World's First 3-in-1 Liquid Crystal Color Filter Multi-Repair Device!
(Incorporates all three repair functions required to restore liquid crystal color filters.)

The NTN Corporation (NTN: Osaka) and Takano Co., Ltd. (Takano: Nagano Prefecture) have combined their respective color filter repair technologies and have developed a sophisticated "all-in-one" multi-repair device for correcting defects in large-size liquid crystal color filters.

The rapidly expanding market for liquid crystal televisions which use these large color filter substrates has increased the demand for repair devices to eliminate defects in the filters. These defects can be broadly grouped into three categories: "particle defects" (contamination), "black defects" (unwanted black matrix pattern protrusion or adjacent filter discoloration) and "white defects" (color loss in portion of black matrix or color filter)

All of these defects can now be repaired with just one device. Until now, several repair devices had to be used depending on the particular defect that occurred. As color filter substrates became larger, the multiple pieces of repair equipment that were required caused problems such as higher equipment costs, longer repair times and the need for more floor space. This created a demand for a system that incorporates all defect repair functions into one unit.

To solve this problem, joint development work was carried out to combine NTN's ink coating and laser cutting technologies with Takano's tape polishing technology. NTN and Takano have succeeded in developing a multirepair device that corrects "particle defects", "black defects" and "white defects", all three of the major problems with just one unit. This multirepair device not only does the ink coating, laser cutting and tape polishing, but also measures defect height and incorporates defect review functions. This new repair device operates well within automated assembly systems and successfully solves all major problems by incorporating all conventional repair functions. This defect repair device can also be combined with defect inspection devices as a packaged system.

FEATURES

1. Contains the three functions essential for repairing defects: "ink coating", "laser cutting" and "tape polishing". Previously, "particle defects" were corrected using a separate tape polishing repair device; while "white defects" and "black defects" were handled respectively by separate ink coating and laser cutting devices.
2. Allows high quality repairs of all defect types with just one repair system, based on information gathered by the integral defect inspection device.
3. Drastically cuts down on equipment costs, equipment space and total repair time, cutting each by up to 50%.
4. Handles up to 7th generation (1870 × 2200mm) large-size color filter substrates.

A sample of this repair device is scheduled to be displayed at the "FPD Manufacturing Technology Expo & Conference" held at the Tokyo Big Site beginning June 30.

Liquid crystal color filter multi-repair device (external appearance)