KR100853774B1 - Lcd, lcd inspection apparatus and lcd manufacturing method using it - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having an electrode structure capable of performing an electrical defect inspection in the state of a large area substrate, an inspection apparatus for a liquid crystal display device, and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the same, A plurality of gate lines, a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of data lines; a first and a second metal lines formed in rows and columns on a side edge of the substrate; And a row shorting bar electrically short-circuited to the plurality of data lines and electrically connected to the first metal line.

Inspection equipment, large-area PCB, thermostating bar, hangshitting bar, A / P inspection

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD), an inspection apparatus for a liquid crystal display, and a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display using the same.

1 is a view illustrating a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device to which a conventional vacuum injection method is applied

2 is an exemplary diagram of a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a detailed illustration of Figure 2

4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A in Fig.

5 is a manufacturing process diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a perspective view of a testing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is an exemplary view of a large-area substrate;

Description of the Related Art [0002]

50: gate line 60: data line

70: pixel area 80: display area

90: gate pad part 100: first substrate

100a: first unit panel area 110: data pad part

120: thermostating bar 121: first metal line

121a, 123a: external connection terminal 122: hangshittingba                 

123: second metal line 130:

200: second unit panel area 210: black matrix

220: black matrix frame part 300: stage

310: protrusion 320:

330: Light source 400: Inspection device

500: second substrate

The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display using the same, and more particularly, to an inspection apparatus capable of easily performing defect inspection in a minimum amount of time and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display using the apparatus.

(PDP), Electro Luminescent Display (ELD), Vacuum Fluorescent (VFD), and the like have been developed in recent years in response to the demand for display devices. Display) have been studied, and some of them have already been used as display devices in various devices.

Among them, LCD is most widely used in place of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) because of its excellent image quality, light weight, thin shape and low power consumption, and is used for a portable type such as a monitor of a notebook computer In addition, various monitors such as a television monitor are being developed.

LCDs are composed of two substrates that are coupled to each other to face each other and a liquid crystal material which is injected therebetween and generates phase transition according to changes in temperature or concentration.

The liquid crystal is a substance having intermediate properties between a liquid and a solid having liquid fluidity and long range order properties. That is, when a solid crystal is melted to become a liquid state, it is not a solid crystal or a liquid before it becomes a liquid state. When light is applied or an electric or magnetic field is added, birefringence characteristic to optical anisotropy crystals is exhibited. It shows the properties of both liquid and crystal.

Such an LCD is manufactured through an array process, a color filter process, a liquid crystal cell process, and a module process.

The array process is a process of fabricating a thin film transistor (TFT) array on a first substrate (TFT substrate) by repeating deposition, photolithography, and etching processes, In the filtering process, red, green, and blue color filters are formed on a second substrate (color filter substrate) on which a black matrix is formed using dyes or pigments, To form an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) film for an electrode.

In addition, in the liquid crystal cell process, an empty liquid crystal cell is formed by adhering a first gap between the first substrate on which the thin film transistor forming process is completed and the second substrate on which the color filter process is completed to maintain a predetermined gap, In the module process, a circuit section for signal processing is manufactured, a panel of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display device and a signal processing circuit section are connected to each other through a mounting technique, and a module is manufactured by attaching an apparatus.

Here, the conventional liquid crystal cell process will be described in more detail as follows.

First, a cassette (not shown) on which a plurality of first substrates are stacked and a cassette (not shown) on which a plurality of second substrates are stacked are loaded on respective ports by a loader, Lt; / RTI >

Here, a plurality of gate lines (Gate lines) arranged in one direction at regular intervals and in each panel region of the first substrate, and a plurality of data lines Data (Data) arranged at regular intervals in a direction perpendicular to the gate lines And a plurality of thin film transistors and pixel electrodes are formed in a matrix pixel region defined by the gate lines and the data lines.

In addition, a black matrix layer, a color filter layer, and a common electrode (in the case of the IPS mode, formed on the first substrate) for blocking light in a portion excluding the pixel region are formed in the unit panel region of the second substrate Respectively.

Next, the first substrate and the second substrate are selected using a robot arm programmed to select the plurality of first substrates and the plurality of second substrates one by one, respectively.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, an alignment process (1S) is performed to apply the alignment material on the selected first substrate and the second substrate, and to make the liquid crystal molecules have a uniform directionality. The alignment step (1S) proceeds in the order of cleaning before the alignment film is applied, alignment film printing, alignment film firing, alignment film inspection, and rubbing process.

