JPH09102275A - Method of forming bulkhead of flat display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the manhour in manufacture and materialize cost down by forming a bulkhead material flat layer equal in thickness and a bulkhead eventually accurate in height accuracy, by simple process, concerning the method of forming the bulkhead of a flat display panel. SOLUTION: In the method of forming the bulkhead of a flat display panel which is provided, within discharge space, with a bulkhead to divide or partition a discharge area, glass paste 52 of bulkhead material is printed flatly on a glass board 51, using the printing mask 42 which has an opening 42a larger than bulkhead formation area and has a thickness equivalent to the height of the bulkhead where the quantity of shrinkage by baking is taken into expectation. A bulkhead material flat layer 52 equal in thickness distribution is obtained by heating and drying the printed bulkhead flat layer 53 in such temperature distribution that the heating temperature to the bulkhead material flat layer 53 goes higher at the center region and goes lower at the peripheral edge region. Next, it is patterned, thus a bulkhead eventually excellent in height accuracy is formed easily by simplified process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method of forming a partition wall of a gas discharge type flat display panel (FDP).

Known as this type of display panel is a plasma display panel (PDP), or a plasma addressed liquid crystal panel (PALC) in which a liquid crystal panel serving as a color filter and a plasma discharge panel serving as a switching element are combined.

PDPs, PALCs and the like can have a large screen by a simple process, and have the advantages of high brightness, high-speed response, wide viewing angle, etc.
Promising as a V display device.

Generally, in these PDPs and PALCs, in order to prevent crosstalk between pixels (dot pixels), discharge interference, etc. and improve display quality, a discharge space is provided for each pixel.
Alternatively, a partition wall that partitions a plurality of pixels arranged in the Y direction into a common space is provided.

Since the above-mentioned partition wall requires a height of 100 to 200 μm, when forming the partition wall, a screen printing process and a drying process are repeated using a printing mask having openings corresponding to the partition wall pattern to form about 10 layers. The barrier rib material layer corresponding to the thick barrier ribs that are stacked is formed, or the same screen printing and drying steps are repeated to form a solid barrier rib material layer, and then the barrier ribs are patterned using a barrier rib pattern mask to provide the barrier ribs. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a partition wall material layer having a uniform film thickness, and since the partition wall forming process becomes complicated, a uniform thick partition wall material layer can be easily formed, and the subsequent partition wall forming process is also easy to mass-produce. There is a need for an advantageous method of forming barrier ribs.

[0006]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 shows a flat display panel (F
DP) is an exploded perspective view of an essential part showing an example of a surface discharge type PDP for color display, for example, and shows a basic structure of a portion corresponding to one pixel EG.

As shown in the figure, the unit light emitting area EU for matrix display has a three-electrode structure in which a pair of display electrodes X and Y and an address electrode A are opposed to each other. Reflective surface discharge PD
Called P.

The pair of X and Y display electrodes 12 for surface discharge are provided on the glass substrate 11 on the display surface H side with respect to the discharge space 24 to widen the surface discharge and display light. ITO (Indium Tin O
(xide) film and the like, and a wide transparent conductive film 12a and a narrow bus metal film 12b that complements the conductivity (lower resistance) are laminated.

Further, the display electrode 12 is covered with a dielectric layer 13 for AC driving that maintains gas discharge by using wall charges so as to be insulated from the discharge space 24. The surface of the dielectric layer 13 is further covered with a protective film 14 made of an MgO film having a film thickness of about several thousand Å.

On the other hand, the address electrodes A for selectively emitting light in the unit light emitting area EU are arranged on the rear glass substrate 21 at a constant pitch so as to be orthogonal to the display electrodes 12 consisting of a pair of X and Y. The stripe-shaped barrier ribs 22 having a height of about 100 to 200 μm are arranged between the address electrodes A, so that the discharge spaces 24 form unit discharge regions in the line direction (extension direction of the display electrodes 12). It is divided for each EU, and the interval dimension of the discharge space 24 is defined.

Further, the glass substrate 21 has three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) so as to cover the upper surface of the address electrode A and the inner surface of the rear surface including the side surface of the partition wall 22. The phosphors 23 are provided to increase the brightness, and the phosphors 23 of the respective colors are excited by the ultraviolet rays radiated during the surface discharge to emit light.
Full color display is possible by combining G and B. In the display, the partition 22 prevents crosstalk between the unit light emitting areas EU and discharge interference.

