JP2006154396A - Color filter manufacturing method and color filter - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method of forming a black matrix by containing a water repellent substance, colored ink is repelled on the side of the black matrix, and the smoothness of the pixels is remarkably deteriorated. Improve pixel smoothness.
1) A partition wall formation in which a partition wall layer is formed on a support member, a partition layer is peeled and removed in a negative pattern by a peeling member having a convex portion, and a partition wall having a partition wall opening is formed. Step, 2) A colored pattern forming step in which a colored layer 11 is formed by ejecting colored ink to the partition opening by an ink jet method to form a colored pattern, and 3) the partition and the colored pattern are transferred onto the transparent substrate 7. Having a transfer process.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a color filter used in a color display device and the like, and a color filter obtained by this production method.

  In recent years, a color filter used in a color display device such as a color liquid crystal display has three colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) as color filter constituent colors. A black colored layer of a black matrix (light shielding pattern) is provided on a transparent substrate, for example, a glass substrate. In forming this color filter, it has been proposed to form the colored layer by a dyeing method using photolithography or a pigment dispersion method, or by a transfer method which is one of printing methods.

In recent years, an inkjet method has been proposed as a method for manufacturing a color filter. Examples of a method for producing a color filter using the inkjet method include methods described in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, and the like.
In Patent Document 1, in order to prevent spreading of colored ink outside a desired colored region on a glass substrate, a pattern is formed by previously containing a fluorine-based water / oil repellent as an ink repellent component in a black matrix. In addition, it is described that colored ink is fixed only in a colored region.
In Patent Documents 2 and 3, a black matrix containing a fluorine-containing compound and / or a silicon-containing compound as an ink repellent component bleeds into ink in the colored layer forming step, and a partition wall for preventing color mixing. It is described to do.
JP-A-6-347637 JP-A-7-35915 JP 7-35917 A

  In the method of forming a black matrix by adding a water-repellent substance to prevent the above-mentioned color mixture, since the entire black matrix has an ink-repellent function, the colored ink is repelled on the side of the black matrix and the smoothness of pixels However, there is a problem in manufacturing and characteristics that color unevenness and color loss (white loss) are likely to occur. In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to improve the smoothness of a pixel.

The present invention provides at least a color filter manufacturing method,
1) After a partition layer having a predetermined thickness made of partition wall ink is formed on the support member, the partition layer is peeled and removed from the partition layer in a negative pattern by a peeling member having a convex portion which is a negative pattern of a desired pattern. And a partition wall forming step for forming a partition wall having a partition wall opening of a desired pattern on the support member;
2) A colored pattern forming step of forming a colored pattern by discharging a colored ink to the partition wall opening on the support member by an ink jet method to form a colored pattern;
3) A color filter manufacturing method comprising a transfer step of transferring the partition walls and the colored pattern on the support member onto a transparent substrate.

  The present invention is also the color filter manufacturing method according to the invention, wherein the partition wall layer contains a black pigment.

  The present invention is also the color filter manufacturing method according to the invention, wherein the partition wall layer contains an ink repellent agent.

  In the color filter manufacturing method according to the present invention, the contact angle of the outermost surface of the partition wall layer with respect to the colored ink is in the range of 15 ° to 40 °. It is.

  The present invention is also the color filter manufacturing method according to the above invention, wherein the support member has a surface coated with a resin thin film.

  The present invention is also the color filter manufacturing method according to the invention, wherein the contact angle of the surface of the support member with respect to the partition wall ink is 10 ° or less.

  The present invention is also the color filter manufacturing method according to the above invention, wherein the support member is made of a metal roll.

  Moreover, this invention is a color filter manufactured by the manufacturing method of the color filter of any one of Claims 1-7.

(Effect of Claim 1)
According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, since the partition wall having the opening is formed on the transparent substrate in advance using the peeling member having the convex part of the negative pattern, the smooth colored layer (pixel) taking advantage of the transfer. And a high-precision and fine-pattern partition wall are formed on the transparent substrate, and a color filter having a high-precision black matrix and excellent color characteristics can be obtained. In particular, the pixel can be smoothed.

(Effect of claim 2)
Moreover, in the manufacturing method of this invention, a partition becomes a black matrix because a partition layer shall contain a black pigment.

(Effect of claim 3)
Further, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, if the partition layer contains an ink repellent component, the ink supplied by the ink jet method with the central portion being thicker than the height of the partition wall is adjacent to the opening side of the adjacent partition wall. It is more reliably prevented from flowing into the.

(Effect of claim 4)
Further, in the production method of the present invention, if the contact angle of the outermost surface of the partition wall layer with respect to the colored ink is 15 ° to 40 °, the ink supplied by the ink jet method with the central portion being thicker than the height of the partition wall, It is more reliably prevented from flowing into the adjacent partition opening side.

