Patent Abstract:
A method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display includes the steps of: providing a substrate; forming a flexible plate on the substrate; forming an electrophoretic layer on the flexible plate; forming a transparent protection layer on the electrophoretic layer; forming an edge protection member between the flexible plate and the transparent protection member, the edge protection member surrounding the electrophoretic layer; and providing a laser beam to irradiate the flexible plate from a side of the substrate facing away from flexible plate, so as to release the substrate from the flexible plate.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The invention is related to a reflective display apparatus, especially to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing an electrophoretic display. 
         [0002]    An electrophoretic display (EPD) is a reflective display apparatus based on utilizing electrophoretic effect of electriferous particles dispersed in a dielectric solvent. Currently, an electrophoretic display includes a glass substrate, a transparent protection layer opposite to the glass substrate with an interval, and an electrophoretic layer sandwiched between the glass substrate and the transparent protection layer. The electrophoretic display is divided into a passive matrix drive type and an active matrix drive type by driving means. For a passive matrix drive type electrophoretic display, it is necessary to dispose row electrodes and transparent column electrodes on the glass substrate and transparent protection layer. Correspondingly, for an active matrix drive type electrophoretic display, a TFT matrix and a pixel electrode and a transparent plate electrode without pattern are needed to be disposed on the glass substrate and the transparent protection layer, respectively. 
         [0003]    Along with a widely used of the electrophoretic display and mostly used on portable devices, it becomes more important to design light-weight and thin-thickness electrophoretic displays. At the present time, a soft electrophoretic display using a flexible plate to replace the glass substrate is respected to be an apparatus which can own all virtues described above and became primary products of the market in future. However, how to improve the manufacturing yield rate and keep preferable reliability as much should be solved desirously. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0004]    The present invention is directed to provide a method of manufacturing electrophoretic display which can increase the manufacturing quality and improve the electrophoretic display reliablity to achieve product commerce. 
         [0005]    The present invention is directed to provide an apparatus for manufacturing electrophoretic display which can increase the manufacturing quality and improve the electrophoretic display reliability to achieve product commerce. 
         [0006]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of manufacturing an electrophoretic display is provided. The method includes steps of: 
         [0007]    providing a substrate; 
         [0008]    providing a flexible plate disposed on the substrate; 
         [0009]    providing an electrophoretic layer disposed on the flexible plate; 
         [0010]    providing a transparent protection layer disposed on the electrophoretic layer; 
         [0011]    providing an edge protection member disposed between the flexible plate and the transparent protection layer to surround the electrophoretic layer; and 
         [0012]    providing a laser to irradiate the flexible plate from a side of the substrate without the flexible plate being disposed, so as to separate the substrate from the flexible plate. 
         [0013]    According to another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus of manufacturing an electrophoretic display is provided, which is used to separate a substrate from an electrophoretic display, the electrophoretic display including: 
         [0014]    a flexible plate disposed on a substrate; 
         [0015]    an electrophoretic layer disposed on the flexible plate; 
         [0016]    a transparent protection layer disposed on the electrophoretic layer; and 
         [0017]    an edge protection member disposed between the flexible plate and the transparent protection layer to surround the electrophoretic layer, 
         [0018]    an apparatus of manufacturing the electrophoretic display, which is used to separate the substrate from the electrophoretic display, the manufacturing apparatus comprising: 
         [0019]    a transmission device for transmitting the electrophoretic display; 
         [0020]    an adsorption device for fixing the electrophoretic display with the substrate transmitted by the transmission device by means of adsorption; 
         [0021]    a laser device for generating a laser to irradiate the flexible plate from a side of the substrate without the flexible plate being disposed, so as to separate the substrate from the electrophoretic display; and 
         [0022]    a positioning system for detecting a position of the electrophoretic display in order to adjust the laser device. 
         [0023]    The apparatus of manufacturing an electrophoretic display further includes: 
         [0024]    a storage device used to store the electrophoretic display; and 
         [0025]    a recycling device used to store the substrate separated from the electrophoretic display. 
         [0026]    According to the embodiments of the invention, separating substrate and flexible plate by laser would not damage the flexible plate and also increase the manufacturing quality of the electrophoretic display. Moreover, the electrophoretic layer can be protected by the edge protection member surrounding the electrophoretic layer and improve the electrophoretic display reliablity to achieve product commerce. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0027]    These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
           [0028]      FIG. 1  is a cross sectional, schematic view of a substrate according to an embodiment of present invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  is a cross sectional, schematic view of a flexible plate on the substrate of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0030]      FIG. 3  is a cross sectional, schematic view of an electrophoretic layer on the flexible plate of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0031]      FIG. 4  is a cross sectional, schematic view of a transparent protection layer on the electrophoretic layer of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0032]      FIG. 5  is a cross sectional, schematic view of an edge protection member disposed between the transparent protection layer and the flexible plate of  FIG. 4 . 
           [0033]      FIG. 6  is a cross sectional, schematic view of a driving IC on the flexible plate and an edge protection member covering the driving IC of  FIG. 5 . 
           [0034]      FIG. 7  is a schematic view of a laser to irradiate the flexible plate from a side of the substrate without the flexible plate being disposed of  FIG. 6 . 
           [0035]      FIG. 8  is a cross sectional, schematic view of an electrophoretic display separated from the substrate of  FIG. 7 . 
           [0036]      FIG. 9  is a cross sectional, schematic view of an apparatus for manufacturing an electrophoretic display according to an embodiment of present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0037]    Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 8 , a method for manufacturing an electrophoretic display  100  is provided according to an embodiment of the invention. The method includes steps as follows. 
         [0038]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , a substrate  200  is provided, which can be a glass substrate, metal substrate, steel substrate or other rigid material substrates. 
