JP3582532B2 - Liquid crystal panel substrate, manufacturing method thereof, liquid crystal device, and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel substrate having a fine pitch electrode structure and a method for manufacturing the same. Further, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal device manufactured using the liquid crystal panel substrate. Further, the present invention relates to an electronic device including the liquid crystal device.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, liquid crystal devices have been widely used as display units of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones and electronic organizers. This largely depends on the characteristic of the liquid crystal device having low power consumption. In such applications, liquid crystal devices with a relatively small display capacity such as characters and segments have been used in many cases, but with the increase in memory capacity and data communication technology, more liquid crystal devices have been used. Display capacities are increasingly required. For this reason, a large number of dot matrix type liquid crystal devices capable of displaying a large amount of data including graphics have been used.

  In the manufacturing process of such a dot matrix type liquid crystal device, it is necessary to inspect a short circuit or a disconnection between display electrodes at an appropriate stage, and to flow a substrate part which is guaranteed to be good by the inspection in a manufacturing process. This is essential for quality control. As a method for inspecting such a short circuit and disconnection of the display electrode, for example, the following method has been disclosed in, for example, JP-A-59-042583. That is, at the time of the electrode inspection of the transparent electrode pattern, a voltage, for example, a DC voltage, is applied to the transparent electrode pattern, a short needle called a probe is brought into contact with the surface of the transparent electrode, and the probe is further moved at a constant speed, and each electrode is moved. , The electrical short circuit and the disconnection were detected by detecting the voltage applied to the circuit.

  More specifically, as a first conventional example, as shown in FIG. 10, a terminal for connecting to an external circuit, that is, an external connection terminal 51 is electrically independent of an external electrode 52 In this case, a voltage, for example, a DC voltage is applied by bringing the inspection probe 54 into contact with one of the plurality of electrodes 53, and another terminal is provided on the electrode 53 on the side opposite to the terminal 51. The inspection probe 56 is brought into contact. Then, a change in voltage between the probe 54 and the probe 56 is inspected. On the other hand, another inspection probe 57 is also brought into contact with the adjacent electrode 53, and a change in voltage between the probe 56 and the probe 57 is inspected.

When the probe 54 and the probe 56 are moved between a plurality of electrodes as shown by the arrow A while keeping the probe in contact with the same electrode, and when the voltage is read by the probe 54 during the movement, the voltage change as shown in FIG. To detect. That is, when the voltage detected by the probe 54 is the high voltage Vh, there is no electrical disconnection between the probe 54 and the probe 56 at the electrode 53. That is, the disconnection of the electrode can be detected by the probe 54 and the probe 56.
On the other hand, the probe 56 and the probe 57 are moved between a plurality of electrodes as shown by an arrow A while keeping the probe 56 and the probe 57 in contact with the adjacent electrodes. The presence or absence of a short circuit can be detected. That is, if there is no short circuit between the electrodes, the voltage detected by the probe 57 is always 0 (zero), and if there is a short circuit between the electrodes, the voltage is detected. That is, the probe 56 and the probe 57 can detect a short circuit between the electrodes. As described above, the disconnection of the electrodes and the short circuit between the electrodes are inspected, and the electrode parts having no abnormality are sent to the next process as non-defective products.

  Next, as a second conventional example, a method as shown in FIG. 12 is known. This conventional method is a method that is used when every other electrode 53 is intentionally connected to the external electrode 52, that is, is short-circuited. A DC voltage is applied, and another inspection probe 56 is brought into contact with the electrode end opposite to the external connection terminal 51 as in the case of FIG. The probe 56 detects the potential difference, and detects a short circuit between the electrodes and a disconnection of the electrode based on the potential difference.

  When the plurality of electrodes 53 are normal, the high voltage Vh and the low voltage Vl appear regularly and alternately as shown in FIG. Further, when there is a disconnection in the electrode 53 short-circuited with the external electrode 52, as shown in FIG. 14, the voltage at the electrode to be a high voltage Vh, and in FIG. Missing peaks. When there is a short circuit between the adjacent electrodes 53, 53, the high voltage Vh is continuously detected as shown in FIG. As described above, in the present embodiment, the presence or absence of the application of the voltage is switched every other electrode. Therefore, basically, by scanning and moving one probe, the disconnection of the electrode short-circuited with the external electrode and the short-circuit between the electrodes are prevented. Can be detected.

