KR20080070190A - Spacer formation apparatus for liquid crystal display - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for forming spacers for an LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) are provided to supply spacers into opening grooves of a spacer-supplying substrate uniformly through one blade and to control the number of spacers through repeated blade. A spacer-supplying substrate(50) has a plurality of opening grooves(110). A blade(70) injects spacer ink into the opening grooves. The blade removes the spacer ink remaining on a surface of the spacer-supplying substrate. The spacer ink in the opening grooves of the spacer-supplying substrate is transferred to a surface of a transfer roller(80). The transfer roller prints the transferred spacer ink on a substrate(40).

Description

Spacer forming apparatus for liquid crystal display device {SPACER FORMATION APPARATUS FOR LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY}

1 is a perspective view illustrating a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross section of the spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a view showing a step of dropping a spacer on the spacer supply substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a view showing a step of evenly injecting a spacer dropped on the substrate for spacer supply into the opening groove.

5 is a view showing a step of injecting a spacer into the opening groove of the substrate for spacer supply.

6 is a diagram illustrating the steps illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

7 is a view showing the number of spacers that enter the opening groove.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the number of spacers depending on the number of blades.

FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating printing of a spacer formed according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention on a liquid crystal display. FIG.

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

10: upper frame 20: lower frame

30: support plate 40: substrate

50: substrate for spacer supply 60: spacer supply apparatus

70: blade 80: transfer roller

90: transfer sheet 100: spacer ink

110: opening groove 200: color filter substrate

210: thin film transistor substrate 220: spacer

230: color filter 240: black matrix

250: gate line 260: data line

270 thin film transistor

A liquid crystal display is a device that can display a desired image by adjusting the light transmittance of liquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix form according to image signal information. The liquid crystal display is a flat panel display device, which is thin and light, has low power consumption and low driving voltage, and is widely used in various electronic devices.

The column spacer for maintaining the cell gap of the liquid crystal display is formed through a photolithography process. This photolithography process is a series of photolithography processes including application of photoresist, mask alignment, exposure, development and stripping. Such a photolithography process has a long process processing time, waste of photoresist and strip ink for removing a photoresist pattern, and requires expensive equipment such as exposure equipment. In addition, the cost of the color filter material compared to the beads spacer (Beads Spacer), and because the number of processes increases, there are disadvantages such as lack of the margin of the post-process margin (Smear) when pressing. For this reason, a roll print spacer process technology for selectively dispersing beads spacers on a black matrix has been developed.

In the roll printing spacer process, the spacer ink supply process is performed by dropping the spacer ink on the edge of the printing plate, applying a spacer ink of a predetermined thickness using the first blade, and then placing the spacer ink of a thickness other than the printing plate groove by the second blade. The ink will be removed. However, when the first blade is not used to supply a spacer ink having a uniform thickness to the printing plate, a gap is generated due to the difference in the number of spacers when the panel is manufactured by inducing a difference in the number of spacers in each groove and printing as it is. There is a problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display device which uniformly supplies a spacer to an opening groove of a substrate for supplying a spacer using one blade.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to the present invention fills a spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves and spacer ink in the opening grooves and remains on the surface of the spacer supply substrate. And a transfer roller on which a blade for removing the spacer ink and the spacer ink injected into the opening groove are transferred to the surface, and the transferred spacer ink is printed on the substrate.

And the opening groove preferably has a planar shape of a circle or polygon.

Moreover, since the depth of the said opening groove is 2 micrometers or more, since the transfer using a transfer roller is easy, it is preferable.

It is preferable that the said spacer ink contains a spacer and a hardening | curing agent.

Moreover, it is preferable that the said hardening | curing agent is a thermosetting agent or an ultraviolet curing agent.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the liquid crystal display spacer forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises the steps of preparing a spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves, dropping spacer ink on the spacer supply substrate and Filling the spacer ink into the opening groove of the substrate for supply and removing the remaining spacer ink on the surface, rotating the transfer roller on the surface of the spacer supply substrate, and transferring the transfer roller to the substrate surface. It is characterized in that it comprises a step of rotating and printing on the substrate in the state.

