JP2003260394A - Functional element substrate, image display device and apparatus for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose a manufacturing apparatus for forming functional element groups with high accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: A liquid drop 2 of a solution containing a functional material is applied between a plurality of pairs of respective element electrodes on a substrate 14 by a jet head 11. The jet head 11 is mounted on a carriage movable in a region facing the substrate 14 and the scanning by the carriage is performed while the solution jet mouth surface of the jet head 11 and the regions to be formed with the functional elements of the substrate 14 maintain a specified distance, by which the application of the liquid drop of the solution is performed. The thickness of the functional element substrate 14 is specified to ≥4 mm and ≤15 mm and a substrate holding base 13 maintains the substrate 14 nearly horizontally by positioning the surface to be applied with the liquid drop 2 of the solution of the substrate 14 so as to face upward. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a film formation of a functional material using an ejection device, particularly a film pattern forming and manufacturing apparatus, a functional element substrate formed by the apparatus, and an image display using the functional element substrate. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the development of a light emitting device using an organic material as a self-luminous display replacing a liquid crystal display has been accelerated. Such element formation is performed by patterning a functional material, and is generally performed by a photolithography method. For example, as an organic electroluminescence (hereinafter referred to as organic EL) element using an organic material, Appl.Phys.Let.51 (1
2), 21 September 1987, pp. 913, a method of forming a low molecular weight film by vapor deposition has been reported. Further, in the organic EL element, a method of forming different luminescent materials by vapor deposition on a desired pixel through a mask is used as a means for colorization. However, the vacuum film forming method and the photolithography method have drawbacks in that the number of steps is large and the production cost is high in order to form an element over a large area.

With respect to the above problems, the present inventor has
In forming and patterning a functional material film for forming a functional element represented by an organic EL element as described above, US Pat. No. 30,60429, US Pat.
298030, U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,275, U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,153, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,120,
By using an inkjet droplet applying means known as US Pat. No. 5,729,257, a functional material can be stably provided at a desired position at a desired position without depending on a vacuum film forming method and a photolithography / etching method. I thought it could be given to.

For example, an organic EL is used as an example of a functional element.
When considering an element, a composition prepared by dissolving or dispersing a hole injecting / transporting material and a light emitting material forming such an organic EL element in a solvent is ejected from an inkjet head and pattern-coated on a transparent electrode substrate. It was thought that this could be achieved by patterning the hole injection / transport layer and the light emitting material layer.

However, unlike ink jet recording in which a so-called ink is ejected toward a paper and recording is performed, a solution containing a functional material is stably ejected and applied onto a substrate to form a highly accurate functional element substrate. There are still many unsolved elements to make. In particular, in recent years, it has been earnestly desired to realize a large-screen display. However, a technique for forming a functional element group at a highly accurate position on a large-scale functional (light emitting function in this case) element substrate applied thereto, or There is still a need to devise techniques such as a technique for producing a functional element substrate with a high yield, and a technique for producing a large screen display using such a large-sized functional element substrate with a high yield.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus for an image display device using the functional element as described above, a functional element substrate manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus, and an image using the functional element substrate. The present invention relates to a display device, and a first object thereof is to propose a manufacturing device for forming the functional element group as described above. A second object is to propose a manufacturing apparatus for forming such a functional element group with higher accuracy. A third object is to propose another configuration of a manufacturing apparatus for forming such a functional element group with high accuracy.
A fourth object is to propose another configuration of the manufacturing apparatus for forming such a functional element group with high accuracy. A fifth object is to propose a functional element substrate which is manufactured by such a manufacturing apparatus and in which functional element groups are formed at highly precise positions. A sixth object is to propose an image display device using a highly accurate functional element substrate manufactured by such a manufacturing apparatus. A seventh object is to prevent the display surface of such an image display device from being easily damaged.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention firstly applies droplets of a solution containing a functional material between a plurality of pairs of device electrodes on a substrate. A substrate, a substrate holding unit that holds the substrate, an ejection head that is disposed at a position facing the substrate and ejects the solution, and an information input unit that inputs droplet application information to the ejection head. Device for producing a functional element group by ejecting the solution from the ejection head based on the information and applying the liquid droplets of the solution between a plurality of pairs of element electrodes on the substrate The ejection head is mounted on a carriage that is movable in a region facing the substrate, and a solution ejection port surface of the ejection head and a region in which the functional element of the substrate is formed are While keeping a certain distance, In a manufacturing device of a functional element substrate for applying a droplet of the solution while performing scanning by a carriage, a thickness of the functional element substrate manufactured by using the manufacturing device of the functional element substrate is 4 mm or more, 15 mm
In addition to the following, the substrate holding means holds the substrate substantially horizontally with the surface of the substrate to which the droplets of the solution are applied facing upward.