Next, a gap process is performed after the alignment process (1S). In the gap process, the first substrate and the second substrate are cleaned (2S), respectively. Then, a spacer 3S is sprayed (3S) to maintain a cell gap constant on the first substrate, (4S) is applied to the outer periphery of the color filter substrate (5S) by applying pressure to the first substrate and the color filter substrate.

On the other hand, the first substrate and the second substrate are formed on a glass substrate having a large area. In other words, a plurality of unit substrate regions are formed on a large-area glass substrate, and a separate pixel electrode is formed in a lower unit substrate (TFT side) region of the unit substrate regions. In addition to the pixel electrodes, The common electrode to be driven is formed over the entire surface of the large-area glass substrate.

Therefore, in order to manufacture each unit liquid crystal panel according to the transmittance corresponding to each unit panel by applying voltages corresponding to the pixel electrodes of each unit panel, the glass substrate must be cut and processed (6S).

Thereafter, the liquid crystal is injected into the individual unit liquid crystal panels processed as described above through the liquid crystal injection port, the liquid crystal injection hole is sealed (7S) to form the liquid crystal layer, the cut surface of each unit liquid crystal panel is polished, And an electrical defect inspection (8S) are carried out to manufacture a liquid crystal display element.

Hereinafter, the liquid crystal injection process will be described.

First, when the liquid crystal material is injected, the liquid crystal material is first placed in a container, then the container and the panel to be injected with the liquid crystal are put into a chamber, and the pressure in the chamber is maintained in a vacuum state, Remove moisture from the wall and defoam the bubbles.

Then, when the pressure in the chamber is increased from the vacuum state to the atmospheric pressure state, the pressure inside the empty liquid crystal cell and the pressure difference between the chamber and the chamber are maintained The liquid crystal material is injected through the liquid crystal injection hole.

However, the conventional method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device by the liquid crystal injection method has the following problems.

First, after cutting into a unit panel, the liquid crystal is injected by immersing the liquid crystal injection hole into the liquid crystal injection hole by maintaining the vacuum state between the two substrates, so that it takes much time to inject the liquid crystal, and productivity is lowered.

Secondly, when a liquid crystal display device with a large area is manufactured, if liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal injection type, the liquid crystal is not completely injected into the panel, which causes a defect.

Third, since the process is complicated and time consuming as described above, a plurality of liquid crystal injection devices are required, requiring a large space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived to solve the problems described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display device having an electrode structure capable of shortening a process time and being advantageous for a large area liquid crystal display device, And an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the same.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device including a substrate having a plurality of unit panel regions including a plurality of gate lines and data lines crossing each other at right angles, A semiconductor device comprising: first and second metal lines; a shorting bar electrically short-circuiting the plurality of gate lines and electrically connected to the second metal lines; shorting the plurality of data lines; And a shorting bar.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, including: providing first and second substrates; Attaching the first and second substrates together to form a large-area substrate having a plurality of unit panel regions; And performing an A / P inspection for performing an electrical defect inspection on the large area substrate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, including: providing first and second substrates; Applying a sealant onto any one of the first and second substrates; Dropping liquid crystal on any one of the first and second substrates in the inner region of the seal member; Attaching the first and second substrates together to form a large-area substrate having a plurality of unit panel regions; Conducting an A / P inspection for performing an electrical defect inspection on the large area substrate; Forming a plurality of unit panels by cutting the large-area substrate; And polishing the surface of the unit panel.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for inspecting a liquid crystal display device including a stage, a rotating shaft for tilting the stage, a light source disposed inside the stage for irradiating a predetermined light, A first polarizer disposed on the light source, and at least two voltage terminals for applying a constant voltage.

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

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view of a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a detailed illustration of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross- FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an exemplary view of a large-area substrate according to the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a first substrate 100 and a second substrate (not shown) on which an array process is performed are provided. The first substrate 100 includes a plurality of first unit panel regions 100a, and the second substrate includes a plurality of second unit panel regions. The first substrate 100 and the second substrate are loaded on a cassette and enter the liquid crystal cell process when the array process is completed.