(Effect of Claim 5)
Further, in the production method of the present invention, if the support member is coated with a resin thin film, the partition ink deposit on the surface of the support member is stabilized, and the partition wall layer thickness requires processing. It becomes constant on the surface of the supporting member.

(Effect of claim 6)
In the manufacturing method of the present invention, if the contact angle of the support member surface with respect to the partition wall ink is 10 ° or less, the buildup of the partition wall ink on the support member surface becomes stable, and the layer thickness of the partition layer requires processing. Without being constant on the surface of the support member.

(Effect of Claim 7)
Further, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, if the support member is made of a metal roll, the strength of the support member is increased, and the partition ink can be appropriately removed when the support member is peeled off.

(Effect of Claim 8)
Further, by using the color filter manufacturing method of the present invention, a color filter having high-precision and fine pixels can be obtained.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
(Manufacturing equipment)
FIG. 1 shows an example of a color filter manufacturing apparatus 1 used in the present invention. The color filter manufacturing apparatus 1 is unnecessary from the partition unit 3 on the support member 4 and the coating unit 2 that can apply the partition wall ink in a fixed amount, the support member 4 that receives the partition wall ink application from the coating unit 2, and the partition layer 3 on the support member 4. It comprises a peeling member 5 that removes a portion, an inkjet unit 10 that discharges ink to a partition opening 9, a partition unit 6 on a support member 4, and a fixed unit 8 that supports a transparent substrate 7 onto which colored layers 11R, 11G, and 11B are transferred. Has been.

(Production method)
A method for manufacturing a color filter by the color filter manufacturing apparatus 1 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, after the partition wall ink is applied from the coating unit 2 by the rotation of the support member 4 and the partition layer 3 is formed on the surface thereof, the support member 4 is a peeling member. Move to the 5th side. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), this peeling member 5 is used to peel off and remove unnecessary portions of the partition wall layer 3 (negative pattern of the partition wall pattern), and the partition wall layer 3 is formed in a desired pattern on the support member 4. A partition wall 6 that remains is obtained (partition wall forming step).

  Next, the support member 4 moves to the inkjet unit 10 side shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2C, the ink jet unit has color filter constituent colors (red (R), green (G), and blue) respectively corresponding to the partition opening 9 divided by the partition 6 on the support member 4. The colored ink (B) is discharged. The colored ink solvent is evaporated to form the colored layers 11R, 11G, and 11B (colored pattern forming step).

Next, the support member 4 having the partition coloring layer moves to the fixed unit 8 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2D, the support member 4 transfers the partition walls 6 and the colored layer 11 onto the transparent substrate 7 (transfer process).
As will be described later, the partition wall itself has a black pigment and is formed as a black matrix. In this way, each partition opening 9 has a colored layer of a color filter constituting color corresponding to the partition opening. By forming 11R, 11G, and 11B, a color filter obtained by combining coloring patterns of the color filter constituent colors can be obtained.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus 1, the support member 4 is composed of a metal roll. The surface of the support member 4 is covered with a resin thin film 12. The resin thin film is preferably made of a material having excellent partition wall ink coating properties, and the contact angle of the resin thin film surface to the partition wall ink is preferably 10 ° or less. When the contact angle is 10 ° or more, repelling of the partition ink tends to occur on the surface of the resin thin film, and a uniform coating film cannot be obtained.

  The material of the resin thin film is preferably selected in combination with the partition wall ink and is preferably composed of a material having a certain degree of flexibility such as a polymer film or rubber. For example, fluororesin, polyvinyl alcohol, poly Acrylate, polycarbonate, polyolefin, polymethyl methacrylate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethersulfone, silicone elastomer, fluorine elastomer, butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber or These mixtures or laminates may be mentioned.

  For the coating unit 2, a known coating device such as a slit coater or a die coater can be used.

  In the present invention, the peeling member 5 may be a flat plate or roll metal plate, glass plate, resin plate, or the like. The peeling member 5 is processed so that the convex portion 5a becomes a negative pattern of a desired pattern, and the partition wall layer 3 of the support member 4 is brought into contact with the convex portion 5a, and when it is separated by rotation, an unnecessary portion of the negative pattern is formed. It is removed by the convex part 5a.

  As the transparent substrate 7 of the present invention, a glass substrate, a quartz substrate, a plastic substrate, or the like can be used.

In the partition wall ink of the present invention, a resin composition mainly composed of a resin, a solvent, and a dispersing material is used. Casein, gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethyl acetal, polyimide resin, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, melanin resin, and the like are appropriately selected as the resin for the partition wall ink material. An acrylic resin is preferred when heat resistance and light resistance are required.
The solvent for the partition wall ink is appropriately selected and used from the viewpoint of the coating property and dispersion stability of the black resin composition. Toluene, xylene, ethyl cellosolve, ethyl cellosolve acetate, diclime, cyclohexanone Etc.

