JPH0827457B2 - Method for forming spacer for gear of liquid crystal display panel - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] The present invention has a problem that when a gap spacer is formed on a substrate of a liquid crystal display panel, a liquid crystal alignment surface is damaged or a spacer is present on a pixel to cause a display defect. In order to solve the problem, the alignment film on the substrate is partially removed by etching using a mask material in which holes for spacer formation are formed, and an insulating layer for spacers is formed on the removed portion by vapor deposition or the like. It is the one.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a method for forming a spacer for a gap of a liquid crystal display panel.

The distance (gap) between the substrates of the liquid crystal display panel needs to be set uniformly and accurately in order to obtain high display quality, and an easy manufacturing method of the gap spacer satisfying this condition is desired.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional liquid crystal display panel. 11 and 12 are a pair of glass substrates, 13 and 14 are display electrodes made of a pair of ITO films which face each other in a cross shape, 15 is an alignment film, and 16 is an alignment film. Indicates a ball-shaped spacer made of glass powder or glass fiber.

The spacer 16 is constructed by suspending, for example, a glass fiber piece in a volatile solvent such as alcohol, dropping the suspension onto the glass substrate 11, and rotating the substrate to form the glass fiber piece into a glass. The spacers 16 are scattered on the substrate to form the spacers 16.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional spacer forming method, the spacer is placed on the pixel, that is, on the intersection between the opposing display electrode pairs, which damages the alignment film on each substrate when the two glass substrates are superposed and joined. Therefore, there is a problem that the alignment of the liquid crystal is disturbed to cause a display defect and the contrast is lowered. In addition, because there is no adhesiveness between the dispersed spacers and the glass substrate surface, the spacers are displaced due to small vibrations when joining both glass substrates and stick to other spacers, resulting in a large diameter. Therefore, there is a problem that the distance between the substrates cannot be kept constant.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a spacer forming method capable of forming a spacer having a constant height on a substrate without damaging the liquid crystal alignment surface from the conventional situation as described above.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a mask material 21 in which a hole 22 for forming a spacer is formed, and the mask material 21 is placed on an alignment film formed on a substrate. In this state, the step of removing the alignment film portion where the spacer forming hole of the mask material is located by etching, and insulating by vapor deposition or sputtering through the spacer forming hole of the mask material on the substrate where the alignment film is removed The step of forming a layer is sequentially performed, and a spacer is formed by the insulating layer having a shape protruding from the surface of the alignment film.

FIG. 1 (b) shows a cross-sectional view of one substrate having spacers formed by this method. In this figure, 11
Is a substrate, 13 is a display electrode, 31 is an alignment film, and 41 is a spacer.

[Action]

The spacer forming mask material can easily form a spacer made of an insulating layer at a position different from the pixel position on the substrate by aligning the spacer forming hole at a predetermined position with respect to the substrate. The distance between the substrates can be freely controlled by the thickness of.

[Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of one substrate of a liquid crystal display panel showing one embodiment of the present invention in the order of steps.

First, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), on a glass substrate 11 on which a display electrode 13 made of an ITO film having an electrode width of 40 μm and an electrode gap of 20 μm and an alignment film 31 made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are laminated, A mask material 21 for forming a gap is placed. In the case of the present embodiment, the mask material is such that a PVA film 23 of the same material as the alignment film is formed to a thickness of 0.1 μm on one surface of a metal plate 21 (for example, a stainless steel plate) having a thickness of 0.5 mm, and the distance is 10 μm and the distance is 10 μm. A hole 22 of 60 μm is formed. This mask material
21 is placed on the alignment film 31 of the substrate 11 with the PVA film 23 facing down and the holes 22 aligned between the electrodes 13 on the substrate 11.

In this state, dry etching is performed first, and the mask material 21
The alignment film 31a exposed in the hole 22 is removed. Fig. 2 (b)
Shows the substrate structure after removing this partial alignment film. Subsequent to this, silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) is vapor-deposited on the substrate 11 to form a ₂ μm thick SiO ₂ layer 41 on the substrate surface exposed in the holes 22 of the mask material 21 as shown in FIG. 2 (c). To do. After that, when the mask material 21 is removed, a height of 2 μm formed on the substrate 11 by an insulating layer protruding from the surface of the alignment film shown in FIG.
m spacers 41 are constructed.

In addition, the PV formed on the surface of the mask material 21 in contact with the alignment film
Since the A film 23 is the same fibrous material as the alignment film 31,
It works to prevent damage to the surface of the alignment film due to delicate movement of the mask material during etching of the alignment film and formation of the insulating layer.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the essence of the present invention is not limited to this, and the following modifications are possible. That is, polymide or cellulose can be used as the material of the fibrous film 23 coated on the mask material 21, and nitride can be used as the material of the spacer 41, and the sputtering method can be applied as the formation method thereof.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily form a spacer having a constant height at a position different from a pixel position without damaging the liquid crystal alignment surface on the substrate. It is possible to reduce defects and significantly improve the contrast ratio (20% or more), and improve the uniformity of the distance between the substrates to improve the display quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is for explaining the principle of the gap spacer forming method of the present invention. (A) is a mask material for gap formation, (b) is a sectional view of one panel substrate, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the process order, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a conventional liquid crystal display panel. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 11 is a glass substrate, 13 is a display electrode, 21 is a mask material for gap formation, 22 is a patterned hole, 23 is a fibrous film, 31 is an alignment film, and 41 is a spacer. The insulating layers are shown respectively.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When forming a spacer for a gap on at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display panel, a mask material having a hole for forming a spacer is provided on the alignment film of the substrate having the alignment film formed thereon. A step of placing the mask material, and in this state, removing the alignment film portion where the spacer forming hole of the mask material is located by etching, and the spacer forming hole of the mask material on the substrate where the alignment film is removed A method for forming a spacer for a gap in a liquid crystal display panel, which comprises sequentially performing a step of forming an insulating layer by vapor deposition or sputtering through the insulating layer having a shape protruding from the surface of the alignment film. 2. A spacer for a gap of a liquid crystal display panel according to claim 1, wherein a mask material having a film of the same quality as that of the alignment film formed on the inner side surface in contact with the alignment film is used. Forming method.