Rubbing system for alignment layer of LCD and method thereof

Abstract

A rubbing system for an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, comprises: a rubbing table on which a substrate having an alignment layer thereon is positioned; a rubbing roll on which a rubbing material is wound, substantially positioned on the rubbing table thus to substantially contact the alignment layer, for rubbing the alignment layer by rotation of the rubbing roll; and a controlling unit for controlling the alignment layer to be rubbed by substantially contacting the rubbing roll onto the alignment layer by simultaneously lifting and lowering a rubbing table and the rubbing roll according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

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 a schematic view showing a structure of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method for fabricating an LCD device according to the present invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views respectively showing a structure of a rubbing system for an alignment layer of an LCD device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a structure of a controlling unit of the rubbing system for an alignment layer of an LCD device according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method for rubbing an alignment layer of an LCD device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a method for rubbing an alignment layer of an LCD device by selectively driving a rubbing table or a rubbing roll according to the present invention.

Claims

1. A rubbing system for an alignment of a liquid crystal display device, comprising: a rubbing table on which a substrate having an alignment layer thereon is positioned;a rubbing roll on which a rubbing material is wound, substantially positioned on the rubbing table to substantially contact said alignment layer, for rubbing said alignment layer by rotation of said rubbing roll; anda controlling unit for controlling said alignment layer to be rubbed by substantially contacting said rubbing roll with said alignment layer by lifting and lowering said rubbing table and said rubbing roll according to an alignment controlling force upon said alignment layer.

2. The rubbing system of claim 1, wherein the controlling unit comprises: an input unit for inputting information relating to a liquid crystal panel on which an alignment layer is formed;a driving controlling unit for determining a rubbing intensity applied to the alignment layer on the basis of the information inputted by the input unit; anda rubbing table driving unit and a rubbing roll driving unit for respectively lifting and lowering the rubbing table and the rubbing roll according to a signal inputted from the driving controlling unit.

3. The rubbing system of claim 2, wherein the information comprises LC panel area, alignment layer material, and display mode.

4. The rubbing system of claim 2, wherein the rubbing intensity is determined according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

5. The rubbing system of claim 2, wherein the rubbing intensity is determined according to a gap between the alignment layer and the rubbing roll.

6. The rubbing system of claim 1, further comprising: a first motor driven by the rubbing roll driving unit for rotating the rubbing roll;a second motor driven by the rubbing roll driving unit for lifting and lowering the rubbing roll; anda third motor driven by the rubbing table driving unit for lifting and lowering the rubbing table.

7. The rubbing system of claim 1, wherein the rubbing table and rubbing roll are simultaneously lifted and lowered.

8. A rubbing system for an alignment of a liquid crystal display device, comprising: a rubbing table on which a substrate having an alignment layer thereon is positioned; anda rubbing roll substantially positioned on said rubbing table thus to substantially contact said alignment layer for rubbing said alignment layer by rotation of said rubbing roll, wherein said alignment layer and said rubbing roll substantially contact each other such that both said rubbing table and said rubbing roll are driven.

9. The rubbing system of claim 8, further comprising a controlling unit for lifting and lowering the rubbing table and the rubbing roll according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

10. The rubbing system of claim 9, wherein the controlling unit comprises: an input unit for inputting information of a liquid crystal panel on which an alignment layer is formed;a driving controlling unit for determining a rubbing intensity applied to the alignment layer based on the information inputted by the input unit; anda rubbing table driving unit and a rubbing roll driving unit for respectively lifting and lowering the rubbing table and the rubbing roll according to a signal inputted from the driving controlling unit.

11. A rubbing system for an alignment of a liquid crystal display device, comprising: a rubbing table on which a substrate having an alignment layer thereon is positioned; anda rubbing roll on which a rubbing material is wound, substantially positioned on said rubbing table thus to substantially contact said alignment layer, for rubbing said alignment layer by rotation of said rubbing roller, wherein said alignment layer and said rubbing roll substantially contact each other such that either said rubbing table or said rubbing roll is driven.

12. The rubbing system of claim 11, further comprising a controlling unit for lifting and lowering the rubbing table or the rubbing roll according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

13. The rubbing system of claim 12, wherein the controlling unit comprises: an input unit for inputting information of a liquid crystal panel on which an alignment layer is formed;a driving controlling unit for calculating a rubbing intensity applied to the alignment layer based on the information inputted by the input unit, comparing the rubbing intensity with a critical value, and thereby selectively driving the rubbing table or the rubbing roll; anda rubbing table driving unit and a rubbing roll driving unit for respectively lifting and lowering the rubbing table and the rubbing roll according to a signal inputted from the driving controlling unit.

