Process and materials for imagewise placement of uniform spacers in flat panel displays

• Main Authors: TOLBERT; WILLIAM A, MARTENS; ALLAN R, WOLK; MARTIN B, STARAL; JOHN S, ISBERG; THOMAS A, JALBERT; CLAIRE A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 02.11.1999
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: ADVERTISING; COLOUR PRINTING; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH ISMODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THEDEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF THE INTENSITY,COLOUR, PHASE, POLARISATION OR DIRECTION OF LIGHT, e.g.SWITCHING, GATING, MODULATING OR DEMODULATING; DISPLAY; DISPLAYING; EDUCATION; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; LINING MACHINES; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PRINTING; PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; SEALS; SIGNS; STAMPS; TECHNIQUES OR PROCEDURES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF; TRANSPORTING; TYPEWRITERS

Process and materials are described for selectively placing uniform spacers on a receptor. Spacer elements are placed on a receptor by selectively irradiating a thermal transfer donor sheet comprising a transferable spacer layer. The transferable spacer layer may include particles or fibers to form a composite. The particles may have a spacing dimension either greater than or less than the thickness of the transferable layer. When the spacing dimension of the particle is greater than the thickness of the transferable layer, then the spacing dimension of the particles control the spacing distance. The process and materials are useful in the manufacture of flat panel displays, particularly, liquid crystal display devices.