JP-A-59-042583

  By the way, there is a limit in reducing the cross-sectional area of the tip of the inspection probe due to mechanical precision restrictions. Microscopically, the tip of the probe and the electrode of the liquid crystal panel are in surface contact. As a result, in each of the above-described conventional inspection methods, when the gap between the electrodes becomes small, there is a problem that the tip of the probe comes into contact with both adjacent electrodes. When this problem occurs, in the conventional example of FIG. 10 in which all the electrodes are electrically independent of the external electrodes, the probe 56 and the probe 57 are electrically connected to each other over one electrode 53. As a result, a voltage is always applied to the probe 57, and as a result, even if there is no short circuit between the electrodes, it is erroneously determined that there is a short circuit, and accurate determination becomes impossible.

  Also, in the conventional example of FIG. 12 in which a plurality of electrodes 53 are connected to the external electrode 52 every other electrode, if the contact area of the probe 56 is larger than the gap between the adjacent electrodes, the probe In some cases, a high voltage is always applied to 56 and accurate determination cannot be performed. Also, when a high voltage Vh appears at a low voltage Vl, it is normally determined that there is a short circuit between the electrodes. If the contact area of the probe 56 is large, the low voltage Vl required for the short circuit detection is low. There is a possibility that the area itself cannot be secured, and even if there is a short circuit, it cannot be detected.

  Therefore, the conventional inspection method shown in FIGS. 10 and 12 has a limit that the pitch between the electrodes is about 250 μm and the interval between the electrodes is about 20 μm. However, in recent years, the level required for a liquid crystal device has become much narrower than such a limit value. For example, a pitch between electrodes of about 180 μm and a gap between electrodes of about 10 μm have been actually studied.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and performs a short-circuit and disconnection inspection accurately on a plurality of electrodes arranged in a narrow gap between electrodes by improving the shape of the electrodes. The purpose is to be able to. Another object of the present invention is to improve the quality of a liquid crystal device having a plurality of electrodes arranged with a narrow inter-electrode pitch and a narrow inter-electrode gap. Another object of the present invention is to stably manufacture an electronic device having a liquid crystal device having a large display capacity but small size by improving the quality of such a liquid crystal device.

  The liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention has a plurality of electrodes disposed over a display region and a non-display region outside the display region, and an external electrode disposed outside the display region, The plurality of electrodes are divided into a connection electrode group connected to the external electrode and a non-connection electrode group not connected to the external electrode, and for the electrodes belonging to the connection electrode group, the electrode width in the non-display area is The electrode width in the non-display area is narrower than the electrode width in the display area and the electrode width in the non-display area is wider than the electrode width in the display area.

  According to this liquid crystal panel substrate, the electrode width in the non-display area can be set smaller than the electrode width in the display area. When performing an inspection such as a short circuit or a disconnection with respect to a plurality of electrodes having such dimensions, if an inspection probe is brought into contact with a narrow portion of each electrode in a non-display area, the inspection may be performed. Even if the gap between the electrodes of the plurality of electrodes arranged in the display area is narrow, a wide gap can be secured between the adjacent electrodes in the non-display area, so that the inspection probe straddles the adjacent electrodes. Contact can be prevented, and thus accurate inspection can be performed.

  In the liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention, external electrodes can be formed outside the display area. Then, the plurality of electrodes formed on the liquid crystal panel substrate can be divided into two electrode groups: a connection electrode group connected to the external electrode and a non-connection electrode group not connected to the external electrode.

  Also for this liquid crystal panel substrate, the electrode width in the non-display area can be set narrower than the electrode width in the display area, whereby the gap between the plurality of electrodes arranged in the display area is temporarily set. Is small, a wide gap can be secured between adjacent electrodes in the non-display area, so that accurate inspection can be performed. In this liquid crystal panel substrate, one inspection probe is brought into contact with the external electrode, another inspection probe is brought into contact with the ends of the plurality of electrodes, and the probe is connected between the individual electrodes. , It is possible to inspect both the disconnection and the short-circuit of the electrode with only at least two probes.

