JP6327735B2 - Bright spot defect removal method and apparatus for liquid crystal display panel - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for removing bright spot defects in a liquid crystal panel and an apparatus used for the method.

  A transmissive liquid crystal display panel includes a liquid crystal cell configured by sandwiching a liquid crystal material layer between a pair of substrates and a backlight disposed on the back side of the liquid crystal cell. A desired image is displayed by controlling each pixel. In such a liquid crystal display panel, a defect (defective pixel) in which the display unit of the liquid crystal cell cannot be controlled correctly may occur due to contamination of foreign matters during the manufacturing process. Typical types of such defects include bright spot defects that always transmit light and dark spot (black spot) defects that always block light.

  When the liquid crystal display panel is used, the bright spot defect is more visible than the dark spot defect, and tends to cause a reduction in image quality. For this reason, the number of bright spot defects is determined more strictly than the number of dark spot defects as a criterion for determining a defect of the liquid crystal display panel. On the other hand, bright spot defects have various causes and can only be found after the liquid crystal cell is modularized. Therefore, the bright spot defects can be completely removed or repaired. It is extremely difficult to do. However, if all the liquid crystal panels with bright spot defects are made defective, the module at the stage where TFT, wiring, color filter, etc. are incorporated will be made defective, so one defect will greatly affect the production cost. Will do.

  Under such circumstances, it has been generally made to improve the yield by making the bright spot defect of the liquid crystal display panel dark spot (black spot). Various methods have been proposed to darken the bright spot defects.

  As one of the prior arts, for example, the black matrix formed around the color filter in the liquid crystal display panel is finely divided and dispersed in the gap formed between the color filter and the substrate to cope with bright spot defects. It has been proposed to blacken the pixels of the color filter (see Patent Document 1 below).

US Pat. No. 7,868,993

  As the dark spot darkening of the bright spot defect, generally, the entire display unit (referred to as a pixel or sub-pixel, hereinafter referred to as a pixel) in which the bright spot defect exists is blackened. At this time, as in the prior art described above, in the method of irradiating the black matrix existing around the pixel with laser light to reduce the fine powder, the adverse effect of the heat absorption due to the laser irradiation affects the surrounding normal pixels. In addition, there is a problem that it takes a long time to process one pixel because the subdivided black matrix is gradually dispersed between the color filter and the substrate.

  On the other hand, bright spot defects often cause local defects in the pixel area. In particular, the size of bright spot defects due to defects in polarization characteristics, such as localized defects in the alignment film, is the entire pixel. Often, the size is less than 1/100 of the area. If it becomes possible to darken luminescent spot defects by local processing for such luminescent spot defects, the surrounding normal pixels will not be adversely affected and the processing time can be shortened. It becomes possible to solve the problems of the prior art.

  This invention makes it an example of a subject to cope with such a situation. In other words, by locally darkening a spot defect that exists locally in a pixel, the spot defect removal process can be performed in a short processing time without adversely affecting the surrounding normal pixels. It is the object of the present invention to do etc.

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention comprises at least the following configuration.

A step of detecting a luminance point defect that is present locally in the liquid crystal display panel pixel by the observation from the color filter substrate side, a laser beam irradiation device in position on the color filter substrate corresponding to said detected luminance point defect And adjusting the beam spot size of the laser beam to be irradiated to the size of the bright spot defect and gradually increasing the output of the laser beam emitted from the laser beam irradiation device, And a step of stopping the output of the laser beam when the bright spot defect observed from the filter substrate side is locally blackened.

A luminance point defect detecting means for detecting a bright spot defect by observing the liquid crystal display panel from the color filter side is present locally in the liquid crystal display panel pixels, a color filter substrate corresponding to the luminance point defect detected A laser beam irradiating means for aligning the optical axis of the laser beam irradiating device to the position of the laser beam and making the beam spot size of the irradiating laser beam correspond to the size of the bright spot defect; and a laser beam emitted from the laser beam irradiating means. Laser beam output control means for gradually increasing the output and stopping the output of the laser beam when the bright spot defect observed from the color filter substrate side becomes a black spot locally. A bright spot defect removing device for a liquid crystal display panel.

