Patent ID: 8274636

Claim:
A spacer forming method for a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having an LCD substrate on which unit pixels are arranged in a matrix, the method comprising: aligning an ink jet injection nozzle over the LCD substrate; dispensing first spacers having a volatile solvent including ball spacers onto the substrate such that at least two unit pixels are interposed between the first spacers, wherein each of the first spacers is aligned at a non-pixel region corresponding to a thin film transistor region of each unit pixel, and wherein the dispensing first spacers is performed with a gap distance between the first spacers such that the first spacers do not interfere with adjacent first spacers; hardening the first spacers, wherein the volatile solvent is volatilized and the ball spacers remain, so that the first spacers do not adhere to where second spacers are dispensed, wherein a volume of each hardened first spacer is smaller than that of each dispensed first spacer; dispensing second spacers having a volatile solvent including ball spacers onto one of the unit pixels of the substrate between the hardened first spacers, wherein each of the second spacers is aligned at a non-pixel region corresponding to a thin film transistor region of one of the unit pixels between the hardened first spacers; hardening the second spacers between the hardened first spacers, wherein the volatile solvent is volatilized and the ball spacers remain, so that the adjacent first and second spacers do not adhere to each other, wherein a volume of each hardened second spacer is smaller than that of each dispensed second spacer; dispensing third spacers having a volatile solvent including ball spacers onto another of the unit pixels of the substrate between the hardened first spacers, wherein each of the third spacers is aligned at a non-pixel region corresponding to a thin film transistor region of another of unit pixels between the dispensed first spacers; and hardening the third spacers between the hardened first and second spacers, wherein the volatile solvent is volatilized and the ball spacers remain, so that the adjacent first to third spacers do not adhere to each other, wherein a volume of each hardened third spacer is smaller than that of each dispensed third spacer.