  Examples of the dispersant for the partition wall ink include nonionic surfactants such as polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, and ionic surfactants such as sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, poly fatty acid salt, and fatty acid salt alkyl. In addition to phosphates and tetraalkylammonium salts, organic pigment derivatives, polyesters, and the like can be given. One type of dispersant may be used alone, or two or more types of dispersants may be mixed and used.

  The partition wall of the present invention is preferably light-shielding. In the case of forming a light-shielding partition, a black light-shielding material may be mixed with the resin composition. Examples of the black light shielding material include black pigments, black dyes, inorganic materials, and the like, and organic pigments, carbon black, aniline black, graphite, titanium oxide, iron black, and the like are used as a mixture.

The outermost surface of the partition wall of the present invention is preferably ink repellent with respect to the colored ink. In the case of forming an ink repellent partition, an ink repellent agent may be mixed with the resin composition. The ink repellent agent is preferably a material containing silicon or / and fluorine atoms having a low affinity with the resin contained in the partition wall ink material. Specific examples of the ink repellent agent include those having an organic silicone in the main chain or side chain, and a silicone resin or silicone rubber containing a siloxane component, in addition to vinylidene fluoride, vinyl fluoride, ethylene trifluoride. And fluororesins such as these copolymers, but are not limited thereto. A black shading agent and an ink repellent agent may be mixed.
Further, the solvent is volatilized and semi-cured immediately before the partition and the colored layer are transferred to the transparent substrate.

When discharging colored ink to the opening of the partition wall by the ink jet method, in order to reduce the color mixture to the adjacent colored ink, and further to reduce white spots or color unevenness of the colored layer, it has the following characteristics. An ink repellent partition is formed.
That is, it is preferable that the contact angle between the ink repellent partition wall and the colored ink is in the range of 15 ° to 40 °. When the contact angle is 15 ° or less, color mixing in adjacent colored layers is likely to occur, which causes a decrease in yield. When the contact angle is 40 ° or more, the colored layer becomes convex and white spots or color unevenness occurs in the colored layer.

The material of the colored ink includes a color pigment, a resin, a dispersant, a solvent, and the like.
Specific examples of the pigment used as the colorant include PigmentRed 9, 19, 38, 43, 97, 122, 123, 144, 149, 166, 168, 177, 179, 180, 192, 215, 216, 208, 216, 217, 220, 223, 224, 226, 227, 228, 240, PigmentBlue 15, 15: 6, 16, 22, 29, 60, 64, PigmentGreen 7, 36, PigmentRed 20, 24, 86, 81, 83, 93, 108, 109, 110, 117, 125, 137, 138, 139, 147, 148, 153, 154, 166, 168, 185, Pigment Orange 36, Pigment Violet 23, and the like, but are not limited thereto. Further, these may be used in combination of two or more in order to obtain the desired hue.

As the solvent species used for the colored ink, those having an appropriate surface tension range of 40 mN / m or less in the ink jet system and a boiling point of 130 ° C. or more are preferable.
When the surface tension is 40 mN / m or more, the dot shape stability at the time of ink jet discharge is significantly adversely affected, and when the boiling point is 130 ° C. or less, the drying property in the vicinity of the nozzle is remarkably increased. This is not preferable because it causes a defect such as nozzle clogging.

  Specifically, 2-methoxyethanol, 2-ethoxyethanol, 2-butoxyethanol, 2-ethoxyethyl acetate, 2-butoxyethyl acetate, 2-methoxyethyl acetate, 2-ethoxyethyl ether, 2- (2-ethoxy Ethoxy) ethanol, 2- (2-butoxyethoxy) ethanol, 2- (2-ethoxyethoxy) ethyl acetate, 2- (2-butoxyethoxy) ethyl acetate, 2-phenoxyethanol, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, etc. The solvent is not limited to these, and any solvent that satisfies the above requirements can be used. Moreover, you may mix and use 2 or more types of solvents as needed.

Casein, gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethyl acetal, polyimide resin, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, melanin resin, and the like are used as the resin of the colored ink of the present invention, and are appropriately selected in relation to the pigment. An acrylic resin is preferred when heat resistance and light resistance are required.
In order to improve the dispersion of the dye in the resin, a dispersant may be used. As the dispersant, as the nonionic surfactant, for example, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, etc., and as the ionic surfactant Examples thereof include sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, poly fatty acid salt, fatty acid salt alkyl phosphate, tetraalkyl ammonium salt, and other organic pigment derivatives and polyester. One type of dispersant may be used alone, or two or more types of dispersants may be mixed and used. The solvent is required to have stability over time, drying property, etc. in addition to solubility, and is appropriately selected in relation to the dye and the resin.

