JP2000338901A - Method for manufacturing flexible display substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a low-cost manufacturing method of a flexible display substrate in which a change in each layer after lamination is suppressed. SOLUTION: A first step of laminating a gas barrier layer on one or both sides of a plastic film, a second step of forming a protective layer on the gas barrier layer by sandwiching the gas barrier layer between the plastic film and a gas barrier A third step of laminating a transparent conductive layer on at least one of the protective layers so as to be sandwiched between the first and second protective layers, wherein the first step, the second step, and the third step are the same. A method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate, wherein the method is performed in a vacuum apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate to be mounted on a front surface of a display, and more particularly, to a method of forming a transparent gas barrier layer, a transparent protective layer, etc. on one or both sides of a transparent plastic film substrate. The present invention relates to a low-cost manufacturing method of a flexible display substrate, in which the layers are stacked in two vacuum apparatuses, thereby suppressing a change in each layer after the layers are stacked.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of portable notebook personal computers, portable telephones, portable pagers, portable game machines, portable electronic devices, and the like, these portable devices have become smaller, lighter, thinner, and more robust. There is a request. Under these circumstances, in these recent portable electronic devices, the display portion has become more important. Full-color video is now the norm on portable PCs and game consoles, and kanji and hiragana on mobile phones and portable pagers.
2. Description of the Related Art Displays for displaying still images such as numbers and alphabets are often used.

Conventionally, a glass substrate has been used as a substrate used for these displays. However, as described above, portable devices are required to be small, light, thin, and sturdy. Accordingly, a flexible display substrate using a flexible transparent plastic film as a substrate has been proposed, and the flexible display substrate is actually used for a transparent touch panel, a liquid crystal, electroluminescence, electrochromic, and the like.

[0004] A flexible display substrate using such a transparent plastic film is disclosed in
No. 30010, for example. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-254303, which describes the configuration and method of a flexible display substrate, discloses that a transparent gas barrier layer, a solvent-resistant layer, and a transparent conductive layer are provided on the surface of a transparent plastic film substrate, and at least one of the lower layers is provided. A transparent conductive film provided with a transparent gas barrier layer made of a metal oxide and provided with a transparent conductive layer on at least one outermost surface is described as a flexible display substrate.

[0005] Such a flexible display substrate is disclosed in many technical literatures. Considering the production methods disclosed in these technical literatures, as a method of forming a transparent gas barrier layer mainly composed of a metal oxide, , Vacuum deposition method, ion plating method, and sputtering method, as a method of forming a solvent-resistant layer, a method of applying a resin composition by a coating method, drying, and curing, as a method of forming a transparent conductive layer Indicates a vacuum deposition method, an ion plating method, a sputtering method and the like.

[0006]

According to the conventional manufacturing method, a transparent gas barrier layer, a solvent-resistant layer and a transparent conductive layer are sequentially laminated on a transparent plastic film. The layers are stacked in a vacuum apparatus, and the solvent-resistant layer is stacked in the air. As described above, since the method of manufacturing the plastic display substrate is discontinuous, each layer after lamination may change. Further, since the manufacturing cost is increased, it is difficult to reduce the price of the flexible display substrate, which hinders the spread of the flexible display substrate.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate in which changes in each layer after lamination are suppressed.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method of manufacturing a flexible display substrate according to the present invention comprises a first step of laminating a gas barrier layer on one or both sides of a transparent plastic film, and a method of forming a gas barrier layer on a transparent plastic film. A second step of laminating the transparent protective layer on the gas barrier layer so as to sandwich the transparent protective layer 63 on the at least one transparent protective layer so as to sandwich the transparent protective layer between the gas barrier layer and the third step. Process,
, The first step, the second step, and the third step are performed in the same vacuum apparatus.

The transparent gas barrier layer is made of a metal oxide,
The transparent protective layer is preferably made of an organic substance. Further, the transparent conductive layer is preferably made of a metal oxide.

