CN1982921A - inkjet process - Google Patents

Abstract

An ink jet process. Firstly, a substrate is provided, and then an ink-jet step is carried out to spray a slurry on the surface of the substrate. Then, an in-situ local heating step is performed to directly heat the slurry just sprayed on the substrate surface, thereby controlling the shape and position of the slurry.

Description

inkjet process

technical field

The invention relates to an ink-jet process, in particular to an ink-jet process utilizing a heating light source.

Background technique

With the vigorous development of the electronic information industry, the application range and market demand of liquid crystal display (LCD) are also expanding, from small products, such as electronic blood pressure monitors, to portable information products, such as personal digital assistants (PDA) , notebook computers (notebooks), and large-screen displays that are very likely to be commercialized in the future, it can be seen that liquid crystal displays are widely used thereon. Because the structure of the liquid crystal display is very light, thin and small, and has the advantages of less power consumption and no radiation pollution, it is widely used in the above-mentioned civil and information products.

A thin film transistor liquid crystal display basically includes a thin film transistor array substrate, a color filter (color filter) substrate, and a liquid crystal material filled between the thin film transistor array substrate and the color filter substrate. Wherein, the thin film transistor array substrate also includes a transparent substrate (transparent substrate), such as a glass substrate, on which there are many thin film transistors arranged in an array, pixel electrodes (pixel electrodes), scan lines (scan lines) and data in different planes. Line (data line), and with appropriate capacitors, connecting pads and other electronic components to drive the liquid crystal pixels, and then produce rich and bright images. The color filter substrate also includes a transparent substrate on which there are many color filters arranged in an array and a common electrode (common electrode).

In the manufacturing process of the existing thin film transistor liquid crystal display, a multi-channel photolithography process (PEP) is generally used to form pixel electrodes, scanning lines and data lines required by the thin film transistor array substrate. However, the production of the existing color filter substrate mainly includes three steps of R, G, and B three-color photoresist coating, gap alignment exposure, and development process. However, the material utilization rate of the traditional coating process for three-primary-color photoresist coating is only about 1-2%, and the color filter substrate has to go through multiple photolithography, cleaning and other processes. In addition, the thin film transistor array substrate needs to cooperate with the deposition, photolithography, etching, cleaning and other processes for making pixel electrodes, scanning lines and data lines, which will increase the chance of damage to the transparent substrate and process patterns and contact with chemical solvents. In order to improve this shortcoming, the industry has begun to use the inkjet process to improve the shortcoming of the existing multi-pass process for manufacturing thin film transistor liquid crystal displays.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a conventional inkjet process. As shown in FIG. 1 , a glass substrate 26 , such as a color filter substrate, is firstly provided, and then an inkjet device 20 is used to fabricate required color filter patterns on the glass substrate 26 . Wherein the inkjet device 20 includes at least one inkjet head (hereinafter referred to as the nozzle) 22 and a control machine (not shown), and the surface of the glass substrate 26 includes a black matrix 28, which is used to improve the contrast of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display and The opaque parts of the thin film transistors, scan lines and data lines of the thin film transistor array substrate are shielded. Then spray a colored photoresist paste 24 between the black matrix 28 on the surface of the glass substrate 26 according to the requirements of different processes and products. Then the glass substrate 26 is moved to a high temperature annealing furnace for a hardening process to harden the paste 24 coated on the surface of the glass substrate 26 .

It can be seen from the above that the traditional inkjet coating method mainly includes two stages of process: firstly, the glass substrate 26 is directly inkjet coated with the nozzle 22, and then the entire glass substrate 26 is coated, and then moved to a high temperature annealing furnace A curing process is performed. Because when intending to carry out ink-jet coating on glass substrate 26, just directly utilize large-area heating methods such as heating plate (hot plate) to carry out thermal baking (hot baking) to glass substrate 26, then the too high temperature in process room will not only It will affect the nozzle 22 and cause the inkjet outlet to be blocked, resulting in inconsistency in the size of the inkjet pattern, and also making the time for each inkjet coating pattern to be heated uneven. Therefore, the traditional inkjet coating and hardening process needs to be carried out in two stages, thereby increasing the process time.

