KR100297399B1 - Device and method for manufacturing liquid crystal alignment film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A manufacturing device of an alignment film for liquid crystal and a method thereof are provided to reduce the generation of reject due to the static electricity and obtain clean alignment film by evaporating orientation material on a substrate while rectilinearly reciprocating and rotating the substrate entirely in a vacuum state. CONSTITUTION: A manufacturing device of an alignment film for liquid crystal includes a boat(24) mounted at a lower part in a vacuum chamber to heat orientation material to form vapor, a shutter(23) mounted at an upper part of the boat for controlling an introducing amount of the vapor, a substrate holder(21) mounted at an upper part in the vacuum chamber for mounting a substrate(22), a pull-push linear feed through(26) and a guide(27) connected to the substrate holder for rectilinearly reciprocating the substrate holder, a rotational feed through(29) and a guide(28) connected to the substrate holder for rotating the substrate holder, and a thickness monitor(25) mounted to a side surface of the substrate holder for monitoring a thickness of an alignment film formed on the substrate.

Description

Apparatus and Method for Manufacturing Liquid Crystal Alignment Film

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a vacuum deposition apparatus for producing a conventional liquid crystal alignment film.

2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a vacuum deposition apparatus for producing a liquid crystal alignment film according to the present invention.

＊ Explanation of symbols on main parts of drawing

10,20: vacuum chamber 11,21: substrate holder

12,22: substrate 13,23: shutter

14, 24: boat 15, 25: thickness gauge

16: mask

26: push-pull straight supply

27: reciprocating linear motion guide

28: rotary motion guide 29: rotary supply path

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal alignment film essential for aligning liquid crystals of a liquid crystal display, and in particular, to reciprocate linear motion and rotational motion by avoiding the concept of a fixed substrate installed inside a conventional vacuum deposition apparatus. The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and a method for manufacturing the liquid crystal alignment layer without applying a rubbing technique by aligning the alignment materials in a predetermined direction by transferring the momentum in the direction of movement through.

Generally, a thin film process is required to manufacture a liquid crystal alignment film for orienting liquid crystals in a liquid crystal display.

As a method for manufacturing the thin film, there are various methods such as spin coating, LB coating, and vacuum deposition using a vacuum deposition apparatus.

The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal alignment film using a vacuum deposition apparatus of the above methods, the conventional vacuum deposition apparatus has a structure as shown in FIG.

The structure of the vacuum deposition apparatus of FIG. 1 is provided with a boat 14 containing a material of a liquid crystal alignment film to be vacuum deposited at the lower portion of the vacuum chamber 10, and is deposited on the upper portion having a constant distance from the boat 14. A shutter 13 is provided for adjusting the field at which steam is introduced into the upper portion.

In addition, a substrate holder 11 for mounting the substrate 12 is installed at an upper portion of the vacuum chamber 10, and a substrate 12 is disposed below the substrate 12 installed at the substrate holder 11. A mask 16 for coating only a desired portion of the image is provided, and a thickness meter 15 for measuring the thickness of the liquid crystal alignment layer deposited on the substrate 11 is provided on the side of the substrate holder 11.

In the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal alignment film using a conventional vacuum deposition apparatus having the above structure, the liquid crystal alignment material to be vacuum deposited is filled in the boat 14 inside the vacuum chamber 10, and the substrate 12 is placed on the substrate holder 11. After self-fixing, the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is made into a vacuum state.

Next, in order to deposit a liquid crystal alignment film on a desired portion of the substrate 12 mounted on the substrate holder 11, a mask 16 is provided on the substrate 12, and the upper portion of the boat 14 provided below is provided. While controlling the amount of vapor inflow of the alignment material deposited by the shutter 13, the thickness of the thin film deposited by the thickness gauge 15 provided on the side of the substrate holder 11 was deposited to a desired thickness.

The liquid crystal alignment film prepared by the above-described method was separated from the substrate holder 11 of the vacuum deposition apparatus in order to align the liquid crystal, thereby preparing a liquid crystal alignment film using a rubbing method.

In this case, the rubbing method is a method in which the glass substrate is oriented in a predetermined direction by a cloth or the like, and the long axis of the liquid crystal molecules is aligned in a predetermined direction. The rubbing orientation is caused by shear stress. The surface of the alignment film is elongated and the major axis direction of the polymer is oriented in the rubbing direction.

However, the manufacturing of the liquid crystal alignment film by the above-described method has a problem in that the manufacturing process is complicated and the manufacturing cost is increased by performing two processes, an alignment film manufacturing process in a vacuum deposition apparatus and an alignment process of alignment film molecules by a subsequent rubbing method.