  By the way, if the electrode width in the non-display area is narrower than the electrode width in the display area for all the electrodes, the liquid crystal layer becomes uneven in thickness where the electrode width is narrowed, and the influence of the thickness unevenness causes the liquid crystal device to fail. Color unevenness may occur in the display area.

  In order to solve this problem, in the above-mentioned liquid crystal panel substrate on which external electrodes are formed, for each of the electrodes belonging to the connection electrode group, the electrode width in the non-display area is made smaller than the electrode width in the display area. Thus, for the individual electrodes included in the non-connection electrode group, the electrode width in the non-display area can be made wider than the electrode width in the display area. In this case, since the occupied area of the electrode becomes uniform, the thickness unevenness of the liquid crystal layer is eliminated, and as a result, the occurrence of color unevenness due to the uneven thickness of the liquid crystal layer can be prevented.

  As is apparent from the above description, the external electrode functions as a common electrode for a plurality of electrodes, particularly for a plurality of electrodes connected to the external electrode, when testing the electrodes using a probe. Further, the external electrodes can be used as electrodes for countermeasures against static electricity. That is, the static electricity charged in the liquid crystal panel substrate can be discharged to the outside through the external electrode or the static electricity can be discharged between the external electrode and the display electrode to discharge the static electricity to the outside.

  When the external electrodes are used as a countermeasure for static electricity as described above, the distance between the display electrodes that are not connected to the external electrodes and the external electrodes is set between adjacent display electrodes in the display area of the liquid crystal panel. It is desirable to set the interval to be narrower. This makes it possible to reliably discharge static electricity between the display electrode and the external electrode.

  Next, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention includes: (1) an electrode forming step of forming a plurality of electrodes over both a display region and a non-display region outside the liquid crystal panel; Contacting the inspection terminal with a portion located in the non-display area, and further performing an inspection while moving the inspection terminal between the plurality of electrodes, and each electrode is provided in the display area. And the non-display area has a different electrode width.

  Also in this manufacturing method, the electrode width in the non-display area can be set to be smaller than the electrode width in the display area, so that the gap between the plurality of electrodes arranged in the display area is narrow. Even in such a case, in the non-display area, a wide gap can be secured between the adjacent electrodes, and as a result, an accurate inspection can be performed.

  Next, a liquid crystal device according to the present invention includes a pair of light-transmitting substrates facing each other with a gap therebetween, and liquid crystal sealed in the gap. At least one of the pair of light-transmitting substrates has a plurality of electrodes arranged over both the display region of the liquid crystal panel and the non-display region outside the liquid crystal panel, and the individual electrodes among them are The electrode width differs between the display area and the non-display area. Also in this liquid crystal device, the electrode width in the non-display area can be made smaller than the electrode width in the display area. In this liquid crystal device, an electrode inspection of an electrode pattern with a small inter-electrode pitch became possible, so that a small and large-capacity liquid crystal device could be manufactured with high yield.

  Next, an electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes the above-described liquid crystal device, a power supply unit that supplies power to the liquid crystal device, and a control unit that controls operations of the liquid crystal device. Specifically, the above-described liquid crystal device can be used as a visible information display portion for a mobile phone, an electronic organizer, a video camera, and various other electronic devices. Since a plurality of display electrodes included in the liquid crystal panel of this liquid crystal device are subjected to accurate and reliable disconnection and short circuit inspection even when the pitch between the electrodes and the gap between the electrodes are narrow, the inside of the electronic device is There is no worry that the defective liquid crystal device is incorrectly installed. Further, a portable electronic device having a large display capacity even with a small size can be stably manufactured.

