Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-26
2003-03-18
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
C445S058000, C445S066000, C445S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06533630
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vacuum device for manufacturing a plasma display device, and more particularly to a vacuum device enabling high throughput.
2. Related Art
Plasma display devices that can form a large screen with thin structure have been attracting widespread attention in recent years. Reference numeral
101
in
FIG. 9
represents' the structure of an AC type plasma display device, and comprises a front panel
120
and a rear panel
130
.
Electrodes
121
and
131
are respectively provided on the surfaces of the front panel
120
and the rear panel
130
. The front panel
120
and the rear panel
130
have the electrodes
121
and
131
facing each other. Each of the electrodes
121
on the front panel
120
and the electrodes
131
on the rear panel
130
are formed slender shapes respectively. The electrodes
121
are arranged parallel with each other, and the electrodes
131
are arranged parallel with each other. The front panel
120
and the rear panel
130
are arranged parallel with each other. The electrodes
121
on the front panel
120
and the electrodes
131
on the rear panel
130
are arranged perpendicular to each other. The AC type plasma display device is comprised enable to selecting and applying voltages to appropriate electrodes among the plurality of electrodes
121
and
131
desired positions on the plasma display device
101
can be made to emit light.
The manufacturing process of the front panel
120
of the plasma display device
101
will now be described with reference to FIG.
8
. First of all, a transparent glass substrate
141
is prepared (FIG.
8
(
a
)). A transparent conductive film (for example, ITO film)
142
is then formed on this glass substrate
141
(FIG.
8
(
b
)), and then a metallic thin-film
143
is formed (FIG.
8
(
c
)).
The transparent conductive film
142
and the metallic thin film
143
are then subjected to patterning, and after an electrode
121
comprising a transparent electrode
144
and a supplementary electrode
145
has been formed (FIG.
8
(
d
)), a transparent dielectric layer (for example, a low melting point glass layer)
146
is formed on the surface of this electrode
121
(FIG.
8
(
e
)).
Finally, the glass substrate
14
is taken into a vacuum chamber where a protective film
147
of MgO is deposited on the surface of the transparent dielectric film
146
by vapor deposition (FIG.
8
(
f
)), and the glass substrate
141
is ejected from the vacuum chamber and relatively positioned opposite to and parallel with a separately formed rear panel
130
.
Next, the front panel
120
and the rear panel
130
are sealed, and any atmospheric gas remaining between the panel
120
and the panel
130
is evacuated so as to form a vacuum between the panel
120
and the panel
130
. During this evacuation, the panel is degassed by heating and after that a voltage is applied to the panel to cause electric discharge and aging processing is carried out.
Next, electric discharge gas is introduced between the panel
120
and the panel
130
, which are completely hermetically sealed to form the plasma display device, and performance testing is carried out.
However, with the manufacturing process as described above, the protective film
147
is temporarily exposed to the atmosphere which means that it is subjected to the effects of moisture and there is a problem of deterioration (MgO is altered to Mg(OH)
2
). Also, after hermetic sealing, since degassing and aging processing is carried out, evacuation must be carried out through small holes existing between the panel
120
and the panel
130
. Consequently, it is necessary to prolong the time for which degassing by heating introduced and aging process is carried out, which lowers throughput.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention solves the above described problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a vacuum apparatus that can manufacture a high quality plasma display panel.
In order to achieve the above described object, the present invention provides a vacuum device for manufacturing a plasma display device having a front panel and a rear panel, comprising a film deposition chamber for depositing a thin film on a surface of the front panel in a vacuum atmosphere, and an alignment chamber for relatively aligning the front panel and the rear panel in the vacuum atmosphere, wherein the front panel is conveyed between the film deposition chamber and the alignment chamber without being exposed to the atmosphere.
In another aspect of the present invention, the rear panel can be conveyed into the alignment chamber without passing through the film deposition chamber.
In a further aspect of the invention, when the rear panel is conveyed the alignment chamber maintains a vacuum atmosphere.
With the present invention, it is possible to also have a structure where an assembly line having a hermetic sealing chamber is connected to the alignment chamber, the relatively aligned front panel and the rear panel are conveyed from the alignment chamber into the hermetic sealing chamber without being exposed to the atmosphere, and gas is introduced between the relatively aligned front panel and the rear panel, to enable sealing.
It is also possible to have a structure where an aging chamber having a heating device located therein is provided in the assembly line, the relatively aligned front panel and rear panel are conveyed into the aging chamber before being sealed, the heating device is caused to generate heat while the inside of the aging chamber is being evacuated, and the front panel and the rear panel are heated in the state of being relatively aligned.
In another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to have a structure where an aging chamber having a power supply is provided in the assembly line, the relatively aligned front panel and rear panel are conveyed into the aging chamber before being sealed, electric discharge gas is introduced into the aging chamber while it is being evacuated, a voltage is applied to electrodes on the front panel and the rear panel by the power supply, and electric discharge is caused between the front panel and the rear panel.
In yet a further aspect of the present invention, it is possible to have a structure where an examination chamber having a power supply is provided between the aging chamber and the sealing chamber, the front panel and the rear panel having completed processing in the aging chamber are conveyed to the examination chamber before sealing, a voltage is applied by the power supply to electrode on the front panel and the rear panel while evacuating the examination room, and electric discharge is caused between the front panel and the rear panel.
The present invention also provides a method of manufacturing a plasma display device comprising the steps of conveying a front panel into a film deposition chamber, depositing a thin film in a vacuum atmosphere and then conveying the front panel to an alignment chamber without exposing the front panel to the atmosphere, relatively aligning the front panel and a separately conveyed rear panel inside the alignment panel and sealing the front panel and the rear panel with an electric discharge gas introduced between the front panel and the rear panel.
With the above described structure, the present invention conveys affront panel constituting a plasma display device into a film deposition chamber, and after depositing a thin film in a vacuum atmosphere it is conveyed to an alignment chamber without being exposed to the atmosphere and is aligned with a rear panel in a vacuum atmosphere. Accordingly, gaseous elements such as moisture etc. are not adsorbed into the thin film deposited in the film deposition chamber and the quality of the thin film is not degraded.
The rear panel can also be conveyed to the alignment chamber after degassing processing. In this case, the degassing time for the rear panel is longer than the time required for thin film depositation on the front panel, which means that if a plura
Kurauchi Toshiharu
Masuda Yukio
Momono Ken
Nakamura Kyuzo
Sunaga Yoshio
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP.
Nihon Shinku Gijutsu Kabushiki Kaisha
Ramsey Kenneth J.
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