JPH11295755A - Method for inspecting wiring board and manufacture of liquid crystal device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect each wiring pattern by bringing an inspection probe into contact with each wiring pattern even when the wiring pattern is fine-pitched. SOLUTION: This method for inspecting a wiring board 12a on which terminal parts 8 to be connected to plural wiring patterns 7a with a narrow pitch as adjoining each other. The wiring patterns 7a are formed so that adjoining terminals of the terminal parts 8 of the plural wiring patterns differ from each other in length, and inspection is carried out by shifting the position of the inspection probe for letting it contact with the plural terminal parts 8 adjoining each other and being different in length. Since the inspection probe is allowed to take a long pitch even the terminal parts 8 are fine-pitched, the inspection is easily carried out by using the probe.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a wiring board provided with a wiring pattern and a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Wiring boards provided with wiring patterns are widely used in various industrial fields. For example, in the field of liquid crystal devices, this liquid crystal device generally includes a pair of substrates provided with electrodes as wiring patterns, and liquid crystal sealed between the substrates.

In the manufacturing process for manufacturing this liquid crystal device, it is determined whether a short circuit has occurred between a plurality of electrodes, whether a desired display can be obtained when a predetermined voltage is applied to each electrode, and the like. Need to be inspected. Such an inspection is generally performed by bringing an inspection probe into contact with the tip portions of the plurality of electrodes, that is, terminal portions, and applying a voltage to each electrode through the inspection probes.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional inspection method can be performed without any problem when the interval between a plurality of electrode terminals, that is, the pitch between terminals is large, for example, about 0.5 mm or more. Can be. However, recently, a fine pitch of 0.2 mm or less and 0.15 mm or less has been required as a terminal pitch,
Actually, such fine-pitch electrode patterns are being manufactured.

In the above-described conventional inspection method, a plurality of inspection probes are simply arranged in parallel and they are brought into contact with a plurality of electrode terminals. In addition, there has been a problem that it is impossible to make each inspection probe contact an individual electrode terminal due to space restrictions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a conventional structure is provided between a plurality of wiring patterns formed at a fine pitch by adding a simple device to a terminal portion of the wiring pattern. It is an object of the present invention to allow an inspection to be performed by bringing the inspection probe into contact.

[0007]

(1) In order to achieve the above object, a method of inspecting a wiring board according to the present invention is directed to an inspection of a wiring board in which a plurality of wiring patterns are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other at a narrow interval. The method, wherein the wiring patterns are formed such that adjacent ones of the terminal parts of the plurality of wiring patterns have different lengths, and a plurality of terminal parts adjacent to each other and having different lengths are formed. It is characterized in that the inspection is performed by shifting the inspection probe in position and bringing it into contact.

According to this inspection method, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, even when the pitch t between the terminals of the terminal portions 18 of the wiring patterns adjacent to each other is very small, that is, even when the pitch is fine, Length La and L
b are different from each other, and the test probes are not in contact with their terminals 18 in a parallel arrangement, but are displaced in the longitudinal direction of the terminals 18 as indicated by reference numerals P1 and P2. In such a state, they come into contact with those terminal portions 18. Therefore, the distance between the pair of inspection probes placed at the contact points P1 and P2 can be increased, and
The terminal portion formed at a fine pitch can be accurately inspected using an inspection probe having a conventional structure.

(2) In the inspection method having the above-described structure, the terminal portions 18 of the plurality of wiring patterns can be formed so as to have a large end portion 18a as shown in FIG. If the above-mentioned tip portion 18a having a large area is used as a portion for contacting the inspection pattern,
The inspection probe can be easily brought into contact with the terminal portion 18.

