LCD module and manufacturing method thereof

A liquid crystal display (LCD) module is disclosed, which comprises: a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate and a color filter (CF) substrate disposed opposite to each other, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate. The TFT substrate comprises a plurality of wires including at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires. The CF substrate comprises first curing test units and second curing test units insulated from each other. The first curing test units are electrically connected with the first group of wires, and the second curing test units are electrically connected with all the wires of the second group of wires. A manufacturing method of an LCD module is further disclosed. The LCD module and the manufacturing method thereof of the present disclosure can avoid occurrence of arcing in the TFT substrate during the CVD process, thereby improving the product yield and reducing the manufacturing cost.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field of liquid crystal displaying, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display (LCD) module and a manufacturing method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

LCD devices have been widely used in, for example, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebook computers, personal computers (PCs) and television (TV) sets because of their low radiation level, light weight, thin profile, small volume and low power consumption.

An LCD device mainly comprises an LCD panel and a backlight module for providing a light source for the LCD panel. The LCD panel comprises a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate and a color filter (CF) substrate that are disposed opposite to each other, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate.

Common LCD devices suffer from a drawback that they have a narrow view-angle range. That is, the contrast of the LCD devices will decrease significantly when users viewing the LCD panels thereof in a direction offset from the normal direction of the LCD panels. This drawback becomes particularly prominent as the LCD devices evolve towards large sizes. Accordingly, many technologies for enlarging the view-angle range (i.e., providing a wide view angle) of the LCD devices have been developed.

In a process of manufacturing a wide view-angle LCD device, a curing test block is fabricated on a TFT substrate, the TFT substrate and a CF substrate are assembled together and a liquid crystal material is filled therebetween. Then, an edge portion of the CF substrate corresponding to the curing test block is removed to expose the curing testing block fabricated on the TFT substrate, and a voltage signal is inputted to the curing test block for testing purpose.

However, the aforesaid manufacturing process has a significant shortcoming that: because the effective display region of the LCD device is required to be as large as possible, a spacing between the curing test block fabricated on the TFT substrate and the edge of the TFT substrate is restricted to a small range. Consequently, arcing tends to occur in the TFT substrate during the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, which degrades the product yield of the manufacturing process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present disclosure is to avoid occurrence of arcing in the TFT substrate during the CVD process.

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display (LCD) module, which comprises a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate and a color filter (CF) substrate disposed opposite to each other, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate. The TFT substrate comprises a plurality of wires including at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires. The CF substrate comprises a transparent conductive layer, and first curing test units and second curing test units insulated from each other. The first curing test units and the second curing test units are formed by cutting the transparent conductive layer. Each of the first curing test units and a corresponding one of the second curing test units form a group of curing test components. The first curing test unit and the second curing test unit in a same group of curing test components are located at a same side of the CF substrate. The first curing test units are electrically connected with the first group of wires, and the second curing test units are electrically connected with all the wires of the second group of wires.

Preferably, the CF substrate comprises two groups of curing test components located at two opposite sides of the CF substrate respectively.

Preferably, the two groups of curing test components are located respectively at two opposite edges of the CF substrate adjacent to a surface of the TFT substrate.

Preferably, the first group of wires includes a first common electrode, and the second group of wires includes a second common electrode and a plurality of routing lines. The two first curing test units in the two groups of curing test components are both electrically connected with the first common electrode, and the two second curing test units in the two groups of curing test components are both electrically connected with the second common electrode and the plurality of routing lines.

Preferably, the TFT substrate comprises a plurality of relay conductive units. Terminals of the first group of wires and the second group of wires are connected with the relay conductive units respectively. The first curing test units are electrically connected with the first common electrode via the relay conductive units, and the second curing test units are electrically connected with the second common electrode and the routing lines via the relay conductive units respectively.

Preferably, the first common electrode is a CF common electrode, and the second common electrode is a TFT common electrode.

Preferably, the transparent conductive layer is made of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO).

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present disclosure further provides an LCD module, which comprises a TFT substrate and a CF substrate disposed opposite to each other, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate. The TFT substrate comprises a plurality of wires including at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires. The CF substrate comprises first curing test units and second curing test units insulated from each other. The first curing test units are electrically connected with the first group of wires, and the second curing test units are electrically connected with all the wires of the second group of wires.

Preferably, each of the first curing test units and a corresponding one of the second curing test units form a group of curing test components, and the first curing test unit and the second curing test unit in a same group of curing test components are located at a same side of the CF substrate.

Preferably, the CF substrate comprises two groups of curing test components located at two opposite sides of the CF substrate respectively.

Preferably, the two groups of curing test components are located respectively at two opposite edges of the CF substrate adjacent to a surface of the TFT substrate.

Preferably, the first group of wires includes a first common electrode, and the second group of wires includes a second common electrode and a plurality of routing lines. The two first curing test units in the two groups of curing test components are both electrically connected with the first common electrode, and the two second curing test units in the two groups of curing test components are both electrically connected with the second common electrode and the plurality of routing lines.

Preferably, the TFT substrate comprises a plurality of relay conductive units. Terminals of the first group of wires and the second group of wires are connected with the relay conductive units respectively. The first curing test units are electrically connected with the first common electrode via the relay conductive units, and the second curing test units are electrically connected with the second common electrode and the routing lines via the relay conductive units respectively.

Preferably, the first common electrode is a CF common electrode, and the second common electrode is a TFT common electrode.

Preferably, the CF substrate comprises a transparent conductive layer, and the first curing test units and the second curing test units are formed by cutting the transparent conductive layer.

Preferably, the transparent conductive layer is made of one of ITO and IZO.

