JPH0810174B2 - Liquid crystal display inspection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an inspection device for visually inspecting a liquid crystal display.

(Prior Art) The principle and the like of the above liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as LCD) are described in the magazine "Electronic Materials" (February 1986, P22-P76 / published by the Industrial Research Institute) and are well known.

Briefly describing the LCD, the LCD has two transparent bodies, the proper positions of the three primary color filters and the pixel electrodes, and the colors and contrasts of the pixels caused by the on / off control of the liquid crystal shutter with respect to the pixel electrodes are normal. A visual inspection is being conducted to determine whether or not to display in color.

As shown in FIG. 5, the schematic structure of this visual inspection device (1) is such that a mounting body (3) on which an LCD (2) is mounted is provided with a base so as to be movable in the horizontal direction as shown by an arrow. So LCD
The visual position (4) for visually observing (2) is necessarily located above the operating portion (5). Therefore, the visual inspection is performed by forming a stare angle (6) with respect to the inspection surface (2a) in the linear direction between the inspection surface (2a) of the LCD (2) and the visual inspection position (4).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, as shown in FIG. 5, the LCD (2)
On the inspection surface (2a), the illuminator (3c) is provided in the hollow portion (3b) of the mounting body (3). The light ray (22) emitted from this illuminator (3c) passes through the color filter layer (2e),
It is configured to display on the surface of the LCD (2) after passing through the upper substrate (2d) which has changed to be transparent according to the applied voltage value.

When voltage is applied to the pixel electrode (2d) like this,
A shutter-type R that switches depending on whether or not
(Red), G (green), B (blue) color filter layer (2e) of the three primary colors and the upper substrate (2d) corresponding to each pixel is turned on and off by the principle of additive mixing to display a plurality of color displays. Is going.

For example, when a voltage is applied to the pixel electrode (2b) on the surface of the pixel A and a voltage is applied to the pixel electrode (2b) on the surface of the pixel B, the pixels A and B to which this voltage is applied are laid below the bottom surface, respectively. R (red) and G (green) by the light source, color filter, and liquid crystal shutter by applied voltage
Are displayed on the surface of the pixel A and the surface of the pixel B.
The pixel A and the pixel B display yellow or a color generated by the additive mixture by the above-mentioned principle of additive mixture by the above-described tilting having the LCD (2) plane and the stare angle (6). There was a problem that the error test was carried out as if it were.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and can visually and accurately visually inspect the display state of a liquid crystal display body, and at the time of the visual inspection, the liquid crystal display body is automatically placed on the mounting body. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inspection device for a liquid crystal display body that can be automatically taken out of the mounting body and aligned with the inspection position.

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In the liquid crystal display inspection apparatus of the present invention, the liquid crystal display vertically arranged on the inclined base and conveyed by the conveying means is placed on the surface of the base. A mounting body to be mounted on parallel mounting surfaces, and X, Y, Z and θ on the base.
Drive means for reciprocally driving in a direction, control means for driving and controlling this drive means, and a voltage application terminal electrode with which a plurality of electrodes of the liquid crystal display on the mounting table are in electrical contact with each other by the control means, Central arithmetic processing means for transmitting a command to selectively apply a voltage to each electrode of the liquid crystal display through the voltage applying terminal electrodes, and the voltage is applied under the instruction of the central arithmetic processing means. The liquid crystal display body is provided with an illuminator that illuminates the back surface of the liquid crystal display body, and the above-mentioned mounting surface forms an inclined surface orthogonal to the gaze line.

(Operation) According to the present invention, when the liquid crystal display body is placed on the inclined mounting surface via the conveying means, the drive means is driven via the control means to drive the mounted body on the inclined base X. , Y, Z, and θ directions are made to reciprocate, and a plurality of electrodes of the liquid crystal display are brought into electrical contact with the voltage application terminal electrodes, respectively, and the liquid crystal display is illuminated from the backside by an illuminator. Then, under the command of the central processing means, a voltage is selectively applied to the electrodes of the liquid crystal display through the plurality of voltage application terminal electrodes, whereby the pixels of the liquid crystal display are selectively displayed. At this time, if the display state is observed with a gaze line that is orthogonal to the surface of the liquid crystal display, for example, the display color of each pixel can be accurately and surely visually inspected without color mixing of each pixel. .

