KR102031681B1 - apparatus for repairing a liquid crystal display panel and methods thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of mounting a liquid crystal display panel on a stage, supplying polarized light to the liquid crystal display panel, acquiring an inspection image using the polarized light, and performing the inspection image Obtaining at least one position of a foreign object belonging to the bad pixel, and selecting at least one of a plurality of recipes for dividing the pixel into a plurality and selectively darkening only the divided region with reference to the obtained foreign object position; Disclosed is a repairing method of a liquid crystal display panel including irradiating a laser to the defective pixel to darken it according to a selected recipe.

Description

Apparatus for repairing a liquid crystal display panel and methods

The present invention relates to a repair apparatus and a method for darkening a pixel of a liquid crystal display panel containing foreign matter.

A liquid crystal display device converts a change in optical properties such as birefringence, photoreactivity, and light scattering characteristics of a liquid crystal cell that emits light by applying a voltage to a specific molecular array of the liquid crystal, and converts it into another molecular array. And a display device using modulation of light by a liquid crystal cell.

Such a liquid crystal display device can be miniaturized compared to the CRT, and is widely used not only for monitors of personal computers and notebook computers, but also for office automation devices such as copying machines, and portable devices such as mobile phones and pagers.

The liquid crystal panel manufacturing process of the active matrix driving type liquid crystal display device, which is most widely used, may be divided into substrate cleaning, substrate patterning, alignment layer formation, substrate bonding / liquid crystal injection, and mounting processes.

In the substrate cleaning process, foreign substances on the substrates are removed using a cleaning agent before and after patterning the upper and lower substrates. In the substrate patterning process, the upper substrate is patterned and the lower substrate is patterned. 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 thin film transistors (TFTs) are formed at intersections of the data lines and gate lines, and the data lines and gate lines are connected to the source electrodes of the thin film transistors (TFTs). The pixel electrode is formed in the pixel area between them.

In the substrate bonding / liquid crystal injection process, the alignment film is coated and rubbed on the lower substrate, followed by the bonding process of the upper and lower substrates using sealant, liquid crystal injection, injection hole encapsulation, cleaning, grinding, and inspection. The process is performed sequentially to complete the liquid crystal display panel.

On the other hand, in the liquid crystal display panel, foreign matter may enter the whole or a part of the liquid crystal display panel due to an error or a manufacturing defect occurring in each liquid crystal display panel manufacturing process, thereby causing a bright point defect. In the inspection, a pixel determined as defective is formed by forming a space between the substrate and the color filter with a laser using a color filter corresponding to the pixel, and melting the black matrix with a laser to fill the space formed between the substrate and the color filter with the black matrix. It was done by darkening.

The present invention has been devised in such a background, and instead of darkening the entire pixel, the position of the foreign material is accurately determined, and only the corresponding portion is darkened to improve the quantification efficiency.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a stage for supporting a liquid crystal display panel, a backlight for supplying polarized light to the liquid crystal display panel, a camera unit for obtaining a test image from the liquid crystal display panel, and the liquid crystal display panel And a laser unit for darkening a bad pixel, and a plurality of recipes for selectively darkening only the divided region by dividing the pixel into a plurality of pixels, and selecting the recipe according to the position of the foreign material in the bad pixel to control the operation of the laser unit. A repairing apparatus for a liquid crystal display panel including a control unit is disclosed.

The recipe includes six to sixth dividing the pixels to darken each divided area, and a seventh recipe to darken the entire pixel.

When the foreign material is located at the boundary of the divided region, the controller selects a plurality of recipes corresponding to all the divided regions to which the foreign material belongs.

