Abstract
Thinning of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels effectively decreases overall thickness and weight of panels, thereby enhancing the aesthetics and ease of use of portable display devices. The technology is typically carried out after the thin-film transistor (TFT) and color filter (CF) substrates are assembled.The first part of this study presents the thickness of panels etched by HF solution with surface etching defects. Polishing effectively removes these defects from glass. However, polishing a panel is more difficult than polishing glass and a suitable polishing approach is developed. In addition, spin-coating a protective layer above the surface fills the defects and retains optical performance. Unlike polishing, the proposed method applies no pressure to the inner structure in the panel.The second part of the study formulates a new mathematical model of the mechanism of the single-sided lapping machine in the LCD cell thinning process; the model is confirmed experimentally. The model can help to optimize the parameters of the process.In the third part of this study, a novel technology is used in an environmentally friendly process of mechanical thinning. It offers lower surface roughness, a higher cut rate and a lower operating pressure than slurry lapping.The final part of this study develops another novel technology, which provides a higher removal rate, better thickness uniformity and finer surface roughness than slurry lapping. The two novel approaches can produce the TFT-LCD panels that are composed of differently thick TFT and CF substrates. Additionally, they methods are stable and practicable for producing thinning cells.