JP2911480B2 - Electro-optical cell, manufacturing method thereof, and liquid crystal cell - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electro-optical cell, particularly to a liquid crystal cell.

[Related Art] In recent years, an electro-optical element such as a liquid crystal display element is capable of displaying a large area with low power, and thus its use as a display device is increasing. These devices usually have a configuration in which an electro-optical medium is sandwiched between substrates provided with electrodes, a peripheral portion of the electro-optical medium is sealed with an adhesive, and a driving device for applying a voltage to the electrodes is provided. In order to make the gap between the substrates uniform, a spacer made of glass beads, glass fiber, or the like is interposed between the substrates, and the same spacer is mixed and used in the adhesive at the periphery.

Further, the display pattern of such an electro-optical element is usually formed by applying a voltage to a desired electrode through an electrode terminal. Common,
Most of the cells have segment electrode terminals, but most cells have common electrode terminals and segment electrode terminals collected on a segment substrate using transfer material to increase the effective display area, simplify terminal connection, and stabilize manufacturing conditions. ing. For this purpose, silver paste, carbon paste and the like having good conductivity are often used as a material for forming the transfer material.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] A method of providing the above-mentioned transfer material inside or in contact with the peripheral seal of the electro-optical cell is often used. At this time, the transfer material and the peripheral seal material are arranged at a predetermined position on the common substrate and the segment substrate by a printing method or the like, and the two substrates are accurately overlapped and pressed to a predetermined cell gap. Will also be formed.

However, since the physical properties of the transfer material and the material forming the peripheral seal material are significantly different, the cell gap becomes non-uniform around the transfer material due to variations in manufacturing conditions, resulting in uneven display appearance and vibration and temperature changes. In addition, the transfer material causes a contact failure, causing a non-lighting of a display pattern or the like.

In other words, in response to market demands for expanding the effective display area to the limit, it has become common to reduce the width of the peripheral seal or to form a common electrode routing pattern in the peripheral seal. Due to the misalignment, the common electrode is likely to be broken if it is shifted to the inner side of the surface, and a seal puncture is likely to be generated if it is shifted to the center of the seal. In addition, since the seal width was reduced, the transfer material was easily affected by the crushed state of the transfer material.

As a means for solving these problems, there is a method of imparting conductivity to the entire area of the peripheral sealing material and also having the function of a transfer material (Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-43306). It could not be used for an electrode that crossed over.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a spacer is interposed between a common electrode substrate and a segment electrode substrate to sandwich an electro-optical medium and to provide a peripheral portion. In an electro-optical cell sealed with an organic adhesive mixed with a spacer, a transfer material obtained by mixing a conductive spacer having a conductive coating provided on the surface of the spacer in the organic adhesive is used as a common electrode and a segment in the seal. It is provided at a predetermined part in the seal area avoiding the crossover part in the seal where the electrodes face each other, and conducts between the common electrode and the terminal provided on the segment electrode substrate. An electro-optical cell is provided.

In a liquid crystal cell in which a spacer is interposed between the common electrode substrate and the segment electrode substrate, the liquid crystal layer is sandwiched, and the periphery is sealed with an organic adhesive mixed with the spacer, a conductive coating is provided on the surface of the spacer. A transfer material obtained by mixing the conductive spacer in the organic adhesive is provided in a predetermined part of the seal area avoiding a crossover portion in the seal where the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other in the seal. And a liquid crystal cell provided with conduction between a common electrode and a terminal provided on a segment electrode substrate.

In addition, a seal material made of an organic adhesive mixed with a spacer is provided around the electrode side of one of the common electrode substrate and the segment electrode substrate, and a seal material made of an organic adhesive mixed with the spacer is formed around the other substrate. A transfer material is provided, a spacer is arranged on the entire surface of at least one electrode side of the substrate, and both substrates are interposed between the common electrode and the segment electrode in the seal via the seal material. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an electro-optical cell, characterized in that pressure bonding is performed so as to come to a predetermined part in a seal region while avoiding the above.

That is, the present invention uses an electro-optical cell in which a transfer material for connecting a common electrode to a substrate terminal provided with a segment electrode is obtained by adding a conductive material to an organic adhesive used for a peripheral seal, As this conductive material, a material in which a conductive film is provided on the surface of a spacer is used.

The present invention can be applied to an electro-optical cell in which an electro-optical medium is sandwiched between a common electrode substrate and a segment electrode substrate and the periphery thereof is sealed with a sealing material.
In particular, a liquid crystal cell will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a cell of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1A and 1B are substrates, and 2
Is an organic adhesive layer, 3 is a segment electrode, 5
Is a common electrode, 6A, 6B and 6C are spacers,
7 is a liquid crystal layer, and 9A and 9B are polarizing plates.

