KR100687352B1 - Liquid crystal display device with spacer pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern capable of maintaining a uniform cell gap throughout the panel, wherein the disclosed liquid crystal display device is arranged such that a plurality of gate lines and data lines vertically intersect each other. A lower substrate having a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode for each pixel; An upper substrate disposed opposite the lower substrate and provided with a color filter corresponding to each pixel and provided with a black matrix corresponding to a boundary of the pixels; A spacer pattern formed on the black matrix corresponding to the gate line to maintain a gap between the substrates; A plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns formed to compensate for a reduction in the contact area between the spacer pattern and the gate line when bonding misalignment of the substrates is formed on the black matrix in a portion adjacent to the spacer pattern; And a liquid crystal layer interposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate.

Description

Liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern {LCD device having a patterned spacer}

1 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal display device having a conventional spacer pattern.

2 is a plan view for explaining the problem according to the prior art.

3 is a plan view illustrating a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a plan view showing that the contact area between the gate line and the spacer pattern is compensated even if the misalignment between the substrates occurs in the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

110: gate line 120: color filter

130: black matrix 140: spacer pattern

150: auxiliary spacer pattern

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern capable of maintaining a uniform cell gap throughout the panel.

The liquid crystal display device interposes a liquid crystal layer composed of several liquid crystal molecules between two substrates on which transparent electrodes are formed, and then changes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules by an electric field generated between the transparent electrodes so that the amount of light transmitted is controlled. It is an apparatus which displays a predetermined image by doing.

In such a liquid crystal display, characteristics such as response speed, contrast ratio, viewing angle, luminance uniformity, and the like are closely related to the thickness of the liquid crystal layer, that is, the cell gap. Maintaining the cell gap is very important. In particular, in the trend toward larger areas and higher quality of liquid crystal displays, maintaining a uniform cell gap is becoming more important.

Therefore, at present, most liquid crystal display devices distribute cell gap holding spacers on any one of substrates in a manufacturing process thereof, for example, a bonding process between the substrates. However, in the method of dispersing the spacers, it is difficult to uniformly distribute the spacers, agglomeration of the spacers occurs, and light leakage occurs around the spacers, which makes it difficult to maintain a uniform cell gap and results in deterioration of image quality. It may also result.

Accordingly, as another conventional method for maintaining a cell gap, a method of forming a spacer pattern on a color filter substrate, which is an upper substrate, has been proposed. This spacer pattern is a specific portion of the black matrix provided on the color filter substrate, more specifically, an ITO layer which is a counter electrode material formed on the black matrix in the case of a color filter substrate in a liquid crystal display device using a vertical electric field as a driving mode. In the case of a color filter substrate in a liquid crystal display device using a horizontal electric field, it is formed through application, exposure and development of a photoresist on an overcoat layer formed on a black matrix.

A conventional liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern includes a plurality of gate lines and a data line vertically intersecting each other, a lower substrate including a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode for each pixel, and a color filter corresponding to each pixel. The upper substrate provided with the black matrix corresponding to the pixel boundary is bonded to each other under the intervening liquid crystal layer, and a spacer pattern for maintaining the gap between the substrates is coated on the black matrix of the upper substrate. And a development, wherein the spacer pattern is in contact with the gate line of the lower substrate when the substrates are bonded.

In detail, FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a liquid crystal display device having a conventional spacer pattern. As shown, the spacer pattern 40 has a shape of one of a regular polygonal column or a circular column (not shown), and is formed on the black matrix 30 corresponding to the gate line 10 to form the substrate upon bonding of the substrates. It is in contact with the gate line 10.

The spacer pattern 40 is formed at a density capable of maintaining a constant cell gap, for example, based on one per 1 to 3 pixels.

In this case, the width of the gate line 10 is usually about 10 μm, and the width corresponding to the width of the spacer pattern 40, that is, the size corresponding to the diameter, is 15 to 5 μm or more larger than the width of the gate line 10. It is about 20 micrometers. As described above, since the spacer pattern 40 is formed to have a wider width than the gate line 10, the spacer pattern 40 is sufficiently in contact with the gate line 10.
1 and 2, reference numeral 20, which is not described, denotes a color filter.

However, in the liquid crystal display having the conventional spacer pattern, when mis-alignment occurs when the substrates are bonded, the spacer pattern 40 is in contact with the gate line 10 as shown in FIG. 2. The area that is not in contact with the area becomes wider, making it difficult to maintain a uniform cell gap throughout the panel, and the screen quality is lowered. This problem becomes more serious as the liquid crystal panel becomes larger.

