KR20080050739A - Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) and a method for manufacturing the LCD are provided to form a data line composed of a relatively narrow first data line and a relatively wide second data line to facilitate a repairing process by cutting the first data line. An LCD(100) includes an insulating substrate, a data line(162), an insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, and a pixel electrode(182). The data line is formed on the insulating substrate and includes a first data line(162a) having a first width and a second data line having a second width(162b) greater than the first width. The insulating layer is located on the data line. The semiconductor layer is located between the insulating substrate and the data line. The width of a portion of the semiconductor layer, which is extended to the outside of the first data line is greater than the width of a portion extended to the outside of the second data line. The pixel electrode is formed on the insulating layer.

Description

Liquid crystal display and its manufacturing method {LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF THE SAME}

1 is a layout view of a liquid crystal display according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view for explaining a repair method in the liquid crystal display according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along III-III of FIG. 1,

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 1,

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 1,

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along VI-VI of FIG. 1,

7A to 13B are views for explaining a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

14 and 15 are cross-sectional views for describing a liquid crystal display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings

122: gate line 126: gate electrode

128: sustain electrode line 130: gate insulating film

141, 142, 143: semiconductor layer

151, 152, 155, 156: resistive contact layer

162: data line 165: source electrode

166: drain electrode 171: protective film

175: organic film 176: contact hole

182: pixel electrode

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing method thereof.

The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel, and the liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate on which a thin film transistor is formed, a second substrate facing the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer positioned between both substrates. The liquid crystal display panel is a non-light emitting device and can receive light from the backlight unit located behind the first substrate.

On the first substrate, a gate line, a data line, and a thin film transistor connected to these wirings are formed. Each pixel is connected to a thin film transistor and is independently controlled for each pixel.

In the manufacturing process of the first substrate, the inspection is performed step by step, and the defect found by the inspection is repaired.

In the case of a defect in which the data line and the gate line are short-circuited, a repair is performed in which the pixel is turned off and the data lines before and after the short-circuited portion are cut. In addition, a signal is applied to the data line after the shorted portion by using repairing.

However, since the data line is adjacent to the pixel electrode, the data line and the pixel electrode are short-circuited during the cutting of the data line.

Recently, a structure in which a pixel electrode is partially overlapped with a data line using an organic layer is widely used. In this structure, a problem in which the data line and the pixel electrode are shorted during a repair process is more serious.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device and a method of manufacturing the same, which are easy to repair.

The object of the present invention is an insulating substrate; A data line formed on the insulating substrate and including a first data line having a first width and a second data line having a second width greater than the first width; An insulating layer on the data line; A semiconductor layer positioned between the insulating substrate and the data line and having a width of a portion extending outside the first data line greater than a width of a portion extending outside the second data line; It is achieved by a liquid crystal display device including a pixel electrode located on the insulating layer.

It is preferable to further include an organic layer formed between the data line and the pixel electrode.

Preferably, the pixel electrode does not overlap the first data line.

Preferably, the pixel electrode partially overlaps the second data line.

Preferably, the pixel electrode partially overlaps the semiconductor layer extending outside the first data line.

Preferably, the semiconductor layer is positioned in a region where the pixel electrode and the data line do not overlap.

The semiconductor device may further include a resistance contact layer positioned between the semiconductor layer and the data line, wherein the resistance contact layer and the data line overlap each other.

The object of the present invention is an insulating substrate; A semiconductor layer formed on the insulating substrate; A data line formed on the semiconductor layer; An insulating layer on the data line; And a pixel electrode formed on the insulating layer, wherein the pixel electrode partially overlaps the data line, and is achieved by a liquid crystal display device in which the semiconductor layer is positioned in an area where the pixel electrode and the data line do not overlap. .

Preferably, the data line is smaller in width than the periphery in a portion that does not overlap the pixel electrode.

It is preferable that the said insulating layer contains an organic layer.

An object of the present invention is to form a semiconductor layer, an ohmic contact layer, a data metal layer on an insulating substrate; Forming a photoresist film on the data metal layer, the photosensitive film including a first portion elongated and a second portion connected to a portion of the first portion and thinner than the first portion; Patterning the semiconductor layer, the ohmic contact layer, and the data metal layer using the photosensitive film to form a data line corresponding to the first portion and a semiconductor layer corresponding to the first portion and the second portion. It is achieved by the manufacturing method of.

