panel, the above-mentioned curl correction treatment damages the transparent electrode and the like formed on the film substrate. It will disappear.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to perform a predetermined processing process on the raw film substrate by a roll-to-roll method, temporarily wind it around the core, and then cut the film substrate fed out from this processed roll into pieces by cutting. in case of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel by performing a predetermined processing on the sheet tomb was Fimu substrate is to provide a equipment Ru can be reduced curling of a single grave the film substrate. Specifically, the curling of the film substrate in the processed roll is suppressed to be small, or the curl generated on the film substrate of the processed roll is corrected to reduce the curl.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the raw film substrate is subjected to a predetermined pre-processing from a pretreatment process to an electrode patterning process by a roll-to-roll method, and wound on a roll core. A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel by feeding a film substrate and cutting it into pieces by cutting and then performing a predetermined post-processing using the sheet substrate, wherein the film substrate after the electrode patterning step is The liquid crystal display panel may be manufactured by winding it on a core having an outer diameter of 150 mm or more.
[0011]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, as a core for winding up the film substrate after the patterning step, the roll-shaped film substrate is stored in a predetermined temperature and humidity condition for 7 days, and is then turned into a single sheet. it may be a manufacturing method for you that the LCD display panel, wherein the use of an outer diameter of capable of suppressing the size of the curl 5mm or less.
[0012]
The invention according to claim 1 is a roll-to-roll method in which a raw film substrate is subjected to a predetermined pre-processing from a pretreatment step to an electrode patterning step and wound on a winding core. An apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel by carrying out predetermined post-processing using the single wafer substrate after the film substrate is intermittently fed and traveled to be cut into pieces by a cutting device. A first guide roller is provided immediately before the apparatus, and a second guide roller is provided immediately after the apparatus, and the roll-shaped film substrate wound around the film substrate after the electrode patterning step and the first guide roller pair Between the first and second guide rollers, the idle roller having a surface layer made of soft plastic or soft rubber and having a smooth surface (small surface roughness). In a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the film substrate which travels between La, provided vertically movable by an elevating device, intermittently feeding the film substrate from a roll-shaped film substrate after the electrode patterning step, the idle roller under tension The film substrate is generally in an S shape in a range from the roll-shaped film substrate to the idle roller and in a tensioned state, and the roll-shaped film as the film substrate cutting process proceeds by the cutting device. According to the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus, the contact angle of the film substrate with the idle roller is increased by raising or lowering the idle roller with the lifting device as the outer diameter of the substrate is reduced .
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First embodiment (reference example)
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display panel, in which (a) is a front view and (b) is a plan view.
[0015]
In the same way as in FIG. 3, in the pre-processing step, the film substrate is unwound from the raw material roll and is intermittently run, and then subjected to processing such as substrate cleaning, exposure, development / etching / resist stripping, etc. After patterning (not shown), the film is once wound around a core 10 having an outer diameter of 150 mm or more to obtain a processed roll 11. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1A, the electrode pattern processed film substrate 12 is fed from the processed roll 11 and is cut (punched) by the cutting device 21 while being intermittently run between the guide rollers 13 and 14. In this way, the single substrate 15 is produced.
[0016]
In the subsequent processing step, processing such as alignment film formation, rubbing, spacer (gap material) application, sealing material printing, pasting, liquid crystal material injection / sealing, polarizing film pasting, etc. is performed on the single wafer substrate 15.
[0017]
In this case, chips are left on the single substrate 15 in the above-mentioned cutting process or dust is attached, so that the substrate 15 is cleaned while being conveyed by a roller or a belt in the cleaning process. At this time, if a curl with a size exceeding 5 mm is generated on the single substrate 15, the curl is caught on the transfer roller and the like, and a transfer failure is likely to occur. It takes a long time to repair the above, and it becomes difficult to increase the productivity of the liquid crystal display panel.