Secondly, in the above-mentioned first functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus, the substrate holding means holds the substrate on its surface. Thirdly, in the above-mentioned first functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus, the substrate holding means holds the substrate at three points. Fourthly, in the first functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus, the substrate holding means holds the substrate at a single point with the linear support portion.
Fifthly, the functional element substrate is formed by any one of the first to fourth functional element substrate manufacturing apparatuses and has a thickness of 4 mm or more. Sixth, an image in which the fifth functional element substrate and a cover plate arranged to face the functional element substrate are provided, and the thickness of glass used for the cover plate is thicker than that of the functional element substrate. It was used as a display device. Seventh, in the sixth image display device, the glass is tempered glass.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example in which an organic EL element is considered as an example of a functional element.
Here, on the ITO (indium tin oxide) transparent electrode pattern 4 partitioned in a mosaic shape, and on the electrode of the glass substrate 5 with the barrier 3 surrounding the transparent electrode portion,
An example is shown in which a solution 2 in which an organic EL material that develops red, green, and blue is dissolved is applied from a nozzle 1 so as to be arranged in a mosaic pattern for each color. The composition of the solution is, for example, as follows. Solution composition solvent: Dodecylbenzene / dichlorobenzene (1
/ 1, volume ratio) Red …… Polyfluorene / Perylene dye (98 /
2, weight ratio) Green …… Polyfluorene / coumarin dye (98.
5 / 1.5, weight ratio) Blue …… Polyfluorene

The ratio of solid to solvent is, for example, 0.1.
4% (weight / volume). Here, the substrate provided with such a solution is heated at, for example, 100 ° C. to remove the solvent, and then a suitable metal mask is applied on the substrate to vapor-deposit aluminum to 2000 Å (not shown). Lead wire from ITO and aluminum,
A device is completed using ITO as an anode and aluminum as a cathode. The applied voltage is about 15 Volts, and the shape is red, green,
A device that emits blue light is obtained. The substrate having such an element can be used as an image display device such as a self-luminous organic EL display by arranging a transparent cover plate such as glass or plastic so as to face each other and casing (packaging). .

Although an organic EL element is considered as an example of a functional element here, the element and material are not necessarily limited to such an element. For example, when considering a functional element, a solution containing a palladium-based compound is used. In this case, the final form is an electron-emitting display in which a face plate provided with a phosphor is disposed opposite to this functional element substrate and packaged. Also, an organic transistor or the like can be suitably manufactured as the functional element. Further, the resist material for forming the barrier 3 in the above example is also used as the solution used in the present invention.

Here, as the means for applying the solution containing the functional material as described above, the ink jet technique is applied in the present invention. The specific method will be described below. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the apparatus for manufacturing a functional element substrate of the present invention, in which 11 is an ejection head, 12 is a carriage, 13 is a substrate holder, and 14 is a functional element group. A substrate for forming a substrate, 15 a supply tube for a solution containing a functional material, 16 a signal supply cable, 17 an ejection head control box, 18 a carriage 2
X-direction scan motor, 19 is a Y-direction scan motor of the carriage 2, 20 is a computer, 21 is a control box, 22 (22 _X1 , 22 _Y1 , 22 _X2 , 2
2 _Y2 ) is a substrate positioning / holding means. in this case,
The jet head 11 moves on the front surface of the substrate 14 placed on the substrate holder 13 by scanning the carriage, and jets the solution containing the functional material.