In addition, due to the static electricity generated by arranging the molecules of the liquid crystal alignment layer through the rubbing method, there is a problem in that generation of defective products increases due to adsorption of dust and the like.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention installs a substrate holder capable of linear reciprocation and rotational movement in place of the substrate fixed in the conventional vacuum deposition equipment, and transfers the momentum in the movement direction to the substrate through the substrate holder. By simplifying the liquid crystal alignment film, the manufacturing process can be simplified, the cost can be reduced, and the purpose of minimizing the occurrence of defective products.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is installed in the lower portion of the inside of the vacuum chamber is a boat for inserting the alignment material and heating to form steam, and the amount of steam installed in the upper portion of the boat introduced from the boat into the upper portion A substrate holder for mounting a mounting door substrate on top of the shutter and the vacuum chamber, and a pull-pull linear feedthrough connected to the substrate holder to linearly reciprocate the substrate holder. ), A guide, a rotational feedthrough and a guide connected to the substrate holder to rotate the substrate holder, and a thickness of the alignment film formed on the substrate installed on the side of the substrate holder. Characterized in that the liquid crystal alignment film manufacturing apparatus comprising a thickness measuring device for.

The method may further include mounting a substrate in a substrate holder inside the vacuum chamber, filling the boat with the alignment material in the boat chamber, and vacuuming the inside of the vacuum chamber; and supplying power to the boat to supply the boat. Reciprocating linear movement and rotational movement of the substrate holder in a desired direction while heating, and monitoring the thickness of the alignment film deposited on the substrate through a thickness gauge while controlling the amount of vapor generated in the boat with the shutter on the boat. And depositing an alignment layer to a desired thickness, and then turning off the boat after the alignment layer is deposited to a desired thickness.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 shows a vacuum deposition apparatus, which is an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal alignment film, according to the present invention. The bottom of the vacuum chamber 20 is filled with an alignment material and supplied with power to heat the boat for generating steam of the alignment material. 24 is provided, and the shutter 23 is provided in the upper part of the said boat 24 to adjust the amount which steam enters in an upper part.

In addition, a substrate holder 21 for mounting the substrate 22 is installed on the inside of the vacuum chamber 20, the substrate holder 21 is installed, and the substrate holder 21 is a substrate. Connection with the pull-push mechanical supply path 26 and the reciprocating linear motion guide 27 for linearly reciprocating the holder 21, the rotation supply path 29 for the rotational motion and the rotational motion guide 28. The side surface of the substrate holder 21 is provided with a thickness gauge 25 for monitoring the thickness of the alignment film deposited on the substrate 22.

Therefore, since the liquid crystal alignment film vacuum deposition equipment supplies momentum such as linear reciprocating motion and rotational motion to the substrate, the substrate has the momentum and the alignment material is deposited so that the alignment layer molecules deposited on the substrate are arranged in the direction of the momentum. .

Next, in the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal alignment layer using the vacuum deposition equipment of the liquid crystal alignment layer, the substrate 22 is first mounted on the substrate holder 21 inside the vacuum chamber 20, and the boat inside the vacuum chamber 20 is used. An alignment material is filled in 24, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 20 is vacuumed.

Next, the boat 24 is supplied with power to heat the boat 24, and rotates with the push-pull linear supply path 26 to reciprocate and rotate the substrate holder 21 in a desired direction. Power is supplied to the supply path 29.

Next, the thickness of the alignment layer deposited on the substrate 22 is adjusted by adjusting the amount of vapor generated from the boat 24 to the substrate 22 with the shutter 23 on the boat 24. 25) to deposit the alignment layer to the desired thickness.

Next, after the alignment layer is deposited to a desired thickness, the liquid crystal alignment layer may be manufactured by turning off the boat 24 and separating the substrate 22 on which the alignment layer is deposited from the substrate holder 21. .

As described above, when the alignment material is deposited by supplying momentum such as linear reciprocating motion and rotational motion while the alignment material is deposited on the substrate to manufacture the liquid crystal alignment film by using the conventional rubbing method, molecules of the alignment film are moved in a predetermined direction using a conventional rubbing method. Since the alignment process is not necessary, the generation of defective products caused by the static electricity problem due to rubbing can be reduced, and a clean alignment layer can be obtained by performing the manufacturing process of the alignment layer under vacuum from the first process to the last process.

The vacuum deposition method of the above-mentioned alignment film can be applied to all the parts using a vacuum thin film process.

Claims (2)

A boat installed in the lower part of the vacuum chamber to insert an orientation material and heat to form steam; A shutter installed at an upper portion of the boat to adjust an amount of steam flowing from the boat to the upper portion; A substrate holder installed at an upper portion of the vacuum chamber to mount a substrate; A pull-push linear supply path and a guide connected to the substrate holder to linearly reciprocate the substrate holder; A rotation supply path and a guide connected to the substrate holder to rotate the substrate holder; Liquid crystal aligning film manufacturing apparatus installed on the side of the substrate holder including a thickness meter for monitoring the thickness of the alignment film formed on the substrate Mounting a substrate on a substrate holder inside the vacuum chamber, filling the boat with the alignment material inside the vacuum chamber, and vacuuming the inside of the vacuum chamber; Supplying power to the boat to heat the boat and reciprocating linear movement and rotational movement of the substrate holder in a desired direction; Depositing an alignment layer to a desired thickness while monitoring the thickness of the alignment layer deposited on the substrate while controlling the amount of steam generated in the boat with a shutter on the upper portion of the boat; And turning off the boat after the alignment layer is deposited to a desired thickness.