JPH03218473A - Display panel probe - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a display panel probe, and relates to a technology that is effective for use in, for example, those used for testing liquid crystal display panels or glass substrates constituting the same. It is.

[Conventional technology]

As an example of a probe board used for testing liquid crystal panels, there is, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 173971/1983. The probe board disclosed in this publication has a conductive part by mixing gold into rubber and encrusting it, which is used as a probe to contact an electrode on a glass substrate.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The probe board having the above structure has a problem in that it is necessary to mix gold into the rubber, and that special technology or equipment is required to manufacture it, which increases the cost accordingly. Also,
Since the contact area of the electrode becomes larger, the contact pressure per unit area becomes smaller.

When the contact pressure is reduced in this way, there is a problem that stable electrical contact cannot be obtained due to insulating dust, oxide film, etc. on the surface of the probe electrode or the electrode of the liquid crystal panel under test. An object of the present invention is to provide a prober for a substrate that can obtain stable electrical contact with a simple configuration. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means to solve the problem]

A brief overview of the typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows: Wiring wires on the surface of a film base with appropriate hardness and flexibility in accordance with the pitch of the electrodes to be measured. and use it as a probe. [Function] According to the above-mentioned means, by utilizing the TAB technology, it is possible to obtain a probe consisting of a large number of probes capable of good electrical contact with a simple structure. [Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of essential parts of an embodiment of a display panel prop according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view thereof.

In the same figure, in order to prevent the drawing from becoming complicated,
A display panel probe provided corresponding to one side of a rectangular liquid crystal display panel is shown as a representative example.

Although the probe of this example is not particularly limited, T A
B (Tape Automated Bondin
Construct the probe using g). In other words, using photographic technology, pinch wiring corresponding to the electrodes of the display panel is formed on the surface of the film base (bottom side in Figures 1 and 2), which has moderate hardness and flexibility such as polyimide film. and use it as a probe. Since the display panel has a large number of electrodes, a plurality of TABs on which the plurality of probes are photographically printed are combined and integrated by a TAB mounting board. As a result, a large number of blobs are provided corresponding to a large number of electrodes provided corresponding to one side of the display panel. When the probe is brought into contact with all the electrodes provided on the four sides of the liquid crystal display panel, the TA provided corresponding to each of the sides is
The B mounting board is attached to a common mounting plate. Although only a portion of this mounting plate is shown, its overall shape consists of a rectangular plate with an opening corresponding to the liquid crystal display panel at the tip end of the TAB. In other words, the shape of the frame corresponds to the liquid crystal display panel.

In order to bring the wiring as the probe into contact with the electrode surface of a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel with a desired contact pressure,
At the tip of the back side of the TAB (the top side in Figures 1 and 2), a silicone rubber tube as an elastic body is provided parallel to it and has a presser metal fitting as its core. As shown in FIG. 2, a drive IC is mounted on the top surface of the TAB. That is, a drive signal formed by a drive IC is transmitted to the wiring as the probe. Since the wiring as a probe is extended as it is and connected to the drive IC in this way, a test circuit can be easily constructed and the liquid crystal display panel can be driven in the same manner as in the actual driving state.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display panel probe of this embodiment aligns the electrode of the liquid crystal panel to be measured with the wiring as the probe.

After that, as shown in Figure 3, by pushing down the probe side (mounting plate) or pushing up the liquid crystal panel side,
Start contact between the TAB wiring and the electrodes of the liquid crystal panel. At this time, since the polyimide film of the TAB has appropriate hardness and flexibility, the wiring as a probe of the TAB starts contact while rubbing the electrode surface of the liquid crystal panel.

As a result, I To (Indium T
This method scrunches the electrode (in oxide) and destroys the surface oxide film to make contact, making it possible to make good electrical contact.

That is, as shown in Fig. 4, as the silicone rubber tube is finally crushed, the TAB is deformed to have the desired contact pressure, and the probe rubs the electrode surface accordingly. This method removes surface oxide films, dust, etc., and makes contact with the measurement electrode through a wide contact surface. This enables good and stable electrical contact.