A more characteristic point of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, in the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the manufactured functional device substrate 14 is placed on the functional device substrate holding means 13 with the surface to which the droplet 2 of the solution is applied facing upward, In addition, it is held substantially horizontally (almost 90 ° with respect to the vertical direction, which is the direction of gravity). The reason for adopting such an arrangement and configuration is to maintain the flight stability of the liquid droplets when the liquid droplets are applied and the landing accuracy on the substrate. That is, the surface to which the liquid droplets of the solution are applied is directed upward, the flight direction of the solution jetted from the jet head 11 is made the same as the direction of gravity action, and flight stability is obtained, and the solution is attached to the target position on the substrate with high precision. I am trying to do it.

Further, in the present invention, in order to deposit the solution at a target position on the substrate with high precision, the precision and mechanical strength of the large screen substrate used in the present invention should be maintained. ing. Specifically, the substrate used in the present invention has a thickness of 4 mm or more. As the substrate, quartz glass, glass having a reduced content of impurities such as Na, soda lime glass, a glass substrate having SiO ₂ deposited on the surface thereof, and a ceramics substrate such as alumina are generally used. Even if it is different from metal, it is brittle and easily damaged. Therefore, if the thickness is not more than a certain value, there is a problem that the substrate is damaged at the time of manufacturing the functional element substrate, pretreatment such as cleaning of the substrate before and after manufacturing, or at the time of transferring the substrate.

Generally, soda lime glass is 500 kg /
Although it has a bending strength of about cm ^2, it is 1500 k by the so-called wind-cooling strengthening method of glass.
One of the options is to use tempered glass having a bending strength of about g / cm ² and use it as a substrate. In this case, even with a thickness of 4 mm to 15 mm, the bending strength of about 1500 kg / cm ² can be obtained by this method. When the thickness is 3 mm or less, 1500 kg / cm as described above by the air cooling strengthening method.
^Although it cannot have a bending strength of ^2, it can be semi-tempered glass. As the glass strengthening method, the air-cooling strengthening method has been mentioned, but a chemical strengthening method of giving compressive strain to the surface by substituting ions on the glass surface is also an effective means.

In order to apply the functional element substrate of the present invention to an image display device of high image quality, it is necessary for the droplets of the solution to be deposited on the substrate with high precision. At that time, in order to obtain high-accuracy landing accuracy, there should be no deformation, flexure, etc. of the substrate, and it should not happen that high-accuracy transfer cannot be performed. . The present invention has a middle screen of about 200 mm × 300 mm to 2000 mm
The present invention is preferably applied to an image display device having a large screen of about × 3000 mm, but at that time, the accuracy of the functional element should not decrease due to the damage or deformation as described above. In view of these points, the invention sets the thickness of the substrate to 4 mm or more. The value of 4 mm is a value at which the above-mentioned tempered glass can usually be stably manufactured.

Further, in order to suppress the deformation of the substrate during the production of the functional element, the surface of the substrate is substantially horizontal (almost 90 ° with respect to the vertical direction which is the direction of gravity) with the surface on which the solution droplets are applied facing upward. I am trying to hold it. FIG. 4 shows FIG.
3 is a view of the functional element substrate 14 held on the functional element substrate holding means 13 as viewed from above (plan view, the ejection head 11 is omitted). FIG.

Further, as can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, in the present invention, when the functional element substrate holding means 13 holds the substrate 14, the substrate 14 is held by the surface. That is, in the present invention, the substrate 1 is held by the functional element substrate holding means 13.
When holding 4, the substrate 14 is not held vertically or inclined while standing, but the surface on which the liquid droplets of the solution are applied faces upward and the substrate 14 is held substantially horizontally, and the functional element is provided. Even when the substrate 14 is held by the surface when the substrate 14 is held by the substrate holding means 13, the substrate may be applied to an image display device having a medium screen of about 200 mm × 300 mm to a large screen of about 2000 mm × 3000 mm. The deformation of the substrate due to its own weight is eliminated and a highly accurate functional element substrate is manufactured. Although it is the upper limit of the substrate thickness, it is desirable to set it to about 50 mm at maximum in view of the cost of producing the substrate, the ease of producing the substrate material, the ease of transportation from the weight side, and the like.

