JP2772913B2 - Method for manufacturing transparent electrode substrate, gas discharge display panel with touch switch, and liquid crystal display panel with backlight - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate, a gas discharge display panel with a touch switch, and a liquid crystal display panel with a backlight. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate on which electrodes are simultaneously formed, and a gas discharge display panel with a touch switch and a liquid crystal display panel with a backlight using such a transparent electrode substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to form a transparent electrode in a fixed pattern on the surface of a substrate made of a transparent insulating material, for example, an ITO film (In ₂ O
₃ · SnO ₂ ) is formed, and then a chemical etching is performed by a photo method to obtain a desired electrode pattern. Alternatively, a resist layer is formed in a desired pattern on one surface of a transparent glass plate by thick film printing, and then Sn is formed by CVD (chemical vapor deposition).
The O ₂ blowing at elevated temperatures, by subsequent removal of the resist layer, it has been carried out for forming the transparent electrode by NESA film in a predetermined pattern.

[0003]

As described above, all of the conventional methods for forming a transparent electrode form a transparent electrode on each side of the substrate, and thus it is necessary to form the transparent electrodes on both sides of the substrate. In some cases, it was necessary to separately perform electrode forming operations. For this reason, not only is the work of forming the electrode twice troublesome, but also when it is necessary to form transparent electrodes of the same pattern on both front and back surfaces, extremely high processing accuracy is required, and in reality, extremely high processing accuracy is required. It was difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to form transparent electrodes of the same pattern on both front and back surfaces of a substrate made of a transparent insulating material very easily. It is an object of the present invention to realize a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate that can perform the above-described steps. Another object is to realize an effective application example of such a transparent electrode substrate.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate according to the present invention comprises: laminating a plurality of substrates made of a transparent insulating material having a transparent electrode material applied on both sides; By irradiating a laser beam from one surface side of the upper layer substrate, simultaneously removing the transparent electrode material applied to both surfaces of each substrate, and moving the irradiation position of the laser beam along a predetermined pattern, each substrate is irradiated with a laser beam. Transparent electrodes of the same pattern were simultaneously formed on both sides.

[0006] The irradiation position of the laser beam is moved, for example, by stacking a plurality of substrates coated with a transparent electrode material on both surfaces, placing the substrates on an XY table, and placing the table on the XY table.
It is realized by appropriately moving in the direction.

As an application example of the transparent electrode substrate obtained by the above-described manufacturing method, a gas discharge display panel with a touch switch according to the present invention is provided with a laser beam from one side of a substrate made of a transparent insulating material coated with a transparent electrode material on both sides. And simultaneously removing the transparent electrode material applied to both surfaces of the substrate, and simultaneously moving the irradiation position of the laser beam along a predetermined pattern, thereby simultaneously forming transparent electrodes of the same pattern on both surfaces of the substrate. A transparent electrode substrate formed, a back substrate made of an insulating material having electrodes formed on one surface thereof, and a transparent flexible film member formed with a transparent conductive film formed on one surface. A first transparent electrode forming surface and an electrode forming surface of the rear substrate are arranged facing each other at a predetermined interval to form a discharge gap between both electrodes;
A peripheral edge of both substrates is hermetically sealed to form an envelope, a predetermined discharge gas is sealed in the envelope to form a discharge light emitting portion, and a second transparent electrode of the transparent electrode substrate is formed. The surface and the transparent conductive film forming surface of the flexible film member are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval to form a touch switch portion.

Further, as another application example, a liquid crystal display panel with a backlight according to the present invention irradiates a laser beam from one side of a substrate made of a transparent insulating material having both sides coated with a transparent electrode material, and applies both sides of the substrate. A transparent electrode substrate formed by simultaneously removing the transparent electrode material applied to the substrate and moving the irradiation position of the laser beam along a predetermined pattern, thereby simultaneously forming transparent electrodes of the same pattern on both surfaces of the substrate. A back substrate made of an insulating material having an electrode formed on one surface thereof, and a front substrate made of a transparent insulating material having a transparent electrode film formed on one surface, and a first transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate, The electrode forming surface of the back substrate is disposed facing the electrode at a predetermined interval to form a discharge gap between the electrodes, and the outer edges of both substrates are hermetically sealed to form an envelope. Place inside A discharge light emitting portion is formed by enclosing the discharge gas, and the second transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate and the transparent electrode film forming surface of the front substrate are arranged to face each other at a predetermined interval, The peripheral edges of both substrates are liquid-tightly sealed to form a container, and the container is filled with a predetermined liquid crystal substance to form a liquid crystal display.

[0009]

A plurality of substrates made of a transparent insulating material having both surfaces coated with a transparent electrode material are laminated in advance, and a laser beam is irradiated from one surface of the uppermost substrate. The electrode material is instantaneously evaporated. Next, this laser beam passes through the transparent substrate and reaches the transparent electrode material on the back surface of the substrate, which is also instantaneously evaporated. Therefore, when the irradiation position of the laser beam is moved along a predetermined pattern, the transparent electrode materials on both the front and back surfaces of the substrate disappear at the same time according to the trajectory of the laser beam, and the transparent electrode provided with the pattern corresponding to the trajectory of the laser beam. The electrodes will be left on both sides of the substrate. And, since a plurality of substrates made of a transparent insulating material coated with a transparent electrode material on both surfaces are laminated, if a laser beam is irradiated from one surface side of the uppermost substrate, the same pattern is simultaneously formed on the plurality of substrates. A transparent electrode is formed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a transparent electrode substrate 10 in a manufacturing process, and FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the manufacturing apparatus. First, as shown in FIG. 1, NESA (SnO ₂ ) films 14a, 14
b is formed. Of course, instead of the NESA film,
An ITO film (In ₂ O ₃ .SnO ₂ ) may be formed in advance.

Next, the glass substrate 12 is placed on an XY table 16 as shown in FIG. The XY table 16 can be moved in the XY directions (vertical and horizontal directions) via a drive system (not shown) such as a stepping motor based on a command from a control system (not shown) such as a personal computer or the like.

Above the XY table 16, a laser beam emitting device 18 is fixedly installed. The laser beam emitting device 18 includes a YAG laser oscillator 20.
And a reflecting mirror 22 for reflecting a laser beam emitted from the oscillator 20, a lens member 24 for condensing the laser beam reflected by the reflecting mirror 22, and the like.

The laser beam emitting device 18
When a laser beam 26 is emitted from the first NESA film 14a deposited on the surface of the glass substrate 12,
Is irradiated with a laser beam 26. As a result, the portion of the first NESA film 14a hit by the laser beam 26 evaporates, and the laser beam 26 passes through the transparent glass substrate 12 and reaches the second NESA film 14b, where it is evaporated. Then, by operating the XY table via the control system and appropriately moving the glass substrate 12 in the four directions indicated by the arrows (FIG. 1), the irradiation position of the laser beam 26 moves along a desired pattern. NESA film 14 having a pattern corresponding to 26 trajectories
a and 14b are left on both sides of the transparent glass substrate 12. As a result, the transparent electrode 28 having the same pattern
Are simultaneously formed on both surfaces of the transparent glass substrate 12.

In the figure, on both sides of a glass substrate 12,
Although an example has been shown in which a plurality of strip-shaped transparent electrodes 28 are formed at regular intervals, other electrode patterns can be realized by appropriately controlling the movement pattern of the XY table 16. Further, the XY table 16 is attached to the glass substrate 12.
Instead of placing the glass substrate 12 on it and changing the position of the glass substrate 12, thereby moving the irradiation position of the laser beam 26, the laser beam emitting device 18 is moved in the XY directions while the glass substrate 12 is fixed. You may comprise.
Further, in the above description, an example in which the transparent electrodes 28 having the same pattern are simultaneously formed on both surfaces of one glass substrate 12 has been described. However, a plurality of glass substrates each having a NESA film formed on substantially the entire area of both surfaces are laminated, A configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of transparent electrode substrates are formed at a time by irradiating a laser beam with a higher output from the upper surface side of the uppermost glass substrate.

