JPH1040819A - Manufacture of plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce as much as possible the number of special processes to provide protrusions for preventing short-circuit between terminals and to improve productivity. SOLUTION: In manufacturing a PDP(a plasma display panel) which has an electrode pattern PA, containing external connecting terminals Aa arranged in one direction, barriers to partition a display area E1 and protrusions to prevent short-circuit in the external connecting terminals Aa neighboring each other, an insulating material layer 290 is formed on a substrate 21 provided with the electrode pattern PA, to be extended across the display area E1 and a terminal formation area EAa on the outside thereof. On the insulating material layer 290, mask layers 63, 64 are formed by the pattern exposure of a photosensitive material, which correspond to the arrangement pattern for the barriers and the protrusions. The exposed portion of the insulating material layer 290 is removed, for forming the barriers and the protrusions at the same time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a PDP (Plasma D
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an isplay panel (plasma display panel).

2. Description of the Related Art PDPs have attracted attention as high-definition color display devices because of their capability of high-speed large-screen display. Technologies for increasing the productivity of PDPs are important in meeting the demand for lower prices in the market.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A PDP is a self-luminous display panel in which a pair of substrates (usually glass plates) are opposed to each other with a minute gap therebetween, and a discharge space is formed therein by sealing the periphery. In general, in a matrix display type PDP, one substrate is provided with a large number of electrodes extending in a row direction, and the other substrate is provided with a large number of electrodes extending in a column direction. In each substrate, each electrode is led out to the edge of the substrate, and each end is locally enlarged as an external connection terminal. External connection terminals are arranged along the electrode arrangement direction at the edge of each substrate, and these external connection terminals are electrically connected to an external drive circuit via a flexible wiring board. In order to enable a group of external connection terminals to be crimped to the flexible wiring board, the size of each substrate is selected so that the edge where the external connection terminals are arranged protrudes outside the other substrate.

Conventionally, there has been known a panel structure having a projection (partition wall) made of an insulating material between each external connection terminal (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-217509). According to this structure, the flexible wiring board is properly positioned, and a short circuit between the terminals is prevented. In other words, when there is no protrusion between the external connection terminals adjacent to each other, if the position of the flexible wiring board is shifted in the direction in which the external connection terminals are arranged during crimping of the flexible wiring board, the two conductors on the wiring board side are adjacent to each other. Contact with both of the external connection terminals causes a short circuit between the terminals.

[0005]

As the display becomes finer, the pitch of the external connection terminals becomes smaller and the distance between the terminals becomes shorter. Since the lower limit of the pattern width by the screen printing method is about 50 μm, a method of patterning an insulating layer having a uniform thickness by photolithography must be used in order to form the above-described protrusion for preventing short circuit. However, if an insulating layer is specially provided to prevent a short circuit between terminals, the number of manufacturing steps of the PDP is increased by that amount and the cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of special steps for providing a projection for preventing a short circuit between terminals as much as possible and to increase productivity.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for preventing a short circuit between an electrode pattern including external connection terminals arranged in one direction, a partition partitioning a display area, and adjacent external connection terminals. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel having projections, wherein an insulating material layer is formed on a substrate on which the electrode pattern is formed, the insulating material layer extending over the display region and a terminal formation region outside the display region. Forming a mask layer corresponding to the arrangement pattern of the barrier ribs and the protrusions by pattern exposure of a photosensitive material on the insulating material layer, removing the exposed portion of the insulating material layer, Simultaneously forming the partition and the protrusion.

[0008] Since projections are formed by patterning an insulating material layer for forming a partition for partitioning a display area, an insulating material layer is specially provided for forming the projections, or a photolithography step is added. No need to do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming an electrode pattern including an external connection terminal arranged in one direction, an insulator layer covering a portion of the electrode pattern in a display area, and an adjacent external connection terminal. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel having a projection for preventing a short circuit,
Forming an insulating material layer on the substrate on which the electrode pattern is formed, the insulating material layer including the insulator layer and extending over the display region and a terminal forming region outside the display region.
Forming a mask layer corresponding to the arrangement pattern of the protrusions by pattern exposure of a photosensitive material on the insulating material layer, and removing an exposed portion of the insulating material layer outside the display region. Forming the protrusions.

Since the projection is formed by patterning the insulator layer covering the electrode pattern, it is not necessary to provide a special insulating material layer for forming the projection.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows a PDP according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the internal structure of No. 1. PDP1 is A
This is a C-drive type surface discharge type PDP. On the inner surface of the glass substrate 11 on the front side, a pair of sustain electrodes X and Y are arranged for each matrix display line. The sustain electrodes X and Y each include a transparent conductive film 41 and a metal film 42, and are covered with a dielectric layer 17 for AC driving. On the surface of the dielectric layer 17, magnesium oxide (Mg)
A protective film 18 of O) is deposited.