(Example) An example in which the inspection apparatus of the present invention is applied to an inspection of a color LCD will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the above description, the same parts as those in FIG.

First, the structure of the above-mentioned apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. A probe terminal electrode (7) for electrically contacting a terminal portion of the electrodes (2b) arranged in a matrix of the LCD (2) is provided on a head plate (not shown) of the inspection device (8). The terminal electrode (7) is preliminarily configured in an array corresponding to the electrode (2a) of the LCD (2) and electrically connected to the probe terminal electrode (7) (hereinafter, simply referred to as “terminal electrode” as necessary). It has a contactable structure.

The terminal electrodes (7) are configured as one set, and the probe terminal electrode (7) rows are arranged so as to surround the LCD (2) in four directions.

The probe terminal electrode (7) is provided so as to apply a voltage to the pixel electrode (2b) by the voltage signal controller (9). This applied voltage is the controller CPU (1
Controlled by 0). For example, a predetermined voltage is applied to the electrode (2) of the LCD (2) by a voltage signal from the CPU (10).
It is configured to apply to b).

Further, a keyboard (11) is provided for inputting various data to the CPU (10), and further, the CPU (1
The display section (12) for displaying various data such as the color display commanded in (0) is provided.

And the pixel electrode (2d) from the keyboard (11)
By the program based on the setting input of the data of
It is configured to control the color display of D (2).

For example, after displaying R (red) for a pixel, then G
The state is displayed by a command signal so as to control to sequentially display (green) and B (blue).

The terminal electrode (7) is detachably provided on a fixed body called a head plate, and at the same time, the tip of the terminal electrode (7) is mounted on the mounting surface (3a).
It is arranged parallel to the plane of (2).

Therefore, LC mounted on the mounting surface (3a) orthogonal to the gaze line
D (2) is a terminal electrode (7) in which the electrode (2b) of the LCD (2) is detachably fixed to the head plate by moving the mounting surface (3a) in a direction orthogonal to the gaze line. Will come into contact with. Then, the probe terminal electrodes (7) are pressed into contact with the electrodes (2b) of the LCD (2), and then the CPU (1) is selectively attached to these probe terminal electrodes (7).
The voltage is applied according to a program by a program input from the keyboard (11) via the voltage signal control section (9) in response to a command from (0).

Next, below the terminal electrode (7), a mounting means (1) which is movable along the surface of the base (13) of the device orthogonal to the gaze line.
4) is provided.

The placing means (14) described above includes a stage (15) and a lifting mechanism (1
6) and a peripheral rotation mechanism (17).

The stage (15) is movably provided along the surface of the base (13) of the device (8), and the lifting mechanism (16) is fixed to the upper side of the stage (15). Further, a peripheral rotation mechanism (17) is fixed to the upper side of the lifting mechanism (16), and an LCD (2) is attached to the upper side of the peripheral rotation mechanism (17).
A mounting body (3) for mounting the is provided. The mounting surface (3a) of the mounting body (3) is a surface orthogonal to the gaze line, and is configured parallel to the surface of the base (13).

The stage (15) is a stage (15) that is movable in the X and Y directions along the surface of the base (13).

The movement of the stage (15) in the X and Y directions is configured to be performed by the X direction moving mechanism (18) and the Y direction moving mechanism (19).

The X-direction movement mechanism (18) and the downward movement mechanism (19)
Is an X-direction movement control unit (18) and a Y-direction movement control unit (19)
Driven by.

