WO2016017808A1

WO2016017808A1 - Optical inspection method for display cell having flexible thin-film structure and pseudo-terminal unit used in said method

Info

Publication number: WO2016017808A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/071836
Authority: WO
Inventors: 多公歳中西; 創矢徐; 智小塩; 村上　奈穗
Original assignee: 日東電工株式会社
Priority date: 2014-08-01
Filing date: 2015-07-31
Publication date: 2016-02-04
Also published as: CN108538742B; JP2016035409A; KR20160016593A; CN105321835B; TWI630382B; CN105321835A; TW201606289A; JP5892563B2; CN108538742A; KR102454250B1

Abstract

An optical inspection method for a display cell having a flexible thin-film structure includes: a step for conveying a motherboard structure including at least a cell motherboard comprising a resin substrate and at least one display cell formed on the resin substrate and having a flexible thin-film structure and a display surface in a conveyance direction such that the display surface of the display cell faces upward; a step for forming an adhesive layer on the display surface of the display cell of the motherboard structure conveyed in the conveyance direction; a step for putting the display cell having the adhesive layer formed on the display surface thereof in an excited state by supplying excitation power to the display cell and searching for defects in the display cell in the excited state; and a step for adhering an optical functional film to the adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell for which defect inspection has been completed. As a result, a display cell formed on a resin substrate and having a flexible thin-film structure can be inspected for defects in an excited state without a protective film being adhered to the display cell.

Description

Optical inspection method for display cell of flexible thin film structure and pseudo terminal unit used in the method

The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a display cell having a flexible thin film structure to which an optical functional film is bonded, and a pseudo terminal unit used in the method. In particular, the present invention is not limited, but it can be formed into a flexible thin film structure such as an organic EL display cell, and is used in a display cell inspection method and an optical function film bonded thereto. The pseudo terminal unit.

Since the organic EL display cell can be formed in a flexible thin film structure, a display device using the display cell is configured to be a curved surface, or the entire display device is configured to be flexible so that it can be rolled or bent. Is also possible. This type of display cell is generally formed by forming a resin film such as a polyimide resin on a heat-resistant substrate such as a glass substrate, and using the resin film as a base material for forming a film-shaped display cell. It is manufactured by forming display cells on the material. An optical functional film is bonded to the display surface of the display cell manufactured in this way via an adhesive layer.

Also, a display cell having a relatively small size used for a display device of a smartphone or tablet size is manufactured by forming a large number of cells on one substrate. As a document describing a method for industrially manufacturing such an organic EL display cell having a relatively small screen size, there is Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1174834 (Patent Document 1). According to the method described in Patent Document 1, a resin film such as a polyimide resin is formed on a glass substrate, and the resin film is used as a base material for forming a film display cell. Then, a large number of display cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns are formed on the substrate, the entire surface thereof is covered with a process film, and then the substrate on which the display cells are formed is peeled from the glass substrate. After that, in the state where the process film is bonded, the individual film-shaped display cells are divided so that the terminal portions including the electrical terminals for electrical connection formed on one side of the individual film-shaped display cells are exposed. Each film-like display cell is formed by peeling off the process film at a location corresponding to the terminal portion.

An optical inspection is performed on the display cell thus formed. This optical inspection is usually a surface defect inspection by reflected light and a lighting inspection in which the display cell is in an excited state by applying excitation power to the display cell to check whether the operation of the display cell is normal. It is performed in two stages. In the latter lighting test, in order to apply excitation power to each display cell, a pseudo terminal having an electrical connection terminal connected to the electrical connection terminal of the display cell is used.

In the defect inspection performed in the excited state of the display cell, if this inspection is performed in a state immediately after the display cell is manufactured, foreign matter may adhere to the display surface of the display cell and the function of the display cell may be deteriorated. There is. Therefore, the inspection is usually performed by attaching a protective film to the front surface of the display cell. However, when a protective film is used, it is necessary to peel off the protective film in a later step, which increases the number of steps. Thus, it is conceivable to perform an inspection after the optical functional film is bonded to the display surface. However, in a state where the optical functional film is bonded to the display surface, a precise excited state inspection cannot be performed.

Furthermore, in the case of a configuration in which a plurality of display cells are arranged in rows and columns on the cell motherboard, the time and labor required for the inspection increase if the individual display cells are individually excited to perform the defect inspection. This is not preferable.

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1174834 International Publication WO2009 / 104371A1 JP 2007-157501 A JP 2013-63892 A JP 2010-13250 A JP 2013-35158 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070787 Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070789 Japanese Patent No. 5204200 Patent No. 5448264

In order to cope with the above-described situation, the present invention performs a defect inspection of a display cell in an excited state without attaching a protective film to a display cell having a flexible thin film structure formed on a resin substrate. It is a problem to be solved to provide an inspection method that enables the inspection.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of performing an excited state inspection of a display cell with high efficiency in a configuration in which a plurality of display cells are formed on a cell motherboard.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a pseudo terminal unit used for defect inspection in an excited state of a display cell in a cell motherboard in which a plurality of display cells are formed.