5 and 6 show another example of the structure of the substrate holding means of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows the case where the substrate 14 is held at three points 13a, 13b and 13c. , A plan view of the functional element substrate 14 held on the functional element substrate holding means 13 when the substrate 14 is held by a linear support portion 13 ₁ and one point 13 ₂ . is there. The holding portions at three points (FIG. 5) below the functional element substrate 14, or the support portions on a straight line and the holding portion at one point (FIG. 6) are shown by dotted lines because they cannot be seen directly. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 6 in order to understand the configuration of FIG. In the case of holding at three points (FIG. 5) and the case of holding at a linear support portion and at one point (FIG. 6), the holding portion (support portion) forms one plane when viewed geometrically. The advantage is that the functional element substrate can be stably held.

As an example contrary to this, for example, 3 in FIG.
Consider an example of holding at 4 points (or more) instead of holding at points. Even if the heights of these four points are aligned with high accuracy, it is extremely difficult to hold the functional element substrate stably. That is, since one geometrical plane is defined by three points, holding at four points inevitably means that there is an extra one point, and therefore the functional element substrate holding surface does not have one geometrical plane. Two
It becomes a flat surface, cannot be stably held, and wobble occurs. In short, the point of the present invention is that the back surface of the functional element substrate 14 is a flat surface, and the substrate holding surface of the functional element substrate holding means 13 that supports this is also geometrically configured to be a flat surface. By physically or geometrically adhering to each other, the functional element substrate can be stably held without wobbling, and the functional element formation by solution injection is performed with high accuracy.

Next, the structure of the ejection head unit (ejection head) 11 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, 32
Is a detection optical system for capturing image information on the substrate 14,
The optical axis 41 and the focus position of the detection optical system 32 and the landing position 44 of the droplet 43 by the inkjet head 33 are arranged in close proximity to the inkjet head 33 that ejects the droplet 43. In addition, the detection optical system 32
For this, a CCD camera and a lens are used. The positional relationship between the detection optical system 32 and the inkjet head 33 can be precisely controlled by the head alignment fine movement mechanism 34 and the head alignment control mechanism 31.

The jet head 11 may have any mechanism as long as it can discharge arbitrary droplets quantitatively, and in particular, several tens.
An inkjet mechanism that can form droplets of about ng is desirable. As the inkjet method, any one such as a drop-on-demand type inkjet method using a piezoelectric element (piezo element), a bubble inkjet method that generates bubbles using thermal energy of a heater, or a charge control method (continuous flow method) But it doesn't matter. As the material (solution) of the droplet 43, for example, a solution obtained by mixing 0.2 wt% of polyhexyloxyphenylene vinylene in a mixed solution of O-dichlorobenzene / dodecylbenzene is used.

When the above-described droplet 43 is applied to the desired element electrode 42 by the ejection head unit (ejection head) 11, the position to be applied is determined by the detection optical system 32 and the image identification device (not shown). Measurement is performed, correction coordinates are generated based on the measured data, the distance between the ejection port surface of the ejection head unit (ejection head) 11 and the functional element substrate 14, and the relative movement speed between the two, and the functional element is generated according to the corrected coordinates. Droplets are applied to the front surface of the substrate 14 while the ejection head unit (ejection head) 11 is being moved forward in the carriage. A combination of a CCD camera and a lens may be used as the detection optical system 32, and a commercially available one that binarizes the image and obtains the barycentric position thereof may be used as the image identification device.

