Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-25
2004-06-08
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
active
06746294
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a method for fabricating a flat, light-emitting display panel having electrodes extended from a rear panel and sealing the margin of panels with a fritted glass.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, it is difficult to construct a large-screen monitor including only one display panel (hereafter, referred to as “panel”) due to various technical reasons and the need to reduce cost. Therefore, multiple panels are tiled to form a large-screen monitor.
In a case where no-display area at ends of each panel is large, seams are formed between the adjacent panels and as a result, an image quality of the large-screen as a whole is reduced significantly. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a flat light-emitting display panel with smaller no-display area at ends of each panel in order to display a high quality image on a large-screen monitor.
The applicants previously propose a structure of the flat, light-emitting display panel formed from a matrix of the plural panels to fit such a need.
FIG. 1
is a cross sectional view of a side-seal structure of the flat light-emitting display panel (hereafter, referred to as “display panel”) disclosed in the previous, co-pending application. In the drawing, a reference numeral
1
denotes a transparent front panel. A reference numeral
2
denotes a rear panel, which is arranged in parallel with the front panel
1
and has a plurality of recesses
2
a
. Each recess
2
a
is defined as a discharging space for a display cell. Although not shown in
FIG. 1
,
FIG. 4
illustrates a display cell which is marked by reference numeral
21
. An electrical insulating glass layer (not shown) is formed at a bottom face and an inner wall of each recess
2
a
of the rear panel
2
. A fluorescent substance
3
is applied on the electrical insulating glass layer. A pin electrode (not shown) penetrating the rear panel
2
is arranged within the front panel
1
. A pair of cell-type electrodes (not shown) is positioned corresponding to the recess
2
a
of the rear panel
2
. Although not shown in
FIG. 2
,
FIGS. 4 and 5
illustrate a pair of cell-type electrodes which is marked by reference numeral
20
and a pin electrode which is marked by reference numeral
6
, respectively.
With such a constructed display panel, in order to reduce the no-displayed area in ends of display panel, the pin electrode
6
connecting with the electrode arranged at the front panel
1
is extended from the rear panel. The size of the front panel
1
is set to a value larger than that of the rear panel
2
. A frit seal
4
is applied to an extended area
1
a
of the front panel
1
that extends off the rear panel
2
and to a side face
2
b
of the rear panel
2
and burned. As a result, the gap of the front panel
1
and the rear panel
2
is sealed.
Next, a method for fabricating a display panel will be explained in order of undergoing process.
(Step
1
)
A transparent electrode (not shown) including a discharging gap is formed at the front panel
1
using an ITO (indium-tinned oxide) or a Nesa (tinned oxide), for example.
(Step
2
)
Electric terminals are formed at one end of the transparent electrode (not shown) formed in the previous step
1
by a screen printing method using conductive materials such as an Ag or silver and so on.
(Step
3
)
Electrical insulating glass layers (not shown) are formed at the whole of the front panel
1
except for the electric terminals (not shown) formed in the step
2
.
(Step
4
)
Pin electrodes (not shown) are projected in the electric terminals (not shown), respectively.
(Step
5
)
A MgO film is formed on the electrical insulating glass layer (not shown) formed in the previous step
3
to finish all processes regarding the front panel
1
.
(Step
6
)
Recesses
2
a
, which are defined as a through-hole for passing through the pin electrode (not shown) and functioned as a discharging space for a display cell, are formed at the rear panel
2
using a sandblasting method and so on.
(Step
7
)
Fluorescent substance (R: red, G: green, B: blue)
3
is applied to the bottom face and the inner wall of the recess
2
a
formed in the previous step
6
using the screen printing method and so on to finish all processes regarding the rear panel
2
.
(Step
8
)
Each of the pin electrodes (not shown) projected at the front panel
1
is fitted into each of the through-hole (not shown) of the rear panel
2
. The rear panel
2
is stacked to the front panel
1
so that the fluorescent substance
3
faces the front panel
1
.
(Step
9
)
Ends of the front panel
1
and those of the rear panel
2
having no pin electrodes are stacked and fixed using a spring-loaded clip (not shown).
(Step
10
)
A frit seal is applied to the pin electrode (not shown) using a dispenser (not shown).
(Step
11
)
After the frit seal
4
applied in the previous step
10
is dried, the spring-quipped clip (not shown) is removed. The frit seal
4
is applied to a pipe-shaped, tipped section (not shown) and an outer periphery of the panel, that is, the extended area
1
a
of the front panel
1
and the side face
2
b
of the rear panel
2
using the dispenser (not shown).
(Step
12
)
Weights (not shown) is placed at a part other than the pipe-shaped, tipped section (not shown) and the pin electrode (not shown) and the frit seal
4
is then burned. Air is exhausted from a space between the panels and discharge gas is filled and sealed in the space.
(Step
13
)
The MgO adhered to the pin electrode (not shown) is removed using a sandblasting method and so on. In this way, a display panel is obtained.
When plural display panels, which are fabricated by the processes as described above and disclosed in the previous application, are arranged, lighted and displayed, there may be case where a display gap is formed between adjacent panels.
The present inventors investigated adequately the cause of gap in the display panel and found that a frit seal, which is formed at the extended area
1
a
of the front panel
1
and the side face
2
b
of the rear panel
2
, is spread into the display cell. Namely, when the fluorescent substance
3
applied to the rear panel
2
or an area of the front panel
1
corresponding to the fluorescent substance
3
is covered with the frit seal spread into the display cell, light is not emitted or cut off from the covered section. Therefore, it results in no-emitting area or no-displayed area being increased at the ends of the display panel. The no-emitting area is considered to seem like a gap between adjacent panels.
A gap between the front and rear panels
1
and
2
when the frit seal
4
is applied to the extended area
1
a
of the front panel
1
and the side face
2
b
of the rear panel
2
is considered to become a cause of spread of the frit seal. In the step
11
, the spring-loaded clip (not shown) is removed and a distance of a gap between the front panel
1
and the rear panel
2
is measured using a gap-measurement gage (not shown) before the gap is sealed with the frit seal. As a result, a gap of approximately 0.15 mm was found. When a large-sized gap is formed at the gap, the frit seal
4
is applied thereto to result in the frit seal
4
in a large amount being inserted into the gap. The frit seal
4
is burned in the step
12
to result in a softened frit seal
4
in a large amount being inserted into the cell.
Such a gap is formed due to warping of the front and the rear panels
1
,
2
, causing the front and the rear panels to be convex as shown in FIG.
3
. The electrical insulating glass layer (not shown) is approximately 30 um in thickness is formed on a surface of the front panel
1
. For example, when the ends of the both front and rear panels
1
,
2
are cramped using the spring-loaded clip
5
as shown in
FIG. 3
, the distance between the central sections of the panels
1
,
2
becomes larger compared to the end sections of the panels
1
,
2
. In order to prevent warping of the panels
1
,
2
, the pin electrodes located on the central section must be fixed provisionally using the frit seal
4
. Next, in order to apply
Kishi Hisatoshi
Makita Isamu
Yamada Hideo
Macchiarolo Peter
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
O'Shea Sandra
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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