JP3387645B2 - Electrode terminal processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing method and an apparatus for forming and finishing electrode terminals by removing the edge of a substrate so as to include a short-circuit electrode that short-circuits each electrode terminal of a liquid crystal display substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 1 and 2 are a plan view and a side view of a liquid crystal display substrate D divided into individual units from a large-area liquid crystal panel. In this liquid crystal display substrate D, two glass plates G ₁ and G ₂ are adhered at a predetermined gap with a sealant V also serving as a spacer, and a liquid crystal L is sealed in the gap. The glass sheet G ₂ of the lower surface are transistor 20 is formed to form the individual liquid crystal elements, their respective transistors 20, as an external connection, which is formed on the protruding portion of the glass plate G ₂ (ears) Q Electrode terminal 21
And each electrode terminal 21 is connected to the short-circuit electrode 2 so that the transistor does not break down due to static electricity.
2 are short-circuited to each other. At the time of use, a break is made along the line 23 in order to cut off the ear portion where the short-circuit electrode 22 is formed over the width W. A conventional processing method will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3B, a scribe line 23 is cut on the liquid crystal display substrate D shown in FIG. 3A so as to cross the end of each electrode terminal 21.
(C) As shown in the figure, a break is made along the scribe line 23, and the location of the ear where the short-circuit electrode 22 is formed is cut off. Then (D) as shown in the figure, chamfered end face 24 of the glass plate G ₂ electrode terminals 21 are formed as well as polishing, the electrode terminal 21 is edge 25 of the glass plate G ₂ of the formed surface (Thread chamfering) and corner polishing for the corner 26 are performed. The reason why the end face 24 is polished is that a break may not be performed accurately because the ear width W is small. Here, if the polishing amount is large, a thermal adverse effect occurs, so a wet polishing machine is used.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional electrode terminal treatment, a scribe line is formed by a scriber, a lug is removed by a break machine, and then a polishing is performed by a wet polishing machine. Many processes and a large work area, such as cleaning of dust such as abrasive grains and glass powder generated by this processing with pure water and finally drying and finishing, are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and provides an electrode terminal processing method and apparatus which can easily perform electrode terminal processing without using a scribe or break machining process. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display substrate.
Short-circuit between the electrode terminals at the protrusions
For processing electrode terminals on liquid crystal display substrate with electrodes
Oite, the relative short-circuit electrode, electrodeless of the protruding portion
A laser is irradiated almost parallel to the surface, and the thermal energy of the laser is irradiated.
The ghee, separating the short-circuit electrode portion, when removed co
Then, the edge of the protruding portion on the electrode forming surface side is melted and
It is characterized in that chamfering is performed.

[0007]

When it is desired to remove an electrode by laser irradiation, laser light is generally irradiated from a direction perpendicular to the electrode, and the electrode is instantaneously evaporated and removed by the thermal energy of the laser light. On the other hand, in the present invention, when irradiating the laser to the short-circuit electrode, the laser is irradiated in parallel with the surface on which the short-circuit electrode is formed. In this case, the short-circuit electrode is partially evaporated, but most of the short-circuit electrode is separated and removed from the substrate without being evaporated. It is presumed that such a peeling action occurred because the laser beam was irradiated, evaporation (vaporization) occurred at the end of the short-circuit electrode, and the remaining short-circuit electrode was peeled from the substrate by the vaporization pressure. . In addition, since the laser beam is irradiated as a laser beam with a small beam diameter, heat energy is concentrated on the edge of the substrate (glass plate), and melting occurs at the edge, as if a yarn surface was processed by a polishing machine. In the same manner as described above, the edge is subjected to the yarn chamfering process.