  According to the present invention having such a feature, a bright spot defect existing locally in a pixel of the liquid crystal display panel can be locally blackened, so that a short process can be performed without adversely affecting the surrounding normal pixels. The bright spot defect can be removed in time. In addition, since the bright spot defect removal process can be performed without destroying the color display of the pixel in which the bright spot defect exists, it is possible to minimize display quality degradation.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the pixel of the liquid crystal display panel which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the process of the bright spot defect removal method of the liquid crystal display panel which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the process of the bright spot defect removal method of the liquid crystal display panel which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the output control of a laser beam irradiation apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which showed the bright spot defect removal apparatus used for the bright spot defect removal method which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a pixel of a liquid crystal display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. The liquid crystal display panel has a configuration in which a liquid crystal layer is provided between a pair of substrates, and one of the pair of substrates is a color filter substrate. The color filter substrate includes a color filter layer 1 divided for each pixel and a black matrix 2 formed around the color filter layer 1 so as to partition each color filter layer 1. In the following description, each unit of the color filter layer 1 partitioned by the black matrix 2 is described as a pixel P. A plurality of color filter layers 1 surrounded by a black matrix 2 are arranged on the color filter substrate. In the illustrated example, three color filter layers 1 of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) are arranged in a dot matrix manner according to a predetermined rule. As an example of the display unit, one set of the R, G, and B color filter layers 1 (pixels P) can be the pixels 3.

  2 and 3 are explanatory views showing the steps of the bright spot defect removing method for the liquid crystal display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the liquid crystal display panel bright spot defect removing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, as a first step, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), a bright spot defect present in a pixel of the liquid crystal display panel is treated as a color filter substrate. Detect by observation from the side. In the example shown in the figure, a state in which the pixel P in which the bright spot defect Db exists in the observation visual field Vf is viewed is shown. Such an observation visual field Vf may be visual observation with a microscope or the like, or may be an electronic image obtained by an imaging element or the like. Here, a plane position coordinate Co is formed in the observation visual field Vf, and the position of the bright spot defect Db in the pixel P can be detected by reading this plane coordinate.

  As the next step, as shown in FIG. 2B, the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation apparatus is aligned with the position on the color filter substrate corresponding to the detected bright spot defect Db. In the illustrated example, the center position of the observation visual field Vf coincides with the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation apparatus, and the laser beam irradiation apparatus or the liquid crystal display panel is supported according to the planar coordinate position of the bright spot defect Db detected in the previous process. The supporting stage is planarly scanned, and the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation apparatus is aligned with the bright spot defect Db.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3A, the beam spot size of the laser beam irradiated with the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation apparatus aligned with the position on the color filter substrate corresponding to the detected bright spot defect Db. Ls is made to correspond to the size of the bright spot defect Db. The spot size Ls of the laser beam at this time is not necessarily the same as the size of the luminance defect Db, and may be larger or smaller than the size of the luminance defect Db. The beam spot size Ls of the laser beam can be arbitrarily changed by adjusting the aperture mechanism of the laser beam irradiation apparatus. For example, when the pixel size is a rectangular shape having a short side of 20 μm × long side of 70 μm, the beam spot size Ls of the laser beam is adjusted so as to correspond to a luminance defect having a size of about 10 to 30 μm.

  As the laser beam, for example, a single wavelength pulse laser having a peak wavelength such as 355 nm or 532 nm is used, and a laser beam having a pulse number of 1 to 60 Hz (for example, 60 Hz) can be used. For example, a laser beam with a wavelength of 532 nm can be used when a polarizing film is present on the substrate on which the color filter layer 1 is formed, and a laser beam with a wavelength of 355 nm can be used when there is no polarizing film on the substrate.

  Then, in the next step, as shown in FIG. 3B, the output of the laser beam emitted from the laser beam irradiation apparatus is gradually increased, and the bright spot defect Db observed from the color filter substrate side is localized. The laser beam output is stopped when the black spot is turned on. When the output of the laser beam irradiated from the color filter substrate side is gradually increased, thermal alteration can be applied to the resist of the color filter layer 1 through the substrate. As a result, the resist is carbonized, and a black spot processing portion Bp that blocks light is locally formed in the color filter layer 1.

