KR20000019581A - Gas injecting and discharging system and manufacturing method of pdp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: PDP is manufactured in a chamber to exhaust inside of panel by discharging chamber. So production cost reduce. CONSTITUTION: Gas injecting and discharging system of PDP have many chambers forming along panel moving line, gates dividing the chambers, heating devices, cooling devices, ventilators discharge gas, injectors, sealing devices seal exhaust hole. A surface substrate(51) fix on a rear substrate(52) with sealant(53). The chamber is heated to melt the sealant. When sealant melt, the surface substrate combine with the rear substrate and it forms panel(50). The chamber is exhausted to exhaust inside of panel by using vacuum system. Discharging gas is injected by using injector(59). The exhausting hole is sealed. The panel is take out.

Description

PD Production Method and PD Injection and Exhaust Systems

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exhaust and gas injection device for exhausting impurity gas in a panel and injecting discharge gas in manufacturing a PDP. In particular, the present invention relates to a PDP which is configured inline to perform exhaust and gas injection without an exhaust pipe. The present invention relates to a gas injection and exhaust system and a method thereof.

In general, a plasma display panel (PDP) is an apparatus for displaying an image using a plasma generated by an electrical discharge. As shown in FIG. 1, a surface substrate 11a formed of glass and positioned on an upper side thereof, and the surface It consists of the back board 12a located under the board | substrate 11a.

The address electrode 12b is disposed in the back substrate 12a in a stripe shape, and the partition wall 12c is disposed in parallel with the address electrode 12b to separate the address electrode 12b into a plurality of discharge cells. In addition, the fluorescent material 15 is applied between the partition walls 12c of the rear substrate 12a. On the other hand, a plurality of display electrodes 11b are provided on the lower surface of the surface substrate 11a to form the dielectric layer 13 and the protective layer 14.

The surface substrate 11a and the back substrate 12a are assembled so that the display electrode 11b and the address electrode 12b are orthogonal to each other, and are hermetically sealed with a glassy sealing material 16, and the inside thereof is discharged such as Ne (neon) or the like. Filling the gas completes the manufacture of the PDP.

A general PDP manufacturing process is completed by separately manufacturing the surface substrate and the back substrate as shown in FIG. 2 and fusing them, and then injecting a discharge gas.

In order to manufacture the surface substrate, the glass substrate is first cleaned (c1), a metal film for forming the display electrode 1b is deposited (c2), and then a photoresist is applied (c3). When the mask is engraved with a desired pattern, the light is exposed to light (Exposure; c4), and the photoresist exposed to the light is dissolved in the developer (c5). That is, the photoresist may be left only in a desired portion through the development process.

Subsequently, when the etching process is performed using the etching solution, the metal film of the portion where the photoresist is not left is melted. Therefore, stripping the photoresist leaves only the metal remaining under the photoresist, thereby forming a stripe electrode (c6). The dielectric is then applied to the entire surface of the top plate (c6), baked (c8), and then coated with a glassy sealing agent (c9) for adhesion with the back substrate 2a. It waits for bonding with the board | substrate 2a.

The rear substrate 2a is also subjected to the cleaning (d1) process of the glass substrate, and then forms a barrier rib (d2). Subsequently, in order to form the address electrode 2b as in the formation of the display electrode 1b of the surface substrate 1a, deposition (d3), photoresist coating (d4), exposure (d5), development (d6), etching and photoresist The residue is removed (d7). Thereafter, the phosphor is formed (d8), and finally, after the firing (d9), the bonding with the surface substrate 1a is awaited.

Subsequently, the surface substrate and the rear substrate coated with the glassy sealing material are adhered (e1), the impurity gas is removed, the discharge gas is injected, and the exhaust / gas injection process (e2) including MgO activation is performed. Thereafter, the driving voltage of the PDP is appropriately lowered through aging (e3), the quality is inspected (e4), and the manufacture of the PDP is completed.

Here, the exhaust and gas injection process is one of the major factors that determine the quality of the PDP, which will be described in detail as follows.

