JPH0843809A - Production of liquid crystal element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a process for production of a liquid crystal element capable of forming org. high-polymer film patterns which do not disconnect electrodes. CONSTITUTION:A mask 22 is arranged via a gap 21 on an org. high-polymer film 13 on a substrate 11b and the exposure is executed by masking the unnecessary parts on the periphery of the org. high-polymer film 13. In succession, the development is executed by immersing and stopping the surface of the org. high-polymer film 13 by a developer. The shower mists 23 of the developer are thereafter applied on the org. high-polymer film 13 from above the film, by which the unexposed parts of the org. high-polymer film 13 are dissolved away. As a result, the org. high-polymer film patterns 13p formed to a slope shape at the ends 13p' of the patterns are formed. The ends 13p' of the patterns are formed to the slope shape in such a manner, by which the electrodes are formed in the state along the slopes of the ends 13p' of the patterns even if the electrodes are patterned to bestride the ends 13p' of the patterns and, therefore, the disconnection of the electrodes does not arise any more.

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 liquid crystal element used for a display panel or the like, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal element characterized by a method of forming an organic polymer film pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a structure of a general liquid crystal element.

In the figure, 11a and 11b are a pair of transparent substrates, 12 is a light-shielding layer or color filter formed on the transparent substrate 11b, and 13 is an organic layer formed on the light-shielding layer or color filter 12 to the transparent substrate 11b. Polymer films, 14a and 14b are transparent electrodes formed on the transparent substrate 11a and the organic polymer film 13, respectively, 15a and 15b are insulating films formed on the transparent electrodes 14a and 14b, etc., 16a and 16
b is an organic polymer alignment film formed on the insulating films 15a and 15b, 17 is a liquid crystal arranged between the organic polymer alignment films 16a and 16b, and 18 is a support between the organic polymer alignment films 16a and 16b. The spacer 19 is a sealing material for sealing the liquid crystal 17.

Generally, such a liquid crystal element is manufactured by the following series of steps.

That is, first, a pair of transparent substrates 14a and 14b.
A light-shielding layer or color filter 12 is formed on each of them, and an organic polymer film 13 and transparent electrodes 14a and 14b, respectively, are patterned as necessary, and insulating films 15a and 15b are formed thereon. And alignment film 16
a and 16b are sequentially formed. And each obtained substrate 1
The alignment films 16a and 16b of 4a and 14b are respectively subjected to alignment treatment, and then they are arranged so as to face each other via a spacer 18, and a liquid crystal 17 is filled therebetween. This completes the liquid crystal element.

In the conventional manufacturing method, as a method of forming a pattern of an organic polymer film, a solution containing an organic polymer or a precursor thereof is applied in a required region by flexographic printing and then heat-treated to form the pattern. . Alternatively, after applying a solution containing a photosensitive organic polymer or its precursor on the entire surface with a spinner, etc., mask unnecessary areas and irradiate ultraviolet rays only in the necessary areas, and perform wet development to remove unnecessary areas. And heat treated to form.

[0007]

However, in the method for forming an organic polymer film pattern in the conventional manufacturing method as described above, since the end portions of the pattern are formed almost vertically, the vertical pattern end portions are not formed. When the electrodes are patterned so as to straddle, there is a problem that the electrodes are easily broken.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device capable of forming an organic polymer film pattern without breaking the electrodes. To aim.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, in the manufacturing method according to the present invention, a photosensitive organic polymer film is formed in a predetermined region on a substrate, and then the photosensitive organic polymer film is formed. The film is exposed by arranging a mask through a predetermined gap, and subsequently, the surface of the exposed photosensitive organic polymer film is immersed and allowed to stand by a developing solution to develop the film. The exposed portion or unexposed portion of the photosensitive organic polymer film is dissolved and removed by a shower mist of a developing solution to obtain an organic polymer film pattern having a sloped end.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned manufacturing method, since the end portion of the organic polymer film pattern has a sloped shape, even when the electrode is patterned so as to straddle the end portion of the pattern, the electrode has a sloped surface at the end portion of the pattern. It is formed in a state of conforming to, so that disconnection does not occur.

[0011]

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

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a method of forming an organic polymer film pattern in a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention, where (a) is a state before pattern formation and (b) is a pattern. The respective states after formation are shown. For the configuration of the liquid crystal element, refer to FIG. 2 described in the section of the related art.

In order to manufacture a general liquid crystal device as shown in FIG. 2, the color filter 12 is formed on the glass substrate 11b.
Is formed, and a photosensitive and photocurable organic polymer material (trade name: PA1000C, manufacturer: Ube Industries, Ltd., viscosity 200 cp) is applied on the entire surface by a spinner at 1200 rpm for 10 seconds as a protective film. , At 80 ℃ 1
Heated on a hot plate for 0 minutes to tentatively dry the film to a thickness of about 1.
A 5 μm photosensitive organic polymer film 13 was formed.

After that, as shown in FIG. 1A, the substrate 1
A mask 22 was placed on the organic polymer film 13 on 1b with a gap 21 interposed therebetween, and unnecessary portions around the organic polymer film 13 were masked for exposure.