Further, a hard coat layer may be laminated on the transparent protective layer such that the transparent protective layer on which the transparent conductive layer is not laminated is sandwiched between the transparent protective layer and the gas barrier layer.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a vacuum deposition apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as “apparatus”) 1 used in the method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate according to the present invention.

An apparatus 1 designed to be depressurized inside
Is divided into an upper chamber 7 and a lower chamber 8 by a partition plate 6, a first evaporation drum 11, and a second evaporation drum 17.
The upper chamber 7 is evacuated via a vacuum valve 2 (not shown).
The air is evacuated by an exhaust pipe 3 provided in the pipe. An oil diffusion ejector pump (DEP pump) is used as a main exhaust pump of a vacuum pump used for the vacuum exhaust device of the upper chamber 7.
An oil diffusion pump (DP pump), a turbo molecular pump, a cryopump, and the like are used.
The upper chamber 7 is evacuated until the pressure becomes about 9 × 10 −3 Pa to about 1 × 10 −3 Pa.

On the other hand, the lower chamber 8 is connected to an exhaust pipe 5 connected to a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) through the vacuum valve 4 in the same manner as the upper chamber.
Has been evacuated. An oil diffusion pump (DP pump), a turbo molecular pump, a cryopump, or the like is used as a main exhaust pump of a vacuum pump used for the vacuum exhaust device of the lower chamber 8. The lower chamber 8 is evacuated until the pressure becomes 9 × 10 −4 Pa to about 1 × 10 −4 Pa.

The transparent plastic film 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as "film") used in the present invention may be any film that satisfies the characteristics such as light isotropy and light transmittance required for a flexible display substrate. For example, polycarbonate (PC)
Film, polyarylate (PAR) film, polysulfone (PS) film, the thickness of which is 50
It is preferable that it is not less than μm and not more than 200 μm. If the thickness of the film 10 is less than 50 μm, the film strength is weak, which may cause problems in handling properties during a manufacturing process and strength for use as a display substrate.
If it exceeds 00 μm, the outer diameter and weight of the wound film become large, which may be disadvantageous in terms of manufacturing equipment in terms of equipment price and manufacturing cost, and may be heavy when used as a display substrate.

(Regarding the first step on the surface) The wound film raw material 9 is set on the unwinding shaft UW. The film 10 unwound from the unwinding shaft UW is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the first vapor deposition drum 11 in which a cooling medium cooled below freezing has flowed inside the cylinder during the film forming process.
The vehicle is driven in the direction of arrow A (clockwise) shown in FIG. While passing through the first vapor deposition drum 11, a transparent gas barrier layer 59 made of metal oxide and a transparent protective layer 60 made of an organic material for protecting the transparent gas barrier layer 59 are sequentially laminated on the surface of the film 10 as follows. I do. The display substrate provided on the front surface of the display naturally needs to transmit light emitted from the illuminant inside and make it visible to human eyes, and the light transmittance of the entire display substrate needs to be at least 80% or more. In view of this, the transparent gas barrier layer used for the display substrate is more preferably colorless and transparent.

First, the vapor deposition drum 1 of the first vapor deposition drum 11
In the lower right part (about 25% of the entire drum) on one circle,
As shown in (b), a transparent gas barrier layer 59 is laminated on the surface of the film 10. Examples of the material of the transparent gas barrier layer 59 include metal oxides such as aluminum oxide and magnesium oxide in addition to silicon oxide.

As a method for laminating the transparent gas barrier layer 59, an evaporation method, an ion plating method, and a sputtering method are used. Here, the evaporation method will be described. The transparent gas barrier layer 59 is laminated on the partition plate 23 in the lower chamber 8.
Is performed in the vapor deposition chamber 24 partitioned from the outside. The vapor deposition chamber 24 is provided with an electron beam heating source 26 and a crucible 25 for vapor deposition. In this way, the partition plate 23 separates the electron beam heating source 26 and the crucible 25 for vapor deposition from the outside (the lower chamber 8) so as to minimize the adverse effect of the evaporated atoms on the lower chamber 8.

