KR20080099726A - Toner electronic paper display device and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toner type electronic paper display device and a method of manufacturing the same, wherein the upper and lower substrates spaced apart, the upper and lower electrodes inscribed in the respective substrates, and the two substrates are disposed to maintain a gap between the substrates and the cells. A toner type electronic paper display device comprising a partition wall separating a cell and toner particles of positive (+,-) located inside the cell, wherein the partition wall comprises a first insulator layer, a conductor layer, and a first stacked layer. The toner type electronic paper display device of the present invention, characterized in that it consists of two insulator layers, minimizes the accumulation of toner particles on the partition walls by using the voltage difference between the conductive partition walls and the upper and lower electrodes, and also accumulates the driving particles accumulated. Can be easily removed to implement a good image.

Description

Toner electronic paper display device and manufacturing method thereof {ELECTRONIC PAPER DISPLAY USING TONER PARTICLES AND PREPARATION THEREOF}

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cell structure of a conventional toner electronic paper display element;

2 and 3 are cross-sectional views illustrating a cell structure of a toner type electronic paper display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Brief description of the reference numbers

1: lower substrate 2: lower electrode

3: black (+) toner particles (or dry particles)

4: white (-) toner particles (or dry particles)

5: upper electrode 6: upper substrate

7: insulator bulkhead 8: bulkhead conductor layer

9,10: partitioning first and second insulator layers

The present invention relates to a toner type electronic paper display device and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to minimize the accumulation of toner particles of the positive (+,-) in the partition wall and to easily remove the accumulated driving particles. The present invention relates to a toner type (dry type) electronic paper display device and a manufacturing method thereof.

Recently, digital paper displays have been developed as next-generation display devices following liquid crystal displays, plasma display panels, and organic electroluminescence devices.

In particular, electronic paper is a display device that can display characters or images made of a flexible substrate such as a thin plastic with millions of beads scattered in an oil hole, and can be reproduced millions of times in the future. It is expected to be a material to replace existing print media such as books, newspapers or magazines.

Electronic paper display devices are the core of flexible (or paper) display implementations. They are based on electrophoresis, which applies electromagnetic fields to conductive materials to make them moveable. After the conductive fine particles (or toner particles) are distributed, the data is represented by a change in the arrangement of the fine particles due to a change in polarity of the electromagnetic field.

The electronic paper display elements include electrophoretic, xylic and toner (dry) electronic paper display elements. As an example, a cell structure of a conventional toner type electronic paper display element is shown in FIG. A conventional toner type electronic paper display device, as shown in Figure 1, the upper substrate 6 and the lower substrate 1 made of plastic or glass; An upper electrode 5 and a lower electrode 2 formed to be inscribed to each of the upper substrate 6 and the lower substrate 1; An insulator partition wall 7 which maintains a constant gap between the upper substrate and the lower substrate 6 and 1 and isolates the cell from the cell; And white (-) toner particles (or dry particles) 4 and black (+) toner particles 3 positioned between the two electrodes.

In the toner type electronic paper display device having such a configuration, when sufficient voltage is applied to the upper electrode 5 and the lower electrode 2, toner particles charged according to the applied electrode polarity are attracted to each electrode. For example, the white toner particles 4 have (-) and the black toner particles 3 have (+) properties, and a positive voltage is applied to the upper electrode 5 and a negative voltage to the lower electrode 2. In this case, the white (-) toner particles 4 move to the upper electrode 5 and the black (+) toner particles 3 move to the lower electrode 2 to become white. On the contrary, when a negative voltage is applied to the upper electrode 5, the black (+) toner particles 3 move to the upper electrode 5 to have a black color.

 However, in an electronic paper display device including an insulator partition wall, when a voltage of (+) / (-) is repeatedly applied to the upper / lower electrodes, white and black toner particles do not exist only in the upper / lower electrodes and the insulator partition wall There is a problem that the device image quality is lowered because the white / black toner particles do not move and accumulate.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner-type electronic paper display device and a method for manufacturing the same, which can not only minimize accumulation of toner particles of the positive (+,-) on the partition wall but also easily remove the accumulated driving particles. It is.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a spaced apart upper and lower substrates, upper and lower electrodes inscribed in each of the substrates, a partition wall positioned between the two substrates to maintain the distance between the substrates and separating the cells from the cells, and A toner type electronic paper display device including positive (+,-) toner particles located inside a cell, wherein the partition wall comprises a first insulator layer, a conductor layer, and a second insulator layer sequentially stacked. A toner type electronic paper display element is provided.