In the PDP 1 having the above-mentioned structure, after the glass substrate 11 and the glass substrate 21 are individually provided with predetermined constituent elements,
The glass substrates 11 and 21 are arranged so as to face each other, the periphery of the gap is sealed with a sealant, and the exhaust gas inside the gap and the discharge gas are filled in a series of processes.

By the way, the glass substrate 21 on the rear side is divided so as to divide the discharge space 24 as described above into unit light emitting regions EU.
When the partition wall 22 is formed on the upper surface of the glass substrate 21, for example, as shown in FIG. 9A, a plurality of glass pastes obtained by mixing a low-melting glass frit and a binder on the glass substrate 21 on which the address electrodes A are formed by screen printing or the like. 1 by repeated printing
It is applied to a thickness of 00 to 200 μm and dried to form a solid glass coating layer 31.

Next, the glass coating layer 31 is coated with a photosensitive resin material 32 such as a dry film having a sandblast resistance, and a predetermined pattern exposure and development processing is performed to perform the pattern exposure, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), a patterned resist mask 33 for forming partition walls is formed, and the glass coating layer 31 is selectively cut by the sandblasting method through the resist mask 33 and patterned, and then the resist mask 33 is formed. By removing and patterning the patterning layer by heating at 450 to 550 ° C. for several tens of minutes, a discharge space is divided into regions between the address electrodes A as shown in FIG. 9B.
A partition wall having a height of 0 to 200 μm is formed.

[0015]

However, in the conventional method of forming the partition wall as described above, the coating thickness per time when the glass paste is applied by the screen printing method is about 10 to 20 .mu.m. In the case of forming the glass coating layer 31 for forming a solid partition wall having a thickness of up to 200 μm, the steps of screen printing and drying are performed about 10 times,
Or, since it has to be repeated more than that, it takes a lot of man-hours, and it is difficult to form the glass coating layer 31 in a solid shape having a uniform thickness, which requires advanced technology and skill in overlay printing. There was a problem that it was disadvantageous to mass production.

On the surface of the glass coating layer 31 formed by screen printing, a screen pattern mesh is transferred, and traces of the mesh are likely to remain, making it difficult to obtain a flat surface. For this reason, when a discharge gap is formed by overlapping with the substrate on the opposite side, there is a problem that a gap is generated at the top (bonding surface) of the partition wall and crosstalk occurs between adjacent discharge regions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.
The number of steps of forming a glass coating layer for forming a large-sized solid partition wall having a film thickness of 00 μm or more is reduced, and a partition material layer having a uniform film thickness distribution and consequently a partition wall having high height accuracy can be easily formed. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method for forming barrier ribs of a flat display panel, in which the number of manufacturing steps is reduced, the cost is reduced and the upper surface of the barrier rib is flattened, and crosstalk is reduced and display quality is improved.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a partition forming method for a flat display panel in which a partition for partitioning or partitioning a discharge region is provided in a discharge space, the partition forming area being larger than the partition forming area. By solid-printing the glass paste of the partition wall material on the panel substrate using a printing mask having openings, a glass coating layer for forming a solid partition wall having a uniform film thickness distribution can be formed by at least one coating operation. It can be easily formed.

Then, by drying and patterning the solid wall layer of the partition wall material by a sandblast method or the like through a resist mask for partition wall patterning,
It becomes possible to form the partition wall with high height accuracy at a low cost by a simple manufacturing process. Moreover, since the screen printing using a mesh as in the past is not used in the step of applying the glass paste, the upper surface of the formed partition wall becomes extremely flat, and the cross between adjacent picture elements partitioned by the partition wall is very flat. This is advantageous for reducing talk.

Although the thickness of the partition wall material solid layer formed in this manner is uniform, the glass paste is pulled from the slow-drying central portion to the fast-drying edge portion (outside the partition-forming area) during drying. As a result, movement may occur, and only the edge portion may rise by about several tens of μm. Since it is difficult to provide a resist or pattern the partition wall pattern on the resist with high accuracy in the solid wall layer of the partition wall material which is raised at the edge portion, it is desirable to use the following method together.