In the transparent electrode substrate 10 manufactured as described above, since the positions and shapes of the transparent electrodes 28 formed on both surfaces coincide (correspond), various applications can be considered by utilizing the characteristics. FIG. 3 shows an example of this, in which the transparent electrode substrate 10 is connected to a plasma display panel with a touch switch (hereinafter referred to as “PDP 30 with touch switch”).
).

The PDP 30 with a touch switch is roughly divided into a discharge light emitting section 32 and a touch switch section 34.
First, the discharge light emitting section 32 faces the upper surface of the rear substrate 36 made of an insulating material such as a glass plate and the lower surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10 at a predetermined interval, and the peripheral edges of both substrates are not shown. The envelope 38 is hermetically sealed with a sealing material, and a discharge gas such as Ar, Xe, He, or Ne is sealed in the envelope 38. Ag · Pd is formed on the upper surface of the rear substrate 36.
A plurality of strip-shaped cathodes 40 made of a system paste or the like are formed (for convenience of illustration, only one strip-shaped cathode 40 is shown in FIG. 3;
0 are formed in parallel at a predetermined interval).

The plurality of strip-shaped cathodes 40 and the first transparent electrode 28a formed on the back surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10 are arranged so as to intersect with a predetermined gap therebetween. A discharge cell 42 is formed at each intersection. The discharge cell 42 is provided on the upper surface of the rear substrate 36.
Is formed. The barrier ribs 44 have a lattice shape including a first partition 44a for partitioning the plurality of strip cathodes 40 and a second partition 44b for separating the strip cathodes 40 by a predetermined length. .

Next, in the touch switch section 34, the upper surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10 and the lower surface of the transparent sheet member 46 having flexibility are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval, and the peripheral edges of both are illustrated. It is formed by connecting frame spacers not to be connected. A belt-shaped transparent conductive film 48 is provided on the lower surface of the sheet member 46.
(For convenience of illustration, only one transparent conductive film 48 is shown in FIG. 3, but in actuality,
The plurality of transparent conductive films 48 are formed so as to be parallel at predetermined intervals), and each transparent conductive film 48 intersects the second transparent electrode 28b of the transparent electrode substrate 10 at a predetermined distance. It is arranged to be. Further, on the upper surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10, a large number of hemispherical dot spacers 50 interspersed between the second transparent electrodes 28b are formed. The dot spacer 50 is made of a transparent insulating material such as glass.

When an arbitrary portion of the sheet member 46 is pressed with a finger, the sheet member 46 bends downward, and the transparent conductive film 48 and the second transparent electrode 28b come into contact with each other, and the conductive state is established. Become. Next, the coordinates of the pressed portion are detected through a control circuit (not shown), and the first transparent electrode 28a (located immediately below) corresponding to the conductive second transparent electrode 28b via a drive circuit (not shown). , And a DC voltage is applied between the strip-shaped cathodes 40 of the rear substrate 36 opposed thereto, and discharge light emission is generated in the corresponding discharge cells 42. The light due to the discharge light emission is applied to the first transparent electrode 28a, the transparent glass substrate 12, and the second transparent electrode 28.
b, the light is transmitted to the outside through the transparent conductive film 48 and the sheet member 46.

