KR101200296B1 - Light orientation illuminating apparatus used a polarizer for LCD display - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a light alignment irradiation device of a liquid crystal display device using a polarizer capable of coping with a large area for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel device and an orientation direction can be adjusted in an arbitrary direction on the panel to improve the polarization angle distribution and extinction ratio. A lamp for emitting light; A condenser for condensing light emitted from the lamp; A fly's eye lens for uniformizing an illuminance distribution of light collected by the condenser; A bandpass filter passing only the light having a required wavelength among the light passing through the fly's eye lens; A collimation lens configured to parallelly correct light passing through the band pass filter diffused by the fly's eye lens; A polarizer which polarizes light passing through the collimation lens; A pair of spherical mirrors arranged to orient each other to adjust the magnification of the irradiation area of the polarized light by the polarizing unit, and a shutter capable of blocking the light flowing into the polarizing unit is a position immediately after the condensing mirror immediately before the polarizing unit; Is optionally disposed.

Description

Light orientation illuminating apparatus used a polarizer for LCD display}

The present invention relates to a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus of a liquid crystal display device using a polarizer, and more particularly, to a large area for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel device, and to adjust the alignment direction in any direction on the panel, The present invention relates to an optical alignment device of a liquid crystal display device using a polarizer capable of improving extinction ratio.

The upper and lower plates of the liquid crystal element are configured with an alignment film for orienting the liquid crystal in a specific direction. Usually, the alignment film is subjected to a treatment called rubbing on the surface to form microgrooves in a specific direction, and the liquid crystal molecules are arranged with orientation along the groove, which is called rubbing orientation.

Recently, in order to overcome the disadvantages of such a rubbing orientation, a method of polarizing or changing the structure by photochemical reaction of only a polymer in a specific direction in a thin film such as polyimide by irradiating polarized light onto an oriented foil is used.

In such a photoalignment method, ultraviolet rays are mostly used for the polarized light to be irradiated. As shown in FIG. 1, a general form of the optical alignment irradiator 100 includes a lamp 102 for generating light, a condenser 104 for collecting light emitted by the lamp 102, and A fly's eye lens (108) for uniform distribution of light collected by the condenser (104), a shutter (110) for selectively blocking light, and spreads through the fly's eye lens (108) And a polarizer 116 for polarizing the light passing through the collimation lens 114 and the collimation lens 114 for making light into parallel light. The polarized light passing through the polarizer 116 is uniformly irradiated onto the workpiece 118.

In this optical arrangement method, in order to secure a large area irradiation area, it is necessary to enlarge the polarizer in front of the irradiation surface. In addition, the collimation lens 114 is placed in front of the polarizer 116 to make incident light in parallel as shown in FIG. However, there is still a problem that the polarizer is too large depending on the irradiation area.

In order to overcome the problems caused by the size of the polarizer 116, the prior art uses a method of reducing the size of the polarizer by placing the light from the condenser at the entrance or exit end of the fly's eye lens where the light is collected.

In FIG. 2, a polarizer 208 is disposed at the incidence end of the fly's eye lens 210, and a band pass filter 214 is disposed at the output end of the fly's eye lens 210. Accordingly, the light emitted from the lamp 202 is collected by the condenser 204 and polarized on the polarizer 208, and then passes through the shutter 212 while passing through the shutter 212 while being uniformly distributed by the fly's eye lens 210. After passing through 214, the workpiece 218 is reached. The bandpass filter 214 is generally placed at the rear end of the polarizer 208 in the related art, and serves to remove unnecessary wavelengths.

3 is similar to FIG. 2 except that the collimation lens 318 corrects the light passing through the bandpass filter 314 to parallel light, and the alignment microscope 320 for performing exposure processing by the multi-domain method. And a mask 322 are added.

However, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the light beam emitted from the condenser is directly passed through the polarizer, the light beam emitted from the condenser has a large incident angle, so that the extinction ratio is lowered and the polarization angle distribution is worse.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the input lens 408 is placed in front of the polarizer 310 in the configuration as shown in FIG. 3, or the polarizer 612 is disposed at the rear end of the fly's eye lens 608 as shown in FIG. 6. In the case of arrangement, an input lens 610 and an output lens 614 are disposed at front and rear ends of the polarizer 612 to reduce the incident angle.

In addition, since high temperature heat is generated in the vicinity of the fly's eye lens 510 where the light emitted from the light condenser 504 is collected, a polarizer manufactured by a conventional multilayer coating may be damaged, as shown in FIG. 5. A stacked polarizer 508 using Brewster's angle is also used.

In the optical alignment of the large LCD, when the polarizer 116 is positioned at the final stage where the irradiation area is located as shown in FIG. 1, the size of the polarizer 116 and the collimation lens 114 is too large. Done.

2 and 3, when the polarizers 208 and 308 are positioned in front of the fly's eye lenses 210 and 310, the light incident on the polarizers 208 and 308 does not become parallel light. The extinction ratio distribution to the irradiation area becomes worse. In addition, a polarizer using a multilayer film has a problem of damaging the film due to high temperature heat.

