JPH08273535A - Method for forming electrode in gas-discharge display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable formation of fine electrodes and to machine electrodes stably and accurately even in large panels. CONSTITUTION: A conductive paste composed chiefly of silver is thickly applied to the upper side of a substrate 2 to form a conductive paste 22, over which a patterned layer of a photosensitive resin 23 is then formed and used as a mask in etching the conductive film 22 with a chemical containing hydrogen peroxide water, after which the patterned photosensitive resin 23 is peeled. Since formation of the film is effected using thick-film printing method and photolithography is employed in the patterning, electrodes can be machined accurately and stably even in large panels.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for forming electrodes arranged on two substrates constituting a gas discharge display panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Gas discharge display panels are roughly classified into AC type and DC type. For example, FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an AC type gas discharge display panel. As shown in FIG. 1, two glass substrates 1 and 2 are arranged in parallel and opposite to each other. , Both are held at a constant interval by a barrier rib 3 provided therebetween. A plurality of X electrodes 4 parallel to each other are pattern-formed on the back surface side of the glass substrate 1 serving as a front plate, a dielectric layer 5 is formed thereon, and a black matrix 6 is pattern-formed on the dielectric layer 5. The active layer 7 is formed on top.
In addition, a Y electrode 8 is provided on the front side of the glass substrate 2 which serves as a back plate.
Patterned, on which the dielectric layer 9 and the active layer 10 are formed.
The barrier rib 3 is provided on the active layer 10.
And the phosphor 11 is provided on the wall surface of the barrier rib 3.

The one shown in FIG. 1 is of an opposed discharge type, in which an AC voltage is applied between the X electrode 4 on the front plate and the Y electrode 8 on the rear plate to form an electric field, so that discharge occurs in the cell. Is a structure for generating. In this case, since the alternating current is applied, the direction of the electric field changes according to the frequency. The ultraviolet rays generated by this discharge cause the phosphor 11 to emit light, and the observer visually recognizes the light transmitted through the front plate.

[0004]

As a method of forming an electrode group in a gas discharge display panel as described above, a paste containing gold or nickel as a main component is formed into an electrode pattern by a thick film printing method typified by a screen printing method. Conventionally, a method of patterning has been adopted. However, according to this method, although there is an advantage that the electrode can be formed relatively easily, there is a disadvantage that the dimensions and thickness of the electrode vary due to manufacturing precision, and particularly when the panel is large, It was very difficult to form the electrode as designed due to the distortion of the screen plate. Further, it was difficult to form a fine electrode having a line width of 100 μm or less due to the size of the mesh of the screen plate and the processing accuracy of the dairy material.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable the formation of fine electrodes and to stably and accurately even a large panel. An electrode forming method that can be processed is provided.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides at least one of a gas discharge display panel in which a plurality of electrode groups are arranged on opposite plate surfaces of two substrates. A method of forming an electrode group arranged on the plate surface of a substrate, comprising the steps of: (1) applying a conductive paste as a thick film to at least a portion corresponding to a panel display portion on the substrate, and then forming the conductive paste. The first step of forming a conductive film by drying and baking. (2) A second step of forming a photosensitive resin layer patterned into an electrode pattern on the conductive film. (3) A third step of chemically etching the conductive film using the patterned photosensitive resin as a mask. (4) A fourth step of peeling the patterned photosensitive resin. In the method for forming an electrode including at least the steps of, a paste containing silver as a main component is used as the conductive paste, and a chemical solution containing hydrogen peroxide is used as an etching solution for the conductive film. It is a thing.

The present applicant has previously filed an application for a similar electrode forming method as Japanese Patent Application No. 6-26026. The method for forming an electrode according to the present invention is similar to the method disclosed in the previous application, in which the thin film forming step is performed by a thick film forming method suitable for mass production, and the electrode pattern is formed by using a photosensitive resin suitable for high-definition processing. By using it, it is possible to improve the dimensional accuracy, increase the area, and mass-produce at the same time. However, in the previous application, when a paste containing silver as a main component is used as the conductive paste, an aqueous solution of nitric acid or ferric nitrate having a weight ratio of 25% or more is used as the etching solution for the conductive film. However, if these etching solutions are used individually, etching defects are likely to occur,
Since there is a problem that a short circuit phenomenon frequently occurs between the adjacent electrodes, in the present invention, by using a chemical solution containing hydrogen peroxide as an etching solution, the processing accuracy of the electrode is improved by using this etching solution alone. Then, stable electrode formation became possible.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the gas discharge display panel according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this gas discharge display panel includes a front plate having an X electrode 4, a dielectric layer 5, a black matrix 6, and an active layer 7 on a substrate 1 in this order.
A Y electrode 8, a dielectric layer 9, an active layer 10 and a barrier rib 3 are provided in this order on a substrate 2, and a rear plate having a phosphor 11 on the side surface of the barrier rib 3 is provided. A spacer 12 that defines a gap between the front plate and the back plate is provided between the barrier rib 6 of the back plate and the barrier rib 3 of the back plate.

