JPH07159792A - Liquid crystal panel body, its production and producing device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a monodomain layer of chiral smectic phase industrially useful, having high productivity, free from zig-zag defect and having large area. CONSTITUTION:This liquid crystal panel body 1 is produced by completely encapsulating a liquid crystal, then dipping the liquid crystal panel body 1 into a liquid 12 having a temp. corresponding to a phase of the higher temp. side than a chiral smectic phase of the liquid crystal to change the liquid crystal to the phase of the higher temp. side than the chiral smectic phase and gradually moving the vapor/liquid boundary to the liquid crystal panel body nearly in parallel to the rubbing direction so as to gradually deposit a monodomain layer of the chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel body in which a ferroelectric liquid crystal or an antiferroelectric liquid crystal is sealed, a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a monodomain layer of a chiral smectic phase of liquid crystal. The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel body that can be formed, a manufacturing method thereof, and a manufacturing apparatus thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a liquid crystal display uses a liquid crystal panel body composed of a pair of glass substrates. Striped transparent electrodes are formed on each glass substrate, and polyimide is laminated on the transparent electrodes. This polyimide is subjected to a rubbing treatment so as to have a uniaxial orientation with respect to the liquid crystal. In addition, a spacer is formed between the transparent electrodes on one of the glass substrates.

In the liquid crystal panel body, the striped transparent electrodes of such a pair of glass substrates are opposed to each other and substantially orthogonal to each other, and both glass substrates are adhered to each other via a spacer so as to have a minute interval. It is formed by

A liquid crystal display is produced by enclosing liquid crystal in the liquid crystal panel body and then mounting a polarizing plate, a driving IC, a backlight and the like. recent years,
Liquid crystals exhibiting ferroelectricity or antiferroelectricity have been found (for example, Fukuda and Takezoe, "Structure and Properties of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals", Corona Company, 1990).

Since this type of liquid crystal has a memory effect, it is expected to be used as a material for a liquid crystal display which can be driven by a simple matrix without an active element and can display a large capacity.

These liquid crystals have a chiral nematic (N ^* ) phase → smectic A (SmA) phase → chiral smectic Cα ^* (SmCα ^* ) as the temperature is lowered from the liquid phase (isotropic phase) which is the high temperature side. Phase → SmCβ ^*
It shows complex and various phase changes such as phase → SmCγ ^* phase → SmCA ^* phase. Note that some phases do not appear depending on the liquid crystal. For example, N ^* phase has not been found in antiferroelectric liquid crystals. Also, the phase that responds to the electric field required for liquid crystal displays is located on the lower temperature side than the chiral nematic phase and has low symmetry,
Further, it is an SmC ^* (= SmCβ ^* ) phase close to a crystalline state, and specifically, it is the SmC ^* phase in the ferroelectric liquid crystal and the SmCA ^* phase in the antiferroelectric liquid crystal. These two phases have similar layered structures, and the latter has a structure in which the stable molecular axis directions are switched from layer to layer as compared with the former ^.
The description including SmCA ^* will be given as an example.

Further, in this type of liquid crystal, the SmC ^* layer has a thickness of 2 in order to exhibit a high-speed response and to exhibit a memory effect.
It is necessary to make it uniform to about μm. Here, if there is unevenness in the minute gap (cell gap) between the substrates, density unevenness occurs in the transmitted light due to the birefringence of the liquid crystal. Further, the chiral smectic phase is composed of a single crystal layer (hereinafter referred to as a monodomain layer), and it is required that there be no orientation abnormality and no intrinsic defect. As a method for forming the monodomain layer, a shearing method, a thermal gradient method, a rubbing method, and an oblique vapor deposition method can be appropriately used. The shearing method and the thermal gradient method are not industrially effective and are academic,
For example, a technique of providing a heating electrode inside the liquid crystal panel to give a thermal gradient to the liquid crystal and deposit a monodomain layer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. 0-235118. On the other hand, the rubbing method and the oblique vapor deposition method are industrially effective, and in particular, the rubbing method can form a monodomain layer even in the case of a large-area panel body.