In addition, in the case of using the stacked polarizer 508 using the Brewster angle as shown in Fig. 5, since the incident light is not parallel light, the extinction ratio and the distribution in the polarization angle direction are lowered.

4 and 6, the polarizers 410 and 612 are placed at the front or rear ends of the fly's eye lenses 412 and 608, and when the input / output lenses 408, 610 and 614 are additionally applied, the distribution of light by the fly's eyes 412 and 608 is determined. Although the light beams are uniform and the light beams are paralleled by the input / output lenses 408, 610, and 614, the extinction ratio and the polarization angle are improved. However, the inclination angle of the light beams increases during the enlargement of the final irradiation area, thereby decreasing the uniformity of the light beams passing through the mask. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention devised to solve the above problems is a polarizer capable of coping with a large area for liquid crystal panel device manufacturing and adjusting an orientation direction in an arbitrary direction on a panel to improve polarization angle distribution and extinction ratio. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical alignment device for a liquid crystal display device.

The present invention for achieving the above object, the lamp for emitting light; A condenser for condensing light emitted from the lamp; A fly's eye lens for uniformizing an illuminance distribution of light collected by the condenser; A bandpass filter passing only the light having a required wavelength among the light passing through the fly's eye lens; A collimation lens configured to parallelly correct light passing through the band pass filter diffused by the fly's eye lens; A polarizer which polarizes light passing through the collimation lens; A pair of spherical mirrors arranged to orient each other to adjust the magnification of the irradiation area of the polarized light by the polarizing unit, and a shutter capable of blocking the light flowing into the polarizing unit is a position immediately after the condensing mirror immediately before the polarizing unit; It is a photo-alignment irradiation device selectively disposed on.

The diaphragm may be disposed between the pair of spherical mirrors.

In addition, the polarizing unit is characterized in that it comprises a pair of polarizers facing each other.

In addition, the polarizer is inclined at a Brewster angle with respect to the direction of incidence of light, characterized in that they face each other to form a line symmetry.

The polarizer may be fixed to a polarizer arm which is integrally formed at the center of rotation of the rotor installed to be rotatable with respect to the rotor support member mounted inside the polarization housing constituting the body of the polarizer.

The polarizer may be fixed to an end of the polarizer arm by an angle adjusting hinge.

The polarizer may be formed by stacking a plurality of polarizing plates on a polarizer holder fixed to an end of the polarizer arm.

The optical alignment irradiating apparatus according to the present invention can cope with a large area for the manufacture of liquid crystal panel elements and can adjust the orientation direction in any direction on the panel to improve the polarization angle distribution and extinction ratio.

1 is a schematic diagram of a first example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
2 is a schematic diagram of a second example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
3 is a schematic diagram of a third example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
4 is a schematic diagram of a fourth example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
5 is a schematic diagram of a fifth example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
6 is a schematic diagram of a sixth example of a photo-alignment irradiation apparatus according to the prior art.
7 is a schematic view of an optical alignment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a configuration diagram of a polarizer used in the photoalignment irradiation apparatus of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a modification of the light alignment irradiation device of FIG. 7. FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In adding reference numerals to components of the following drawings, it is determined that the same components have the same reference numerals as much as possible even if displayed on different drawings, and it is determined that they may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 7, the optical alignment inspection apparatus 700 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a lamp 702 that emits light, and a condenser 704 that collects light emitted from the lamp 702. And a shutter 708 for controlling the light collected by the condenser 704, a fly-eye lens 710 for uniformizing an illuminance distribution of the light collected through the shutter 708, and the fly-eye lens. A bandpass filter 712 for passing only light of a required wavelength among the light passing through 710, a collimation lens 714 for correcting parallel the light diffused by the fly's eye lens 710, and the collimation lens; And a first spherical mirror 724 and a second spherical mirror 726 for adjusting the magnification of the irradiation area of the polarized light by the polarizer 716. It is composed.

The lamp 702 is a known technique for emitting ultraviolet light, and the condenser 704 collects the light from the lamp 702 and directs it toward the shutter 708.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the shutter 708 is disposed at the rear end of the condenser 704, and the position thereof may be arranged at the rear end of the fly lens 710, the rear end of the band pass filter 712, etc. It is preferable to arrange | position the light at the rear end of the condensing mirror 704 because the width | variety is narrow.

The fly-eye lens 710, the band pass filter 712, and the collimation lens 714 are arranged in the same order as in the known art. The light to be converted into parallel light is incident on the polarizer 716.

In order to improve the polarization angle distribution and the extinction ratio distribution of the light incident on the polarizer 716, the beam incident on the polarizer 716 should be parallel light and have a uniform illuminance distribution. 7 is positioned at the rear ends of the fly's eye lens 710 and the collimation lens 714. In particular, in the case of the polarizers 718 and 720 using the Brewster angle, the extinction ratio becomes worse when the incident light is not parallel, and when the illuminance distribution is not uniform by using the fly's eye lens 710, Since the uniformity is lowered, this disadvantage can be overcome by this optical arrangement.

