Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Mutsuo Mitsui

Masaaki Suzuki

Takashi Enomoto

Tatsuo Murata

Masayuki Shimamune

Yasuyuki Watanabe

Kazuya Ishiwata

Yuichi Masaki

Toshifumi Yoshioka

Naoya Nishida

Noriyuki Nakai

Masahiro Kanai

Atsushi Koike

Kenji Onuma

The present invention provides an excellent organic EL device with a glass substrate and a sealing glass sheet which are thinned for weight reduction while avoiding lowering the durability and impact resistance of the device. The organic luminescence device is characterized in that sealing is performed at the space between a face of the sealing glass sheet along the outer edge and a face of the device substrate with a low melting point metal.

Organic electroluminescence device

A large-sized liquid crystal panel uniformly filled with a liquid crystal material may be produced through a process including the steps of: fixing a pair of substrates with a sealing member disposed therebetween to form a blank panel having an injection port, reducing a pressure within the panel, applying a liquid crystal material onto the injection port, heating the liquid crystal material to its isotropic temperature, injecting the liquid crystal material into the panel under a pressure, and filling the panel with the liquid crystal material under heating and pressurization from the injection port toward the panel inside. The pressure within the panel before the injection is reduced at a rate not exceeding 25 torr/min. The pressure for injection is increased at varying rates, e.g., with an intermediate constant pressure period. In the filling step, a portion of the liquid crystal material near the injection port is held in its isotropic phase and the liquid crystal material except for the portion is transformed at least once into a smectic phase.

Process for injecting liquid crystal into a liquid crystal panel

Process for producing liquid crystal panel including reducing the

A smectic liquid crystal is injected into a liquid crystal panel according to the vacuum injection scheme. The liquid crystal is applied over an injection port of a blank panel while maintaining the panel at a temperature below a temperature at which the liquid crystal shows a fluidity and controlling the liquid crystal at a viscosity of 0.0005 -0.005 kg/ms. As a result, an appropriate amount of the liquid crystal can be applied, thereby providing a liquid crystal panel free from inversion of bubbles and good and uniform alignment free from alignment failure.

Apparatus for vacuum injecting liquid crystal

A ferroelectric liquid crystal panel is prepared by injecting a ferroelectric liquid crystal into a liquid crystal panel through a process including at least four steps, i.e., a first step of reducing a pressure and evacuating gas within the liquid crystal panel, a second step of applying the ferroelectric liquid crystal to an injection port of the liquid crystal panel, a third step of causing the liquid crystal to enter into the liquid crystal panel under an increasing pressure, and a fourth step of completing injection of the liquid crystal into the liquid crystal panel under an elevated pressure. In the process, the liquid crystal panel is held at a higher temperature in the first step than in the second step. As a result, it is possible to obtain a ferroelectric liquid crystal panel which contains a ferroelectric liquid crystal at a sufficiently high packing density, free from occurrence of voids even after standing at a low temperature and has a uniform alignment state over the entire panel area.

Process for injecting ferroelectric liquid crystal with injection

Increasing temperature injection methods for a liquid crystal cell

A smectic liquid crystal is injected into a liquid crystal panel according to the vacuum injection scheme. The liquid crystal is applied over an injection port of a blank panel while maintaining the panel at a temperature below a temperature at which the liquid crystal shows a fluidity and controlling the liquid crystal at a viscosity of 0.0005-0.005 kg/ms. As a result, an appropriate amount of the liquid crystal can be applied, thereby providing a liquid crystal panel free from inversion of bubbles and good and uniform alignment free from alignment failure.

Method and apparatus for injecting liquid crystal

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of oppositely spaced substrate each having on its opposite surface a group of stripe electrodes disposed to intersect with those disposed on the other substrate, and a liquid crystal disposed between the substrates so as to be driven by a voltage applied through the stripe electrodes. The group of stripe electrodes on at least one of the pair of substrates are formed through a lithographic step including dividing the stripe electrodes into at least two divisions at a line parallel (or perpendicular) to the extension of the stripe electrodes, and repeating a pattern exposure for each division of the stripe electrodes so as to dispose a joint between the divisions of the stripe electrodes at a non-display part including a spacing between two stripe electrode on the same substrate (or at a part in alignment with a non-display part including a spacing between two stripe electrodes on the opposite substrate). In an embodiment, the liquid crystal device is provided with a dummy electrode pattern for promoting the liquid crystal injection.

Liquid crystal injection method using dummy electrodes

A ferroelectric liquid crystal is injected into a liquid crystal cell including a pair of substrates each having at least an electrode thereon and disposed with a sealing agent therebetween so as to provide a prescribed gap therein. The liquid crystal is injected while (a) changing a pressure or a pressure and a temperature of an environment of the liquid crystal cell with time so that (i) in an initial stage of injection, the liquid crystal is injected at a suppressed speed, and (ii) in an intermediate stage of injection, the liquid crystal is injected at a controlled speed so that a front end of the liquid crystal injected within the cell progresses at a substantially constant speed, (b) in a final stage of injection, cooling the liquid crystal under a pressure so as to avoid occurrence of a local liquid crystal injection failure due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the liquid crystal and the substrates, and (c) during the pressure-changing step with time, introducing an inert gas into the environment so as to increase the environmental pressure to a pressure exceeding a normal pressure (760 Torr).

Growing community of inventors

Hachiohji, Japan

Mutsuo Mitsui