KR100942840B1 - Apparatus And Method Of Fabricating Alignment Film in Liquid Crystal Display Panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an alignment film of a liquid crystal display panel and a method thereof, which can prevent static electricity due to a rubbing process.

According to the present invention, there is provided an alignment film manufacturing apparatus for a liquid crystal display panel for forming an alignment film on first and second substrates, including: a dispenser for supplying an alignment material; And an orientation mask which rotates adjacent to the first roller, and an orientation mask attached to the second roller to transfer the alignment material applied to the first roller onto the substrates, wherein the orientation mask is provided. And a groove is formed to determine the alignment direction of the alignment layer, and the groove is inclined to correspond to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal to be sandwiched between the first and second substrates.

Description

Apparatus and Method Of Fabricating Alignment Film in Liquid Crystal Display Panel}             

1 is a view showing an alignment film printing apparatus of a conventional liquid crystal display panel.

2 is a view showing an alignment film rubbing device of a conventional liquid crystal display panel.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a manufacturing process of an alignment film formed by using the printing apparatus and rubbing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

4 is a view showing an integrated alignment film printing and rubbing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating in detail the alignment mask illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an alignment film formed by using the integrated alignment film printing and rubbing device shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a manufacturing process of an alignment film formed by using the integrated alignment film printing and rubbing device shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 illustrates a thin film transistor array substrate and a color filter array substrate having upper and lower alignment layers formed by using an integrated alignment film printing and rubbing device according to the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

2,32: substrate 4,34: printing roller

6,36: orientation mask 8,38: anilox roll

10,40: dispenser 12,42: doctor roll

16: Loving roller 18: Loving can

14, 50: alignment film

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for manufacturing an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display panel which can prevent static electricity due to a rubbing process.

In general, a liquid crystal display device displays an image using a thin film transistor (hereinafter, referred to as TFT) as a switching element. Such liquid crystal display devices can be miniaturized compared to CRTs, and are widely used in personal computers and notebook computers, as well as office automation devices such as photocopiers, mobile devices such as cell phones and pagers. .

The manufacturing process of such a liquid crystal display device is divided into substrate cleaning, substrate patterning, alignment film formation, substrate bonding / liquid crystal injection, and mounting process. In the substrate cleaning process, foreign substances on the substrates are removed using a cleaning agent before and after the upper and lower substrates are patterned. The substrate patterning process is divided into patterning of the upper substrate and patterning of the lower substrate. A color filter, a common electrode, a black matrix, and the like are formed on the upper substrate. Signal lines such as data lines and gate lines are formed on the lower substrate, and TFTs are formed at intersections of the data lines and gate lines. Is formed. In the substrate bonding / liquid crystal injection process, an alignment film is applied and rubbed on the upper and lower substrates, followed by an upper and lower substrate bonding process using a seal material, liquid crystal injection, and an injection hole encapsulation process. Finally, in the mounting process, a tape carrier package (TCP) in which integrated circuits such as a gate drive integrated circuit and a data drive integrated circuit are mounted is connected to a pad portion on a substrate.

1 is a view showing a conventional alignment film printing apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional alignment film printing apparatus includes an anilox roll 8 on which an alignment material is applied, and an alignment mask 6 for transferring an alignment material applied on a surface of the anilox roll 8. Is provided with a printing roller (4) attached thereto, and a substrate (2) loaded under the printing roller (4).

In the anilox roll 8, the alignment material is separated from the dispenser 10 disposed above. A doctor roll 12 is provided adjacent to the surface of the anilox roll 8 so that an alignment material, for example, a polyimide liquid, is uniformly applied on the alignment mask 6.                         

The printing roller 4 is oriented on the substrate 2 by transferring the alignment material applied to the anilox roll 8 to the groove of the orientation mask 6 attached while being rotated by the rotational force and printing it on the substrate 2. Material is formed. At the bottom of the printing roller 4, a printing table 1 on which the substrate 2 to be printed is mounted is loaded by a loading device (not shown). Here, the substrate 2 may be formed with electrode patterns for forming the liquid crystal display and various material layers.

2 is a view showing a conventional alignment film rubbing device.

Referring to FIG. 2, the conventional alignment layer rubbing device includes a rubbing roller 16 to which a rubbing cloth 18 is attached.

The rubbing roller 16 rotates the substrate 14 while rubbing the alignment film 14 printed on the substrate 2 using the rubbing cloth 18 attached to the rubbing roller 16 in a predetermined direction. By this rubbing process, the liquid crystal molecules are arranged in a predetermined direction on the surface of the alignment film 14.

3 is a flowchart showing an alignment film forming process and a rubbing process using the printing apparatus and rubbing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively.

First, a thin film transistor array substrate including a gate line and a data line crossing the insulating lines to determine a pixel region, a thin film transistor formed at an intersection thereof, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor in the pixel region. A color filter array substrate including a black matrix corresponding to a line, a data line, a thin film transistor, and a color filter corresponding to a pixel area is provided.                         

The dispenser 10 and the doctor roll 12 are uniformly buried in the alignment mask 6 attached to the printing roller 4 of FIG. 1 in the effective display area of the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate. Print the alignment material. By evaporating the solvent in the printed alignment material, the alignment material is uniformly spread on the entire surface of each of the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate. As a result, upper and lower alignment layers are formed on the color filter array substrate and the thin film transistor array substrate, respectively.

The upper and lower alignment layer surfaces respectively formed on the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate are rubbed at a uniform pressure and speed with the rubbing cloth 18 attached to the rubbing roller 16 shown in FIG. The alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules is determined by aligning the polymer chains on the surface in a predetermined direction (step S13).

After the rubbing process, the separately completed color filter array substrate and the thin film transistor array substrate are bonded together using a seal material to complete the liquid crystal display panel.

In the conventional rubbing process, when the rubbing cloth 18 and the alignment layer 14 are in contact with each other, there is a problem in that static electricity is generated on the surface of the alignment layer 14. The static electricity remains in the liquid crystal display panel and damages the thin film transistor, the signal line, and the driving circuits. Accordingly, there is a problem that a driving failure of the liquid crystal display device occurs.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an alignment film manufacturing apparatus and a method thereof for a liquid crystal display panel which can prevent static electricity due to a rubbing process.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel for forming the alignment film on the first and second substrates, the dispenser for supplying the alignment material, and the alignment material supplied from the dispenser A first roller applied and rotated, a second roller rotating adjacent to the first roller, and an orientation mask attached to the second roller to transfer the alignment material applied to the first roller onto the substrates And a groove is formed in the alignment mask to determine the alignment direction of the alignment layer, and the groove is inclined to correspond to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal to be sandwiched between the first and second substrates.
The groove is characterized in that it is formed to have a depth of about 700 ~ 1200Å, and a width of about 3 ~ 5mm.
The alignment material is characterized in that the polyimide.
According to the present invention, a method of manufacturing an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display panel includes preparing a first and a second substrate, attaching an alignment mask having grooves for determining an alignment direction of the alignment layer on a rotating roller, and performing the alignment. Supplying an alignment material to a mask, and printing the alignment material supplied to the alignment mask on the first and second substrates to form an alignment film having the determined orientation direction, wherein the groove is formed in the first groove. And inclined to correspond to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal to be sandwiched between the second substrates.

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Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above object 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. 4 to 8.

4 is a view showing an alignment film manufacturing apparatus of a liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the apparatus for manufacturing an alignment layer of the liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention includes an anilox roll 38 to which an alignment material is applied and an alignment mask for transferring the alignment material applied to the surface of the anilox roll 38. (36), a printing roller (34) having an orientation mask (36) attached thereto, and a substrate (32) loaded below the printing roller (34).

In the anilox roll 38, the alignment material is separated from the dispenser 40 disposed above. A doctor roll 42 is disposed adjacent to the surface of the anilox roll 38 so that an alignment material, for example, a polyimide liquid, is uniformly applied on the alignment mask 36.

As shown in FIG. 5, the alignment mask 36 is provided with a groove 60 having a predetermined width w and a predetermined depth d at predetermined intervals. The groove 60 is formed to have a depth d of about 700 to 1200 mm and a width w of about 3 to 5 mm, for example. The groove 60 is formed to be inclined in a predetermined direction to correspond to the rubbing direction of the alignment layer.

The printing roller 34 transfers the alignment material applied to the anilox roll 38 to the groove 60 of the alignment mask 36 attached while being rotated by the rotational force, and prints the substrate 32 on the substrate 32. An alignment film is formed on it. At this time, the alignment material contained in the groove 60 of the alignment mask 36 is printed on the substrate 32 in the form of a protrusion corresponding to the groove 60 of the alignment mask 36, so as to be separately shown in FIG. 6. An alignment film 50 is formed on the substrate 32 in which the alignment direction for arranging the liquid crystals by only the printing process is determined. Under the printing roller 34, a printing table 31 on which the substrate 32 to be printed is mounted is loaded by a loading device (not shown). Here, the electrode pattern and various material layers for the liquid crystal display device configuration may be formed on the substrate 32.

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FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an alignment film forming process using the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel illustrated in FIG. 4.

First, a thin film transistor array substrate including a gate line and a data line crossing the insulating lines to determine a pixel region, a thin film transistor formed at an intersection thereof, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor in the pixel region. A color filter array substrate including a black matrix corresponding to a line, a data line, a thin film transistor, and a color filter corresponding to a pixel area is provided (step S21).

The alignment material is printed on the effective display area of the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate by using a printing roller having the alignment mask of FIG. 4. The alignment material printed on the effective display area has a protrusion shape aligned in a predetermined direction corresponding to the groove of the alignment mask.

