JPH08304806A - Production of plasma address display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To surely execute the space sepn. of discharge channels formed in plasma cells. CONSTITUTION: Striped discharge electrodes 5 are first formed on a lower substrate 4 in a row direction by executing an electrode stage in order to produce a plasma address display panel. Next, this lower substrate 4 is screen printed wet on wet with insulatable paste repetitively by executing a printing stage, then baking the paste to form striped partitions 6 having a specified height in parallel with the discharge electrodes 5. The lacking points 12 occurring at the top parts of the partitions 6 are then embedded with a correcting material 108 from below to above by executing a restoration stage in the state of turning over the lower substrate 4. In succession, a joining stage is executed to arrange an intermediate substrate 3 in contact with the peak parts of the partitions 6 and to join this substrate to the lower substrate 4. Finally, an upper substrate 8 previously formed with striped signal electrodes 11 along a column direction is arranged on the intermediate substrate 3 and both substrates are joined via a prescribed spacing by executing an assembling stage. Further, liquid crystals 10 are filled in this spacing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a plasma addressed display panel having a flat structure in which a display cell and a plasma cell are stacked. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for repairing a defect in a partition wall for separating discharge channels formed in a plasma cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plasma addressed display panel utilizing a plasma cell for addressing a display cell is known, and is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 265931/1992. As shown in FIG. 6, the plasma addressed display panel has a flat structure in which a display cell 201, a plasma cell 202, and an intermediate substrate 203 made of thin glass or the like interposed therebetween are laminated. The display cell 201 is assembled using an upper substrate 204 made of glass or the like, and a plurality of signal electrodes 20 made of a transparent conductive film are formed on the inner main surface of the display cell 201.
5 are formed parallel to each other along the column direction. The upper substrate 204 is adhered to the intermediate substrate 203 via a spacer 206 with a predetermined gap. Liquid crystal 20 in the gap
An electro-optical material consisting of 7 etc. is encapsulated and filled. On the other hand, the plasma cell 202 is a lower substrate 208 made of glass or the like.
It is assembled using. Discharge electrodes 209 that extend in the row direction orthogonal to the signal electrodes 205 are formed on the inner main surface of the lower substrate 208. The discharge electrode 209 alternately serves as an anode and a cathode to generate plasma discharge. A partition 210 is formed along the discharge electrode 209 by screen printing or the like so as to partially overlap with the discharge electrode 209. The top of the partition wall 210 is in contact with the intermediate substrate 203 and serves as a spacer. The lower substrate 208 is bonded to the intermediate substrate 203 by using a sealing material 211 made of glass frit or the like. A hermetically sealed space is formed between the two. This space is divided by barrier ribs 210, and each discharge channel 212 is formed. An ionizable gas is enclosed in the airtight space. The gas species can be selected from, for example, helium, neon, argon or a mixed gas thereof.

[0003]

In the conventional plasma addressed display panel shown in FIG. 6, a partition wall 210 is provided for each channel in order to form a discharge channel 212 for performing vertical scanning in the row direction. The barrier ribs 210 have a role of preventing leakage of plasma gas between the adjacent discharge channels 212 and a space required for plasma discharge. The partition wall 210 is formed by a screen printing method, and is repeatedly printed several times to several tens times using a screen having a striped pattern, and the printed patterns are gradually stacked in the height direction. Follow the process. However, when the screen is clogged during the repeated printing process, the paste is not transferred to the screen in the subsequent process, and the stacked barrier ribs 210 finally have a defect portion 213 having a groove-like shape at the top. Remain. Defect 2
If 13 exists, charged particles leak between adjacent discharge channels 212 in the vicinity thereof, so when the panel is assembled and an image is displayed, the data written in the previous line is canceled when the next line is discharged. I will end up. When displaying black on the entire panel in the normally white mode, there is a problem in that only the vicinity of the defective portion 213 is displayed in white, and bright spot defects occur frequently to prevent normal image display.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to realize a simple and reliable method for repairing a defective portion appearing on the top of a partition wall. The following measures have been taken in order to achieve this object. That is, according to the present invention, the plasma addressed display panel is manufactured by the following steps. First, an electrode process is performed to form stripe-shaped discharge electrodes on the lower substrate along the row direction. Next, a printing process is performed, and insulating paste is repeatedly layered on the lower substrate, screen-printed, and then fired to form stripe-shaped barrier ribs having a certain height in parallel with the discharge electrodes. Subsequently, a repair process is performed as a feature of the present invention,
In a state where the lower substrate is turned upside down, a defect portion formed on the top of the partition wall is filled with a correction material from below to above. Then, a bonding step is performed to bring the intermediate substrate into contact with the tops of the respective partition walls and bond it to the lower substrate. Finally, an assembling process is performed, the upper substrate on which stripe-shaped signal electrodes are formed in advance along the column direction is arranged on the intermediate substrate, and both substrates are bonded with a predetermined gap, Fill the electro-optic material. Specifically, in the repairing step, a paste-like or liquid correcting material is individually supplied to the defective portion via a thin tube. In another specific example, after the lower substrate is turned upside down in the repairing step, the top of each partition is immersed in a paste-like or liquid correcting material stored in a container.

[0005]

In the present invention, the lower substrate on which the partition wall is printed is turned upside down, and the correction material is poured into the defective portion from below using a device such as a thin nozzle. This correction material can be the same material as the paste used for printing the partition wall. By turning the substrate over, the correction material that has flown in will only drip toward the top of the partition even if the viscosity is low, so it will drip from the top of the partition and adversely affect the discharge electrode on the substrate surface as in the past. Things like that will disappear. In addition, since the viscosity of the correction material can be lowered to the extent that it does not drip from the top of the partition wall, it can be poured into the defective part of the partition wall top using surface tension etc., and the viscosity management becomes easy. .

On the other hand, it is possible to repair the defective portion with the top of the partition wall facing upward without turning the substrate over. When repairing a defect in the same posture,
The pasty or liquid correction material must have a certain degree of viscosity. This is because the correction material may drip during or after the repair. If the correction material drips downward, it will cover the discharge electrode directly below it,
Prevents stable plasma discharge. On the contrary, when the correction material has a high viscosity, it cannot be poured well into the defect portion to be repaired. Therefore, it is necessary to control the viscosity of the correction material with strict control. However, it is practically difficult to control the viscosity of the correction fluid containing a volatile component. Further, when repairing using a thin nozzle or the like, if the viscosity management of the correction material is insufficient, the amount of the correction material to be supplied will vary.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is a schematic sectional view showing a completed state of a plasma addressed display panel manufactured according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, this panel is assembled in a flat structure including a display cell 1, a plasma cell 2 and a common intermediate substrate 3 interposed therebetween.
The plasma cell 2 is assembled by using a lower substrate 4 made of glass or the like bonded to an intermediate substrate 3 made of thin glass or the like, and an ionizable gas is sealed in the voids of both substrates 3, 4. Striped discharge electrodes 5 are formed on the inner surface of the lower substrate 4. Since the discharge electrode 5 can be printed and baked on the flat substrate 4 by a screen printing method or the like, it is excellent in productivity and workability and can be miniaturized. A partition wall 6 is formed on the discharge electrode 5 to divide a space filled with an ionizable gas to form a discharge channel. This partition wall 6 can also be formed by repeated overprinting using the screen printing method, and the top portion thereof is in contact with the lower surface side of the intermediate substrate 3. Although the barrier ribs 6 are formed on the discharge electrodes 5 in this example, the present invention is not limited to this. The partition wall 6 may be formed directly on the substrate 4. The striped discharge electrodes 5 alternately function as an anode and a cathode, and generate a plasma discharge between them. The intermediate substrate 3 and the lower substrate 4 are joined to each other by a sealing material 7 such as glass frit.

On the other hand, the display cell 1 is assembled using an upper substrate 8 made of transparent glass or the like. The upper substrate 8 is adhered to the intermediate substrate 3 with a spacer 9 or the like via a predetermined gap, and the gap is filled with an electro-optical substance such as liquid crystal 10. A signal electrode 11 is formed on the inner surface of the upper substrate 8. The signal electrode 11 is orthogonal to the stripe-shaped discharge electrode 5. Matrix-shaped pixels are defined at the intersections of the signal electrodes 11 and the discharge channels.

In the plasma addressed display panel having such a configuration, the row-shaped discharge channels for plasma discharge are line-sequentially switched and scanned, and in synchronization with this scanning, the image signal is supplied to the column-shaped signal electrodes 11 on the display cell 1 side. The display drive is performed by applying. When plasma discharge is generated in the discharge channel, the inside becomes substantially uniformly at the anode potential and pixel selection is performed for each row. That is, the discharge channel functions as a sampling switch. When an image signal is applied to each pixel while the plasma sampling switch is on, sampling is performed and it is possible to control lighting or extinction of the pixel. When the plasma sampling switch is turned off, the image signal is held in the pixel as it is.

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a plasma addressed display panel manufacturing method according to the present invention will be described. First, an electrode process is performed to form striped discharge electrodes 5 on the lower substrate 4 along the row direction. Next, a printing process is performed, and insulating paste is repeatedly overlaid on the lower substrate 4, screen-printed, and then fired to form stripe-shaped barrier ribs 6 having a constant height in parallel with the discharge electrodes 5. In this case, there may be a structure in which the barrier rib 6 overlaps the discharge electrode 5 and a structure in which it does not overlap. Subsequently, as shown in (B), a repairing step is performed, and the defect portion 12 formed on the top of the partition wall 6 is filled with the correction material 108 from the lower side to the upper side while the lower substrate 4 is turned upside down. As the material of the correction material 108, the same material as the paste used for printing the partition wall 6 or the sealing material 7 used for joining the intermediate substrate 3 and the lower substrate 4 can be adopted. Here, the lower substrate 4 on which the partition wall 6 is printed is turned upside down, and the correction material 108 is poured into the defective portion 12 from below using the thin tube 107. By turning the lower substrate 4 over, the correction material 108 that has flowed in only flows horizontally along the top of the partition wall 6 even if the viscosity is low, so there is no problem of conventional correction material dripping. .
Further, since the correction material 108 can be made to have a low viscosity to the extent that it does not drip from the top of the partition wall 6, it can be sufficiently poured into the defective portion 12 and its viscosity management becomes easy. After that, referring again to (A), the intermediate substrate 3 is placed in contact with the top of the partition wall 6 and bonded to the lower substrate 4 using the sealing material 7. At this time, the defective portion 12 is filled with the correction material 108, and is solidified simultaneously with the sintering of the sealing material 7.
In this way, the separation of adjacent discharge channels is complete. Finally, the upper substrate 8 on which stripe-shaped signal electrodes 11 are formed in advance along the column direction is arranged on the intermediate substrate 3, and the both substrates 8 and 3 are bonded to each other by a spacer 9 or the like with a predetermined gap. To do. Furthermore, the liquid crystal 1 is placed in this gap.
The electro-optical material such as 0 is satisfied.