[0008]

FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of an apparatus embodying the electrode terminal processing method of the present invention, and FIG.
It is an enlarged view of the work periphery on a table. 1 is CO ₂
In this embodiment, a laser oscillator, Model 48-2 manufactured by Thinrad Corporation of the United States was used. The specifications and ratings are as follows. Laser used: CO ₂ laser wavelength: 10.5 to 10.7 μm Light output: 25 W Focal length: 63 to 65 mm Work feed speed: 80 to 120 mm / sec

Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote mirrors for changing the path of the laser light from the laser oscillator 1 by 90 °. Reference numeral 4 denotes a lens barrel provided with a condenser lens for condensing the incident laser light to a desired size. The barrel 4 is attached to member Q ₂ to which moves up and down as indicated by the arrow a relative to the rectangular parallelepiped members Q _1, also the member Q ₁ itself, as shown by arrow b, transverse part to slide along the Q _3. The mirror 3 is also provided to be vertically movable in accordance with the vertical movement of the lens barrel 4 in the direction of arrow a.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a table which can be turned and moved in one direction as shown by arrows c and d. Reference numeral 6 denotes a liquid crystal display substrate (work) to be processed. The work 6 is placed on a spacer 7 fixed on the table 5 in order to separate an end face of the work 6 from the table 5. As shown in FIG. 5, a member 7a provided on one side wall of the spacer 7 is a locking plate used to set the work 6 on the table 5 at a reference position.

The laser beam from the lens barrel 4 is applied to the work 6
Is irradiated in parallel with the surface on which the short-circuit electrode 6a is formed. 8 is a CCD camera used or aligned with the end face of the workpiece 6 of the laser beam, in order to confirm the end surface after treatment with the laser beam, said member Q ₁
Attached to. Reference numeral 9 denotes a display for displaying an image of the CCD camera 9.

The processing operation of the electrode terminal processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, if the electrode processing is performed on the substrate end 62 of the work 6, the table 5 is turned and the end 62 is opposed to the lens barrel 4. Next, the table 5 is moved in the direction of arrow d,
The laser beam path from the lens barrel 4 is located at the left end of the end portion 62 in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the lens barrel 4 is moved in the direction of arrow a so that the laser light path is aligned with the short-circuit electrode 6a formed on the lower substrate from the side, and the lens barrel 4 is further adjusted in focus. Is moved in the direction of arrow b. These operations can be performed while watching the display 9 through the CCD camera 8.

A laser beam is oscillated from the laser oscillator 1 with the above-mentioned predetermined output, and the short-circuit electrode 6a is irradiated from the side, and at the same time, the table 5 is moved to the left in FIG. 6 at a predetermined speed. By this operation, the short-circuit electrode 6a, which has short-circuited the electrode terminals 6b, is separated from the electrode terminals 6b at the same time as being separated from the substrate 6, and as a result, the electrode terminals 6b are formed. In addition, peeling of the short-circuit electrode 6a
At the same time as the removal, the edge 6 on the electrode forming surface side at the edge of the substrate
As a result of the fact that c is melted by the irradiation of the laser beam, the same operation and effect can be obtained as in the case where the edge is thread chamfered by the polishing machine.

In the work 6 shown in FIG. 6, when the electrode terminal processing for the end 62 is completed, the table 5 is turned by 90 ° and the processing of the electrode terminal is performed for the end 63 in the same manner.

As shown in FIG. 5, the laser beam from the lens barrel 4 is irradiated in parallel with the surface on which the short-circuit electrode 6a is formed, but within a range of ± 30 ° with respect to the surface on which the short-circuit electrode 6a is formed. Irradiation is not a problem.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the electrode terminal processing apparatus according to the present invention. Elements having the same functions as those of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view around the work on the table of FIG. Work 6
Since is held in an upright, 4 'vertical barrel is attached to the member Q ₁ to the optical axis in the vertical direction. Therefore, the horizontal laser light passing through the mirror 3 is reflected by the mirror 10
(Incorporated in the lens barrel in FIG. 8), the direction is changed downward. The CCD camera 8 (not shown in FIG. 7) is provided with a vertical lens barrel 4 ′ so that the laser irradiation part on the work 6 can be observed.
The optical axis is disposed at a right angle or at an oblique angle.

The stepping motor 11 is attached to the member Q ₄ move up and down in the arrow e direction relative to the axis 12, the rotation shaft tip of the stepping motor 11, the suction pad for holding the workpiece 6 upright 13 are provided.

