Patent ID: 8279147

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a display device comprising: forming a display substrate including a data line, a thin film transistor, a pixel electrode, a protection circuit connected to the data line, first and second signal lines connected to the protection circuit, and a single guard ring, wherein an electrostatic discharge occurring during manufacture of the display substrate is discharged through the protection circuit; and inspecting the display substrate using the protection circuit to apply an inspection voltage, wherein forming the display substrate comprises connecting the first signal line and the second signal line with the guard ring, applying a turn-off voltage from the guard ring to the first signal line and the second signal line to turn off transistors in the protection circuit, and disconnecting the guard ring from the first and second signal lines; and wherein the protection circuit comprises a first transistor including a control terminal connected with a first signal line, an input terminal connected with the data line, and an output terminal connected with a second signal line, a second transistor including a control terminal connected with the second signal line, an input terminal connected with the second signal line, and an output terminal connected with the first signal line, and a storage capacitor is connected between the control terminal of the first transistor and the second signal line proximal to the output terminal of the first transistor, and wherein inspecting the display substrate comprises: applying a turn-on voltage of the first transistor to the first signal line; applying the inspection voltage of the second transistor to the second signal line, whereby when the first transistor is turned on by the turn on voltage, the inspection voltage is applied to a data line through the first transistor; applying a gate-on voltage to a gate line whereby a switching element of a corresponding pixel is turned on; and detecting luminance of a pixel with respect to the inspection voltage.