(3) Next, in the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention, a first substrate provided with electrodes, a second substrate provided with electrodes and opposed to the first substrate, a first substrate and a second substrate are provided. 2
A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device for manufacturing a liquid crystal device including a liquid crystal sealed between a substrate and a substrate, wherein a first area having a size including a plurality of the first substrates is provided.
Forming a plurality of electrodes on the substrate base material and / or a second substrate base material having an area of a size including a plurality of the second substrates so that adjacent terminal portions have different lengths from each other; An inspection step in which an inspection probe is brought into contact with a plurality of terminals having different lengths so as to be in contact with each other and inspected, and after the inspection is completed, the first substrate base material and / or the second substrate base material are cut. And a substrate breaking step of adjusting the lengths of the terminal portions adjacent to each other.

According to this manufacturing method, even when the pitch between the electrode terminals is very small, the lengths of the electrode terminals are made different, so that the distance between the positions at which the inspection probe comes into contact with the adjacent electrode terminals is changed. Can be made large, so that the conventional inspection probe can be brought into contact between the fine pitch electrode terminals without any problem.

Further, the electrode terminals having different lengths are adjusted to the same length by cutting the substrate base material after the inspection process, so that the dimensions of the finally obtained electrode pattern are not affected.

(4) In the above-described method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device, the terminal portions of the plurality of electrodes can be formed so as to have a tip portion having a large area. The use of the above-described large end portion as a portion for contacting the inspection pattern allows the inspection probe to easily contact the terminal portion.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a liquid crystal device manufactured by a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention. This liquid crystal device includes a wiring substrate to be inspected by the wiring substrate inspection method according to the present invention.

The liquid crystal device 1 includes a first substrate 2a, a second substrate 2b, and an annular sealing material 3 for joining the substrates together. First substrate 2a and second substrate 2
b is formed of a translucent material such as glass or plastic. A minute gap, a so-called cell gap, is formed between the first substrate 2a and the second substrate 2b, and the liquid crystal 4 is sealed in the cell gap. Polarizing plates 6 and 6 are attached to outer surfaces of the first substrate 2a and the second substrate 2b.

On the inner surface of the first substrate 2a, a plurality of linear first electrodes 7a are formed in parallel with each other. Also, a plurality of external connection terminals 8 are formed in parallel with each other at a portion of the first substrate 2a that protrudes outside the opposing second substrate 2b. These external connection terminals 8 are used to make an electrical connection with an external circuit for driving the liquid crystal device 1. For example, a TCP (Tape) on which a liquid crystal driving IC 9 is mounted is used. Carrier Package)
11 is connected as needed. On the inner surface of the second substrate 2b facing the first substrate 2a, a plurality of linear second electrodes 7b are formed in parallel with each other so as to be orthogonal to the first electrodes 7a.

In an actual liquid crystal device, the first electrode 7a, the second
An extremely large number of electrodes 7b and external connection terminals 8 are respectively formed on the substrate 2a or the substrate 2b.
In the figure, not all of them are shown for easy understanding of the structure, but some of the many are shown.

The first electrode 7a on the first substrate 2a is directly connected to the external connection terminal 8, and the second electrode 7b on the second substrate 2b is disposed between the first substrate 2a and the second substrate 2b. Through the conducting material (not shown). In FIG. 1, illustration of these connection structures is omitted.

On the inner surfaces of the first substrate 2a and the second substrate 2b, an alignment film (not shown) is formed so as to overlap the first electrode 7a or the second electrode 7b. For example, a rubbing process is performed.

By configuring the liquid crystal device 1 as described above, an external circuit is connected to the external connection terminal 8 using a wiring member such as a TCP 11 or the like, and a plurality of first circuits are connected based on an instruction from the external circuit. Electrode 7a and a plurality of second electrodes 7b
If a predetermined ON voltage or a predetermined OFF voltage is applied between them, the orientation of the liquid crystal contained in the pixel formed by the intersection of the electrodes 7a and 7b can be controlled.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing method for manufacturing the liquid crystal device 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to an embodiment. First, as shown in FIG. 2, a first substrate base material 12 a having a size including a plurality of first substrates 2 a in the embodiment is prepared for a plurality of liquid crystal devices. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, a second substrate base material 12b having a size including the same number (that is, four) of second substrates 2b is prepared.