The operation is as shown in FIG.
Moves in the direction of arrow d, so that the laser beam from the vertical lens barrel 4 ′ is irradiated along the substrate end surface on the upper side of the work 6, and the electrode terminal is processed on the substrate end surface. , then, by moving the member Q ₄ upwards, moving the workpiece 6 and the stepping motor 11 upward by the rotary shaft of the stepping motor 11 rotates 90 ° in this state, the end surface of the raw upper Turn to.

In this processing apparatus, when the work 6 is rotated,
The work 6 can be rotated in a short time because the inertia is smaller than when the table 5 is turned by the apparatus shown in FIG. The table 5 in FIG. 8 only needs to move at least in the d direction.

[0020]

As described above, instead of the conventional series of machining steps such as cutting, polishing, washing and drying, the short-circuit electrode at the edge of the substrate is irradiated with laser light from the side, thereby forming the short-circuit electrode. The removal and edge chamfering are performed, so that advantages such as simplification of work and equipment, reduction of work time, minimum work area, and improvement of work environment by eliminating polishing and cleaning steps are obtained. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a liquid crystal display substrate.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a liquid crystal display substrate.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of conventional electrode processing for a liquid crystal display substrate.

FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view showing one embodiment of an electrode terminal processing apparatus based on the electrode terminal processing method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view around a work on a table of the apparatus of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view showing the processing of a short-circuit electrode performed by the apparatus of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an overall perspective view showing another embodiment of the electrode terminal processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a work on a table of the apparatus of FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Laser oscillator 2 mirror 3 mirror 4 lens barrel 4 'vertical lens barrel 5 tables 6 Work 7 Spacer 8 CCD camera 9 Display 10 mirror 11 Stepping motor 12 axes 13 Suction pad

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-61-121080 (JP, A) JP-A-2-193112 (JP, A) JP-A-4-221926 (JP, A) JP-A-59-107325 (JP, A) JP-A-5-158015 (JP, A) JP-A-7-294949 (JP, A) JP-A-7-244294 (JP, A) JP-A-7-152043 (JP, A) 7-104316 (JP, A) JP-A-6-317810 (JP, A) JP-A-5-341311 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02F 1/13 -1/141

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] An electrode terminal is provided on a protruding portion of a liquid crystal display substrate.
Liquid crystal display with short-circuit electrodes that short-circuit the electrode terminals
In the processing method of a substrate of the electrode terminal, with respect to the short-circuiting electrode, Ho to the electrode forming surface of the protruding portion
Irradiate the laser almost parallel, and use the thermal energy of the laser
Thus , while peeling and removing the short-circuit electrode portion, the
An electrode terminal processing method, characterized in that the edge of the protruding portion on the electrode forming surface side is melted to perform yarn chamfering . 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the protruding portion has an electrode forming surface of ± 3.
2. The electrode terminal according to claim 1, wherein the laser is irradiated in a range of 0 °.
Processing method. 3. An electrode terminal on a protruding portion of a liquid crystal display substrate.
Liquid crystal display with short-circuit electrodes that short-circuit the electrode terminals
In the apparatus for processing electrode terminals of a substrate, a table on which the liquid crystal display substrate is set;
The electrode forming surface of the protruding portion with respect to the short-circuit electrode of the protruding portion
A laser irradiation device that irradiates the laser almost parallel to the
The short-circuit electrode portion is generated by the heat energy of the laser.
Separation and removal, and formation of electrodes at the protruding portions
That the surface side edge is melted to perform yarn chamfering
Characteristic electrode terminal processing device. 4. A swivel and movable in at least one direction.
3. The liquid crystal display substrate is set in parallel with a simple table.
The electrode terminal processing apparatus according to the above. (5) Table movable in at least one direction
On the top, the LCD panel is turned upside down.
The electrode terminal processing device according to claim 2. 6. ± 3 with respect to the electrode forming surface of the protrusion
3. The electrode terminal according to claim 2, wherein the laser is irradiated in a range of 0 °.
Processing equipment.