Liquid crystal motherboard, manufacturing and cutting methods thereof, and liquid crystal panel obtained thereby

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel motherboard, comprising providing materials that can form projections on a margin area of at least one of two substrates of the liquid crystal panel motherboard, and then fitting said two substrates to each other, so that the margin area of said at least one of the two substrates cannot be fit to a corresponding margin area of the other substrate seamlessly. The present disclosure also provides a method for cutting a liquid crystal panel motherboard, and a liquid crystal panel obtained from the liquid crystal motherboard.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel motherboard, comprising providing materials that can form projections on a margin area of at least one of two substrates of the liquid crystal panel motherboard, and then fitting said two substrates to each other, so that the margin area of said at least one of the two substrates cannot be fit to a corresponding margin area of the other substrate seamlessly, wherein said projections are a plurality of projecting strips inside one liquid crystal panel which are parallel to and spaced from each other, and said projecting strips are discrete projecting strips, wherein both substrates are provided with the projections, which are distributed with the same shape and pattern at the same positions on the two substrates respectively, and said projection has a height in the range from 0.1 to 1.3 m.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said projection has a height of 0.13 m.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said projection is made of polyimide film.

4. A liquid crystal panel, comprising two substrates which are fit to each other, wherein projections are arranged on a margin area other than a display area of one or two of the substrates, so that the margin area of a substrate cannot be fit to a corresponding margin area of the other substrate seamlessly when said two substrates are fit to each other, wherein said projections are a plurality of projecting strips inside one liquid crystal panel which are parallel to and spaced from each other, and said projecting strips are discrete projecting strips, wherein both substrates are provided with the projections, which are distributed with the same shape and pattern at the same positions on the two substrates respectively, and said projection has a height in the range from 0.1 to 1.3 m.

5. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 4, wherein said projection has a height of 0.13 m.

6. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 4, wherein said projection is made of polyimide film.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal panel motherboard before margin areas thereof are cut off according to the method in the prior art;

(2) FIG. 2 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal panel motherboard before margin areas thereof are cut off according to the method of the present disclosure;

(3) FIGS. 3a and 3b show one of the two substrates in the liquid crystal panel motherboards formed by the method in the prior art and that of the present disclosure, respectively; and

(4) FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of one of the substrates of the liquid crystal panel motherboard formed by the method according to one preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(5) 1 first substrate;

(6) 2 second substrate;

(7) 3 first margin area;

(8) 4 first sealing member;

(9) 6 first margin cutting line;

(10) 7 display area;

(11) 1 third substrate;

(12) 2 fourth substrate;

(13) 3 second margin area;

(14) 4 second sealing member;

(15) 5 projecting strip;

(16) 6 second margin cutting line; and

(17) 7 display area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(18) Below, the present disclosure will be discussed in detail with reference to the drawings and examples. However, it should be understood that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples below; it is intended to cover alternatives, various modifications and equivalents within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In particular, as long as there is no structural conflict, the technical features mentioned in each of the examples can be combined in any way.

EXAMPLE 1

(19) The liquid crystal panel motherboard formed by the method of the present example is shown in FIGS. 2, 3b, and 4.

(20) The liquid crystal panel motherboard of the present disclosure comprises two substrates, i.e., a third substrate 1 and a fourth substrate 2. Said third substrate 1 is generally a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate, which is mainly provided with driving circuits and the like thereon. Said fourth substrate 2 is generally a color film (CF) substrate. Said liquid crystal panel motherboard further comprises a second margin area 3, which is located on a margin portion of the fourth substrate 2 (i.e. the CF substrate) that can be fit to a corresponding margin area of the third substrate 1 (i.e., the TFT substrate). According to the example, three projecting strips 5 are arranged between said second margin area of the CF substrate and the corresponding margin area of the TFT substrate, so that the margin areas of said two substrates cannot be fit to each other seamlessly.

(21) Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3b, a plurality of groups of said projecting strips 5 can be provided on the CF substrate, with each group consisting of three or more projecting strips that are parallel to and spaced from each other. As is further illustrated in FIG. 4, for the whole liquid crystal panel motherboard, said projecting strips can be arranged at each of four margin areas, or some of the four margin areas of said liquid crystal panel motherboard, so as to prevent said margin areas with projecting strips from being fit to the corresponding margin areas seamlessly. Therefore, the subsequent cutting step can be facilitated.

(22) Said projecting strips can be provided as follows. In each or some of the margin areas of the third substrate 1 and fourth substrate 2, polyimide (PI) is coated on the corresponding margin area(s) of at least one of said two substrates by means of a coater or an inkjet printer, in order to form the projecting strips 5 on the area(s). After the PI film is solidified, during forming the liquid crystal cell from the liquid crystal panel motherboard in which two substrates are fit to each other, corresponding margin areas of said two substrates cannot be fit to each other seamlessly.

