Printing Plate with Opaque Layer for LCD Resin Patterning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Residual resins left during the printing process in LCD device fabrication cause issues such as line shorting, poor color characteristics, and step differences, leading to non-uniform cell gaps and display panel defects.
Innovation Solution
A printing plate with concaves on a transparent base substrate and an opaque layer is used, where negative photoresist resins are filled and hardened using a curing light, allowing for the removal of non-hardened resins with a solvent before etching, ensuring precise metal pattern formation without residual issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If resins are printed using a conventional transparent printing plate without an opaque layer, then the printing process is simple and fast, but residual resins remain between the printed patterns causing line shorting and defects
Solution Approach 1:
The printing plate surface is segmented into concave regions (for resin deposition) and raised regions (with opaque layer for precision control). This segmentation allows resins to be confined to specific areas while the opaque layer prevents resin migration between patterns, resolving the contradiction between printing speed and pattern precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The opaque layer acts as an intermediary barrier between adjacent resin patterns. It prevents residual resins from causing line shorting while allowing the printing process to remain fast and simple, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and manufacturing precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If an opaque layer is added to the printing plate to prevent residual resins, then pattern precision improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The opaque layer is applied locally only in the raised regions between concaves, not across the entire printing plate. This localized application provides the necessary precision control while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The printing plate combines transparent and opaque materials in a single structure. The transparent base allows UV light transmission for curing, while the opaque layer in specific regions prevents resin migration, achieving precision without excessive complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If all resins are hardened uniformly, then the printing process is simple, but residual resins cannot be selectively removed
Solution Approach 1:
The opaque layer performs a preliminary action by blocking UV light from reaching resins in certain areas before the hardening process. This creates a state where some resins remain soft and removable, while others are hardened, enabling selective removal without complicating the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the hardening parameter (UV exposure) selectively across different regions of the printing plate. Resins over transparent regions are hardened, while resins over opaque regions remain soft and removable, achieving reliable resin removal capability while maintaining process simplicity.
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 effectively prevents line shorts and residual metal in undesired regions, improving the yield of the metal etching process and maintaining uniformity in the display panel by removing non-hardened resins, thus enhancing the quality of the LCD device.
Implementation Method 1
negative photoresist resins are filled and hardened using a curing light
Implementation Method 2
removal of non-hardened resins with a solvent before etching
Data Source
AI summary
A patterning method includes depositing a pattern target layer on a surface of a substrate, providing a printing plate with concaves in a first side of a transparent substrate and an opaque layer on the first side except in the concaves of the first sides, filling resins into the concaves of the printing plate, positioning the substrate of the printing plate to correspond to an upper portion of the pattern target layer, and transferring resins of the printing plate onto the pattern target layer by exposing resins to a curing light to harden resins.