As is clear from the above description, in the functional device substrate 14 of the present invention, a solution containing an element or a compound to be a conductive thin film is made to fly in the air by the principle of ink jet, and droplets are formed on the substrate. It is produced by giving. Specific conditions for forming such droplets and dots are shown below. The solution used is a solution obtained by mixing 0.2 wt% of polyhexyloxyphenylene vinylene with the above-mentioned mixed solution of O-dichlorobenzene / dodecylbenzene.

The jet head used had a structure equivalent to that of an edge shooter type thermal ink jet system (however, the above solution was used instead of ink). When the diameter of one dot is about Φ45 μm, the ejection head has a nozzle diameter of Φ25 μm and a heating element size of 25 μm.
× 90μm (resistance 119Ω), drive voltage 22.6
V, and the pulse width 6 .mu.s, drives the drive frequency 10KH _z, the energy of a drop formed about 25.8MyuJ, ejection speed of the droplets at that time, by ejecting downward to receive the gravity, It was about 7.5 m / s. It should be noted that the above solution and jet conditions are set such that the distance between the device electrodes 42 is 140
9 μm, and FIG. 9 shows an example of the case where four droplets 44 _{1 to} 44 _{4 are} attached to form one functional element portion,
The present invention is not limited to this condition.

[0026] For example, FIG. 10 is a 140μm distance element electrodes 42 as well, form a 6 drops (44 ₁ ~44 ₆₎ × 2 columns (A column + B columns) = 12 drops deposited allowed to functional elements This is the case. In this example, the dot diameter is approximately Φ22 μm. In this case, the jet head used has a nozzle diameter of Φ
The size of the heating element is 14 μm and the size of the heating element is 14 μm × 60 μm (resistance 103 Ω). The driving voltage is 11.7 V and the pulse width is 4
.mu.s, the driving frequency to drive at 16kH _z, jetted droplets energy of a drop formed as approximately 5.3MyuJ. Then, the jet speed of the liquid droplets at that time is set to about 6.5 m by flying downward so as to be affected by gravity as in the above case.
Was / s.

The distance between the element electrodes 42 is not limited to 140 μm, and it is necessary to arrange the functional elements on the functional element substrate at a high density in order to manufacture a higher definition image display device. For example, the distance between the device electrodes 42 is 5
In some cases, it may be 0 μm. Also in this case, the jet head used has a nozzle diameter of Φ14 μm as described above, a heating element size, driving conditions, etc., and is appropriately selected. That is, in the present invention, the number of droplets to be deposited is appropriately selected from about 1 to 30 droplets according to the distance of the element electrode 42 and the required accuracy of the functional element, and the functional element is formed under the optimum conditions. Therefore, it is not limited to special conditions. The number of droplets to be deposited depends on the nozzle diameter of the ejection head to be used, but it is desirable to keep the maximum to about 30 droplets from the viewpoint of productivity (more fine droplets may be deposited. It is possible, but productivity is reduced and it is disadvantageous in terms of cost.)

Next, the jet head used in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 11, the ejection head 50 has four nozzles 60 as an example. The jet head 50 is formed by joining a heating element substrate 51 and a lid substrate 61, and the heating element substrate 51 is formed on a silicon substrate 52 by a wafer process by an individual electrode 53, a common electrode 54, and an energy acting portion. And a heating element 55 which is Note that FIG. 11A shows the heating element substrate 51 and the lid substrate 6.
FIG. 11B is an exploded view when FIG. 1 is joined to form an ink jet head, and FIG. 11C is a cover substrate 61.
It is the figure which looked at from the back side.

On the other hand, the lid substrate 61 has a groove 62 for forming a flow path into which a solution containing a functional material is introduced.
And a recessed region 63 for forming a common liquid chamber (not shown) for containing the solution introduced into the flow path, and these heating element substrate 51 and lid substrate 61 are shown in FIG.
By joining as shown in (A), the flow path and the common liquid chamber are formed. In the state where the heating element substrate 51 and the lid substrate 61 are bonded, the heating element 55 is located on the bottom surface of the flow path, and the solution introduced into these flow paths is at the end of the flow path. The nozzle 60 for discharging a part of the liquid droplets is formed. Further, the lid substrate 61 is formed with a solution inlet 64 for supplying a solution into the supply liquid chamber by a supply means (not shown).

