KR20060134694A - Mother glass, apparatus and method for fabricating alignment layer formed on the mother glass - Google Patents

Abstract

A mother substrate, and an apparatus and a method for forming an alignment layer formed on the mother substrate are provided to simultaneously form panels having different resolution degrees on the mother substrate. An apparatus for forming an alignment layer comprises a resin plate(150). The resin plate transfers an alignment solution onto a mother substrate including two panel areas of different sizes while the resin plate is contacted with the mother substrate. The resin plate includes first and second mask substrates(154,162) and first and second meshes(156,164) respectively formed on the first and second mask substrates. The first and second meshes are different from each other in at least one of size or arrangement angle, according to characteristics of the two panel areas of the mother substrate.

Description

Mother board, alignment film manufacturing apparatus and alignment film manufacturing method formed on this mother board {MOTHER GLASS, APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING ALIGNMENT LAYER FORMED ON THE MOTHER GLASS}

1 is a plan view illustrating a mother substrate of a display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a manufacturing apparatus for forming an alignment layer on the mother substrate shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a resin plate attached to the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view showing the resin plate shown in FIG. 3.

5A to 5C are cross-sectional views for explaining stepwise a method of forming an alignment layer with the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a second embodiment of a resin plate attached to the manufacturing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2.

7A and 7B are graphs for explaining the relationship between the alignment film thickness uniformity according to the arrangement angle of the mesh shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating a liquid crystal display panel having an alignment film formed by a manufacturing apparatus with a resin plate shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

101: mosquito board 102: printing table

104: printing roller 108: anilox roll

110: dispenser 112: doctor roll

130140: Panel 150: Resin Plate

152: base film 154,162: mask substrate

156,164: mesh 158,160: mask

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an alignment film manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method, and more particularly, to a mother substrate on which panels having different resolutions are formed in a multi-model glass structure, and an alignment film manufacturing apparatus and an alignment film manufacturing method formed on the mother substrate.

A liquid crystal display device used as a display device of a television and a computer displays an image by adjusting the light transmittance of the liquid crystal using an electric field. To this end, the liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal display panel in which liquid crystal cells are arranged in a matrix, and a driving circuit for driving the liquid crystal display panel.

The liquid crystal display panel includes a thin film transistor substrate and a color filter substrate facing each other with a liquid crystal interposed therebetween. Each of the thin film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate is completed by forming respective thin film patterns on the substrate corresponding to the size and size of the liquid crystal display panel. In this case, since only a thin film transistor substrate or a color filter substrate of the same size is produced on one substrate, there is a problem in that productivity is relatively lowered. Accordingly, in recent years, a multi model glass (MMG) structure for forming at least two thin film transistor substrates or color filter substrates of different sizes on one mother substrate has been proposed.

The MMG structure forms at least one first panel having a first size on one mother substrate, and forms a second panel having a second size in a surplus region in the mother substrate where the first panel cannot be formed. As such, the second panel is formed in the excess area to be discarded, thereby maximizing the utilization efficiency of the mother substrate, thereby improving productivity. However, in the case of the MMG structure, the resolutions of the first and second panels formed on one mother substrate are the same. Accordingly, in recent years, there is a demand for a method of forming panels having different resolutions.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a mother substrate on which panels of different resolutions are formed in a multi-model glass structure, an alignment film manufacturing apparatus and an alignment film manufacturing method formed on the mother substrate.

In order to achieve the above object, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a resin plate for transferring the alignment liquid onto the mother substrate while contacting the mother substrate including at least two panel regions of different sizes, the resin plate A silver mask substrate; It is formed on the mask substrate, characterized in that at least one of the size and the arrangement angle has a different mesh according to the characteristics of the at least two panel region.

Here, the mesh is characterized in that at least one of the size and the arrangement angle is different depending on the resolution of the panel area.

In detail, as the resolution of the panel region increases, the size of the mesh formed on the mask substrate per same area decreases.

Alternatively, as the resolution of the panel region increases, the number of meshes formed on the mask substrate per same area increases.

On the other hand, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a dispenser for supplying the alignment liquid, a first roller to which the alignment liquid supplied from the dispenser is applied and rotated, and rotates adjacent to the first roller, the resin plate It is characterized by further comprising a second roller.

In order to achieve the above object, the alignment film manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that to form an alignment film having a different thickness according to the characteristics of the panel region on the mother substrate including at least two panel regions having different sizes. .