The conventional exhaust and gas injection process is a first process of aligning the surface substrate 12 and the rear substrate 11 to be spaced apart by a predetermined distance, as shown in Figure 3, melting the sealant 21 and the surface substrate 12 and A second step of hermetically sealing the back substrate 11 and attaching the exhaust pipe 23, a third step of exhausting the gas inside the panel 20 through the exhaust pipe 23, and injecting discharge gas into the exhaust pipe 23. And a fifth step of removing the clip 22 and taking out the panel 20.

That is, the rear substrate 11 having the exhaust hole 11 'formed on the surface substrate 12 on which the sealant is printed in the previous step is aligned and fixed by the clip 22 to be bonded. The fixing state of the panel using the clip 22 is shown in FIG.

After the bonded panel 20 is positioned inside the magazine, the exhaust pipe 23 and the frit 24 for attaching the exhaust pipe are positioned in the exhaust hole 11 ′ of the rear substrate 11. Thereafter, the temperature inside the magazine is heated to about 450 ° C. and maintained for 30 minutes to melt the sealant 21 to seal the surface substrate 12 and the rear substrate 11 and melt the frit 24 to dissolve the exhaust pipe 23. It is attached to the back substrate 11.

When the exhaust pipe 23 is attached to the rear substrate 11, the inside of the panel 20 is evacuated to 10 ⁻⁶ Torr using the vacuum pump 27. That is, by attaching the exhaust head 25 to the exhaust pipe 23 and connecting the exhaust head 25 and the vacuum pump 27 through the exhaust pipe 26 to the inside of the panel 20 in accordance with the operation of the vacuum pump 27. To be exhausted. At this time, the exhaust film is exhausted at about 350 ° C. for 2 hours to activate the protective film inside the panel 20.

When the exhaust is completed, the discharge gas such as Ne, Xe, etc. is injected into the panel 20 and the exhaust pipe 23 is sealed. That is, the discharge gas is injected into the panel 20 to about 500 Torr through the discharge gas inlet 28, and the exhaust pipe 23 is sealed using the burner 29 while maintaining a constant pressure. Here, reference numeral 30 denotes an exhaust pipe sealant.

When the sealing of the exhaust pipe 23 is completed, since the panel 20 is completed, the clip 22 is removed and the panel product is taken out from the magazine.

The conventional exhaust and gas injection device in which the above process is performed includes a furnace body 40 having an air inlet 44 and an air outlet 43 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and a heater installed in the furnace body 40. (42), a magazine (41) installed inside the furnace body (40) and a panel (20) located therein, and a fan for blowing air heated by the heater (42) to the magazine (41). 45 and a motor 45 'and a calorific control plate 46 positioned on the side of the magazine 41 to regulate the amount of heat supplied to the magazine 41.

In the conventional exhaust and gas injection device configured as described above, a plurality of panels are placed inside the magazine so that the exhaust and gas injection process is simultaneously performed on the plurality of panels.

The surface substrate 12 and the rear substrate 11 are bonded to each other with the clip 22, and then manually positioned in the magazine 41, and the exhaust pipe 23 and the exhaust hole 11 'of the rear substrate 11 are disposed. The frit 24 is attached and the heater 42 is operated. According to the operation of the heater 42, the air sucked through the air inlet 44 is heated, and the heated air is moved toward the magazine 41 by the fan 45. Accordingly, the temperature of the magazine 41 is increased. When the calorific control plate 46 is operated to maintain the internal temperature of the magazine 41 at about 450 ° C., the panel 20 is sealed and at the same time the exhaust pipe 23 is connected to the panel ( 20 is attached to the exhaust hole 11 '.

Thereafter, the exhaust head 25 is attached to the exhaust pipe 23 to exhaust the inside of the panel 20 to about 10 ⁻⁶ Torr, and the discharge gas is injected into the panel 20 through the exhaust pipe 26 to about 500 Torr. . When the injection of the discharge gas is completed, the panel 20 is completed by sealing the exhaust pipe 23 by using the burner 29.

Here, the connection between the exhaust pipe 23 and the exhaust head 25 of the panel 20 shows that the exhaust head 25 has the coolant inlet 25a and the coolant outlet 25b through which the coolant flows in and out as shown in FIG. 6. It can be seen that each of the exhaust head case is formed, and the O-ring (25c) which is airtight so as not to leak gas around the exhaust pipe 23 protruding from the panel 20 and located inside the exhaust head case.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a temperature profile in an exhaust and gas injection process, and illustrates a time and a detailed temperature distribution and pressure distribution according to a process progress time accordingly.

