Manufacturing and Inspection Equipment for Efficient Production of Large LCDs

INTRODUCTION THE market for LCDs (liquid crystal displays) continues to be characterized by rapidly falling prices and the use of LCDs in large-screen TVs (televisions). As LCD TVs become larger, it has become necessary for the production lines that manufacture them to adopt larger mother glass substrates and increase production speed both to increase screen size and reduce the production cost of panels. The most modern factories for producing large LCD panels typically operate production lines that use glass substrate sizes of 2,200 × 2,500 mm (eighth-generation) or 2,880 × 3,130 mm (tenth generation). This article gives an overview of the manufacturing and inspection equipment used to achieve efficient production of large LCDs, particularly the exposure system used to manufacture color filters.