Subsequently, the organic polymer film 13 is developed with a developing solution.
Was developed by dipping and resting the surface of the.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1B, a shower mist 23 of a developing solution was applied onto the organic polymer film 13 to dissolve and remove the unexposed portion of the organic polymer film 13. As a result, an organic polymer film pattern 13p having a sloped end 13p 'was obtained.

That is, during the exposure, the organic polymer film 13
Since there is a gap 21 between the mask and the mask 22,
The organic polymer film 13 of the portion corresponding to the lower side of the end portion of the mask 22, which is originally unexposed, is slightly exposed by wrapping around from below the end portion of the mask 22. Therefore, as a result of the development, a sloped shape is formed at the end portion 13p 'of the organic polymer film pattern 13p. And the gap 21
The larger the size g, the greater the amount of light that wraps around the edge of the mask, and the gentler the slope.

Thus, the organic polymer film pattern 13p
Even if the electrode is patterned so as to straddle the pattern end portion 13p 'by forming the end portion 13p' of the pattern into a slope shape, the electrode is formed in a state along the slope surface of the pattern end portion 13p '. Therefore, there will be no disconnection. <Experimental Example> When exposing the photosensitive organic polymer film 13,
By changing the size g of the gap 21 between the film 13 and the mask 22 stepwise, the end portion 13 of the organic polymer film pattern 13p is changed.
The change in the slope shape of p'was examined. However, the exposure time is 2 minutes and the shower pressure of the shower mist 23 is 2.5 k.
It was set to a constant value of g / cm ² . Further, as the exposure device, a contact type device made by Tamarac is used, and the gap 21
A frame made of SUS was used for the setting. Then, the aspect ratio of the slope shape of the formed pattern end portion 13p ′ was obtained from the cross-sectional shape profile.

As a result, the size g of the gap 21 is 10
At μm, the aspect ratio of the slope shape of the pattern end portion 13p ′ is 1 / 1.5, at 30 μm is 1/3, and at 60 μm is 1 /.
9/100 μm 1/15, 200 μm 1/20
Met.

Then, when the electrode was patterned so as to straddle the pattern end portion 13p 'in which the aspect ratio of the slope shape was changed in this way, when the aspect ratio was 1/3 to 1/15, the electrode was formed. It was possible to form a desired substrate having no disconnection with a high yield.

That is, in order to prevent disconnection of the electrodes, the sloped shape of the pattern end 13p 'has an aspect ratio of 1/3 to.
A gentle one of 1/15 is preferable, and such vertical /
In order to obtain the slope shape of the aspect ratio, the size of the gap 21 is
It was found that the thickness should be set to 30 μm or more and 150 μm or less.

Next, the size g of the gap 21 is set to 60 μm.
m, the shower pressure of the shower mist 23 is 2.5 kg /
The change in the slope shape of the end portion 13p ′ of the organic polymer film pattern 13p when the exposure time was changed stepwise with the constant value of cm ² was examined.

As a result, when the exposure time is 30 seconds, the aspect ratio of the slope shape of the pattern end portion 13p 'is 1 / 1.5, 1
Minutes 1/5, 2 minutes 1/9, 4 minutes 1/15, 1
It was 1/20 at 0 minutes. From this experimental result, it was found that the exposure time should be set to 45 seconds or more and 7 minutes or less in order to obtain the optimum slope shape with the aspect ratio of 1/3 to 1/15.

In addition to the above-mentioned PA1000C manufactured by Ube Industries, the same photo-curable polyimide and acrylic materials were used as the organic polymer material, and similar experiments were conducted. The same result as the above experimental example was obtained.

Ferroelectric liquid crystal was used as the liquid crystal 17 of the liquid crystal element on which the organic polymer film pattern 13p was formed as described above.

[0026]

As described above, according to the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal element of the present invention, it is possible to form an organic polymer film pattern without breaking the electrodes, and thus a highly reliable liquid crystal element can be obtained. It is possible to manufacture with a high yield.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method for forming an organic polymer film pattern in a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention,
(A) shows the state before pattern formation, (b) shows the state after pattern formation, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a general liquid crystal element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11a, 11b Transparent substrate 13 Organic polymer film 13p Organic polymer film pattern 13p 'Edges 14a, 14b Transparent electrode 17 Liquid crystal 21 Gap 22 Mask 23 Shower mist

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An organic polymer film is selectively formed on at least one of the pair of substrates, and an electrode is formed so as to extend over at least the organic polymer film and the surface of the substrate. In a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device by disposing liquid crystal between substrates, a photosensitive organic polymer film is formed in a predetermined area on the substrate, and then a predetermined gap is formed on the photosensitive organic polymer film. A mask is placed through the mask to perform exposure, and subsequently, the surface of the exposed photosensitive organic polymer film is immersed in a developing solution and allowed to stand still for development, and then a shower mist of the developing solution is used to perform the development. A method for producing a liquid crystal element, which comprises dissolving and removing an exposed portion or an unexposed portion of a photosensitive organic polymer film to obtain an organic polymer film pattern having a sloped end. 2. The method for producing a liquid crystal device according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive organic polymer film is made of a photocurable material, and an unexposed portion is dissolved and removed by a developing solution. 3. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal element according to claim 1, wherein a ferroelectric liquid crystal is used as the liquid crystal.