The present invention provides an optical inspection method for a display cell having a flexible thin film structure, which can solve the above-described problems. This method
A mother board structure including at least a cell mother board composed of a resin base material and at least one display cell having a display surface with a flexible thin film structure formed on the resin base material. Sending in the feed direction while facing upward,
Forming a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the display surface of the display cell of the mother board structure sent in the feeding direction;
Supplying excitation power to a display cell having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell to bring the display cell into an excited state, and performing a defect inspection on the display cell in the excited state;
Bonding an optical functional film to the adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell after the defect inspection;
including.

In this case, the display surface of the display cell has a rectangular shape having two short sides and two long sides, and the display cell has an electrical connection terminal along one of the short side and the long side. It is preferable that the cell mother board is sent in the feeding direction in a state in which the terminal portion of the display cell is lateral to the feeding direction.

In still another preferred embodiment, the cell motherboard includes at least one display cell column arranged in a vertical column parallel to the feed direction, and the defect inspection performed in the excited state of the display cell is performed by the cell motherboard. A window corresponding to the display surface of the display cell is formed by an outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery of the display frame and a crosspiece provided in the outer frame, and a terminal of the display cell is formed along one side of each of the windows. A pseudo terminal unit in which an electrical connection terminal corresponding to the electrical connection terminal of the portion is arranged is overlaid on the cell motherboard, and the electrical connection terminal of the pseudo terminal unit is connected to the electrical connection terminal of the display cell. This is done by supplying excitation power to.

In still another preferred embodiment, the cell motherboard includes a plurality of columns of display cells arranged in a vertical column parallel to the feed direction, and the defect inspection performed in the excited state of the display cell is performed on the cell motherboard. A window corresponding to the display surface of the display cell is formed in a vertical and horizontal matrix by an outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery, and a horizontal beam and a vertical beam provided in the outer frame, and one side in each of the windows A pseudo terminal unit in which an electrical connection terminal corresponding to the electrical connection terminal of the terminal portion of the display cell is placed along the cell motherboard, and the electrical connection terminal of the pseudo terminal unit is connected to the electrical connection terminal of the display cell. The excitation power is supplied to the pseudo terminal unit.

In the present invention, the cell motherboard includes at least a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical row parallel to the feed direction, and the terminal portions of the plurality of display cells are all in a state of being horizontally oriented with respect to the feed direction. It can be sent in the feed direction. The optical functional film can include at least a polarizer. In this case, the optical functional film is a laminate of a polarizer and a quarter-wave retardation film, and the laminate is attached to the display surface so that the quarter-wave retardation film faces the display cell. It is preferable that they are combined. The display cell can be an organic EL display cell.

In still another aspect of the present invention, the display device has a rectangular display surface having two short sides and two long sides, and an electrical connection terminal is provided along one of the short side and the long side. A plurality of display cells having a structure with a terminal portion formed therein, and a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical column, and a plurality of columns of display cells arranged simultaneously, the plurality of display cells on the cell motherboard are simultaneously excited. There is provided a pseudo terminal unit for applying excitation power, which is used to perform a defect inspection of the display cell in a state. The pseudo terminal unit includes an outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery of the cell motherboard, a horizontal beam and a vertical beam provided in the outer frame, and a plurality of display cells formed by the horizontal beam and the vertical beam. A window corresponding to each of the display surfaces; an electrical connection terminal for supplying excitation power disposed at a position corresponding to an electrical connection terminal of a terminal portion of the display cell along one side of each of the windows; and the excitation power An excitation power source connection for supplying excitation power to the supply electrical connection terminal.

According to the method of the present invention, when a display cell is inspected in an excited state, the inspection is performed in a state where an adhesive layer is formed on the display surface of the display cell, so that the adhesive layer can act as a protective layer. It is possible to omit the protective film peeling step compared to the case of using the protective film. In addition, since the inspection in the excited state is performed before the optical functional film is bonded to the display surface, it is possible to perform a precise inspection compared to the inspection performed after the optical functional film is bonded.

Furthermore, the pseudo terminal unit according to the present invention can simultaneously activate a plurality of display cells on the cell motherboard, thereby enabling inspection with high efficiency.