Although the example shown in FIG. 11 shows an ejection head having four nozzles, the use of such a multi-nozzle type ejection head makes it possible to form a functional element very efficiently. Note that the example of FIG. 11 shows an ejection head with four nozzles, but it is not necessarily limited to four nozzles, and it goes without saying that the greater the number of nozzles, the more efficient the formation of the functional element. Nor. However, this does not mean simply increasing the number, but if the number is increased, the ejection head will be more expensive, and the probability of clogging of the ejection nozzle will also increase. It is decided in consideration of the balance of manufacturing efficiency of elements.

Further, not only the number of nozzles but also the nozzle array arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) requires the same consideration. In other words, it is not necessary to simply increase the nozzle array arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head), but this is also determined in consideration of the balance of the entire device (balance between device cost and manufacturing efficiency of functional elements). To be

As an example, in the present invention, the nozzle array arrangement length of the multi-nozzle (effective ejection width of the ejection head) is
The number of nozzles and the array density thereof are determined so as to be equal to or larger than the distance between the element electrodes 42. However, here, to make it larger than that,
It is not a limitlessly large value, but is a little larger than the distance between the device electrodes 42. That is, the basic idea of the present invention is to minimize the cost of the ejection head by using the ejection head in which the nozzle array arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) equivalent to the distance between the element electrodes 42 is secured. In addition, the functional element can be efficiently manufactured by keeping the nozzle array arrangement length (effective ejection width of the ejection head) equal to the distance between the element electrodes 42.

From the above, a more specific numerical value is set to 4 as described above.
An example will be described in which droplets of a droplet are ejected so as to form a pattern that fills 140 μm of the element electrode 42. In this case, in the present invention, the nozzle array arrangement length of four nozzles (effective ejection width of the ejection head, in other words, the distance between the nozzles at both ends) shown in FIG. 11 is about 127 μm (element electrode 4).
The length between the nozzles can be regarded as approximately equal to 140 μm), and the distance between the nozzles is about 42.3 μm. That is, in this case, an ejection head having a nozzle array density equivalent to 600 dpi (dot per inch), which is a so-called inkjet printer, is used.

Although the above description has been made with reference to the 4-nozzle jet head shown in FIG. 11, the distance between the nozzles is about 42.3.
It is also conceivable to use an ejection head having 6 μm nozzles.
In this case, the nozzle array arrangement length of 6 nozzles (effective ejection width of the ejection head, in other words, the distance between the nozzles at both ends)
Is about 212 μm (which can be regarded as larger than 140 μm between the element electrodes 42), and the distance between the element electrodes 42 can be covered with a sufficient length of nozzle array arrangement, and a functional element can be efficiently manufactured.

Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which droplets are jetted and imparted into the barrier 3, in forming the functional element group shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, as shown in FIG. It is to be noted that there is no such a barrier 3 and the functional element is formed by directly forming an electrode pattern or applying droplets on a flat substrate.

Although all the jet heads used for jetting droplets have been described as the thermal ink jet type, they are not limited to this type. For example, the drop-on-demand type using a piezo element has the advantage that there is a wide choice of liquids to be used for ejection, although it cannot have a high-density nozzle arrangement like the thermal inkjet type, and can be suitably applied to the present invention. It is a thing.

An example of ejection conditions for forming a functional element according to the present invention by using a drop-on-demand type ink jet system using a piezo element will be shown below.
This example is also a case where the organic EL element group is formed. The solution used was a solution of O-dichlorobenzene / dodecylbenzene mixed with 0.25 weight percent polyhexyloxyphenylene vinylene. The jet head used has a nozzle diameter of Φ32 μm and is 50d.
pi is a multi-nozzle head with 4 nozzles. The input voltage to one piezo element is 36V, and the drive frequency is
It was 4kH _z. At that time, the initial jet speed is 6.8 m /
s is obtained, and the mass of one drop is 22 pl. The carriage scanning speed (X direction) was set to 5 m / s. The distance between the ejection head nozzle and the substrate was 3 mm.