However, in the process of forming the monodomain layer, there is a problem that the rubbing treatment cannot prevent the occurrence of zigzag defects specific to the SmC ^* phase. The problem is that the liquid crystal having the SmC ^* phase does not have the conventionally expected bookshelf structure shown in FIG. Since the chevron structure is bent in a V shape, it is difficult to unify the bending directions in one direction by simply rubbing.
This is due to the mixture of regions having different bending directions, as shown in FIG. The zigzag defect occurs at the boundary of different bending regions, such as the boundary between the convex portions of the V-shape and the boundary between the concave portions of the V-shape. Further, the zigzag defect includes a loop-shaped defect as shown in FIG. 7 and a linear defect having a small loop area as shown in FIG.

In order to eliminate this type of zigzag defect, the following techniques (a) to (b) have been considered. (A) First, as a technique for preventing the generation of zigzag defects, the molecular axis in the layer is not parallel to the glass substrate,
A technique for performing a uniaxial alignment treatment so as to give a pretilt angle θp so as to form a large finite angle in a certain direction is known, and the oblique evaporation method is particularly effective (supervised by Fukuda, “Next Generation Liquid Crystal Display” And liquid crystal materials ", CMC, 1992). (B) Further, in the liquid crystal panel body described above, since the spacer is provided between the stripe-shaped transparent electrodes, a linear tunnel composed of the spacer and the transparent electrode is formed, and this tunnel is filled with the liquid crystal. The expansion and contraction directions of are regulated in the tunnel direction. Therefore, in this type of liquid crystal panel body, it is possible to observe linear voids of the liquid crystal which cannot be observed in the liquid crystal panel body in which dot-shaped spacers are scattered. It is considered that the voids appear remarkably when the liquid crystal is rapidly cooled, and are observed in a portion where the shrinking direction and the deposition time are different, and disappear when the temperature is raised again and then gradually cooled. . That is, it is indicated that the voids cause the liquid crystal to slide in a specific direction from the vicinity of the alignment film to the central portion due to rapid cooling. On the other hand, if liquid crystal molecules move significantly on the alignment film, it is considered that the alignment force that determines the bending direction is significantly changed to induce zigzag defects.

Therefore, in order to prevent the zigzag defect, it is necessary to precisely control the temperature of the liquid crystal panel body so that the liquid crystal that has penetrated into the gap between the substrates is uniformly and gradually contracted at the same timing. The applicant has already disclosed such a technique in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-296018, and its content is to cool a liquid crystal panel body while immersing it in a liquid having a large heat capacity. This makes it possible to form an SmC ^* phase monodomain layer having no zigzag defects. (C) On the other hand, a method of pulling up a liquid crystal panel body immersed in silicone oil at a high temperature is disclosed in JP-A-63-148237.
It is disclosed in the publication. The liquid crystal panel body is subjected to rubbing treatment only between the electrodes, and then liquid crystal is sealed. Further, in this liquid crystal panel body, when cooled from a high temperature state, a chiral smectic phase preferentially precipitates on the alignment film in the non-electrode part. Therefore, the deposited chiral smectic phase serves as a nucleus to form the monodomain layer on the electrode on which the alignment film is not formed. This technique attempts to induce the SmC ^* phase on an electrode having no uniaxial orientation on the assumption that the uniaxial orientation adversely affects the expression of the memory effect. It should be noted that the pulling direction is a fixed direction and is not specified, but it is considered to be a direction substantially orthogonal to the rubbing direction.

[0011]

However, the above-described manufacturing technique for the liquid crystal panel body has a problem that the generation of zigzag defects cannot be prevented as described below. (A) 'In the technique of giving the pretilt angle θp, in the experiments of the present inventor, the occurrence of zigzag defects could not be prevented in a liquid crystal panel having a large display area of A4 size or more. In the STN type liquid crystal panel, it is known that a polyimide having a specific chemical structure is subjected to a rubbing treatment to control the pretilt angle θp. On the other hand, Sm
It is difficult to confirm experimentally whether or not the pretilt angle θp can be controlled in a liquid crystal having a C ^* phase, but at least between the polyimide film having a high pretilt angle and the polyimide film having a low pretilt angle. There was no difference in the effect of preventing the occurrence of zigzag defects. (B) 'With the technology of cooling while being immersed in liquid, fine and persistent zigzag defects and linear zigzag near the liquid crystal injection port to the liquid crystal panel body and at a specific location in the back facing the liquid crystal injection port. Defects may remain.