As described above, the first transparent electrode 28a and the second transparent electrode 2 formed on both sides of the transparent glass substrate 12 are formed.
8b are formed in the same pattern at the corresponding positions, so that the discharge cells 42 corresponding to the pressed locations on the touch panel portion 34 can be lighted and displayed. The sheet member 46 has flexibility, and the dot spacer 50 is provided between the sheet member 46 and the transparent electrode substrate 10.
When the finger is released from the sheet member 46, the state returns to the original state spontaneously, and the conduction state between the transparent conductive film 48 and the second transparent electrode 28b is released. Immediately after the release of the conduction state, the discharge light emission of the discharge light emitting section 32 may be stopped. However, depending on the display purpose, the light emission state may be maintained until there is another input or the like.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the transparent electrode substrate 10 is applied to a liquid crystal display panel 52 with a backlight. The backlight-equipped liquid crystal display panel 52 is roughly divided into a light emitting / discharging section 32 and a liquid crystal display section 54. The discharge light emitting section 32 is, like the discharge light emitting section 32 of the touch panel-equipped PDP 30, the upper surface of the rear substrate 36 and the lower surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10 facing each other at a predetermined interval, and the peripheral edges of both substrates are illustrated. An envelope 38 is hermetically sealed with a sealing material not used, and a predetermined discharge gas is sealed in the envelope 38. In addition, on the upper surface of the back insulating substrate 36, Ag
-A plurality of strip cathodes 40 made of Pd-based paste or the like are formed. The plurality of strip-shaped cathodes 40 and the first transparent electrode 28a of the transparent electrode substrate 10 are arranged so as to intersect at a predetermined interval, and a discharge cell 42 is provided at each intersection of the two electrodes. It is formed. A grid-like barrier rib 44 surrounding the discharge cell 42 is formed on the upper surface of the back insulating substrate 36.

The liquid crystal display section 54 includes the transparent electrode substrate 1
0 and the lower surface of the front substrate 56 made of a transparent insulating material are disposed facing each other at a predetermined interval, and the peripheral edges of both substrates are liquid-tightly sealed via a sealing material (not shown) to form a container 58. And
The container 58 is filled with a predetermined liquid crystal material 60. On the lower surface of the front substrate 56, a plurality of strip-shaped transparent electrode films 62 are juxtaposed (for convenience of illustration, only one transparent electrode film 62 is shown in FIG. Is formed such that a plurality of transparent electrode films 62 are arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval.) An alignment film 64 is provided on the surface of the second transparent electrode 28b formed on the upper surface of the transparent electrode substrate 10 and on the surface of the transparent electrode film 62 of the front substrate 56, respectively.
Are formed. Further, the upper surface of the front substrate 56 is covered with a polarizing film 66.

When a voltage is selectively applied between the transparent electrode film 62 of the front substrate 56 and the second transparent electrode 28b of the transparent electrode substrate 10 via a control / drive circuit (not shown). The liquid crystal display is performed on the surface of the front substrate 56, and the second transparent electrode 2 related to the liquid crystal display is simultaneously displayed.
A DC voltage is applied between the first transparent electrode 28a corresponding to the first transparent electrode 8b and the strip-shaped cathode 40 facing the first transparent electrode 28a, and discharge light emission is generated in the corresponding discharge cell 42. The light generated by this discharge passes through the first transparent electrode 28a, the transparent glass substrate 12, and the second transparent electrode 28b, reaches the liquid crystal material 60, and functions as a backlight that illuminates the liquid crystal material 60 from behind.

As described above, the first transparent electrode 28a and the second transparent electrode 28b formed on both surfaces of the transparent electrode substrate 10 are formed.
Are formed in the same pattern at the corresponding positions, so that only the discharge cells 42 corresponding to the place where the liquid crystal display is performed in the liquid crystal display portion 54 can be accurately caused to emit light, and the required power is minimized by the small power consumption. Limited lighting can be realized.

