KR20070042724A - Method for manufacturing color-filter and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a color filter manufacturing apparatus that can produce a color filter having excellent quality using an IR laser.

The present invention is a substrate position on which a glass substrate on which a black matrix pattern is formed is placed; An inkjet module provided to be movable in a horizontal and vertical direction from an upper side of the substrate position table, and spraying ink downward; And a laser module provided adjacent to the ink jet module and moving together with the ink jet module and irradiating an infrared laser to ink on the glass substrate.

LCD, color filter, laser, color filter manufacturing method

Description

Color filter manufacturing method and color filter manufacturing apparatus {METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING COLOR-FILTER AND APPARATUS THEREOF}

1 is a schematic diagram of a general liquid crystal display device.

2 is a conceptual diagram of a color filter manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic sectional view showing a structure of a color filter manufactured according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to a color filter manufacturing method and a color filter manufacturing apparatus capable of manufacturing a color filter having excellent quality without undergoing a plurality of coating, exposure and development processes using an IR laser.

Among the screen display devices that display image information on the screen, the CRT (CRT), which has been widely used so far, is rapidly being replaced by a thin flat panel display. This is because the thin flat panel display is thin and light so that it can be easily used in any place. In particular, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are the most popular because they have superior display resolution than other flat panel displays and are advantageous for realizing moving images.

The driving principle of the liquid crystal display device is to use the optical anisotropy and polarization property of the liquid crystal. Since the structure is thin and long, the direction of the molecular arrangement can be controlled by artificially applying an electromagnetic field to liquid crystal molecules having directionality and polarization in the molecular arrangement. Therefore, if the orientation direction is arbitrarily adjusted, the light can be transmitted or blocked according to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal molecules by the optical anisotropy of the liquid crystal. Currently, an active matrix liquid crystal display in which thin film transistors and pixel electrodes connected thereto are arranged in a matrix manner is attracting the most attention because it provides excellent image quality and natural color. A structure of a general liquid crystal display will be described with reference to FIG. 1. 1 is an enlarged view of a schematic liquid crystal display device.

The liquid crystal display device has a form in which two panels provided with various elements and functional layers face each other and a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched therebetween. As shown in FIG. 1A, one panel of the liquid crystal display includes elements that implement color. This is often called a color filter panel. In the color filter panel, red (R), green (R), and blue (B) color filters 3R, 3G, and 3B are sequentially arranged along the positions of pixels designed in a matrix arrangement on the transparent substrate 1. . Between these color filters, a lattice-shaped black matrix 5 is formed of a material having good light shielding properties. This prevents the appearance of mixed colors between each color. And the common electrode 7 is formed on the color filter whole surface. The common electrode 7 serves as one electrode for forming an electric field applied to the liquid crystal.

On the other panel of the liquid crystal display, as shown in FIG. 1B, switch elements and wirings for generating an electric field for driving the liquid crystal are formed. This is often called an active panel. In the active panel, the pixel electrode 13 is formed along the positions of the pixels designed in a matrix manner on the transparent substrate 11. The pixel electrode 13 faces the common electrode 7 formed on the color filter panel and serves as the other electrode for forming an electric field applied to the liquid crystal. The signal line 15 is formed along the horizontal array direction of the pixel electrodes 13, and the data line 17 is formed along the vertical array direction. In one corner of the pixel electrode 13, a thin film transistor 19 for applying an electric field signal to the pixel electrode is formed. The gate electrode 21 of the thin film transistor 19 is connected to the signal line 15, and the source electrode 23 is connected to the data line 17. The drain electrode 25 of the thin film transistor 19 is connected to the pixel electrode 13. Although not shown in the drawings, gate pads and source pads, which are terminal terminals for receiving electrical signals applied from the outside, are formed at ends of the gate wiring and the source wiring, respectively.

The two panels thus made are attached to each other at regular intervals, and the liquid crystal material is filled therebetween. A polarizer is attached to both outer surfaces of the bonded panel to complete the liquid crystal panel, which is a part of the liquid crystal display.

Hereinafter, a conventional general manufacturing method for manufacturing a color filter panel used in such a liquid crystal display will be described.

First, a photoresist of a polymer resin material sprayed with a pigment of a predetermined color is applied to a substrate on which a black matrix pattern is formed. The photoresist is then exposed using a photomask, and the photoresist is developed along the exposure pattern. That is, the photoresist is partially removed. This photolithography process is repeated for each color to form a plurality of color filters. And a protective film and a transparent conductive film are formed into a film on top, and it is completed.

By the way, the manufacturing method of the color filter using a conventional photo mask has become difficult to use, such as long process time, high manufacturing cost, and environmental problem.

On the other hand, without using a photo mask, the method of manufacturing a color filter using a UV photopolymerization reaction, since UV is used for the photopolymerization reaction, an excessive exposure amount is required by the screening phenomenon, and there is a problem in that a UV absorber cannot be added to the photoresist. Since the color filter is used in a liquid crystal display device using a backlight device, the color filter is always exposed to UV generated by the backlight device during the use process. Therefore, when the UV generated by the backlight device is not properly absorbed or blocked, there is a problem in that the life of the color filter is shortened, such as color change due to exposure to UV for a long time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a color filter manufacturing method capable of adding a UV absorber to an ink receiving layer, that is, a photoresist, at the same time using an IR laser and not requiring a photo mask.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated color filter manufacturing apparatus in which an inkjet module for dropping ink and a laser module for irradiating an IR laser are integrally provided.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention,

1) coating a dye-soluble material on a substrate on which a black matrix pattern is formed by mixing a UV absorber with a photoresist composed of a highly hygroscopic advertisement molecular material for forming an LCD color filter and a near infrared dye;

2) heating the substrate to a temperature above the boiling point of the solvent contained in the ink;

3) dropping ink on each pixel on the heated substrate and irradiating a laser continuously;

4) providing a color filter manufacturing method including a step of developing and removing an uncured unnecessary portion of the photoresist.

In addition, the present invention, the substrate position on which the glass substrate on which the black matrix pattern is formed is placed; An inkjet module provided to be movable in a horizontal direction from an upper side of the substrate position table, and spraying ink downward; And a laser module provided adjacent to the ink jet module and moving together with the ink jet module at the rear of the ink jet module and irradiating a laser to ink on the glass substrate.

In addition, the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, which is provided on the lower side of the substrate position, the heating stage (heating stage) for heating the glass substrate located in the substrate position to the process temperature is further provided, on the glass substrate It is preferable to shorten the process time by rapidly evaporating the solvent in the ink sprayed on.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a specific embodiment of the present invention.

First, a dye-soluble material is coated to a predetermined thickness on a substrate on which a black matrix pattern is formed. In this embodiment, the dye-soluble material is prepared by mixing a UV absorber with a photoresist composed of a highly hygroscopic advertisement molecule material and a near infrared dye for forming an LCD color filter. That is, ionic vinyl-based advertising molecule materials such as PVA-SbQ (Poly Vinyl Alcohol-stilbazole quaternized), PVA (Poly Vinyl Alcohol) -co-PVBA (Poly Vinyl Butylene Alcohol), or peptide (peptide) and ester (ester) are combined After the photoresist is composed of two or more kinds of polymerized resins, Kasein, gelatin, and acryl resin, UV absorbing material is added to one or more of benzotriazole-based, benzophenone-based, triazin-based and stillbene-based compounds. When the UV light absorber is further included in the photoresist, the UV light absorber absorbs and removes the UV light emitted from the backlight in the process of using the color filter, so that the ink of the color filter does not discolor. In this embodiment, the photoresist including the UV absorber is prepared by blending in a polar solvent. This is to improve adhesion with the surface of the hydrophilic surface treated substrate.

As the photoresist used in the present embodiment, both a positive photoresist and a negative photoresist may be used. In the case of using the positive photoresist as the photoresist, as described above, the structure of the ink is changed by irradiating a laser to the portion to be used as the color filter pattern, and the portions other than the portion whose structure is changed are removed through the developing process. do. On the other hand, in the case of using a negative photoresist as a photoresist, a laser beam is irradiated to an unnecessary portion dropped on a black matrix, and a portion irradiated with a laser is removed through a developing process.

Then, the step of heating the substrate to a predetermined preheating temperature is performed. In this step, the substrate is heated to a predetermined temperature in advance so that subsequent ink ejection and laser irradiation steps can proceed quickly and easily. Therefore, the preheating temperature is preferably higher than the boiling point of the solvent contained in the ink. This is because when the temperature of the glass substrate is higher than the boiling point of the solvent, the solvent is directly evaporated and removed from the ink sprayed on the glass substrate.

Next, a step of spraying ink onto the substrate and subsequently irradiating a laser is performed. In this step, ink is dropped independently on each pixel on the substrate, and the laser is irradiated to the ink on each pixel. In this step, it is preferable to proceed while heating the substrate to a predetermined process temperature. When the process is performed while heating the substrate in this way, as soon as ink is dropped onto the substrate, the temperature of the ink rises and the solvent in the ink is rapidly evaporated and removed. Therefore, as soon as ink is dropped, the photoresist can be cured by irradiating a laser immediately, so that the process time can be shortened. Therefore, the process temperature is preferably a temperature higher than the boiling point of the solvent contained in the ink.

In this embodiment, the laser is preferably an IR thermal laser. Therefore, even if the UV absorber is further added to the ink, there is an advantage in that the productivity does not occur because the screening phenomenon does not occur in the photoreaction step.

In this embodiment, the ink is jetted in an inkjet method and dropped onto each pixel. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is possible to quickly and easily drop the correct amount of ink on very fine pixels.

Next, a step of developing and removing the uncured photoresist portion is performed. In this step (S30) is to remove the photoresist injected above the black matrix (BM) in order to obtain a color filter pattern of the right rectangular pattern.

Therefore, in this step, the portion which is not cured because the infrared laser is not irradiated in the above-described step S20 is developed and removed using water. By removing such unnecessary parts, a color filter as shown in FIG. 3 can be obtained. In this embodiment, since water is used in the development process, there is an advantage that does not cause an environmental problem.