(1st Embodiment)
First, the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention will be briefly described. In FIG. 5, at least two soda glass substrates are provided on each of soda glass substrates with a sputtering method of ITO (about 10 to 20 Ω / sq). An Indium Tin Oxide (indium tin oxide) film is formed as a transparent electrode film (Step S1, Step S2). Thereafter, a transparent electrode 1 having a predetermined shape, for example, a stripe shape as shown in FIG. 1 is formed on each glass substrate by a photolithography method (steps S3 and S4). Normally, a plurality of liquid crystal panels, for example, three transparent electrodes 1 are formed on one glass substrate. Although FIG. 1 shows only the electrode pattern for one glass substrate, a similar electrode pattern is formed for the other glass substrate. Through the steps so far, a liquid crystal panel substrate (reference numeral 3 in FIG. 1) which is a base of the transparent substrates (reference numerals 2a and 2b in FIG. 7) used to sandwich the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal panel is prepared.
Thereafter, it is inspected whether or not there is a disconnection and a short circuit with respect to the plurality of electrodes formed on the liquid crystal panel substrate, that is, the transparent electrode 1 (Step S5, Step S6). Then, defective products having disconnection or short-circuit are excluded, and orientation processing is performed on non-defective products without these (steps S7 and S8). Specifically, an alignment film is formed on the electrode surface of each liquid crystal panel substrate, and a rubbing process is further performed.

  Thereafter, the two liquid crystal panel substrates are assembled with the sealing material interposed therebetween to form a panel frame base material (step S9). The panel frame base material includes, for example, an electrode region for three liquid crystal panels. Next, the panel frame base material is cut to expose the liquid crystal injection port of the panel frame base material to the outside, so-called primary break (step S10), and liquid crystal is injected from the exposed liquid crystal injection port. The liquid crystal injection port is sealed with a sealant (step S11). Thereby, the liquid crystal is sealed in the three liquid crystal panel regions included in the panel frame base material.

  After that, a secondary break is performed on the panel frame base material in which the liquid crystal is sealed, and the three liquid crystal panels are divided into one by one (step S12). A predetermined driving voltage is applied to each electrode of the individual liquid crystal panel thus formed to light up and display the liquid crystal panel, and it is checked whether the lighting is normally performed (step S13). If the lighting is abnormal, the liquid crystal panel is excluded as a defective product. If the lighting is normal, a driving IC is mounted in step S14 to complete the liquid crystal device.

  FIG. 1 shows a liquid crystal panel substrate 3 formed after step S3 or step S4 in FIG. 5 is completed. On this liquid crystal panel substrate 3, the transparent electrodes 1 for three liquid crystal panels are formed. The area indicated by the reference sign P is an area for one liquid crystal panel, and the area indicated by the reference sign V is an area to be a display area in each liquid crystal panel. Regarding the liquid crystal panel substrate 3, an annular external electrode 4 is formed on an outer peripheral portion of the substrate, and an external connection terminal 1a is formed at an end of each electrode 1 near the external electrode 4. Each electrode 1 is connected to the driving IC via these external connection terminals 1a.

  The plurality of electrodes 1 are divided into a connection electrode group a connected to the external electrode 4 and a non-connection electrode group b not connected to the external electrode 4, and these electrodes are alternately arranged. The distance D1 between the tip of each electrode 1 belonging to the non-connection electrode group b and the external electrode 4 is set smaller than the distance D2 between the electrodes 1 and 1 adjacent to each other in the display area V. In addition, each electrode 1 is disposed over both the display region V and the non-display region H outside the display region V. As shown in the figure, the electrode width of a portion belonging to the non-display region H of each electrode 1 is set smaller than the electrode width of a portion belonging to the display region V.

  When performing the electrode inspection on the liquid crystal panel substrate 3 formed as described above in step S5 or S6 in FIG. 5, the inspection probe 6 is brought into contact with the external electrode 4 on the outer peripheral portion, and the non-display region H The other inspection probe 7 is brought into contact with the narrow electrode portion belonging to. Then, a voltage is applied to each electrode 1 and the probe 7 is further moved at a constant speed as shown by an arrow A to scan each electrode 1. During this scanning, the potential difference generated at each electrode 1 is detected via the probe 7, and based on this, a short-circuit and disconnection of each electrode 1 are inspected.

  In the present embodiment, the electrode width of the electrodes included in the non-display area H, that is, the electrodes scanned by the probe 7 is narrower than the electrode width of the electrodes included in the display area V as described above. Even when the distance between the electrodes in the display area V is small, as shown in FIG. 2, the voltage of the inspection portion is lower than that of the conventional example (broken line) in which the electrode width is set to the same value as the electrode width in the display area V. A wide Vl area can be secured. As a result, even when the electrodes in the display region V are formed in a fine pitch pattern, an accurate inspection can be performed on those electrodes.

