JPH0219928B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a substrate used for manufacturing a liquid crystal cell.

Recently, embodiments have been provided in which plastic films are used as substrates for liquid crystal cells. Since plastic film is flexible, it has the advantage that it can be bent when manufacturing liquid crystal cells. Examples of flexible plastic films include polyester, polysulfone, polyetherphone, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate butyrate, and the like.

A liquid crystal cell displays information by applying an electric field to electrodes formed on opposing plastic film substrates and using the electro-optical effect of the liquid crystal that is in contact with the electrodes.

Electrical connections between the electrodes of the liquid crystal cell and an external power supply circuit are made by soldering the lead wires of the circuits to exposed end portions of electrode lead portions provided on the liquid crystal cell.

In conventional liquid crystal cells, exposed end portions of electrode lead portions are formed by the following three methods.

The first method involves forming segment electrodes, common electrodes, and lead parts derived from the segment electrodes on a plastic film, and bending the plastic film near the center to form opposing parts of the electrodes and lead parts. This is a method in which the plastic films provided with the common electrodes are not overlapped at the tips of the lead parts.

The second method is to prepare two plastic films of different sizes in advance, form a segment electrode, a lead part, and a common electrode on each plastic film, bond the two electrode substrates together, and place them on the larger substrate. This method utilizes the fact that the tips of the formed lead portions do not face the smaller substrate to expose the lead portions to the outside.

The third method is to create a dividing line in advance on the plastic film at the boundary between each pair of one substrate on which multiple pairs of electrodes are formed, and then bond the common electrode substrate with the segment electrode substrate. This method involves cutting a portion of the common electrode substrate along the dividing line to expose the ends of the electrode lead portions.

Both the first and second methods described above are not suitable for mass production, and the third method has the risk of damaging the tips of the lead portions on the film surface during the cutting operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a novel liquid crystal cell substrate using a flexible plastic film, and to make exposed portions of electrode lead terminals of a liquid crystal cell much easier to manufacture than conventional methods.

One embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawing (first embodiment) in which segment electrodes and common electrodes are arranged vertically.
This will be explained with reference to Figure).

In this embodiment, a plurality of sets of electrode patterns consisting of multiple digits are formed on a single sheet of flexible plastic film 1, and when bonded together to form a liquid crystal cell, one set of electrodes (segment electrodes 3
and common electrode 4) Separate the part corresponding to the board. That is, rectangular holes 2 are provided in a plastic film 1, and segment electrodes 3 and common electrodes 4 are patterned on both sides of each hole 2. The hole 2 penetrates the plastic film 1, and one side of the rectangle of the hole 2 has at least the terminal 6 of the lead wires 5a, 5b.
It has a length that allows a and 6b to be arranged side by side.

This example is for producing a liquid crystal cell that displays numbers, and the segment electrode 3 is a collection of seven electrodes shaped like a part of a Japanese character. There are seven terminals 6a of the lead wires 5a, and the seven terminals 6a of the lead wires 5a are arranged side by side on one edge of the square of the hole 2. The common electrode 4 formed on the same surface of the film 1 across the hole 2 with respect to the segment electrode side as described above has a shape that allows it to face the segment electrode 3 when the film 1 is bent. There is one line 5b. The terminal 6b of the lead wire 5b of the common electrode 4 is connected to the segment electrode 3.
This is because the connecting terminal 7 of the lead wire 5b of the common electrode 4 on the substrate side is connected to the connecting terminal 8 of the segment electrode 3 on the substrate side to perform common transfer when bonding. be.

When the common electrode 4 is opposed to the segment electrode 3, the terminal 6 on the segment electrode 3 side is located in the hole 2.
The positions of the segment electrode 3, common electrode 4, terminals 6a and 6b, and hole 2 are determined so that a and 6b are exposed.

Note that the terminals 6a and 6b are plated to facilitate soldering when connecting to lead wires of an external circuit.

As is clear from the figure, a large number of segment electrodes 3 and common electrodes 4 are arranged in pairs at predetermined pitches in the horizontal and vertical directions of the plastic film 1. By bending the plastic film 1 along the slit-shaped hole 2 near the boundary between the segment electrode 3 and the common electrode 4, the segment electrode 3 and the common electrode 4 face each other, and liquid crystal is injected between them to form a liquid crystal cell. is created. In this case, the boundary between the segment electrode 3 and the common electrode 4 where the hole 2 is not formed serves as a cutting portion for separation. With the above structure, a very large number of liquid crystal cells can be fabricated from one plastic film 1 in the plane direction. Note that the conventional method of producing multiple flexible liquid crystal cells was a one-dimensional cutting method in which long cells formed by bending a long flexible substrate were cut into strips. Since this method cuts out a large amount of liquid crystal cells two-dimensionally from a flat flexible substrate, mass productivity is dramatically improved.

Plastic films 1 to 1 according to this example
A description will be given of how the parts corresponding to the electrode substrates of the set are separated and then bonded together.

The plastic film 1 after separation is coated with an alignment film, the alignment film is subjected to a rubbing treatment, and a sealing material is printed so as to surround the segment electrodes 3 and the common electrode 4.

After completing the above steps, the plastic film 1 is folded along one side of the hole 2 where the terminals 6a and 6b are lined up. Overlapping plastic film 1
When the liquid crystal is injected into the inside of the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal is sandwiched between the substrate of the segment electrode 3 and the substrate of the common electrode 4, and the terminals 6a and 6b are connected to the terminals 6a and 6b.
Since the hole 2 faces the portion b, an exposed liquid crystal cell is completed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the process for exposing the terminals of the electrode lead wires is simple because a film is used in which holes are opened in advance in the portions facing the lead terminals for connecting each part, and the process for exposing the terminals of the electrode lead wires is simple. Since there is no need to cut the plastic film to expose the terminals, work efficiency is improved, and the electrodes set on the plastic film are not damaged, resulting in an increase in the production yield of liquid crystal cells. Furthermore, the effect of producing a large number of sheets becomes extremely significant, and mass production becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of plastic film processing according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Plastic film, 2... Hole, 3... Segment electrode, 4... Common electrode, 5a, 5b... Lead wire, 6a, 6b... Terminal, 7, 8... Connection terminal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first electrode and a second electrode that control the electro-optical effect of the liquid crystal by sandwiching the liquid crystal and applying an electric field.
A pair of electrodes are formed on the same flexible film surface, and the first electrode and the second electrode are formed by bending and forming the flexible film using the boundary portion of the flexible film surface between the first electrode and the second electrode as a bending position. In a substrate for manufacturing a liquid crystal cell in which electrodes face each other to form a cell for liquid crystal injection, external connection terminals of electrode lead lines drawn out from at least one of the first and second electrodes are juxtaposed near the bending position. , the flexible film has a through hole cut out along the bending position near the external connection terminal, and the external connection terminal is exposed to the outside through the through hole when the flexible film is folded. A substrate for manufacturing a liquid crystal cell, characterized in that: