Method for producing substrate

Abstract

The present application relates to a method for producing a substrate which includes a step of exposing and developing a photosensitive resin composition layer formed on a surface of a substrate base layer to produce spacers. The method for producing a substrate of the present application can uniformly form spacers having a height according to a desired cell gap and can also freely control the height of the spacers.

Claims

1. A method for producing a substrate consisting of exposing and developing a photosensitive resin composition layer formed on a surface of a substrate base layer to produce a spacer, wherein the photosensitive resin composition layer formed on the surface of the substrate base layer consists of a photosensitive resin and beads, wherein the beads consist of acrylic beads, silicone beads, silica beads, talc beads, urethane beads, epoxy beads, zeolite beads or polystyrene beads, having a shape selected from the group consisting of a spherical shape, a columnar shape, a polygonal shape, and an amorphous shape, wherein the beads consist of beads having a size in a range of 1 μm to 50 μm, and the size is equal to a height of the spacer, wherein the method is performed by a roll-to-roll process, wherein the spacer formed using the photosensitive resin composition layer consists of the photosensitive resin and the beads, and wherein the exposing is performed in a state where a mask is in contact with the photosensitive resin composition layer.

2. The method for producing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive resin is an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, an oxetane resin, or a thiol-ene resin.

3. The method for producing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive resin composition layer comprises 0.01 to 10 parts by weight of the beads relative to 100 parts by weight of the photosensitive resin.

4. The method for producing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein an electrode layer is formed between the substrate base layer and the photosensitive resin composition layer.

5. The method for producing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein a light shielding layer is formed between the substrate base layer and the photosensitive resin composition layer.

6. The method for producing a substrate according to claim 1, further comprising forming an alignment film after the production of the spacers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a known spacer production method.

(2) FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an exemplary method for producing spacers of the present application.

(3) FIG. 3 is a photograph of the spacers formed in an example.

(4) FIG. 4 is a diagram showing points where the height of the spacers formed in an example is measured.

MODE FOR INVENTION

(5) Hereinafter, the present application will be specifically described by way of examples, but the scope of the present application is not limited by the following examples.

Example 1

(6) A crystalline ITO (indium tin oxide) electrode layer was formed on a square PET (polyethylene terephthalate) base layer (10 in FIG. 2) having a diagonal length of 55 inches as a substrate base layer, and spacers were formed thereon. The spacers were formed by using, as a photosensitive resin composition, a photosensitive resin composition obtained by mixing organic beads (spherical acrylic beads as a mixture of polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate) having a size (particle diameter) of about 10 μm or so with a mixture (UV resin) of a conventional UV-curing acrylate series binder (mixture comprising a trimethylolpropane tricarylate monomer and an isobornyl acrylate monomer as main components) and initiator (a mixture of Darocur TPO and Darocur 1173 from Ciba Co., Ltd.) in a ratio of about 2 parts by weight relative to 100 parts by weight of the UV resin. The composition was coated on the ITO electrode layer of the PET base layer to a thickness of approximately 10 μm or so, and the composition was cured by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays in a state where a light shielding pattern mask was in contact with the composition layer. Thereafter, the uncured photosensitive resin composition layer was removed (developed) using IPA (isopropyl alcohol) to form spacers. FIG. 3 is a photograph of the spacers thus formed. Among the spacers thus formed, the heights of the spacers formed at the points (L1 to L3, C1 to C3 and R1 to R3) as shown in FIG. 4 were measured. The heights were measured using a 3D Laser Scanning Microscope (Keyence, VK-X210, ×1,000 magnification) and shown in Table 1 below. The respective points shown in FIG. 4 are three points selected from the middle, right side and left side, respectively at approximately equal intervals on the surface of the PET base layer.

Comparative Example 1

(7) The spacers were prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, except that a photosensitive resin composition not containing beads was used, and the size at each point was measured and shown in Table 1 below.

(8) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Comparative Example (height unit: Example (height unit: μm) μm) L point C point R point L point C point R point 1 9.7 9.8 9.7 8.0 7.6 7.4 2 9.8 9.7 9.7 8.0 8.6 8.3 3 9.9 9.8 9.8 6.9 7.3 7.3

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

(9) 10: substrate base layer 20, 50: photosensitive resin composition layer 30: mask 40: spacer 501: bead