It is a top view which shows an example of the optical display cell which can be used in the method of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows roughly an example of the manufacturing process of the organic electroluminescent display cell which has a comparatively small display screen. An example of the cell assembly mother board to which the method of the present invention is applied is shown. (A) is a top view and (b) is a sectional view. (A) (b) (c) (d) is a figure which shows each step of surface protection film peeling operation | movement. It is the schematic which shows the structure of an optical inspection apparatus, (a) shows a reflection inspection apparatus, (b) shows a lighting inspection apparatus, respectively. It is a top view which shows the pseudo | simulation terminal unit for the lighting test | inspection of the cell assembly motherboard shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which performs a lighting test | inspection using the pseudo terminal unit shown in FIG. It is a schematic side view which shows the whole adhesive layer provision mechanism. (A) (b) (c) (d) (e) is the schematic which shows the bonding order of the adhesive sheet in the cell assembly motherboard by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the optical display panel manufacturing apparatus by one Embodiment for enforcing the optical function film bonding method of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view showing an example of an optical functional film. It is the schematic of the apparatus by other embodiment for enforcing the optical function film bonding method of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of adhesive layer provision in embodiment with which the display cell is arrange | positioned at 1 vertical line. It is a top view which shows an example of the cell motherboard which has a display cell of a flexible sheet structure of a large size. It is a perspective view which shows the adhesive layer provision operation | movement with respect to the example shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an optical display cell 1 to which the method of one embodiment can be applied to the present invention. The optical display cell 1 has a rectangular shape having a short side 1a and a long side 1b in plan view, and a terminal portion 1c having a predetermined width is formed along one short side 1a. A number of electrical terminals 2 for electrical connection are arranged on the terminal portion 1c. A region excluding the terminal portion 2 of the optical display cell 1 is a display region 1d. The display area 1d has a width W in the horizontal direction and a length L in the vertical direction. In order to carry out the method of the present invention, the optical display cell 1 is preferably an organic EL display cell, but the method of the present invention can be applied to any display cell having a flexible thin film structure. The optical display cell 1 can have various screen sizes from a relatively small size for mobile phones or smartphones or tablets to a relatively large size for television applications.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an example of a manufacturing process of an organic EL display cell having a relatively small display screen for use in a smartphone or a tablet. In this step, first, a glass substrate 3 is prepared as a heat-resistant substrate, and a heat-resistant resin material, preferably a polyimide resin, is applied to the glass substrate 3 to a predetermined thickness and dried, whereby a resin base material is obtained. 4 is formed. As a heat resistant resin material, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), etc. can be used in addition to polyimide resin. In addition, as a material of the base material, a flexible ceramic sheet as described in JP 2007-157501 A (Patent Document 3), or JP 2013-63892 A (Patent Document 4), It is also possible to use flexible glass as described in JP 2010-13250 A (Patent Document 5) and JP 2013-35158 A (Patent Document 6). When a flexible ceramic sheet or flexible glass is used as the substrate, it is not necessary to use the glass substrate 3.

A plurality of organic EL display cells 1 are formed on the resin base material 4 in a state of being arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix by a known manufacturing method, and the resin base material 4 and the display cells 1 are cell assembly motherboards. B is formed. When there is one display cell formed on the resin substrate 4, this is called a cell motherboard. In the conventional method, the surface protective film 5 is then bonded so as to cover the organic EL display cell 1 formed on the resin substrate 4. The cell assembly mother board B or the one in which the cell mother board is bonded to a heat resistant substrate such as the glass substrate 3 may be referred to as a mother board structure.

FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view showing the cell assembly mother board B without the surface protective film 5 attached thereto, and FIG. 3 (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line bb of FIG. As in the conventional manufacturing method, a state in which the cell assembly mother board B on which the surface protective film 5 is bonded is arranged on the glass substrate 3 is shown. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), in the cell assembly motherboard B, a plurality of optical display cells 1 constitute vertical columns and horizontal rows with the terminal portions 1a oriented in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3A, the cell aggregate motherboard B has a rectangular shape having a short side B-1 and a long side B-2. A reference mark m serving as a reference point is attached by printing, engraving, or other appropriate technique. The reference mark m is referred to as a reference when the mother board B is positioned. When the optical film is bonded, the cell assembly mother board B is sent in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG.

The cell assembly mother board B in the state having the glass substrate 3 is sent to the glass substrate peeling position where the glass substrate 3 is peeled after passing through the defect inspection of the optical display cell 1. When the cell assembly mother board B having the glass substrate 3 to the glass substrate peeling position is transferred, the optical functional film is bonded. Prior to transferring the cell assembly motherboard B having the glass substrate 3 to the optical functional film bonding position, an optical inspection of the cell assembly motherboard B is performed. In preparation for this optical inspection, conventionally, it is necessary to peel the surface protective film 5 from the cell assembly motherboard B. In FIG. 4, the procedure which peels the surface protection film 5 is shown.

Referring to FIG. 4, the cell assembly mother board B is held by the vacuum holding force on the suction holding board 10 supported by the guide 15 and the support mechanism 13, and the surface protection film is peeled off at the position shown in FIG. It is sent to the position and raised to a predetermined height by the lifting mechanism at the position shown in FIG. This predetermined height is a height at which the upper surface of the surface protective film 5 of the cell assembly mother board B can contact the adhesive tape 16d positioned between the pair of pressing rolls 16c with a predetermined contact pressure.

The cell assembly mother board B raised to the predetermined height by the elevating mechanism is sent to the position below the peeling adhesive tape driving device 16 as it is. Here, the upper surface of the surface protection film 5 of the mother board B contacts the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape 16d in a pressed state between the pair of pressing rolls 16c. The adhesive force of the adhesive tape 16d to the surface protective film 5 is larger than the adhesive force of the surface protective film 5 to the optical display cell 1, so that the surface protective film 5 adheres to the adhesive tape 16d and is on the resin substrate 4. It peels from the optical display cell 1 arrange | positioned. The peeled surface protective film 5 is taken up together with the adhesive tape 16d by a take-up roll 16b. The mother board B from which the surface protective film 5 has been peeled is lowered to the height at the time of feeding at the position shown in FIG. 4A by the lifting mechanism at the position shown in FIG.