Next, each step of the partition wall forming method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Figure 2
[Fig. 3] is a schematic diagram showing a printing process. As shown in the drawing, the lower substrate 4 to be printed is placed on a jig (not shown) with the surface thereof facing upward. Next, the printing screen 102 having a striped pattern is set facing the surface of the substrate 4 from above. Then, the squeegee 104 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the printing screen 102, the lower surface of the printing screen 102 is brought into contact with the surface of the substrate 4, and stripe patterns of the paste 103 are repeatedly overlapped and transferred onto the surface of the substrate 4. Thereafter, the substrate 4 is subjected to heat treatment to burn the transferred stripe pattern 105 of the paste to form partition walls.

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial perspective view showing the shape of the partition wall 6 thus formed. When the screen 102 is clogged during the repeated printing process due to the presence of foreign matter such as dust or abnormally large particles in the paste, the paste 103 cannot be inserted into the clogged portion after that and is piled up. Finally, the partition wall 6 has a groove-shaped defect 12 left on its top.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing the repair process. In this example, after the lower substrate 4 is turned upside down, the tops of the respective partition walls 6 are simultaneously immersed in the paste-like or liquid correcting material stored in the container 109. Immersion amount is 1 defect
Although it depends on the size of 2, the liquid level of the correction material is controlled so as not to reach the surface of the lower substrate 4. In this example, it is no longer necessary to inspect and individually repair the defective portion 12,
A repair process by batch processing becomes possible.

FIG. 5 shows the rear partition wall 6 after the above-mentioned repair process.
It shows a state in which the intermediate substrate 3 is joined to the lower substrate 4 by abutting on the top of the substrate. When the defective portion 12 is repaired by batch processing, the repair material 1 is applied to the entire top of the partition wall 6.
08 remains. When the lower substrate 4 and the intermediate substrate 3 are joined by the sealing material 7 by the heat treatment in this state, the correction material 108 is also solidified at the same time, and the top portion of the partition wall 6 and the lower surface of the intermediate substrate 3 are in close contact with each other, so that the reliability is higher. Become.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a substrate having a defect in the partition wall is turned over and a repair process is performed, so that the repair material can be easily removed without considering the dripping of the repair material. It is possible to repair the defective part. This widens the allowable range of the viscosity of the correction material, facilitates its management, and facilitates control of the amount of the correction material required for restoration. As a result, the efficiency of repairing the defective portion can be improved, and as a result, the manufacturing yield of the plasma addressed display panel can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a completed state of a plasma addressed display panel manufactured according to the present invention and an explanatory view showing an example of a repair process.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a partition wall printing process.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the shape of a defective portion left on the top of the partition wall.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a repair process.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the shape of a plasma cell assembled after the repair process.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional plasma addressed display panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Display Cell 2 Plasma Cell 3 Intermediate Substrate 4 Lower Substrate 5 Discharge Electrode 6 Partition 8 Upper Substrate 10 Liquid Crystal 11 Signal Electrode 12 Defective Part 108 Repair Material

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electrode step of forming striped discharge electrodes along a row direction on a lower substrate, and an insulating paste is repeatedly laid on the lower substrate, screen-printed, and then fired to a predetermined height. A printing step of forming striped barrier ribs parallel to the discharge electrodes, and a repairing step of filling a defect portion formed at the top of the barrier ribs with a repairing material from below to above with the lower substrate turned over, A joining step of placing an intermediate substrate in contact with the top of each partition wall and joining it to the lower substrate, and an upper substrate on which stripe-shaped signal electrodes are formed in advance along the column direction are placed on the intermediate substrate. A method of manufacturing a plasma addressed display panel, which comprises a step of bonding both substrates via a predetermined gap, and an assembly step of filling the gap with an electro-optical material. 2. The method of manufacturing a plasma addressed display panel according to claim 1, wherein in the repairing step, a paste-like or liquid modifying material is individually supplied to the defective portion via a thin tube. 3. The plasma addressed display panel according to claim 1, wherein in the repairing step, after the lower substrate is turned upside down, the tops of the respective partition walls are immersed in a paste-like or liquid modifying material stored in a container. Production method.