Method for cutting liquid crystal display panel and method for fabricating liquid crystal display panel using the same

Abstract

A method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel includes transferring a pair of mother substrates on which a plurality of panel regions have been disposed to a scribing unit; forming first and second prearranged cut lines on front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates using a scribing unit; transferring the mother substrates with the first and second prearranged cut lines formed thereon to a breaking component; and moving a transfer unit which includes a body having a plurality of suction members and a steam generator installed at an edge of the body to an upper side of the mother substrates, and separating liquid crystal display panels formed at the panel regions from a dummy glass therearound while spraying steam onto the surface of the mother substrates through the steam generator of the transfer unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an plan view showing a plane structure of a unit liquid crystal display panel formed by attaching a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate and a color filter substrate in a facing manner;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of a section of the unit liquid crystal display panel formed by attaching the first mother substrate on which the TFT array substrates are formed and the second mother substrate on which the color filter substrates are formed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a cutting process of a liquid crystal display panel;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a cutting process of a liquid crystal display panel in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A to 5E illustrate a process of sequentially extracting a unit liquid crystal display panel from a mother substrate by using the trans hand;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of processes of one method for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel in accordance with an embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of processes of a method for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel in accordance with another embodiment the present invention the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of processes of a method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel in FIGS. 6 and 7 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of processes of a method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel in FIGS. 6 and 7 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring a liquid crystal display panel comprising: a body having a plurality of suction members; anda steam generator installed at an edge of the body to spray steam toward a mother substrate.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suction members are arranged to be affixed on the surface of a liquid crystal panel formed on the mother substrate to transfer the liquid crystal panel to a follow-up process.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality of steam generators are formed along an edge of the body.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steam generator has a form corresponding to a shape of the liquid crystal display panel.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steam generator has a circular shape.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the steam generator has a rectangular a circular shape.

7. A method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel comprising: transferring a pair of mother substrates on which a plurality of panel regions has been disposed to a scribing unit;forming first and second prearranged cut lines on front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates using a scribing unit;transferring the mother substrates with the first and second prearranged cut lines formed thereon to a breaking component; andmoving a transfer unit which includes a body having a plurality of suction members and a steam generator installed at an edge of the body to an upper side of the mother substrates, and separating liquid crystal display panels formed at the panel regions from a dummy glass therearound while spraying steam onto the surface of the mother substrates through the steam generator of the transfer unit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein separating the liquid crystal display panels from a dummy glass comprises: moving the transfer unit to an upper side of the certain panel region;moving the transfer unit downward and spraying steam onto the surface of the mother substrates through the steam generators of the transfer unit;affixing the surface of the liquid crystal display panel to be extracted through the suction members installed at the body while spraying steam through the steam generator for a predetermined time; andmoving the transfer unit to separate the dummy glass around the liquid crystal display panel from the liquid crystal display panel.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the suction members of the transfer unit are arranged to be affixed to the surface of a liquid crystal display panel formed on the mother substrates to transfer the liquid crystal display panel to a follow-up process.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a plurality of steam generators are formed along the edge of the body.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the steam generator has a form corresponding to the shape of the liquid crystal display panel.

12. The method of claim 7, the steam generator has a rectangular shape.

13. The method of claim 7, the steam generator has a circular shape.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein transferring the mother substrates to a breaking component includes conveying the mother substrates to the breaking component through a conveying unit and wherein transferring a pair of mother substrates on which a plurality of panel regions have been disposed to a scribing unit includes conveying the mother substrates to the scribing unit.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the conveying unit comprises a plurality of conveyer belts.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the conveying unit comprises a plurality of transfer rollers.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the conveying unit comprises a first conveying part formed as a conveyer belt and a second conveying part formed as a transfer roller coupled to the conveyer belt.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein forming the first and second prearranged cut lines on the front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates includes: forming the first prearranged cut lines for sectioning the panel regions on the front and rear substrates of the mother substrates in a first direction through a scribing unit; andforming the second prearranged cut lines for sectioning the panel regions on the front and rear substrates of the mother substrates in a second direction by driving a head provided at the scribing unit in a second direction.

19. The method of claim 7, wherein forming the first and second prearranged cut lines includes forming the first and second prearranged cut lines to cross substantially perpendicularly.

20. The method of claim 7, wherein the breaking component includes a breaking unit installed at the breaking component to form cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines of the mother substrates.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the breaking unit includes a steam break to spray steam onto the front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the breaking unit includes an air knife installed at a rear surface of the steam break to spray air onto the surface of the mother substrate.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the steam generator of the transfer unit is arranged to propagate cracks formed along the first and second prearranged cut lines through the breaking unit.

