JPH1031958A - Formation of barrier of plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To mass-produce a highly precise glass substrate with a barrier at low cost by heating a glass material to transfer the form of a die to the glass material, thereby integrally forming a desired barrier on at least one surface thereof. SOLUTION: A glass material 30 is arranged between an upper die 6 and a lower die 13. The lower surface of the upper die 6 has a fine groove form corresponding to a barrier 33 worked thereon. The upper and lower dies are assembled, the glass material 30 is heated to a prescribed temperature, and when the temperature of the glass material 30 reaches such temperature, the glass material 30 is press-molded by the dies 6, 13 so that a glass substrate 32 has a prescribed thickness. In this way, the form of the die 6 is transferred to the glass material 30 to form a back plate 31 having the desired barrier 33 on one surface of the glass substrate 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly to a method for forming a barrier for forming a cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A PDP has a large number of minute cells each having a space partitioned between two glass substrates (a front plate and a back plate), and discharges a gas in those spaces. Luminance is obtained by light emission of the gas itself or light emission of the phosphor by the generated ultraviolet light.
Between the cells, keep the distance between the two glass substrates constant,
In addition, barriers having a height of about 100 μm for partitioning each cell are provided, for example, in a number of fine parallel groove rows or a grid pattern.

[0003] A screen printing method is generally used to form the barrier. As shown in FIG. 5, this is a method in which a thick film 41 of a paste is overlaid on a glass substrate 40 by screen printing to form a barrier 42, and a step of repeating screen printing, drying, and firing a plurality of times is required. You.

[0004] As a method for forming a finer barrier, a barrier forming method using a subtractive method is known. As shown in FIG. 6, an electrode 51 is provided on a glass substrate 50, a glass paste 52 for forming a barrier is applied, and after drying, a resist film 53 is provided on the upper surface, and this is exposed using a mask 54. Thereafter (FIG. 6A), development is performed to form a subtractive resist pattern 53A (FIG. 6B), and the glass paste 52 in the resist opening is removed by so-called etching such as sandblasting (FIG. 6). Along with (c)), the subtractive resist pattern 53A is peeled off and fired to form a barrier 55 on the glass substrate 50 (FIG. 6).
(D)) method.

[0005]

The PDP has attracted attention as a thin display, and has been used as various displays from small to large, such as displays for personal computers, displays for TV reception, and displays for game machines.
Many uses are possible. In particular, the spread of high-definition broadcasting is expected in TVs. Therefore, high precision and high productivity are required for commercial production of PDP.

However, in the screen printing method, the thickness of the thick film 41 of the paste formed by one printing is at most about several tens of μm, so that the barrier 4 having the desired height is required.
In order to obtain 2, many times of printing, drying and baking are required, and many manufacturing steps are required. In addition, it is difficult to form the shape of the barrier 42 with high precision due to deformation of the plate at the time of printing or multiple overprinting, which hinders the fine pitch of the barrier 42.

[0007] In the subtractive method which is effective for making the barrier fine pitch, the glass paste 5 for forming the barrier is also used.
2, application, drying, formation of the resist pattern 53A, etching and firing of the glass paste 52, and many manufacturing steps are required.

An object of the present invention is to manufacture a barrier for a PDP as described above with high accuracy and with a small number of steps.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method of forming a barrier for forming a cell of a plasma display panel, wherein at least one of the barriers is formed into a shape necessary for forming the barrier. Disposing a glass material between the molds, heating the glass material to a deformable temperature before or after disposing the glass material between the molds, and transferring the shape of the mold to the glass material. And forming a desired barrier integrally on at least one surface of the glass substrate together with the glass substrate.

According to this manufacturing method, the shape of the barrier formed in the mold is accurately transferred to the glass material, and a glass substrate with a barrier in which the substrate portion and the barrier are integrated is manufactured in one step.

The step of integrally molding the barrier can be performed by press molding, and the step of heating the glass material and the step of integrally molding the barrier can be performed by one of infrared lamp heating and high-frequency induction heating. A mechanism that heats the glass material, a mechanism that presses the mold with a press shaft driven by an electric motor or hydraulic pressure, and arbitrarily controls the heating temperature of the mold and the glass material, the position of the press shaft, the pressing force, and the press speed It can be performed by a glass forming apparatus provided with a control device.

Further, the step of integrally forming the barrier is performed by at least one of the own weight of the glass material, the own weight of the mold installed on the glass material, or the own weight of the weight installed on the mold. Alternatively, at least one of the step of heating the glass material and the step of integrally forming the barrier may be performed by a continuous furnace that continuously performs from heating to cooling.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows an example of a glass forming apparatus for carrying out the present invention, in which a fixed shaft 2 extends downward from an upper portion of a frame 1 and has a lower end through a heat insulating cylinder 3 made of ceramic. The mold assembly 4 is attached by bolts or the like (not shown). The upper die assembly 4 includes a metal die plate 5, an upper die 6 made of ceramic or cemented carbide, and a fixed die 7 that attaches the upper die 6 to the die plate 5 and forms a part of the die. Has become.