  According to the bright spot defect removing method of the liquid crystal display panel by such a process, the pixel P where the bright spot defect Db exists is in a state in which the bright spot defect Db is blocked by the black spot processing unit Bp formed locally. However, most of the color filter layer 1 in the pixel P maintains the filter function of a predetermined color. As a result, it is possible to remove the bright spot defect Db existing locally in the pixel P while minimizing the deterioration of the display function in the pixel P.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining output control of the laser beam irradiation apparatus. In the laser beam irradiation process described above, the irradiation energy of the laser beam necessary for blackening the bright spot defect Db varies depending on the absorption energy of the substrate and the material of the resist in each liquid crystal display panel. Further, if the laser beam is irradiated more than necessary, the resist of the color filter layer 1 and other layer materials may ablate and enlarge the defects. Therefore, in the laser beam irradiation process described above, the output of the laser beam is stopped when the output of the laser beam is gradually increased and the bright spot defect Db becomes a black spot locally.

  At this time, the integrated irradiation energy at the time of laser beam irradiation is obtained. Since the integrated irradiation energy required to darken the luminescent spot defects is different for each liquid crystal display panel to be processed, when processing multiple luminescent spot defects in one liquid crystal display panel, first, A step of obtaining an integrated irradiation energy required in the bright spot defect removal processing is executed. At that time, for one detected bright spot defect, the laser beam output is gradually increased while observing the bright spot defect, and when the black spot of the bright spot defect is observed, The output is stopped, and the accumulated irradiation energy from the start to the stop of the laser beam output is stored. In the process at that time, as shown in FIG. 4A, the output rate is gradually increased with a relatively low increase rate, and the irradiation time Ts and irradiation energy Es at the time when the black spot of the bright spot defect is confirmed. From this, the integrated irradiation energy S is obtained.

  For other bright spot defects detected by one liquid crystal display panel, the increase in the output of the laser beam can be automatically controlled using the integrated irradiation energy S obtained in the first process. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, a set irradiation time Tr is set, and the set irradiation energy Er is set so as to reach the accumulated irradiation energy S of the laser beam stored in the first process, Automatic control is performed to linearly increase the output of the laser beam from zero to Er. In this case, the processing time can be shortened by setting the set irradiation time Tr relatively short.

  The adjustment for gradually increasing the output of the laser beam can be performed by, for example, a combination of a half-wave plate and a polarizer that are rotationally adjusted around the optical axis. As an example, an Nd: YAG laser that emits linearly polarized ultraviolet light is used as a light source, the laser beam emitted from this light source is passed through a half-wave plate, and the amount of transmitted light of linearly polarized light is maximized. In this way, a polarizer having a fixed polarization axis is passed. Then, the laser beam output is adjusted to gradually increase from zero by changing and adjusting the rotation angle of the half-wave plate according to the irradiation time.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a bright spot defect removing apparatus used in the bright spot defect removing method described above. The bright spot defect removing apparatus 100 includes a laser beam irradiation apparatus 10, a support stage 20, and scanning means 30 (30A, 30B) as basic components. The laser beam irradiation device 10 includes a laser light source 11, an illumination light source 12, an observation device 13, a condensing optical system 14, dichroic mirrors 15 and 16, and the like. The laser light source 11 here includes the half-wave plate and the polarizer described above.

  The laser beam Lb emitted from the laser light source 11 is irradiated to the liquid crystal display panel W supported on the support stage 20 through the condensing optical system 14. On the optical axis of the laser beam Lb, a dichroic mirror 16 for irradiating the irradiation position of the laser beam Lb with the illumination light 12a emitted from the illumination light source 12 is disposed. The dichroic mirror 16 has a function of transmitting the single wavelength light of the laser beam Lb and reflecting the visible light of the illumination light 12a. On the optical axis of the laser beam Lb, a dichroic mirror 15 that reflects the observation light (visible light) 13a reflected by the liquid crystal display panel W and guides it to the observation device 13 and transmits the laser beam Lb is disposed. . The dichroic mirrors 15 and 16 are installed so that the optical axis of the observation light 13a and the optical axis of the illumination light 12a overlap with the optical axis of the laser beam Lb.

  The scanning means 30 moves the laser beam Lb and the liquid crystal display panel W relatively to specify the irradiation position of the laser beam Lb, and laser beam scanning moves the laser beam irradiation apparatus 10 relative to the support stage 20. A support stage scanning unit 30B for moving the unit 30A and the support stage 20 with respect to the laser beam irradiation apparatus 10 is provided. The laser beam scanning unit 30A and the support stage scanning unit 30B do not need to include both of them, and any one of them may be provided.

