KR20140104752A - Flat display device and method of fabricating the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a flat display device capable of preventing line defect when the disconnection of a data line occurs, and a manufacturing method thereof. The flat display device of the present invention includes: a thin film transistor which is formed in each sub pixel area defined by crossing between a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines on a substrate; a first passivation layer which is formed to cover the thin film transistor; a planarization layer which is formed on the first passivation layer, and from which an area corresponding to the data lines is selectively removed; a common electrode which is formed on the planarization layer, and from which an area corresponding to the data lines is selectively removed; a second passivation layer which is formed on the planarization layer to cover the common electrode; a pixel electrode which is formed on the second passivation layer to form a fringe field with the common electrode; first and second contact holes which expose the data lines by selectively removing the first and second passivation layers; and first and second connecting patterns which respectively connect the data lines to the pixel electrode through the first and second contact holes.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a flat display device and a method of manufacturing the same,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel display device, and more particularly, to a flat panel display device capable of preventing line defects due to disconnection of data lines and a method of manufacturing the same.

(PDP), Electro Luminescent Display (ELD), Vacuum Fluorescent (VFD), and the like have been developed in recent years in response to the demand for display devices. Display) have been studied, and some of them have already been used as display devices in various devices.

Such a flat panel display device includes a display panel for displaying an image, and it is possible to detect whether or not the display panel is defective by checking whether the display panel is well driven. Generally, in the inspection process, a certain test signal is applied to the display panel to judge whether or not it is defective.

For example, when the flat panel display device is a liquid crystal display device, a test signal is applied to a gate wiring and a data wiring of a liquid crystal display device to check the ON / OFF state of thin film transistors formed in each sub pixel, When the transistor is on, the lighting state of the sub-pixel is checked. A plurality of sub-pixels are defective due to short, open, thin film transistor defects, defective electrode patterns, etc. of signal lines. Furthermore, since the data lines are shared by a plurality of sub-pixels, line defects occur when the data lines are disconnected.

1 is a photograph in which a line defect occurs.

If the data lines are disconnected, all of the plurality of sub-pixels connected to the disconnected data lines become defective sub-pixels. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1, a line defect occurs, and the display quality is significantly deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display device capable of preventing line defects by connecting a pixel electrode and a data line using a connection pattern, And a method for producing the same.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flat panel display comprising: a thin film transistor formed on each of a plurality of sub pixel regions defined by intersecting a plurality of gate lines and data lines; A first protective film formed to cover the thin film transistor; A planarization film formed on the first protective film and having a region corresponding to the data line selectively removed; A common electrode formed on the planarization film and selectively removing a region corresponding to the data line; A second protective layer formed on the planarization layer to cover the common electrode; A pixel electrode formed on the second protective film and forming a fringe electric field with the common electrode; First and second contact holes for selectively removing the first and second protective films to expose the data lines; And first and second connection patterns connecting the data line and the pixel electrode through the first and second contact holes, respectively.

The first and second contact holes are formed by selectively removing the first and second protective films on both sides with reference to the disconnected region of the data line after detecting the disconnection of the data line.

The first and second connection patterns are formed of tungsten.

The pixel electrode connected to the data line through the first and second connection patterns is electrically insulated from the drain electrode.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a flat panel display device, including: forming a thin film transistor on a substrate in each sub pixel region defined by intersecting a plurality of gate lines and a data line; 1 protective film and a planarization film in this order; Selectively removing the planarization layer to expose the first protective layer corresponding to the data line; Forming a common electrode on the planarization film so as to expose the first protective film in a region corresponding to the data line; Forming a second protective film on the planarization film so as to cover the common electrode; Forming a pixel electrode on the second protective film to form a fringe electric field with the common electrode; Forming first and second contact holes exposing the data line by selectively removing the first and second protective films; And forming first and second connection patterns connecting the data line and the pixel electrode through the first and second contact holes, respectively.

The first and second contact holes are formed by selectively removing the first and second protective films on both sides with reference to the disconnected region of the data line after detecting the disconnection of the data line.

The first and second contact holes are formed by a zapping method using a laser.

The first and second connection patterns are formed of tungsten.

And electrically connecting the pixel electrode connected to the data line through the first and second connection patterns to the drain electrode.

When a data line is disconnected, the data line is connected to the pixel electrode and the data signal is transmitted through the pixel electrode, thereby preventing line defects. have. Particularly, since the common electrode and the planarizing film are not formed in the regions corresponding to the data lines, the data lines can be exposed by removing only the first and second protective films formed on the data lines when the data lines are disconnected.