In addition, in order to make better and more reliable electrical contact possible, the press fitting, which is the core of the silicone rubber tube, may be made to vibrate ultrasonically. As a result, the wiring as a probe and the electrode of the liquid crystal panel are rubbed against each other, so that the dust and oxide film can be removed more completely and good electrical contact can be obtained.

The outline of the test of the liquid crystal panel using the above-mentioned display probe is as follows.

When a liquid crystal panel has a simple matrix configuration, scanning lines and signal lines are arranged in the horizontal and vertical directions of the display panel.

In this case, the probe is pressed against both ends of the signal line and the scanning line to check for disconnection. After this, drive signals are supplied as necessary to perform liquid crystal display tests such as all-on tests and all-off tests. If the liquid crystal display panel has an active matrix configuration, in addition to checking for disconnections in the signal lines and scanning lines as described above, it is also possible to check whether the TPT transistor provided for each pixel is on or off.
It is necessary to conduct an off test. For this reason, at least the TPT mentioned above should be confirmed by checking that all lights are on and all lights are off.
It is necessary to check the on-state Li/off state of the transistor. In this case, as in this embodiment, all the electrodes of the display panel are brought into contact at the same time, so that the test can be performed under the same conditions as the actual movable state.

The effects obtained from the above examples are as follows. In other words, (11) by forming wiring on the surface of a film base with appropriate hardness and flexibility in accordance with the pitch of the electrodes to be measured, and using it as a probe, TA
By applying the B technique, it is possible to obtain a probe consisting of a large number of probes capable of good electrical contact with a simple configuration.

(2) By pressing the TAB acting as the probe and the display panel against each other via an elastic body such as a silicone rubber tube, the wiring serving as the probe rubs the electrode surface of the display panel, removing surface oxide films and dust. Since it is removed, it is possible to obtain a reliable and good electrical contact.

(3) By mounting a drive IC on the TAB that acts as the probe, the conditions are substantially equivalent to the product mounting conditions, and a high reliability test can be performed.

(4) As the number of electrical connections can be reduced due to (3) above, there is less risk of defects occurring at the connections, and the structure is extremely simple, which improves manufacturing workability and reduces man-hours such as assembly and adjustment. Since the number of parts is small and the workability is good when replacing parts, it is possible to obtain the effect of good maintainability.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor. For example, as a means for creating a certain degree of contact pressure between the wiring formed on the TAB as a probe and the electrode of the display panel, an elastic body such as a silicone rubber tube as in the above embodiment is used. In addition, various embodiments can be adopted, such as using a leaf spring on the upper surface side of the TAB. Further, the film base constituting the TAB may be made of any material other than the polyimide film as in the above embodiments as long as it has a similar function.

The liquid crystal panel to be measured may be a completed display panel or a semi-finished glass substrate on which signal line electrodes, scanning line electrodes, TPT, and pixel electrodes are formed.

The display panel probe according to the present invention can be widely used in various display panels in addition to glass substrates such as the liquid crystal panel described above.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows. In other words, by forming wiring according to the pitch of the electrodes to be measured on the surface of a film base with appropriate hardness and flexibility, and using it as a probe, it is possible to achieve a simple structure by applying TAB technology. A large number of probes with good electrical contact can be obtained. Furthermore, since the probe and the drive IC can be integrated, there is no need to assemble multiple wiring lines, and reliability is improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of a probe for a display panel according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment of a probe for a display panel according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part showing a contact start state of the probe for a display panel according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing a contact state of the probe for a display panel according to the invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display panel probe characterized in that wiring formed on the surface of a film base having appropriate hardness and flexibility in accordance with the pitch of electrodes to be measured is used as a probe. 2. The probe for a display panel according to claim 1, wherein an elastic body is provided on the back side of the probe for the display panel to press the wiring as the probe against the electrode of the display panel. probe. 3. The display panel probe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a drive IC for driving the display panel is mounted on the film base.