         [0039]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , a flexible plate  110  is disposed on the substrate  200 . The material of the flexible plate  110  can be plastic, preferably to be polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethersulfone (PES), or polycarbonate (PC). The flexible plate  110  is convenient to be separated from the glass substrate  200  by radiated using invisible laser, such as UV laser whose wavelength is in a range of 300 nm to 400 nm. The required circuits and a first driving electrode (not shown in  FIG. 2 ) are disposed on the flexible plate  110 . 
         [0040]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , an electrophoretic layer  120  is disposed on the flexible plate  110 . The electrophoretic layer  120  includes a dielectric solvent and electriferous particles dispersed in the dielectric solvent. 
         [0041]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , a transparent protection layer  130  is disposed on the electrophoretic layer  120 . The material of the transparent protection layer  130  can be transparent plastic. A second driving electrode (not shown in  FIG. 4 ) is disposed on the electrophoretic layer  120  adjacent to the transparent protection layer  130  (between the transparent protection layer  130  and the electrophoretic layer  120 ). The second driving electrode is a transparent electrode, such as an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) electrode, and matches with the first driving electrode on the flexible plate  110 . Illuminated in detail, when a passive matrix drive type electrophoretic display  100  is manufactured, the first driving electrode on the flexible plate  110  and the second driving electrode on the transparent protection layer  130  are row electrode and transparent column electrode respectively. On the contrary, to an active matrix drive type electrophoretic display  100 , the first driving electrode on the flexible plate  110  and the second driving electrode on the transparent protection layer  130  are pixel electrode and transparent plate electrode without pattern, respectively, and an active device matrix, such as a thin film transistor (TFT) matrix, is arranged on the flexible plate  110  to electrically connect to the pixel electrode. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , an edge protection member  140  is disposed between the flexible plate  110  and the transparent protection layer  130  to surround the electrophoretic layer  120 . The material of the edge protection member  140  can be resin material, such as Phenoxy Resin. 
         [0043]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , a driving integrated circuit (IC)  150  and an edge reinforcement member  160  are provided. The driving IC  150  in juxtaposition with the electrophoretic layer  120  are disposed on the flexible plate  110  and connect electrically to the circuits and the first driving electrode on the flexible plate  110 . The driving IC  150  can be a chip on glass (COG) module. The edge reinforcement member  160  covers the driving IC  150  and connects to the transparent protection layer  130  to protect the driving IC  150 . The material of the edge reinforcement member  160  can be plastic material, such as UV polymeric gel, silica gel, or polyurethane (PU). Of course, the driving IC  150  is not limited to be disposed on the flexible plate  110 , and also can be a driving control module (not shown in  FIG. 6 ) independent to the electrophoretic display  100 . 
         [0044]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , a laser  170  is provided to irradiate the flexible plate  110  from a side of the substrate  200  without the flexible plate  110  being disposed, so as to separate the substrate  200  from the flexible plate  110 . A wavelength of the laser  170  is in a range of 300 nm to 400 nm and a pulse energy is in a range of 250 to 700 mJ. The energy provided by the laser  170  can break the juncture between the flexible plate  110  and the substrate  200  and separate the substrate  200 . 
         [0045]      FIG. 7  shows a cross sectional, schematic view of the electrophoretic display  100  separated from the substrate  200  by laser. 
         [0046]    As shown in  FIG. 9 , an apparatus  10  for manufacturing the electrophoretic display  100  is provided according to another embodiment. The apparatus  10  includes a mechanical arm  11 , an adsorption device  12 , a laser device  13 , a positioning system  14 , a storage device  15  and a recycling device  16 . 
         [0047]    The mechanical arm  11  transmits the electrophoretic display and the substrate  200  separated of  FIG. 6  and the electrophoretic display  100  of  FIG. 8 . But it is not limit to the mechanical arm  11 , and all other transmission devices which can transmit electrophoretic display can be available. The mechanical arm  11  can be driven by a cylinder motor and capable of being rotated by 90 degree. 
         [0048]    Using means of vacuum adsorption, the adsorption device  12  can fix the electrophoretic display with the substrate  200  transmitted by the mechanical arm  11  of  FIG. 6 . But it is not limit to the adsorption device  12 , and all other adsorption devices can be available. 
         [0049]    The laser device  13  can generate a laser  170  to irradiate the flexible plate  110  with the substrate  200  from a side of the substrate  200  without the flexible plate  110  fixed by the adsorption device  12  in  FIG. 7 , so as to separate the substrate  200  from the electrophoretic display. A wavelength of the laser  170  from the laser device  13  can be in a range of 300 nm to 400 nm and a pulse energy of the laser  170  is in a range of 250 to 700 mJ. 
         [0050]    The positioning system  14  is used to detect the position of the flexible plate  110  with the substrate  200  transmitted by the laser device  13  and mechanical arm  11  of  FIG. 6  in order to adjust the position. The positioning system  14  can be a charge coupled device (CCD) positioning system. 
         [0051]    The storage device  15  is used to store the electrophoretic display with the substrate  200  of  FIG. 6  and the electrophoretic display  100  separated of  FIG. 8 . 
         [0052]    The recycling device  16  which can be a substrate placement device is used to store the substrate  200  separated. 
         [0053]    As described above, according to the embodiments of the invention, separating substrate and flexible plate by laser would not damage the flexible plate and also increase the manufacturing quality of the electrophoretic display. Moreover, the electrophoretic layer can be protected by the edge protection member surrounding the electrophoretic layer and improve the electrophoretic display reliablity to achieve product commerce. 
         [0054]    Of course, the material of the substrate  200 , flexible plate  110 , edge protection member  140  and the wavelength or the pulse energy of laser can be changed according to the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6