A plurality of gate lines 50 are arranged in the first unit panel area 100a at predetermined intervals and are arranged in one direction and a plurality of gate lines 50 arranged at regular intervals in a direction perpendicular to the gate lines 50 (Data Line) 60 are formed. A plurality of pixel regions 70 in the form of a matrix are defined by the gate lines 50 and the data lines 60. A plurality of thin film transistors TFT and pixel electrodes Respectively. A plurality of pixel regions 70 constitute a display region 80 of an image. Though not shown in the figure, the gate electrodes of the thin film transistors (TFT) of each pixel region 70 are connected to the gate line 50, and the source electrodes are connected to the data line 60 . A drain electrode of the thin film transistor TFT is connected to the pixel electrode formed in the pixel region 70. The plurality of gate lines 50 and the data lines 60 may include a gate pad portion 90 and a data pad portion 110 formed around the first unit panel region 100a, Respectively.

First and second metal lines 121 and 123 are formed on the edge of the first substrate 100 and are formed in rows and columns. The first and second metal lines 121 and 123 External connection terminals 121a and 123a are formed. The first and second metal lines 121 and 123 are removed when a unit liquid crystal panel is formed as a conductive layer for inspection of an electrically defective panel in an inspection process described below.

At the ends of the gate line 50 and the data line 60 are connected a shorting bar 120 and a hanging bar 122 which connect the plurality of gate lines 50 and the data lines 60 to the first substrate 100 As shown in Fig. The hanging bar 122 is connected to the first metal line 121 and the thermostating bar 120 is connected to the second metal line 123. As a result, all the gate lines 50 are connected to one another and all the data lines 60 are connected to one another. When static electricity is generated from the gate and data pad portions 90 and 110, The static electricity is discharged as a path.

3, a plurality of second unit panel areas 200 formed on a second substrate (not shown) opposite to the first substrate 100 may be formed in the first unit panel area 100a, The pad portions 90 and 110 of FIG. In the color filter unit substrate region 200, a black matrix layer 210 for blocking light in a portion excluding the pixel region 70, a color filter layer made of three primary colors, And a column-shaped spacer, which is advantageous for enlarging the size of the electrode and the liquid crystal display device, are formed. The column-shaped spacer is formed to correspond to the gate line 50 and the data line 60 on the opposing first substrate 100.

The black matrix rim 220 is provided to shield unnecessary light from the outside of the display area 80. [ Each of the first substrate 100 and the second substrate having the first unit panel regions 100a and the second unit panel regions 200 is formed of a seal material 130 As shown in Fig.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the portion "A" of FIG. 3, in which the insulating film 127 is sandwiched between the thermostating bars 120 and the hanging bars 122 on the first substrate 100, Fig.

The first substrate 100 and the second substrate configured as described above are manufactured as a liquid crystal unit panel by the process flow as shown in Fig.

Referring to FIG. 5, a first substrate 100 including a plurality of first unit panel regions 100a and a second substrate including second unit panel regions 200 are transferred by a loader, Cell process. The liquid crystal cell process proceeds to the process steps of the first to third steps (500, 600, 700).

The first step 500 includes an alignment process in which the liquid crystal molecules have a uniform orientation after applying the alignment material on the first substrate 100 and the second substrate. The alignment process proceeds in the order of cleaning (20S) before alignment film coating, alignment film printing (21S), alignment film firing (22S), alignment film inspection (23S), and rubbing (24S).

This alignment process will be briefly described. After a cleaning (20S) process for removing foreign substances and particles is performed on the first substrate 100 and the second substrate, an alignment film is applied.

The alignment solution of the alignment film print 21S is dropped and supplied between a doctor roll and an anilox roll which are rotated by a dispenser. This coating liquid is held as a thin liquid film on the anilox roll surface between the two rolls, and transferred from the anilox roll to the printing roll with the printing rubber plate attached. When the substrate fixed on the application stage advances, the thin film of the application liquid is transferred and applied to the first substrate 100 and the second substrate.

Next, a baking process 22S for evaporating the solvent in the alignment film printed on the first substrate 100 and the second substrate is performed and the inspection 23S and the rubbing process 24S of the alignment film state are performed Thereby completing the alignment process.

Next, the second step 600 proceeds in the following process sequence.

The first substrate 100 and the second substrate on which the alignment process has been performed are cleaned 25S and then coated on the periphery of each second unit panel area of the second substrate 26S in a frame shape. The seal member is a seal member having no injection port for allowing the second unit panel areas to be adhered to the outer edge of the pixel area of the first unit panel area 100a at a predetermined interval.

Next, silver (Ag) is applied (27S) on the first substrate 100 in a dot shape for electrical connection with the common electrode on the second substrate. Subsequently, a step of dropping (29S) liquid crystal on the first substrate 100 in the corresponding region on the inside of the sealant is performed. In other words, a predetermined liquid crystal is uniformly dotted in the pixel area of the first unit panel area 100a at a constant pitch.

After the liquid crystal liquid crystal is defoamed under vacuum, the liquid crystal dropping device is assembled and set and mounted on the liquid crystal dispensing device. When the first substrate 100 is loaded on the liquid crystal dispensing device, The process proceeds to the step of dropping the liquid crystal.

In addition, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it may be formed on any one of the first unit panel region 100a and the second unit panel region 200 on which the sealant is formed and the liquid crystal is deposited. In the IPS mode, Since the pixel electrode and the common electrode are formed on the substrate 100, it is not necessary to form the silver (Ag) dot.

The third step 700 proceeds in the following process sequence.

After the first substrate 100 and the second substrate that have undergone the processes up to the second step 600 are bonded together in a vacuum lacquer, the cyan material is cured (30S) by irradiating the cyan material with a UV light source, .

Although not shown in the drawing, in the laminating step, the first substrate 100 is mounted on a table in a vacuum container movable in a horizontal direction, and the entire lower surface of the first substrate 100 is vacuum- Adsorbed and fixed. Next, the entire lower surface of the second substrate is vacuum-adsorbed to the second adsorption device, and the vacuum chamber is closed and vacuumed. Then, the second adsorption mechanism is lowered in the vertical direction so that the first substrate 100 and the second substrate are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and the table on which the first substrate 100 is mounted is moved in the horizontal direction The first substrate 100 and the second substrate are aligned.

Then, the second adsorption mechanism is vertically lowered to join the second substrate to the first substrate 100 through the sealant, and the dropped liquid crystal is applied to the first substrate 100 and the second substrate And a large-area substrate including a plurality of panel regions is formed.

The large-area substrate thus formed is subjected to electrical lighting inspection in a large-area substrate state before the cutting process is performed for each unit panel (40S).

This electrical lighting test is performed as follows.

First, the large area substrate is mounted on the inspection apparatus by a robot arm (41S). As shown in FIG. 6, the inspection apparatus 400 includes a stage 300, and at least a plurality of inspection devices 400 arranged to minimize a contact area between the large-area substrate and the stage 300 when the large- Three or more protrusions 310, a rotating shaft 320 having a tilt function, a light source 330 capable of irradiating a certain light in the stage 300, and a large- A first polarizer (not shown) disposed on the light source 330 and a fixing unit (not shown) for fixing the large-area substrate when the stage 300 is rotated.

In addition, at least two or more of the gate pads 90 and the data pad units 110, which are electrically connected to the external connection terminals electrically connected to the gate pad unit 90 and the data pad unit 110 of FIG. 3, Voltage terminal portion (not shown).

5, when the large-area substrate is mounted (41S) by the robot arm, the inspection apparatus 400 having the above-described configuration applies a rotational force to the inspection apparatus 400 so as to be rotated at a predetermined angle by the rotation axis 320 (42S).

Next, the manager directly performs the A / P inspection using the second polarizing plate having a predetermined standard size or using the second polarizing plate for bonding the large-area substrate to the inspection apparatus 400 itself (44S) .

7 shows an example of a panel in which a first substrate 100 and a second substrate are bonded together and includes an external connection terminal 121a connected to one end of the first metal line 121, The external terminal 123a connected to the voltage terminal unit is connected to the voltage terminal unit to apply an external voltage and a constant DC voltage is applied to the common electrode formed on the front surface of the second substrate 500 to form an A / Auto Probe test (44S).

In addition, the manager may perform an appearance inspection for inspecting orientation defects or the like using the second polarizer plate.                     

The A / P inspection is for examining a defective stain and an electrical lighting state. For example, the A / P stain may be detected by a checkerboard stain, a black stain, a color filter protrusion, an oblique stain, a rubbing stripe, a pin hole, A short circuit or a short circuit of the data line 60 is inspected. The stain defect can be detected by the naked eye or by a solid-state image pickup device such as a CCD.

Then, when the A / P inspection is completed, the inspection apparatus 400 is rotated (45S) to the original position, and the large area substrate is loaded on the cassette (46S) using the robot arm.