(2nd Embodiment)
FIG. 3 shows a main part of another embodiment of the liquid crystal panel substrate. This embodiment is different from the previous embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that, for the electrodes 1 belonging to the connection electrode group a, the electrode width in the non-display area H is smaller than the electrode width in the display area V, On the other hand, as for the electrodes 1 belonging to the non-connection electrode group b, the electrode width in the non-display area H is wider than the electrode width in the display area V. Also in this embodiment, an inspection waveform as shown in FIG. 2 can be obtained by bringing the inspection probe into contact with the electrode portions in the non-display area H and further scanning each electrode portion with the probe. In addition, it is possible to perform a narrow pitch pattern electrode inspection, which cannot be performed by the conventional inspection.

  By the way, in the liquid crystal device of the STN (Super Twisted Nematic) mode, the thickness of the transparent electrode is 500 to 2000 mm, which is much larger than the limit of the unevenness required for the substrate of 300 mm. The unevenness in the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is likely to occur between these two cases, and if such thickness unevenness occurs, color unevenness may occur in the display area of the liquid crystal device. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the electrode portion in the inspection region, that is, the non-display region H is formed into a shape in which a shape smaller than the electrode width in the display region V and a shape wider than the electrode width alternately engage. Accordingly, the area occupied by the transparent electrode in the non-display area H can be increased, and as a result, the occurrence of color unevenness in the display area of the liquid crystal device due to uneven thickness of the liquid crystal layer can be prevented.

(Third embodiment)
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, external electrodes are not provided on the entire outer peripheral portion of the liquid crystal panel substrate 13, but external electrodes 14 are provided on one side thereof. The same applies to the embodiment of FIG. 1, but if the transparent electrode 1 is arranged in a pattern so that the inspection terminal portion of the transparent electrode 1 does not cover the substrate end surface 9 of the liquid crystal device, the transparent electrode 1 becomes transparent when the liquid crystal device is completed. Since the tip of the electrode 1 is not exposed to the outside from the end face 9 of the substrate, short-circuit prevention of the transparent electrode 1 can be ensured, and a liquid crystal device having a good color unevenness level can be provided.

(Fourth embodiment)
FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the liquid crystal device according to the present invention. The liquid crystal device 10 is obtained after the driving IC mounting step of step S14 is completed in the manufacturing method shown in FIG. The liquid crystal device 10 shown here has a pair of transparent substrates 2a and 2b facing each other. One of these transparent substrates, for example, the transparent substrate 2b, is obtained by cutting the liquid crystal panel substrate 3 shown in FIG. The other transparent substrate 2a cannot be obtained from the liquid crystal panel substrate 3 shown in FIG. 1, but is obtained by cutting another liquid crystal panel substrate manufactured in the same manner as the liquid crystal panel substrate 3. .
Returning to FIG. 6, on the surface of the transparent substrate 2b, the stripe-shaped transparent electrodes 1 are formed as described with reference to FIG. Similarly, a transparent electrode 11 having a stripe shape is formed on the surface of the other transparent substrate 2a. These transparent electrodes 1 and 11 are orthogonal to each other when a pair of transparent substrates 2a and 2b are combined.

  Then, the orthogonal points constitute pixels for liquid crystal display. The display region V is formed by arranging a plurality of the pixels in a matrix.

As shown in FIG. 7, the transparent substrate 2a and the transparent substrate 2b are adhered to each other by a sealant 12, an alignment film 16 is formed on the electrode forming surface of each of the substrates 2a and 2b, and between the transparent substrates 2a and 2b. , The liquid crystal L is sealed in a so-called cell gap. Polarizing plates 17 are adhered to the outer surfaces of the transparent substrates 2a and 2b as needed.
In FIG. 6, a TCP (Tape Carrier Package: Tape Carrier Package) is connected to the external connection terminal 1a of the transparent electrode 1 formed on the transparent substrate 2b and the external connection terminal 11a of the transparent electrode 11 formed on the other transparent substrate 2a. ) 18, 18 are conductively connected by an ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) or another bonding agent. These TCPs 18 are obtained by mounting a driving IC 21 on the surface of an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) 19 on which a wiring pattern is formed by using TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) technology. Is formed. The driving IC 21 applies a voltage to each of the transparent electrodes 1 and 11 according to, for example, a simple matrix driving method, and displays a desired visible image in the display area V.