[0018]
In the sealing material printing step, the substrate is adsorbed by a processing substrate having an adsorbing function, and the sealing material is printed in a desired shape and thickness. Here, when the size of the curl exceeds 5 mm, the flatness of the substrate is poor, and the substrate may not be accurately held on the processing substrate. The same can be said for the gap material spreading process. Furthermore, between the processing steps constituting the subsequent processing step, the substrate is transported (handled) using the suction pad. However, if the curl becomes large as described above, the substrate may be poorly sucked or the substrate from the suction pad may be removed. Troubles such as dropping off are likely to occur.
[0019]
In contrast, the electrode pattern processed film substrate 12 wound around the core 10 according to the present embodiment can be used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel. That is, in the single substrate 15 obtained from the film substrate 12, the size of curl (curved height) is suppressed to 5 mm or less. The size of the curl is obtained by placing the single substrate on the flat plate with the convex portion facing upward and measuring the height of the convex portion from the flat plate.
[0020]
In the processed film substrate 12, the larger the outer diameter of the core 10, the smaller the curl size. However, if the outer diameter is too large, the outer diameter of the processed roll 11 becomes excessive. For this reason, when the outer diameter of the roll 11 is set to a constant value, the amount of winding is reduced and the frequency of replacing the core is increased, leading to an increase in the cost of the liquid crystal display panel. Therefore, the outer diameter of the core 10 should be determined in consideration of both reducing the curl size and ensuring the winding amount. The present inventor has confirmed through experiments that a liquid crystal display panel conforming to product specifications can be manufactured with good yield if the curl size is 5 mm or less.
[0021]
In addition, the present inventors have obtained the following knowledge through experiments.
(1) The closer to the outer peripheral surface of the winding core, the larger the curl size (the closer to the beginning of winding, the larger).
(2) The longer the elapsed time after winding on the winding core, the larger the curl size. In other words, the longer the storage time of the processed roll, the more the curl increases.
(3) The higher the tension of the film substrate when it is wound around the core, the larger the curl.
(4) The size of the curl varies depending on the thickness of the film substrate, the processing method and conditions, the film material, and the like.
[0022]
【Example】
Next, examples according to the first embodiment will be described.
Example 1
A PET film having a thickness of 100 μm, in which an undercoat layer is formed on one side and a gas barrier layer and a hard coat layer are formed on the opposite side, is treated in a predetermined pre-processing step, and this is treated with an outer diameter of 80 mm (sample 1), 125 mm ( Sample 2), 140 mm (sample 3), 150 mm (sample 4), 160 mm (sample 5), and 175 mm (sample 6) are wound separately with normal winding tension and the same overall length. These rolls (samples 1 to 6) were left in a storage room controlled at a predetermined temperature and humidity for 1 to 7 days, and then cut into a single substrate. In consideration of experimental errors, 10 samples were prepared.
[0023]
As a result, the curl (average value of 10 samples) of the single substrate corresponding to the immediate vicinity of the core after being left for one day is approximately 10 mm for sample 1, approximately 8 mm for sample 2, approximately 5 mm for sample 3, 4 was about 4 mm, and the sample 6 was about 3 mm. In addition, the curl of the single substrate corresponding to the immediate vicinity of the core after standing for 7 days is about 12 mm for sample 1, about 10 mm for sample 2, about 7 mm for sample 3, about 5 mm for sample 4, and about 4 mm for sample 6. It became.
[0024]
Example 2
The substrate material was processed in the previous processing step in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a PET film having a thickness of 200 μm was used, and then wound around a core. As a result, the curl of the single substrate corresponding to the immediate vicinity of the core after being left for one day is approximately 9 mm for sample 1, approximately 7 mm for sample 2, approximately 4 mm for sample 3, approximately 3 mm for sample 4, and approximately 6 mm for sample 6. It became 2 mm. In addition, the curl of the single substrate corresponding to the vicinity of the core after being left for 7 days is approximately 10 mm for sample 1, approximately 8 mm for sample 2, approximately 5 mm for sample 3, approximately 4 mm for sample 4, and approximately 3 mm for sample 6. It became.