First, the temperature raising step is a step of raising the temperature from room temperature to 450 ° C., and takes about 3 hours. At this time, maintaining a time of about 10 minutes at 400 ℃ is a part for releasing the thermal stress received by the panel due to heat. In general, the temperature rise rate of soda lime, which is a material of a glass substrate, is defined as 50 ° C./min at a thickness of 6 mm, but it is unreasonable to apply it directly to a PDP panel. Because PDP panels are made of various materials and subjected to firing at high temperatures, their physical properties are significantly different from those of basic raw materials. Therefore, it can be said that determining the temperature increase rate corresponds to the know-how of panel makers.

The sealing process is determined in consideration of the characteristics of the sealant used to bond the surface substrate and the back substrate, and in the current process, the sealing process is performed at 450 ° C. for about 30 minutes in accordance with the curing temperature and time of the sealant. To reduce the time and temperature in this area, new sealants need to be developed.

The protective film activation process activates the protective film for about 2 hours under conditions of 350 ° C. and 10 ⁻⁶ Torr in order to maximize the performance of the protective film coated on the surface substrate. When the protective film is exposed to the atmospheric layer, the protective film is contaminated due to the reaction between moisture in the atmosphere and carbon dioxide gas, so that the protective film suppresses the reaction with the atmosphere through activation.

The temperature reduction process is a process of cooling the panel to room temperature at 350 ° C. after the protective film activation process is completed, and it takes about 9.5 hours because it gradually cools, which corresponds to the neck process of the process. This process is the most thermally stressed process, so the temperature-fall rate is most important, because if the temperature rate is not correct, the panel is cracked and burned. Therefore, the most ideal temperature-fall rate is to naturally cool, because it forms a neck too large for the productivity of the product, it is a future problem to increase the temperature-fall rate without the occurrence of cracks.

The discharge gas injection process injects about 500 Torr of discharge gas (Ne, Xe) into the panel after the panel is cooled to room temperature and seals the exhaust pipe. Since the sealing process of the exhaust pipe is usually performed manually by using a burner, it becomes another cause of productivity decrease. The production of the PDP panel is completed by the above steps.

However, the conventional PDP manufacturing method and the PDP exhaust and gas injection device configured as described above are arranged in a batch manner in which a plurality of panels are put in one chamber and the whole process is carried out at the same time. There is a problem of lengthening and low efficiency.

First, all processes in one chamber damage all panels in the chamber if the system is shut down due to external factors.

Second, the batch type requires a long process time, large equipment space, and high investment costs compared to a constant yield.

Third, a separate exhaust pipe is attached and the exhaust pipe is manually sealed to inject discharge gas into the inside of the PDP panel, so the process time is long, resulting in lower yield and lower product yield due to damage of the exhaust pipe by manual labor. .

Fourth, the automation of the equipment and the continuous process is difficult because the considerable process is performed manually.

Fifth, the thermal efficiency is low because the temperature and temperature are repeatedly performed in one chamber.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 10-21382 discloses a PDP exhausting and sealing method and a facility for performing a sealing process of a surface substrate and a rear substrate of a PDP panel first, followed by continuous exhaust and sealing processing. The panel on which the surface substrate and the back substrate are sealed is vertically fixed to the support of the exhaust cart, the exhaust head is connected to the exhaust pipe installed on the rear substrate, and the exhaust cart is circulated into the heating furnace to perform the exhaust and discharge gas injection and encapsulation processes. It is supposed to perform. At this time, the sealing of the exhaust pipe is to seal the exhaust pipe by installing a heater around the exhaust pipe to melt the sealing member.

The above-mentioned PDP exhaust & sealing method has some advantages to automate the exhaust and discharge gas injection and encapsulation to enable line work, but the work is complicated because the surface substrate and the back substrate must be sealed in a separate system. Cracks may occur in the exhaust pipe during the movement, and there are difficulties in handling and risks, and there is a disadvantage in that a separate space for return of the exhaust cart is required because the exhaust cart is used.