An evaporation crucible 25 placed in an evaporation chamber 24
Is filled with a metal oxide 27, and an electron beam is irradiated on the metal oxide 27 using an electron beam heating source 26, thereby evaporating the metal oxide 27 to form metal oxide atoms 28. The metal oxide atoms 28 are directed to the surface of the film 10 and are deposited on the surface of the film 10, thus forming the transparent gas barrier layer 59. During the formation of the transparent gas barrier layer 59, while controlling the supply amount of the metal oxide atoms 28 near the surface of the film 10 so that the gas barrier property and the transparency of the formed transparent gas barrier layer 59 are optimized, A gas 30 such as oxygen or ozone is supplied from a gas nozzle 29. Note that the gas 30 may be a single gas such as oxygen or ozone, or these may be 2
A mixed gas containing more than one kind may be used.

The thickness (film thickness) of the transparent gas barrier layer 59 affects gas barrier performance. Since the thicker one can obtain excellent gas barrier performance, the transparent gas barrier layer 5
9 is desired to be formed thickly, but if the thickness exceeds about 100 nm, cracks may occur in the transparent gas barrier layer 59 made of metal oxide. When cracks occur, the gas barrier properties of the crack portions are significantly reduced. Also,
On the other hand, if the thickness is less than 20 nm, a pinhole is generated in the transparent gas barrier layer 59 or the gas barrier property is reduced.

In this embodiment, regardless of the crack,
Transparent gas barrier layer 5 to obtain excellent gas barrier performance
9 has a thickness of 100 nm or more and 200 nm or less. For this reason, immediately after forming the transparent gas barrier layer 59 on the surface of the film 10, as shown in FIG. 2C, in order to prevent the generation of cracks in the transparent gas barrier layer 59, The transparent protective layer 60 is formed.

(Regarding the Second Step on the Surface) The transparent protective layer 60 is formed in the lower left portion on the vapor deposition drum 11 following the lamination of the transparent gas barrier layer 59. Transparent protective layer 60
Is an organic material, which can be evaporated in a vacuum and is selected from materials having high transparency of the transparent protective layer 60. An example of a material used for such a transparent protective layer 60 is an acrylic resin.

Similarly to the lamination of the transparent gas barrier layer 59, the lamination of the transparent protective layer 60 is performed in the lower chamber 8 in the vapor deposition chamber 32 separated from the outside by the partition plate 31. Vapor deposition room 3
2 is provided with an evaporation box 33, and after supplying a resin 36, which is a material of the transparent protective layer 60, to a heated plate heater 34 in the evaporation box 33, the resin 36 is heated by the plate heater 34. Then, the resin 36 is turned into resin fine particles 37.

Next, the resin fine particles 37 are directed to the surface of the transparent gas barrier layer 59, deposited and deposited on the surface of the transparent gas barrier layer 59, and cured using a resin curing device 38 to cure the deposited resin fine particles 53. Transparent protective layer 60
To form As the resin curing device 38, an electron beam irradiation device, an ultraviolet irradiation device, and an infrared irradiation device are appropriately selected depending on the method of curing the resin.

(On the Back Side) The film 10 having the transparent gas barrier layer 59 and the transparent protective layer 60 laminated on the surface is
The second deposition drum 1 passes through the free rolls 14, 15, and 16
Reaches 7. During this time, the film 10 is turned upside down, so that the outer peripheral surface of the second vapor deposition drum 17 rotating in the direction of arrow B (counterclockwise) in FIG. While passing through the second vapor deposition drum 17, a transparent gas barrier layer 61 made of a metal oxide and a transparent protective layer 62 made of an organic material that protects the transparent gas barrier layer 61 are laminated on the back surface of the film 10. Further, a transparent conductive layer 63 made of a metal oxide is laminated on the transparent protective layer 62.

(First and Second Steps on Back Side) The transparent gas barrier layer 61 and the transparent protective layer 62 are laminated in the same manner as the method in which the transparent gas barrier layer 59 and the transparent protective layer 60 are laminated on the surface of the film 10. Is formed.