When drying the partition wall solid layer, the heating temperature for the partition wall solid layer is set to a temperature distribution that is higher in the central region and lower in the edge regions, or is dried by heating or a print mask. Dry with the attached. As a result, it is possible to obtain a solid partition wall material layer having a uniform thickness, which is suitable for the formation of partition walls without bulging in the edge region.

Before printing the partition wall solid layer, a peelable tape is attached in advance outside the partition wall formation region on the panel substrate surface, and after the partition wall solid layer is formed, ridges are formed together with the tape. Lift off the edge part at the same time. This makes it possible to obtain a partition wall material solid layer having a uniform thickness as a whole.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are views showing an embodiment of a method for forming barrier ribs of a flat display panel (FDP) according to the present invention in the order of steps. FIG. 1 (a) is a plan view and FIG. 1 (b) is FIG. 2) is a cross-sectional view of the main part, and FIG.

This embodiment is intended for the barrier ribs of the surface discharge type plasma display panel for color display described above. First, as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), one glass substrate 51 on which a partition is to be formed is fixed by vacuum suction on a mounting surface having a flatness of ± 20 μm on a stage 41 in a coating apparatus. To do. Although not shown, the glass substrate 51 has an address electrode and a dielectric layer covering the address electrode.
Such a substrate surface has an opening 42a larger than the area of the partition forming region, and the height of the partition to be formed is 100 to 100.
When the thickness is 200 μm, a stainless steel printing mask 42 having a plate thickness of, for example, 200 to 400 μm, which corresponds to a contraction amount at the time of firing the coating layer, and a thickness accuracy of which is ± 20 μm or less and has little change over time, Place it.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the print mask is formed.
A glass paste 52 in which a low-melting-point glass frit and a binder are mixed is placed on 42, and a squeegee 43 having high linearity is moved in the direction of the arrow to move the glass paste 52 to a glass substrate 51.
After coating on the upper surface, the printing mask 42 is removed to form a solid glass coating layer (hereinafter referred to as a partition material solid layer) 53 as shown in FIG. 2 (b).

Next, the partition wall solid layer 53 is formed on the stage.
The mixture is allowed to stand for 40 minutes or more on the plate 41 to remove air bubbles mixed in the solid layer and fine irregularities to make it smooth, and then heated to about 50 to 150 ° C. to dry. As shown in FIG.
It is possible to easily form the partition wall material solid layer 54 having a uniform thickness as shown in (c).

After that, the partition wall solid layer 54 is patterned by a sandblast method through a partition mask resist mask in the same manner as in the prior art, so that a partition having a higher height accuracy than the conventional one and an extremely flat upper surface is formed. It becomes possible to form at low cost by a simple forming process.

In the above examples, the partition wall solid layer
In the step of drying 54, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 3A, a raised portion 55 of about several tens of μm may be formed only on the edge portion of the partition material solid layer 54 on the glass substrate 51.

In this bulging phenomenon, the partition wall solid layer 53 is dried in order from the edge portion and the surface portion, so that it takes about 10 seconds from the state in which the partition wall solid layer 53 has been applied as shown in FIG.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of the main part of (b), a bulge 55a due to surface tension begins to form at the edge of the partition wall solid layer 53, and when a full-scale drying process is started, as shown in FIG. 3 (c). The glass paste is pulled from the slow-drying central portion to the fast-drying edge portion around the glass paste, and the movement occurs, and accordingly, the ridge 55b of the edge portion increases.

After drying, a solid partition wall material layer 54 having a raised portion 55 having a shape as shown in FIG. 3D at the edge is finally obtained. It becomes difficult to provide a resist on the substrate or pattern the resist into a predetermined pattern.

Therefore, a method for solving the above problems will be described below. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts for explaining the first embodiment of the method for drying the solid wall layer of the partition wall shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps. Note that, in FIG. 4, constituent elements corresponding to those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

First, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the stage 41
On the print mask 42 placed on the glass substrate 51 arranged above, the glass paste 52 in which the low-melting glass frit and the binder are mixed is operated by moving the squeegee 43 in the direction of the arrow to form the glass paste 52. After coating on the glass substrate 51, the print mask 42 is removed to form a solid partition material solid layer 53 as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

Next, the partition material solid layer 53 is formed on the stage.
The surface of the glass substrate 51 containing the partition material solid layer 53, for example, after being left still on the solid layer 41 for 10 minutes or more to smooth out the degassing and fine irregularities of bubbles mixed in the solid layer, for example, The temperature of the central portion C of the partition wall solid layer 53 is, for example, 1
Edge temperature D around the temperature range of about 00 ℃
Is dried by a drying device 44 such as a hot plate whose temperature distribution is controlled so as to be about 50 ° C. lower than the temperature of the central portion C.