As described above, the A / P inspection can be performed on the large-area substrate on the IN-LINE.

Next, the S / B (Scribe / Break) process is performed (47S). In the S / B (Scribe / Break) process, a scribe process for forming a cutting line on a glass surface with a diamond pen having a hardness higher than that of glass, and a break process for cutting by applying a force Is a step of forming the large-area substrate by a plurality of unit cells of liquid crystal unit panels.

Next, a grinding process 48S for polishing the surface of the liquid crystal unit panel is performed to complete the process of the third step 700.

Thereafter, although not shown in the drawings, a module process for attaching a driver IC, mounting a backlight, and the like proceeds.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. Will be clear to those who have knowledge of.

The manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention described above has the following effects.

It is possible to shorten the time for inspecting the electrical connection state of each unit panel by forming an electrode structure capable of performing an electrical defect inspection in the state of a large area substrate before forming the unit panel.

That is, by confirming the defective state of the panel at a time on a large-area substrate, the inspection time and the fatigue of the operator can be considerably reduced, and the process time can be shortened accordingly.

Further, by performing the A / P inspection early in the state of a large area substrate, information on the characteristics of the panel can be quickly fed back, and it is also effective in mass production.

Claims (21)

delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete Providing a first and a second substrate; Applying a sealant onto any one of the first and second substrates; Dropping liquid crystal on any one of the first and second substrates in the inner region of the seal member; Attaching the first and second substrates together to form a large-area substrate having a plurality of unit panel regions; Conducting an A / P inspection for performing an electrical defect inspection on the large area substrate; Forming a plurality of unit panels by cutting the large-area substrate; And polishing the surface of the unit panel, The step of performing the A / stage, A rotating shaft for providing a tilt function to the stage, A light source disposed in the stage and irradiating a predetermined light, And a first polarizing plate disposed on the light source and including a size of the large-area substrate. 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein the large-area substrate has at least two or more external connection terminals for simultaneously controlling the plurality of unit panel regions. 13. The method of claim 12, Wherein the plurality of unit panel regions constituting the large- A first unit panel area including a plurality of gate lines and data lines formed perpendicularly crossing each other, First and second metal lines formed in rows and columns on the edge side of the substrate, A shorting bar electrically short-circuiting the plurality of gate lines and electrically connected to the second metal line, A row shorting bar electrically short-circuiting the plurality of data lines and electrically connected to the first metal line, A second unit panel area including a black matrix layer serving as a light shielding part, a color filter layer composed of three primary colors, and a common electrode formed on the front surface, And a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first unit panel region and the second unit panel region. 14. The method of claim 13, The step of performing the A / Mounting the polarizing plate on the large-area substrate, Artificially applying an external power supply voltage to the external connection terminal and the common electrode, Tilting the large-area substrate at a predetermined angle; Conducting an electrical defect inspection of the large area substrate; And rotating the large-area substrate to an original position. A stage, A rotation shaft for providing a tilt function to the stage, A light source arranged in the stage and irradiating a predetermined light; A first polarizer including a size of a large area substrate and disposed on the light source, And at least two voltage terminal portions for applying a constant voltage. 16. The method of claim 15, Wherein the stage further comprises at least three protrusions arranged to minimize a contact area of the large-area substrate with the stage. 16. The method of claim 15, Further comprising a fixing unit for fixing the large area substrate when the stage rotates. 16. The method of claim 15, Wherein the stage further comprises a second polarizer coupled to the first polarizer above the large-area substrate when the large-area substrate is mounted. 16. The method of claim 15, Wherein the large-area substrate includes a plurality of unit panel regions. 20. The method of claim 19, Wherein the large-area substrate has at least two or more external connection terminals for simultaneously controlling the plurality of unit panel regions. 21. The method of claim 20, Wherein the plurality of unit panel regions include: A first unit panel area including a plurality of gate lines and data lines formed perpendicularly crossing each other, A second unit panel area including a black matrix layer serving as a light shielding part, a color filter layer composed of three primary colors, and a common electrode formed on the front surface, And a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first unit panel region and the second unit panel region, The first unit panel area First and second metal lines formed in rows and columns on the edge side of the substrate, A shorting bar electrically short-circuiting the plurality of gate lines and electrically connected to the second metal line, Further comprising a row shorting bar electrically short-circuiting the plurality of data lines and electrically connected to the first metal line.

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