Accordingly, the present invention was created to solve the above problems inherent in the liquid crystal display device having the spacer pattern according to the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to maintain a uniform cell gap throughout the panel and An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern which can improve the quality and can be advantageously applied to increase in size of a liquid crystal panel.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern, the liquid crystal display device is arranged such that a plurality of gate lines and data lines vertically intersect, thin film transistors for each pixel A lower substrate provided with a pixel electrode; An upper substrate disposed opposite the lower substrate and provided with a color filter corresponding to each pixel and provided with a black matrix corresponding to a boundary of the pixels; A spacer pattern formed on the black matrix corresponding to the gate line to maintain a gap between the substrates; A plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns formed to compensate for a reduction in the contact area between the spacer pattern and the gate line when bonding misalignment of the substrates is formed on the black matrix in a portion adjacent to the spacer pattern; And a liquid crystal layer interposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the spacer pattern and the auxiliary spacer pattern are formed at one density per 1 to 5 pixels.

According to another aspect of the invention, the auxiliary spacer pattern is formed to have a smaller size than the spacer pattern.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary spacer pattern is formed to have a shape of a regular polygonal column or a circular column.

(Example)

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern according to the present invention includes a lower substrate having a plurality of gate lines and a data line vertically intersecting each other, and having a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode for each pixel, and a color filter corresponding to each pixel. And an upper substrate provided with a black matrix corresponding to the boundary of the pixel is bonded to each other under the liquid crystal layer.

Here, a spacer pattern for maintaining the gap between the substrates is formed on the black matrix of the upper substrate through application, exposure, and development of photoresist, and on the black matrix of the portion adjacent to the spacer pattern, the spacer pattern when the misalignment of the substrates occurs. A plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns are formed to compensate for the reduction in the contact area between the gate line and the gate line.

3 is a plan view illustrating a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the spacer pattern 140 and the plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns 150 may have a shape of one of a regular polygonal column or a circular column (not shown), and may be formed on the black matrix 130 corresponding to the gate line 110. And contact the gate line 110 when the substrates are bonded to each other. In this case, it can be seen from FIG. 3 that the total area where the spacer pattern 140 and the plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns 150 contact the gate line 110 is (A ₁ + A ₂ + A ₃ ).

In this case, the width of the gate line 110 is about 10 μm, and the width corresponding to the width of the spacer pattern 140, that is, the size corresponding to the diameter is 15 to 20, which is 5 to 10 μm or more larger than the width of the gate line 110. It is about a micrometer. In addition, the auxiliary spacer pattern 150 is formed to have a smaller size than the spacer pattern 140. The spacer pattern 140 and the plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns 150 are formed at a density capable of maintaining a constant cell gap, for example, one per 1 to 5 pixels.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating that a contact area between a gate line and a spacer pattern is compensated for even when misalignment between substrates occurs in the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, when adhesion misalignment between the substrates occurs, the area where the spacer pattern 140 is not in contact with the gate line 110 (see 'A ₅ ') becomes wider, so that the entire panel It becomes difficult to maintain a uniform cell gap over.

However, in the present invention, a plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns 150 are additionally formed in a portion adjacent to the spacer pattern 140 to compensate for the narrowed contact area between the spacer pattern 140 and the gate line 110. That is, even when the bonding misalignment between the substrates occurs, the contact area (see 'A ₄ ' and 'A ₆ ') between the plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns 150 and the gate line 110 is added, the cell gap throughout the panel Can be kept uniform.
In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, reference numeral 120 denotes a color filter.

According to the above-described configuration of the present invention, by forming a plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns on the black matrix in a portion adjacent to the spacer pattern to compensate for the reduction of the contact area between the spacer pattern and the gate line in the case of bonding misalignment of the substrates. Therefore, the screen quality can be improved by maintaining a uniform cell gap throughout the panel. Furthermore, it can be advantageously applied to increase the size of the liquid crystal panel.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the invention is not so limited and it is intended that the invention be limited without departing from the spirit or field of the invention as set forth in the following claims It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations can be made.

Claims (4)

In a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern, A lower substrate having a plurality of gate lines and data lines vertically intersecting each other, the lower substrate including a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode for each pixel; An upper substrate disposed opposite the lower substrate and provided with a color filter corresponding to each pixel and provided with a black matrix corresponding to a boundary of the pixels; A spacer pattern formed on the black matrix corresponding to the gate line to maintain a gap between the substrates; A plurality of auxiliary spacer patterns formed to compensate for a reduction in the contact area between the spacer pattern and the gate line when bonding misalignment of the substrates is formed on the black matrix in a portion adjacent to the spacer pattern; And A liquid crystal layer interposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate; Liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern comprising a. The method of claim 1, The spacer pattern and the auxiliary spacer pattern is a liquid crystal display having a spacer pattern, characterized in that formed in one density per 1 to 5 pixels. The method of claim 1, And the auxiliary spacer pattern is formed to have a size smaller than that of the spacer pattern. The method of claim 1, The auxiliary spacer pattern is a liquid crystal display device having a spacer pattern, characterized in that formed to have the shape of a regular polygonal column or a circular column.

Images