The above is the peeling operation of the surface protective film required in the conventional method. In the present invention, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is applied to the display cells on the cell assembly mother board B without performing the bonding of the surface protective film and, therefore, without requiring the peeling of the surface protective film. For this purpose, the cell assembly mother board B manufactured by the manufacturing process of FIG. 2 is sent to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application position including the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application mechanism 20. FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing the entire pressure-sensitive adhesive layer application mechanism 20.

The adhesive layer application mechanism 20 includes an adhesive tape roll 22 in which a long adhesive tape 21 is wound in a roll shape. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 21 is fed out from the roll 22 at a constant speed by a pair of drive rolls 23. In this embodiment, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 21 has a configuration in which a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 21b is formed on one surface of the tape base material 21a.

Referring to FIG. 8, the adhesive tape 21 fed from the adhesive roll 22 by the pair of drive rolls 23 is cut and formed through a guide roll 24, a dancer roll 25, a guide roll 26 and a guide roll 27 that are movable in the vertical direction. Sent to mechanism 28. The cut forming mechanism 28 includes a cutting blade 29 and a pair of drive rolls 30 for feeding. The cut forming mechanism 28 operates the cutting blade 29 in a state where the drive roll 30 is stopped and the feeding of the adhesive tape 21 is stopped at the cut forming position, and only the adhesive layer 21b is left leaving the tape base material 21e. In addition, a cut 28a is formed in the width direction. The interval between the cuts 28a is a distance corresponding to the length L in the vertical direction of each display cell 1 on the mother board B. Therefore, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 21b is cut in the width direction by the cuts 28a to become a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21c having a horizontal width W and a vertical method length L of the display cell. Thus, the some adhesive sheet 21c is continuously formed on the tape base material 21a, and these adhesive sheets 21c are supported by the tape base material 21a, and are sent to a bonding position.

The dancer roll 25 is elastically biased upward, and a pair of drive rolls 23 that continuously drive the adhesive tape 21 in the feeding direction, and the feeding of the adhesive tape 21 is stopped at the time of cutting, and the cutting ends. It is an adjustment roll that acts to adjust the tape feed between a pair of drive rolls 30 that are driven for a predetermined distance later. That is, during the stop period of the drive roll 30, the dancer roll 25 moves upward so as to absorb the feed of the drive roll 23 by the urging force, and when the drive roll 30 starts operating, By the tensile force applied to the adhesive tape 21 by 30, it operates to move downward against the urging force.

A series of pressure-sensitive adhesive sheets 21c formed by the cuts 28a passes through a guide roll 31 and a guide roll 32 while passing through a dancer roll 33 having the same configuration as the dancer roll 25 while being supported by the tape base material 21a. Guided by guide rolls 34, 35, 36, and 37 and sent to the bonding position.

A laminating roll 38 and a carrier film peeling mechanism 39 are provided at the laminating position. The laminating roll 38 is movably disposed between the upper drawing position and the lower pressing position, and among the continuous adhesive sheets 21c supported by the tape base material 21a, the leading adhesive sheet 21c. When the tip is aligned with the tip of the display cell 1 to be bonded, the tip is lowered from the upper position to the lower pressing position, and the adhesive sheet 21c is pressed against the display cell 1 on the mother board B, An adhesive layer is provided on the display surface.

The tape base material peeling mechanism 39 includes a peeling blade that acts to fold the tape base material 21a at an acute angle and peel the leading optical film sheet 21c from the tape base material 21a at the bonding position. A tape base material take-up roll 40 is disposed to take up the tape base material 21a folded back at an acute angle. The tape base material 21 a peeled off from the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21 c is sent to the take-up roll 40 through the guide roll 41 and the pair of take-up drive rolls 42, and is taken up by the take-up roll 40.

The operation of the drive roll 30 and the cutting blade 29 is controlled by a control device not shown in FIG. That is, the control device stores information related to the size and position of the display cell 1 on the mother board B, and the control device drives the driving roll 30 and the cutting blade based on the information about the longitudinal length L of the display cell 1. 29 is controlled to form cuts 28a in the adhesive tape 21 at longitudinal intervals corresponding to the longitudinal length L of the display cell 1. In addition, a sheet position detection device 43 that detects the front end of the adhesive sheet 21c is provided on the upstream side of the pasting position, and information about the front end position of the adhesive sheet 21c sent to the pasting position is controlled. To provide. This adhesive sheet tip position information is stored in the control device, and the control device uses the adhesive sheet tip position information and the position information of the mother board B acquired from the suction holding board 10 to take up the driving roll 30 and the winding roll. The operation of the drive roll 42 is controlled in accordance with the movement of the suction holding board 10, and the bonding of the adhesive sheet 21 c peeled off from the tape base material 21 a on the mother board B in the bonding position is performed. The display cell 1 is adjusted so as to align with the tip of the display cell 1. When the alignment is achieved, the adhesive sheet 21c and the mother board B are sent at a synchronized speed. The laminating roll 38 descends to the lower pressing position and presses the adhesive sheet 21 f against the display surface of the display cell 1. In this way, the adhesive layer is applied to the display cell 1.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an order in which the adhesive sheet 21c is sequentially bonded to the display cells 1 arranged in a matrix form on the mother board B. As shown in FIG. In this illustrated example, the laminating mechanism 20 has a fixed lateral position with respect to the feed direction, and the suction holding disk 10 that holds the mother board B is mounted on the support mechanism 13 so as to be movable in the lateral direction. ing. As shown in FIG. 9A, the position of the mother board B is controlled so that the first display cell 1 in the leftmost display cell row is first positioned at the bonding position. In this state, as described above with reference to FIG. 8, the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display portion 1d of the display cell 1 at the head of the left end column.