In order to achieve the above object, the method for producing an alignment film according to the present invention is attached to a roller for rotating a resin plate having at least one of the size and the arrangement angle different mesh according to the characteristics of at least two panel regions of different sizes. A first step of doing; A second step of supplying an alignment liquid to the resin plate; And a third step of printing the alignment liquid applied to the resin plate on the mother substrate of the panel region.

The first step is a step of attaching a resin plate having a mesh having at least one of a size and an arrangement angle according to the resolution of the panel region on the rotating roller.

The first step is a step of attaching a resin plate having a mesh having a smaller size or a larger number per same area as the resolution of the panel region is increased on the rotating roller.

In order to achieve the above object, a mother substrate including at least two panel regions having different sizes and having a thin film transistor array or a color filter array formed in each of the panel regions, the thin film transistor according to the characteristics of each panel region. The thickness of at least one of the thin films included in the array or the color filter array is different for each of the at least two panel regions.

Here, the thickness of the thin film is different according to the resolution of the panel region.

Specifically, the thin film is characterized in that the alignment film.

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. 1 to 8.

1 is a plan view illustrating a mother substrate of a liquid crystal display panel according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, at least two panels 130 and 140 having different sizes and different resolutions are formed on the mother substrate 101 according to the present invention. Here, the at least two panels will be described as, for example, the first and second panels 130 and 140.

The first panel 130 is formed to have a first size on the mother substrate 101. In this case, a thin film transistor array or a color filter array is formed on the mother substrate 101 of the first panel 130.

The second panel 140 is formed to have a second size smaller than the first panel on the same mother substrate 101 on which the first panel 130 is formed. The second panel 140 is formed in the surplus region of the mother substrate 101 on which the first panel 130 cannot be formed. The second panel 140 has a different resolution from the first panel 130. Correspondingly, at least one thin film included in the color filter substrate or the thin film transistor substrate constituting the second panel 140 is formed to have a different thickness from that of the first panel 130. For example, the alignment layer included in the color filter substrate and the thin film transistor substrate of the second panel 140 may be formed to have a different thickness from that of the first panel 130.

As such, the alignment film printing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is used to form an alignment film having a different thickness corresponding to the resolution.

In the alignment film printing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2, an anilox roll 108 to which an alignment liquid is applied and a resin plate 150 for transferring the alignment liquid applied to the surface of the anilox roll 108 are attached. A printed roller 104 and a substrate 101 loaded below the printed roller 104.

In the anilox roll 108, the alignment material is separated from the dispenser 110 disposed above. A doctor roll 112 is disposed adjacent to the surface of the anilox roll 108 so that an alignment liquid, for example, a polyimide liquid, is uniformly applied onto the resin plate 150.

The printing roller 104 transfers the alignment liquid applied to the anilox roll 108 to the attached resin plate 150 while rotating by the rotational force, and prints the alignment liquid on the substrate 101 by printing it on the substrate 101. do. Under the printing roller 104, a printing table 102 on which the substrate 101 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 101.

Meanwhile, the resin plate 150 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes first and second masks 158 and 160 corresponding to panels having different resolutions, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The first mask 158 includes a first mask substrate 154 formed on the base film 152 and a first mesh 156 having a first size on the first mask substrate 154.

The first mask substrate 154 is formed on the base film 152 to correspond to the size of the first panel.

The first mesh 156 is formed on the first mask substrate 154 to have a size corresponding to the resolution of the first panel. An alignment liquid is coated on the first mask substrate 154 between the first meshes 156.

The second mask 160 has a second mask substrate 162 formed on the base film 152 and a second size having a second size different from that of the first mesh 156 on the second mask substrate 162. A mesh 164 is provided.

The second mask substrate 162 is formed on the base film 152 to correspond to the size of the second panel.

The second mesh 164 is formed to have a different size from the first mesh 156 in consideration of the resolution of the second panel having a different resolution from the first panel. As a result, the number of the first and second meshes 156 and 164 formed on the same area of the mask substrates 154 and 162 is different. For example, when the resolution of the second panel 140 is higher than the resolution of the first panel 130, the size of the second mesh 164 is smaller than the size of the first mesh 156. Accordingly, the number of second meshes 164 per same area is greater than the number of first meshes 156. The second alignment layer formed by the second mesh 164 is thinner and has better uniformity than the first alignment layer formed by the first mesh 156. In particular, as the sizes of the meshes 156 and 164 per same area are reduced, it is possible to prevent diagonal stains caused by variations in the alignment liquid.

