KR19990023791A - Spacer manufacturing method of flat panel display device - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device, wherein a spacer is first printed by a printing mask, and a support plate having holes similar to the mask is installed between the mask and the substrate, and then the subsequent printing process is repeated. By proceeding to form a spacer having a desired height, the height of the spacer can be several times higher, so that a higher voltage can be applied to the anode portion, whereby a panel of high brightness and high luminous efficiency can be constructed. It is possible to improve the printing efficiency by increasing the printing efficiency by preventing the reduction of the height printed per print according to the increase in the number of printing, thereby improving the process yield and the reliability of device operation.

Description

Spacer manufacturing method of flat panel display device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device such as a field emission display (hereinafter referred to as a FED), and in particular, a spacer is formed by a printing method using a printing support plate interposed between a printing mask and a substrate. The present invention relates to a spacer manufacturing method of a flat panel display device which can form a high spacer by a printing method and can apply a high voltage to an anode portion to produce a panel having high brightness and high light emitting efficiency.

In recent years, with the rapid development of ultra-high density semiconductor manufacturing technology and ultra-high vacuum technology, research on new micron-sized triode tube devices has been invigorating, and new flat panel displays having advantages of CRT and LCD by applying these devices to displays Pay attention to develop.

FED is a type of flat panel display that emits cold electrons by applying a relatively low voltage, for example, a voltage of about 200 to 10 kV by using a phenomenon in which an electric field is concentrated on an angled part. It is attracting attention as the next generation display device because it has both the high definition of CRT and the thinning of LCD.

The FED constitutes a tip or wedge cathode that emits electrons and an anode coated with a phosphor, and induces electron emission from a plurality of micro tips so that the phosphor is stimulated to excite and transition the outermost electrons of the phosphor. The generated light is used to display a desired image display.

In other words, when FED applies an electric field to a metal or a conductor in a vacuum, electrons are ejected from the solid through quantum mechanical tunneling out of the vacuum, and they are accelerated by the voltage applied to the opposite rear electrode and formed on the electrode. It is a display element which displays an image by hitting and emitting light.

In particular, the FED can not only manufacture the thin and thin, but also solve the problems of process yield, manufacturing cost, and enlargement, which are crucial disadvantages of the LCD. That is, in case of LCD, even if one unit pixel is defective, the whole product is treated badly. However, FED has a smaller number of unit pixels in one pixel group, so even if one or two unit pixels are defective, There is no problem in operation, and the yield of the whole product is improved.

In addition, FED has advantages in that it is suitable for large display devices because it has superior characteristics such as viewing angle, brightness, response speed, and power consumption than LCD.

Initially, the FED consists of a conical emitter having a vertex and exposed to the outside by a cavity, a gate arranged on both sides of the emitter, and an anode spaced apart from the gate by a cathode of the CRT, Corresponds to the grid and anode.

The FED applies a voltage to the emitter and emits electrons by the electric field concentrated at the top of the anode, and the emitted electrons are guided by the anode to which a positive voltage is applied to emit the fluorescent material applied to the anode. The gate controls the direction and amount of electrons.

The FED is provided with a spacer for maintaining a constant gap between the upper plate and the lower plate.

The spacer is a structure that prevents the substrate from being broken or bent due to compressive stress due to high vacuum inside the FED, and typically serves to maintain the upper plate and the lower plate at intervals of 100 to 3000 μm.

The FED has a distance between the substrates in the range of 100 to 3000 µm, but should be 1 mm or more for high brightness and high luminous efficiency panels. However, there are many technical problems. Formation methods have been discussed.

Conventional methods for forming such spacers include a photolithography method of uniformly applying and patterning a spacer material on a lower plate on which a cathode array and a gate electrode are formed, or a method of dispersing spacer fine particles on a substrate, or an individual process. For example, there is a method of manufacturing a spacer and arranging the spacer on a lower plate or printing method.