On the other hand, on the inner surface of the glass substrate 21 on the back side, address electrodes A, partition walls 29, and a phosphor layer 28 for color display are provided. Each address electrode A corresponds to one column of the matrix display. The shape of each partition wall 29 in a plan view is linear. These partition walls 29 allow the discharge space 30 to be arranged in the sub-pixel E direction in the line direction of the matrix display.
U, and the gap size of the discharge space 30 is defined to a constant value. One pixel (pixel) EG of the display is
It consists of three sub-pixels EU arranged in the line direction. P
In DP1, since the arrangement pattern of the partition walls 29 is a so-called stripe pattern, the portion corresponding to each column in the discharge space 30 is continuous in the column direction across all the lines. The emission colors of the sub-pixels EU in each column are the same.

The pixel EG is substantially square, and the sub-pixel EU is a rectangle long in the column direction. For this reason, the arrangement pitch of the address electrodes A is inevitably smaller than the arrangement pitch of the sustain electrodes X and Y, and a short circuit between the terminals of the address electrodes A is likely to occur. In other words, for the sustain electrodes X and Y, a sufficiently large distance between terminals can be ensured in order to prevent a short circuit. Therefore, PDP1
In this case, it is necessary to particularly consider the short circuit between the terminals of the address electrode A.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a terminal structure of the address electrode A, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state where the address electrode A is connected to an external conductor. In FIG. 2, each address electrode A is led out to the edge of the glass substrate 21 and is formed integrally with the external connection terminal Aa. The external connection terminals Aa are arranged at equal intervals, and wall-shaped projections 51 are provided between the external connection terminals Aa to prevent a short circuit.

When the PDP 1 is used, a flexible wiring board 90 is crimped to the glass substrate 21 as shown in FIG. Terminals 92 are provided on the flexible wiring board 90 at the same pitch as the external connection terminals Aa. When overlapping the flexible wiring board 90 and the glass substrate 21,
The terminal 92 is positioned by the protrusion 51 and contacts the external connection terminal Aa. The height of the projection 51 is determined by the external connection terminal A.
a (for example, 2 μm) and the thickness of the terminal 92 (for example, 3 μm).
0 μm) (for example, 30 μm).

The PDP 1 having the above-described structure is used for each glass substrate 1
A series of steps for preparing front and rear panels by providing predetermined components separately for the components 1 and 21 and then performing sealing by overlapping the panels and filling the inside with exhaust gas and discharge gas Manufactured by Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a back panel including a process unique to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. First, an electrode pattern PA including a large number of address electrodes A having external connection terminals Aa is formed on a glass substrate 21 by patterning a metal thin film [FIG.
(A)]. In the illustrated example, each address electrode A is alternately distributed to one end and the other end in the column direction of the glass substrate 21 one by one, and the external connection terminals Aa are dispersedly arranged on both sides in the column direction. .

Next, a glass paste is applied to almost the entire surface of the glass substrate 21 and dried, and the paste layer 2 extending over the display area E1 and the terminal forming area EAa outside the display area E1.
90 are formed. At this time, the paste layer is expected to shrink in the post-process baking, so that the thickness after the baking corresponds to the height of the partition wall 29 in the display region E1 and the height of the protrusion 51 in the terminal formation region EAa. The thickness of each part of the 290 is selected (FIG. 4B). The paste layers 290 having different thicknesses depending on such portions can be easily formed by overlap printing using two screen masks having different opening sizes.

On the paste layer 290 in a dry state, for example, a resist in the form of a dry film is stuck using a laminator, and the mask layer 63 having a plan view shape corresponding to the partition wall 29 is formed by photolithography for pattern exposure and development. And mask layer 64 having a plan view shape corresponding to projection 51
Is formed (FIGS. 4C and 4D).

Subsequently, the exposed portion of the paste layer 290 is removed by sandblasting, and the paste layer 2 having a predetermined shape is removed.
9s and 51s are formed (FIG. 4E). Then, the paste layers 29 s and 51 s are fired at a time to form the partition walls 29 and the projections 51 at the same time. Thereafter, phosphors of three colors are sequentially applied one by one to complete the rear panel.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the structure of the PDP 2 according to the second embodiment. In the figure, the PDP 1 shown in FIGS.
The components having the same functions as those of the component (1) are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The basic configuration of PDP2 is the same as PDP1 described above. The structural differences between PDP2 and PDP1 are:
As shown in FIG. 5A, the address electrode A is covered with the insulator layer (dielectric) 24 and the same material as the insulator layer 24 is provided between the external connection terminals Aa of each address electrode A. The point is that the projection 52 is provided.

