FPD Manufacturing
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Overview
Flat-panel displays (FPDs) are available in a variety of sizes and performance levels, from large devices such as digital signage to medium-sized and small devices such as smartphones and smart watches. Moreover, the development of new display devices is progressing rapidly.
Since there are many processes in FPD manufacturing, from the acceptance of mother glass to completing the final product, companies need to improve the non-defective rate of each process and achieve advanced quality inspection that reliably detects defective products.
Today, many of these processes are image-based. The industrial image sensors of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, with their high-sensitivity, high-resolution, high-speed, low-noise characteristics, contribute to the improvement of quality control and productivity in the manufacturing process.
Applications
Glass surface flaw inspections
Image sensors are used in FPD manufacturing plants for processes that detect miniscule flaws on the panel surface, wiring pattern abnormalities in the array process, and impurities in the cell surface. High image quality, high-resolution, high-speed global shutter image sensors are used for this application. In addition, polarization image sensors are used to detect scratches, differentiating these from dirt (although both naturally have random unevenness), since this type of sensor can ascertain differences in the degree of polarization (DoP) based on variation in surface condition.
Display unevenness inspections
Faulty inspection of large flat-panel displays (FPDs) involves precisely measuring the luminance of each pixel and identifying any faulty pixels as well as any uneven chromatic distribution of the FPD. Ideally, a large image sensor with a wide image capturing area is preferred for efficiency, but such an image sensor must have pixels that deliver uniform performance. Sony’s rolling shutter image sensors and global shutter image sensors have more than 100 million pixels yet perform relatively evenly with low levels of noise, so they typically pass this type of inspection.
Image comparison
The photos below show a comparison of an FPD screen taken with two image sensors with different resolutions. The image captured with a 5-megapixel image sensor becomes blurry when zoomed in, making it impossible to see each pixel of the FPD that makes up the white numbers. On the other hand, the image captured with the IMX661, which has more than 100 megapixels, allows for the examination of the shape and variation of each pixel of the FPD that makes up the numbers, enabling detailed inspections.
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