Comparing the panel of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure with the panel described in the prior art, the spacer 12
Although the presence or absence of each element is different, each panel constituent element has the same function as the panel of the prior art, and the operation is also the same, so the description thereof will be omitted. The process diagram shown in FIG. I will explain along.

The substrate on which the electrodes are formed may be either a front plate or a rear plate, but here, for the sake of convenience, the case where the electrodes are formed on the plate surface of the substrate 2 serving as the rear plate will be described. The substrate 2 may be a flat or curved surface and is chemically stable, and a glass substrate, a ceramics substrate, a resin substrate, or the like can be used. In this example, a glass substrate was used, and cleaning and annealing treatments were performed before use. Also,
For the purpose of improving the printing quality, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), a substrate 2 was used in which a low-melting glass paste was applied as a base layer 21 on a glass substrate by a screen printing method, dried, and then baked.

First, a conductive paste is thick-film printed on at least a portion corresponding to a panel display portion on the substrate 2 by a screen printing method, and after the paste is dried, the paste is baked to form a paste as shown in FIG. 3 (b). A conductive film 22 is formed on the substrate (the base layer 21 is not shown in FIG. 3B and subsequent figures). The conductive film 22 is patterned into a Y electrode 8 by an etching process in a later step. A paste containing silver as a main component was used as the conductive paste. The conductive paste was dried at 170 ° C. for 30 minutes, and the conductive paste was baked at 580 ° C. for 8 minutes to form the conductive film 22 having a thickness of about 5 μm. The film thickness can be adjusted by adjusting the viscosity of the conductive paste, and the film thickness of the conductive film 22 increases in proportion to the viscosity of the conductive paste. In addition, the steps of thick film printing and drying of the conductive paste are repeated several times to make the conductive film 2
The film thickness of 2 may be increased, and in this case, the film thickness increases in proportion to the number of times of printing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the conductive film 2
Liquid photosensitive resin 23 was applied onto 2 and dried. Here, the photosensitive resin 23 does not need to be liquid, and a film resist can be used. In this case,
The film resist may be directly attached onto the conductive film 22 using a laminator.

After that, as shown in FIG. 3D, the photosensitive resin 23 was exposed through a light-shielding mask 24 on which a pattern of at least a part of the Y electrode 8 was arranged.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3E, pattern development of the layer of the photosensitive resin 23 was performed. Then, after completing the developing process, the photosensitive resin 23 was cured by heat treatment. As a result of this curing treatment, the conductive film 22 and the photosensitive resin 2
Adhesiveness with 3 is increased, and it is possible to prevent defective etching that occurs during the etching process in the subsequent step. This heat treatment is not always necessary depending on the photosensitive resin and may be omitted.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3 (f), the conductive film 2 is formed by using the patterned photosensitive resin 23 as a mask.
2 was chemically etched to form a Y electrode 8 having a line width of 80 μm. In this embodiment, as the etching solution, a chemical solution obtained by diluting a hydrogen peroxide solution having a weight ratio of 30% to 6% and adding a stabilizer (Agrip 940, manufactured by Meltex Co.) is used, and etching is performed by a spray method. I went.
In this etching solution, silver is oxidized and dissolved into ions. In addition, as hydrogen peroxide water, the weight ratio is 3%, 30%
And 35% are commercially available, but they may be appropriately diluted in consideration of the etching time. Where the weight ratio is 25
% Or more of nitric acid or ferric nitrate aqueous solution is used, if the electrodes are processed with these etching solutions, the edges are difficult to be etched linearly, and partially protruding shape defects occur, causing a gap between adjacent electrodes. A short circuit phenomenon frequently occurred. The reason for this is that the inorganic binder contained in the underlayer 21 and the conductive film 22, that is, the lead oxide component in the frit glass, is attacked by the nitric acid-based etching solution. On the other hand, when the above chemical containing hydrogen peroxide is used as the etching solution, such a phenomenon does not occur. Therefore, etching defects are unlikely to occur, and high-precision electrode processing can be stably performed. The etching method may be either a substrate dipping method or a spray method, but the spray method is preferable in view of uniform workability and productivity on the surface of the substrate.

After etching the conductive film 22, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (g), the photosensitive resin 23 is peeled off, and the substrate 2
By washing and drying the whole, the Y electrode 8 processed into a predetermined pattern was formed.