[0025]
Examples 3 and 4
The substrate material was processed in the previous processing step in the same manner as in Example 1 except that PES films having a thickness of 100 μm (Example 3) and 200 μm (Example 4) were used. It was. The result of Example 3 was almost the same as that of Example 1 and that of Example 4 was the same as Example 2.
[0026]
From the results of the above Examples 1 to 4, by curling the film substrate after the electrode patterning step on a core having an outer diameter of 150 mm or more, the size of the curled substrate is suppressed to 5 mm or less. The problems such as poor conveyance in the cleaning process, poor adsorption on the processing substrate, and falling off during conveyance are solved, and almost all of the film substrate after the electrode pattern processing wound on the core is used for the liquid crystal display panel. It was confirmed that it can be used for production.
[0027]
Second Embodiment While the first embodiment suppresses curling that is to occur on the film substrate, the method and apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel according to the second embodiment For example, the curl of an electrode pattern processed film substrate having a diameter of, for example, about 80 mm and wound using a conventional winding core can be corrected to 5 mm or less. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of this liquid crystal display panel manufacturing method and apparatus, wherein (a) is a front view when the roll diameter of the processed roll (roll film substrate) is large, and (b) is this roll. It is a front view in case a diameter is small.
[0028]
As shown in FIG. 2A, a first guide roller 23 is provided immediately before the cutting device 21, and a second guide roller 24 is provided immediately after. Further, an idle roller 31 that functions as a guide roller for curl correction is lifted and lowered between the roll processed roll 11 obtained by winding the film substrate after the electrode patterning process on the core 10 and the first guide roller 23 ( It is provided so that it can be moved up and down. In this case, the idle roller 31 can move up and down in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the processed film substrate 12 running between the first and second guide rollers 23 and 24 (in the case of FIG. It can be moved up and down in the vertical direction). Further, in the idle roller 31, the surface layer is formed of soft plastic (or thermoplastic elastomer may be used) or soft rubber, and the surface is finished smoothly, so that damage to the film substrate 12 is minimized.
[0029]
In the above apparatus, when the film substrate 12 is intermittently drawn from the processed roll 11 and cut into a single substrate, when the curl of the film substrate 12 is small and correction is not necessary, it is shown in FIG. As described above, the idle roller 31 is brought into contact with the film substrate 12 by line contact or is not brought into contact therewith.
[0030]
Since the curl of the film substrate 12 is large, when it is necessary to correct the curl, the idle roller 31 is lifted by the lifting device and the idle roller 31 is brought into surface contact with the film substrate 12 as shown in FIG. Make contact. In this case, the surface of the idle roller 31 is brought into contact with tension, and the film substrate 12 is generally run in an S shape in the range from the processed roll 11 to the idle roller 31. Further, as the outer diameter of the processed roll 11 decreases with the progress of the cutting process by the cutting device 21, the curl of the film substrate 12 increases, so that the position of the idle roller 31 is increased as the cutting process progresses. Thus, the contact angle of the film substrate 21 with the idle roller 31 is increased to increase the curl correction force.
[0031]
In FIG. 2 (b), the film substrate 12 is fed out from the lower end of the processed roll 11 and is brought into contact with the upper half of the guide roller 31. On the contrary, the drawing of the roll 11 is shown. The film substrate 12 may be fed out from the upper end portion and brought into contact with the lower half of the guide roller 31 in the drawing. In any case, the curl is removed by applying a strong reverse curl force to the film substrate in the vicinity of the core where the outer diameter of the roll 11 is small. This can be corrected to the following, and the above-mentioned problems related to the single wafer substrate (transfer defect in the cleaning process, adsorption failure in the processing substrate, dropout during transfer, etc.) can be solved accurately.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As apparent from the above description, according to the first embodiment (reference example) , the film substrate after the electrode patterning step is wound around a core having an outer diameter of 150 mm or more. Even for a film substrate that has been made into a sheet after storing the film substrate for a long time, curl (curl) can be kept small over almost the entire roll-shaped film substrate, and thus almost all of the film substrate that has been made into a sheet. it can. For this reason, the effective use rate for producing a liquid crystal display panel of a film substrate obtained in a single wafer is improved, and the production process of the liquid crystal display panel can be smoothly proceeded, which can be provided at low cost.