The first portion is preferably smaller in width than the periphery in the region connected to the second portion.

It is preferable to further include forming an organic film after the patterning.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, a film is formed (located) on top of another film, not only when two films are in contact with each other but also when another film is between two films. It also includes the case where it exists.

A liquid crystal display device according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. Hereinafter, only the thin film transistor substrate 100 is illustrated, but the liquid crystal display includes a substrate (color filter substrate) facing the thin film transistor substrate 100 and a liquid crystal layer positioned between both substrates, and the thin film transistor substrate 100. The apparatus may further include a backlight assembly positioned at the rear of the.

Gate wiring is formed on the first insulating substrate 111. The gate wiring can be a metal single layer or multiple layers. The gate line includes a gate line 122 extending in the horizontal direction, a storage electrode line 128 overlapping the gate electrode 126 and the pixel electrode 182 connected to the gate line 122 to form a storage capacitor. Include. The storage capacitor line 128 extends in parallel with the gate line 122 while passing through the center of the pixel.

On the first insulating substrate 111, a gate insulating layer 130 made of an inorganic material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) covers the gate wiring.

The semiconductor layers 141, 142, and 143 made of a semiconductor such as amorphous silicon are formed on the gate insulating layer 130. The semiconductor layer 142 is formed on the gate electrode 126, the semiconductor layer 141 is formed on the storage capacitor line 128, and the semiconductor layer 143 is formed under the data line 162.

Resistive contact layers 151, 152, 155, and 156 made of a material such as n + hydrogenated amorphous silicon doped with silicide or n-type impurities at a high concentration are formed on the semiconductor layers 141, 142, and 143. The ohmic contact layer is removed from the semiconductor layer 142 between the source electrode 165 and the drain electrode 166.

Data wirings are formed on the ohmic contacts 151, 152, 155, and 156. The data line may also be a single layer or multiple layers of a metal layer. The data line is a branch of the data line 162 and the data line 162 formed in the vertical direction and intersecting the gate line 122 to form a pixel, and extending to the upper portion of the ohmic contact layer 155. And a drain electrode 166 that is separated from the source electrode 165 and is formed on the ohmic contact layer 156 opposite to the source electrode 165.

The data line 162 includes a first data line 162a having a relatively narrow width d3 (see FIG. 6) and a second data line 162b having a relatively large width d2 (see FIG. 5). The data lines and the semiconductor layers 141, 142, and 143 mostly overlap each other, but do not overlap each other around the channel region and the first data line 162a. The reason why the width of the data line 162 is different and the reason why the semiconductor layer 143 is formed wider than the data line 162 around the first data line 162a will be described later.

A passivation layer 171 made of an inorganic material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) is formed on the data line and the semiconductor layers 141, 142, and 143 which are not covered by the semiconductor layer, and an organic layer 175 is formed on the passivation layer 171. . The organic layer 175 has a larger thickness than the gate insulating layer 130 and the passivation layer 171, and may be formed by spin coating, slit coating, screen printing, or the like. The organic layer 175 may be any one of a benzocyclobutene (BCB) series, an olefin series, an acrylic resin series, a polyimide series, and a fluorine resin.

A contact hole 176 exposing the drain electrode 166 is formed in the passivation layer 171 and the organic layer 175. The contact hole 176 is formed on the storage capacitor line 128, and a storage capacitor is formed between the drain electrode 166 and the storage capacitor line 128 connected to the pixel electrode 182.

The pixel electrode 182 is formed on the organic layer 175. The pixel electrode 182 is usually made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO). The organic layer 175 has a large thickness so that the distance between the data line 162 and the pixel electrode 182 is increased to suppress capacitance formation between the data line 162 and the pixel electrode 182. The pixel electrode 182 is formed to partially overlap the data line 162 and the aperture ratio is increased. On the other hand, the organic layer 175 has a low dielectric constant, which further suppresses capacitance formation between the data line 162 and the pixel electrode 182.

The repair will be described with reference to FIG. 2, and a case where a short circuit occurs between the data line 162 and the storage capacity line 128 is taken as an example.