The X-direction movement control unit (18a) and the Y-direction movement control unit (19a) move the distance calculated by the CPU (10) each time the X-direction movement command and the Y-direction movement command are received from the alignment unit (20). Therefore, the X-direction moving mechanism (18) and the Y-direction moving mechanism (19) are controlled.

The lifting mechanism (16) is X / Y with respect to the base (13).
This mechanism is fixed to the upper side of the stage (15) whose movement is controlled in the direction, and moves up and down in a direction orthogonal to the base (13).

The elevating mechanism (16) is driven by the elevating controller (16a), and each time the alignment end command signal is received,
It is configured to move up and down (fall → rise) by the value calculated by the CPU (10).

The circumferential rotation mechanism (17) is a mechanism which is fixed to the upper side of the elevating mechanism (17) and rotates circumferentially along a plane parallel to the surface of the base (13).

The circumferential rotation mechanism (17) is driven by the circumferential rotation control section (17a) and receives the alignment end command signal each time
It is configured to rotate around with a value calculated by the CPU (10).

The mounting body (3) is fixed to the tip of the peripheral rotation mechanism (17) and is rotatably provided by driving the peripheral rotation mechanism (17).

The mounting surface (3a) is configured to be parallel to the base (13) of the device (8). Therefore, the above placement surface (3a)
Are formed so as to be orthogonal to the gaze line (6). Further, although not shown, suction holes are provided at the periphery of the placing surface (3a) so that the LCD (2) can be sucked.

A milky white transparent body (21), such as frosted glass, is laid flat on the mounting surface (3a) of the mounting body (3) without a step from the mounting surface (3a).

In the hollow part (3b) below the transparent body (21) on which the placing body (3) is laid, an illuminating body (3c), for example, two linear fluorescent lamps wired for uniform illumination are provided. It has been set up. Of course, an annular fluorescent lamp may be provided.

Therefore, it was placed on the placing surface (3a) of the placing body (3) described above.
In the LCD (2), the light beam (22) emitted from the fluorescent lamp of the illuminator (3c) is applied to the polarizing plate (2h) and the color filter layer (2e) of the LCD (2).

This irradiated light (22) is reflected by the pixel electrode (2) of the LCD (2).
When the applied voltage is applied to d), the upper substrate (2d) becomes transparent,
Reach the inspection surface (2a).

If the voltage applied to the pixel electrode (2d) is not applied, the upper substrate (2d) is opaque, so that the light beam (22) cannot be transmitted. In this way, R (red), G (green),
Since B (blue) is formed in one pixel, a desired color can be displayed by arbitrary selection and combination.

Next, the inspection apparatus (8) was mounted on the terminal plate (7) which was detachably provided on the head plate and on the mounting surface (3a).
The alignment with the LCD electrode (2b) will be described.

This alignment is described in JP-A-60-245134. In this publication, the alignment of the wafer is performed, but this is the alignment of the LCD (2), which will be schematically described with reference to FIG.

First, the LCD (2) is moved to the alignment section (20), and then the beam spot light (24) using a cylindrical lens (described in JP-A-60-245134) is deformed into an elliptical shape. Irradiate near both ends of the LCD (2).

The illuminated LCD (2) moves in the Y direction, for example, a distance from y ₀ to y _{2 as} the mounting body (3) moves.
Therefore, the locus of the spot light is the electrode (2
b) and move from y ₀ to y ₂ so that it passes over the surface of the target point (23).

By this movement, the light intensity distribution in the scattered state of the spot light (24) can be read.

In this way, the light intensity distribution at the left end of the LCD (2) is represented as shown in FIG. 4 (a). Similarly, the light intensity distribution at the right end is shown in FIG. 4 (b).

Comparing the intensity distributions at both ends, it is detected that the moving distance, for example, the distance from y ₀ to y ₂ is the same, but the distance at the position of the target point (23), for example, y ₃ −y ₁ distance is different. . This is the shift amount. The amount of this deviation can be moved to a predetermined position by driving the drive unit of the mounting means (14) in the X direction, the Y direction, the circumferential rotation direction, and the like.

