Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-11
2004-01-20
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Apparatus
C445S024000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679747
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conducting carrier, and more specifically, to a conducting carrier of a sand blasting device for removing electrostatic charges generated during a sand blasting process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plasma display panels (PDP) have large, wide screens and are thin and light. By utilizing ultraviolet light produced by gas discharge to irradiate fluorescent materials in thousands of display elements, red, green and blue lights can be generated and therefore emitted on the PDP. During the formation a back substrate of the PDP, a plurality of barrier ribs, having shapes of either stripes, cells or other shapes due to product requirement, needs to be formed to define each display element before the fluorescent materials are formed on the substrate, so as to prevent the mixing of different fluorescent materials. The width and height of the barrier ribs respectively range from 50 to 80 &mgr;m and from 150 to 220 &mgr;m, making the barrier ribs very difficult to be formed. Conventional methods of making barrier ribs include printing, photoresist sand blasting, and additive methods. The photoresist sand blasting method combines a photo etching technology and a sand blasting process to achieve precise patterns of the barrier ribs with smaller sizes, and has therefore become the most popular way of making barrier ribs. However, electrostatic charges frequently produced during the sand blasting process are not easily to be moved, therefore leading to a great impact on the quality of the PDP.
Please refer to
FIGS. 1
to
4
of schematic views of making a plurality of barrier ribs
20
of a PDP on a back substrate
10
by using a photoresist sand blasting method according to the prior art. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a plurality of electrodes
12
, a protective layer
14
and a barrier rib material layer
16
are sequentially formed on a glass substrate
11
. The protective layer
14
is a dielectric layer employed to cover the surface of the glass substrate
11
and the electrodes
12
, so as to prevent the electrodes
12
from being damaged in subsequent sand blasting processes. The barrier rib material layer
16
is a dielectric layer composed of low melting point glass and oxides, such as aluminum oxide. As shown in
FIG. 2
, a photoresist layer
18
is then formed on a predetermined area of the barrier rib material layer
16
by performing exposure and development processes to define the barrier ribs
20
. As shown in
FIG. 3
, a sand blasting process is performed to remove portions of the barrier rib material
16
not covered by the photoresist layer
18
down to the surface of the protective layer
14
. As shown in
FIG. 4
, the photoresist layer
18
is removed, and the residual barrier rib material layer
16
is baked to form a plurality of barrier ribs
20
at a temperature of higher than 500° C. to complete the formation of the barrier ribs
20
of the PDP.
The sand blasting process is performed in a sand blasting device (not shown). Portions of the barrier rib material layer
16
uncovered by the photoresist layer
18
is removed by an abrasive sand jetted on the back substrate
10
against the barrier rib material layer
16
. However, electric charges are frequently generated and are therefore accumulated on the surface of the barrier rib material layer
16
, causing electrostatic discharge during the sand blasting process. Furthermore, the electric charge can be accumulated on the electrodes
12
under the barrier rib material layer
16
. When the accumulated charges increase to a certain amount, tip discharging would occur within a gap (not shown) between two neighboring electrodes. As a result, arcing would occur between electrodes when the finished PDP is turned on, leading to appearance of numerous irregularly black spots on the PDP panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a conducting carrier for a sand blasting process, so as to remove electrostatic charges during the sand blasting process.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sand blasting process is performed by utilizing a sand blasting device. The sand blasting device has a base, a passageway installed on the base, and a sand blasting nozzle installed above the passageway. The conducting carrier is mounted on the passageway and is capable of sliding along the passageway. The conducting carrier has a plate for supporting a substrate to be sand blasted, and two electrically conducting clippers respectively installed on a first side and a second side of the plate for fixing the substrate to the plate. Electrostatic charges generated during the sand blasting process are capable of being removed from the surface of the substrate by the clippers.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the conducting carrier is utilized to remove electrostatic charges, and thus prevents accumulation of electrostatic charges in gaps between electrodes on the substrate, enhancing the quality of the substrate.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5860843 (1999-01-01), Kasahara
patent: 6129827 (2000-10-01), Nakazawa et al.
patent: 2002028870 (2002-01-01), None
patent: 2003165055 (2003-06-01), None
patent: 2001078593 (2001-08-01), None
Chen Ming-Shui
Hsu Kuo-Pin
AU Optronics Corp.
Hsu Winston
Macchiarolo Peter
O'Shea Sandra
LandOfFree
Conducting carrier of sand blasting device for removing... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Conducting carrier of sand blasting device for removing..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Conducting carrier of sand blasting device for removing... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3240909