Therefore, in the flat panel display device and the method of manufacturing the same of the present invention, it is possible to repair the data line even if disconnection of the data line is detected in the final inspection process after forming the pixel electrode.

1 is a photograph in which a line defect occurs.
2A is a plan view of a flat panel display of the present invention.
2B is a plan view showing a flow of a data signal.
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I 'and II-II' in FIG. 2A.
4A to 4G are process plan views illustrating a method of manufacturing the flat panel display device of the present invention.
5A to 5G are cross-sectional views of I-I 'and II-II' of Figs. 4A to 4G.

Hereinafter, a flat panel display device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of a flat panel display of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a plan view showing a flow of a data signal. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I 'and II-II' in FIG. 2A.

2A and FIG. 3, in the flat panel display device of the present invention, the data line 130 is connected to the pixel electrode 170 through the first and second contact holes 180A and 180B. Therefore, when a disconnection occurs in the data line 130, the data signal is transmitted to the next-stage sub-pixel through the pixel electrode 170. [

Specifically, a plurality of gate wirings 105 and a plurality of data wirings 130 intersect with each other with a gate insulating film 110 interposed therebetween, and a sub pixel region is defined. A thin film transistor is formed in each sub pixel region and the pixel electrode 170 and the common electrode 160 are overlapped with each other with the second protective film 140b interposed therebetween to form a fringe field switching (FFS).

The thin film transistor includes a gate electrode 105a, a gate insulating film 110, a semiconductor layer 120, a source electrode 130a, and a drain electrode 130b. The source electrode 130a extends from the data line 130 and the drain electrode 130b is spaced apart from the source electrode 130a. The first passivation layer 140a and the planarization layer 150 are sequentially formed to cover the thin film transistor.

At this time, the planarization film 150 is formed to expose the first protective film 140a in the region for forming the drain contact hole 140H and the region corresponding to the data line 130. [ On the planarizing film 150, a common electrode 160 having a tubular electrode shape is formed. The common electrode 160 may be formed of a material such as tin oxide (TO), indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium tin zinc oxide Is formed of the same transparent conductive material.

The common electrode 160 is formed on the entire surface of the planarization film 150 except for a region overlapping the thin film transistor and the data line 130. This is to easily form a contact hole for connecting the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 when the data line 130 is disconnected.

The second protective film 140b is formed on the planarization film 150 so as to cover the common electrode 160. [ A plurality of slit-shaped pixel electrodes 170 are formed on the second passivation layer 140b. The pixel electrode 170 is formed of a transparent conductive material like the common electrode 160 and has a drain contact hole 140H formed by selectively removing the first and second protective layers 140a and 140b and the planarization layer 150 And is connected to the drain electrode 130b.

However, when the data line 130 is disconnected, the data signal is not applied to the sub-pixel connected to the disconnected data line 130. Particularly, since the data line 130 is shared by a plurality of sub-pixels, when the data line 130 is disconnected (region A), a plurality of sub-pixels connected to the disconnected data line 130 are all defective sub-pixels do. Therefore, in a general flat panel display device, a line defect occurs due to disconnection of the data line 130, and the display quality is largely deteriorated.

The flat panel display device of the present invention connects the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 to prevent the above-described line defect. Specifically, when the disconnection of the data wiring 130 is detected by performing the inspecting process, the first and second protective films 140a and 140b (corresponding to the first and second protective films 140a and 140b) The first and second contact holes 180A and 18OB are formed to expose the data line 130. [

The data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 are connected through the first and second connection patterns 190A and 190B formed of a metal such as tungsten. The first connection pattern 190A connects the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 through the first contact hole 180A and the second connection pattern 190B connects the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 through the second contact hole 180B. The data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 are connected to each other.

2B, the data signal is transferred to the pixel electrode 170 through the first connection pattern 190A and is further transferred to the data line 130 through the second connection pattern 190B connected to the pixel electrode 170. Thus, . That is, the pixel electrode 170 performs a jumping function, and line defects can be prevented from occurring due to disconnection of the data line 130.

At this time, since the data signal is always applied to the sub-pixel including the pixel electrode 170 connected to the data line 130 through the first and second connection patterns 190A and 190B, a part of the drain electrode 130b So that the pixel electrode 170 and the drain electrode 130b are electrically isolated from each other.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing method of a flat panel display device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 4A to 4G are process plan views showing a method of manufacturing the flat panel display device of the present invention, and FIGS. 5A to 5G are cross-sectional views of I-I 'and II-II' of FIGS. 4A to 4G.

First, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 5A, a thin film transistor is formed on a substrate 100. The thin film transistor is formed in each sub pixel region defined by intersecting the gate wiring 105 and the data wiring 130 with the gate insulating film 110 interposed therebetween.

The thin film transistor includes a gate electrode 105a, a gate insulating film 110, a semiconductor layer 120, a source electrode 130a, and a drain electrode 130b. The gate electrode 105a is defined as a part of the gate wiring 105 or protruded from the gate wiring 105. [ The semiconductor layer 120 includes an active layer (not shown) and an ohmic contact layer (not shown) which are sequentially stacked.

The source electrode 130a formed on the semiconductor layer 120 protrudes from the data line 130 and the drain electrode 130b is formed to be spaced apart from the source electrode 130a. An ohmic contact layer (not shown) exposed in a spaced interval between the source and drain electrodes 130a and 130b is removed to define a channel.

The first passivation layer 140a is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 100 including the thin film transistor and the data line 130. The first protective film 140a is formed of an inorganic insulating material such as silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (SiOx), or the like.

4B and 5B, the planarization layer 150 is formed on the entire surface of the first protective layer 140a. The planarization layer 150 is formed of an organic insulating material and is preferably formed of a photoactive compound (PAC). Then, the planarization layer 150 is selectively removed to expose the first protective layer 140a.

Specifically, the planarization layer 150 exposes a first protective layer 140a in a region for forming a drain contact hole for connecting a pixel electrode and a drain electrode 130b to be described later and an area corresponding to the data line 130 . At this time, the planarization film 150 in the region corresponding to the data line 130 is removed to connect the data line 130 and a pixel electrode, which will be described later, when the data line 130 is disconnected.

4C and FIG. 5C, on the planarization film 150, a conductive film such as tin oxide (TO), indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium tin oxide A transparent conductive material such as indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO) is formed, and the common electrode 160 is formed by patterning the transparent conductive material. The common electrode 160 is formed on the planarization film 150 except for a region overlapping the thin film transistor and the data line 130 like the planarization film 150, and is formed in a tubular electrode form.

The reason for not forming the common electrode 160 in the region corresponding to the data line 130 as described above is that when the disconnection (region A) of the data line 130 is detected during the inspection process to be described later, To easily connect the pixel electrodes to be described later.

Since the planarization film 150 and the common electrode 160 are formed on the entire surface of the substrate 100 so as to overlap with the data lines 130 in the general flat panel display device, when the data lines 130 are disconnected, A step of removing the planarization layer 150 and the common electrode 160 corresponding to the planarization layer 130 is further performed. However, when the common electrode 160 is removed, defects may occur in the common electrode 160, and there is a limitation in removing the planarization film 150 having a large thickness.

In addition, the first protective layer 140a provided under the planarization layer 150 must be removed. Since the process of removing the first protective layer 140a is different from the process of removing the planarization layer 150, the process becomes complicated. However, in the manufacturing method of the flat panel display device of the present invention, the common electrode 160 and the planarization film 150 overlapping the data line 130 are removed in advance as described above.

4D and 5D, a second passivation layer 140b is formed on the entire surface of the planarization layer 150 to cover the common electrode 160 with an inorganic insulating material. The second passivation layer 140b is formed to contact the first passivation layer 140a in the region where the planarization layer 150 is removed. The first and second protective films 140a and 140b of the region where the planarization film 150 is removed to correspond to the drain electrode 130b are removed to form a drain contact hole 140H.

4E and 5E, the pixel electrode 170 is formed on the second passivation layer 140b. The pixel electrode 170 is connected to the drain electrode 130b through the drain contact hole 140H. The pixel electrode 170 is formed in a plurality of slit shapes and is formed of a transparent conductive material like the common electrode 160. The pixel electrode 170 and the common electrode 160 are overlapped with each other with the second protective film 140b interposed therebetween to generate Fringe Field Switching (FFS).

However, when the data line 130 is disconnected (region A), the data signal can not be transmitted to the next-stage sub-pixel. Particularly, since the data line 130 is shared by a plurality of sub-pixels, a line defect occurs and the display quality is largely deteriorated.

