• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.213-216
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• 2007

LGP (light guide plate) of LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) is one of the major components which affects the product quality of LCD. In the present study, the optical patterns of LGP(2.2") are manufactured by three different methods, namely, laser ablation, chemical etching and LiGA - reflow, respectively. The pattern surface images and roughness of mold and product were compared to check the optical characteristics. From the results of measurement the optical patterns fabricated by LiGA - reflow method showed the best geometric structure as intended in design and the lowest roughness among those.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.596-602
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• 2007

LGP (Light Guiding Plate) of LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) is one of the major components that affect the product quality of LCD. The optical patterns of LGP(2.2") molds are fabricated by three different methods, namely, (1) laser ablation, (2) chemical etching and (3) LiGA-reflow, respectively. The characteristics of surface patterns and roughnesses of molds and injection molded parts were compared to evaluate the optical characteristics. The optical patterns of injection molded LGP with mold fabricated by LiGA - reflow method showed the best geometric structure. The surface roughness (Ra) of LGP#s with molds fabricated by (1) laser ablation: $Ra={\sim}31nm$, (2) chemical etching: $Ra={\sim}22nm$, and (3) LiGA-reflow: $Ra={\sim}4nm$.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.361-362
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• 2007

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.322-327
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• 2008

LGP is a key component of LCD back light unit because it determines brightness and sharpness of the display image. Usually, it has optical patterns fabricated on the bottom surface. These optical patterns convert point or line sources placed in the side of LGP to plane source at the top surface by changing the propagating direction of the incident light. In the present paper the LiGA-reflow method was applied to fabricate the LGP mold. Furthermore, the optical simulation considering the replication ratio of pattern height was applied to the pattern design. The optical simulation through systematic correction scheme was adopted to find the optimum distribution of pattern density. Finally, the stamper fabricated by this method was installed in the mold and LGP was produced by injection molding. As a result of luminance measurement for the final product, the average luminance and luminance uniformity was measured 3,180 nit and 84%, respectively. Consequently, the mold fabrication method using the LiGA-reflow and optical simulation(CAE) can save the expense and time compared with the existing fabrication methods(laser ablation and chemical etching).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.269-272
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• 2008

LGP is a key component of LCD back light unit because it determines the brightness and sharpness of display image. Usually, it has optical patterns fabricated on the bottom surface. In the present paper the LiGA-reflow method was applied to fabricate the LGP mold. Furthermore, the optical simulation considering the replication ratio of pattern height was applied to the pattern design. The optical simulation through systematic correction scheme helped find the optimum distribution of pattern density. Finally, the stamper fabricated by this method was installed in the mold and LGP was produced by injection molding. As a result of luminance measurement for the final product, the average luminance and luminance uniformity was measured 3,180 nit and 84%, respectively. Consequently, the mold fabrication method using the LiGA-reflow and optical simulation(CAE) can save the expense and time compared with the existing fabrication methods(laser ablation and chemical etching).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.95-98
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• 2006

LCD-BLU (Back Light Unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD unit. The fabrication method of a 3-D micro mold patterned with micro-lenses for the LGP (Light Guiding Plate), one of the most important parts of LCD-BLU, was presented. Instead of dot pattern made by etching, 3-D optical pattern design with $50{\mu}m$ micro-lens was applied in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The positive micro-lens patterned injection mold with different aspect ratios (i.e. 0.3 and 0.4) was fabricated with modified LiGA with thermal reflow process. The brightness of LCD-BLU increased as aspect ratio of micro-lens increased.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.1 s.91
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• pp.42-47
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• 2007

LCD-BLU is one of kernel parts of LCD and it consists of several optical sheets: LGP, light source and mold frame. The LGP of LCD-BLU is usually manufactured by etching process and forming numerous dots with $50\sim300{\mu}m$ diameter on the surface. But the surface of the etched dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of the etching process during the mold fabrication, so that its light loss is high along with the dispersion of light into the surface. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current etched dot patterned LGP, optical pattern with continuous microlens was designed using optical simulation CAE. Also, a mold with continuous micro-lens was fabricated by UV-LiGA reflow process and applied to 7 inch size of navigator LCD-BLU in the present study.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.1 s.91
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• pp.48-53
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• 2007

LCD-BLU(Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) consists of several optical sheets: LGP(Light Guiding Plate), light source and mold frame. The LGP of LCD-BLU is usually manufactured by etching process and forming numerous dots with $50{\mu}m$ in diameter on the surface. But the surface roughness of LGP with etched dots is very high, so there is much loss of light. In order to overcome the limit of current etched dot patterned LGP, optical pattern design with microlens of $50{\mu}m$ diameter was applied in the present study. The microlens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP and optical simulation was carried out to know tendency of microlens patterned LGP simultaneously. The attention was paid to the effects of different aspect ratio(i.e. $0.2\sim0.5$) of optical pattern conditions to the brightness distribution of BLU with microlens patterned LGP. Finally, high aspect ratio microlens patterned LGP showed superior results to the one made by low aspect ratio in average luminance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.239-242
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• 2006

LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD unit and it consists of several optical sheets(such as prism, diffuser and protector sheets), LGP (Light Guiding Plate), light source (CCFL or LED) and mold frame. The LGP of LCD-BLU is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots with $50{\sim}200$ um in diameter on it by etching process. But the surface of the etched dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of the etching process during the mold fabrication, so that its light loss is high along with the dispersion of light into the surface. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current etched dot patterned LGP, optical pattern design with 50um micro-lens was applied in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The attention was paid to the effects of different aspect ratio (i.e. $0.2{\sim}0.5$) of optical pattern conditions to the brightness distribution of BLU with micro-lens patterned LGP. Finally, high aspect ratio micro-lens patterned LGP showed superior results to the one made by low aspect ratio in average luminance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.75-76
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• 2006

LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD unit and it consists of several optical sheets(such as prism, diffuser and protector sheets), LCP (Light Guide Plate), light source (CCFL or LED) and mold frame. The LGP of LCD-BLU is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots with $50{\sim}200{\mu}m$ in diameter on it by erosion method. But the surface of the erosion dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of the erosion process during the mold fabrication, so that its light loss is high along with the dispersion of light into the surface. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current dot patterned LGP, optical pattern design with $50{\mu}m$ micro-lens was applied in the present study. Especially, the negative and positive micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The attention was paid to the effects of different pattern conditions to the brightness distribution of BLU with micro-lens patterned LGP. Finally, negative micro-lens patterned LGP showed superior results to the one made by positive in average luminance.