The polarizer 716 is configured to include polarizers 718 and 720 that are inclined by the Brewster angle and formed in a plurality of stacked structures. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the polarizer 716 is configured to enable optical alignment in any polarization direction. The polarizer 716 is a rotor support member 748 fixed to the mounting bracket 750 fixed to the inner wall surface of the polarizing housing 752 constituting the body, so that the polarizer 718, 720 can be rotated ± 90 degrees and And a pair of rotors 740 and 742 supported by the rotor bearings 744 and 746 so as to be rotatable to the rotor support member 748 and fixed to the polarizer arms 736 and 738 which protrude from the center of rotation of the rotors 740 and 742. The polarizers 718 and 720 are included.

In particular, the polarizers 718 and 720 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the rotor support member 748 as a center plane, so that the central optical axis does not change with rotation when the polarizers 718 and 720 rotate. In this case, the angle of the P-wave can correspond to any angle of 360 degrees on the irradiated surface of the polarizer 716, and the central optical axis does not change, so that the irradiated area does not change.

In addition, the polarizers 718 and 720 are mounted on the angle adjusting hinges 754 and 756 to adjust the Brewster's angle to increase the extinction ratio. In addition, the polarizers 718 and 720 may be formed by stacking a plurality of polarizers on the polarizer holders 758 and 760, and the number of stacked polarizers may be adjusted as necessary.

In addition, the parallel light is maintained while increasing the irradiation area of the polarized light by the polarizing part 716, and in order to improve the polarization angle distribution, the pair of spherical mirrors 724 and 726 are arranged next to each other to improve the polarization angle distribution. do. When the spherical mirrors 724 and 726 are configured in pairs, as shown in FIG. 7, when the reflection angles of the light beams of the first spherical mirror 724 and the second spherical mirror 726 are opposite to each other, the polarization angle directions are opposite to each other to show a canceling effect. The uniformity of the polarization angle direction is good.

However, in some cases, as shown in FIG. 8 according to the second embodiment, the reflection angles of the light rays of the first spherical mirror 824 and the second spherical mirror 826 may be in the same direction. Accumulates in the direction, and the uniformity of the polarization angle direction is lowered.

In addition, if the diaphragm 728 is disposed between the first spherical mirror 724 and the second spherical mirror 726, the illuminance may be slightly reduced, but the distribution in the polarization angle direction may be reduced. That is, the aperture 728 may improve the uniformity of the polarization angle direction for the entire irradiation area by correcting the distortion in the polarization angle direction.

In addition, the optical alignment apparatus 700 includes first to third planar mirrors 706, 722, and 730 for changing a path of light. The first planar mirror 706 is located between the condenser 804 and the shutter 708, and the second planar mirror 722 is located between the polarizer 716 and the first spherical mirror 724. The third planar mirror 730 is located between the second spherical mirror 726 and the workpiece 732. The positions of the first to third planar mirrors 706, 722, 730 may be adjusted while constituting the overall optical alignment irradiator 700.

As described above, it has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, but those skilled in the art various modifications and changes of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

100,200,300,400,500,600,700,701: Optical alignment survey device
102,202,302,402,502,602,702: lamp
104,204,304,404,504,604,704: Condenser
106,206,306,406,506,606,706: First Reflector
108,210,310,412,510,608,710: fly's eye lens
110,212,312,414,512,616,708: Shutter
112,216,316,418,514,618,722: second reflector
114,318,714: Collimation Lens
116,208,308,410,508,612,712,718: polarizer
118,218,324,420,516,620: Workpiece
214,314,416,712: Bandpass Filter
320: alignment microscope 322: mask
610: input lens 614: output lens
716: polarizer 724: first spherical mirror
726: second sphere diameter 728: aperture
730: third reflector 732: the workpiece
736,738: polarizer arm 740,742: rotor
744,746 rotor bearing 748 rotor support member
750: mounting bracket 752: polarized housing
754,756: Angle adjustment hinge 758,760: Polarizer holder

Claims (7)

A lamp 702 that emits light;
A condenser 704 for condensing light emitted from the lamp 702;
A fly's eye lens 710 for uniformizing an illuminance distribution of the light collected by the condensing mirror 704;
A bandpass filter 712 which passes only the light having a required wavelength among the light passing through the fly's eye lens 710;
A collimation lens 714 for correcting parallel the light passing through the band pass filter 712 diffused by the fly's eye lens 710;
A polarizer 716 for polarizing light passing through the collimation lens 714; And
In order to adjust the magnification of the irradiation area of the polarized light by the polarizing unit 716 includes a pair of spherical mirrors (724,726),
And a shutter (708) capable of blocking light entering the polarizer (716) is selectively disposed at a position immediately after the condenser (704) at the position just before the polarizer (716).
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an aperture (728) is disposed between the pair of spherical mirrors (724,726).
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the polarizer 716 includes a pair of polarizers 718 and 720 facing each other.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the polarizers (718, 720) are inclined at Brewster's angle with respect to the direction of incidence of light and face each other to form mutually symmetry.
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