Therefore, it is preferable to use only one blade for removing the spacer ink.

In addition, preparing a spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves, dropping spacer ink on the spacer supply substrate, filling spacer ink into the opening groove of the spacer supply substrate, and remaining on the surface of the spacer ink Repeating the removal of the substrate, rotating the transfer roller on the surface of the spacer supply substrate, and rotating and printing the transfer roller on the substrate while the transfer roller is in contact with the substrate surface. .

And filling the spacer ink and repeating the removal of the spacer ink remaining on the surface, thereby increasing the number of spacers filled in the opening grooves.

Hereinafter, a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display device and a spacer manufacturing method using the same according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross section of the spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in the drawing, a spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to the present invention is mounted with a spacer supply substrate 50, a transfer roller 80, a blade 70, a spacer supply apparatus 60, and a substrate 40. It includes a support plate 30 to be.

Here, the spacer supply substrate 50 and the support plate 30 are installed in the lower frame 20, and the transfer roller 80, the blade 70, and the spacer supply device 60 are installed in the upper frame 10.

The spacer supply substrate 50 is located on the upper surface of the lower frame 20, and the plurality of opening grooves 110 into which the spacer ink 100 is injected are formed in the spacer supply substrate 50 at predetermined intervals.

The spacer supply substrate 50 is formed of glass, plastic, or a metal material (SUS), and the like, and the opening grooves 110 are formed on the surface by a mold or a laser processing method.

The opening groove 110 is in the shape of a cylinder whose plane is circular. However, the shape of the opening groove 110 is not particularly limited, and the plane may be formed in a polygon such as a quadrangle. The number of spacers filled in each of the opening grooves 110 may be decreased depending on the size and purpose of use of the liquid crystal display. The opening groove 110 is formed larger than the size of the spacer consisting of a plurality of small spacers of a predetermined size, the size is preferably 5 to 8 small spacers. The plurality of opening grooves 110 are formed at the same interval and size as the pattern of the spacer to be formed on the substrate 40, the depth of the opening groove 110 is preferably 2㎛ or more.

The support plate 30 is positioned on the lower frame 20 to mount the substrate 40 on which the spacer ink 100 is printed, and serves to fix the substrate 40 to prevent movement.

The transfer roller 80 is a cylindrical roller positioned on the upper frame 10 to transfer the spacer ink 100 filled in the opening groove 110 of the substrate 50 for spacer supply to the surface of the transfer roller 80. Will be killed.

A transfer sheet 90 formed of silicon having good hydrophilicity is attached to the surface of the transfer roller 80 to facilitate transfer and printing.

The blade 70 is positioned at the rear of the spacer supply device 60 and bladed using a tip portion whose thickness is narrowed to a knife shape or a triangular prism shape. Therefore, the blade 70 is formed of a plastic or rubber material having a good elastic force.

The blade 70 evenly injects the spacer ink 100 dropped from the spacer supply device 60 into the spacer supply substrate 50 into the plurality of opening grooves 110 formed in the spacer supply substrate 50. At the same time, the spacer ink 100 remaining on the surface of the spacer supply substrate 50 is removed.

The spacer supply device 60 is placed on the upper frame 10 to drop the spacer ink 100, which forms a spacer, onto the spacer supply substrate 50 through a nozzle.

A method of forming a spacer using the spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of forming a spacer of a liquid crystal display device according to a printing method, in particular, a gravure printing method.

3 is a view showing a step of dropping a spacer on the spacer supply substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, first, a spacer supply substrate 50 having a plurality of opening grooves 110 is prepared.

And the spacer ink 100 is dripped on the spacer supply board | substrate 50 through the nozzle part of the spacer supply apparatus 60. FIG. In this case, the spacer is added dropwise together with the thermal curing agent or the ultraviolet curing agent, and the spacer ink 100 uses an ink having a concentration of 30 to 50%. Preferably, a spacer ink 100 having a concentration of 40% is used.

Next, the spacer is injected into the plurality of opening grooves 110 formed in the substrate 50 for spacer supply using the blade 70 together with the thermal curing agent or the ultraviolet curing agent.