For example, when cooling the high temperature liquid crystal enclosed in the liquid crystal panel body, unless the liquid crystal panel body is cooled uniformly, the contraction direction of the liquid crystal will be different in each part of the panel. If this is extremely large, the liquid crystal may be pulled in a direction opposite to the bending direction of the layer that should be determined by the alignment film, and may be reversely fixed. In addition, the non-uniform cooling or rapid cooling of the liquid crystal panel body is
It is another cause of inducing misalignment and zigzag defects. An example of measuring the volume change of liquid crystal is P192 (Presentation No. 2K2 in the presentation by Mita et al.)
11). (C) 'In the pulling technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-148237, in the experiment of the present inventor, a monodomain layer having no zigzag defect could not be formed in any direction.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and is capable of forming a large area chiral smectic phase monodomain layer without zigzag defects, and is industrially useful and has high productivity. An object is to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ferroelectric liquid crystal or antiferroelectric layer between a pair of substrates in which at least one substrate is uniaxially oriented along a predetermined rubbing direction. A liquid crystal panel body in which a liquid crystalline liquid crystal is sealed, in a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body in which a monodomain layer of a chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal of the liquid crystal panel body is formed, when the sealing of the liquid crystal is completed, The liquid crystal panel body is immersed in a liquid having a temperature corresponding to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase of the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal is changed to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase, and the chiral smectic in the liquid crystal is changed. A liquid crystal in which a gas-liquid interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body is gradually moved substantially parallel to the rubbing direction so that a monodomain layer of a phase is gradually deposited. It is a manufacturing method of the panel body.

The phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase may be a chiral nematic phase. Furthermore, the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase may be an isotropic phase.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body using the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body, the temperature of the liquid in which the liquid crystal panel body is immersed is set to the chiral smectic. At least one of the temperature control means for maintaining the temperature corresponding to the phase on the higher temperature side than the phase and the liquid having the temperature maintained by the temperature control means or the liquid crystal panel body immersed in the liquid. An apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body, comprising: a liquid-vapor interface moving means for controlling and moving a position of the liquid-vapor interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body.

Further, the invention corresponding to claim 5 is a liquid crystal panel body manufactured by the above method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body. The liquid crystal panel body may also be a liquid crystal panel body in which one substrate has a linear member formed substantially parallel to the rubbing direction, and the substrates are bonded to each other via the member. Good.

[0018]

Therefore, according to the invention corresponding to claim 1, by taking the above-mentioned means, when the liquid crystal is completely filled, the liquid crystal panel body is placed at a temperature higher than the chiral smectic phase of the liquid crystal. Is immersed in a liquid having a temperature corresponding to the liquid crystal panel body so as to change the liquid crystal to a phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase and gradually precipitate a monodomain layer of the chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal. The gas-liquid interface is gradually moved substantially parallel to the rubbing direction.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the temperature control means maintains the temperature of the liquid in which the liquid crystal panel body is immersed at a temperature corresponding to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase, and the gas-liquid interface is maintained. The moving means controls at least one of the liquid having the temperature maintained by the temperature control means or the liquid crystal panel body immersed in the liquid to move the position of the gas-liquid interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body.

As described above, since the contraction direction of the liquid crystal can be limited to the direction parallel to the rubbing direction, a large area chiral smectic phase monodomain layer without zigzag defects can be formed, and the temperature control means and the gas-liquid interface moving means can be formed. Since it can be realized with a simple configuration, it is industrially useful and high productivity can be expected.

Further, in the above, the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase may be the chiral nematic phase, so that it can be applied to the liquid crystal panel body using the ferroelectric liquid crystal, and similarly, the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase. Since the phase may be an isotropic phase, it can be applied to a liquid crystal panel body using an antiferroelectric liquid crystal.

Further, since the liquid crystal panel body is formed on the large area smectic phase monodomain layer having no zigzag defect, a high quality image can be displayed.
Further, the liquid crystal panel body may be a liquid crystal panel body in which one substrate has a linear member formed substantially parallel to the rubbing direction, and the substrates are bonded to each other via this member. Since this member separates the liquid crystals from each other to further limit the contraction direction of the liquid crystals, the certainty of the above-described action can be improved.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the contents of the present invention will be described.
According to experiments conducted by the present inventor, although the reason is unknown, it has been found that the bending direction of the smectic layer in the chevron structure is related to the rubbing direction. For example, the center of the smectic layer is convexly bent in the opposite direction to the rubbing direction, and the zigzag portion of the zigzag defect is opposite to the rubbing direction.