24. The method of claim 7, wherein the steam generator of the transfer unit is arranged to form cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines.

25. The method of claim 7, wherein the steam generator of the transfer unit is arrange to spray steam toward the first and second prearranged cut lines on the mother substrates.

26. The method of claim 7, wherein the steam generator of the transfer unit spray steam on the surface of the mother substrates is arranged to expand the mother substrates by heat and pressure to thereby form cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines or further making formed cracks.

27. The method of claim 7, wherein the transfer unit includes a pusher installed at an outer side of the transfer unit to push the dummy glass downward to be removed from the liquid crystal display panel.

28. A method for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel comprising: providing first and second mother substrates divided into a plurality of panel regions;performing an array process on the first mother substrate for an array substrate and performing a color filter process on the second mother substrate for a color filter substrate;forming an alignment film on the surface of the first and second mother substrates;performing rubbing on the alignment film-formed first and second mother substrates;bonding together the first and second rubbing-finished mother substrates;forming first and second prearranged cut lines on front and rear surfaces of the bonded mother substrates; andmoving a transfer unit which includes a body having a plurality of suction members and a steam generator installed at an edge of the body to an upper side of the first and second mother substrates, and separating liquid crystal display panels formed at the panel regions from a dummy glass therearound while spraying steam onto a surface of the first and second mother substrates through the steam generator of the transfer unit.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein separating the liquid crystal display panels form the dummy glass comprises: moving the transfer unit to an upper side of the certain panel region;moving the transfer unit downward and spraying steam onto the surface of the mother substrates through the steam generators of the transfer unit;fixedly suctioning the surface of the liquid crystal display panel to be extracted through the suction members installed at the body while the steam spraying through the steam generators are maintained for a certain time; andmoving the transfer unit to separate the dummy glass around the liquid crystal display panel from the liquid crystal display panel.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein forming the first and second prearranged cut lines on the front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates comprises: forming the first prearrange cut lines for sectioning the panel regions on the front and rear substrates of the mother substrates in a first direction through a scribing unit; andforming the second prearrange cut lines for sectioning the panel regions on the front and rear substrates of the mother substrates in a second direction by driving a head provided at the scribing unit in a second direction.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein forming the first and second prearranged cut lines on the front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates comprises forming the first and second prearranged cut lines cross substantially vertically.

32. The method of claim 28, further comprising forming cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines on the mother substrates using a breaking unit.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the breaking unit includes a steam break to spray steam onto the front and rear surfaces of the mother substrates.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the breaking unit includes an air knife installed at a rear surface of the steam break and wherein the method further comprises spraying air onto the surface of the mother substrates.

35. The method of claim 32 further comprising propagating cracks formed along the first and second prearranged cut lines with the breaking unit using the steam generator of the transfer unit.

36. The method of claim 28, further comprising forming cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines using the steam generator of the transfer unit.

37. The method of claim 28, wherein the steam generator of the transfer unit is arranged to spray steam toward the first and second prearranged cut lines on the mother substrates.

38. The method of claim 28, further comprising spraying steam using the steam generator of the transfer unit onto the surface of the mother substrates to expand the mother substrates by heat and pressure to thereby form cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines.

39. The method of claim 7, further comprising spraying steam using the steam generator of the transfer unit onto the surface of the mother substrates to expand the mother substrates by heat and pressure to thereby propagate cracks along the first and second prearranged cut lines.

40. The method of claim 28, wherein the transfer unit includes a pusher installed at an outer side of the transfer unit to push the dummy glass downward to removed the liquid crystal display panel from the dummy glass.

41. The method of claim 28, wherein the panel regions on the upper portion of the bonded mother substrates are array substrates on which TFTs have been formed through the array process and the panel regions on the lower portion of the mother substrates are color filter substrates on which color filters have been formed through the color filter process.

42. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of panel regions includes panel regions having at least two different sizes.

43. The method of claim 28, further comprising: dropping liquid crystal on one of the rubbing-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate; andcoating sealant on the other one of the rubbing-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein bonding together the first and second rubbing-finished mother substrates is performed after dropping liquid crystal on one of the rubbing-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate.

45. The method of claim 28, further comprising: forming spacers on one of the rubbing process-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate; andcoating sealant on the other one of the rubbing process-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein bonding together the first and second rubbing-finished mother substrates is performed after forming spacers on one of the rubbing process-finished mother substrate for the array substrate and the mother substrate for the color filter substrate.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising after separating liquid crystal display panels formed at the panel regions from a dummy glass therearound from the bonded mother substrates, injecting liquid crystal into a separated liquid crystal display panel.