In addition, the existing inkjet process cannot effectively control the size of the slurry sprayed on the glass substrate due to the need for a two-stage process, which leads to the occurrence of slurry overflow. Therefore, Japanese patent JP08-29776 A method of increasing the surface tension of a color photoresist slurry by adding porous silicide (silica) is disclosed, so as to effectively control the surface tension and contact angle between the slurry and a glass substrate, thereby improving such problems. However, this method not only increases the process steps and manufacturing cost, but also reduces the light transmittance of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display, and is not completely suitable for any other polyimide (polyimide), silver glue or liquid crystal that can be coated by inkjet. Material.

Contents of the invention

Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved inkjet process to improve the size and shape of slurry overflow and uneven slurry formation caused by the existing inkjet process which needs to be carried out in two stages.

According to the claims of the present invention, an inkjet process is disclosed. Firstly, a substrate is provided, and then an inkjet step is performed to spray a slurry onto the surface of the substrate. A local heating step is then performed in-situ to directly heat the slurry just sprayed onto the surface of the substrate, thereby controlling the shape and position of the slurry.

Since the present invention uses a heating light source and an optical focusing system to locally heat the slurry that has just been sprayed on the surface of the glass substrate while the nozzle is spraying a slurry on the glass substrate, the heating time and heating time of the slurry can be effectively controlled. scope. In addition, the heating light source of the present invention can also move synchronously with the nozzle, thereby ensuring the size and shape of the subsequent slurry formation, so as to improve the slurry overflow and Problems such as nozzle clogging and uneven slurry size and shape.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a method schematic diagram illustrating a conventional inkjet process.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the inkjet process of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the inkjet process equipment of the present invention.

Description of main component symbols

20 inkjet equipment 22 print head

24 Paste 26 Glass substrate

28 black matrix 60 inkjet equipment

62 nozzle 64 slurry

66 Glass substrate 68 Heating light source

70 black matrix 82 inkjet system

84 Optical system 86 Light source system

88 Synchronous detection device 90 Computer controller

Detailed ways

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram of the inkjet process of the present invention. Firstly, a glass substrate 66 , such as a color filter substrate, is provided, and then an inkjet device 60 is used to fabricate required color filter patterns on the glass substrate 66 . Wherein the inkjet device 60 includes at least one nozzle 62 and a control machine (not shown) for supplying slurry and controlling the direction of movement of the nozzle 62, and the surface of the glass substrate 66 is additionally provided with a black matrix 70 for improving the thickness of the film. The contrast of the transistor liquid crystal display and shielding the opaque parts of the thin film transistors, scan lines and data lines of the thin film transistor array substrate. Then, a colored photoresist paste 64 is sprayed onto the surface of the glass substrate 66 by using the spray head 62 according to the requirements of different processes and products.

As shown in Figure 2, while spraying the slurry 64 on the glass substrate 66, the present invention first provides a heating light source 68 composed of infrared light (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) or laser light source (Laser), and then utilizes An optical system (not shown) gathers the light beam provided by the heating light source 68 to locally heat the slurry 64 just sprayed on the surface of the glass substrate 66 . In other words, since the heating light source 68 can control its heating range through the optical focusing system, the present invention can locally heat the slurry 64 sprayed on the surface of the glass substrate 66 and control the heating time of each heating range. In addition, when the glass substrate 66 moves to the next area for inkjet, the heating light source 64 and the spray head 62 move synchronously relative to the glass substrate 66 to ensure that each local heating area is heated at the same time.

It is worth noting that the inkjet process method of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned color filter pattern process of the color filter substrate. Generally speaking, depending on the requirements of different processes and products, the present invention can be applied to color In various processes of filter substrates and thin film transistor array substrates, and the paste sprayed on the glass substrate may include color photoresist, black matrix, polyimide, silver glue, palladium oxide ( PdO) or liquid crystals, any inkjet-coatable material.