First, the data line 162 above the defective point is cut (repair 1), and the data line 162 below the defective point is cut (repair 2). In addition, the drain electrode 166 is cut (repair 3, see FIG. 1). As a result, the data line 162 above the defective point is normally operated, and the pixel corresponding to the defective point becomes an off pixel.

Next, the data line 162 and the repair line 129 and the short circuit (repair 4) are disposed above and below the display area. The data signal transmitted through the data pad 169 by the repair 4 transfers the data signal to the data 162 below the failure point through the repair 129.

The order of the repair process described above is not limited. Repair may be performed in a similar manner to the above even when the data line 162 and the gate line 122 are short-circuited.

Cutting of the data line 162 in the repair process is performed by applying a laser to the narrow first data line 162a, which will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 5, and 6.

The pixel electrode 182 is formed to partially overlap the data line 162 to increase the aperture ratio. The pixel electrode 182 overlaps the relatively wide second data line 162b, but does not overlap the relatively narrow first data line 162a. That is, the width d3 of the first data line 162a is smaller than the gap d1 between the pixel electrodes 182, and the first data line 162a is positioned not to overlap the pixel electrode 182.

On the other hand, in the semiconductor layer 143, the semiconductor layer 143b under the second data line 162b is formed in the same region as the second data line 162b. On the other hand, the semiconductor layer 143a under the first data line 162a has a wider width d4 than the first data line 162a. The width d4 of the semiconductor layer 143a may be similar to the width d2 of the second data line 162b. The semiconductor layer 143a extended from the first data line 162a is formed to partially overlap the pixel electrode 182.

As described above, the cutting of the data line 162 is performed by applying a laser to the first data line 162a. Since the first data line 162a does not overlap the pixel electrode 182, the cutting of the first data line 162a may be performed without a short circuit with the pixel electrode 182. On the other hand, when the second data line 162b is cut, the laser is irradiated to the pixel electrode 182, so that the pixel electrode 182 and the data line 162 may be shorted.

The pixel electrode 182 is formed at the same interval d1 on the first data line 162a and the second data line 162b so that the aperture ratio does not decrease.

Meanwhile, the semiconductor layer 143a is positioned at a portion where the data line 162 and the pixel electrode 182 do not overlap to serve as a light blocking film. Therefore, even if the width of the data line 162 changes, the black matrix design of the second substrate does not change.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 13B. Figures 7a, 8a, 9a, 10a, 11a, 12a, 13 show the manufacture of the part corresponding to Figure 6, Figures 8b, 9b, 10b, 11b, 12b, 13b show the manufacture of the part corresponding to Figure 3 will be.

First, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the gate metal layer is deposited and patterned to form the gate electrode 126.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the gate insulating layer 130, the semiconductor layer 140, and the ohmic contact layer 150 made of silicon nitride are respectively 1,500 kV to 5,000 kV and 500 kV using chemical vapor deposition. To 2,000 mW, 300 mW to 600 mW, and then, to form a data line, a data metal layer 160 is formed, and then a photosensitive film 410 is applied thereon to a thickness of 1 m to 2 m.

Thereafter, the photosensitive film 410 is irradiated with light through a mask and then developed to form photosensitive film patterns 412 and 414 as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. At this time, the semiconductor layer portion C of the semiconductor layer 143a extended between the source electrode 165 and the drain electrode 166 (channel region) and the first data line 162a among the photoresist patterns 412 and 414. The first portion 414 has a thickness smaller than that of the data wiring portion A, that is, the second portion 412 located at the portion where the data wiring is to be formed, and removes all the photoresist of the other portion B. At this time, the ratio of the thickness of the first portion 414 and the thickness of the second portion 412 should be different depending on the process conditions to be described later, the thickness of the first portion 414 of the second portion 412 It is preferable to set it as 1/2 or less of thickness, for example, it is good that it is 4,000 Pa or less.

As such, there may be various methods of varying the thickness of the photoresist film according to the position, and in order to control the light transmittance in the C region, a slit or lattice-shaped pattern is mainly formed or a translucent film is used. This phase inversion mask can also be used.