However, the above-mentioned methods each have a big problem. Although the photolithography method has a great advantage in manufacturing a fine spacer, the process of forming a photoresist film on a material formed of the spacer material to pattern the spacer material and removing the remaining photoresist pattern is complicated. In this case, the method of dispersing the spacer microparticles on the substrate is difficult to manufacture a high-density panel, and the scattering of the cathode tips may occur when scattering the entire panel.

In addition, when manufacturing and arranging the spacers in individual processes, it is difficult to align and fix the spacers at the correct position.In the case of the printing method, spacers having a narrow width and high height can be used by applying the partition formation method used in the conventional PDP. There is a disadvantage that is difficult to form. This is because the gap between the mask and the upper part of the printed surface is changed and the printing pressure is changed as the printing of the printing is continuously performed several times, and thus the process conditions are difficult to control, and the previously printed portions are slightly sandwiched in the subsequent mask pattern holes. This is because, as the printing is executed, the print thickness accumulated per one gradually decreases, making it difficult to form a thick spacer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to form a high spacer by printing a plurality of printing support plates sequentially between a printing mask and a substrate used in a conventional printing method to easily form a high voltage on the anode portion. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device capable of manufacturing a panel having high brightness and high light emitting efficiency by applying a.

1A to 1H illustrate a spacer manufacturing process of a flat panel display device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the print support plate used in Figure 1e.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the printing support plate of another shape used in the present invention.

4A through 4F are diagrams illustrating a spacer manufacturing process of a flat panel display device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

10 substrate 12 spacer

20: print mask 26: support layer

30: printing support plate 32: support plate hole

Features of the spacer manufacturing method of a flat panel display device according to the present invention for achieving the above object,

Aligning the print mask on a substrate for forming the spacer;

A first step printing process of printing and drying a spacer on a substrate through holes in the printing mask;

Installing a printing support plate having holes between the printing mask and the substrate to expose a predetermined portion of the spacer;

And a second step printing process of aligning a printing mask on the printing support plate and performing a printing and drying process of the spacer to a desired height.

Another feature of the manufacturing method of the spacer for a flat panel display device according to the present invention,

Aligning a first printing mask having holes for exposing portions of the substrate to be formed with spacers;

A first step of printing the spacer on the substrate through the hole;

Providing a second printing mask on the substrate, the second printing mask having a hole exposing the spacer formed in the first step printing and having a support layer formed thereon, the thickness being thicker than the first printing mask;

And a second step printing step of performing a printing and drying process of the spacer to a desired height through the second printing mask.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A to 1H are manufacturing process diagrams of a flat panel display spacer according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a printing support plate is used between a printing mask and a substrate.

First, the spacer printing mask 20 in which the holes 22 exposing portions where the spacers are to be formed on the substrate 10 to be printed is formed is aligned on the substrate 10, and then the spacers 12 ) Print and dry once. Here, the substrate 10 may be both an anode plate and a cathode plate, but an anode substrate is advantageous when considering a problem of damage to a tip. In addition, the spacer 12 formed primarily using the printing mask 20 has a suitable height of about 3/4 of the thickness of the printing mask 20. (FIGS. 1A-1D).

Then, between the printing mask 20 and the substrate 10 is interposed between the printing support plate 30 having a hole 32 for exposing the spacer 12 to a thickness similar to the previously printed spacer 12 Subsequently, the subsequent printing process is repeated to form a spacer 12 having a desired height, and heat treated to complete the spacer 12. Here, the printing support plate 30 is not limited to any material. (FIGS. 1E-1H).

In addition, the firing process of the spacer 12 may be performed once after printing, or may be baked and printed again during the progress of lamination printing.

In addition, the spacer 12 should generally be designed with a reasonable height and width in consideration of printing characteristics and exhaust conductance. Experimentally, the length of the long axis of the spacer 12 is about 2.3 mm, but is not considered in the experiment. It is to be understood that the number of spacers 12 per unit area is the same, and the description thereof will be omitted since it may be properly designed to those skilled in the art.