(23) When the above liquid crystal panel motherboard is cut, firstly a crack is generated on the substrate of the liquid crystal panel motherboard with no electric circuits provided thereon, i.e., the CF substrate, by means of cutting. Then, a force is applied on said crack to expand said crack, so that the margin area of the CF substrate is separated from the display area thereof. Finally, the separated margin area is removed to obtain a liquid crystal panel motherboard with electric circuits exposed, which is transferred to the next step.

(24) The margin area of the substrate of the liquid crystal panel obtained by cutting said liquid crystal panel motherboard still includes said projecting strips 5 formed by PI film.

EXAMPLE 2

(25) The liquid crystal panel motherboard formed by the method of this example is shown in FIGS. 2, 3b, and 4.

(26) The liquid crystal panel motherboard of the present disclosure comprises two substrates, i.e., a third substrate 1 and a fourth substrate 2. Said third substrate 1 is generally a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate, which is mainly provided with driving circuits and the like thereon. Said fourth substrate 2 is generally a color film (CF) substrate. Said liquid crystal panel further comprises a second margin area 3, which is located on a margin portion of the fourth substrate 2 (i.e. the CF substrate) that can be fit to a corresponding margin area of the third substrate 1 (i.e., the TFT substrate). According to the example, spacers are provided (e.g., spread) as projections between said second margin area of the CF substrate and the corresponding margin area of the TFT substrate, so that the margin areas of said two substrates cannot be fit to each other seamlessly. The spacers can be placed at the same positions as the projecting strips 5 in Example 1.

(27) When the above liquid crystal panel motherboard is cut, firstly a crack is generated on the substrate of the liquid crystal panel motherboard with no electric circuits provided thereon, i.e., the CF substrate, by means of cutting. Then, a force is applied on said crack to expand said crack, so that the margin area of the CF substrate is separated from the display area thereof. Finally, the separated margin area is removed so as to obtain a liquid crystal panel motherboard with electric circuits exposed, which is transferred to the next step.

(28) The margin area on the substrate of the liquid crystal panel obtained by cutting said liquid crystal panel motherboard still includes said spacers in form of projections.

(29) Compared with Example 1 in which PI film is coated, providing spacers in Example 2 may suffer the difficulty in control of positions of spacers being spread. Thus the display effect and quality of the panel according to Example 2 may be relatively unstable compared to those of the panel according to Example 1. Moreover, the cost for manufacturing the panel according to Example 2 is also relatively higher than that according to Example 1.

EXAMPLE 3

(30) The liquid crystal panel motherboard formed by the method of this example is shown in FIGS. 2, 3b, and 4.

(31) The liquid crystal panel motherboard of the present disclosure comprises two substrates, i.e., a third substrate 1 and a fourth substrate 2. Said third substrate 1 is generally a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate, which is mainly provided with driving circuits and the like. Said fourth substrate 2 is generally a color film (CF) substrate. Said liquid crystal panel further comprises a second margin area 3, which is located on a margin portion of the fourth substrate 2 (i.e. the CF substrate) that can be fit to a corresponding margin area of the third substrate 1 (i.e., the TFT substrate). According to the example, photoresist projections are provided between said second margin area of the CF substrate and the corresponding margin area of the TFT substrate, so that the margin areas of said two substrates cannot be fit to each other seamlessly. The photoresist projections can be placed at the same positions as the projecting strips 5 in Example 1.

(32) Said photoresist projections can be provided as follows. In each or some of the margin areas of the TFT substrate and the CF substrate, photoresist agent is coated on the corresponding margin area(s) of at least one of said two substrates. Then, the substrate with photoresist agent is exposed by means of exposure treatment so as to form photoresist projections thereon. During forming the liquid crystal cell from the liquid crystal panel motherboard in which two substrates are fit to each other, corresponding margin areas of said two substrates cannot be fit to each other seamlessly.

(33) When the above liquid crystal panel motherboard is cut, firstly a crack is generated on the substrate of the liquid crystal panel motherboard with no electric circuits provided thereon, i.e., the CF substrate, by means of cutting. Then, a force is applied on said crack to expand said crack, so that the margin area of the CF substrate is separated from the display area thereof. Finally, the separated margin area is removed so as to obtain a liquid crystal panel motherboard with electric circuits exposed, which is transferred to the next step.

(34) The margin area on the substrate of the liquid crystal panel obtained by cutting said liquid crystal panel motherboard still includes said photoresist projections.

(35) In this example, exposure treatment is necessary in view of use of photoresist material as projections. Therefore, compared to Example 1 in which PI film is used, this example may result in a relatively complex manufacturing process and a relatively high cost.