In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-31957 discloses a method of manufacturing a plasma display panel. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, after attaching the exhaust pipe J1, one side of which is blocked by the sealing member J2, to the panel P, the temperature of the chamber is raised to increase the surface substrate J4 of the panel P. ) And the back substrate J5 are bonded to each other and at the same time the exhaust pipe J1 is firmly attached to the surface substrate by the sealant J3. When exhausting the gas inside the panel P or injecting the discharge gas into the panel P, the sealing member J2 blocking the exhaust pipe J1 is removed using the heater J8, and the gas encapsulation device ( Through J9), the gas is removed in the panel P and the discharge gas is injected. When the injection of the discharge gas is completed, the blocked exhaust pipe J1 is removed using the tube removal heater J7 and sealed at the same time.

In the plasma display manufacturing method, the surface substrate and the rear substrate are sealed inside the chamber, and one side is attached to the exhaust pipe blocked by the sealing member, and then taken out to perform exhaust and gas injection using a gas filling device. As an example, the use of the exhaust pipe blocked by the sealing member shortens the exhaust time, improves the productivity, and prevents damage of the exhaust pipe by not directly connecting the exhaust pipe and the vacuum exhaust machine. It is difficult to automate the process because it is difficult and batch type to complete the process in one chamber, and the work time is long because a considerable process must be performed by hand.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, by inlining the PDP manufacturing operation to facilitate the operation and at the same time by exhausting the chamber itself without using an exhaust pipe to exhaust the inside of the panel, It is an object of the present invention to provide a PDP manufacturing method and an exhaust and gas injecting device of the PDP, which is capable of reducing the manufacturing cost by increasing the thermal efficiency.

Figure 1a is a perspective view of a typical PDP,

1B is a cross-sectional view showing a cell of the PDP;

2 is a flowchart illustrating a manufacturing process of the PDP;

3 is a process diagram showing the exhaust and gas injection process,

4 is a view showing a fixed state of the panel,

5 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional exhaust and gas injection device,

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of portion “A” of FIG. 5;

7 is a graph showing a temperature profile at the time of the conventional exhaust and gas injection,

8 is a block diagram showing an exhaust and gas injection device according to the plasma display panel manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-31957;

9 is a process chart according to the exhaust and gas injection method of the PDP according to the present invention,

10 is a configuration diagram showing an exhaust and gas injection system of the PDP according to the present invention;

11 is a configuration diagram showing an exhaust chamber which is a main configuration of the present invention;

12A is a configuration diagram showing a panel support state of the setter;

12B is a detailed view showing a clamp device that is a main configuration of the setter;

13 is a view showing a structure of a rear substrate applied to the present invention,

14 is a graph showing a temperature profile according to the exhaust and gas injection method of the PDP of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

50: PDP panel 51: surface substrate

52 back substrate 52 'exhaust hole

53: sealant 54: heater

55 coolant pipe 56 chamber

60: chamber portion 60a: heating portion

60b: exhaust part 60c: cooling part

61: gate 62: vacuum unit

63: vacuum pump 63 ': exhaust pipe

64 gas injection valve 65 sealing device

65b: Heater 65e: Cap (for sealing)

66: setter support roller 67: setter feed roller

70: setter 71: setter base

72: clamp device 72a: support plate

72b: support link 72c: spring

72d: Pressure regulating lever 72f: Support pad

PDP manufacturing method of the present invention for achieving the above object is a first step of aligning the surface substrate and the rear substrate and fixed with a sealant therebetween so as to be spaced apart by a certain degree, and the temperature of the chamber in which the substrate is located The second step of sealing the surface substrate and the back substrate to form a panel by melting the sealant, and the third step of evacuating the interior of the panel by evacuating the chamber using a vacuum system; The fourth step of filling the discharge gas into the panel through the hole and sealing the exhaust hole, and the fifth step of taking out the sealed panel out of the chamber.

The exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP of the present invention comprises a plurality of chambers formed along a line through which a panel consisting of a surface substrate and a rear substrate is moved, a gate separating the chambers so that the process time in each chamber on the line is the same; Heating means installed in the chamber to seal the panel by heating the chamber, cooling means installed in the chamber to cool the chamber, exhaust means connected to the chamber to exhaust the inside of the chamber, and Discharge gas injection means for filling the discharge gas into the panel by injecting the discharge gas into the chamber, and sealing means for sealing the exhaust hole formed in the panel inside the chamber.