The controller selects the seventh recipe when the foreign material is located in the middle of the bad pixel.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: mounting a liquid crystal display panel on a stage; supplying polarized light to the liquid crystal display panel; acquiring an inspection image using the polarized light; Obtaining at least one position of a foreign object belonging to the bad pixel, and selecting at least one of a plurality of recipes for dividing the pixel into a plurality and selectively darkening only the divided region with reference to the obtained foreign object position; Disclosed is a repairing method of a liquid crystal display panel including irradiating a laser to the defective pixel to darken it according to a selected recipe.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the entire liquid crystal is darkened according to the size and position of the foreign material, or only partially darkened so that even a defective pixel can be repaired and used, thereby improving the yield efficiency.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a liquid crystal display panel repair apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram for explaining a recipe.
3 is a view for explaining a test method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 6 are diagrams schematically illustrating the inspection method.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, when it is determined that a detailed description of known functions or configurations related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a repair apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the repair apparatus of one embodiment includes a camera unit 10, a stage 20, a backlight 30, a laser unit 40, and a control unit 50.

The camera unit 10 is configured of a CCD camera and acquires an image of the liquid crystal display panel 21. The camera unit 10 further includes a lens unit 11, and the resolution of the camera is determined according to the magnification of the lens included in the lens unit 11. The lens unit 11 may further include a polarizing plate 13, and the polarizing plate 13 may include a circular polarizing plate or a linear polarizing plate.

The stage 20 supports the liquid crystal display panel 21 and is made of a transparent plate. This stage 20 supports the liquid crystal display panel 21 in a fixed state so that the liquid crystal display panel 21 does not move during the inspection.

The backlight 30 is a means for supplying light to the liquid crystal display panel 21, and various light sources such as a light emitting diode and a fluorescent lamp are used. The backlight 30 further includes a polarizer 31 positioned between the liquid crystal display panel 21 and the backlight 30 on a path of light.

The polarizing plate 31 linearly or circularly polarizes the light supplied from the backlight 30 and supplies the light to the liquid crystal display panel 21. The liquid crystal display panel 21 is a display which displays an image by a difference in the light transmittance according to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal. In the case where foreign matter is included, the liquid crystal arrangement direction of the liquid crystal arranged where the foreign matter is present and the liquid crystal arrangement direction of the other portion Is different. Therefore, in the case where the light polarized in one direction is transmitted through the place where the foreign matter exists, and when it passes through the place where the foreign matter is not present, a phase delay occurs to accurately detect the position of the foreign matter.

The laser unit 40 darkens the defective pixel among the pixels of the liquid crystal display panel under the control of the operation of the controller 50. At this time, the laser unit 40 darkens the entire pixel or darkens only part of the pixels by differently darkening the pixels according to the position of the foreign material.

The controller 50 controls the laser unit 40 to darken the defective pixels. The controller 50 includes a recipe 51 for this purpose. The recipe 51 is an algorithm for controlling the operation of the laser unit 40. The recipe 51 includes first to seventh recipes for dividing one pixel into six equal parts to selectively darken only each divided region.

The recipe 51 is described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 as follows. The pixel is divided into six divided regions as illustrated in FIG. 2. The first divided region ① is the upper left portion, and the second divided region ② is the upper right portion adjacent to the first divided region. The third divided area ③ is the left middle part, and the fourth divided area ④ is the right middle part adjacent to the third divided area. The fifth divided area ⑤ is the lower left part, and the sixth divided area is the lower right part 6 adjacent to the fifth divided area.

The first recipe of the recipe 51 is a recipe governing the first divided region ①, and according to the first recipe, the laser unit 40 is controlled to darken only the first divided region ①. The second recipe is a recipe governing the second divided region ②, and according to the second recipe, the laser unit 40 is controlled to darken only the second divided region ①. Likewise, in the third to sixth recipes, according to the respective recipes, the laser unit is controlled to darken only the third divided area ③ to the sixth divided area ⑥. The seventh recipe is a recipe that controls the entire pixel, and according to the seventh recipe, the laser unit 40 is controlled to darken the entire pixel.

Hereinafter, a method of repairing defective pixels of the liquid crystal display panel using the repair apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a repair method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, in step S11, the liquid crystal display panel 21 is seated on the stage 20, and the backlight 30 is turned on. Accordingly, light polarized in one direction by the polarizing plate 31 is supplied to the liquid crystal display panel 21. The polarized light is phase-delayed in the presence and absence of the foreign material so that the exact location of the foreign material is known.