  Further, the bright spot defect removing apparatus 100 includes a control unit 40 and a monitor unit 50 together. The control means 40 performs image processing on the observation image obtained by the observation device 13 and performs output control of the laser light source 11 or scanning position control of the scanning means 30 based on the observation image. The monitor means 50 is configured by a display device or the like for monitoring an observation image obtained by the observation device 13.

  The bright spot defect removing apparatus 100 having such a configuration has a function for executing the above-described steps. As a first function, a bright spot defect detecting means for observing the liquid crystal display panel W from the color filter side and detecting a bright spot defect present in a pixel of the liquid crystal display panel W is provided. The bright spot defect detection means can be constituted by a control means 40 for image processing of an observation image obtained by the observation means 13 or a monitor means 50 for monitoring the observation image.

  As a second function, the optical spot of the laser beam irradiation device 10 is aligned with the position on the color filter substrate corresponding to the detected bright spot defect, and the beam spot size of the laser beam Lb to be irradiated is set as the bright spot defect. A laser beam irradiation means corresponding to the size is provided. Such a function can be configured by the control unit 40 that controls the scanning unit 30 based on the observation image obtained by the observation unit 13 or the condensing optical system 14 that adjusts the condensing state of the laser beam Lb.

  Further, as a third function, when the output of the laser beam Lb emitted from the laser beam irradiation apparatus 10 is gradually increased, the bright spot defect observed from the color filter substrate side becomes a black spot locally. And laser beam output control means for stopping the output of the laser beam Lb. Such a function can be configured by the control means 40 that controls the output of the laser light source 11 based on the observation image obtained by the observation means 13.

  According to the method and apparatus 100 for removing a bright spot defect in a liquid crystal display panel according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the bright spot defect existing in the pixel of the liquid crystal display panel is locally blackened and removed. The processing time can be greatly shortened as compared with the prior art that makes the whole black spot. Further, since the location where the laser beam is irradiated is local, the processing can be completed without adversely affecting the surrounding normal pixels. Further, since the bright spot defect removal process can be performed without destroying the color display of the pixel in which the bright spot defect exists, it is possible to minimize the deterioration in display quality.

  As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and the design can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is included in the present invention. In addition, the above-described embodiments can be combined by utilizing each other's technology as long as there is no particular contradiction or problem in the purpose and configuration.

1: Color filter layer, 2: Black matrix, 3: Pixel,
P: Pixel, Db: Bright spot defect, Bp: Black spot processing unit, Ls: Beam spot size,
Lb: laser beam,
10: Laser beam irradiation device, 20: Support stage, 30: Scanning means,
40: control means, 50: monitoring means

Claims (3)

A step of detecting a bright spot defect locally present in a pixel of the liquid crystal display panel by observation from the color filter substrate side;
A step of corresponding the detected beam spot size of the laser beam irradiated with aligning the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation device in position on the color filter substrate corresponding to the luminance point defect on the magnitude of the luminance point defect,
The output of the laser beam emitted from the laser beam irradiation device is gradually increased, and the output of the laser beam is stopped when the bright spot defect observed from the color filter substrate side becomes a black spot locally. A bright spot defect removing method for a liquid crystal display panel. For the detected one of said luminance point defect, while observing the luminance point defect is increased gradually output of said laser beam, said laser beam output when the black point of the luminance point defect is observed And storing the accumulated irradiation energy from the start of output rise of the laser beam to the stop, and
2. A step of automatically controlling an increase in output of the laser beam with respect to another detected bright spot defect so as to reach the stored cumulative irradiation energy of the laser beam. A method for removing bright spot defects of a liquid crystal display panel described in 1. Bright spot defect detection means for observing the liquid crystal display panel from the color filter side and detecting a bright spot defect present locally in the pixel of the liquid crystal display panel;
Laser beam irradiation means for corresponding a beam spot size of the laser beam to be irradiated with the detected position on the color filter substrate corresponding to the luminance point defect align the optical axis of the laser beam irradiation apparatus to the size of the luminance point defect When,
The output of the laser beam emitted from the laser beam irradiation means is gradually increased, and the output of the laser beam is stopped when the bright spot defect observed from the color filter substrate side becomes a black spot locally. A bright spot defect removing device for a liquid crystal display panel.

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