Next, in step S1 of FIG. 4, the first electrodes 7a and the external connection terminals 8 for four liquid crystal devices are formed on the surface of the first substrate base material 12a (see FIG. 2). An alignment film is formed in a uniform thickness over the entire area of each liquid crystal device portion over the one electrode 7a (step S2), and the alignment films are subjected to a rubbing treatment (step S3). The material 3 is formed by screen printing or the like (Step S4). Reference numeral 14 denotes a liquid crystal injection port for injecting liquid crystal.

Each external connection terminal 8 is formed to be longer than the regular length N shown in FIG. 1, and as shown in FIG. 6, the lengths of the terminals 8 adjacent to each other are indicated by reference numerals La and Lb. As such, they are formed in different lengths. In addition, each terminal 8
A tip 8a having a large area is formed at the tip of.

While the predetermined processing is performed on the first substrate preform 12a as described above, the following processing is performed on the second substrate preform 12b shown in FIG. That is, in step S5 of FIG.
The second electrodes 7b for four liquid crystal devices are formed on the surface of the liquid crystal device, and an alignment film is further formed on the second electrodes 7b to have a uniform thickness over the entire liquid crystal device portion (step S6). ),
Further, a rubbing process is performed on those alignment films (step S7).

After the first substrate preform 12a and the second substrate preform 12b are subjected to predetermined processing as described above, the two substrates are pasted together in step S8, and the sealing material 3 is cured in step S9. . If the sealing material 3 is a thermosetting type, the sealing material 3 is cured by heating, and if the sealing material 3 is an ultraviolet curing type, the sealing material 3 is cured by irradiation of ultraviolet rays. The hardening of the sealing material 3 causes the base material 12
a and 12b are firmly adhered to each other, and the sealing material 3 is formed in an annular shape with no gap. From the above,
A large-area panel frame including a plurality of panel structures of the liquid crystal device is formed.

Next, in step S10, a primary break is executed. That is, the large-area panel frame formed as described above has reference numerals L1 to L8 in FIGS.
A groove for cutting, a so-called scribe groove, is formed at the position indicated by, and the large area panel frame is cut from the scribe groove by hitting or pressing each of the substrate base materials 12a and 12b. As a result, a panel frame having a medium area, that is, a so-called strip-shaped panel frame in a state where the liquid crystal injection port 14 (see FIG. 2) of the sealing material 3 is exposed to the outside is formed.

In this primary break, the second substrate base material 12 on the side where the external connection terminals 8 are not formed is formed.
A scribe line is formed at positions indicated by reference numerals L15, L16, L17 and L18 with respect to b, and the glass substrate at that portion is removed. Thereby, the opposing first substrate base material 12a
The terminal 8 formed thereon is exposed to the outside.

Thereafter, a primary inspection is performed using these terminals 8 (step 11). Specifically, in FIG. 6, a point P at the tip 8a of the terminal 8 adjacent to each other is set.
An inspection probe is brought into contact with each of 1 and P2.
The positions of P1 and P2 are in a positional relationship shifted in the longitudinal direction of the terminal 8 as compared with the positions P3 and P4 when the inspection probes are simply arranged side by side and in contact with each other. Is larger than the interval between P3 and P4. As a result, even if the pitch t between the terminals 8 is small, the interval between the inspection probes can be increased.

The inspection performed by the primary inspection is, for example, an inspection for determining whether a short circuit has occurred between the terminals 8, between the electrodes 7a, and between the electrodes 7b.
A predetermined voltage is applied between the inspection probes to check for a short circuit. If no short defect is found by this inspection, the process proceeds to the next step S12.

In step S12, liquid crystal is injected into each liquid crystal device through the liquid crystal injection port 14 exposed to the outside, and after the injection is completed, the liquid crystal injection port 14 is sealed with resin (step S13).

