TWI459050B - Color filter and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

Color filter and method of manufacturing color filter

The present invention relates to a color filter and a method of manufacturing the color filter.

Liquid crystal display (LCD) is widely used in personal computers, televisions, etc. due to its excellent picture quality, form factor and low power consumption. In recent years, the LCD industry has developed rapidly and continues to develop towards high definition and large screen. . Color filters are an indispensable component in color LCD products.

The LCD is a non-active illuminating element, and its color display must be provided by its own light source device or external ambient light, forming a gray scale display through the driver and the controller, and then using the color filter to generate red (Red) and green (Green). , blue (Blue) three primary colors, according to the principle of color mixing to form a color display.

Color filters typically consist of a glass substrate, a black matrix, a colored layer, and a transparent or translucent conductive layer. The black matrix is mainly used to cover portions that are not intended to transmit light, thereby improving the performance of the color filter and thereby improving the image quality of the liquid crystal display.

The material of the black matrix is generally a black resin or a metal chromium, a chromium oxide, a chromium nitride or the like, and the black resin is usually composed of an organic or inorganic black material, a monomer or an oligomer, and a light-emitting agent. However, the blackness of the above materials is low, so that the shading effect of the black matrix is not ideal.

In view of the above, it is necessary to provide a color filter having a high degree of blackness and a method of manufacturing the color filter.

A color filter comprising a substrate and a black matrix disposed on the substrate, the black matrix consisting essentially of nitride, the nitride comprising chromium, titanium and aluminum.

A method of manufacturing a color filter, the color filter comprising a substrate, the manufacturing method comprising: placing a separate titanium target, an aluminum target, a chromium target, and a substrate into a sputtering chamber; pumping the sputtering chamber Vacuuming; introducing nitrogen gas and an inert gas, rotating the substrate and applying a voltage to the titanium target, the aluminum target, and the chromium target; respectively preparing a hysteresis curve of the nitrogen flow rate and the target voltage to reflect the titanium target, the aluminum target, and the chromium a reaction state of the target, and determining an optimal nitrogen flow rate range according to the hysteresis curve; maintaining a flow rate of the nitrogen gas within the optimal nitrogen flow rate range, sputtering forms a black matrix; forming a color layer between the black matrices To make a color filter.

Compared with the prior art, in the method of manufacturing the color filter and the color filter of the embodiment of the present invention, aluminum, chromium and titanium react with nitrogen to form a nitride during the sputtering process, and various nitrides are dark gray or dark. The color, because of the different structure and atomic distance between aluminum, chromium and titanium, can achieve mutual filling effect, making it difficult for light to pass through the black matrix, thus increasing the blackness of the black matrix.

20‧‧‧Color filters

10‧‧‧Substrate

11‧‧‧Black matrix

12‧‧‧Colored layer

13‧‧‧Protective layer

14‧‧‧ Conductive layer

1 is a schematic view of a color filter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a graph showing a sputtering process in a method of manufacturing a color filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the color filter 20 provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate 10 , a black matrix 11 , a coloring layer 12 between the black matrixes 11 , a protective layer 13 , and a conductive layer 14 .

The substrate 10 is typically a transparent substrate such as a glass substrate.

The black matrix 11 has a thickness of 800 nm to 1000 nm, which is mainly composed of nitride, and the nitride contains chromium, titanium and aluminum.

The nitride is chromium nitride, titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, titanium aluminum nitride or Ti _a Al _b Cr _c N _d , wherein a, b, c, d are chromium, titanium, aluminum and nitrogen are completely combined The proportion of quality.

Since the probability of forming a compound by the combination of chromium, aluminum, titanium and nitrogen is sequentially decreased, if the nitrogen is sufficient, the three completely combine with nitrogen to form TiAlCrN , at this time a : b : c : d =1:1:1:1

The black matrix 11 is formed by reactive sputtering using nitrogen as a reactive gas. Briefly, nitrogen reacts with titanium, chromium, and aluminum during sputtering to form the above compound.

The colored layer 12 includes a regularly arranged red color layer, a green color layer, and a blue color layer.

The protective layer 13 covers the black matrix 11 and the colored layer 12, which can enhance the moisture resistance, the anti-contamination property, the oxidation resistance of the color filter 20, and the flatness of the surface of the colored layer 12. The protective layer 13 is generally made of a highly reliable transparent material such as a polyimide resin, an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, a polyvinyl alcohol resin or the like.