A drive unit 8 such as a screw jack for converting the rotary motion and torque of the servo motor 8a into linear motion and thrust (pressing force) is provided below the frame 1 using a servo motor 8a as a drive source. A moving shaft 9 as a press shaft is attached to 8 via a load detecting device 8b. The moving shaft 9 extends upward facing the fixed shaft 2, and moves up and down while controlling the speed, position, and pressing force by a program input to the control device 26.

A lower mold assembly 11 is attached to the upper end of the moving shaft 9 via a heat insulating cylinder 10 similar to the heat insulating cylinder 3. The lower die assembly 11 includes a die plate 12, a lower die 13
And a moving die 14.

A bracket 15 that is moved up and down by a driving device (not shown) is movably attached to the fixed shaft 2. A transparent quartz tube 16 surrounding the upper and lower mold assemblies 4 and 11 forming a pair is attached to the bracket 15. The lower end of the transparent quartz tube 16 hermetically abuts the sealing plate 1b on the intermediate plate 1a of the frame 1 through which the moving shaft 9 passes, and forms a molding chamber 17 around the mold assemblies 4 and 11 which is shielded from the atmosphere. Is formed.

An outer cylinder 18 surrounding the transparent quartz tube 16 is attached to the bracket 15, and a heating device 19 is attached to the outer cylinder 18.
Is attached. The heating device 19 includes an infrared lamp 20, a reflection mirror 21 disposed behind the infrared lamp 20, and a water cooling pipe (not shown) for cooling the reflection mirror 21, and is disposed between the mold assemblies 4, 11 and between them. The heated glass material 30 is heated.

The fixed shaft 2 and the moving shaft 9 are provided with a molding chamber 17.
There are provided gas supply paths 22 and 23 for making the inside an inert gas atmosphere and cooling the mold assemblies 4 and 11, and a plurality of radially penetrating parts are provided between the heat insulating cylinders 3 and 10 and the die plates 5 and 12. The grooves 27 and 28 are provided, and an inert gas is supplied to the molding chamber 17 at a predetermined flow rate via a flow rate controller (not shown). Molding room 1
The inert gas supplied to 7 is exhausted from the exhaust port 24. In addition, 25 is a thermocouple for temperature detection of the lower mold assembly 11.

Next, a method of forming a barrier for a PDP according to the present invention using this glass forming apparatus will be described with reference to specific examples. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a glass substrate with a barrier (hereinafter referred to as a back plate) 31 manufactured according to the present invention. The back plate 31 includes a glass substrate 32 and a barrier 33 formed on the upper surface thereof. It consists of The dimensions of each part shown in FIG. 2 are in units of mm.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a manufacturing process of the back plate 31 according to the present invention, and FIG.
0 is shown. Glass material 3 used in this embodiment
0 is made of P-SK60 (manufactured by Sumita Optical Co., Ltd .; coefficient of thermal expansion 1)
(1.6 × ^10-6 , transition point 382 ° C, yield point 404 ° C)
It is. This glass material 30 has flat surfaces on both sides and a length of 60
mm, width 80 mm, thickness 3.3 mm.

This glass material 30 is disposed between the upper die 6 and the lower die 13 as shown in FIG. This is performed by raising the bracket 15 of the glass forming apparatus shown in FIG. On the lower surface of the upper die 6, a fine groove shape corresponding to the barrier 33 shown in FIG.

When the glass material 30 is disposed between the upper and lower dies 6, 13, the molding chamber 17 is closed and the gas supply paths 22, 2 are closed.
3, an inert gas is supplied to the molding chamber 17, and the output of the infrared lamp 20 is controlled by the control device 26 while detecting the temperature of the lower mold assembly 11 by the temperature detecting thermocouple 25. 11 and glass material 3
Heat 0. In this embodiment, the glass material 30 is heated to 435 ° C., and when the temperature of the glass material 30 is stabilized at this temperature, the servomotor 8a is operated by the control device 26 to apply the pressing force 150
When the glass material 30 is gradually lifted at 0 kgf, as shown in FIG.
, Ie, the thickness of the glass substrate 32 is 3.0 mm
Press molding was performed with the molds 6 and 13 so that

This press molding is performed at a temperature higher than the glass transition point. However, in order to minimize the occurrence of thermal shrinkage after molding, the final molding is carried out at a temperature near the glass transition point (382 ° C. in this embodiment). It is desirable to control the temperatures of the dies 6, 13 and the glass material 30, the position of the moving shaft 9, and the pressing force so as to perform the pressing. However, since the molded back plate 31 still slightly shrinks during cooling, the shape of the mold should not be processed to be the same as the desired barrier shape, but should be processed in consideration of the heat shrinkage in advance.