(First Step on Back Side) First,
As shown in FIG. 2D, a transparent gas barrier layer 61 is laminated on the back surface of the film 10 at the lower left portion on the circumference of the second deposition drum 17 (about 25% of the entire drum). The lamination of the transparent gas barrier layer 61 is performed in the vapor deposition chamber 40 separated from the outside by the partition plate 39 in the lower chamber 8. The vapor deposition chamber 40 is provided with an electron beam heating source 42 and a crucible 41 for vapor deposition. In this way, the partition plate 39 separates the electron beam heating source 42 and the crucible 41 for vapor deposition from the outside (the lower chamber 8) so as to minimize the adverse effect of the evaporated atoms on the lower chamber 8.

The crucible for vapor deposition 4 provided in the vapor deposition chamber 40
1 is filled with a metal oxide 43, and an electron beam is irradiated to the metal oxide 43 using an electron beam heating source 42, whereby the metal oxide 43 is evaporated to metal oxide atoms 44. The metal oxide atoms 44 are directed to the back surface of the film 10 and are deposited on the back surface of the film 10, thus forming the transparent gas barrier layer 61. During the formation of the transparent gas barrier layer 61, the supply amount is controlled toward the metal oxide atoms 44 near the rear surface of the film 10 so that the gas barrier property and the transparency of the formed transparent gas barrier layer 61 are optimized. A gas 46 such as oxygen or ozone was supplied from a gas nozzle 45. The gas 46 may be a single gas such as oxygen or ozone, or may be a mixed gas containing two or more of these. The thickness (film thickness) of the transparent gas barrier layer 61 is set to be substantially the same as the thickness of the transparent gas barrier layer 59 formed on the surface.

(Regarding the second step on the back surface)
Similarly to the surface, in order to prevent the occurrence of cracks in the transparent gas barrier layer 61, a transparent protective layer 62 is formed on the transparent gas barrier layer 61 immediately after the formation of the transparent gas barrier layer 61, as shown in FIG. The lamination of the transparent protective layer 62 is performed in the lower chamber 8.
It is performed in a vapor deposition chamber 48 partitioned from the outside (the lower chamber 8) by a partition plate 47 inside. The evaporation chamber 48 is provided with an evaporating box 49. A resin 52, which is a material of the transparent protective layer 62, is supplied to a heated plate heater 50 in the evaporating box 49. Is heated and evaporated to make the resin 52 into resin fine particles 53.

Next, the resin fine particles 53 are directed to the back surface of the transparent gas barrier layer 61, deposited and deposited on the rear surface of the transparent gas barrier layer 61, and deposited using a resin curing device (not shown). The transparent protective layer 62 is formed by curing 53.

(Regarding the third step) Thus, the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61 and the transparent protective layer 6 are formed on both surfaces.
2 (f) on the back surface of the film 10 on which the layers 0 and 62 are laminated, along the outer periphery of the upper chamber 7 of the second vapor deposition drum 17.
As shown in FIG. 7, the transparent conductive layer 63 is laminated. The transparent conductive layer 63 is provided on the film 10 in order to apply a voltage to the film 10, and is laminated on at least one of the front and back transparent protective layers.

The film 10 is provided along the outer periphery of the upper chamber 7 of the second vapor deposition drum 17, and the sputter cathodes 55 a, 55 b, and 55 c disposed so as to face the second vapor deposition drum 17. Pass between. The sputter cathodes 55a to 55c are covered by a cover 54 and are in a sealed state.

In the space thus sealed, the gas nozzle 5
7, a single or mixed gas 58 of an oxygen (02) gas, an argon (Ar) gas, a helium (He) gas, a nitrogen (N2) gas, and an ozone (O3) gas is supplied under controlled discharge conditions. For the targets of the sputter cathodes 55a to 55c, a metal oxide or a composite oxide thereof is used as a material of the transparent conductive layer 63. As the sputter cathode, a magnetron type cathode, a normal type cathode, or the like is used, and a voltage is applied from a high-frequency power supply, a DC power supply, or the like appropriately selected according to the material. A discharge is generated in the vicinity of the target by the applied voltage, and the material of the transparent conductive layer 63 is evaporated to form sputtered atoms 56a, 56b, and 56c.
To c on the transparent protective layer 62 on the rear surface to form a transparent conductive layer 6.
Form 3

As the material of the transparent conductive layer 63, a metal oxide is used. Among them, indium oxide and tin oxide are preferable, and a composite oxide of indium oxide and tin oxide (hereinafter referred to as "ITO") Is more preferred. I
When TO is used, the component ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide is preferably 5 to 15 parts by weight of tin oxide per 100 parts by weight of indium oxide. This is because such ITO can provide high transparency and low electric resistance characteristics.