Such a relationship is observed in the liquid crystal panel body in which the procedure of injecting the liquid crystal of the isotropic phase or the N ^* phase and cooling it to room temperature is carefully performed, and the bending direction of the layer is almost opposite to the rubbing direction. It is inferred from the fact that the rubbing direction is directed only in a narrow region that is irregularly distributed or in a specific region of the liquid crystal panel body while facing the direction.

The mixing ratio in the bending direction depends not only on the rubbing direction but also on the type and forming conditions of the alignment film and the process such as cooling. In any case, when the alignment force due to the alignment film and liquid crystal molecules near the alignment film stably conformed to the alignment film is locally disturbed, it causes a zigzag defect in which the bending direction of the layer is reversed. Further, the distortion force in the liquid crystal is caused by the liquid crystal meandering and penetrating inside the panel body, or by the presence of obstacles such as fine spacers.
The stress distribution in the liquid crystal as an elastic fluid becomes non-uniform.

From the above, the present inventor has come to the idea that the local disturbance of the orientation force is caused by the distortion force accumulated in the liquid crystal and the bulk contraction of the liquid crystal due to the nonuniform cooling.

That is, the present invention aims to form a large area smectic phase monodomain layer by controlling the strain force and the uniformity of cooling to eliminate the local disturbance of the orientation force. is there.

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing a partial structure of a liquid crystal panel body according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the whole structure of the liquid crystal panel body. In this liquid crystal panel body 1, an ITO (indium tin oxide) conductive film as a transparent electrode material is formed on the B4 size first and second glass substrates 2 and 3 by a sputtering method or an EB vapor deposition method. Striped transparent electrodes 4 and 5 having a line of 200 μm and a space of 20 μm are formed from the ITO conductive film by photolithography.

Here, in the first glass substrate 2, the insulating film 6 made of silica oxide or alumina is formed on the transparent electrode 4, and the orientation polyimide 7 is applied on the insulating film 6 by spin coating. It has been baked at 90 ° C. for 90 minutes. As the orientation polyimide 7, the product name HL1110 manufactured by Hitachi Chemical can be used. In the first glass substrate 2, the orienting polyimide 7 is rubbed along a rubbing direction substantially orthogonal to the transparent electrode 4, and a positive photoresist is applied onto the orienting polyimide 7 by spin coating. From this photoresist by photolithography with a width of 20 μm and a height of approximately 2.2.
A linear spacer 8 of μm is formed substantially parallel to the rubbing direction, and a seal portion is formed in the peripheral portion of the substrate. As the positive photoresist, the product name MP1400 manufactured by Shipley Co. can be used.

On the other hand, in the second glass substrate 3, the orientation polyimide 9 is applied on the transparent electrode 5 in the same manner as described above.
After baking at 80 ° C. for 90 minutes, the orientation polyimide 9 is rubbed along a rubbing direction substantially parallel to the transparent electrode 5.

In the liquid crystal panel body 1, a pair of glass substrates consisting of these first and second glass substrates 2 and 3 are arranged such that the rubbing directions are substantially parallel in the same direction, and the spacer 8 is a second glass substrate. It is made by adhering it by allowing it to stand in an oven at about 160 ° C. for 1 hour while being aligned and pressure-bonded so as to enter between the transparent electrodes 5 of the substrate 3. Further, the liquid crystal injection port 10 is formed in a substantially central portion of one side orthogonal to the spacer, and the peripheral portion excluding the liquid crystal injection port is fixed with an epoxy resin 11.

In this liquid crystal panel body 1, a ferroelectric liquid crystal is sealed from a liquid crystal inlet 10 at 90 ° C. according to a standard method, and after being gradually cooled, the liquid crystal inlet 10 is sealed with an epoxy resin. As the ferroelectric liquid crystal, the product name CS1014 manufactured by Chisso can be used.
4 is an isotropic phase → 81 ° C. → N ^* phase → 70 ° C. → SmA phase → 54
It has the property of ℃ → SmC ^* phase. The liquid crystal injection direction is the same as the rubbing direction.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the structure of a manufacturing apparatus to which such a liquid crystal panel body is applied. This manufacturing apparatus is capable of containing a water 12 and controlling a water temperature of the circulating constant temperature tank 13, a pulling control unit capable of pulling up the liquid crystal panel body 1 from the circulating constant temperature tank 13, and a water level of the circulating constant temperature tank 13. A water level controller is provided. The pulling control unit and the water level control unit form gas-liquid interface control means.

