Thermal analysis on heat treatment of glass backplanes for large-scale displays in a precompaction furnace

• Published in: International journal of thermal sciences 2013-09, Vol.71, p.324-332
• Main Authors: Kim, Dong-Hyun, Kim, Byung-Kuk, Kim, Hyoung June, Suh, Yong Kweon, Park, Seungho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Backplanes; Display; Displays; Electronics; Estimates; Exact sciences and technology; Furnaces; Glass; Glass backplane; Large-scale displays; Muffle furnace for precompaction; Muffle furnaces; Nanostructure; Stacks; Thermal non-uniformity; Thermal treatment
• ISSN: 1290-0729; 1778-4166
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2013.04.019

In current display manufacturing processes, thermal treatment of glass backplanes is widely applied for hydrogen degassing, crystallization of thin-films, tempering, forming, and precompaction processes and so on. Since thermal uniformity during those processes is critical to homogeneity of mechanical and electronic characteristics of nano/micro structures of end products, it is important to estimate the duration of transient heating stages and thermal non-uniformities on a single glass substrate or in a stack of glasses. An electric muffle furnace for glass backplanes of 1.5 × 1.85 m in size and 0.5 mm in thickness was manufactured and temperature fields of the muffle and glass backplanes were measured to estimate the effective emissivity of the furnace. Using the simplified heat transfer model based on thermal radiation and natural convection, thermal fields for a glass stack of the number of sheets from 1 to 12 and for glasses of size, 2.2 × 2.5 m were calculated for practical design and manufacturing of the muffle furnace for large-scale displays, e.g. up to 8th generation. Experimental and theoretical investigation on thermal treatment of glass backplanes in a muffle furnace for large-scale displays. [Display omitted] •Thermal fields of glass stacks during annealing processes in a muffle furnace•Experimental muffle furnace for annealing of 6th generation (Gen) glass substrates•Experimental result for 6th Gen backplanes confirms the theoretical model.•Simulation of the heating process for 8th Gen substrates•Heating delay decreases considerably as the target annealing temperature increases.