The film 10 in which the transparent gas barrier layer 59 and the transparent protective layer 60 are laminated on the surface of the film substrate 10 and the transparent gas barrier layer 61, the transparent protective layer 62 and the transparent conductive layer 63 are laminated on the back surface in a vacuum device is free. Roll 21
, And is wound as a raw material for vapor deposition 22 on a winding section W.

(Regarding the fourth step) The source material 22 is taken out of the apparatus 1 and opened under the atmospheric pressure.
As shown in (g), the transparent protective layer 60 on the front side in the atmosphere.
A hard coat layer 64 is laminated thereon by a coating machine. Examples of the material of the hard coat layer 64 include acrylic resin and polycarbonate. When an acrylic resin is used, an acrylic resin is applied on the surface of the protective layer 60 using a coating machine, and then the acrylic resin is cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays to form a hard coat layer.

As a method for forming the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61, in addition to the method of forming a transparent gas barrier layer made of a metal oxide on the film 10 by depositing a metal oxide as described above, A method of dissolving and vapor-depositing on the film 10 and then oxidizing on the film 10 to form a metal oxide is also used. In this case, a vacuum evaporation method and an ion plating method are used. other than this,
The transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61 can also be formed by the sputter method. From the viewpoint of excellent transparency, it is preferable to form the transparent gas barrier layer 59 by a vacuum evaporation method using an electron beam heating source.

For the formation of the transparent conductive layer 63, an electron beam heating method, a vacuum evaporation method, and an ion plating method are used in addition to the sputtering method described above. From the viewpoint of excellent conductivity, it is preferable to form the transparent conductive layer 63 by a vacuum evaporation method using an electron beam heating source.

In the above description, first, the transparent gas barrier layer 59 and the transparent protective layer 60 are laminated on the front surface of the film 10 and then the transparent gas barrier layer 61 and the transparent protective layer 62 are laminated on the rear surface. After laminating the transparent gas barrier layer and the like, the transparent gas barrier layer and the like may be laminated on the surface. Similarly, the transparent conductive layer 63 may be provided on the front surface, and the hard coat layer may be provided on the back surface.

In the above description, the transparent gas barrier layer 59 on the front surface, the transparent protective layer 60 on the front surface, the transparent gas barrier layer 61 on the back surface, and the transparent protective layer 62 on the back surface are laminated in this order. A gas barrier layer may be formed, and then a transparent protective layer may be formed on these transparent gas barrier layers.

[0040]

The present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to examples. However, the following examples are used only for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are intended to limit the scope of the invention described in the claims. Must not be used for Example 1 As a film 10, a polycarbonate film having a thickness of 100 μm, a width of 500 mm, and a length of 1000 m manufactured by a casting method was used, and the film 10 was continuously run in a vacuum device 1 at a speed of 2 m / min. Diameter 15
The first vapor deposition drum 11 and the second vapor deposition drum 17 each formed of a cylinder having a diameter of 00 mm and a width of 600 mm were also rotated so that the film 10 traveled at a speed of 2 m per minute.

Width 60 mm, length 700 mm, thickness 30 mm
Is charged into the crucible 25 for vapor deposition, and the accelerating voltage 30 oscillated at 500 Hz in the longitudinal direction.
(Kv), an electron beam having an acceleration current of 1 (A) was irradiated to evaporate silicon oxide. Thus, silicon oxide was vapor-deposited on the surface of the film 10, and a transparent gas barrier layer 59 made of silicon oxide having a thickness of 150 nm was laminated. At this time, the gas nozzle 2 was supplied with oxygen at a rate of 1.0 liter / minute from the vicinity of the evaporation crucible 25 toward the film 10.
9 to obtain the transparency of the silicon oxide. The electron beam was generated using a Pierce type electron gun, and the cathode portion of the electron gun was subjected to differential evacuation with the vacuum layer.