Next, by moving the suction holding board 10 in the horizontal direction, the mother board B is displaced in the left horizontal direction with respect to the feed direction by a distance corresponding to the horizontal interval of the display cell rows. By this lateral displacement, as shown in FIG. 9B, the first display cell 1 in the second column from the left is positioned at the bonding position. Then, the adhesive sheet 21f is bonded to the display portion 1d of the display cell 1 by the same operation as described above. Thereafter, the mother board B is displaced leftward by the same operation, and the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded. In the illustrated example in which the display cells 1 are arranged in three rows, the bonding of the adhesive sheet 21c to the first display cell is completed. This state is shown in FIG.

Next, the suction holding platen 10 is driven in the feed direction by a distance corresponding to the interval between the display cells 1 in each column, and the second display cell 1 from the top of the rightmost column is positioned at the bonding position, and similarly. As shown in FIG. 9 (d), an adhesive sheet 21 f is bonded to the display portion 1 d of the cell 1. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9 (e), the mother board B is driven in the feeding direction, and the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded by the same operation.

Thus, the cell assembly mother board B having the adhesive sheet 21c applied to the display surface of the display cell 1 is sent to the inspection position. In one embodiment of the present invention, the optical inspection is performed in two stages: a surface reflection inspection shown in FIG. 5A and a lighting inspection of the display cell shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, a light source 70 and a light receiver 71 are provided as an inspection apparatus for the surface reflection inspection, and the cell assembly mother board B is supported by the suction holding board 10 and below the reflection inspection apparatus. Moved to. At this position, light from the light source 70 is applied to the surface of the optical display cell 1 that is the subject, and is reflected by the surface of the optical display cell 1 to enter the light receiver 71, whereby the surface of the optical display cell 1. A defect is detected.

FIG. 5B shows an outline of the lighting inspection in which the display cell 1 is excited, and a plurality of detectors 72 for detecting the light emission state of the optical display cell 1 are arranged in a line. Since the cell assembly mother board B manufactured by the process shown in FIG. 2 has a configuration in which a plurality of optical display cells 1 are arranged in a vertical and horizontal matrix, in this embodiment, all of the cell assembly motherboard B in the cell assembly motherboard B is provided. A pseudo terminal unit 75 shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B is used to cause the optical display cell 1 to be excited simultaneously.

Referring to FIG. 6 (a), the pseudo terminal unit 75 includes a rectangular outer frame 75a corresponding to the rectangular shape of the cell assembly motherboard B, a plurality of horizontal bars 75b, and a plurality of vertical bars 75c. In the outer frame 75a, rectangular windows 75d arranged vertically and horizontally so as to correspond to the arrangement of the optical display cells 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B are formed. A connection terminal 76 is arranged at a position corresponding to the terminal 2 arranged in the terminal portion 1c of each optical display cell 1 along one short side of each window 75d. Further, the pseudo terminal unit 75 is provided with

power supply terminals

77a and 77b for supplying excitation power to the terminal 2 of each optical display cell 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B.

FIG. 6B shows the back surface of the pseudo terminal unit 75. The back surface of the pseudo terminal unit 75 is connected to the positive terminal of the connection terminal 76 to the positive power supply terminal 77a. Connection line 78a and a connection line 78b for connecting the negative terminal of the connection terminal 76 to the negative power supply terminal 77b. The positive power supply terminal 77a and the negative power supply terminal 77b are connected to the positive terminal 79a and the negative terminal 79b of the power supply source 79, respectively.

FIG. 7 shows a state in which the pseudo terminal unit 75 shown in FIG. 6 is used. The pseudo terminal unit 75 is placed on the cell assembly motherboard B so that the outer frame 75a overlaps the peripheral edge of the cell assembly motherboard B. In this state, the window 75d of the pseudo terminal unit 75 overlaps the optical display cell 1 in the cell assembly motherboard B, respectively. Here, when excitation power is supplied to the pseudo terminal unit 75, all of the optical display cells 1 of the cell assembly motherboard B are simultaneously excited. Therefore, the detector 72 inspects the operating state of each cell 1 for each emission color. By using the pseudo terminal unit 75, in a mother board having a plurality of optical display cells, it is possible to inspect all the cells at the same time in an excited state.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 according to an embodiment of the present invention for laminating optical functional films. When the optical inspection for all the display cells 1 is completed by the above-described steps, the cell assembly mother board B is sent to the optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 while being held on the suction holding board 10.