In addition, the present invention

(1) forming a lower structure and an upper structure by forming a lower electrode and an upper electrode on one surface of the lower substrate and the upper substrate, respectively;

(2) forming a partition wall formed of the first insulator layer, the conductor layer, and the second insulator layer sequentially stacked on the lower electrode of the lower structure obtained in step (1);

(3) injecting toner particles into the spaces between the partition walls; And

(4) A method of manufacturing a toner electronic paper display device, comprising bonding the upper electrode of the upper structure obtained in the step (1) to the upper surface of the partition wall.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.

The toner electronic paper display device according to the present invention has a three-layer structure in which a first insulator layer, a conductor layer, and a second insulator layer are sequentially stacked as a partition wall separating a cell from a cell while maintaining a gap between an upper substrate and a lower substrate. Characterized in that it comprises a partition. In this case, the electronic paper display device according to the present invention may have a power source connected to each of the upper and lower electrodes and the partition walls to apply a voltage to each of the upper and lower electrodes and the partition walls.

The toner type electronic paper display device of the present invention not only minimizes the accumulation of toner particles on the partition wall by using the voltage difference between the conductive partition wall and the upper and lower electrodes, but also easily removes the accumulated driving particles, thereby providing a good image. Can be implemented.

2 and 3 are cross-sectional views showing the cell structure of the toner type electronic paper display device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the toner type electronic paper display device of the present invention, as shown in Figures 2 and 3,

1) an upper substrate 6 and a lower substrate 1 disposed to face each other at a predetermined interval;

2) an upper electrode 5 and a lower electrode 2 formed to be inscribed to each of the lower substrate 6 and the upper substrate 1;

3) the first insulator layer 9, the conductor layer 8, and the second layer which are sequentially stacked so as to be spaced between the two substrates 6 and 1 to maintain a gap between the substrates and to separate the gaps into cells; Barrier ribs formed of an insulator layer 10; And

4) White (-) toner particles (4) and black (+) toner particles (3) located inside the cell between the two electrodes (5, 2).

The upper substrate 6 and the lower substrate 1 may use a glass substrate or a plastic material which is generally used, and preferably a polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyester sulfone or polyimide film.

The upper electrode 5 and the lower electrode 2 formed in contact with each of the substrates are indium-tin-oxide (ITO), indium-zinc-oxide (IZO), and PEDOT. Conventional conductive polymers or metals such as poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PaNi (polyaniline, polyaniline), PPy (polypyrrole, polypyrrole) or platinum may be used. The thickness of the upper and lower substrates and the upper and lower electrodes can be appropriately selected within a conventional range.

In the present invention, the partition wall is formed of a three-layer structure in which the conductor layer 8 is inserted between two insulator layers 9 and 10, in which a part contacting the upper and lower electrodes 5 and 2 is formed. It is composed of an insulator and can be insulated from the upper and lower electrodes when driving. The conductor layer 8 is inserted between the two insulator layers 9 and 10 to control the driving particles by applying a voltage to the conductive partition wall.

The barrier insulator layer and the conductor layer may each be made of a conventional insulating material and a conductive material, and materials of the first insulator layer and the second insulator layer may be the same or different. Preferably, the material of the insulator layer may be polycarbonate, polyester, or a high purity acrylic resin. The material of the conductor layer may be ITO, IZO, Al, Cr, Mo, Cu, and PEDOT, PaNi, or PPy. Material selected from conductive polymers Can be used.

The partition wall of the present invention having a three-layer structure may have a height of 10 to 100 μm, wherein the conductor layer preferably occupies a volume of 10 to 90%, preferably 40 to 60% of the entire partition.

In addition, the width of the partition wall may be appropriately selected within a conventional range, where the width of the conductor layer may be the same as the insulator layer, and larger than the insulator layer above and below as shown in FIG. As shown, it may be smaller than the insulator layer, and preferably smaller than the insulator layer.