Immediately after lamination of the gas barrier layer 59 made of silicon oxide, dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate is applied on the transparent gas barrier layer 59 with a degree of vacuum of 2 × 10 −2 Pa.
Is supplied to the on-plate heater 34 heated to 150 ° C. in an atmosphere of, and laminated by an organic vapor deposition method for generating dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate vapor, and immediately thereafter, accelerated by a vacuum device to a tungsten wire insulated and supported by a vacuum device. Voltage 1
An electron beam generated at 0 (kV) and an acceleration current of 20 (mA) was irradiated to the dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate laminate and cured to form a transparent protective layer 60 having a thickness of 2 μm. Subsequently, a gas barrier layer 61 made of silicon oxide and having a thickness of 200 nm was laminated on the back surface of the film 10 by the same method as the front surface by an organic vapor deposition method to form a protective layer 62 having a thickness of 2 μm. The protective layer 62 was formed by the same method as the organic deposition of the protective layer 60, but the dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate laminate was cured by using electrons generated by a glow discharge of a sputtering device. I let it. Furthermore, if the target size is 100
mm, length 600 mm, thickness 30 mm, ITO comprising 9 parts by weight of indium oxide and 1 part by weight of tin oxide
A material having a thickness of 100 nm is formed on the transparent protective layer 62 on the back surface by sputtering while supplying a mixed gas of oxygen (02) and argon (Ar) (oxygen: argon = 50: 50 (volume ratio)) using a material. A transparent conductive layer 63 was formed.

As described above, the transparent gas barrier layer 59 and the transparent protective layer 60 are provided on the front surface, and the transparent gas barrier layer 6 is provided on the rear surface.
1. A film 10 in which a transparent protective layer 62 and a transparent conductive layer 63 were sequentially laminated was wound around a winding section W as a raw material 22 for vapor deposition. Next, the source material 22 is taken out of the apparatus 1, and dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate is applied to the surface of the transparent protective layer 62 in the air using a gravure roll coater, and the dimethylol tricyclodecane diacrylate is applied. The acrylate layer was cured by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays to form a hard coat layer having a thickness of 10 μm, thereby producing a flexible display substrate.

When the appearance of the flexible display substrate was inspected, no cracks were observed in the transparent gas barrier layer 61 made of silicon oxide having a thickness of 200 nm, and the transparent protective layer formed in the same apparatus 1 as the transparent gas barrier layer 61 was formed. The effect of the layer 62 was confirmed.

The oxygen permeability of this flexible display substrate was 15 cc / (m 2 · day · atm) or less when measured under conditions of 30 ° C. and 90% RH.
The water vapor transmission rate was 20 gr / (m 2 · day · atm) or less when measured under the conditions of 40 ° C. and 90% RH. The surface resistance of the transparent conductive layer 63 is 40Ω /
cm2, and the light transmittance of the flexible display substrate was 80% at a wavelength of 550 nm.

The curl of the flexible display substrate was also investigated. The curl was slightly positive curl with respect to the surface of the transparent conductive layer 63, and the flexible display substrate obtained in this example was excellent as a display substrate. It has been found to have performance.

(Example 2) The crucibles 25 and 41 for vapor deposition were filled with aluminum, and were accelerated at 500 (Hz) in the width direction of the vapor deposition drum at an acceleration voltage of 30 (kV) and an acceleration current of 0.5.
7 (A) is irradiated with an electron beam to melt aluminum,
Evaporate and direct the aluminum atoms onto the film substrate, and 1.5 g from the gas nozzle 29 onto the film substrate.
Example 1 was the same as Example 1 except that the gas barrier layers 59 and 61 made of aluminum oxide having a thickness of 200 μm were formed on the film substrate by directing oxygen at 1 liter / min, and the thickness of the transparent conductive layer 63 was set to 150 nm. A flexible display substrate was produced in the same manner.

