JPH10319402A - Orientation processing device of liquid crystal display device and method of orientation processing thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid crystal display element having a high picture display quality by preventing rubbing force unevenness in rubbing orientation processing by moving a rotary roller or a stage where a substrate is installed in the fore-and-aft rotational direction of the rotary roller and the longitudinal direction of the rotary roller and performing a rubbing orientation processing. SOLUTION: This orientation processing device is configured so that a rotary roller 2 and a stage 3 are freely movable in the fore-and-back direction (arrow A) to each other and they are also freely movable in the longitudinal direction of the rotary roller (arrow B). And while rotating the rotary roller 2 winding a rubbing material 1 thereon, either the rotary roller 2 or the stage 3 moves in fore-and-back directions of the rotation and the other reciprocates in the longitudinal direction for rubbing orientation processing. Thus, although there is difference in level of the transparent electrode pattern and orientation film pattern, hair tips of the rubbing material 1 are totally brought into contact with the orientation-patterned substrate 4 and the hair tips surface condition of the rubbing material 1 is stabilized, and as a result, a liquid crystal display element with a uniform rubbing force is obtainable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an alignment processing technique for a liquid crystal display device by rubbing alignment processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display device using a liquid crystal display panel can be driven at a lower voltage, is suitable for LSI driving, and has lower power consumption than conventional display devices of other types. Because it can be made thinner and lighter,
It is used in many electrical equipment products such as AV equipment and OA equipment, and in recent years the display capacity has been rapidly increased in size and definition has been advanced, and improvement in image display quality has become important. I have. One conventional example will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a general liquid crystal display device. The main components of the liquid crystal display device are a liquid crystal display element 10, a driving circuit section 12 having a printed board 11, and a connection section 13. Then, the liquid crystal display element 10 is connected to the first transparent electrode 14.
a, first glass substrate 16 on which alignment film 15a is formed
Rubbing the second glass substrate 17 on which the second transparent electrode 14b and the alignment film 15b are formed,
8 and fixed with a sealing material 19 containing a conductive material,
These first glass substrate 16 and second glass substrate 17
The liquid crystal 20 is filled in between them or sealed by a dropping method. The first glass substrate 16 and the second glass substrate 17 have a thickness of about 1 mm, and a polarizing plate 22 with a protective sheet 21 is attached on the first glass substrate 16 and the second glass substrate 17.

[0004] The liquid crystal display element 1 manufactured as described above.
In the case of No. 0, the rubbing alignment treatment method for the substrate on which the alignment film has been formed has a significant effect on image display quality.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, a rubbing alignment process is performed on a surface of an alignment film in a specific direction while rotating a rotating roller 2 around which a rubbing material 1 is wound. The transparent electrode pattern 5 of the liquid crystal display element and the patterning of the alignment film are formed on the substrate 4 on which the alignment film has been formed.

[0006]

In the conventional rubbing alignment treatment apparatus, the substrate 4 on which the alignment film is formed has a step depending on the presence or absence of patterning. A portion that strongly contacts the portion 4 and a portion that contacts the portion 4 weakly occur, and the surface condition of the bristle tip of the rubbing material 1 differs. In particular, when a large amount of rubbing orientation treatment is performed continuously, the tendency becomes severe, and the strength of the rubbing material 1 at the tip of the rubbing causes unevenness in rubbing strength, resulting in uneven orientation strength and display unevenness. As a result, the image display quality is further reduced, and the yield is deteriorated.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide an alignment processing apparatus and a method thereof capable of preventing rubbing intensity unevenness due to rubbing alignment processing and realizing a liquid crystal display element having high image display quality. With the goal.

[0008]

According to the present invention, when a rubbing alignment process is performed on a substrate on which an alignment film has been formed in a liquid crystal display device, a rotating roller or a stage on which the substrate is mounted is rotated in the front-rear direction of the rotating roller and the rotating roller. The rubbing orientation process is performed by moving the rubbing alignment process in the longitudinal direction.

According to the present invention, even if there is a step on the surface of the substrate, the rotating roller or the stage on which the substrate is mounted swings, and the rubbing orientation treatment is performed, whereby the strength of the contact between the rubbing material and the substrate is reduced. Since the rubbing material is dispersed throughout the surface state of the rubbing material, the liquid crystal display element having a uniform rubbing strength can be obtained even when rubbing alignment treatment is continuously performed in a large amount.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate portions common to the components shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and detailed description is omitted. FIG. 1 is an external view showing a configuration of an alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a rubbing material, 2 denotes a rotating roller around which the rubbing material 1 is wound, 3 denotes a stage, and 4 denotes a substrate on which an alignment film has been formed. Is configured. In this processing apparatus, in order to eliminate the rubbing strength unevenness, the rotating roller 2 and the stage 3 are movable in the front-rear direction as shown by the arrow A, and they are also moved in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller 2 as shown by the arrow B. It is configured to be movable. That is, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 2A, the stage 3 moves in the front-rear direction with respect to the rotation direction of the rotary roller 2 as shown by an arrow A, and the rotary roller 2 is moved in a direction transverse to the rotational direction, that is, the rotary roller 2 is rotated. 2B shows an example in which the rotating roller 2 moves in the front-back direction with respect to the rotation direction and the stage 3 swings in the lateral direction in the apparatus shown in FIG.