As the toner particles, all dry electrophoretic particles commonly used for image expression may be used, and white (-) and black (+) toner particles 4 and 3 having different colors and charging characteristics may be selected. Carbon black may be preferably used as the black particles, and titanium oxide may be preferably used as the white particles.

The toner type electronic paper display device according to the present invention can be manufactured, for example, in the following manner.

First, the lower electrode 2 and the upper electrode 5 are formed on one surface of the lower substrate 1 and the upper substrate 6 to obtain a lower structure and an upper structure. The method of forming the electrodes on the upper and lower substrates can be formed by known methods such as, for example, photolithography.

Next, a partition wall is formed on the lower electrode of the lower structure. The partition wall may be formed on the lower structure by various methods. For example, the barrier rib may be formed by sequentially stacking the first insulator layer, the conductor layer, and the second insulator layer on the electrodes of the lower structure. Alternatively, for example, after stacking only the first insulator layer on the electrode of the lower structure, the partition wall consisting of the conductor layer and the second insulator layer may be combined with the lower structure to which the first insulator layer is combined in a conventional manner. have. As another method, for example, the first and second insulator layers may be formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the conductive partition wall by coating or spraying, and then combined with the lower structure. The partition formation method can apply various conventional methods, for example, the screen printing method, the photolithography method, the sand blasting method, or the in-printing method can be used.

Toner particles, for example, white (-) toner particles 4 and black (+) toner particles 3, are injected into the space between the partition walls bonded to the lower structure as described above. In this case, the particle injection may use a corona discharge, triboelectric charge, spray coating or a laser printer.

Then, the upper structure on which the electrode is formed on the upper substrate, and the upper electrode is bonded to the upper surface of the partition wall in a conventional manner.

Finally, a power source may be connected to each of the upper and lower electrodes and the partition walls to apply a voltage to each of the electrodes and the partition walls.

As described above, the toner type electronic paper display device manufactured according to the present invention not only minimizes accumulation of toner particles on the partition walls by using the voltage difference between the conductive partition walls and the upper and lower electrodes, but also easily removes the accumulated driving particles. It is possible to implement high quality images.

As described above, the toner type electronic paper display device according to the present invention not only minimizes the accumulation of toner particles in the partition wall by using the voltage difference between the conductive partition wall and the upper and lower electrodes, but also easily removes the accumulated driving particles. It is possible to implement high quality images.

Claims (8)

Spaced upper and lower substrates, upper and lower electrodes inscribed in each of the substrates, a partition wall disposed between the two substrates to maintain a gap between the substrates, and separating the cells from the cells; A toner type electronic paper display device comprising toner particles of claim 1, wherein the partition is formed of a first insulator layer, a conductor layer, and a second insulator layer sequentially stacked. The method of claim 1, The conductor layer is composed of ITO (indium-tin-oxide), IZO (indium-zinc-oxide), Al, Cr, Mo, Cu, or PEDOT (poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PaNi (polyaniline) and A toner electronic paper display device, characterized in that the conductive polymer selected from PPy (polypyrrole). The method of claim 1, Toner-type electronic paper display device, characterized in that the first insulator layer and the second insulator layer made of the same or different materials selected from polycarbonate, polyester and acrylic resin. The method of claim 1, The partition wall has a height of 10 to 100 ㎛, toner type electronic paper display element. The method of claim 1, Toner-type electronic paper display device, characterized in that the partition conductor layer occupies a volume of 10 to 90% of the entire partition. The method of claim 1, A toner type electronic paper display device, characterized in that the barrier conductor layer has a width that is larger or smaller than an insulator layer disposed above and below. (1) forming a lower structure and an upper structure by forming a lower electrode and an upper electrode on one surface of the lower substrate and the upper substrate, respectively; (2) forming a partition wall formed of the first insulator layer, the conductor layer, and the second insulator layer sequentially stacked on the lower electrode of the lower structure obtained in step (1); (3) injecting toner particles into the spaces between the partition walls; And (4) A method of manufacturing the toner type electronic paper display device according to claim 1, comprising bonding the upper electrode of the upper structure obtained in the step (1) to the upper surface of the partition wall. The method of claim 7, wherein After the step (4), the power supply is connected to each of the upper and lower electrodes and the partition wall, the manufacturing method of the toner electronic paper display element.

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