When a visual inspection of the manufactured flexible display substrate was performed, no crack was observed in the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61 made of an aluminum oxide film having a thickness of 200 nm, and the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61 were not observed.
The effect of the transparent protective layers 60 and 62 produced in the same device 1 as that of the above was confirmed.

The oxygen permeability of this flexible display substrate was 15 cc / (m 2 · day · atm) or less when measured under conditions of 30 ° C. and 90% RH.
The water vapor transmission rate was 20 gr / (m 2 · day · atm) or less when measured under the conditions of 40 ° C. and 90% RH. The surface resistance of the transparent conductive layer 63 is 30Ω /
cm2, and the light transmittance of the flexible display substrate was 82% at a wavelength of 550 nm. The curl was slightly positive curl with respect to the surface of the transparent conductive layer 63 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the flexible display substrate obtained in this embodiment was used. Was found to have excellent performance as a display substrate.

[0050]

According to the method for manufacturing a flexible display according to the present invention, (1) a transparent plastic film is used as a substrate to obtain characteristics of high transparency, excellent gas barrier properties, and low electric resistance. Further, (2) since the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61, the transparent protective layers 60 and 62, and the transparent conductive layer 63 are formed on the both surfaces of the film 10 in the same vacuum device, the adhesion between the film layers is strong and durable. A flexible display substrate with excellent curability and less curl can be obtained. Further, (3) changes in the transparent gas barrier layers 59 and 61, the transparent protective layers 60 and 62, and the transparent conductive layer 63 after the lamination can be suppressed. As described above, the flexible display manufacturing method according to the present invention is a manufacturing method with high productivity, and can provide a low-cost product having a large industrial value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a vacuum evaporation apparatus 1 used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a process of manufacturing a flexible display substrate.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 2 ... Vacuum valve 3 ... Exhaust pipe 4 ... Vacuum valve 5 ... Exhaust pipe 6 ... Partition plate 7 ... Upper chamber 8 ... Lower chamber 9 ... Raw film 10 ... Transparent plastic film 11 ... First vapor deposition drum 14 , 15, 16, 21 Free roll 17 Second vapor deposition drum 22 Raw material for vapor deposition 59, 61 Transparent gas barrier layer 60, 62 Transparent protective layer 63 Transparent conductive layer 64 Hard coat layer 23, 39 Partition plate 24, 40: evaporation chamber 25, 41: crucible for evaporation 26, 42: electron beam heating source 27, 43 ... metal oxide 28, 44 ... metal oxide atom 29, 45 ... gas nozzle 30, 46 ... gas 31, 47 ... Partition plates 32, 48 Evaporation chambers 33, 49 Evaporation boxes 34, 50 Plate heaters 36, 52 Resin 37, 53 Resin fine particles 38 Resin curing device 55a-c Spatter Kasodo 54 ... cover 56 ... sputtered atoms 57 ... nozzle 57 58 ... mixed gas UW ... unwinding axis W ... winder

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshifumi Kazuma, Osaka Prefecture 1006 Kadoma, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first step of laminating a transparent gas barrier layer on one or both sides of a transparent plastic film, wherein a transparent protective layer is formed on the transparent gas barrier layer such that the transparent gas barrier layer is sandwiched between the transparent gas barrier layer and the transparent plastic film. A second step, and a third step of laminating a transparent conductive layer on at least one of the transparent protective layers so as to sandwich the transparent protective layer between the gas barrier layer and the gas barrier layer;
A method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate, comprising: performing the first step, the second step, and the third step in the same vacuum apparatus. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transparent gas barrier layer is made of a metal oxide, and the transparent protective layer is made of an organic material. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the transparent conductive layer comprises a metal oxide.
A method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate according to claim 1. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a fourth step of laminating a hard coat layer on the transparent protective layer such that the transparent protective layer on which the transparent conductive layer is not laminated is sandwiched between the transparent protective layer and the gas barrier layer. 4. The method for manufacturing a flexible display substrate according to any one of the above items.