The device 80 includes a tape feeding roller 81 and a plurality of

guide rollers

84a, 84b, 84c, 84d, and 84e. A tape 83 roll 83 a of an optical functional film 83 is attached to the tape supply roller 81. As shown in FIG. 11, the optical functional film 83 includes a long web-shaped polarizing film in which a protective film 83c such as a TAC film is bonded to both sides of a polarizer 83b, and an adhesive layer 83e. A laminated web composed of a quarter-wave (λ) retardation film 83d bonded to the long web. The polarizer 83b and the retardation film 83e are arranged so that the absorption axis of the polarizer 83b and the slow axis or fast axis of the retardation film 83e intersect at an angle in the range of 45 ° ± 5 °. The optical functional film 83 has a long continuous web shape, but has a width that can cover the upper surface of the entire display cells arranged in multiple rows on the mother board B. In another aspect, the optical functional film 83 may be configured such that, in the configuration shown in FIG. 11, a ½ retardation film is interposed between the polarizing film and the ¼ wavelength retardation film 83d. . In this case, the slow axis or the fast axis of the 1/2 retardation film is arranged so as to intersect the absorption axis of the polarizer 83b at an angle in the range of 15 ° ± 5 °. The slow axis or fast axis of the film and the slow axis or fast axis of the quarter-wave retardation film 83d are arranged to intersect at an angle in the range of 60 ° ± 5 °.

Alternatively, a roll 83a of the optical functional film 83 configured so that each optical functional film has a width corresponding to the lateral width W of each of the display cells 1 arranged in a plurality of rows on the motherboard B. As many as the number of columns in the vertical direction of the display cells 1 on the mother board B are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the optical functional film 83 is simultaneously bonded to the display surface of the display cells 1 in each column. You can also

In this embodiment, the absorption axis of the polarizer 83b is parallel to the length direction of the polarizer 83b, and the slow axis of the retardation film 83d is 45 ° with respect to the length direction of the retardation film 83d. The structure is oriented obliquely by an angle in the range of ± 5 °. For this purpose, it is necessary to obliquely stretch the film at the stage of producing the retardation film 83d. Regarding the oblique stretching, there are detailed descriptions in Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070787 (Patent Document 7) and Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-070789 (Patent Document 8), and the phase difference stretched by the methods described in these documents. A film can be used. In addition, as the retardation film 83d, a film having reverse dispersion characteristics in which the retardation becomes smaller toward the shorter wavelength side according to the wavelength can be used. Retardation films having reverse dispersion characteristics are described in Japanese Patent No. 5204200 (Patent Document 9), Japanese Patent No. 5448264 (Patent Document 10), and the like, and are described in these patent applications in the method of this embodiment. In addition, a retardation film having reverse dispersion characteristics can be used.

The optical functional film 83 is unwound from the roll 83a and is passed in the horizontal direction along the lower traveling path of the

guide rollers

84b, 84c, 84d, 84e so that the adhesive layer 83c faces downward. The cell assembly mother board B in which the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display surface of the optical display cell 1 is held in the horizontal direction while being held on the suction holding board 10 together with the glass substrate 3 bonded to the mother board B. To the position below the carrier tape 83 extending in

The optical display panel manufacturing apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 includes an optical function film bonding position I, a glass substrate peeling position II, an adhesive layer application position III, a composite film bonding position IV, and an optical display cell cutting position V. And have. Before reaching the optical function film bonding position I, the cell assembly mother board B in which the adhesive sheet 21c is bonded to the display surface of the optical display cell 1 and the glass substrate 3 are supported by the support mechanism 13 of the suction holding disk 10. The height is adjusted using a height adjusting mechanism provided in the. The height to be adjusted is such that the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 21c bonded to the optical display cell 1 on the cell assembly motherboard B comes into contact with the retardation film 83d of the optical function film 83 with a predetermined contact pressure. is there. The cell assembly mother board B and the glass substrate 3 on the suction holding board 10 adjusted in height are fed under the second guide roller 84b from the left in FIG. Here, the optical functional film 83 fed out from the roll 83a has its retardation film 83d pressed against the adhesive sheet 21f on the cell assembly motherboard B by the guide roller 84b. In this way, the optical functional film 83 is bonded to the cell assembly motherboard B.

In this process, the optical functional film 83 is driven in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. While the cell assembly motherboard B passes through the optical function film bonding position I, the optical function film 83 is bonded to the adhesive sheets 21c of all the display cells on the cell assembly motherboard B. After the cell assembly motherboard B passes through the optical function film bonding position I, the vacuum suction force of the suction holding board 10 is released, and the cell assembly motherboard B and the glass substrate 3 are supported only by the optical function film 83. It becomes a state.

The cell assembly mother board B and the glass substrate supported by the optical functional film 83 are then sent to the glass substrate peeling position II. At this position II, the glass substrate 3 is peeled off from the resin base material 4 by a known method such as laser irradiation. A technique for peeling a glass substrate from a resin base material by laser irradiation is described in, for example, International Publication No. WO2009 / 104371 (Patent Document 2). The cell assembly mother board B from which the glass substrate 3 has been peeled is sent to the adhesive layer application position III.