Here, the circulation constant temperature bath 13 has a sensor 14 for detecting the water temperature and a heater 15 for raising the water temperature,
The water temperature control unit 16 controls the heater 15 so that the signal from the water temperature sensor 14 indicates a predetermined water temperature. Further, the circulation constant temperature bath 13 has a stirring unit 17 for stirring the water 12. In addition, as the set water temperature at the start of pulling,
It is preferable that the temperature is close to the smectic transition temperature in the temperature range in which the chiral nematic phase is exhibited, and the liquid crystal free of the chiral nematic phase is kept at a low temperature in the liquid state.

The pull-up control section is provided above the circulation constant temperature bath 13, and a pulley 20 around which a string 19 having a panel body holding section 18 for holding or releasing the liquid crystal panel body 1 is wound, and the pulley 20. 20 is provided with a drive control unit 21 that controls the drive of the 20 corresponding to a predetermined pulling speed. The pulling speed is related to the temperature difference between the water temperature and the gas and the length of the liquid crystal panel body 1 in the pulling direction.
If it is about 3 cm / 1 hour is sufficient.

The water level control section has a flow rate sensor 23 for detecting the flow rate flowing out from the water outlet 22 formed in the circulation constant temperature bath 13 and a control valve 24 for controlling the flow rate, and a signal received from the flow rate detection section 23 is predetermined. The flow rate control unit 25 controls the control valve 24 so as to indicate the flow rate of.

Next, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body by the manufacturing apparatus configured as described above will be described. Now, the water temperature of the circulating constant temperature bath 13 is controlled at 30 ° C.
The liquid crystal panel body 1 is immersed in the liquid crystal panel 3 except for the liquid crystal injection port 10 and its vicinity so that the rubbing direction is substantially parallel to the pulling direction. The liquid crystal panel body 1 is filled with the above-mentioned ferroelectric liquid crystal CS1014.

The circulation constant temperature bath 13 is based on a predetermined temperature setting, and has a temperature of about 82 which is near the minimum temperature at which the liquid crystal has an isotropic phase.
The water temperature is slowly raised to 0 ° C. and held for 30 minutes, and then the water temperature is lowered to 71 ° C., which is near the lowest temperature at which the chiral nematic phase in the liquid crystal is obtained, and the water temperature of 71 ° C. is maintained.

30 minutes after the water temperature was maintained at 71 ° C.,
In the pull-up control unit, the drive control unit 21 drives and controls the pulley 20 to start pulling up the liquid crystal panel body 1. The pulling speed is constant from the start of pulling to the end of pulling, and is, for example, 3 cm / 1 hour.

In the liquid crystal panel body 1, a thermal gradient is formed at the boundary between the portion exposed to the air and the portion immersed in water, and the gas-liquid interface having the thermal gradient gradually increases along the rubbing direction with the pulling. Moving. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the contraction direction of the liquid crystal at the time of precipitating the chiral smectic phase can be limited to only the gas side (low temperature side) in the pulling direction corresponding to the alignment force of the alignment film.

That is, since the local disturbance of the alignment force is prevented, a large-area chiral smectic phase monodomain layer can be formed, and in fact, a liquid crystal panel body having no zigzag defects at all can be obtained. did it.

A chiral smectic phase monodomain layer can be similarly obtained by lowering the gas-liquid interface at a rate of 3 cm / 1 hour by the water level controller without using the pulling controller. Even if the pulling control unit and the water level control unit are used at the same time, the moving speed of the gas-liquid interface is 3
When it was set to cm / 1 hour, a monodomain layer having a chiral smectic phase could be similarly obtained.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the circulation constant temperature bath 13 changes the liquid crystal enclosed in the liquid crystal panel body 1 into a chiral nematic phase at a temperature higher than the chiral smectic phase and pulling up control. Part and the water level control part, the gas-liquid interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body 1 is gradually moved substantially parallel to the rubbing direction so that the contraction direction of the liquid crystal corresponds to the alignment force of the alignment film. It is possible to form a monodomain layer having a chiral smectic phase.