In this case, the line width of the pattern located between the slits or the interval between the patterns, that is, the width of the slits, is preferably smaller than the resolution of the exposure machine used for exposure, and in the case of using a translucent film, the transmittance is different in order to control the transmittance when fabricating a mask. A thin film having a thickness or a thin film may be used.

When the light is irradiated to the photosensitive film through such a mask, the polymers are completely decomposed at the part directly exposed to the light, and the polymers are not completely decomposed because the amount of light is small at the part where the slit pattern or the translucent film is formed. In the area covered by, the polymer is hardly decomposed. Subsequently, when the photoresist film is developed, only a portion where the polymer molecules are not decomposed is left, and a thin photoresist film may be left at a portion where the light is not irradiated at a portion less irradiated with light. In this case, if the exposure time is extended, all the polymer molecules are decomposed, so it should not be so.

The thin photosensitive film 414 may be exposed to light using a photosensitive film made of a reflowable material, and then exposed to light using a conventional mask that is divided into a portion that can completely transmit light and a portion that cannot completely transmit light. It may be formed by reflowing a portion of the photosensitive film to a portion where the photosensitive film does not remain.

Subsequently, etching is performed on the photoresist pattern 414 and the lower layers thereof, that is, the data metal layer 160, the ohmic contact layer 150, and the semiconductor layer 140. In this case, the data line and the lower layer of the data line remain in the data wiring portion A, only the semiconductor layer should remain in the semiconductor layer portion C, and the upper three layers 160, 150, All of the 140 may be removed to expose the gate insulating layer 130.

First, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the data metal layer 160 exposed to the other portion B is removed to expose the underlying ohmic contact layer 150. In this process, either a dry etching method or a wet etching method may be used. In this case, the data metal layer 160 may be etched and the photoresist patterns 412 and 414 may be hardly etched. However, in the case of dry etching, it is difficult to find a condition in which only the data metal layer 160 is etched and the photoresist patterns 412 and 414 are not etched, and thus the photoresist patterns 412 and 414 may be etched together. In this case, the thickness of the first portion 414 is made thicker than that of the wet etching so that the first portion 414 is removed in this process so that the lower data metal layer 160 is not exposed.

In this case, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, only the data metal layer 167 of the semiconductor layer portion C and the data wiring portion A is left, and all of the data metal layer 160 of the other portion B is removed, The ohmic contact layer 150 is revealed. The remaining data metal layer 167 is connected to the data line except that the source and drain electrodes 165 and 166 are connected to each other without being separated and the width of the data line 162 is reduced on the semiconductor layer 143a. Same as form In addition, when dry etching is used, the photoresist patterns 412 and 414 are also etched to a certain thickness.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the exposed ohmic contact layer 150 of the other portion B and the semiconductor layer 140 thereunder together with the first portion 414 of the photoresist film are subjected to a dry etching method. Remove at the same time. In this case, the photoresist pattern 412 and 414, the ohmic contact layer 150, and the semiconductor layer 140 (the semiconductor layer and the intermediate layer have almost no etching selectivity) are simultaneously etched, and the gate insulating layer 130 is not etched. It is preferable to perform the etching under the condition that the etching ratio of the photoresist patterns 412 and 414 and the semiconductor layer 140 is almost the same.

In this case, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the first portion 414 of the semiconductor layer portion C is removed to reveal the first patterned data metal layer 167, and the ohmic contact layer 150 of the other portion B is exposed. ) And the semiconductor layer 140 are removed to expose the gate insulating layer 130 below. On the other hand, since the second portion 412 of the data line portion C is also etched, the thickness becomes thinner. In this step, the semiconductor layers 142 and 143 are completed. Reference numeral 157 denotes an ohmic contact layer below the data metal layer 167, respectively.

Meanwhile, the first portion 414 of the semiconductor layer portion C may be removed during an oxygen plasma process on the data metal layer 167.

Subsequently, ashing of the photoresist film remaining on the surface of the source / drain data metal layer 167 of the semiconductor layer portion C is removed.

Next, as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the data metal layer 167 of the semiconductor layer portion C and the ohmic contact layer 157 below are etched and removed.