By such a drying method, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the edge portion of the partition wall solid layer 53 is dried more slowly than the central portion, and the drying speed of the entire solid layer becomes substantially uniform. The bulging phenomenon at the edge portion disappears, and the film thickness tends to be thinner than at the central portion.

However, as shown in FIG. 4 (d), even if an edge portion having a thin film thickness is formed, the area of the central portion having other uniform thickness is ensured to be larger than the partition wall forming region. Since the solid material layer 54 is obtained, the subsequent disposition of the resist material, the patterning of the resist mask, and the partition material solid layer 54.
It does not adversely affect the processes such as the formation of barrier ribs by patterning, and rather, those processes can be easily advanced.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an essential part for explaining the second embodiment of the method for drying the solid wall material of the partition wall shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps. Note that, in FIG. 5, constituent elements corresponding to those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, on the print mask 42 placed on the glass substrate 51 on the stage 41, a glass paste prepared by mixing a low melting point glass frit and a binder. 52 is applied on the glass substrate 51 by the operation of moving the squeegee 43 in the direction of the arrow to form a solid partition material solid layer 53 as shown in FIG. 5 (b).

Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, the partition material solid layer 53 on the glass substrate 51 is allowed to stand on the stage 41 for 10 minutes or more with the printing mask 42 attached, and mixed into the solid layer. The defoaming of the formed bubbles and the smoothness caused by dropping the fine unevenness, and heating to about 50 to 150 ° C. to dry the partition wall solid layer 53 and the peripheral edge portion thereof are performed. The drying rate is substantially uniform, and as shown in FIG. 5 (d), a solid partition wall material layer 54 having a uniform thickness can be obtained in which the bulging phenomenon does not occur at the edge portion.

Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 are views showing a third embodiment of the method for drying the partition wall solid layer shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps, FIG. 6 (a) being a plan view and FIG. 6 (b). 6 is a sectional view of the main part of FIG. 6 (a), and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the main part. In FIGS. 6 and 7, constituent elements corresponding to those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the print mask is formed on the surface of the glass substrate 51 arranged on the stage 41 by vacuum suction means or the like, on which address electrodes (not shown) are formed. Prior to placing 42, the glass substrate
A peelable tape, for example, a heat resistant tape (hereinafter referred to as a heat resistant tape) 45 is pasted on the periphery other than the partition wall forming area on the substrate 51, and a substrate including the pasted heat resistant tape 45 A print mask 42 is placed on the surface. At this time,
The heat-resistant tape 45 attached is printed mask 42 as shown.
It is preferable that the arrangement is such that it is inscribed in the opening 42a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7A, a glass paste 52, which is a mixture of a low-melting glass frit and a binder, is squeegeeed in the direction of the arrow through a printing mask 42 on the surface of the substrate containing the heat resistant tape 45. By moving 43, glass substrate 51
A solid partition wall material solid layer 53 is formed by coating the above as shown in FIG. 7 (b).

Next, the partition material solid layer 53 on the substrate 51 from which the printing mask 42 has been removed is allowed to stand on the stage 41 for 10 minutes or more to remove air bubbles mixed in the solid layer and fine irregularities. 50 to 150 ° C when it is smoothed down
By heating to a certain degree and drying, the partition material solid layer 53
The drying rate of the peripheral edge part with respect to the central part of
Since it is an edge portion and the thickness of the edge portion becomes thinner than other portions due to the attachment of the heat resistant tape 45, the speed is increased by the synergistic action of two conditions. As shown in the drawing, the partition material solid layer 57 having the raised portions 56 is formed only on the corresponding edge portions on the heat resistant tape 45.

Therefore, by subsequently peeling off the heat resistant tape 45, the edge portion of the partition wall solid layer 57 where the raised portion 56 is formed is also lifted off at the same time, and the raised portion is formed as shown in FIG. 7 (d). Solid partition wall material solid layer 57 having a uniform thickness suitable for partition wall formation in which 56 is reliably removed.
Can be obtained.