A method of manufacturing a flat panel display device according to the present invention includes connecting a data line 130 and a pixel electrode 170 through a connection pattern and connecting a data signal to a data line 130 through a pixel electrode 170, Lt; / RTI > Therefore, even when the data line 130 is disconnected, a point defect is detected instead of a line defect.

First, an inspection process is performed to determine whether the data line 130 is disconnected. As shown in FIGS. 4F and 5F, the first and second contact holes (the first and second contact holes) for exposing the data lines 130 on both sides of the disconnection area are formed on the basis of the disconnection area (area A) 180A, and 180B. The first and second contact holes 180A and 180B are formed by removing the first and second protective films 140a and 140b in which the planarizing film 150 is removed and sequentially stacked. The first and second protective films 140a and 140b may be removed by a zapping method using a laser.

As shown in FIGS. 4G and 5G, the data line 130 exposed by the first and second contact holes 180A and 180B and the pixel electrode 170 are electrically connected. The first connection pattern 190A connects the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 through the first contact hole 180A and the second connection pattern 190B connects the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 through the second contact hole 180B. The data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 are connected to each other. At this time, the first and second connection patterns 190A and 190B are formed of a metal and preferably formed of tungsten.

That is, in the method of manufacturing a flat panel display device according to the present invention, the first and second contact holes 180A and 180B are formed on both sides of the disconnection area (area A) of the data line 130, And the data line 130 and the pixel electrode 170 are connected through the second contact holes 180A and 180B. Therefore, even if the data line 130 is disconnected, the data signal is transmitted through the pixel electrode 170. [

At this time, since the data signal is always applied to the sub-pixel including the pixel electrode 170 connected to the data line 130 through the first and second connection patterns 190A and 190B, a part of the drain electrode 130b So that the pixel electrode 170 and the drain electrode 130b are electrically isolated from each other.

In particular, in the method of manufacturing a flat panel display device according to the present invention, after forming the pixel electrode 170, even if a disconnection of the data line 130 is detected in the final inspection process, the data line 130 can be repaired.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

100: substrate 105: gate wiring
105a: gate electrode 110: gate insulating film
120: semiconductor layer 130: data line
130a: source electrode 130b: drain electrode
140a: first protective film 140b: second protective film
140H: drain contact hole 150: planarization film
160: common electrode 170: pixel electrode
180A: first contact hole 180B: second contact hole
190A: first connection pattern 190B: second connection pattern

Claims (9)

A thin film transistor formed on each of the sub pixel regions defined by intersecting a plurality of gate wirings and data wirings on a substrate;
A first protective film formed to cover the thin film transistor;
A planarization film formed on the first protective film and having a region corresponding to the data line selectively removed;
A common electrode formed on the planarization film and selectively removing a region corresponding to the data line;
A second protective layer formed on the planarization layer to cover the common electrode;
A pixel electrode formed on the second protective film and forming a fringe electric field with the common electrode;
First and second contact holes for selectively removing the first and second protective films to expose the data lines; And
And the first and second connection patterns connecting the data line and the pixel electrode through the first and second contact holes, respectively. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first and second contact holes are formed by selectively removing the first and second protective films on both sides with respect to a region in which the data line is disconnected after detecting a disconnection of the data line. Display device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first and second connection patterns are formed of tungsten. The method according to claim 1,
And the pixel electrode connected to the data line through the first and second connection patterns is electrically insulated from the drain electrode. Forming a thin film transistor on each of the sub pixel regions defined by intersecting a plurality of gate wirings and data wirings on a substrate and sequentially forming a first protective film and a planarization film so as to cover the thin film transistors;
Selectively removing the planarization layer to expose the first protective layer corresponding to the data line;
Forming a common electrode on the planarization film so as to expose the first protective film in a region corresponding to the data line;
Forming a second protective film on the planarization film so as to cover the common electrode;
Forming a pixel electrode on the second protective film to form a fringe electric field with the common electrode;
Forming first and second contact holes exposing the data line by selectively removing the first and second protective films; And
And forming first and second connection patterns connecting the data line and the pixel electrode through the first and second contact holes, respectively. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first and second contact holes are formed by selectively removing the first and second protective films on both sides with reference to a region in which the data line is disconnected after detecting the disconnection of the data line. A manufacturing method of a flat panel display device. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first and second contact holes are formed by a zapping method using a laser. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the first and second connection patterns are formed of tungsten. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the pixel electrode connected to the data line is electrically insulated from the drain electrode through the first and second connection patterns.

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