Bendable Display Substrate Protection Film Laser Grooving
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing of bendable display apparatuses faces challenges in minimizing defects and reducing costs, particularly in forming bending areas without damaging the substrate or increasing process time.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of a protection film with an adhesive layer and laser beam processing to create openings or grooves corresponding to bending areas, allowing for precise separation and bending of display units while minimizing substrate damage and exfoliation, using a top-hat waveform laser beam and potentially weakening the adhesive layer with UV rays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a protection film is attached to the lower surface of the mother substrate and then removed to form bending areas, then the substrate can be bent without damage, but the process time and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protection film is attached to the lower surface of the mother substrate before forming the bending areas. This preliminary attachment allows the substrate to be bent without damage during the manufacturing process, and the protection film is subsequently removed only in the bending area regions to create the final bendable display units.
Solution Approach 2:
The protection film is selectively removed from the lower surface of the mother substrate in the bending area regions. This extraction of the protection film from specific areas allows the substrate to be bent in those regions while maintaining integrity in other areas, resolving the contradiction between substrate protection and bending capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the protection film is completely removed to allow bending, then the substrate can be bent freely, but exfoliation and defects occur
Solution Approach 1:
The protection film is removed only in the bending area regions of the lower surface, while remaining intact in other areas. This local removal provides bending capability exactly where needed while maintaining substrate integrity and preventing exfoliation in non-bending areas, thus improving manufacturing precision without sacrificing adaptability.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional methods are used to form bending areas, then the process is simpler, but substrate damage and exfoliation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protection film is attached to the lower surface of the mother substrate before forming the bending areas. This preliminary protective measure prevents substrate damage and exfoliation during the bending process, improving reliability while maintaining ease of manufacture through a straightforward sequential process.
Solution Approach 2:
The protection film is selectively removed from the lower surface in bending area regions after the bending process is completed. This extraction approach maintains substrate integrity during manufacturing while still enabling the desired bending capability, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and substrate integrity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces defects, process time, and manufacturing costs by enabling precise and efficient separation and bending of display units, minimizing exfoliation and damage to the substrate, and allowing for the use of a cushion layer to absorb shock and support the display panel.
Implementation Method 1
The removing of the at least a portion of the protection film is performed by a laser beam
Implementation Method 2
The laser beam may have a top-hat waveform
Implementation Method 3
before the removing of the at least a portion of the protection film, weakening an adhesiveness of the adhesive layer by using an ultraviolet (UV) ray to a portion of the protection film in which the opening or the groove is to be formed
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a display apparatus includes forming a plurality of display units including bending areas on a mother substrate. Each of the plurality of display units include a bending area configured to be bent about a bending axis. A protection film is attached to a lower surface of the mother substrate. The protection film includes a protection film base and an adhesive layer. An opening or a groove is formed corresponding to the bending area of each of the plurality of display units by removing at least a portion of the protection film. The mother substrate and the protection film are cut to separate the plurality of display units from each other. The mother substrate is bent about the bending axis. The removing of the at least a portion of the protection film is performed by a laser beam.