Hereinafter, with reference to Figure 2 will be described the structure and operation of the color filter manufacturing apparatus 100 according to this embodiment. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

The color filter manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a substrate position table (not shown); Inkjet module 110; Laser module 120; Heating stage 130; is configured to include.

Here, the substrate position zone is a component on which the glass substrate on which the black matrix pattern is formed is placed. That is, the substrate is fixed so that the substrate does not move during the process and keeps the substrate at the correct process position.

Next, the inkjet module 110 is provided to be movable in the horizontal direction from the upper side of the substrate position table, and is a component for ejecting ink to the lower side. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink is sprayed from the upper side to the lower side of the glass substrate S, but after the ink is sprayed, the ink is moved to spray the ink to the next pixel. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet module 110 according to the present embodiment is provided with three injection nozzles 110a, 110b, and 110c capable of dropping ink, respectively. These three injection nozzles 110a, 110b and 110c sequentially drop red, green and blue inks onto the glass substrate. At this time, the interval between each injection nozzle corresponds to the interval between neighboring pixels. Therefore, three spray nozzles drop three colors of ink in one process on three consecutive pixels to increase the efficiency and speed of the process.

In addition, it is preferable that the inkjet module 110 is further provided with horizontal moving means (not shown in the figure) capable of moving the inkjet module in a horizontal direction. The horizontal moving unit serves to continuously move the process by moving the inkjet module to the next position when the ink jetting operation is completed at a specific position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the laser module 120 is provided adjacent to the inkjet module 110, and moves together with the inkjet module 110 at the rear of the inkjet module 110. A component that irradiates a laser to ink on a substrate. In this embodiment, three lasers 120a, 120b, and 120c are coupled side by side to the laser module 120 to form a pair. Since three lasers are grouped together to form a group, a total of 3n lasers are provided. This is to proceed quickly in a single process like the inkjet module 110. That is, the ink existing on the pixel dropped in one step by the inkjet module is simultaneously cured in one step. The spacing between each laser then matches the spacing between each pixel on the glass substrate.

In addition, it is preferable that the laser module 120 is further provided with horizontal moving means (not shown) for moving the laser module in the horizontal direction. Of course, the laser module 120 may be combined with the inkjet module 110 to be moved together. In this case, a separate horizontal moving means does not need to be provided.

In addition, the color filter manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, it is preferable that the heating stage 130 is further provided. The heating stage 130 is provided below the substrate position table, and is a component for heating a glass substrate positioned at the substrate position table to a process temperature. This heating stage 130 allows the glass substrate to be maintained at the process temperature, allowing the solvent to evaporate quickly in the ink deposited on the glass substrate. In this embodiment, the heating stage 130 does not directly contact the substrate S, but uses an indirect heating method in which the heating stage 130 is heated at a predetermined interval. This is because when the heating stage 130 is in direct contact with the substrate S to heat the substrate, scratches or the like may occur on the glass substrate S, and there may be a problem such as particles on the surface of the substrate. to be.

In addition, it is preferable that the color filter manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is provided adjacent to the substrate position band, and further provided with developing means (not shown in the figure) for developing and removing unnecessary photoresist on the substrate. . This developing means is a component which removes the photoresist sprayed on the unnecessary part and manufactures the color filter of a more accurate pattern.

According to the present invention, there is an effect not to be affected by the cover phenomenon by using an IR laser, there is an advantage that can be manufactured by improving the life of the color filter by adding a UV absorber to the photoresist.

In addition, since the process proceeds while heating the substrate to a temperature higher than the boiling point of the solvent, the ink injection and laser irradiation processes can be performed at the same time, thereby reducing the process time.

Claims (6)

1) coating a dye-soluble material on a substrate on which a black matrix pattern is formed by mixing a UV absorber with a photoresist composed of a highly hygroscopic advertisement molecular material for forming an LCD color filter and a near infrared dye; 2) heating the substrate to a temperature above the boiling point of the solvent contained in the ink; 3) dropping ink on each pixel on the heated substrate and irradiating a laser continuously; 4) developing and removing the uncured unnecessary portion of the photoresist; color filter manufacturing method comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the photoresist, PVA-SbQ (Poly Vinyl Alcohol-stilbazole quaternized), PVA (Poly Vinyl Alcohol) -co-PVBA (Poly Vinyl Butylene Alcohol), Kasein, gelatin, acryl resin, characterized in that any one selected from acryl resin. The method of claim 1, wherein the UV absorber, Method for producing a color filter, characterized in that any one selected from benzotriazole-based, benzophenone-based, triazin-based, stillbene-based compounds. The color filter manufactured by the color filter manufacturing method in any one of Claims 1-3. A substrate position on which the glass substrate on which the black matrix pattern is formed is placed; An inkjet module provided to be movable in a horizontal and vertical direction from an upper side of the substrate position table, and spraying ink downward; And a laser module provided adjacent to the ink jet module and moving together with the ink jet module to irradiate an infrared laser to ink on the glass substrate. The method of claim 5, And a heating stage provided below the substrate position table and heating the glass substrate positioned at the substrate position table to a process temperature.

Images