Further, the shape of the droplet at the time of flight is separately jetted and observed under the same conditions as the element formation, and the shape is almost round just before adhering to the substrate surface (3 mm in the present invention example). The driving waveform was controlled to eject. Then ITO
Then, a lead wire was drawn out from the aluminum, and a voltage of 15 V was applied using ITO as an anode and aluminum as a cathode.

Furthermore, although an organic EL element has been mainly described here as an example of the functional element, the present invention is not necessarily limited to such element and material as described above. As the functional element, an organic transistor or the like can be preferably manufactured by utilizing the present invention. Further, the resist material for forming the barrier 3 in the above example can also be used as the solution used in the present invention, and is suitably applied as a technique for producing such a resist pattern.

When a light-emitting element is formed as the functional element of the present invention, the light-emitting element substrate is then provided with a transparent cover plate such as glass or plastic so as to face it and casing (packaging) to form a display device. Be utilized. At this time, when glass is used as the cover plate, it must have sufficient strength itself. Especially in the case of the cover plate, unlike the functional element substrate, it is necessary to consider the impact from the outside (impact caused by hitting a person or object) (the functional element substrate is protected by casing (packaging). Therefore, it is not necessary to consider the strength of a cover plate that is more likely to be directly exposed to external impact. One option is to make the glass substrate used for the cover plate thicker than the functional element substrate so that the glass substrate does not bend due to its own weight and it can withstand external shocks. . As another measure, the glass substrate used for the cover plate may be the tempered glass as described above.

In general, soda lime glass is 500 kg /
Although it has a bending strength of about cm ^2, it is 1500 k by the so-called wind-cooling strengthening method of glass.
A tempered glass having a bending strength of about g / cm ² can be obtained. At this time, it is usually 1500 kg / cm as described above by this method up to a thickness of 4 mm to 15 mm.
It can have a bending strength of about ² . As the glass strengthening method, the air-cooling strengthening method has been mentioned, but a chemical strengthening method of giving compressive strain to the surface by substituting ions on the glass surface is also an effective means.

[0042]

Advantageous Effects of the Invention In the apparatus for producing a functional element substrate according to claim 1, a substrate to which droplets of a solution containing a functional material are applied between a plurality of pairs of element electrodes on the substrate, Substrate holding means for holding this substrate,
An ejection head that is disposed at a position facing the substrate and ejects the solution, information input means that inputs droplet application information to the ejection head, and ejects the solution from the ejection head based on the input information. A device for manufacturing a functional element substrate, in which droplets of the solution are applied between a plurality of pairs of element electrodes on the substrate to form a functional element group, wherein the ejection head is opposed to the substrate. The carriage is mounted on a carriage that can move in a region where the solution jetting surface of the jetting head and the region where the functional element of the substrate is formed maintain a constant distance while performing scanning by the carriage. Meanwhile, in the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus for applying the solution droplets, the thickness of the functional device substrate manufactured by using the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus is 4 mm or more and 15 mm or less. Rutotomoni, the substrate holding means, since the surface on which the droplets of the solution of the substrate is applied in the upward and adapted to substantially horizontally hold the substrate,
It has become possible to manufacture such a functional element substrate with a simple configuration, and also to form the functional element group with high accuracy.

In the manufacturing apparatus of the functional element substrate according to the second aspect, the substrate holding means holds the substrate on the surface, so that the substrate can be held in the substrate holding means with high precision, and it is simple. With such a structure, it has become possible to form such a functional element group with high accuracy.

In the apparatus for manufacturing the functional element substrate according to the third aspect, the substrate holding means holds the substrate at three points, so that the substrate can be held with high precision in the substrate holding means. With such a simple structure, it has become possible to form such a functional element group with high accuracy.