By evaporating the solvent in the printed alignment material, the alignment material is uniformly spread on the entire surface of each of the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate. As a result, an upper / lower alignment layer having an orientation direction determined by only a printing process is formed on the color filter array substrate and the thin film transistor array substrate, respectively, without a separate rubbing process (step S22).

Thereafter, the separately completed color filter array substrate and the thin film transistor array substrate are bonded to each other using a seal material, thereby completing a liquid crystal display panel.

8 is a view showing a liquid crystal panel formed using an integrated alignment film printing and rubbing device according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the liquid crystal panel includes a color filter array substrate 81 and a thin film transistor array substrate 91 bonded together with a liquid crystal 86 therebetween.

The liquid crystal 86 is rotated in response to an electric field applied to the liquid crystal 86 to adjust the amount of light transmitted through the thin film transistor array substrate 91.

The color filter array substrate 81 includes a black matrix 96, a color filter 82, a common electrode 84, and an upper alignment layer 78 formed on the rear surface of the upper substrate 80a. The black matrix 96 is formed of an opaque material and absorbs light incident from adjacent cells, thereby preventing a decrease in contrast. The color filter 82 is a color filter layer of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) color is arranged in a stripe form to transmit the light of a specific wavelength band to enable color display. The upper alignment layer 78 is formed such that the orientation direction is determined only by a printing process without a separate rubbing process.

The thin film transistor array substrate 91 is formed so that the data line 98 and the gate line 94 cross each other on the front surface of the lower substrate 80b, and the TFT 90 is formed at the intersection thereof. The TFT 90 includes a gate electrode connected to the gate line 94, a source electrode connected to the data line 98, and a drain electrode facing the source electrode with a channel interposed therebetween. The TFT 90 is connected to the pixel electrode 92 through a contact hole penetrating through the drain electrode. The TFT 90 selectively supplies the data signal from the data line 98 to the pixel electrode 92 in response to the gate signal from the gate line 94.

The pixel electrode 92 is formed in a cell region divided by the data line 98 and the gate line 94 and is made of a transparent conductive material having high light transmittance. The pixel electrode 92 generates a potential difference from the common electrode 84 formed on the upper substrate 80a by the data signal supplied via the drain electrode. Due to this potential difference, the liquid crystal 86 located between the lower substrate 80b and the upper substrate 80a is rotated by dielectric anisotropy. Accordingly, the light supplied from the light source via the pixel electrode 92 is transmitted toward the upper substrate 80a. The lower alignment layer 88 is formed such that the orientation direction is determined only by a printing process without a separate rubbing process.

On the other hand, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention can be formed in various forms by changing the groove formed in the alignment film printing apparatus in various forms. In addition, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention may be applied not only to the vertical field applying liquid crystal display panel and the horizontal field applying liquid crystal display panel but also to other types of liquid crystal display panels in which the alignment layer is formed.

As described above, in the alignment film manufacturing apparatus and method of the liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention, grooves for determining the alignment direction of the alignment film are formed in the printing device of the alignment film. By this groove, the alignment direction is determined only in the printing process without the rubbing process. Accordingly, it is possible to fundamentally block the generation of static electricity between the rubbing cloth and the alignment layer used in the conventional rubbing process. In addition, since the alignment direction of the alignment layer is determined only by the printing process without the rubbing process, the rubbing process can be omitted, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.

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 (9)

In the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel for forming the alignment film on the first and second substrate, A dispenser for supplying an alignment material, A first roller to which the alignment material supplied from the dispenser is applied and rotated; A second roller rotating adjacent to the first roller, An alignment mask attached to the second roller to transfer the alignment material applied to the first roller onto the substrates; Grooves are formed in the alignment mask to determine the alignment direction of the alignment layer, And the groove is inclined to correspond to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal to be sandwiched between the first and second substrates. The method of claim 1,  The groove is formed to have a depth of 700 ~ 1200Å, and a width of 3 ~ 5mm, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus of the liquid crystal display panel. delete The method of claim 1, The alignment material is an alignment film manufacturing apparatus of a liquid crystal display panel, characterized in that the polyimide. Providing first and second substrates, Attaching an orientation mask having grooves for determining the orientation direction of the alignment film on the rotating roller, Supplying an alignment material to the alignment mask; Printing an alignment material supplied to the alignment mask on the first and second substrates to form an alignment layer in which the alignment direction is determined; And the groove is inclined to correspond to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal to be sandwiched between the first and second substrates. The method of claim 5, Forming the alignment film in which the alignment direction is determined And printing the alignment material contained in the grooves on the substrates in the form of protrusions corresponding to the grooves. The method of claim 5, The alignment material manufacturing method of an alignment film of the liquid crystal display panel, characterized in that it comprises a polyimide. The method of claim 5, The groove is formed to have a depth of 700 ~ 1200Å, and a width of 3 ~ 5mm, the alignment film manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display panel. delete

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