With this configuration, while rotating the rotating roller 2 around which the rubbing material 1 is wound, either the rotating roller 2 or the stage 3 moves in the front-rear direction, and the other moves in the rotation lateral direction, that is, The rubbing orientation treatment can be performed while swinging in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller 2. By performing the rubbing alignment treatment while one of the substrates is oscillating in this manner, even if there is a transparent electrode pattern 5 of the liquid crystal display element provided on the substrate 4 on which the alignment film is formed or a pattern step of the alignment film, the rubbing material 1 Of the rubbing material 1 is stable, and the strength of the contact between the rubbing material 1 and the substrate 4 on which the alignment film is formed is extremely low. And a liquid crystal display element having a uniform rubbing strength. In particular, when a plurality of rows of the transparent electrode patterns 5 of the liquid crystal display element are formed on the substrate 4 on which the alignment film is formed, the swing width is set so as to swing at least at least the distance between the electrode patterns. The present invention can be widely applied irrespective of the electrode pattern row of the formed substrate 4.

Next, the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1 is used for rubbing the liquid crystal display device to perform the swaying shown in FIG. 2 and the conventional liquid crystal display shown in FIG. A description will be given of the results of an experiment on the relationship between the number of continuously processed substrates on which an alignment film is formed and the voltage characteristics of a liquid crystal display device, for an alignment treatment apparatus for rubbing an element.

The test contents include a case where the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1 is rocked by an alignment treatment device and a case where the conventional liquid crystal display device which cannot be rocked shown in FIG. 4 is rubbed. In the alignment processing apparatus, the rubbing alignment processing is continuously performed on the substrate 4 on which the alignment film is formed, and then the general liquid crystal display elements shown in FIG. Was created. A rectangular wave is applied to the liquid crystal display element 10, and the luminance-voltage characteristics at the center and the end of the liquid crystal display element are measured.
The result of the voltage difference is shown in Table 1 which is a table of the voltage difference result by the number of processed sheets in the rubbing alignment treatment apparatus.

[0014]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, the embodiment of the present invention shows that the voltage difference between the center and the end of the liquid crystal display element is small and stable even when the number of continuous processing is large. On the other hand, in the conventional apparatus, the voltage difference increased as the number of continuously processed sheets increased.

As is clear from this test, when the orientation processing device for rubbing the liquid crystal display element also oscillates in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller as in the present invention, the liquid crystal display element is rubbed in the plane. It can be seen that there is no rubbing strength unevenness, it is possible to achieve uniform orientation strength, and it is possible to increase the number of continuously processed sheets.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the rubbing strength unevenness during the rubbing alignment treatment of the substrate on which the alignment film has been formed in the liquid crystal display element, thereby improving the yield and increasing the continuous mass. The rubbing orientation treatment is enabled, and the advantageous effect of dramatically improving productivity can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view illustrating a configuration of an alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a main part of an alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2B is a perspective view of an alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element according to another embodiment; Part perspective view

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a general liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of an alignment processing apparatus for rubbing a liquid crystal display element in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 rubbing material 2 rotating roller 3 stage 4 substrate on which alignment film is formed 5 transparent electrode pattern

Claims (3)

[Claims] An orientation treatment apparatus for rubbing the surface of an alignment film in a specific direction while rotating a rotation roller around which a rubbing material is wound after forming an orientation film on a substrate, wherein the rotation roller around which the rubbing material is wound, An alignment processing apparatus for a liquid crystal display element, wherein a stage on which a substrate is placed is configured to be movable in a longitudinal direction of a rotating roller and a longitudinal direction of the rotating roller. 2. A liquid crystal display device comprising: a rubbing alignment process performed by a liquid crystal display device alignment processing apparatus according to claim 1 while swinging a stage on which a rotating roller or a substrate is mounted in a longitudinal direction of the rotating roller. Display element alignment treatment method. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when a plurality of rows of transparent electrode patterns are formed on the substrate, the swing width of the rotary roller or the stage on which the substrate is mounted is at least set to the transparent electrode. A rubbing alignment process by oscillating the pattern more than a pattern interval.