4 is a view showing a step of evenly injecting a spacer dropped on the substrate for spacer supply into the opening groove.

Referring to the drawings, the filling of the spacer ink 100 into the opening groove 110 of the spacer supply substrate 50 is carried out by dropping the spacer ink 100 on the spacer supply substrate 50 and then blade ( 70 is pushed in one direction in contact with the substrate 40. That is, the spacer ink 100 pushed by the blade 70 is inserted into the opening groove 110 while meeting the opening groove 110 while moving on the upper plate of the spacer supply substrate 50. Accordingly, the spacer ink 100 is filled in the opening groove 110 by the advancing of the blade 70 and the spacer ink 100 remaining on the surface of the spacer supply substrate 50 is removed by the blade 70. do. The number of spacers inserted into the opening groove 110 is determined by the difference in the number of times of moving the blade 70 moved in one direction again in the reverse direction.

7 is a view showing the number of spacers that enter the opening groove and FIG. 8 is a view showing the number of spacers vary depending on the number of blades.

Referring to the drawings, it can be seen that even in the continuous process with only one blade 70 shows a uniform number of spacers as shown in FIG. 7, and also improves the stain caused by uneven supply of spacers. have. At this time, the concentration of the spacer ink 100 uses a concentration of 40%. The number of spacers filled in one opening groove 110 is located in the y-axis, and the probability of spreading the spacers filled in the x-axis. When the first blading 120 to the fourth blading 123 are seen as described above, the number of spacers inserted into the opening grooves 110 by only one blading is likely to be six. In addition, it is possible to control the desired number of spacers by repeating the same blading without changing the opening groove 110 for the number of spacers of the target value.

Referring to FIG. 8, the x-axis represents the number of spacers filled in the opening groove 110, and the y-axis shows the spread probability of the spacers filled in the opening groove 110. It can be seen that an average of 4.4 spacers are inserted into three blades 130 and an average of five spacers is inserted into five blades 132 and an average of six blades 132 are inserted into four blades 131.

The size of the spacer consisting of a plurality of small spacers of a predetermined size is formed smaller than the size of the opening groove 110, and have a uniform size to each other. The spacer may be a photo acryl organic compound capable of forming a polymer, Teflon, Benzocyclobutene (BCB), Cytop, Perfluorocyclobutene (PFCB), or the like. It consists of a material containing glass beads, plastic beads, etc., in organic matter or a solvent having a low dielectric constant.

In addition, the spacer may be composed of several kinds of small spacers having different elastic forces.

After the spacer ink 100 is filled, the cylindrical transfer roller 80 is rotated to the surface of the spacer supply substrate 50. As the transfer roller 80 rotates, the transfer sheet 80 of the transfer roller 80 rotates while the spacer ink 100 filled in the opening groove 110 contacts the spacer supply substrate 50. ) Is transferred at a predetermined interval.

The transfer roller 80 is formed to have the same width as the width of the substrate 40 to be manufactured, and has a circumference of the same length as the length of the substrate 40. Therefore, the spacer ink 100 filled in the opening groove 110 of the spacer supply substrate 50 is transferred to the surface of the transfer sheet 90 of the transfer roller 80 by one rotation. Therefore, all the spacer ink 100 is transferred by one rotation of the transfer roller 80.

The transfer roller 80 is rotated on the substrate 40 while the spacer ink 100 transferred to the transfer roller 80 is brought into contact with the surface of the substrate 40. Therefore, the spacer ink 100 transferred to the transfer roller 80 is separated and a spacer is formed on the surface of the substrate 40. In this case, a heat transfer device such as a heater or UV equipment may be embedded in the transfer roller 80 to fix the ink pattern formed on the surface of the transfer roller 80 to prevent deformation of the pattern. Therefore, the spacers are formed at predetermined positions on the substrate 40 at uniform intervals.

9 is a plan view illustrating printing of a spacer formed according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention on a liquid crystal display.

Referring to the drawings, a typical liquid crystal display device is a thin film transistor substrate 210 having a color filter substrate 200 on which a color filter 230 for color implementation is formed and a thin film transistor 270 performing a switching operation. Is done.