The above description is described in detail in JP-A-60-245134, so only a part of the description will be given.

 Next, the operation will be described.

Although not shown, the LCD (2)
After being transferred to and from the mounting surface (3a), the bottom surface of the LCD (2) is sucked and fixed by the suction holes on the mounting surface (3a).

The LCD (2) fixed by suction moves to a predetermined alignment section (20) according to a pre-stored program as shown in FIG.

That is, the center of the mounting surface (P _{1 referred to as a} preliminary base point) is moved so as to overlap the alignment section (20). The shift amount (Δt) of the LCD (2) from this preliminary base point P ₁ is calculated.
This calculation is performed by alignment. Since this alignment has been described above, it is omitted here.

After the completion of this alignment, the stage (15) and the peripheral rotation mechanism (17) are driven based on the result calculated by the CPU (10) to set the base point position (p ₂ ) of the LCD (2). The position of the terminal electrode (7) is adjusted based on this base point position (p ₂ ).

After that, the elevating mechanism (16) is driven by the elevating controller (16a) to bring the electrode (2b) of the LCD (2) into contact with the terminal electrode (7) on the head plate side.

After this contact is completed, the CPU (10) sends an applied voltage signal to the voltage signal control unit (9).

The voltage signal control unit (9) controls the voltage signal according to a program stored in advance to apply a voltage to each electrode. Color display is performed on the inspection surface (2a) of each pixel surface to which this voltage is applied.

A physical phenomenon displayed in color on the inspection surface (2a) can be visually observed by the gaze line orthogonal to the inspection surface (2a). In this way, the color display on the surface of the LCD (2) is visually observed by the gaze lines intersecting at right angles. Therefore, the color of the Kafu filter layer (2e) does not cause the phenomenon of additive mixing by the adjacent pixels, so that an accurate color display can be inspected.

〔The invention's effect〕

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the display state of a liquid crystal display body can be accurately and reliably visually inspected, and also at the time of visual inspection, a liquid crystal display body is automatically mounted on a mounting body, taken out from a mounting body, and moved to an inspection position. It is possible to provide an inspection device for a liquid crystal display that can be automatically aligned.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is an overall block diagram for explaining an embodiment of the inspection apparatus of the present invention with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view seen from the side for explaining the mounting means of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view for explaining the relationship between the mount structure of FIG. 1 and the LCD structure. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the alignment of the LCD in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the gaze angle of the conventional visual inspection apparatus with respect to the LCD. 1 ... Conventional visual inspection device, 2 ... Liquid crystal display (LCD) 2a ... Inspection surface, 2b ... Pixel electrode (electrode) 2c, 2h ... Polarizing plate, 2b ... Upper substrate 2e ... Color filter layer 3 ... Mounting body 3a ... Mounting surface, 3b ... Hollow part 3c ... Illuminator, 4 ... Visual position 13 ... Base, 14 ... Mounting means 15 ... Stage, 20 ... Alignment part 21 …… Transparent plate, 22 …… Ray 23 …… Target point 24 …… Spot light

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mounting body for mounting a liquid crystal display body vertically arranged on an inclined base and transported by a transport means on a mounting surface parallel to the surface of the base, and the mounting body. Driving means for reciprocally driving the mounting body in the X, Y, Z, and θ directions on the base, control means for driving and controlling the driving means, and a plurality of liquid crystal display bodies on the mounting base by the control means. A voltage application terminal electrode in which the electrodes are in electrical contact with each other, and a central processing unit that transmits a command to selectively apply a voltage to each electrode of the liquid crystal display through the voltage application terminal electrode, An illuminating body which illuminates the liquid crystal display body to which a voltage is applied under the command of the central processing means, from the back surface thereof, and the above-mentioned mounting surface forms an inclined surface orthogonal to the gaze line. A device for inspecting a liquid crystal display, characterized by: