KR100278785B1 - Manufacturing method of bulkhead of plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing partition walls of a plasma display panel.

In the method of manufacturing a partition wall of the plasma display panel of the present invention, after forming a groove, an isotropic etching is performed to form a partition wall having a height greater than a width.

In the method for manufacturing a partition wall of the PDP according to the present invention, it is possible to form a partition wall having a high aspect ratio with high definition by isotropic etching after forming a groove.

Description

Method of Fabricating Barrier Ribs in Plasma Display Panel

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel display, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing partition walls of a plasma display panel.

Plasma Display Panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") is a display that displays characters or graphics by using light generated by excitation of phosphors by 147 nm ultraviolet rays generated during discharge of He + Xe or Ne + Xe gas. In addition, the film has been attracting attention as a next-generation display because it is not only easy to thin and large in size but also greatly improves image quality and competitiveness in cost due to recent technology development. In this PDP, pixels are arranged in a matrix, and each pixel cell is combined into three sub-discharge cells of red green blue to generate a color signal of red green blue. PDPs are roughly classified into direct current (DC) type with large discharges and alternating current (AC) type with surface discharges. The plasma display device of the AC type is a driving method that has attracted attention because of the advantages of low power consumption and lifetime compared to the DC method. The surface discharge type PDP of the AC method can be seen in FIG. 1, which is composed of an upper plate and a lower plate, and the upper plate is parallel to the sustain electrode pair 6 and the sustain electrode pair 6 formed on the upper glass substrate 2. A bus electrode 10 to be formed, a dielectric layer 14 formed on the surface of the bus electrode 10 and the upper glass substrate 2, and an MgO protective film 16 formed on the dielectric layer 14 are provided. The sustain electrode pairs 6 are electrodes which sustain a discharge by performing a counter discharge as the transparent electrode ITO. The bus electrode 10 in parallel contact with the sustain electrode pair 6 serves to lower the discharge voltage by reducing the electrical resistance of the sustain electrode pair 6. The bus electrode 10 is made of Cr / Cu / Cr material and is formed by being deposited or etched side by side on the sustain electrode 6. The dielectric layer 14 serves to protect the sustain electrode pair 6 from discharge, and wall charges are accumulated during discharge. This dielectric layer 14 is applied by a screen printing method. The protective layer 16 is made of MgO to serve to protect the dielectric layer 14 from discharge, and is deposited on the dielectric layer 14 by about 2000 Å. The lower plate includes an address electrode 8 formed on the lower glass substrate 4 so as to be orthogonal to the sustain electrode pair 6, a second dielectric layer 5 applied on the lower glass substrate 4 and the address electrode 8, and an address. A partition 12 extending vertically from the surface of the lower glass substrate 4 with the electrode 8 interposed therebetween, and a phosphor 18 applied to the partition 12 and the lower glass substrate 4 are provided. The upper and lower glass substrates 2 and 4 are made of soda lime silicate. The address electrode 8 serves to select a discharge cell to be scanned by supplying data to face one discharge electrode 6. This address electrode 8 is printed on the lower glass substrate 4 by a screen printing method. The phosphor 18 is excited and emitted by ultraviolet rays generated by discharge to generate visible light of red green blue (RGB) in each subcell. The partition wall 12 maintains a discharge distance between the upper and lower glass substrates 2 and 4 and prevents electrical and optical crosstalk between adjacent pixel cells or subcells. The discharge space can be enlarged by increasing the height / width ratio (hereinafter referred to as an "spectral ratio") of the partition 12. Accordingly, in order to improve luminance and discharge efficiency in PDPs, the production of bulkheads having a large aspect ratio (that is, bulkheads having a height greater than the width) has emerged as an important issue. Partition formation is the most important step for display quality and efficiency in the manufacturing process of PDP. As panels are enlarged and fixed in size, various studies on barrier formation technology have been made. As the barrier rib forming method which is generally used, a sand blasting method, a screen printing method, a photo etching method, and the like are used.

Among these barrier rib forming methods, the sand blasting method forms an address electrode 8 and a dielectric layer 5 on a glass substrate 4 and screen-prints a partition paste on the glass substrate 4 or a green tape for barrier ribs. After attaching and heat treatment, a stripe-type mask pattern is attached thereon, and then fine sand particles are sprayed at high speed on the mask pattern to form a partition wall. Here, the perforated part of the mask pattern becomes a discharge cell space by fine sand particles, and the part where the mask pattern exists becomes the partition 12. In the sand blasting method, when the sanding depth is deepened to manufacture the partition wall 12 of high definition, the thickness of the entire partition wall 12 becomes thick. As can be seen in Figure 2a due to the nature of the sand blasting method, the thickness of the top of the partition 12 is about 6% thicker than the thickness of the middle and the thickness of the bottom is about 80-90% thicker than the thickness of the center. Therefore, when the partition 12 is formed by the sand blasting method, it is difficult to obtain a large aspect ratio and the discharge cell space is reduced. In addition, the sand blasting method has a problem that can cause cracks during firing because the cost of investment in equipment, the process is complicated, and the physical impact on the lower glass substrate 4 is large.

In the screen printing method, an address electrode 8 and a dielectric layer 5 are formed on a glass substrate 4, a stripe-shaped mask pattern is attached thereon, and the barrier glass 12 is repeatedly printed by screen printing the partition wall 12. As a stacking method, the portion where the mask pattern is present becomes the discharge cell space, and the portion where the mask pattern does not exist becomes the partition 12. In the screen printing method, the height of the partition wall 12 formed at the time of printing once is about 20 to 30 μm. After drying and aligning the same, the dodging screen printing process is repeated to form the partition wall 12 having a desired height. After the heat treatment. In order to fabricate the bulkhead 12 having a height of 200 μm or more by using the screen printing method, not only the number of printing is increased but also the width of the bottom becomes wider as shown in FIG. 2B, so that it is difficult to obtain a large aspect ratio. There is a disadvantage that the discharge cell space is reduced. In addition, the screen printing method is necessary to repeat the position adjustment of the screen and the lower glass substrate 4 each time, and the process of repeating the printing and drying is required because of excessive time wasted, as well as inefficient positioning Since the position is often displaced, the partition shape may be distorted, which is not suitable for a high resolution PDP.

In the photo etching method, the address electrode 8 and the dielectric layer 5 are formed on the glass substrate 4, and the screen paste of the partition glass paste or the green tape for partition walls are attached thereon, followed by heat treatment to attach a stripe-type mask pattern. Next, it is a method of forming a partition by etching into the etching liquid and etching the perforated part of a mask pattern. Here, the part in which the mask pattern exists becomes the partition 12. However, referring to FIG. 2B, when the photo-etching method is applied with photo-resist (PR) as a mask pattern and the etching is performed in the same direction, the etching is performed to the depth as much as the gap between the openings in the photoresist pattern. If it is further progressed, the thickness (particularly, the thickness of the top) of the partition 12 is thinned. In order to form the high partition wall 12 using the photo etching method, the gap (width) of the drilled portion of the photoresist should be widened by that much, but it is difficult to form the large aspect ratio / fixed partition wall 12.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a partition wall of a PDP in which a partition wall having a high aspect ratio of high definition is formed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a partition wall of a PDP to improve brightness.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a partition wall of a PDP to improve luminous efficiency.

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional plasma display panel.

2a to 2c is a view showing a partition formed by conventional partition wall manufacturing methods.

3A to 3E are flowcharts illustrating a method of manufacturing a partition wall of a plasma display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 4a to 4d is a process diagram showing in detail the groove and the etching process shown in FIG.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

2: upper glass substrate 4: lower glass substrate

5,14 dielectric layer 6: sustaining electrode pair

8 address electrode 10 bus electrode

12,22: bulkhead 16: shield

18: phosphor 20: groove

24: glass paste for partition formation 26: photoresist pattern

28: nickname

In order to achieve the above object, the barrier rib manufacturing method of the PDP of the present invention is to form a groove and then isotropically etched to form a barrier having a height larger than the width.

The method of manufacturing a barrier rib of the PDP of the present invention includes the steps of forming a barrier material on a glass substrate, forming at least one groove in the barrier material, forming a mask pattern on the barrier material, and forming a barrier material. Etching the solution to isotropic etching for a predetermined time to form a partition wall.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above objects will become apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3A to 3E are flowcharts illustrating a method of manufacturing a PDP according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and show a method of manufacturing a lower plate for forming a partition wall.

In FIG. 3A, the address electrode 8 is printed on the lower glass substrate 4 and fired. In FIG. 3B, the barrier rib-forming glass paste 24 is front printed (beta printed) (or adhered to the barrier green tape) on the address electrode 8 and the lower glass substrate 4, and then dried and heat treated. In FIG. 3C, a stripe-shaped groove 20 is formed on the surface of the barrier rib-forming glass paste 24. Here, as the method of forming the groove 20, a screen printing method, a mechanical processing method or a laser processing may be used. Although a suitable method can be used according to the size and shape of the grooves 20, the screen printing method for forming the grooves 20 at the same time when printing the partition forming glass paste 24 is the most economical since no additional process is required. And simple way. In FIG. 3D, a photoresist pattern is formed in a strip shape between the grooves 20 in the barrier rib forming glass paste 24, and the desired barrier rib 22 is formed by eroding the etching solution for a predetermined time. At this time, the etching proceeds in the same direction from the surface of the groove 20, so that the partition wall 22 having a large aspect ratio is formed. In FIG. 3E, when the phosphor 18 is applied to the discharge cell space provided by the partition 12, the lower plate is completed. The lower plate is bonded to the upper plate shown in FIG. 1, and then, when the dischargeable gas is injected and enclosed in the discharge cell space, the PDP is completed.

4A to 4D are flowcharts illustrating the grooves and the etching process in detail.

In order to obtain the partition 22 for the final purpose, the etching amount X in the width direction and the etching amount Y in the depth direction must be the same from the surface of the groove 22. Referring to FIG. 4A, the etching amount X = Ww in the width direction and the etching amount Y = Hh in the depth direction Here, since the etching proceeds in the equal direction, the etching amount X in the width direction and the etching amount Y in the depth direction are the same (X = Y), so Ww = Hh. Therefore, the size of the groove 20 can be easily determined if only one of the width or depth of the desired discharge cell is determined. Even when the etching rate differs between the depth direction and the width direction, the size of the groove 22 can be determined by considering the respective speeds. When the size of the groove 20 is determined, the groove 20 is formed in the glass paste 24 for forming the partition by simultaneously forming the barrier rib forming glass paste 24 by screen printing or by mechanical or laser processing. To form. Then, after the photoresist pattern is printed between the groove 20 and the groove 20, etching is started by eroding the lower plate in the etching solution 28 for a predetermined time in FIG. 4B. The etching proceeds in the same direction at the bottom and side surfaces of the grooves 20. 4C and 4D, when the lower plate is removed from the etch solution 28 after a predetermined time has elapsed, only the lower portion of the photoresist pattern 26 remains, and finally, the barrier 22 is removed by removing the photoresist pattern 26. This is done.

On the other hand, in the case of forming the partition wall by the screen printing method, the printed pattern is narrow, the height that can be printed at a time is low, and in order to form the partition wall having a height of about 120 μm, printing about 10 times should be repeated. In contrast, when the groove is formed by screen printing as in the present invention, the width of the mask pattern is narrow and the surface to be printed is widened, so that the thickness that can be printed at one time becomes much thicker, thereby reducing the number of processes.

The barrier rib formed by the barrier rib manufacturing method according to the present invention has a large aspect ratio, so that the barrier rib is suitable for a high-vision PDP for which a narrow cell pitch and a high barrier rib are required. In addition, since the partition wall formed by the partition wall manufacturing method according to the present invention has a large aspect ratio, it is possible to use a positive column having high efficiency when emitting light due to discharge by increasing the discharge path in the discharge cell. .

As described above, the PDP partition wall manufacturing method according to the present invention can form a partition wall having a high aspect ratio of high definition by isotropic etching after forming the groove. PDP bulkhead manufacturing method according to the present invention is capable of forming a partition having a large aspect ratio (height greater than the width) to increase the area inside the cell to which the phosphor is applied at the same cell pitch can be applied as many phosphors In addition, the discharge space becomes wider, and thus the luminance is greatly improved during light emission. Furthermore, the barrier rib manufacturing method of the PDP according to the present invention enables the formation of barrier ribs having a large aspect ratio, which leads to a long discharge path, so that not only a glow discharge but also a positive beam region can be used during discharge, thereby improving luminous efficiency. Will be.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (5)

A barrier rib manufacturing method of a plasma display panel, wherein a barrier rib having a height greater than a width is formed by isotropic etching after the groove is formed. Depositing a barrier material on a glass substrate; Forming at least one groove in the barrier material; Forming a mask pattern on the barrier material; And forming a barrier rib by isotropically etching the barrier material in an etching solution for a predetermined time. The method of claim 2, Setting the size of the groove based on the size of the discharge cell; Removing the mask pattern after etching; The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a phosphor to the partition wall. The method of claim 2, The groove is formed by any one of screen printing, mechanical processing and processing using a laser partition wall manufacturing method of the plasma display panel. The method of claim 2, And the groove is formed when the barrier material is screen printed.