Some of the chambers are provided with an exhaust and gas injection unit for exhausting the inside of the panel and filling the discharge gas; The exhaust and gas injection unit is provided with a heater installed inside the chamber, a setter positioned inside the chamber to fix the PDP panel, setter transfer means for moving the setter, setter support means for supporting the setter, and An exhaust means connected to the inside of the chamber to exhaust the chamber and the panel, a gas injection means connected to the exhaust means to inject discharge gas into the panel, and an encapsulation means to seal the exhaust hole formed in the panel inside the chamber. Characterized in that consisting of.

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

As shown in FIG. 9, the PDP manufacturing process according to the present invention includes a top and bottom plate bonding process, a sealing process, an exhaust process, a discharge gas injection and encapsulation process, and a takeout process.

That is, the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52 manufactured by the line work are aligned, and the sealant 53 is interposed so as to be spaced apart from each other by a fixed amount, and then bonded. When the bonding of the substrate is completed, the temperature of the chamber 56 in which the substrate is positioned is raised to about 450 ° C. to melt the sealant 53, and the sealant 53 melts to form the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52. Sealing is carried out by bonding between them, and the surface substrate 51 and the back substrate 52 are integrated into a panel 50.

Thereafter, the vacuum system 58 is connected to the chamber 56 and exhausted, and the exhaust gas of the chamber 56 is exhausted together with the exhaust of the chamber 56 so that the interior of the panel becomes 10 ⁻⁶ Torr. When the exhaust is completed, the discharge gas (Ne, Xe) is injected into the chamber 56 by using the discharge gas injector 59 to fill the discharge gas into the panel 50 through the exhaust hole 52 'and exhaust the exhaust hole. Seal 52 '. At this time, the discharge gas remaining in the chamber is recovered by using the discharge gas regeneration device 59 'and then recycled and reused. Subsequently, the panel 50 in which the sealing is completed is taken out of the chamber 56 to complete the panel manufacturing.

An exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP for performing the above process is shown in FIG. 10 according to the process process. The exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP shown in FIG. 10 includes a process progressing unit B and a panel conveying setter provided with a plurality of chamber portions 60 separated by gates 61 according to the same process time on a line. It consists of a return unit (A) for returning from the unloading unit to the loading unit. Each chamber part 60 is divided into a heating part 60a, an exhaust part 60b, and a cooling part 60c, and the exhaust part 60b is provided with a vacuum device part 62 for exhausting the chamber 60. do. In particular, the exhaust chamber constituting the exhaust portion 60b is shown in FIG. 11 in the principal configuration of the present invention.

The exhaust chamber illustrated in FIG. 11 is an exhaust and gas injection unit, and includes a chamber 56 in which a panel 50 is located and a cooling pipe 55 formed therein, and a heater 54 installed in the chamber 56. And a setter 70 positioned inside the chamber 56 to fix the PDP panel 50, a setter feed roller 67 and a drive motor 67 ′ to move the setter 70. A setter support roller 66 supporting the setter 70, a vacuum pump 63 and an exhaust pipe 63 ′ connected to the inside of the chamber 56 to exhaust the inside of the chamber 56 and the panel 50. And a gas injection valve 64 connected to the exhaust pipe 63 ′ for injecting discharge gas into the panel 50 and an exhaust hole formed in the panel 50 inside the chamber 56. It is composed of a device (65).

The encapsulation device 65 includes a cap 65e that blocks an exhaust hole of the PDP panel 50 and a melter 65d that is applied to an upper surface of the cap 65e to seal the cap 65e and the panel 50. ), A heater block 65c on which the cap 65e is placed, and equipped with a heater 65b for melting the melt 65d, and a support 65a positioned below the heater block 65c. It consists of the drive motor 65f which moves.