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present disclosure further provides a manufacturing method of an LCD module, which comprises: fabricating a plurality of wires on a surface of a TFT substrate, wherein the plurality of wires comprises at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires; fabricating first curing test units and second curing test units on a surface of a CF substrate; assembling the TFT substrate and the CF substrate together and filling a liquid crystal material therebetween, and electrically connecting the first curing test units with the first group of wires and electrically connecting the second curing test units with all the wires of the second group of wires; and removing portions of the TFT substrate that correspond to the first curing test units and the second curing test units.

Preferably, a voltage signal is inputted to the first curing test units and the second curing test units for inspection purpose after the portions of the TFT substrate that correspond to the first curing test units and the second curing test units are removed.

The present disclosure has the following benefits: as compared with the prior art, the LCD module and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present disclosure have the curing test units disposed on a surface of the CF substrate opposite to the TFT substrate. This can avoid occurrence of arcing in the TFT substrate during the CVD process. As a result, the product yield is improved, and fixtures can be used in common for a plurality of products to reduce the manufacturing cost.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinbelow, the technical solutions of embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely with reference to the attached drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described herein are only some of the embodiments of the present disclosure but do not represent all embodiments of the disclosure. All other embodiments that can be devised by those of ordinary skill in the art on the basis of the embodiments described herein and without making inventive efforts shall fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) module is disclosed in the present disclosure. Referring toFIG. 1andFIG. 2,FIG. 1is a schematic side view illustrating a structure of an LCD module according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure; andFIG. 2is a schematic structural view of routing lines of the LCD module shown inFIG. 1.

The LCD module1comprises a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate10and a color filter (CF) substrate12disposed opposite to each other, and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) sandwiched between the TFT substrate10and the CF substrate12.

The TFT substrate10comprises a plurality of wires including at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires.

The CF substrate12comprises first curing test units122and second curing test units124insulated from each other. The first curing test units122and the second curing test units124are electrically connected with the plurality of wires respectively. The first curing test units122are electrically connected with the first group of wires, and the second curing test units124are electrically connected with all the wires of the second group of wires.

The first group of wires includes a first common electrode102, and the second group of wires includes a second common electrode104, odd gate lines105, even gate lines106and RGB (red, green, blue) pixel electrode lines107,108,109. The first group of wires and the second group of wires are disposed in parallel with each other and insulated from each other.

The first curing test units122are electrically connected with the first common electrode102. The second curing test units124are electrically connected with the second common electrode104, the odd gate lines105, the even gate lines106and the RGB pixel electrode lines107,108,109.

The CF substrate12further comprises a transparent conductive layer (not shown). The first curing test units122and the second curing test units124may be formed by using a laser repair machine to laser cut the transparent conductive layer on a surface of the CF substrate12. Preferably, the transparent conductive layer may be made of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO).

Further, each of the first curing test units122and a corresponding one of the second curing test units124form a group of curing test components120. The first curing test unit122and the second curing test unit124in a same group of curing test components120are located at a same side of the CF substrate12. In this embodiment, the CF substrate12comprises two groups of curing test components120located at two opposite sides of the CF substrate12respectively. Further, the two groups of curing test components120are respectively adjacent to two opposite edges of the CF substrate12adjacent to a surface of the TFT substrate10.

That is, each of the groups of curing test components120is electrically connected with the first group of wires and the second group of wires respectively. The two first curing test units122in the two groups of curing test components120are both electrically connected with the first common electrode102, and the two second curing test units124in the two groups of curing test components120are both electrically connected with the second common electrode104, the odd gate lines105, the even gate lines106and the RGB pixel electrode lines107,108,109.

The TFT substrate10further comprises a plurality of relay conductive units103. Electrical terminals of the first common electrode102, the second common electrode104, the odd gate lines105, the even gate lines106and the RGB pixel electrode lines107,108,109are connected with the relay conductive units103respectively. That is, the first curing test units122are electrically connected with the first common electrode102in the first group of wires via the relay conductive units103, and the second curing test units124are electrically connected with the second common electrode104, the odd gate lines105, the even gate lines106and the RGB pixel electrode lines107,108,109in the second group of wires via the relay conductive units103respectively.

A manufacturing method of an LCD module is further disclosed in the present disclosure. Referring toFIG. 3, the manufacturing method comprises:

step S1: fabricating a plurality of wires on a surface of a TFT substrate, wherein the plurality of wires comprises at least a first group of wires and a second group of wires, and the second group of wires comprises at least two wires; and fabricating first curing test units and second curing test units on a surface of a CF substrate;

step S2: assembling the TFT substrate and the CF substrate together and filling a liquid crystal material therebetween, and electrically connecting the first curing test units with the first group of wires and electrically connecting the second curing test units with all the wires of the second group of wires; and

step S3: removing portions of the TFT substrate that correspond to the first curing test units and the second curing test units.

In the step S3, the removing process may be accomplished through the conventional edge cut process, and thus will not be further described herein.

Furthermore, the manufacturing method further comprises a step S4of inputting a voltage signal to the first curing test units and the second curing test units for inspection purpose after the portions of the TFT substrate that correspond to the first curing test units and the second curing test units are removed.

The present disclosure has the following benefits: as compared with the prior art, the LCD module and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present disclosure have the curing test units disposed on a surface of the CF substrate opposite to the TFT substrate. This can avoid occurrence of arcing in the TFT substrate during the CVD process, thereby improving the product yield. Furthermore, because only two groups of curing test components are needed and only two curing test units are needed in each of the groups of curing test components, a corresponding fixture mechanism can be designed to be movable so as to be used in common, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost.

According to the above descriptions, the LCD module and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present disclosure can avoid occurrence of arcing in the TFT substrate during the CVD process and achieve sharing of a fixture, thereby improving the product yield and reducing the manufacturing cost.