The following steps are the same as those in the prior art and will be described briefly. First, the dielectric layer 9 is formed so as to cover the Y electrode 8. For example, a dielectric paste containing a low melting point glass paste as a main component is applied by a screen printing method, and the paste is dried and baked to perform the dielectric. Form the layer 9. Next, the active layer 10 is formed on the dielectric layer 9. For example, MgO is used as the material of the active layer 10,
The active layer 10 is formed by forming a film by a vapor deposition method or the like. Subsequently, the barrier rib 3 is formed on the active layer 10. For example, the low melting glass paste is overprinted by a screen printing method to form the barrier rib 3. Then, the phosphor 11 is formed on the wall surface of the barrier rib 3,
For example, in the case of a color display panel, the phosphor 11 is formed by filling the gaps of the barrier ribs 3 with red (R), green (G), and blue (B) by screen printing, drying and firing.

On the other hand, the X electrode 4 is patterned on the substrate 1 to be the front plate, and the dielectric layer 5 is formed so as to cover it. The X electrode 4 may be formed by a screen printing method as in the conventional technique, but it is effective to form it by the method of the present invention. The material and forming method of the dielectric layer 5 are the same as those of the dielectric layer 9 described above. Further, the black matrix 6 is formed on the dielectric layer 9 so as to be orthogonal to the X electrodes 4. The black matrix 6 is formed so as to correspond to the barrier ribs 3 on the back plate. As the material of the black matrix 6, a metal film such as Cr or the paste used for the barrier rib 3 may be used. Further, the active layer 7 is formed so as to cover the black matrix 6, and the material and the forming method are the active layer 10.
The same as

The back plate and the front plate formed as described above are attached to each other and filled with gas to complete a gas discharge display panel.

In the embodiments described above, one example of the constitution of the AC type gas discharge display panel is taken up and the process of the electrode processing method is explained as the method of forming the Y electrode arranged on the back plate thereof. It is also applicable as a method of forming the X electrodes arranged on the front plate. Further, even in the AC type gas discharge display panel having a structure different from that of the above-mentioned embodiment,
It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the electrode processing. For example, a pair of electrode groups (X electrodes and Y electrodes) arranged in parallel for display are formed on either the front plate or the back plate, and these electrode groups are not provided on the substrate. Even in the structure in which the address electrode is arranged so as to be orthogonal to the electrode group, either one or both of the electrode group and the address electrode may be formed by the method of the present invention. Further, in the gas discharge display panel provided with the trigger electrode for starting the discharge, the electrode forming method of the present invention can be applied as the method of forming the trigger electrode. Further, even in the case of a DC type gas discharge display panel, either the anode or the cathode or both of them may be formed by the method of the present invention.

Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a gas discharge display panel having a structure utilizing phosphor light emission, but also to a panel for taking out the emission color of a gas discharge using a Ne-based gas as a discharge gas as it is. .

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By performing the thin film forming process with a thick film forming method suitable for mass production and using a photosensitive resin suitable for high-definition processing for pattern formation, it is possible to improve dimensional accuracy, increase the area, and mass produce at the same time. Moreover, by using a paste mainly composed of silver as the conductive paste and using a chemical solution containing hydrogen peroxide solution as the etching solution for the conductive film, the accuracy of electrode processing can be improved by using this etching solution alone. The improved and stable electrode formation becomes possible, and even a large panel can be processed accurately and stably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a structure of an example of a conventional gas discharge display panel.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a structure of a gas discharge display panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process drawing showing an example of a method for forming an electrode according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Substrate 2 Substrate 3 Barrier Rib 4 X Electrode 5 Dielectric Layer 6 Black Matrix 7 Active Layer 8 Y Electrode 9 Dielectric Layer 10 Active Layer 11 Phosphor 12 Spacer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming an electrode group arranged on the plate surface of at least one substrate in a gas discharge display panel, wherein a plurality of electrode groups are arranged on opposite plate surfaces of two substrates. (1) A first step of forming a conductive film by applying a conductive paste as a thick film on at least a portion corresponding to a panel display portion on a substrate and then drying and baking the conductive paste. (2) A second step of forming a photosensitive resin layer patterned into an electrode pattern on the conductive film. (3) A third step of chemically etching the conductive film using the patterned photosensitive resin as a mask. (4) A fourth step of peeling the patterned photosensitive resin. In the method for forming an electrode including at least the steps of, a paste containing silver as a main component is used as the conductive paste, and a chemical solution containing hydrogen peroxide is used as an etching solution for the conductive film. Method of forming electrodes in gas discharge display panel.