Further, according to this embodiment, the spacer 8 is
Since the liquid crystal is divided into a plurality of tunnels in parallel to the rubbing direction to limit the contraction direction of the liquid crystal and prevent liquid crystals belonging to different tunnels from interfering with each other, even a large-area liquid crystal panel body, It is possible to completely prevent the occurrence of zigzag defects. Even in a liquid crystal panel body in which no tunnel is formed, it is possible to sufficiently prevent zigzag defects by moving the gas-liquid interface along the rubbing direction.

Further, according to this embodiment, the gas-liquid interface is moved with high precision with respect to the liquid crystal panel body 1 with a simple structure such as a pulling control unit and a water level control unit, which is industrially useful. It is possible to immerse a plurality of liquid crystal panel bodies in a large circulation constant temperature bath 13 and to lower the gas-liquid interface in each liquid crystal panel body at once by, for example, the water level control unit, so that high productivity can be expected. it can.

Further, according to this embodiment, since the SmC ^* phase mono-domain layer of the ferroelectric liquid crystal can be stably formed, a liquid crystal panel body excellent in earthquake resistance and shock resistance can be manufactured with high yield. In addition, the quality of the displayed image can be improved.

Next, a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal panel body according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, in the liquid crystal panel body used in this embodiment, fine dot-shaped dot spacers are randomly arranged in the non-electrode part instead of the linear spacers 8 of the liquid crystal panel body 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It will be.

The liquid crystal used in this embodiment is an antiferroelectric liquid crystal, and is injected into the liquid crystal panel body substantially parallel to the rubbing direction as described above. Further, this antiferroelectric liquid crystal is specifically manufactured by Chisso under the trade name CS4000.
Isotropic phase → 101 ° C. → SmA phase → 84 ° C. → SmC
^* Phase → 82 ℃ → SmCA ^* Phase.

Here, this antiferroelectric liquid crystal does not have a chiral nematic phase. Therefore, in the circulation constant temperature bath, the silicon oil is stored, and after the liquid crystal panel body is immersed in the silicon oil, the temperature of the silicon oil is raised to 102 ° C. so that the liquid crystal is in the isotropic phase. Hold at ℃.

When 30 minutes passed after the temperature was kept at 102 ° C., the pull-up control section pulled up the liquid crystal panel at a speed of 3 cm / 1 hour substantially in parallel with the rubbing direction as described above.

Even in this case, it is possible to obtain a liquid crystal panel having an alignment state without zigzag defects. As described above, according to the second embodiment, the liquid crystal panel body is the one in which the dot spacers are used and the antiferroelectric liquid crystal is sealed. However, the liquid crystal injection direction and the moving direction of the gas-liquid interface are the rubbing directions. A liquid crystal panel body having an alignment state free of zigzag defects can be obtained by making the liquid crystal panel body parallel to.

In the first embodiment, the case where the glass substrates 2 and 3 of the liquid crystal panel body 1 are each rubbed has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and one of the liquid crystal panel body 1 is not limited thereto. Even when the rubbing process is performed only on the substrate, the same effect can be obtained by carrying out the present invention in the same manner if the rubbing direction and the liquid crystal injection direction are the same.

In the first embodiment, the case where the water 12 is used as the liquid has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, oil or silicone oil is used as the liquid as in the second embodiment. However, the same effects can be obtained by implementing the present invention in the same manner. In this case, in order to prevent the handling of the liquid crystal panel body 1 from becoming difficult due to the adhesion of oil or the like, it is desirable to cover the liquid crystal panel body 1 with a protective sheet and indirectly heat the liquid crystal panel body 1, for example. Further, even when the water 12 is used, it is desirable to provide a means for preventing temperature rise and dew condensation due to steam.

Further, in the first embodiment, the case where the liquid crystal panel body 1 subjected to the rubbing treatment is used has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the liquid crystal panel body subjected to the oblique vapor deposition treatment is used. However, the same effect as the present invention can be obtained. In addition, the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0055]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the liquid crystal is completely filled, the liquid crystal panel body has a temperature corresponding to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase of the liquid crystal. The liquid crystal to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase, and the mono-domain layer of the chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal is gradually deposited. To move.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, the temperature control means maintains the temperature of the liquid in which the liquid crystal panel body is immersed at a temperature corresponding to the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase, and the gas-liquid interface. The moving means controls at least one of the liquid having the temperature maintained by the temperature control means or the liquid crystal panel body immersed in the liquid to move the position of the gas-liquid interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body.

As described above, since the contraction direction of the liquid crystal can be limited to the direction parallel to the rubbing direction, a large area chiral smectic phase monodomain layer without zigzag defects can be formed, and the temperature control means and the gas-liquid interface moving means can be formed. Since it can be realized with a simple configuration, it is possible to provide a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a liquid crystal panel body which is industrially useful and can be expected to have high productivity.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase is the chiral nematic phase, the production of the liquid crystal panel body applicable to the liquid crystal panel body using the ferroelectric liquid crystal is manufactured. A method can be provided.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, since the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase is an isotropic phase, it can be applied to a liquid crystal panel body using an antiferroelectric liquid crystal. Can be provided.

Further, according to the invention of claim 5, since the liquid crystal panel body is formed in a large area smectic phase monodomain layer having no zigzag defects, a liquid crystal panel body capable of displaying a high quality image can be provided. .

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, the main body of the liquid crystal panel has a linear member formed on one of the substrates substantially parallel to the rubbing direction, and the substrates are mutually connected via this member. Since the liquid crystal panel body may be adhered, the member separates the liquid crystal from each other to further limit the contraction direction of the liquid crystal, so that the liquid crystal panel body capable of improving the certainty of the above-described effect can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a partial configuration of a liquid crystal panel body according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of a liquid crystal panel body in the example.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a manufacturing apparatus to which the liquid crystal panel body in the embodiment is applied.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining precipitation of a chiral smectic phase in the example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of a conventional liquid crystal.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the occurrence of a conventional zigzag defect.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional zigzag defect.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional zigzag defect.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Liquid crystal panel body, 2 ... 1st glass substrate, 3 ... 2nd glass substrate, 4, 5 ... Transparent electrode, 6 ... Insulating film, 7, 9 ...
Alignment polyimide, 8 ... Spacer, 10 ... Liquid crystal injection port,
11 ... Epoxy resin, 12 ... Water, 13 ... Circulating constant temperature bath, 1
4 ... Water temperature sensor, 15 ... Heater, 16 ... Water temperature control unit, 1
7 ... Stirring part, 18 ... Panel body gripping part, 19 ... String, 20 ...
Pulley, 21 ... Drive control section, 22 ... Water outlet, 23 ... Flow rate sensor, 24 ... Control valve, 25 ... Flow rate control section.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal panel body in which a ferroelectric liquid crystal or an antiferroelectric liquid crystal is sealed between a pair of substrates in which at least one substrate is uniaxially oriented along a predetermined rubbing direction, In a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body for forming a monodomain layer of a chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal of the liquid crystal panel body, the liquid crystal panel body is heated to a temperature higher than that of the chiral smectic phase of the liquid crystal when encapsulation of the liquid crystal is completed. Immersed in a liquid with a temperature corresponding to the side phase,
The liquid crystal is changed to a phase on a higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase, and a gas-liquid interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel is gradually parallel to the rubbing direction so that a monodomain layer of the chiral smectic phase in the liquid crystal is gradually deposited. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body, which comprises moving the liquid crystal panel body. 2. The method for producing a liquid crystal panel body according to claim 1, wherein the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase is a chiral nematic phase. 3. The method for producing a liquid crystal panel body according to claim 1, wherein the phase on the higher temperature side than the chiral smectic phase is an isotropic phase. 4. A manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body using the liquid crystal panel body manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal panel body is immersed in the liquid. A temperature control means for maintaining the temperature at a temperature corresponding to a phase higher than the chiral smectic phase; and the liquid having the temperature maintained by the temperature control means or the liquid crystal panel body immersed in the liquid. An apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body, comprising: a liquid-vapor interface moving means for controlling at least one of them to move the position of the liquid-vapor interface with respect to the liquid crystal panel body. 5. A liquid crystal panel body manufactured by the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel body according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 6. The liquid crystal panel body according to claim 5, wherein the liquid crystal panel body has a linear member formed on one of the substrates and substantially parallel to the rubbing direction, and the linear member is interposed therebetween. A liquid crystal panel body, wherein each substrate is adhered to each other.