JP2776349B2 - Inspection method of liquid crystal display - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for testing a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a method for testing a liquid crystal display device having a terminal structure formed simultaneously with the formation of a switching element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) liquid crystal display device, a TFT array substrate and a color filter substrate are overlapped with each other, cutting, liquid crystal injection, and the like are performed. It is manufactured by mounting. Before mounting the driver IC, it is necessary to perform a display inspection for the purpose of not sending a defective panel to the next process and providing early feedback of the content of the defect.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a conventional liquid crystal display panel and an inspection method thereof. Driver IC
-Side terminal section 2 and data-side terminal section 3 for mounting
Is brought into contact with the probe needle 18 by the inspection device.

[0006] The probe needle 18 is connected to a driving power supply 19 or a data power supply 20 to perform a display inspection of a liquid crystal display panel.

[0005] FIG. 6 shows a driving side terminal portion 2 shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line B ′.

As shown in FIG. 6, the drive line side terminal portion 2 of FIG. 5 is connected to a drive line wiring material 11 and a data line side wiring material 14 through a through hole 13 provided in an insulating layer 12. And an ITO layer on which a pixel electrode is formed
(Indium tin oxide) 15 is the outermost surface.

In general, a channel protective film 16 which is an insulating layer is provided in order to prevent the transistor portion in the pixel from directly touching the liquid crystal. The drive line side terminal portion 2 is patterned so as to be open. In some cases, a terminal for making a contact at the time of display inspection is provided separately from a terminal for pressing the driver IC. Disappears).

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a sectional view and a plan view of the terminal portion in such a case, respectively. 7 and 8, reference numeral 11 denotes a drive line wiring material, 12 denotes an insulating layer, 13 denotes a through hole, and 14 denotes a data line side wiring material. In the configuration shown in FIG.
Are arranged inside the driver IC 22 and are arranged in a staggered manner in order to make the inspection terminal portion 21 larger (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-173164). That is, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 8, the test contact area provided on the odd-numbered signal wiring is located at a position close to the display unit 1, and the test contact area provided on the even-numbered signal wiring is provided on the driver IC 22. They are arranged alternately at close positions.

[0009]

In a conventional liquid crystal display device as shown in FIG. 5, probe terminals 18 are provided at all terminals.
Need to make contact, the number of which is 2000
Since the number of terminals has been reduced to about 5,000 and the pitch of terminals has recently been narrowed, there is a problem that the probe needle itself becomes very expensive.

When the pitch and the number of terminals of the probe needles 18 change, it is necessary to prepare these probe needles 18 for each product type.

Further, in a conventional inspection method in which a drive-side terminal group and a data-side terminal group are respectively applied with conductive rubber by a predetermined inspection jig, and a voltage is applied to these conductive rubbers from an inspection device to measure them. It is difficult to detect a difference between adjacent pixels (for example, the same voltage is applied to adjacent pixels). In this case, although a disconnection failure can be detected, it is difficult to detect a short-circuit failure.

On the other hand, when the inspection terminal portion 21 is provided inside the pressure contact terminal of the driver IC 22 as in the conventional liquid crystal display device shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the outer shape of the liquid crystal panel itself becomes large. There is a problem.

Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, realizes a low-cost and highly reliable display inspection before mounting a driver IC or the like on a liquid crystal display panel, and realizes a defect inspection to a next process. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for inspecting a liquid crystal display device that can prevent outflow and provide early feedback information of a defect.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a TFT liquid crystal display device comprising a plurality of pixel portions, a thin film transistor, and a capacitor, which is provided on a signal wiring disposed around the display portion. in comprising a test contact region'd the exposed portion and the insulating coating portions are provided instead of the position for each line in the inspection contact region
That method of inspecting a liquid crystal display device, the conductive rubber
A method for inspecting a liquid crystal display device is provided, wherein a contact is made with the exposed portion and a display inspection is performed .

Further, in the present invention , the liquid crystal display device comprises :
Disconnect the terminal at the end of the glass substrate to connect the drive circuit.
Terminals adjacent to each other in the channel protective film that is the edge layer are terminals
Partly covered so that it is not exposed adjacent to the row direction
Have been .

According to the present invention, the inspection contact region is provided on the signal wiring provided around the display section, and the exposed portion and the insulating coating portion change their positions for each wiring on the inspection contact region. In testing, preferably, a conductive rubber is brought into contact with the exposed portion to apply a voltage waveform from a predetermined power source to the pixel via the conductive rubber, so that a voltage having a different polarity is applied to an adjacent pixel. Can be applied and held, and it is possible to detect not only short-circuits and disconnections of lines, pixel defects (point defects), but also display defects such as unevenness. According to the present invention, the display inspection can be performed at low cost before the liquid crystal panel is mounted with the driver IC or the like.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a structure of a liquid crystal display panel and a display inspection method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a display unit of a liquid crystal display panel;
Numeral 2 denotes a drive-side terminal portion, 3 denotes a data-side terminal portion, and the drive-side terminal portion 2 and the data-side terminal portion 3 have electrode-exposed portions 4, 4 'and electrode-coated portions 5, 5', respectively, in a staggered manner. They are formed alternately.