14. The rubbing system of claim 13, wherein the rubbing table is lifted and lowered when the calculated rubbing intensity is larger than the critical value, and the rubbing roll is lifted and lowered when the calculated rubbing intensity is smaller than the critical value, thereby substantially contacting the rubbing roll and the alignment layer with each other.

15. The rubbing system of claim 14, wherein the rubbing intensity is varied according to display mode of a liquid crystal panel.

16. The rubbing system of claim 14, wherein the display mode of a liquid crystal panel comprises a twisted nematic (TN) mode or an in-plane switching (EPS) mode.

17. The rubbing system of claim 15, wherein a rubbing intensity of a liquid crystal panel of the IPS mode is greater than a rubbing intensity of a liquid crystal panel of the TN mode.

18. The rubbing system of claim 17, wherein the rubbing table is lifted and lowered at the time of rubbing the liquid crystal panel of the IPS mode, or the rubbing roll is lifted and lowered at the time of rubbing the liquid crystal panel of the TN mode.

19. A method for rubbing an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display device, comprising: transferring a substrate on which an alignment layer is formed onto a rubbing table;inputting information relevant to said alignment layer;calculating a rubbing intensity applied to said alignment layer according to the alignment layer information;driving said rubbing table and rubbing roll according to the calculated rubbing intensity, and thus substantially contacting said rubbing roll with said alignment layer; andrubbing said alignment layer by rotating said rubbing roll.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the alignment layer information comprises alignment layer area formed on a liquid crystal panel, alignment layer material, and a display mode of a liquid crystal panel.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the rubbing intensity is varied according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the rubbing intensity is varied according to a gap between the alignment layer and the rubbing roll.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein in the step of substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer, the rubbing roll and the rubbing table are simultaneously driven.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising: substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer;driving the rubbing roll to approach the rubbing table; anddriving the rubbing table thereby substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer.

25. A method for rubbing an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display device, comprising: transferring a substrate on which an alignment layer is formed onto a rubbing table;inputting information relevant to said alignment layer;calculating a rubbing intensity applied to said alignment layer according to the alignment layer information;driving at least one of said rubbing table and said rubbing roll according to the calculated rubbing intensity, and thus substantially contacting said rubbing roll with said alignment layer; andrubbing said alignment layer by rotating said rubbing roll.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the alignment layer information comprises alignment layer area formed on a liquid crystal panel, alignment layer material, and a display mode of a liquid crystal panel.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the rubbing intensity is varied according to an alignment controlling force to be applied to the alignment layer.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the rubbing intensity is varied according to a gap between the alignment layer and the rubbing roll.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer comprises: comparing the rubbing intensity of the alignment layer with a critical value;lifting the rubbing table when the rubbing intensity is larger than the critical value; andlowering the rubbing roll when the rubbing intensity is smaller than the critical value.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the alignment layer having the rubbing intensity larger than the critical value is applied to a liquid crystal panel of an in-plane switching (IPS) mode.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the alignment layer having the rubbing intensity smaller than the critical value is applied to a liquid-crystal panel of a twisted nematic (TN) mode.

32. A method for fabricating a liquid crystal display device, comprising: providing a first substrate on which a driving device array is formed and a second substrate on which a color filter layer is formed;forming a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer on the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively;positioning the first substrate and the second substrate on a rubbing table;inputting information relevant to said first alignment layer or information relevant to said second alignment layer;calculating a rubbing intensity applied to said first alignment layer or said second alignment layer according to the inputted alignment layer information;lifting and lowering at least one of said rubbing table and a rubbing roll according to the calculated rubbing intensity thereby substantially contacting said rubbing roll with said first alignment layer or said second alignment layer;rotating said rubbing roll thereby rubbing said first alignment layer or said second alignment layer; andattaching said first substrate and said second substrate to each other.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the alignment layer information comprises alignment layer area formed on a liquid crystal panel, alignment layer material, and a display mode of a liquid crystal panel.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein in the step of substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer, the rubbing roll and the rubbing table are simultaneously driven.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer comprises: driving the rubbing roll thereby approaching the rubbing table; anddriving the rubbing table thereby substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of substantially contacting the rubbing roll with the alignment layer comprises: comparing the rubbing intensity of the alignment layer with a critical value;lifting the rubbing table when the rubbing intensity is larger than the critical value; andlowering the rubbing roll when the rubbing intensity is smaller than the critical value.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the alignment layer having the rubbing intensity larger than the critical value is applied to a liquid crystal panel of an in-plane switching (IPS) mode.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the alignment layer having the rubbing intensity smaller than the critical value is applied to a liquid crystal panel of a twisted nematic (TN) mode.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising providing a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate.