Abstract
The current panels for liquid crystal display (LCD) TV sets are all characterized by pins placed on two sides. To manufacture one type of panel, a dedicated mask is needed, and the production line should be started once. Moreover, the whole panel needs to be removed if a dead pixel is found. If the panel, however, will first be fabricated with pins placed on four sides and then divided by a cross-cut into four equal-sized panels with pins placed on two sides, one set of masks can be used to manufacture two types of LCD panels, which was referred to by the authors as dual mode. In this paper, the concept of the dual mode and its differences from the conventional way of producing panels are introduced. Its advantages in boosting production efficiency, improving the product's good rate, and lowering the production cost are also described based on case studies. Of particular importance is the fact that the dual mode is very suitable for the trial production of very-large-area LCD TV sets.