5A to 5C are cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing an alignment film formed using the alignment film printing apparatus shown in FIG. 2.

First, the mother substrate 101 seated on the printing table 102 is loaded by a loading device not shown. When the mother substrate 101 is loaded, the alignment liquid is supplied from the dispenser 110 to the anilox roll 108. The alignment liquid is transferred to the first and second masks 158 and 160 of the resin plate 150 by the rotatable anilox roll 108. At this time, the printing roller 104 is rotated in the opposite direction to the anilox roll 108 in conjunction with the rotating anilox roll 108. The alignment liquid applied to the first and second masks 158 and 160 of the resin plate 150 is in contact with the mother substrate 101 positioned below the printing roller 104 by the rotational movement of the printing roller 104. At this time, the alignment liquid 166 applied to the first mask 158 of the resin plate 150 is reverse-transferred into the first panel region P1 of the mother substrate 101 as shown in FIG. 5A. The alignment liquid 166 applied to the second mask 160 is reverse-transferred into the second panel region P2 of the mother substrate 101. The first and second masks 158 and 160 on which the alignment liquid 166 is printed are separated from the mother substrate 101 by the rotation of the printing roller 104 as shown in FIG. 5B. The alignment liquid 166 printed on the mother substrate 101 has a flat surface immediately after printing as shown in FIG. 5C. Subsequently, the alignment liquid 166 on the mother substrate 101 is fired at a predetermined temperature and formed on the first and second panel regions P1 and P2 on the mother substrate 101 as alignment layers 170 having different thicknesses depending on the resolution. do.

6 is a plan view showing a resin plate of the alignment film printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the resin plate of the alignment film printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the same components except that the angle of arrangement of the mesh is adjusted as compared with the resin plate shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly, detailed description of the same components will be omitted.

The first mesh 156 is formed to have a different arrangement direction from the second mesh 164 in consideration of the resolution of the first panel and the second panel. For example, when the first mesh 156 is arranged at the first angle θ1 on the first mask substrate 154, the second mesh 164 may be formed on the first mask substrate 162 by the first angle θ. It is arranged at a second angle θ2 which is different from θ1).

As such, when the arrangement angles of the meshes 156 and 164 are adjusted, the flatness of the alignment layer may be controlled to control staining.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. Here, the alignment film planarization when the number of the first and second meshes 156 and 164 formed on the first and second mask substrates 154 and 162 are the same while the meshes 156 and 164 are arranged to be 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and 75 degrees. Will be described.

 Nesting ratio Number of pixels 45 degrees 60 degrees 75 degrees 0.00-0.30 0 0 0 0.30-0.35 One 0 One 0.35-0.40 26 0 26 0.40-0.45 441 0 441 0.45-0.50 1083 1970 1083 0.50 to 0.55 779 530 779 0.55-0.60 170 0 170 0.60-1.00 0 0 0

As shown in Table 1 and FIG. 7A, the pixel distribution of the overlap ratio between each pixel and the mesh differs according to the arrangement angle of the mesh. For example, if the mesh is arranged at 45 degrees and 75 degrees, the pixels overlap the mesh at an overlap ratio of 0.30 to 0.60. On the other hand, when the mesh is arranged at 60 degrees, the pixels intensively overlap with the mesh between the overlap ratios of 0.45 to 0.55.

Due to the difference in the pixel distribution of the overlap area ratio between each pixel and the mesh, the uniformity of the alignment liquid coating is changed. For example, when the mesh is arranged at 45 degrees and 75 degrees as shown in Table 2 and FIG. 7B, the alignment layer of the pixel is formed non-uniformly on the mother substrate at a thickness of 0.85 to 1.25 ratio. On the other hand, when the mesh is arranged at 60 degrees, the alignment layer of the pixel is uniformly formed on the mother substrate with a thickness of 0.90 to 1.10 ratio.

Nesting ratio Number of pixels 45 degrees 60 degrees 75 degrees 0.80-0.85 0 0 0 0.85-0.90 442 0 442 0.90-0.95 456 77 456 0.95-1.00 314 1077 314 1.00-1.05 263 1095 263 1.05-1.10 265 55 265 1.10-1.15 319 0 319 1.15-1.20 157 0 157 1.20-1.25 88 0 88

In this manner, the thickness uniformity of the alignment layer can be controlled by adjusting the arrangement angle of the mesh to which the alignment liquid is transferred.

