US-20260130021-A1 - Apparatus for Manufacturing Display Panel

US20260130021A1US 20260130021 A1US20260130021 A1US 20260130021A1US-20260130021-A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel in which it is possible to prevent light-emitting elements from remaining on a transfer member during a transfer process, thereby preventing damage to a donor member or a panel defect. To achieve this, in the apparatus for manufacturing a display panel, by allowing the light-emitting members that remain on the transfer member during the transfer process to be adhered to a maintenance wafer substrate, it is possible to remove the light-emitting elements that remain on the transfer member. Accordingly, by removing the light-emitting elements that remain on the transfer member during the transfer process, it is possible to prevent damage to the donor member or the panel defect.

Inventors

Youngsuk Hwang
Doyoung KWAK

Assignees

LG DISPLAY CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20250422
Priority Date: 20241106

Claims (15)

1 . An apparatus for manufacturing a display panel, comprising: a transfer member including a transfer portion in which a plurality of light-emitting elements to be transferred on the display panel are aligned and disposed, and an edge portion surrounding the transfer portion; and a wafer substrate including a storing portion that accommodates some of the plurality of light-emitting elements and an outer portion surrounding the storing portion.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storing portion has a groove shape having a predetermined depth and a surface of the storing portion is lower than a surface of the outer portion.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the outer portion has a concave and convex pattern on an upper surface of the outer portion.
4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a depth of the storing portion is equal to or greater than a height of a light-emitting element from the plurality of light-emitting elements.
5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein each of an upper surface of the groove shape of the storing portion and the upper surface of the outer portion are covered with an adhesive material or a sticky material.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wafer substrate includes an active area and anon-active area, wherein a plurality of units of maintenance area are disposed in a matrix form in the active area, each of the plurality of units of maintenance area includes the storing portion and the outer portion.
7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transfer member includes a base layer and a stamp layer on surface of the base layer.
8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a surface of the stamp layer is covered with an adhesive material or a sticky material.
9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the stamp layer is stuck or adhered to a light-emitting element that remains after being transferred onto the display panel or a light-emitting element with transfer error.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storing portion corresponds to the transfer portion and the outer portion corresponds to the edge portion.
11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the transfer member is configured to move light-emitting elements from the plurality of light-emitting elements, which remain after being transferred onto the display panel or in which a transfer error has occurred and which are adhered to the transfer portion and the edge portion, to the wafer substrate and adheres the light-emitting elements to the storing portion and the edge portion.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storing portion has an area that is equal to or greater than an area of the transfer portion, and the outer portion has an area that is equal to or greater than an area of the edge portion.
13 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a bonding force between the stamp layer and the light-emitting element is greater than a bonding force between the light-emitting element and a donor substrate.
14 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a surface of each of the storing portion and the outer portion is covered with an adhesive material or a sticky material.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein a bonding force between the storing portion and a light-emitting element from the plurality of light-emitting elements is greater than a bonding force between the transfer portion and the light-emitting element, and a bonding force between the outer portion and the light-emitting element is greater than a bonding force between the edge portion and the light-emitting element.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), this application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date and right of priority to Republic of Korea Patent Application No. 10-2024-0156012 filed on Nov. 6, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel, and more specifically, to an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel, which transfers a light-emitting diode (LED) to a display panel. BACKGROUND Recently, display devices including a light-emitting diode (LED) have been attracting attention as next-generation display devices. Since an LED is formed of an inorganic material rather than an organic material, the display devices including the LED have a faster turn-on speed, better luminous efficiency, and higher luminance images than LCD devices or OLED display devices. These LEDs are transferred onto the display panel through a transfer member, but some remain on the transfer member or at an edge of the transfer member due to a transfer error. The LEDs that remain on the transfer member in this way fall on a donor member during the next transfer process, thereby damaging the donor member or fall on the display panel, thereby causing a panel defect. SUMMARY Accordingly, inventors of the present disclosure have invented an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel in which it is possible to prevent or at least reduce light-emitting elements from remaining on a transfer member during a transfer process, thereby preventing damage to a donor member or a panel defect. Implementations of the present disclosure are directed to providing an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel in which, by allowing light-emitting members that remain on a transfer member during a transfer process to be adhered to a preventative maintenance wafer, it is possible to remove the light-emitting elements that remain on the transfer member. Objects of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described objects, and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure that are not mentioned can be understood by the following description and more clearly understood by implementations of the present disclosure. In addition, it will be able to be easily seen that the objects and advantages of the present disclosure can be achieved by devices and combinations thereof that are described in the claims. In an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, by forming a transfer portion of a transfer member to correspond to a storing portion of a wafer substrate and forming an edge portion of the transfer member to correspond to an outer portion of the wafer substrate, light-emitting elements that remain on the transfer member during a transfer process can be removed by being adhered to the storing portion and the outer portion of the wafer substrate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the overall configuration of an apparatus for manufacturing a display panel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating an example of a configuration of a transfer member illustrated in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating an example of a configuration of a wafer substrate illustrated in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line A-A′ in FIG. 3 with respect to the wafer substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an area of a transport member corresponding to the transfer member according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is a view illustrating an example in which the transfer member picks up a light-emitting element according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an example in which a light-emitting element remains on the transfer member during a transfer process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is a view illustrating an example in which light-emitting elements that remain on the transfer member are removed by being attached to the wafer substrate during the transfer process according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating an example in which a plurality of light-emitting elements are adhered on the wafer substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view along line B-B′ in FIG. 9 with respect to the wafer substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Advantages and features of the present disclosure and methods for achieving them will become clear with reference to implementations described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to imp