The conductive layer 14 is disposed on the protective layer 13, and the material thereof is usually indium tin oxide (Indium Tim Oxide, Indium Zinc Oxide, Cadmium Tim Oxide, Zinc Oxide can be formed by vacuum sputtering or evaporation techniques.

Since aluminum, chromium and titanium react with nitrogen during the sputtering process, the nitride is dark gray or dark black. From the structural point of view, aluminum is face centered cubic (fcc), and chromium is body-centered cubic (body). -centered cubic,bcc), titanium is hexagonal closed packed (hcp), the structure of the three is different from the atomic distance. Therefore, the mutual filling effect can be achieved, making it difficult for light to pass through the black matrix 11, thereby increasing The blackness of the black matrix 11.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the process of forming a black matrix 11 by sputtering chromium, titanium or aluminum, when the flow rate of the introduced reaction gas reaches a certain critical value, excessive reaction gas reacts with the target, and the target is reacted. Nitrile is formed on the surface of the material to completely cover the target, causing target poisoning and greatly reducing the sputtering rate. Therefore, the reaction gas nitrogen and the target (chromium target, titanium target, aluminum target) voltage are respectively formed at the beginning of the formal sputtering. The hysteresis curve between the three hysteresis curves is based on an optimum nitrogen flow range in the formal sputtering process.

When the nitrogen flow rate is small, the film formed by sputtering is biased toward the metal film, and the sputtering rate is faster; when the nitrogen is excessive, the film is in a compound state, but the sputtering rate is greatly reduced. Therefore, by selecting the parameter between the over-reaction and the metal state on the hysteresis curve, parameters acceptable for both the sputtering rate and the film quality can be obtained.

Therefore, when the black matrix 11 is formed by sputtering, an optimum nitrogen flow rate is selected from the hysteresis curve of 3 standard milliliters per minute (sccm) to 5 sccm, and the target voltage is 430 to 470 volts.

In the sputtering process, firstly, three independent titanium targets, an aluminum target and a chromium target, and the substrate 10 are placed in a sputtering chamber and fixed, and then the sputtering chamber is evacuated to 1×10 ^-5 torr (Torr), and then An inert gas (such as argon or hydrogen) and a reaction gas (nitrogen) are introduced for about ten minutes, so that the gas pressure in the sputtering chamber is about 1 × 10 ^-3 torr, and the substrate 10 is rotated and a voltage is applied to the target to maintain nitrogen gas. The flow rate is within the optimum nitrogen flow range (3-5 sccm), and the black matrix 11 is sputtered. When the thickness of the black matrix 11 reaches a predetermined thickness, the sputtering process is stopped. After the sputtering chamber is cooled, the substrate 10 is taken out. A black matrix 11 of a predetermined thickness has been formed on the substrate 10.

Subsequently, the coloring layer 12 may be formed between the black matrixes 11 by an inkjet method, the protective layer 13 covering the black matrix 11 and the colored layer 12 may be formed by a sputtering process, and the conductive layer 14 may be formed by vacuum sputtering or evaporation to be manufactured. Color filter 20.

In summary, the present invention has indeed met the requirements of the invention patent, and has filed a patent application according to law. However, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it is not possible to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. Equivalent modifications or variations made by persons skilled in the art in light of the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (4)

A method of manufacturing a color filter, the color filter comprising a substrate, the method of manufacturing the color filter comprising: placing an independent titanium target, an aluminum target, a chromium target, and a substrate into a sputtering chamber; The sputtering chamber is evacuated; the nitrogen gas and the inert gas are introduced, the substrate is rotated, and a voltage is applied to the titanium target, the aluminum target, and the chromium target; and a hysteresis curve of the nitrogen flow rate and the target voltage is separately formed to reflect the titanium target. a reaction state of the aluminum target and the chromium target, and determining an optimum nitrogen flow rate range according to the hysteresis curve; maintaining the flow rate of the nitrogen gas within the optimal nitrogen flow rate range, and sputtering forms a black matrix; A coloring layer is formed to fabricate a color filter. The method of manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the method of manufacturing the color filter further comprises forming a protective layer covering the black matrix and the colored layer. The method of manufacturing a color filter according to claim 2, wherein the method of manufacturing the color filter further comprises forming a conductive layer on the protective layer. The method of producing a color filter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the optimum nitrogen flow rate ranges from 3-5 sccm.