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged cross-sectional photograph (50 times) of the back plate 31 obtained by press molding. The photo of FIG. 4 is a view in which the surface of the back plate 31 having the barrier 33 is filled with resin, cut, and the cut surface is polished. And the upper side is resin. As is clear from FIG. 4, it is recognized that the barrier is formed reliably, and the back plate 31 having the barrier 33 with high accuracy is obtained.

A column electrode (see electrode 51 in FIG. 6) is arranged on the rear plate 31 manufactured in this manner, and a dielectric layer and a protective layer (not shown) are formed and then bonded to an existing PDP front plate. By actually filling a gas between the glass substrates, a PDP was actually manufactured, and light emission of the PDP was confirmed using the back plate 31. The back plate 31 manufactured according to the present invention was used for a PDP. As a result, the function of the back plate, that is, the function of the barrier was sufficiently satisfied.

In the above embodiment, the infrared lamp 2
Although the example of heating the mold and the glass material by 0 has been shown,
A method of heating a mold by high-frequency induction heating, thereby heating a glass material arranged between the molds, a method of heating a mold with a heater provided in the mold, and a method of heating a glass material similarly arranged between the molds Alternatively, the glass material heated outside the mold may be arranged between the molds and molded. When the glass material is heated outside the mold, the temperature of the mold may be lower than the transition point temperature.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the moving shaft 9, that is, the press shaft is operated by the servo motor 8 a. However, as a drive source of the press shaft, another electric motor or hydraulic pressure is used as a drive source. It may be something.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example of press molding has been described. However, the self-weight of the glass material, the self-weight of the mold installed on the glass material, or the self-weight of the weight installed on the mold. It is also possible to form the back plate, that is, its barrier, by transferring the shape of the mold by at least one of its own weight.

The heating device in this case uses a continuous furnace which continuously performs from heating to cooling. (1) The barrier is formed while the upper and lower molds and the glass material continuously move from the heating zone to the cooling zone. (2) The upper and lower dies are fixedly arranged at predetermined positions, and the glass material moves while being preheated in the heating zone, is carried between the dies, is formed and taken out of the dies, and moves while being cooled in the cooling zone. (3) the mold moves from the heating zone to the cooling zone, and the glass material is supplied between the molds at a predetermined position in the middle,
After the molding, there is a method in which the molding is completed while both the mold and the glass material (molded product) are cooled in a cooling zone. According to these methods, the productivity is further improved.
It is needless to say that a press can be used for molding in the continuous furnace method. According to these methods, it is also possible to perform molding that sufficiently satisfies the function of the PDP as a barrier.

[0030]

As described above, according to the method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel of the present invention, the conventional screen printing and etching steps are not required. Barrier, that is, the glass substrate with the barrier can be mass-produced and the transferability of the mold is extremely good. Therefore, by manufacturing the mold shape with high precision, the high-precision glass substrate with the barrier can be mass-produced at low cost. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an optical element molding apparatus used for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing an example of a barrier of a plasma display formed according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a process of forming a barrier of the plasma display according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional photograph (5) of a barrier obtained by the present invention.
0 times).

FIG. 5 is a view showing a step of forming a barrier by a conventional screen printing method.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a step of forming a barrier by a conventional subtractive method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 4 upper die assembly 6 upper die 8 drive device 9 moving axis (press axis) 11 lower die assembly 13 lower die 19 heating device 20 infrared lamp 25 temperature detecting thermocouple 26 controller 30 glass material 31 glass substrate with barrier (back plate) ) 32 glass substrate 33 barrier

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshinori Urushihata 2068-3 Ooka, Numazu-shi, Shizuoka Pref. Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd. Numazu Office

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming a barrier for forming a cell of a plasma display panel, comprising: arranging a glass material between a pair of molds at least one of which is processed into a shape necessary for forming a barrier; Heating the glass material to a deformable temperature before or after disposing it between the molds, transferring the shape of the mold to a glass material, and integrally forming a desired barrier with at least one surface thereof together with a glass substrate. Forming a barrier of the plasma display panel. 2. The method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the step of integrally forming the barrier is performed by press molding. 3. The method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the step of heating the glass material and the step of integrally forming the barrier are performed by one of infrared lamp heating and high-frequency induction heating. A mechanism for heating the mold, a mechanism for pressing the mold by an electric motor or a press shaft driven by hydraulic pressure, and a control device for arbitrarily controlling the heating temperature of the mold and the glass material, the position of the press shaft, the pressing force, and the pressing speed A barrier forming method for a plasma display panel, wherein the method is performed by a glass forming apparatus having the following. 4. The method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the step of integrally forming the barrier includes the own weight of the glass material, the own weight of the mold installed on the glass material, or the weight installed on the mold. A method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel, wherein the method is performed by using at least one of its own weights. 5. The method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the step of heating the glass material and the step of integrally forming the barrier are performed continuously from heating to cooling. A method for forming a barrier of a plasma display panel, wherein the method is performed in a continuous furnace.