Transparent substrates such as glass and plastic can be used as the substrates 1A and 1B, and the surfaces thereof are ITO (In ₂ O ₃ -SnO ₂ ),
Transparent electrodes 3 of SnO ₂ or the like is formed. A low-resistance metal lead may be provided on the transparent electrode, or a color filter, a light-shielding plate, an insulating film, or the like may be formed above or below the transparent electrode.

An alignment film is usually formed on the surface of the substrate with electrodes. When a light-shielding film is provided on an electrode, an alignment film is formed thereon. As this alignment control method, a known alignment control method such as a method of forming an organic polymer film of polyimide, polyamide, polyvinyl alcohol or the like by a printing method or a spinner method, rubbing this, or an oblique vapor deposition method can be used.

The sealing material is made of an ordinary organic resin such as an epoxy resin or a silicone resin, and usually has an opening formed in a part thereof, and after the cell is formed, liquid crystal is injected from the opening,
The opening may be sealed.

The polarizing plates 9A and 9B are provided on one side or both sides of the cell as necessary, depending on the properties of the liquid crystal sealed in the cell.

As the sealing material, a material in which spacers 6B such as glass beads, glass fibers, plastic fibers, and alumina powder are mixed in the organic adhesive layer 2 is used, and the distance between the substrates is determined by the spacers. Similarly, a spacer 6A is interposed between the two substrates, so that the distance between the two substrates is made uniform in the substrate plane.

The spacer arranged in the substrate surface may be the same as the spacer mixed in the sealing material described above. However, as described above, the substrate surface is usually provided with an alignment film, a light shielding film, or the like, Since a strong pressure is applied to the sealing portion during the production of the cell, the spacers may not be of the same size, and the spacing between the substrates may be made uniform. Therefore, the spacer may be appropriately adjusted according to the conditions.

In the present invention, a transfer material for providing conduction between the electrodes of the upper and lower substrates is obtained by mixing a conductive spacer 6C having a conductive film provided on the surface of the spacer into the adhesive, and using a transfer material. Is provided at a predetermined portion in the seal region avoiding the crossover portion in the seal where the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other in the seal.

In other words, by providing the transfer material over the seal region, a portion of the display surface that is not part of the display is reduced as much as possible, and a large-area display is enabled. Furthermore, since the transfer material is made of the same material as the organic adhesive used for the seal material, the transfer material itself functions as the seal material, and the physical properties with the seal material are almost the same. It is easy to control and does not reduce its adhesion.

Further, in the present invention, since the transfer material is localized at a predetermined part in the seal region, unlike the case where the conductive spacer is distributed over the entire seal region, the segment electrode and the segment electrode in the seal region are different. In a design in which a crossover of the common electrode routing wiring occurs, a transfer material is provided avoiding this portion, thereby preventing occurrence of a short circuit and increasing design flexibility.

As a result, ferroelectric and super-twisted liquid crystal display elements that require high-precision gap control, negative-type liquid crystal display elements that tend to have uneven display appearance due to color unevenness, and in-vehicle devices that require high reliability The liquid crystal display element 3 can be manufactured with high productivity.

As the material of the conductive spacer mixed into the transfer material, in order to make the physical properties almost the same as the seal material,
It is preferable to use the same spacer as that used for the sealing material and provide a conductive coating on the surface in order to impart conductivity thereto.

As a method of providing the conductive film, metal plating of nickel, copper or the like, vacuum deposition, or the like can be employed as long as the effects of the present invention are not impaired, but nickel plating suitable for mass production in terms of cost is preferable. The size of the conductive spacer in the transfer material may be the same as the size of the spacer used in the sealing material, or may be the size in consideration of the thickness of the conductive film.

FIG. 2 is a partial front view showing the periphery of the transfer material of the liquid crystal cell of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 8 denotes a transfer material, 10 denotes an effective display area, 2 denotes a peripheral seal material, 12 denotes a segment electrode terminal, and 13 denotes a common electrode obtained by extracting a common electrode into a segment electrode by a transfer material. Reference numerals 14 denote electrode terminals, and reference numeral 14 denotes a common electrode routing pattern. Reference numeral 15 denotes a crossover portion in the seal in which the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other in the seal.

The amount of the conductive material added to the sealing material is 0.1%.
% By weight or more is preferred. If the amount is less than 0.1% by weight, conduction cannot be sufficiently obtained in many cases due to variation in the mixed state.

When manufacturing the electro-optical cell of the present invention, a seal material is printed on one substrate, and a transfer material is printed on the other substrate, and the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other in the transfer material in the seal. The two substrates can be press-bonded with the sealing material interposed therebetween so as to be located at a predetermined part in the sealing region avoiding the crossover portion in the seal.

That is, in the present invention, since the material of the seal material and the material of the transfer material are substantially equal, the seal material is printed on one of the substrates without considering the position of the transfer material,
An electro-optical cell in which the transfer material is provided in the sealing region can be obtained only by providing the transfer material at the other predetermined position of the substrates and pressing the two substrates together.

[Example] As shown in FIG. 1, ITO on a glass substrate with ITO was patterned by a photo-etching method, an overcoat layer for a 50-nm polyimide alignment film was formed thereon, and the whole was inclined at an angle of 45 °. Rubbing in the direction, then printing a sealing material with spacers around the periphery of the segment electrode substrate, and applying nickel plating to an organic spherical spacer of the same particle size and material as the spacer mixed in the sealing material on the common electrode substrate The transfer material is prepared by mixing the conductive spacer and the peripheral sealing material at a weight ratio of 1: 100, the spacers are scattered over the entire surface of the substrate, and the two substrates are arranged so that the alignment film surfaces are opposed to each other, and are pressed. A cell was formed.

Next, a nematic liquid crystal was injected from the injection port, and the injection port was sealed to manufacture a liquid crystal cell. A pair of polarizers are provided on both sides of the liquid crystal cell. One substrate has its polarization axis orthogonal to the orientation direction of the liquid crystal molecules that are close to each other. (So that the polarization axes are parallel to each other).

This liquid crystal display element was a negative type display, and had a white display portion whose display was changed by driving on a black background.

As a result, there was no appearance defect due to color unevenness around the transfer material, and the visibility was good. In addition, the yield was high without disconnection of the common electrode or seal puncture of the peripheral seal.

[Effects of the Invention] In the present invention, a transfer material for connecting a common electrode to a segment electrode substrate terminal is formed by mixing a spacer provided with a conductive coating in the same organic adhesive as a peripheral seal material. For this reason, it is possible to easily manufacture a complicated pattern having a negative gap, a narrow seal width, a large number of transfer material points, and a crossover within the seal, which has been conventionally difficult, with high productivity.

In addition, by using a conductive sealing material as a transfer material, it is possible to manufacture with high productivity without greatly changing a conventional production process.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to various applications within a range that does not impair the effects of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of the liquid crystal cell of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial front view showing the periphery of a transfer material of the liquid crystal cell of the present invention. 1A, 1B: substrate, 2: organic adhesive layer, 3: segment electrode, 5: common electrode, 6A, 6B, 6C: spacer, 7: liquid crystal layer, 9A, 9B: polarizing plate, 10: effective display area, 12 : Segment electrode terminal, 13: Common electrode terminal obtained by extracting common electrode to segment electrode with transfer material, 14: Common electrode routing pattern, 15: Crossover part in seal where common electrode and segment electrode face each other in seal .

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G02F 1/1345 G02F 1/1339

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An electro-optical cell comprising a spacer interposed between a common electrode substrate and a segment electrode substrate, sandwiching an electro-optical medium, and sealing the periphery with an organic adhesive containing the spacer. A transfer material obtained by mixing a conductive spacer provided with a conductive film in the organic adhesive into a predetermined area in a seal area is avoided by avoiding a crossover portion in the seal where the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other in the seal. An electro-optical cell provided in a portion of the electro-optical cell, wherein conduction is established between a common electrode and a terminal provided on a segment electrode substrate. 2. A liquid crystal cell in which a spacer is interposed between a common electrode substrate and a segment electrode substrate, a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched, and the periphery is sealed with an organic adhesive mixed with a spacer. A transfer material obtained by mixing a conductive spacer provided with a coating in the organic adhesive is applied to a predetermined area of the seal area within the seal, avoiding a crossover portion in the seal where the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other. A liquid crystal cell, wherein the liquid crystal cell is provided in a portion, and conducts between a common electrode and a terminal provided on a segment electrode substrate. 3. A sealing material made of an organic adhesive mixed with a spacer is provided around the electrode side of one of the common electrode substrate and the segment electrode substrate, and an organic adhesive mixed with the spacer is formed around the other substrate. A transfer material made of a chemical agent is provided, a spacer is arranged on the entire surface of at least one electrode side of the substrate, and both substrates are placed in a seal where the transfer material is in the seal and the common electrode and the segment electrode face each other via the seal material. A method for manufacturing an electro-optical cell, comprising: crimping so as to avoid a crossover portion and to come into contact with a predetermined part in a seal region.