In operation S12, the camera unit 10 acquires the image illustrated in FIG. 4A in response to light passing through the liquid crystal display panel 21. Based on the acquired image, the size and position of the foreign material size in the bad pixel are confirmed. The size and position of the foreign material size may be performed by the controller 50 by an analysis algorithm embedded in the apparatus, or may be performed by the operator through visual inspection. The operator can check the foreign material size and the foreign material position in the pixel through the monitor on which the inspection image is displayed and input the result into the device.

The controller 50 determines the repair form according to the position and size of the foreign material among the defective pixels obtained by the analysis algorithm or the operator.

If it is determined that the size of the foreign material is larger than the predetermined size (step S13), the controller 50 selects the seventh recipe to control the operation of the laser unit 40. As such, when the seventh recipe is selected, the entire defective pixel is darkened regardless of the position of the foreign matter (step S131). As described above, the darkening is performed by forming a space with a color filter corresponding to a bad pixel with a laser, and melting and filling the black matrix in the space.

If the foreign material size is smaller than the predetermined size, the controller 50 selects a recipe according to the position of the foreign material and repairs the defective pixel (steps S14 and S15).

If the foreign material exists in the second divided area corresponding to the upper right side as shown in FIG. 4A, the controller 50 selects a second recipe for controlling the second divided area to control the operation of the laser unit 40.

Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, darkening is performed only on the upper right side among the blue pixels.

On the other hand, if the foreign material size is smaller than the predetermined size and the position of the foreign material is located at the boundary of the divided region as illustrated in FIG. 5A, the controller 50 selects a recipe for managing all the regions to which the foreign material belongs. . When the foreign material is located at the boundary between the fourth and sixth divided regions as shown in FIG. 5A, the controller 50 selects the fourth recipe and the sixth recipe that manage the fourth and sixth divided regions. Thus, both the fourth and sixth partitions are darkened.

When the foreign material size is smaller than the predetermined size, but the foreign material is located at the center as shown in FIG. 6A, the controller 50 selects the seventh recipe to control the operation of the laser unit 40. As such, as the seventh recipe is selected, the defective pixel is darkened in its entirety (see FIG. 6B).

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 (8)

A stage supporting the liquid crystal display panel,
A backlight for supplying polarized light to the liquid crystal display panel;
A camera unit obtaining an inspection image from the liquid crystal display panel;
A laser unit for darkening a defective pixel of the liquid crystal display panel;
And a plurality of recipes for selectively darkening only the divided region by dividing the pixels into a plurality of recipes, and a recipe for darkening the entire pixel. and,
The control unit,
When the foreign material is located at the boundary of the divided region, a plurality of recipes corresponding to all the divided regions to which the foreign material belongs is selected, and when the foreign material is located in the middle of the bad pixel, a recipe for darkening the entire bad pixel is provided. Repair device of liquid crystal display panel to choose.
The method of claim 1,
And the recipe comprises first to sixth recipes for dividing the pixel into six equal parts to darken each divided region, and a seventh recipe for darkening the entire pixel.
delete delete Mounting the liquid crystal panel on the stage;
Supplying polarized light to the liquid crystal display panel;
Acquiring a test image using the polarized light;
Obtaining a position of a foreign object belonging to a bad pixel from the inspection image;
Selecting at least one of a plurality of recipes for dividing a pixel into a plurality and selectively darkening only the divided region with reference to the obtained foreign object position;
Irradiating a dark spot by irradiating a laser to the defective pixel according to the selected recipe;
Darkening the entire bad pixel when the size of the foreign material is larger than a predetermined size
Repair method of the liquid crystal display panel comprising a.
delete The method of claim 5,
And a plurality of recipes corresponding to all of the divided regions to which the foreign material belongs, when the foreign material position is located at the boundary of the divided region.
The method of claim 5,
Repairing the liquid crystal display panel when the foreign material position is located at the boundary of the divided region;

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