The setter 70 has a setter base 71 on which the PDP panel 50 is placed as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, and a clamp fixed to the setter base 71 to hold the PDP panel 50. The device 72 is configured to support the edge of the PDP panel 50 using the force of the spring 72c and the support plate 72a in close contact with the setter base 72. The support link 72b, the handle 72e for rotating the support link 72b to a certain degree, the pressure adjusting lever 72d for adjusting the elastic force of the spring 72c, and the support plate 72a A fixing bolt 72g coupled to the setter base 71 and a support pad 72f installed at the tip of the support link 72b to be in contact with the PDP panel 50 to protect the panel.

PDP exhaust and gas injection device of the present invention configured as described above is a process of loading → heating 1 → heating 2 → heating / adhesion → cooling 1 → protective film activation / exhaust → gas injection / sealing → cooling 2 → cooling 3 → unloading It operates according to, the detailed operation is as follows.

In the loading process, the panel 50 is placed on the setter base 71 in order to introduce the panel 50 to which the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52 are bonded, and then fixed using the clamp device 72. . The reason for fixing the panel 50 by using the clamp device 72 is to seal the sealant 53 between the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52 when sealing the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52. It is for applying a constant pressure to the surface substrate 51 at the time of melting and bonding. If no pressure is applied, pressure leakage may occur even when the sealing of the panel 50 is completed.

In the heating 1 process, in order to seal between the surface board | substrate 51 and the back board | substrate 52, it heats at the speed | rate of 2.7 degreeC / min with the heater 54 until the temperature of the panel 50 becomes about 140 degreeC. In order to melt the sealant 53 between the surface substrate 51 and the rear substrate 52, the sealant 53 needs to be heated to about 450 ° C., but when suddenly heated to a high temperature, thermal stress is generated in the panel 50, causing cracks. The temperature is raised at a constant rate of temperature increase.

In the heating 2 process, the temperature of the panel 50 is heated at a rate of 2.0 ° C./min so as to be about 260 ° C. again. The division of the heating 1 and 2 processes is to make the difference of the temperature increase rate according to the temperature and the entire process automatically and continuously. Since the time of the heating 1 process is determined according to the process time, it is necessary to divide it into two zones.

In the heating / adhesion process, the temperature of the panel 50 is raised to about 450 ° C. and maintained for about 30 minutes while melting the sealant 53 between the surface substrate 51 and the back substrate 52 to bond and seal the two. do. The cooling process 1 is a process of cooling the temperature inside the panel raised to about 450 ° C. to about 350 ° C., and cooling the contaminant generated during the sealing and the protection film activation condition inside the panel to about 350 ° C.

The protective film activation / exhaust process uses a vacuum pump 63 connected to the chamber 56 to remove contaminants contaminated by the protective film inside the panel 50 while maintaining the pressure inside the panel at 10 ⁻⁶ Torr and the temperature at 350 ° C. The process of cleaning and exhausting the inside of the panel 50 by improving the characteristics of the protective film and injecting discharge gas into the chamber 56 and applying power to the panel 50 to generate plasma.

The reason for cleaning the inside of the panel 50 is that if the protective film contains a pollutant, the pollutant is released when the panel 50 is discharged by applying a voltage to the panel 50 after fabrication of the panel 50, thereby causing secondary contamination inside the panel 50. This is because the characteristics of the panel 50 are reduced by causing them to occur. In addition, the reason why the protective film activation process is performed at high temperature and high vacuum is that the pollutant component released from the protective film is quickly released in high vacuum, and the higher the temperature, the faster the release rate. However, care must be taken when the temperature exceeds 350 ° C., since the properties of the protective film are changed to degrade the characteristics of the panel 50.

After the protective film activation process, the contaminants stuck to the material such as the phosphor and the dielectric are cleaned by using plasma. The discharge gas is injected into the chamber 56 and the voltage applying connector (not shown) fixed to the setter 70 is applied. By applying a voltage to generate a plasma discharge inside the panel 50, the pollutant fixed in the panel 50 is detached and exhausted.

The gas injection / encapsulation process is a process of filling the discharge gas into the high pressure inside the panel 50 after the protective film is activated. That is, when the discharge gas is injected into the chamber 50 at a pressure of 500 Torr, the inside of the panel 50 is filled with the discharge gas at the same pressure due to the exhaust hole 52 ′ of the panel 50. Thereafter, the cap 65e to which the molten agent 65d is applied is melted by the heater 65b to seal the exhaust hole 52 'formed in the lower portion of the panel 50.