In the apparatus for manufacturing an effect functional element substrate according to claim 4, the substrate holding means holds the substrate at one point with the linear support portion.
The substrate can be held in the substrate holding means with high precision,
With such a simple structure, it has become possible to form such a functional element group with high accuracy.

Since it is a functional element substrate having a thickness of 4 mm or more on which the functional element group manufactured by the effect manufacturing apparatus is formed, high-precision function is achieved even if the substrate is large. It is possible to realize a flexible element substrate.

The effect corresponding to claim 6 has a functional element substrate formed with high precision and a cover plate arranged so as to face the functional element substrate, and the thickness of the glass used for the cover plate is the above-mentioned. Since the thickness is made thicker than the functional element substrate, a high quality image display device can be obtained and an image display device having a strong strength can be obtained.

Since the glass used for the cover plate of the effect image display device according to claim 7 is tempered glass, it is possible to obtain an image display device which is strong in strength and hard to damage the display surface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing one step of producing a functional element using a discharge composition according to an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a positional relationship between the droplet applying device and the substrate in the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the functional element substrate held on the functional element substrate holding means.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which a functional element substrate holding means holds a functional element substrate at three points.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example in which the functional element substrate holding means holds the functional element substrate at one linear support portion and one point.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of the ejection head schematically shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of the functional element according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing an example in which the functional element portion is formed by a plurality of droplets.

FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of the functional element according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a view showing another example in which the functional element portion is formed by a plurality of drops.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of an ejection head used in the functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... (Liquid jet head) nozzle, 2 ... Organic E discharged
L material, 3 ... Organic substance (polyimide) barrier, 4 ... ITO transparent electrode, 5 ... Glass substrate, 11 ... Ejection head unit (ejection head), 12 ... Carriage, 13 ... Substrate holding table (means), 14 ... Substrate, 15 ... Supply tube for solution containing functional material, 16 ... Signal supply cable, 17, 2
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control box, 18 ... X-direction scan motor, 19 ... Y-direction scan motor, 20 ... Computer, 22 ... Substrate positioning / holding means, 31 ... Head alignment control mechanism, 32 ... Detection optical system, 33 ... Inkjet head, 34 ... Head alignment fine adjustment mechanism, 4
1 ... Optical axis, 42 ... Element electrode, 43 ... Droplet, 44 ... Droplet landing position, 50 ... Jet head, 60 ... Nozzle.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A substrate to which a droplet of a solution containing a functional material is applied between a plurality of pairs of device electrodes on the substrate, a substrate holding means for holding the substrate, and a position facing the substrate. An ejection head that is disposed on the ejection head to eject the solution, information input means that inputs droplet application information to the ejection head, and ejects the solution from the ejection head based on the input information. A functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus for forming a functional element group by applying a droplet of the solution between each pair of element electrodes, wherein the ejection head is movable in a region facing the substrate. While being mounted on a carriage, the solution ejection port surface of the ejection head and a region of the substrate on which the functional element is formed maintain a constant distance, and while performing scanning by the carriage, the solution of the solution Apply drops In the apparatus for manufacturing a functional element substrate, the thickness of the functional element substrate manufactured by using the apparatus for manufacturing a functional element substrate is set to 4 mm or more and 15 mm or less, and the substrate holding means is configured to An apparatus for manufacturing a functional element substrate, wherein the substrate is held substantially horizontally with the surface to which the droplets of the solution are applied facing upward. 2. The apparatus for manufacturing a functional element substrate according to claim 1, wherein the substrate holding means holds the substrate on its surface. 3. The functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate holding means holds the substrate at three points. 4. The functional device substrate manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate holding means holds the substrate at one point with a linear support portion. 5. The functional element substrate manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, which has a thickness of 4 m.
A functional element substrate having a thickness of at least m. 6. The functional element substrate according to claim 5, and a cover plate arranged so as to face the functional element substrate, and the glass used for the cover plate is thicker than the functional element substrate. An image display device characterized by the above. 7. The image display device according to claim 6, wherein the glass is tempered glass.