The shape of the printing support plate is almost the same as that of the spacer printing mask, but should be somewhat larger than the printing mask hole so that the holes of the printing mask are not obstructed by the printing support plate in the subsequent printing process.

For example, the printing support plate 30 shown in FIG. 2 has rectangular holes 32 formed in the column direction to include all the spacers arranged in a row in the column direction on the substrate therein. The printing support plate 30 shown in Fig. 3 includes a plurality of holes 32 formed slightly larger than the pattern hole size of each printing mask for spacers on the substrate.

This support plate is easy to align and remove during printing, if one side of the support plate is fixed to the substrate by a fixing means such as tape or adhesive at the time of initial alignment without the need to rearrange or remove between the substrate and the mask in every printing process.

In addition, the use of such a support plate is required after the first printing and drying of the spacer, it is necessary to add a support plate having a height as thick as possible to go up to the previous printing every time, and after two or three printing You may increase the height of the support plate once.

4A to 4F are process diagrams for manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and a separate supporting plate is provided as a support plate at a lower portion of the printing mask without making a printing support plate separately between the mask and the substrate for every printing. It is an example using the printing mask provided with the support layer of this.

First, the processes of FIGS. 1A to 1D using the printing mask 20 are sequentially performed to form a spacer 12 first on the substrate 10 (see FIG. 4A), and then onto the substrate 10. After the first modified printing mask 24 having the support layer 26 is provided on the substrate, the spacer 12 is further formed by secondary printing. Here, the support layer 26 performs the same role as the support plate of the first embodiment, which is formed by photo developing and drying a photosensitive film on the lower portion of the first modified printing mask 24 or by using an adhesive tape having an appropriate thickness. It can also be attached to the top. (See FIGS. 4B and 4C).

Then, the first modified printing mask 24 is removed, and the third modified printing mask 25 is formed using the second modified printing mask 25 having a higher support layer 26 to form a spacer 12 having a desired height. can do. (See FIGS. 4D-4F).

Although the use of the two modified printing masks has been exemplified above, the modified printing mask may be used as many times as desired.

As described above, the method for manufacturing a flat panel display device according to the present invention first prints a spacer with a printing mask, installs a support plate having holes larger than the mask between the mask and the substrate, and then installs the subsequent printing process. Since the spacers of the desired height were formed by repeating the process, the height of the spacers can be several times higher, so that a higher voltage can be applied to the anode portion, thereby making it possible to construct a panel with high brightness and high luminous efficiency. In the process, the printing efficiency is improved by preventing the decrease in the height printed per print according to the increase in the number of printing, thereby improving the process yield and the reliability of device operation.

Claims (7)

Aligning a printing mask having a hole for exposing a portion where a spacer is to be formed on the substrate; A first step printing process of printing and drying a spacer on a substrate through holes in the printing mask; Providing a printing support plate having holes for exposing a predetermined portion of the spacer between the printing mask and the substrate; A method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device, which compares a second step printing process of aligning a printing mask on the printing support plate and performing a printing and drying process of a spacer to a desired height. The method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein a printing support plate having a thickness equal to that of the spacers laminated at the time of the previous printing is laminated and added one by one after every first printing. The method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein a printing support plate having a thickness equal to the height of the stacked spacers may be added after every two to three times of printing and drying. 2. The method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display element according to claim 1, wherein the printing support plate uses a printing mask which is formed in advance under the printing mask. The method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein the firing process of the spacer is performed once after completion of printing or firing a plurality of times during lamination printing. The flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein the printing mask used from the second printing has a thicker thickness and a wider printing pattern width than the mask used in the first printing process. Spacer manufacturing method. Aligning a first printing mask having holes for exposing portions of the substrate to be formed with spacers; A first step of printing the spacer on the substrate through the hole; Providing a second printing mask on the substrate, the second printing mask having a hole exposing the spacer formed in the first step printing and having a support layer formed thereon, the thickness being thicker than the first printing mask; A method of manufacturing a spacer of a flat panel display device comprising a second step printing process of performing a printing and drying process of a spacer to a desired height through the second printing mask.