The cooling 2 process and the cooling 3 process are to cool the panel 50 in the chamber 56 from high temperature to room temperature, and the cooling 2 process is gradually cooled from 350 ° C. to 200 ° C. (4 ° C./min) and the cooling 3 step Is a step of cooling (6 ° C./min) from 200 ° C. to room temperature. In order to cool the panel 50, the coolant pipe 55 and the purge gas introduction valve 75 are used to introduce the coolant and the purge gas, which gradually lowers the temperature of the panel 50, causing thermal deformation due to a sudden temperature change. To minimize this.

The unloading process is a process of taking out the completed panel 50 from the setter 70 and collecting the setter 70 back to the loader by using the roller 68 at the upper portion.

Looking at the operation of the various devices installed in the chamber with reference to Figure 10 as follows.

When the bonded panel 50 is positioned on the setter base 71 of the setter 70 and then positioned on the loader while the panel 50 is supported by the clamp device 72 fixed to the setter base 71. The setter 70 is transferred to the next process by the drive roller 67. When the setter 70 is transferred to the heating 1 zone, the temperature of the panel 50 is raised to a predetermined temperature by the heater 54 installed above and below the chamber 56, and the temperature control at this time is performed by the chamber 56. ) Cooling water flowing through the cooling pipe 55 formed on the outer wall is used.

When the temperature of the panel 50 is raised to a predetermined level (140 ° C.), the panel 50 is transferred to the heating zone 2 by the roller 67 and the support roller 66 driven by the motor 67 '. In the heating 2 zone, the temperature of the panel 50 is raised to a predetermined level (260 ° C.) and transferred to the heating / sealing zone. In the heating / sealing zone, the temperature of the panel is raised to a constant temperature (450 ° C.) and the surface substrate 51 ) And the rear substrate 52 are sealed, and the panel 50 is transferred to the next zone while evacuating. In the cooling zone 1, the panel 50 is cooled (400 ° C.) to a certain degree while vacuuming the inside of the chamber 56 using the vacuum pump 63.

In the exhaust / protective film active zone, the discharge gas is introduced into the chamber 56 while cooling the temperature from 400 ° C. to 350 ° C. while simultaneously evacuating to 10 ⁻⁶ Torr. The discharge gas is injected into the chamber 56 by using the discharge gas inlet 64. The source of contamination inside the panel 50 is maintained by maintaining a vacuum of 10 ^-6 Torr for about 1.5 hours while maintaining the temperature at 350 ° C. Remove

In the gas injection / sealing zone, the discharge gas is injected into the discharge gas inlet 64 at about 500 Torr, and the cap 65e coated with the molten agent 65d is raised using the motor 65f to raise the cap 50e. The exhaust hole 52 'is sealed. After placing the cap 65e on the heater 65b of the sealing system 65, the melt 65 d applied to the cap 65e is melted to seal the exhaust hole 52 ′ of the panel 50.

When the sealing of the panel 50 is completed, the temperature inside the chamber 56 is cooled from 350 ° C. to room temperature using cooling water and purge gas. When introducing the purge gas into the chamber 56, a stainless steel mesh having a mesh structure may be used to maintain a uniform temperature inside the panel 50. The cooled panel 50 proceeds to the unloader and is transferred to the next process, and the setter 70 is recovered to the loader through the return portion B above the chamber 56.

Here, looking at the temperature profile for the exhaust and gas injection process of the present invention can be shown as shown in FIG. That is, the time required by the lead time at the time of carrying out a process, the temperature distribution by each process, and the pressure distribution at that time are shown.

The temperature increase process is a process of raising the temperature from room temperature to 450 ° C., which takes about 3 hours, and maintains the temperature at 400 ° C. for 10 minutes to relieve thermal stress of the panel generated by heating the panel.

The sealing process is timed according to the characteristics of the sealant used when the surface substrate and the back substrate are hermetically sealed, and here, it is about 30 minutes at 450 ° C depending on the curing temperature and time of the sealant.

The exhaust / protective film activation process is a process of activating the protective film for about 1.5 hours under conditions of 400 → 300 ° C. and 10 ⁻⁶ Torr to maintain the maximum performance of the protective film coated on the surface substrate. When the protective film is exposed to the atmosphere, it reacts with moisture and carbon dioxide, so that the protective film is contaminated and weakens the characteristics of the panel. Therefore, an activation process must be performed to remove the contamination.

The discharge gas injection / sealing process is a process of completely discharging the inside of the panel and then injecting the discharge gas. The discharge gas is injected into the panel at about 500 Torr to seal the exhaust hole of the panel.

The temperature reduction process is a process of cooling the panel temperature at room temperature at 350 ° C. after the sealing of the panel is completed. Since the panel is subjected to the most thermal stress, the temperature reduction rate is very important. The ideal rate of fall is natural cooling, but this has a significant negative impact on the productivity of the product, so there is a need for a method of reducing the rate of fall as long as the panel is not subjected to thermal stress.

As described above, the PDP manufacturing method of the present invention and the exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP have advantages in that the productivity of the product can be improved and the defect rate can be reduced by performing the process automation in exhausting the inside of the panel and injecting the discharge gas. .

In addition, since the discharge gas remaining in the chamber can be recovered and reused after being processed when the discharge gas is injected into the panel, the consumption of the discharge gas is reduced and the heating cost is reduced by maintaining the constant temperature without changing the temperature in the heating chamber. There is another advantage that can be done.

Claims (7)

A first step of aligning the surface substrate and the back substrate and fixing the sealant with the sealant therebetween so as to be spaced apart from each other, and sealing the surface substrate and the back substrate by melting the sealant by raising the temperature of the chamber in which the substrate is located. And a third step of evacuating the chamber by evacuating the chamber using a vacuum system, and injecting a discharge gas into the chamber to fill the discharge gas into the panel through the exhaust hole, And a fourth step of encapsulating and a fifth step of taking out the encapsulated panel out of the chamber. The method of claim 1, The fourth step is a method of manufacturing a PDP comprising the step of collecting the discharge gas inside the chamber after the panel sealing is completed, re-use and reuse. A plurality of chambers formed along a line through which the panel consisting of the surface substrate and the back substrate is moved; a gate for separating the chambers so that the process time in each chamber on the line is the same; and a panel installed in the chamber to heat the chamber. Airtight heating means, cooling means installed in the chamber to cool the inside of the chamber, exhaust means connected to the chamber to exhaust the inside of the chamber, and connected to the chamber to inject discharge gas into the inside of the panel. A discharge and gas injection device for a PDP, comprising: discharge gas injection means for filling discharge gas; and sealing means for sealing an exhaust hole formed in a panel inside the chamber. The method of claim 3, wherein Some of the chambers are provided with an exhaust and gas injection unit for exhausting the inside of the panel and filling the discharge gas; The exhaust and gas injection unit is provided with a heater installed inside the chamber, a setter positioned inside the chamber to fix the PDP panel, setter transfer means for moving the setter, setter support means for supporting the setter, and An exhaust means connected to the inside of the chamber to exhaust the chamber and the panel, a gas injection means connected to the exhaust means to inject discharge gas into the panel, and an encapsulation means to seal the exhaust hole formed in the panel inside the chamber. PDP exhaust and gas injection device, characterized in that consisting of. The method of claim 4, wherein The setter includes a setter base on which the PDP panel is mounted, a clamp device fixed to the setter base to hold the PDP panel, and the clamping device includes a support plate closely attached to the setter base, and a PDP using a spring force. A support link for supporting an edge of the panel, a handle for pivoting the support link to a certain degree, a pressure adjusting lever for adjusting the elastic force of the spring, and a fixing bolt for coupling the support plate to the setter base. PDP exhaust and gas injection device. The method of claim 5, The support link is an exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP, characterized in that the support pad is installed on the front end portion in contact with the PDP panel. The method of claim 4, wherein The encapsulation means includes a cap that blocks an exhaust hole of a PDP panel, a melter applied to an upper surface of the cap to seal the cap and the panel, a heater block on which the cap is placed, and a heater to melt the melt; Exhaust and gas injection device of the PDP, characterized in that the drive means for moving up and down the support located in the lower portion of the heater block.