In this case, the raised portion in the partition material solid layer 57
Since the area of the central portion having the other uniform thickness is secured to be larger than that of the partition wall forming region even if the edge portion where 56 is removed is removed, subsequent placement of the resist material, patterning of the resist mask, The processes such as patterning of the partition wall solid layer 57 are not adversely affected, and rather, those processes can be easily advanced.

In the above embodiments, the case where the partition wall material solid layer 54 or 57 in a dried state is patterned by the sandblast method to form the partition walls is explained. However, the fired partition material solid layer is sandblasted. Alternatively, the partition wall may be formed by patterning. However, when the partition wall material solid layer in a dry state is patterned by the sandblast method to form the partition wall, an appropriate cutting rate is easily obtained, proper cutting is facilitated, and the partition wall with high accuracy can be obtained.

Further, in the above embodiments, the surface discharge type PDP is used.
Although the example of forming the barrier ribs has been described, the present invention is not limited to this example, and for example, various PDs having barrier ribs.
It is extremely advantageous when applied to the manufacture of flat display panels such as P and PALC.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, the method for forming barrier ribs of a flat display panel according to the present invention reduces the number of printing steps for a large-area barrier rib solid layer having a thickness of 100 μm or more, and It becomes possible to easily form a solid partition wall material layer having a uniform film thickness distribution, and by applying such a solid partition material wall layer, a partition wall with high height accuracy can be obtained, and screen printing using a mesh is performed. Since it does not apply, a partition wall whose top surface is extremely flat is obtained, and cost reduction can be realized by reducing the number of manufacturing steps.
It is advantageous for mass production of flat display panels such as PDP and PALC, and has an excellent effect in practical use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a flat display panel (FD) of the present invention.
FIG. 6A is a plan view showing an embodiment of a partition wall forming method of P) and FIG.

FIG. 2 shows a flat display panel (FD) of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a main-portion cross-sectional view showing an example of the partition wall forming method in P) in the order of steps, continuing from FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a principal part for explaining a phenomenon in which a raised portion is generated at an edge portion in a drying step of a partition material solid layer of a flat display panel (FDP).

FIG. 4 is a side view of a principal portion for explaining a first embodiment of a method for drying a solid wall material of partition walls shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps.

5A and 5B are cross-sectional views of main parts for explaining a second embodiment of the method of drying the solid wall layer of the partition wall material shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps.

6A and 6B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining a third embodiment of the method for drying the solid wall layer of the partition wall material shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts for explaining a third embodiment of the method for drying a solid wall layer of partition wall material shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps, continuing from FIG.

FIG. 8 is a general flat display panel (FD
FIG. 3 is a main part exploded perspective view showing an example of the structure of a surface discharge type PDP for color display as P).

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a method of forming barrier ribs of a conventional surface discharge PDP in the order of steps.

[Explanation of symbols]

 41 Stage 42 Printing Mask 42a Opening 43 Squeegee 44 Drying Device 45 Heat Resistant Tape 51 Glass Substrate 52 Glass Paste 53, 54, 57 Partition Material Solid Layer 55, 56 Raised Part

Front page continued (72) Inventor Keiichi Besai 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Noriyuki Awaji 1015, Kamedotachu, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) ) Inventor Masafumi Tianjin 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming a partition of a flat display panel, wherein a partition for partitioning or partitioning a discharge region is provided in a discharge space, wherein a glass paste of a partition material is used by using a printing mask having an opening larger than the partition forming area. Solid printing is performed on the panel substrate and dried, and then a resist mask for partition wall patterning is provided on the solid wall material of partition wall, and the solid layer of partition material is patterned through the resist mask to form partition walls. A method for forming partition walls of a flat display panel. 2. In the step of drying the partition wall material solid layer,
The heating temperature for the partition wall solid layer is high in the central region,
2. The method for forming barrier ribs of a flat display panel according to claim 1, wherein the temperature distribution is set so as to become lower in the edge region and the drying is performed. 3. In the step of drying the partition wall solid layer,
The partition wall forming method for a flat display panel according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall material solid layer is dried with the print mask still attached. 4. Prior to forming a solid partition material layer using the printing mask, a peelable tape is attached in advance outside the partition forming region on the panel substrate surface, and after the solid partition material layer is formed. 2. The method for forming barrier ribs of a flat display panel according to claim 1, wherein the barrier rib material on the tape is removed together with the tape.