In addition, the conductive rubber 6 to
6 "" is used to make contact with the drive side terminal 2 and the data side terminal 3 (the conductive rubbers 6 to 6 "" are provided on an inspection jig (not shown) and contact the terminals 2 and 3 at the time of inspection. ). An inspection power supply is connected to the conductive rubber 6, the conductive rubber 6 is a first drive power supply (VG 1) 7, the conductive rubber 6 ′ is a second drive power supply (VG 2) 8, a conductive rubber 6 ″ is connected to a first data power supply (VD1) 9 and the conductive rubber 6 ″ ″ is connected to a second data power supply (VD2) 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, by forming the electrode exposed portions 4 and the electrode covering portions 5 alternately in the drive side terminal portion 2 in a staggered manner, the two conductive rubbers 6 and 6 ′ are formed. Is in contact with the electrode exposed portion 4 of the drive-side terminal portion 2 which is an odd-numbered line, and the drive-side terminal portion 2 which is an even-numbered line is not in contact with the electrode exposed portion 4 by the electrode coating portion 5. The other one of the conductive rubbers 6, 6 'is in contact with the electrode exposed portion 4 of the drive-side terminal portion 2 which is an even-numbered line, and the electrode coating portion 5 is provided on the drive-side terminal portion 2 which is an odd-numbered line. As a result, it does not come into contact with the electrode exposed portion 4. Then, as shown in the figure, the data side terminal unit 3 is similarly configured.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'of FIG.
FIG.

In the terminal portion, usually, a drive line wiring material 11 and a data line wiring material 14 are connected to an insulating film 12 through a through hole 13, and an ITO 1 constituting a pixel portion is formed on the upper layer.
5 is comprised. In the figure, reference numeral 17 denotes a glass substrate.

Further, in the present embodiment, a structure in which a part of one side of the driving terminal section 2 is covered with a channel protective film (insulating film) 16 for preventing the transistor section in the pixel from directly touching the liquid crystal. And

The terminal adjacent to the terminal whose cross section is shown in FIG. 2 is structured so as to cover a part on the opposite side to that of FIG.
Thereby, the electrode coating portions 5 are alternately arranged on the display portion 1 side and the opposite side for each adjacent line.

With such a structure, the voltage of the first drive power supply (VG1) 7 is applied to the odd-numbered drive lines, and the voltage of the second drive power supply (VG2) 8 is applied to the drive lines. Applied only to even lines. The same applies to the first data power supply (VD1) 9 and the second data power supply (VD2) 10 on the data line side, and the voltage of the first data power supply (VD1) 9 is , And the voltage of the second data power supply (VD2) 10 is applied only to the even lines of the data lines.

Next, an inspection method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows an example of a holding state of the applied voltage of each pixel, and FIG. 4 shows an example of a timing chart thereof.

First, the first driving power supply (VG1) 7 applies a voltage for turning on the TFT for a certain period. In synchronization with this, voltages + A and -B are applied to the first data power supply (VD1) 9 and the second data power supply (VD2) 10, respectively, to the pixel portion via the TFT in the ON state. That voltage is maintained.

Next, in synchronization with the application of the ON voltage by the second drive power supply (VG2) 8 for a certain period, the first data power supply (VD1) 9 and the second data power supply (VD2) )
When voltages -C and + D are applied to
It is held in the pixel via the N-state TFT.

The first drive power supply (VG1) 7 is turned on again.
When the voltage is applied, the first data power supply (VD1) 9 is applied with the voltages -A and + B whose polarities (positive and negative) are opposite to those of the first time.
+ C and -D are supplied to the second data power supply (V
D2) Apply from 10 and repeat these steps.

Of course, each voltage amplitude is | A | = | B | =
Although | C | = | D | may be used, it is easy to freely combine the polarities (positive or negative) of the voltages held in the adjacent pixels.

In general, a TFT liquid crystal display device is a device that applies a voltage to a liquid crystal and operates liquid crystal molecules to impart polarized light to light from behind to display various screens. The gradation display is performed by using the fact that the degree of polarization of light changes by changing the voltage applied to the liquid crystal. Thereby, depending on the combination with the polarizing plate used,
When a voltage is not applied to the liquid crystal, a display that displays white and a display that displays black can be made.

Hereinafter, description will be made using the former case.

In FIG. 4, a voltage A applied to the liquid crystal is
Assuming that B, C, and D are voltages sufficient for the liquid crystal to operate,
The display is black.

By changing the applied voltages A, B, C, and D, each gradation display can be performed from black display to white display.

Thus, with the liquid crystal display device according to the present embodiment, it is possible to perform a display test on the liquid crystal panel before mounting the driver IC or the like.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

In the first embodiment, the structure is such that the drive-side terminal portions 2 and the data-side terminal portions 3 are alternately covered with the channel protective film 16. The side terminal portion 3 has a structure in which three types (rows) of electrode exposed portions are further provided in a zigzag pattern by the channel protective film 16.

