Mask plate, exposure system and exposure method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10620541-B2
Application number	US-201615503926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2016
Priority date	Oct 26, 2015
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

A mask plate, an exposure system and an exposure method are disclosed. The mask plate includes a control unit ( 10 ) and a liquid crystal cell ( 20 ), wherein the control unit ( 10 ) is electrically connected to the liquid crystal cell ( 20 ) and configured to control the liquid crystal cell ( 20 ) to render a mask pattern. The mask plate can fulfill the requirements for various mask patterns, which not only save the manufacturing cost, but also simplifies the process operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mask plate, comprising:
a liquid crystal cell, partitioned into a plurality of mask sub-regions arranged as an array, at least two mask sub-regions form a mask block;
a control unit, electrically connected to the liquid crystal cell and configured to control the mask block to render a mask pattern, the control unit comprising a plurality of control switches;
a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines, the plurality of gate lines and the plurality of data lines intersecting each other to partition the liquid crystal cell into the plurality of mask sub-regions arranged as the array,
wherein each mask block is provided with one of the control switches, and each control switch comprises a thin film transistor, the thin film transistor is configured to control a light-transmitting state of an entirety of the mask block by controlling a light-transmitting state of each mask sub-region in the mask block.

2. The mask plate of claim 1 , wherein the light-transmitting state comprises light-fully-transmitted state, light-tight state or light-partially-transmitted state.

3. The mask plate of claim 1 , wherein each mask sub-region comprises:
a first substrate and a second substrate disposed as opposed to each other;
liquid crystals disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate;
a first electrode disposed between the first substrate and the liquid crystals; and
a second electrode disposed between the second substrate and the liquid crystals.

4. The mask plate of claim 3 , wherein the thin film transistor comprises a source electrode, a drain electrode and a gate electrode, one of the source electrode and the drain electrode is connected to the data line, the other is connected to the second electrode, and the gate electrode is connected to the gate line.

5. The mask plate of claim 1 , wherein the liquid crystals are polymer dispersed liquid crystals.

6. The mask plate of claim 1 , wherein the control unit periodically scans the thin film transistor such that the thin film transistor controls the light-transmitting states of the liquid crystals in the corresponding mask sub-region to remain the same during a predetermined time period.

7. The mask plate of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined time period ranges from 5 minutes to 15 minutes.

8. An exposure system comprising the mask plate of claim 1 .

9. The exposure system of claim 8 , wherein the mask pattern is a pattern of seal agent.

10. The exposure system of claim 9 , wherein the control unit is configured to control light-transmitting states of the mask blocks such that the mask plate renders the pattern of seal agent.

11. The exposure system of claim 8 , further comprising a light source device.

12. An exposure method performed by using the mask plate of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a control signal according to a mask pattern;
inputting the control signal to the control unit such that the control unit controls the liquid crystal cell to render the mask pattern; and
exposing a substrate to be exposed by using the mask plate.

13. The exposure method of claim 12 , wherein the substrate is a substrate on which seal agent is to be cured, the mask pattern is a pattern of the seal agent.

14. The exposure method of claim 13 , wherein the pattern of the seal agent comprises a fully-exposed region, a non-exposed region and a partially-exposed region.

15. The exposure method of claim 14 , wherein the control unit controls light-transmitting state of the liquid crystals in a mask block corresponding to the fully-exposed region to be light-fully-transmitted, controls light-transmitting state of the liquid crystals in a mask block corresponding to the non-exposed region to be light-tight, and controls light-transmitting state of the liquid crystals in a mask block corresponding to the partially-exposed region to be light-partially-transmitted.

16. A mask plate, comprising:
a liquid crystal cell, comprising a plurality of first mask sub-regions and a plurality of mask blocks; and
a control unit, electrically connected to the liquid crystal cell and comprising:
a first control switch, disposed in each first mask sub-region; and
a second control switch, disposed in each mask block,
wherein the control unit is configured to control a light-transmitting state of each first mask sub-region through the first control switch and is further configured to control a light-transmitting state of each mask block through the second control switch to make the mask plate present a mask pattern;

wherein each mask block comprises at least two second mask sub-regions, the second control switch is configured to control the light-transmitting state of each mask block by controlling a light-transmitting state of each second mask sub-regions in the mask block.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Beijing Boe Display Tech Co

Inventors

• Ma Guojing
• Xu Changjian
• Wang Dan
• Ren Jinyu

Classifications

• G02F1/1339 Primary

  Gaskets; Spacers; Sealing of cells · CPC title

• G02F1/13306

  Circuit arrangements or driving methods for the control of single liquid crystal cells (G02F1/132, G02F1/133382 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02F1/1334

  based on polymer dispersed liquid crystals, e.g. microencapsulated liquid crystals · CPC title

• G03F7/2057 Primary

  using an addressed light valve, e.g. a liquid crystal device · CPC title