The color filter 230 of the color filter substrate 200 is provided with a black matrix 240 that blocks light, and the spacer 220 is formed to overlap the black matrix 240 of the color filter substrate 200. do. In addition, the spacer pattern may be formed to overlap other components on the substrate through which light does not pass, such as the gate line 250 or the data line 260, in addition to the black matrix 240.

Accordingly, when the spacer 220 formed on the color filter substrate 200 is shown, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color filters 230 are formed on a transparent substrate, and the color filter 230 In the boundary region, a black matrix 240 is formed to prevent color mixing between the color filters 230 and to block light leakage. In addition, a spacer 220 is formed on the black matrix 240. In addition, the spacer 220 may be formed on the thin film transistor substrate 210. In the thin film transistor substrate 210, a gate line 250 and a data line 260 are arranged to cross each other, and a thin film transistor for driving each pixel is formed in an intersection area of the gate line 250 and the data line 260. 270 is disposed. In addition, a pixel that substantially implements an image is defined by the gate line 250 and the data line 260. In addition, a spacer 220 in a pattern form is formed on the gate line 250 and the data line 260. In this case, the spacer 220 may be formed only on the gate line 250 or only on the data line 260.

This is to prevent the spacer 220 from affecting the image quality.

When the spacer 220 is formed through the printing method, the spacer supply substrate 50 and the transfer roller 80 may be manufactured according to the size of the desired display element, and may be transferred to the substrate 40 by one transfer. Since a pattern can be formed, the pattern of a large area display element can also be formed by one process.

In the detailed description of the present invention, the manufacturing method of the spacer 220 by the gravure offset printing method is illustrated, but the rights of the present invention are not limited. For example, the spacer 220 may be formed by screen printing, inkjet printing, or a flexofrgraphy method. In addition, the present invention is to form a spacer 220 using a printing method, other examples or modifications of the present invention using this concept should be included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above, the spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display according to the present invention is capable of supplying a constant spacer into the opening groove of the substrate for supplying the spacer with only one blade using a blade and does not need to maintain the thickness of the spacer ink. Therefore, there is an effect that can remove the defects due to the gap (Gap) stain.

In addition, it is possible to control the number of spacers by repeating the blading.

In the detailed description of the invention described above with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art or those skilled in the art having ordinary knowledge of the present invention described in the claims to be described later It will be understood that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the art.

Claims (9)

A spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves; A blade filling the spacer ink into the opening groove and removing the spacer ink remaining on the surface of the spacer supply substrate; And a transfer roller to which the spacer ink injected into the opening groove is transferred onto the surface and the transferred spacer ink is printed on the substrate. The method of claim 1, And the opening groove has a planar shape of a circle or a polygon. The method of claim 2, The depth of the opening groove is 2㎛ or more, the spacer forming apparatus for a liquid crystal display device. The method of claim 1, And the spacer ink includes a spacer and a hardener. The method of claim 4, wherein Said hardener is a thermosetting agent or an ultraviolet curing agent, The spacer forming apparatus for liquid crystal display devices characterized by the above-mentioned. Preparing a spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves formed therein; Dropping spacer ink onto the substrate for supplying spacers; Filling the spacer ink into the opening groove of the spacer supply substrate and removing the spacer ink remaining on the surface; Transferring the roller by rotating a transfer roller onto a surface of the substrate for supplying spacers; And rotating the transfer roller onto a substrate while the transfer roller is in contact with the surface of the substrate. The method of claim 6, Removing the spacer ink is a method of forming a spacer for a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that using only one blade. Preparing a spacer supply substrate having a plurality of opening grooves formed therein; Dropping spacer ink onto the substrate for supplying spacers; Filling spacer ink into the opening groove of the spacer supply substrate and repeating the removal of the spacer ink remaining on the surface; Transferring the roller by rotating a transfer roller onto a surface of the substrate for supplying spacers; And rotating the transfer roller onto a substrate while the transfer roller is in contact with the surface of the substrate. The method of claim 8, Repeating the removal of the spacer ink remaining on the surface by filling the spacer ink, thereby increasing the number of spacers filled in the opening grooves.

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