At the adhesive layer application position III, the optical functional film 83 and the cell assembly motherboard B supported by the optical functional film 83 are sandwiched below the

guide rollers

84c and 84d located above the optical functional film 83. The

rollers

85a and 85b are disposed so as to face the

guide rollers

84c and 84d. Further, an adhesive tape supply roller 87 is provided at the adhesive layer application position III, and a roll 86 a of the adhesive tape 86 is supported on the supply roller 87. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 86 includes a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b, a first release liner 86c bonded to one side of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b, and a second release bonded to the other side of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86b. It comprises a liner 86d. The adhesive tape 86 fed out from the roll 86 a passes through the guide roller 88 and is sent between the roller 85 a and the cell assembly motherboard B supported by the carrier tape 83.

In this process, the adhesive tape 86 is unrolled from the roll 86a and before reaching the guide roller 88, the first release liner 86c is peeled off and the adhesive layer 86b is exposed. The peeled first release liner 86c is taken up by the take-up roller 89a. Next, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 86 is sent between the roller 84 c and the roller 85 a so that the exposed pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 86 b is in contact with the resin base material 4 on the lower surface of the cell assembly motherboard B supported by the carrier tape 83. . The adhesive layer 86b is pressed against the resin substrate 4 on the lower surface of the cell assembly motherboard B by the

rollers

84c and 85a and joined to the cell assembly motherboard B. In this state, the cell assembly motherboard B and the adhesive tape 86 are sent between the

rollers

84d and 85b, and the second release liner 86d is peeled from the adhesive layer 86b. The peeled second release liner 86d is taken up by the take-up roller 89b.

The cell assembly mother board B having the adhesive layer 86b on the lower surface is supported by the optical function film 83 and sent to the composite film laminating position IV. At this position IV, a roll 90a of the composite film 90 is disposed, and the composite film 90 fed out from the roll 90a is below the guide roller 84e by a guide roller 91 disposed below the guide roller 84e. It is pressed against the adhesive layer 86b applied to the lower surface of the cell assembly mother board B that has reached the position. In this way, the composite film is bonded to the cell assembly motherboard B. Thereafter, the cell assembly mother board B is supported by the optical function film 83 bonded to the upper surface and the composite film 90 bonded to the lower surface. A pair of

drive rollers

91a and 91b can be provided in order to drive the laminate composed of the optical function film 83, the composite film 90, and the cell assembly mother board B in the feeding direction. In this embodiment of the present invention, the composite film 90 is configured as a laminate including a light shielding film layer and a film layer having impact resistance and heat dissipation. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, an ordinary back surface protective film may be used instead of the composite film.

The cell assembly mother board B in which the optical functional film 83 is bonded to the upper surface and the composite film 90 is bonded to the lower surface is sent to the optical display cell cutting position V. This cutting position V is provided with a support belt 92 made of a synthetic resin that receives the composite film 90 and a cutting blade 93, and the cell assembly mother board B is cut to separate individual optical display cells 1. In this case, the optical functional film 83 bonded to the upper surface of the cell assembly mother board B is cut in accordance with the size of the display surface 1d of each display cell 1. The mechanism and operation for cutting described above are well known, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 12 shows an apparatus according to another embodiment for laminating an optical functional film. Since this apparatus has the same basic configuration and operation as the apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10, the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The apparatus shown in FIG. 12 is different from the apparatus 80 shown in FIG. 10 in that the cell assembly mother board B which is passed between the

rollers

84c and 85a and the adhesive layer 86b is provided on the lower surface is provided with the optical functional film 83 and It is to be wound around the roll 100 in the form of a laminate together with the second release liner 86d. The laminated body wound up by the roll 100 can be unwound from the roll 100 and processed at the composite film laminating position IV and the optical display cell cutting position V in another step.

The method of the present invention can also be applied to the display cells 1 arranged in a vertical row on the mother board B. An example is shown in FIG. In this case, the display cell 1 is arranged on the mother board B so that the terminal portion 1c is lateral to the column direction. The application of the adhesive layer to the display surface 1 of the display cell 1 is performed by displaying the adhesive sheet 21c cut in advance from the top of the column in the display cell 1 in the same manner as the operation described with reference to FIG. This can be done by bonding to the part 1d.

The method of the present invention can also be applied to display cells having a flexible sheet structure having a relatively large size. Examples thereof are shown in FIGS. When the display cell is an organic EL cell, the cell itself can have a thin flexible sheet structure. Referring to FIG. 14, an optical display cell 101 having a flexible sheet structure has a rectangular shape having a short side 101a and a long side 101b, a terminal portion 101c positioned along the short side 101a, and a length L in the vertical direction. And a display portion 101d having a lateral width W. The display cell 101 is formed on a base material 102 made of a heat-resistant resin material such as polyimide at the manufacturing stage. The manufacturing process is the same as the process described with reference to FIG. 3, the resin base material 102 is formed in a film shape on the glass substrate 3, and the optical display cell 101 such as an organic EL display cell is formed thereon. The A difference from the case of FIG. 3 is that one display cell is formed on the substrate 102 in the present embodiment. As in the process described with reference to FIG. 3, after the optical display cell 101 is formed on the substrate 102, the adhesive sheet 21 c is bonded to the display surface 101 d of the display cell 101. In the present embodiment, for this purpose, a mechanism similar to the adhesive layer application mechanism 20 shown in FIG. 8 can be employed. In this case, the optical film 21 fed out from the tape-shaped adhesive roll 22 has a width corresponding to the width W of the display cell 101 shown in FIG. In FIG. 15, the structure of the bonding part is shown schematically. The operation in the bonding portion is the same as that described above with reference to FIG. 8, and corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to specific embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims of the claims. It is.