In the present embodiment, at the time of inspection, three conductive rubbers 6 (not shown)
, Three types of power can be applied to each pixel from the three power sources (for the data terminal portion 3, the electrode exposed portion is, for example, the first line is the display portion 1 side, and the third line is the display portion 1). The second line on the opposite side is provided at a position corresponding to three conductive rubbers 6 at the middle and the like, and this is repeated for a predetermined line).

Therefore, in a liquid crystal display panel in which red (R), green (G), and blue (B) are arranged in a stripe, the voltage applied to each color can be changed. As described in the first embodiment, the polarity (positive or negative)
Can be freely combined with each other, so that the display can be made entirely red, green, and blue.

In the above-described embodiment, the liquid crystal panel in which the terminals are drawn out on only one side of both the drive line and the data line has been described as an example. Is similarly applicable.

[0041]

As described above, the present invention has a structure in which a part of the driving-side terminal and the data-side terminal is covered with the channel protective film, which is an insulating layer, thereby simplifying the conductive rubber or the like. It is possible to inspect the display of the liquid crystal panel before mounting the driver IC using only a simple jig.

According to the present invention, as a display inspection method, voltages of different polarities can be freely applied and held to adjacent pixels, so that short-circuiting and disconnection of lines, pixel defects (point defects) are of course possible. It is also possible to detect a display defect such as unevenness and the like, and a highly reliable inspection can be performed.

According to the inspection method of the present invention, even when the type of the liquid crystal panel is changed, it is possible to cope with the change only by a simple jig, so that it can be made very inexpensive.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a liquid crystal panel and a display inspection method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA 'of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a voltage holding state of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a timing waveform of an applied voltage in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a structure of a conventional liquid crystal display panel and a display inspection method.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the terminal section taken along line BB ′ shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional staggered terminal portion.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of conventional staggered terminal portions.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display part 2 Drive side terminal part 3 Data side terminal part 4 Electrode exposure part 5 Electrode covering part 6 Conductive rubber 7 First drive power supply (VG1) 8 Second drive power supply (VG2) 9 First data Power supply for power supply (VD1) 10 Power supply for second data (VD2) 11 Drive line wiring material 12 Insulating film 13 Through hole 14 Data line wiring material 15 ITO 16 Channel protective film 17 Glass substrate 18 Probe needle 19 Drive power supply 20 For data Power supply 21 Inspection terminal 22 Driver IC

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of pixel units and a thin film transistor (TF)
T) and a capacitor element, a TFT contact area is provided on a signal wiring provided around the display section, and an exposed portion and an insulating coating section are formed on the testing contact area by wiring. an inspection method of a liquid crystal display device thus provided in place of the position for each, by the conductive rubber is performed contact with the exposed portion, the table
An inspection method for a liquid crystal display device, characterized by performing a display inspection . 2. The liquid crystal display device connects a driving circuit.
The terminal part of the edge of the glass substrate for the channel is an insulating layer
Adjacent terminals are exposed adjacent to each other in the
2. The method for inspecting a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display device is partially covered so as not to come out . 3. Adjacent by the combination of the conductive rubbers
Inspection method for a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein applying a different voltage to the pixel, and performs display test. 4. A power supply for two drives and a power supply for two data.
Connected to each conductive rubber, one of the driving power supply
When a voltage that turns on the TFT is applied to the
Apply an arbitrary voltage from the data power supply of
When the ON voltage is applied from the other drive power supply to
Similarly, apply an arbitrary voltage from the data power supply and
Display inspection by changing the voltage and polarity applied to the pixels in contact
Inspection method for a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the performing. 5. Three power supplies and three data power supplies are provided.
Stripe by connecting to each conductive rubber
Of liquid crystal display devices in which red, green, and blue are
In the inspection method, change the applied voltage and polarity for each color.
3. A display inspection is carried out.
The inspection method of the liquid crystal display device described in the above . 6. A plurality of pixel portions and a thin film transistor (TF)
T) and a method for inspecting a liquid crystal display device comprising a capacitive element
In the above, the inspection contact on the signal wiring arranged around the display unit
Region, exposed on the test contact region
Parts and insulation coating parts are provided with their positions changed for each wiring.
And adjacent terminals are exposed adjacent to each other in the terminal row direction.
The liquid crystal display device that does not have, by the combination of conductive rubber,
The exposure at the same exposure position on the inspection contact area
Contact with each other and contact adjacent pixels
An inspection method for a liquid crystal display device, wherein a display inspection is performed by applying different voltages . 7. The adjacent terminals are alternately exposed in a staggered manner.
With two output power supplies and two data power supplies
Connected to each conductive rubber, one of the driving power supply
When a voltage that turns on the TFT is applied to the
Apply an arbitrary voltage from the data power supply of
When the ON voltage is applied from the other drive power supply to
Similarly, apply an arbitrary voltage from the data power supply and
By changing the voltage and polarity applied to the pixels in contact,
Inspection method for a liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the performing査. 8. The data-side terminal portions are arranged in a zigzag manner with three rows of exposed portions.
The three data power supplies are each made of conductive rubber
Red, green and blue stripes by connecting
In the inspection method of the liquid crystal display device as arranged,
Display inspection is performed by changing the applied voltage and polarity for each color.
Inspection method for a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the cormorants.