Since the end point for the ohmic contact layer 157 is not easy to find, a portion of the semiconductor layers 142 and 143 may be removed to reduce the thickness as shown in FIG. 12B, and the second portion 412 of the photoresist pattern may also be It is etched to a certain thickness. At this time, the etching should be performed under the condition that the gate insulating layer 130 is not etched. Of course, it is preferable that the photoresist pattern is thick so that the second portion 412 is not etched so that the data line beneath it is exposed.

In this way, a semiconductor layer 143a wider than the first data line 161a is formed, and the source electrode 165 and the drain electrode 166 are separated, and the data wiring and the ohmic contact layers 152, 155, and 156 thereunder. This is done.

Thereafter, the photosensitive film second portion 412 remaining in the data wiring portion A is removed. However, the removal of the second portion 412 may be performed after removing the semiconductor layer portion C data metal layer 167 and before removing the resistive contact layer 157 thereunder.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, the protective film 171 and the organic layer 175 are formed. The organic layer 175 may be formed through exposure and development after forming an organic coating layer on the passivation layer 171.

Thereafter, contact holes 176 are formed in the organic layer 175 and the passivation layer 171, and the pixel electrode 182 is formed.

A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. 14 is a cross section of a portion of the second data line 161b corresponding to FIG. 5, and FIG. 15 is a cross section of a portion of the first data line 161a corresponding to FIG. 6.

Depending on the process conditions, even when the data wiring and the semiconductor layer are manufactured using the same thickness photosensitive film, the semiconductor layer may be formed more widely than the data wiring. In addition, the width of the pixel electrode 182 overlapping the data line 162 may vary depending on the left and right sides of the data line 162.

The second data line 162b is formed to be narrower than the semiconductor layer 143b and overlaps the pixel electrode 182 on the right side as compared with the left side.

The widths of the semiconductor layers 143a and 143b are substantially constant, and the width d50 of the portion overlapping the pixel electrode 182 is the same around the first data line 162a and around the second data line 162b. The data line 162a is reduced so as not to overlap the pixel electrode 182, and the second data line 162b partially overlaps the pixel electrode 182.

At the time of repair, the data line 162 is cut by applying a laser to the first data line 162a.

In the first and second embodiments, the data line and the ohmic contact layer are formed to overlap each other.

Although some embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments may be modified without departing from the spirit or spirit of the invention. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device which is easy to repair and a manufacturing method thereof.

Claims (13)

An insulating substrate; A data line formed on the insulating substrate and including a first data line having a first width and a second data line having a second width greater than the first width; An insulating layer on the data line; A semiconductor layer positioned between the insulating substrate and the data line and having a width of a portion extending outside the first data line greater than a width of a portion extending outside the second data line; And a pixel electrode on the insulating layer. The method of claim 1, And an organic layer formed between the data line and the pixel electrode. The method of claim 1, And the pixel electrode does not overlap the first data line. The method of claim 3, And the pixel electrode partially overlaps the second data line. The method of claim 3, And the pixel electrode partially overlaps the semiconductor layer extending outside the first data line. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, And the semiconductor layer is positioned in an area where the pixel electrode and the data line do not overlap. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, And a resistance contact layer positioned between the semiconductor layer and the data line, wherein the resistance contact layer and the data line overlap each other. An insulating substrate; A semiconductor layer formed on the insulating substrate; A data line formed on the semiconductor layer; An insulating layer on the data line; A pixel electrode formed on the insulating layer, The pixel electrode partially overlaps the data line, And a semiconductor layer in a region where the pixel electrode and the data line do not overlap. The method of claim 8, And the data line is smaller in width than a periphery in a portion which does not overlap the pixel electrode. The method of claim 8, And the insulating layer comprises an organic layer. Forming a semiconductor layer, an ohmic contact layer, and a data metal layer on the insulating substrate; Forming a photoresist film on the data metal layer, the photosensitive film including a first portion elongated and a second portion connected to a portion of the first portion and thinner than the first portion; Patterning the semiconductor layer, the ohmic contact layer, and the data metal layer using the photosensitive film to form a data line corresponding to the first portion and a semiconductor layer corresponding to the first portion and the second portion. Manufacturing method. The method of claim 11, And the first portion is smaller in width than the surroundings in a region connected to the second portion. The method of claim 11, And forming an organic layer after the patterning.

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