  As an ink jet apparatus for supplying colored ink, there are a piezo conversion method and a heat conversion method depending on the ink discharge method, and the piezo conversion method is particularly preferable. A device in which the ink particleization frequency is about 5 to 100 kHz, the nozzle diameter is about 5 to 80 μm, three heads are arranged, and 60 to 500 nozzles are incorporated in one head is suitable.

Examples of the present invention will be specifically described below.
(Production of partition walls)
As the partition, an ink-repellent light-shielding partition was formed in one layer. Polyimide precursor (manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc .: “Semicofine SP-510” 10 parts by weight, carbon black 7.5 parts by weight, NMP 130 parts by weight, dispersant (copper phthalocyanine derivative) 5 parts by weight, and ink repellent agent (poly The partition wall ink was prepared by dispersing 0.5 part by weight of alkylsiloxane) for 3 hours while cooling with a bead mill disperser.

A metal roll having a surface coated with polyvinyl alcohol was used as the support member. As the peeling member, flat glass whose surface was processed into predetermined irregularities was used. After the partition wall ink was applied on the support member by the slit coater method, unnecessary portions were removed by a peeling member, and a partition wall was formed on the support member.
When the contact angle of the partition wall surface with the colored ink was measured, it was 30 °, and it was confirmed that the partition wall surface had ink repellency with respect to the colored ink. Further, it was confirmed that the OD value of the partition wall was 3, which was sufficiently light-shielding and could be used as a black matrix.

(Preparation of colored ink)
20 parts of methacrylic acid, 10 parts of methyl methacrylate, 55 parts of butyl methacrylate and 15 parts of hydroxyethyl methacrylate are dissolved in 300 g of butyl lactate, and 0.75 part of azobisisobutylnitrile is added in a nitrogen atmosphere, and the reaction is carried out at 70 ° C. for 5 hours. Thus, an acrylic copolymer resin was obtained. The obtained acrylic copolymer resin was diluted with propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate so that the resin concentration would be 10% to obtain a diluted solution of the acrylic copolymer resin. 19.0 g of pigment and 0.9 g of dispersant were added to 80.1 g of this diluted solution, and kneaded with three rolls to obtain red, green and blue colored varnishes. Each colored varnish was adjusted with propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate so that the pigment concentration was 12 to 15% and the viscosity was 15 cps to obtain R, G and B colored inks.

(Preparation of colored pattern)
Red (R), green (G), and blue (B) ink jet printers that use colored inks of R, G, and B colors and mounted with 12 pl and 180 dpi heads at the partition opening on the support member. Each colored layer 11R, 11G, 11B was formed.

(Production of color filter)
The partition walls and the colored layer remaining on the support member were transferred onto alkali-free glass (Corning, product number 1737). Next, baking was performed at 230 ° C. for 1 hour in an oven to form a color filter.
The color filter thus obtained was a good color filter with good smoothness and less ΔEab <1 in the pixel and less color unevenness.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the manufacturing apparatus of the color filter of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the color filter of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Color filter manufacturing apparatus 2 ... Coating unit 3 ... Partition wall 4 ... Support member 5 ... Separation member 6 ... Partition 7 ... Transparent substrate 8 ... Fixed unit 9 ... Partition opening 10 ... Inkjet unit 11R, 11G, 11B ... Colored layer 12 ... Resin thin film

Claims (8)

In the color filter manufacturing method, at least,
1) After a barrier layer having a predetermined thickness made of barrier rib ink is formed on the support member, the barrier layer is peeled and removed from the barrier layer in a negative pattern by a peeling member having a convex portion which is a negative pattern of a desired pattern. And a partition wall forming step for forming a partition wall having a partition wall opening of a desired pattern on the support member;
2) A colored pattern forming step of forming a colored pattern by discharging a colored ink to the partition wall opening on the support member by an ink jet method to form a colored pattern;
3) A method for producing a color filter, comprising a transfer step of transferring the partition walls and the colored pattern on the support member onto a transparent substrate.   The method for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall layer contains a black pigment.   The method for producing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall layer contains an ink repellent agent.   4. The method for producing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein a contact angle of the outermost surface of the partition layer with respect to the colored ink is in a range of 15 ° to 40 °.   The method for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the support member has a surface coated with a resin thin film.   6. The method of manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein a contact angle of the surface of the support member with respect to the partition wall ink is 10 ° or less.   The method for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1, wherein the support member is made of a metal roll.   A color filter manufactured by the method for manufacturing a color filter according to claim 1.

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