8 is a perspective view showing a liquid crystal display panel including an alignment film formed by the alignment film printing apparatus 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 substrate 81 includes a color filter array including 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. In the color filter 82, the color filter layers of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) colors are arranged in a stripe form to transmit light of a specific wavelength band, thereby enabling color display. The upper alignment layer 78 is formed through a rubbing process after the alignment material, for example, polyimide, is completely printed using the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 with the resin plate shown in FIG. 3 or 6 attached thereto.

The thin film transistor substrate 91 includes a data line 98 and a gate line 94 that cross each other on the front surface of the lower substrate 80b, a TFT 90 formed at an intersection thereof, and a pixel electrode 92 connected to the TFT. ) And a lower alignment layer formed thereon. 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 through a rubbing process after the alignment material, for example, polyimide, is completely printed using the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 to which the resin plate shown in FIG. 3 or 6 is attached.

As described above, the mother substrate and the alignment film manufacturing apparatus and the alignment film manufacturing method formed on the mother substrate according to the present invention are differently formed for each panel region that is formed in a different size on the mother substrate, the size of the mesh or the arrangement angle of the mesh do. Accordingly, alignment films of panels having different resolutions can be simultaneously formed on the mother substrate. In addition, the mother substrate and the alignment film manufacturing apparatus and the alignment film manufacturing method formed on the mother substrate according to the present invention to prevent the diagonal stain and to uniformly form the thickness of the alignment film by adjusting the size of the mesh or the arrangement angle of the mesh. Can be.

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 (15)

A resin plate for transferring an alignment liquid onto the mother substrate while in contact with the mother substrate including at least two panel regions of different sizes, The resin plate is A mask substrate; At least one of a size and an arrangement angle is formed on the mask substrate and has different meshes according to characteristics of the at least two panel regions. The method of claim 1, The mesh is an alignment film manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that at least one of the size and the arrangement angle is different depending on the resolution of the panel area. The method of claim 2, The higher the resolution of the panel region, the smaller the size of the mesh formed on the mask substrate per the same area, characterized in that the alignment film manufacturing apparatus. The method of claim 2, And as the resolution of the panel region increases, the number of meshes formed on the mask substrate per same area increases. The method of claim 1, A dispenser for supplying the alignment liquid; A first roller to which the alignment liquid supplied from the dispenser is applied and rotated; And a second roller attached to the resin plate and rotating adjacent to the first roller. An alignment film manufacturing apparatus for forming an alignment film having a different thickness according to the characteristics of the panel region on a mother substrate including at least two panel regions having different sizes. The method of claim 6, A dispenser for supplying the alignment liquid; A first roller to which the alignment liquid supplied from the dispenser is applied and rotated; A second roller rotating adjacent to the first roller; A resin plate attached to the second roller and transferring the alignment liquid onto the mother substrate; The resin plate is A mask substrate; At least one of a size and an arrangement angle is formed on the mask substrate and has different meshes according to characteristics of the at least two panel regions. The method of claim 7, wherein The mesh is an alignment film manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that at least one of the size and the arrangement angle is different depending on the resolution of the panel area. The method of claim 8, The higher the resolution of the panel region, the smaller the size of the mesh formed on the mask substrate per same area or the number of the mesh is increased, characterized in that the apparatus. A first step of attaching a resin plate having at least one of a size and an arrangement angle on a rotating roller according to the characteristics of at least two panel regions having different sizes; A second step of supplying an alignment liquid to the resin plate; And a third step of printing the alignment liquid applied to the resin plate on the mother substrate of the panel region. The method of claim 10, The first step is And attaching a resin plate having at least one of a different mesh according to the resolution of the panel area on the rotating roller. The method of claim 11, The first step is And attaching a resin plate having a mesh having a smaller or larger number per same area on the rotating roller as the resolution of the panel region is increased. A mother substrate including at least two panel regions having different sizes and having a thin film transistor array or a color filter array formed in each of the panel regions; The thickness of at least one of the thin films included in the thin film transistor array or the color filter array is different for each of the at least two panel regions according to characteristics of each panel region. The method of claim 13, The thickness of the thin film is different according to the resolution of the panel region, the mother substrate of the liquid crystal display panel. The method of claim 13, The thin film is an alignment layer, the mother substrate of the liquid crystal display panel.

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