[0033]
In addition , as the core for winding the film substrate after the electrode patterning step, an outer diameter that can suppress the curl size of the sheet substrate to 5 mm or less is used. The effective usage rate of the film substrate for producing a liquid crystal display panel is remarkably improved.
[0034]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the curl remaining on the film substrate is brought into contact with a predetermined idle roller at the preceding stage of the cutting step, after the film substrate fed out from the roll wound around the core after the electrode patterning step is wound. It is configured to correct. That is, in the present invention, the curl size is reduced by applying a reverse curl force that causes a curl in the direction opposite to the curl remaining on the film substrate to act on the film substrate by the idle roller, and then using a cutting device. Since the sheet is made into a single sheet, the same effect as the above can be obtained, and the contact with the curl correcting idle roller has an advantage that an excessive force that damages the film substrate such as a scratch is not applied. Furthermore, in the present invention, the idle roller is provided so as to be movable up and down by a lifting device in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the traveling film substrate, so that an appropriate reverse curl can be obtained according to the size of the curl remaining on the film substrate. By applying a force, a sheet-fed film substrate having a curl size of 5 mm or less can be stably produced.
[0035]
Also, court according outer diameter of the roll film substrate with the progress of the film substrate cutting step by the cross-sectional device for the reduction, by raising or lowering the idle roller by the lifting device, the contact angle of the film substrate relative to the idle rollers Therefore, a sheet substrate having a curl size of 5 mm or less can be stably produced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
1A and 1B are explanatory views showing a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a plan view;
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a front view when the roll diameter of the roll-shaped film substrate is large, and (b) is a case where the roll diameter is small. It is a front view.
3A and 3B are explanatory views showing an example of a conventional general liquid crystal display panel manufacturing process, in which FIG. 3A is a front view of a front-end processing step, and FIG. 3B is a front view of a cutting step in a rear-end processing step. FIG. 4C is a plan view of FIG.
4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams of problems in the prior art, in which FIG. 4A is a front view, and FIG. 4B is a plan view.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Roll core 11 Processed roll 12 Processed film board | substrate 13 Guide roller 14 Guide roller 15 Single substrate 21 Cutting apparatus 23 1st guide roller 24 2nd guide roller 31 Idle roller 51 Raw material roll 52 Film board 53 Guide roller 54 Guide roller 55 Processed film substrate 56 Core 57 Processed roll 58 Guide roller 59 Guide roller 61 Cutting device 62 Sheet substrate

Claims (1)

The raw film substrate is rolled up by a roll-to-roll method, subjected to predetermined pre-processing from the pretreatment process to the electrode patterning process, wound around the core, and the film substrate is intermittently unwound from the roll film substrate for travel And a first guide roller immediately before the cutting device. The first guide roller immediately before the cutting device. Immediately after, a second guide roller is provided, and a surface layer is formed of a soft plastic between a roll-shaped film substrate obtained by winding the film substrate after the electrode patterning step on a winding core and the first guide roller pair. Alternatively, an idle roller made of soft rubber and having a smooth surface is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the film substrate running between the first and second guide rollers. Direction, provided vertically movable by an elevating device, said feeding a roll film substrate after the electrode patterning step the film substrate intermittently under tension in contact with the surface of the idle roller, idle roller from roll film substrate As the outer diameter of the roll-shaped film substrate decreases with the progress of the film substrate cutting process by the cutting device, the idle roller is The apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, wherein the contact angle of the film substrate with respect to the idle roller is increased by raising or lowering by the elevating device.

Images