I ... Optical functional film laminating position II ... Glass substrate peeling position III ... Adhesive layer application position IV ... Composite film laminating position V ... Optical display cell cutting position W ... Horizontal Directional width L ... Vertical length B ... Cell assembly motherboard 1 ... Optical display cell 1a ... Short side 1b ... Long side 1c ... Terminal part 1d ... Display Part 3 ... Glass substrate 4 ... Base material 5 ... Surface protective film 10 ... Suction holding board 20 ... Adhesive layer application mechanism 21 ... Adhesive tape 21f ... Adhesive sheet 22 ... roll 28 of adhesive tape ... cut forming mechanism 28a ... cut 29 ... cutting blade 83 ... optical functional film 83a ... optical functional film roll 83b ... polarizer 83d ... 1/4 wavelength retardation film 86 ... Chakuzai tape 90 ... composite film

Claims

The display surface of the display cell includes a mother board structure including at least a cell motherboard formed of a resin base material and at least one display cell having a display surface with a flexible thin film structure formed on the resin base material. Sending in the feed direction with the
Forming an adhesive layer on the display surface of the display cell of the motherboard structure that is sent in the feed direction;
Supplying excitation power to the display cell having an adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell to bring the display cell into an excited state, and performing a defect inspection on the display cell in the excited state;
Bonding an optical functional film to the adhesive layer formed on the display surface of the display cell after the defect inspection;
An optical inspection method for a display cell having a flexible thin film structure, comprising:
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the display surface of the display cell has a rectangular shape having two short sides and two long sides, and the display cell includes the short side and the long side. A terminal portion having an electrical connection terminal is formed along one side of the cell motherboard, and the cell motherboard has the terminal portion of the display cell in a direction transverse to the feeding direction in the feeding direction. A method characterized by being sent.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cell motherboard includes at least one column of the plurality of display cells arranged in a column in a vertical direction parallel to the feeding direction, and in an excited state of the display cell. The defect inspection is performed by forming a window corresponding to the display surface of the display cell by an outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery of the cell motherboard and a crosspiece member provided in the outer frame. A pseudo terminal unit in which an electrical connection terminal corresponding to an electrical connection terminal of the terminal portion of the display cell is disposed along one side in each of the display cells is overlaid on the cell motherboard, and the electrical connection terminal of the pseudo terminal unit Connected to the electrical connection terminal of the display cell, and supplying excitation power to the pseudo terminal unit.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cell motherboard includes a plurality of columns of the plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical column parallel to the feeding direction, and the cell mother board is arranged in an excited state of the display cells. The defect inspection includes an outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery of the cell motherboard, and horizontal and vertical bars provided in the outer frame so that windows corresponding to the display surface of the display cell are vertically and horizontally arranged. A pseudo terminal unit formed on the cell motherboard and arranged on the cell motherboard along the one side of each of the windows, the electrical terminal corresponding to the electrical connection terminal of the terminal portion of the display cell being arranged. The method is performed by connecting the electrical connection terminal of the terminal unit to the electrical connection terminal of the display cell and supplying excitation power to the pseudo terminal unit.
5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cell motherboard includes at least a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical row parallel to the feeding direction. The terminal portion of the plurality of display cells is sent in the feeding direction in a state where all the terminal portions are transverse to the feeding direction.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the optical functional film includes at least a polarizer.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the optical functional film is a laminate of a polarizer and a quarter-wave retardation film, and the laminate has the quarter-wave retardation film as the laminate. A method of bonding to the display surface so as to face the display cell.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the optical functional film includes a laminate in which a polarizer, a half-wave retardation film, and a quarter-wave retardation film are laminated in this order. It is a prevention film, This laminated body is bonded together to the said display surface so that the said 1/4 wavelength phase difference film may face the said display cell.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the display cell is an organic EL display cell.
A rectangular display surface having two short sides and two long sides, and a terminal portion having an electrical connection terminal is formed along one of the short side and the long side. With respect to a cell motherboard including a plurality of display cells arranged in a vertical row, the display cells on the cell motherboard are simultaneously excited to inspect the display cells for defects. A pseudo terminal unit for applying excitation power used for performing,
An outer frame having a shape corresponding to the periphery of the cell motherboard, a horizontal beam and a vertical beam provided in the outer frame, and the display surface of the plurality of display cells formed by the horizontal beam and the vertical beam. A corresponding window, an excitation power supply electrical connection terminal disposed at a position corresponding to an electrical connection terminal of the terminal portion of the display cell along one side of each of the windows, and the excitation power supply And an excitation power source connection for supplying excitation power to the electrical connection terminal.