The protrusion 52 is a structure for preventing a short circuit between the terminals, and has a height equal to the thickness of the external connection terminal Aa (for example, 2 mm).
μm) and the thickness (eg, 3 μm) of the terminal of the flexible wiring board (not shown) (eg, 30 μm).
0 μm).

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the manufacturing method according to the second embodiment. First, an electrode pattern PA including a predetermined number of address electrodes A having external connection terminals Aa is formed on a glass substrate 21 by patterning a metal thin film (FIG. 6A). In the illustrated example, each address electrode A is alternately distributed to one end and the other end in the column direction of the glass substrate 21 one by one, and the external connection terminals Aa are dispersedly arranged on both sides in the column direction. .

Next, a glass paste is applied to almost the entire surface of the glass substrate 21 and baked, so that the glass layer 240 extending over the display area E1 and the terminal formation area EAa outside the display area E1.
To form At this time, shrinkage due to baking is expected, and the thickness after baking corresponds to the thickness (for example, 10 μm) of the insulator layer 24 in the display region E1, and the protrusion 52 in the terminal formation region EAa.
The thickness of each part of the glass layer 240 is selected so as to correspond to the height [FIG. 6 (B)]. That is, the glass layer 240 is a layer including the insulator layer 24. The glass layers 240 having different thicknesses depending on such portions can be easily formed by overlapping printing of a glass paste using two screen masks having different opening patterns.

The partition 29 is formed on the glass layer 240 (FIGS. 6C and 6D). The procedure of formation is as follows. The glass paste is applied uniformly and dried.
A mask layer having a predetermined pattern is provided by photolithography. The paste layer is patterned by sandblasting. The paste layer after patterning is fired.

After forming the partition wall 29, an acid-resistant resist is applied on the glass layer 240, and pattern exposure is performed to provide a mask layer 65 having a plan view shape corresponding to the projection 52 (FIG. 6E). . Then, one end and the other end of the glass substrate 21 in the column direction are sequentially immersed in an etching solution such as a nitric acid solution to remove unnecessary portions of the glass layer 240 to form the projections 52 (FIG. 6). (F)]. Thereafter, phosphors of three colors are sequentially applied one by one to complete the rear panel.

When the glass layer 240 is used as a layer for preventing the address electrode A from being oxidized in the manufacturing stage, the phosphor layer 28 is formed after the mask layer 65 is formed before the glass layer 240 is etched. And sealing of the pair of glass substrates 11 and 21 is completed. Mask layer 65
By using a heat-resistant resist as the material of the mask layer, deterioration of the mask layer 65 due to heat treatment at the time of sealing can be avoided. After the sealing, the projections 52 are formed by partially etching the glass layer 240. When the address electrode A is made of a material such as aluminum which is hardly oxidized, there is no problem even if the substrate is sealed after the projections 52 are formed as described above.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the protrusion 5 is provided between the external connection terminals Aa of the address electrode A.
1, 52, but the sustain electrodes X, Y
May be provided. In this case, the process can be shared for the dielectric layer 17 and the projection.

[0030]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention,
A special process for providing a projection for preventing a short circuit between terminals can be reduced as much as possible, and PDP productivity can be increased.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the lithography process can be shared for the partition and the projection, so that a high-definition PDP having fine projections can be manufactured without providing a special process. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an internal structure of a PDP according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a terminal structure of an address electrode.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state where an address electrode and an external conductor are connected.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the manufacturing method according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a PDP 2 according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a manufacturing method according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 PDP (Plasma Display Panel) 29 Partition wall 24 Insulator layer 51, 52 Projection 63, 64 Mask layer 65 Mask layer 240 Glass layer (insulating material layer) 290 Paste layer (insulating material layer) Aa External connection terminal E1 Display area EAa terminal formation area PA electrode pattern

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a plasma display panel, comprising: an electrode pattern including external connection terminals arranged in one direction; a partition for partitioning a display area; and a projection for preventing a short circuit between adjacent external connection terminals. Forming, on the substrate on which the electrode pattern is formed, an insulating material layer extending over the display region and a terminal forming region outside the display region; and forming a photosensitive layer on the insulating material layer. Forming a mask layer corresponding to the arrangement pattern of the partition walls and the projections by pattern exposure of a material; and removing the exposed portions of the insulating material layer to simultaneously form the partition walls and the projections. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, comprising: 2. An electrode pattern including external connection terminals arranged in one direction, an insulator layer covering a part of the electrode pattern in a display area, and a projection for preventing a short circuit between adjacent external connection terminals. A method for manufacturing a plasma display panel, comprising: a substrate including the insulator layer, the layer including the insulator layer, and straddling the display region and a terminal formation region outside the substrate. Forming an insulating material layer that spreads out, and forming a mask layer corresponding to the arrangement pattern of the protrusions by pattern exposure of a photosensitive material on the insulating material layer; and Removing the exposed portion outside the display area to form the projection.