In addition, as previously mentioned, since the slurry 64 sprayed by the inkjet method of the present invention can be formulated according to different product requirements and process designs, the present invention can be matched with different heating light sources 68 to target different slurry 64. heating. For example, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, optimal pastes that utilize ultraviolet light for heating include colored photoresists, polyimide, and liquid crystals; optimal pastes that utilize infrared light for heating include Liquid metal, polyimide, and silver paste; the best pastes that use laser heating include silver paste. Among them, polyimide (polyimide), which is generally used to make alignment films, can be heated by two heating light sources such as infrared light and ultraviolet light, while silver colloid and palladium oxide can also be heated by two heating light sources such as infrared light and laser. for heating.

Generally speaking, since the surface of the glass substrate 66 has relatively low tension and adhesion, when the paste 64 is sprayed on the glass substrate 66 , the shape of the paste 64 is difficult to control. Therefore, the present invention utilizes the aforementioned heating light source 68 to partially carry out rapid annealing to the slurry 64 sprayed on the glass substrate 66, so that the shape and position of the slurry 64 on the glass substrate 66 can be effectively controlled, and the present invention Simultaneous and partial heating can also be used to apply to different slurry processes, thereby achieving the effects of different process conditions. For example, the present invention can make the color photoresist not easy to overflow when spraying the color photoresist, or can control the size and thickness of the silver metal formation when spraying the silver glue, and simultaneously carry out the process when spraying the liquid crystal. Curing of each liquid crystal unit (cell).

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic block diagram of the inkjet process equipment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the inkjet process equipment of the present invention includes an inkjet system 82, an optical system 84 for focusing the heating beam, a light source system 86 providing various heating light sources, and a synchronous detection device 88 and a computer controller 90 . Wherein, the inkjet system 82 includes at least one spray head and a control machine for receiving and supplying the slurry to the spray head. Therefore, when the inkjet system 82 sprays a slurry on a glass substrate, the light source system 86 will provide a heating light source composed of infrared light (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) or laser light source (Laser), and pass The optical system 84 focuses the heating light source, and then heats the slurry sprayed on the glass substrate in real time and locally, so as to control the shape and position of the slurry. In addition, when the heating light source is heating the slurry, the user can use the synchronous detection device 88 and the computer controller 90 to make the heating light source of the light source system 86 and the nozzle of the inkjet system 82 move synchronously, To ensure that when the glass substrate is moving, the heating light source can heat the slurry sprayed on the glass substrate at the same time, thereby effectively controlling the shape and position of the slurry.

Compared with the existing method using the inkjet process, the present invention uses a heating light source and an optical focusing system to locally heat the slurry just sprayed on the surface of the glass substrate while spraying a slurry on the glass substrate with the nozzle head, Therefore, the heating time and heating range of the slurry can be effectively controlled. In addition, the heating light source of the present invention can also move synchronously with the nozzle, thereby ensuring the size and shape of the subsequent slurry formation, so as to improve the slurry overflow and Problems such as nozzle clogging and uneven slurry size and shape.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. an ink-jetting process comprises the following steps:

One substrate is provided;

Carry out an ink-jet step, to spray a slurry to this substrate surface; And

Original position is carried out a spot heating step, directly this slurry that just is sprayed into this substrate surface being heated, and then controls the shape and the position of this slurry.

2. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 1, wherein this substrate comprises a thin-film transistor array base-plate or a colored filter substrate.

3. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 2, wherein this colored filter substrate surface also comprises a black matrix".

4. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 3, wherein this slurry is sprayed between this black matrix" on this colored filter substrate surface.

5. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 1, wherein this slurry comprises that colorama causes resist, polyimide, elargol, palladium oxide or liquid crystal.

6. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 1, wherein this spot heating step utilizes a heated light sources to be implemented.

7. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 6, wherein this heated light sources comprises infrared light, ultraviolet light or LASER Light Source.

8. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 7, wherein this heated light sources is utilized an optical system that this heated light sources is focused on and this slurry that is sprayed at this substrate surface is heated.

9. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 6, wherein this ink-jet step utilizes an ink-jet apparatus to be implemented.

10. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 9, wherein this ink-jet apparatus comprises at least one shower nozzle, and one is used for supplying with this slurry and controls the control board of this shower nozzle moving direction.

11. ink-jetting process as claimed in claim 10, wherein when carrying out this ink-jetting process, this heated light sources and this shower nozzle carry out same moved further with respect to this substrate.

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