Liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof

• US 20070097312A1
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. Ltd. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Seo, Bong-Sung, Heo, Jeong-Uk, Sung, Byoung-Hun, Jeon, Baek-Kyun, Park, So-Youn
• Granted Patent: US 7,796,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 349/155
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133512 Light shielding layers, e.g. black matrix G02F1/136209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13394 spacers regularly patterned on the cell subtrate, e.g. walls, pillars G02F1/133377 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13396 Spacers having different sizes

Abstract

A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate having a display area and a peripheral area and including a plurality of pixels formed in the display area, a second substrate facing the first substrate, and a plurality of first groups of bead spacers and a plurality of second groups of bead spacers disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The first groups of bead spacers have a different size or different elasticity coefficient than the second groups of bead spacers, and include a plurality of bead spacers, respectively.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising:

a first substrate having a display area and a peripheral area and including a plurality of pixels formed in the display area;

a second substrate facing the first substrate; and

a plurality of first groups of bead spacers and a plurality of second groups of bead spacers disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate,

wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers have a different size or different elasticity coefficient from each other, and include a plurality of beads, respectively.

2. The LCD of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of light blocking members formed on the second substrate and overlapping the second groups of bead spacers.

3. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers do not overlap each other.

4. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the first groups of bead spacers are disposed near the center of the display area, and the second groups of bead spacers are disposed about an edge of the display area.

5. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are disposed in the display area and are arranged by one per six pixels, respectively.

6. The LCD of claim 5, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers disposed in the display area are alternately arranged by one per three pixels.

7. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are disposed on the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively.

8. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are attached to one of the first and second substrates.

9. The LCD of claim 1, further comprising:

a gate line and a data line formed on the first substrate;

a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line; and

a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor.

10. The LCD of claim 1, further comprising:

a color filter formed on the second substrate; and

a common electrode formed on the color filter.

11. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the beads of the first groups of bead spacers is smaller than the beads of the second groups of bead spacers.

12. The LCD of claim 1, wherein the beads of the first groups of bead spacers has a lower elasticity coefficient than that of the beads of the second groups of bead spacers.

13. The LCD of claim 1, further comprising:

a sealing member disposed at an edge of the peripheral area, and wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are combined.

14. The LCD of claim 13, wherein the second groups of bead spacers are disposed near the center of the display area and in the peripheral area between the display area and the sealing member, and the first groups of bead spacers are disposed at an edge of the display area and in the peripheral area between the display area and the sealing member.

15. The LCD of claim 14, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers disposed in the peripheral area between the display area and the sealing member are alternately arranged at regular intervals.

16. The LCD of claim 14, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers disposed in the display area are arranged by one per three pixels, and the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers disposed at the peripheral area between the display area and the sealing member are closely and alternately arranged.

17. A manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display, comprising:

attaching first groups of bead spacers on a first bead supply substrate;

transcribing the first groups of bead spacers of the first bead supply substrate onto the surface of a first transcribing roller;

transcribing the first groups of bead spacers of the first transcribing roller onto a first substrate;

attaching second groups of bead spacers on a second bead supply substrate;

transcribing the second groups of bead spacers of the second bead supply substrate onto the surface of a second transcribing roller;

transcribing the second groups of bead spacers of the second transcribing roller onto a second substrate;

depositing a liquid crystal material onto at least one of the first and second substrates; and

combining the first substrate and the second substrate.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second bead supply substrates have a plurality of holes, and

the attaching the first groups of bead spacers or the second groups of bead spacers comprises injecting beads of the first or second groups of bead spacers into the holes.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are spacers that maintain a constant cell gap between the first substrate and the second substrate.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are dams that control a speed of the liquid crystal material.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers are attached to the first and second spacer supply substrates with an adhesive.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the adhesive comprises a thermosetting material or an ultraviolet hardener.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising

exposing the first substrate to heat or light after transcribing the first groups of bead spacers of the first transcribing roller onto the first substrate.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising

exposing the second substrate to heat or light after transcribing the second groups of bead spacers of the second transcribing roller onto the second substrate.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the size of the holes of the first bead supply substrate is different from the size of the holes of the second bead supply substrate.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the holes of the first bead supply substrate and the holes of the second bead supply substrate are filled with a plurality of beads.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the first groups of bead spacers have a different size or different elasticity coefficient than the second groups of bead spacers.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein the first groups of bead spacers and the second groups of bead spacers do not overlap with each other.