  In each of the transparent substrates 2a and 2b of the liquid crystal device 10, the electrode width of the electrode portion included in the non-display region H outside the display region V is determined as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, or FIG. The electrode width in the region V is different from the electrode width.

(Fifth embodiment)
FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of an electronic device according to the present invention. This embodiment is an embodiment in which the liquid crystal device according to the present invention is used as a display unit of an electronic organizer as an electronic device. This electronic organizer has a case 24 in which, for example, the liquid crystal device 10 shown in FIG. 6, a transparent touch panel 22 placed on the liquid crystal device 10, and a PCB (Printed Circuit) Board: 23 is stored. The upper surface of the case 24 has an opening 24a, through which the display area V of the liquid crystal device 10 is exposed to the outside. A flat cover 26 is rotatably provided on the case 24 to open and close the opening 24a.

The transparent touch panel 22 is a device which is widely known as a data input device, and presses an appropriate place on the transparent touch panel 22 with a pen 28 or another input device while performing an appropriate display on the liquid crystal device 10. Various data can be input by writing characters or the like at a predetermined place on the transparent touch panel 22 using the pen 28.
A control circuit 27 shown in FIG. 9 is mounted on the PCB 23, for example. The control circuit 27 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 29 for performing various operations, a main memory 31 storing a program for realizing a function as an electronic notebook, and a driving signal for displaying an image on the liquid crystal device 10. And a position detection circuit 33 that calculates the coordinate position pressed by the pen 28 based on the output signal of the transparent touch panel 22. The power supply unit 34 is provided at an appropriate position in the case 24 in FIG. 8 and supplies power to at least the control circuit 27, the liquid crystal device 10, and the transparent touch panel 22.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the present invention has been described using the preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and can be variously modified within the scope of the invention described in the claims.
For example, considering the liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the electrodes for three liquid crystal panels are formed on the substrate, but the number of electrodes is not limited to this, and the number of electrodes is smaller. Alternatively, the number can be equal to the number of liquid crystal panels. The external electrode 4 does not necessarily have to be formed.

  Further, considering the method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is merely an example of the manufacturing method, and the steps before and after the electrode inspection step (steps S5 and S6) are as follows. Various modifications can be made as needed.

  Considering the liquid crystal device of the present invention, the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is merely an example of the liquid crystal device, and a method of driving a liquid crystal, a method of mounting a driving IC, and the like may use various methods as necessary. Can be adopted. In FIG. 6, a simple matrix method is considered as a driving method, and a TAB mounting method is considered as an IC mounting method. Instead, an active matrix method, a COG (Chip On Glass) method, or the like is used instead. Can also be adopted. The COG method is a mounting method of a method in which an IC chip is directly mounted on a glass substrate of a liquid crystal panel without using an FPC or the like.

  Further, considering the electronic device of the present invention, the embodiment of FIG. 8 considers the application of the present invention to an electronic organizer. However, in addition to this, a portable telephone, a video camera, and other various electronic devices are also considered. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied.

  According to the liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, the liquid crystal device of the present invention, and the electronic apparatus of the present invention, the electrode width in the non-display area is larger than the electrode width in the display area. It can be set to be narrow, and when inspecting a plurality of electrodes dimensioned in this way for a short circuit or disconnection, the inspection probe is brought into contact with a narrow portion of each electrode in the non-display area. By performing the inspection, even if the inter-electrode gap of the plurality of electrodes arranged in the display area is narrow, a wide gap can be secured between the adjacent electrodes in the non-display area. It is possible to prevent contact between adjacent electrodes, and to perform an accurate inspection. That is, even if the electrodes in the display area have a narrow pitch and a narrow interval, an accurate inspection can always be performed.

  According to the liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, by using the external electrode as the common electrode, both disconnection and short circuit of the electrode can be inspected simultaneously with a small number of inspection probes. An external electrode can also be used as an electrode for removing static electricity from the liquid crystal panel substrate.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the liquid crystal panel board | substrate of this invention, it can prevent that the color nonuniformity arises in the visible image display content of a liquid crystal device by preventing that a thickness nonuniformity arises in a liquid crystal layer.

  According to the liquid crystal panel substrate of the present invention, since the interval between the external electrode and the display electrode is smaller than the interval between the display electrodes, it is easy to discharge static electricity between the external electrode and the display electrode. Therefore, the function of removing static electricity using the external electrodes can be executed more reliably.

1 is a plan view illustrating an embodiment of a liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention and an embodiment of a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal panel substrate. 5 is a graph showing a comparison between an electrode inspection result in the manufacturing method of the present invention and an electrode inspection result in the conventional manufacturing method. It is a top view which shows the principal part of other embodiment of the substrate for liquid crystal panels which concerns on this invention. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing still another embodiment of the liquid crystal panel substrate according to the present invention. It is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal device including a manufacturing method of a substrate for liquid crystal panels concerning the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal device according to an embodiment of the present invention, with a part cut away. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-sectional structure of the liquid crystal device of FIG. It is a perspective view showing one embodiment of electronic equipment concerning the present invention. FIG. 9 is a circuit block diagram illustrating an example of an electric control system of the electronic device in FIG. 8. It is a top view showing an example of the conventional electrode arrangement of the substrate for liquid crystal panels, and an example of the conventional electrode inspection method. It is a graph which shows the inspection result of the inspection method of FIG. It is a top view which shows another example of the electrode arrangement | positioning of the conventional liquid crystal panel board | substrate, and another example of the conventional electrode inspection method. 13 is a graph showing an example of an inspection result by the inspection method of FIG. 13 is a graph showing another example of the inspection result by the inspection method of FIG. 13 is a graph illustrating still another example of the inspection result by the inspection method in FIG. 12.

Explanation of reference numerals

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 transparent electrode 1 a external connection terminal 2 a, 2 b transparent substrate 3 liquid crystal panel substrate 4 external electrode 6, 7 inspection probe 9 substrate end face 10 liquid crystal device 11 transparent electrode 11 a external connection terminal 12 sealing material 13 liquid crystal panel substrate 14 External electrode 16 Alignment film 17 Polarizer 18 TCP
21 Drive IC
22 Transparent touch panel H Non-display area L Liquid crystal V Display area

Claims (6)

A substrate for a liquid crystal panel,
A plurality of electrodes arranged over a display area and a non-display area outside the display area,
Having an external electrode disposed outside the display area,
The plurality of electrodes are divided into a connection electrode group connected to the external electrode and a non-connection electrode group not connected to the external electrode,
Regarding the electrodes belonging to the connection electrode group, the electrode width in the non-display area is smaller than the electrode width in the display area,
An electrode belonging to the non-connection electrode group, wherein the electrode width in the non-display area is wider than the electrode width in the display area.   2. The liquid crystal panel substrate according to claim 1, wherein the external electrode has a function of discharging static electricity charged in the liquid crystal panel substrate. 3.   3. The liquid crystal panel substrate according to claim 2, wherein a distance between the electrode belonging to the non-connection electrode group and the external electrode is larger than a distance between individual electrodes adjacent to each other in a display area of the liquid crystal panel. A liquid crystal panel substrate characterized by being narrow. A manufacturing method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel substrate,
An electrode forming step of forming a plurality of electrodes over a display region and a non-display region outside the display region,
An inspection step of bringing an inspection terminal into contact with a portion of the plurality of electrodes located in the non-display region, and further performing an inspection while moving the inspection terminal between the plurality of electrodes.
The plurality of electrodes are divided into a connection electrode group connected to an external electrode external electrode provided outside the display area and a non-connection electrode group not connected to the external electrode, and the electrodes belonging to the connection electrode group With respect to the electrode width in the non-display area is smaller than the electrode width in the display area, and for the electrodes belonging to the non-connection electrode group, the electrode width in the non-display area is larger than the electrode width in the display area. A method for manufacturing a substrate for a liquid crystal panel, wherein the substrate is also wide.   A liquid crystal device comprising: a substrate formed from the liquid crystal panel substrate according to claim 1; and a light transmissive substrate disposed to face the substrate. An electronic apparatus comprising: the liquid crystal device according to claim 5; a power supply unit that supplies power to the liquid crystal device; and a control unit that controls an operation of the liquid crystal device.

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