Thereafter, a secondary inspection is performed in step S14. At this point, since the liquid crystal has already been filled in the panel frame, the test probes are brought into contact with the respective terminals 8 and a predetermined voltage is applied to the respective terminals 8 through the test probes, thereby making it possible to obtain characters and numerals. , A picture or the like is actually displayed, and the quality of the visible image is inspected. Also in this secondary inspection, the inspection probes come in contact with the points P1 and P2 in FIG. 6, that is, between two points having a large interval. Therefore, even when the terminal-to-terminal pitch t is very small, each inspection probe is connected to an individual one. The terminal 8 can be accurately contacted.

If no display defect is found by the above inspection, the flow advances to the next step S15 to execute a secondary break. In this secondary break step, reference numeral L1 in FIG.
Scribe grooves are formed at positions indicated by 1 to L14, and the medium-area panel frame is cut from the scribe grooves. As a result, a liquid crystal panel corresponding to one liquid crystal device is prepared, and a polarizing plate is pasted on both front and back surfaces of the liquid crystal panel (step S16).
By mounting the TCP 11 shown in (1), one liquid crystal device 1 is completed.

By cutting the substrate base material 12a at the scribe lines L12 and L14, all the terminals 8 which were longer than the regular length N until then are cut to the regular length N.
Aligned to.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and can be variously modified within the scope of the invention described in the claims.

For example, in the above description, the case where the method for inspecting a wiring board according to the present invention is executed as one step constituting a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device has been exemplified. The present invention is not limited to the liquid crystal device and can be applied to any other wiring substrate. In the embodiment of FIG.
Although the inspection process using the inspection probe is performed twice, only one of them may be performed.

[0036]

According to the method for inspecting a wiring board and the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device of the present invention, the lengths of adjacent terminals are different from each other, and the inspection probes are arranged in a parallel arrangement. Instead of contacting the parts, they come into contact with their terminals in a positionally displaced state, so that they can be brought into contact with fine-pitch terminals in a state in which the distance between adjacent inspection probes is greatly separated. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a liquid crystal device manufactured using a method for inspecting a wiring board and a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of a first substrate base material.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of a second substrate base material.

FIG. 4 is a process chart showing one embodiment of a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a terminal portion of a wiring pattern used in the method of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing another embodiment of a terminal portion of a wiring pattern used in the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid crystal device 2a 1st substrate 2b 2nd substrate 3 Sealing material 4 Liquid crystal 6 Polarizer 7a 1st electrode 7b 2nd electrode 8 External connection terminal 12a 1st substrate base material 12b 2nd substrate base material 14 Liquid crystal inlet L1 L18 scribe groove

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of inspecting a wiring board in which a plurality of wiring patterns are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other at a narrow interval, wherein adjacent terminals among terminal portions of the plurality of wiring patterns have different lengths. A method of inspecting a wiring board, comprising: forming a wiring pattern on a substrate; 2. The method for inspecting a wiring board according to claim 1, wherein the terminal portions of the plurality of wiring patterns have a tip portion having a large area. 3. A structure including a first substrate provided with electrodes, a second substrate provided with electrodes and facing the first substrate, and a liquid crystal sealed between the first substrate and the second substrate. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device for manufacturing a liquid crystal device, comprising: a first substrate base material having an area having a size including a plurality of the first substrates and / or an area having a size including a plurality of the second substrates. Forming a plurality of electrodes on the second substrate base material having different lengths of adjacent terminal portions, and positioning an inspection probe on the plurality of terminal portions adjacent to each other and having different lengths. An inspection step of performing inspection by making contact with the substrate by shifting the substrate, and a substrate breaking step of cutting the first substrate base material and / or the second substrate base material after the inspection to equalize the lengths of the terminal portions adjacent to each other. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device, comprising: 4. The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to claim 3, wherein the terminal portions of the plurality of electrodes have tips having a large area.