Thin seal liquid crystal display and method of making same

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is a method and device for a liquid crystal display having a thin seal containing a liquid crystal material.
The thin seal of the liquid crystal display is constructed by disposing a seal material in a substantially precision manner on a first oversized substrate along an outline dimension of the liquid crystal display.
A substrate assembly is then formed by arranging the first substrate on top of a second oversized substrate so as to create a cavity in an area bounded by the first and second substrates and the seal material.
The substrate assembly should then be heated to transform the seal material into a seal which joins the substrates.
The cavity is then filled with a liquid crystal material to form a display area.
The thin seal liquid crystal display is then formed by precisely reducing edges of the sealed substrate assembly to the outline dimension of the thin seal display to form a reduced substrate assembly.
One suitable method to precisely reduce the edges of the substrate assembly is to precisely saw the substrate assembly to the desired dimensions.
The precision reduction process achieves the desired size of the display, as well as the desired width of the thin seal.
In this manner, a thin seal having a width on the order of 0.
005 inches may be achieved.
Electrical edge contacts are disposed on edges of the thin seal liquid crystal display.
The electrical edge contacts are connected to edges of electrically conductive strips formed on the substrates and whose edges are exposed during the grinding process.
The electrically conductive strips are connected to picture elements of a matrix of picture elements in the display region.
An advantage of a thin seal is that the matrix of picture elements may extend to very near the display edges.
For example, with a thin seal of 0.
005 inches, the matrix of picture elements may extend to within 0.
005 inches of the display edges.
A feature of the present invention is the ability to provide electrical edge contacts which facilitate the placement of the thin seal liquid crystal display in very close proximity of similar displays or a housing