[0025]

According to the method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate of the present invention, a plurality of substrates made of a transparent insulating material are laminated and a laser beam is irradiated from one surface side of the uppermost substrate. Transparent electrodes can be formed on both surfaces of a plurality of substrates, and the work of forming the transparent electrodes is made more efficient. Moreover,
Because the transparent electrodes on both sides of the substrate can be formed in the same pattern,
The transparent electrode substrate obtained by this manufacturing method can be used in various applications such as gas discharge display panels with touch switches and liquid crystal display panels with backlights, where the electrode patterns on both sides of the transparent electrode substrate are required to match exactly. Applicable to

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a transparent electrode substrate in a manufacturing process.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example in which the transparent electrode substrate according to the present invention is applied to a gas discharge display panel with a touch switch.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example in which the transparent electrode substrate according to the present invention is applied to a liquid crystal display panel with a backlight.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Transparent electrode substrate 12 Transparent glass substrate 14 NESA film 16 XY table 26 Laser beam 28a First transparent electrode 28b Second transparent electrode 30 Gas discharge display panel with touch switch 32 Discharge light emitting part 34 Touch switch part 36 Back substrate 38 Outer enclosure Container 46 sheet member 48 transparent conductive film 52 liquid crystal display panel with backlight 54 liquid crystal display unit 56 front substrate 58 container 60 liquid crystal substance 62 transparent electrode film

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01J 9/02 G02F 1/1335 530 G02F 1/1343 H01J 17/49 H01J 61/30 H01J 11/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substrate comprising a transparent insulating material coated on both sides with a transparent electrode material, a plurality of substrates are laminated, and a laser beam is irradiated from one surface side of the uppermost substrate to form a transparent substrate. A method for manufacturing a transparent electrode substrate, comprising: simultaneously removing electrode materials and moving a laser beam irradiation position along a predetermined pattern to simultaneously form transparent electrodes of the same pattern on both surfaces of each substrate. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising : stacking a plurality of substrates each having a transparent electrode material coated on both surfaces thereof, placing the substrates on an XY table, and appropriately moving the table in the XY directions so that the irradiation position of the laser beam is predetermined. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transparent electrode substrate is moved along a pattern. 3. Transparent insulation coated with transparent electrode material on both sides
Irradiate a laser beam from one side of the substrate made of material,
Simultaneous removal of the transparent electrode material applied on both sides of the substrate
And set the irradiation position of the laser beam to a predetermined pattern.
By moving the same on both sides of the substrate
A transparent electrode substrate formed by simultaneously forming transparent electrodes in a pattern, and a back substrate made of an insulating material having electrodes formed on one surface thereof;
A transparent flexible film member having a transparent conductive film formed on one surface thereof, wherein the first transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate and the electrode forming surface of the rear substrate are separated by a predetermined distance. A discharge gap is formed between the two electrodes by facing each other, and the outer edges of both substrates are hermetically sealed to form an envelope.A predetermined discharge gas is sealed in the envelope to form a discharge light emitting portion. And forming a touch switch portion by disposing the second transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate and the transparent conductive film forming surface of the flexible film member facing each other at a predetermined interval. Characteristic gas discharge display panel with touch switch. 4. Transparent insulation coated with transparent electrode material on both sides
Irradiate a laser beam from one side of the substrate made of material,
Simultaneous removal of the transparent electrode material applied on both sides of the substrate
And set the irradiation position of the laser beam to a predetermined pattern.
By moving the same on both sides of the substrate
A transparent electrode substrate obtained by forming a transparent electrode pattern at the same time, a rear substrate made of an insulating material having electrodes formed on one surface,
A front substrate made of a transparent insulating material having a transparent electrode film formed on one surface thereof, wherein a first transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate and an electrode forming surface of the rear substrate are spaced apart by a predetermined distance. A discharge gap is formed between the two electrodes by facing each other, and the outer edges of both substrates are hermetically sealed to form an envelope.A predetermined discharge gas is sealed in the envelope to form a discharge light emitting portion. While forming
The second transparent electrode forming surface of the transparent electrode substrate and the transparent electrode film forming surface of the front substrate are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval, and the peripheral edges of both substrates are liquid-tightly sealed to form a container. A liquid crystal display panel with a backlight, characterized in that the container is filled with a predetermined liquid crystal substance to form a liquid crystal display section.