JPH11218466A - Measuring device of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a measuring device of a substrate of excellent precision and reproducibility for shortening a measuring time and the production method of a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate. SOLUTION: The measuring device of a substrate judges the presence of a projection-like matter set on at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal element sandwiching the liquid crystal composition between a pair of opposite substrates. A stage 2 mounting a sample, a height measuring means 3 or an imaging means and a data processor 5 are provided, and the presence of the projection-like matter is judged from height information obtained from the height measuring means 3 and intensity information obtained from the imaging means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a color filter,
TFT array substrate, apparatus for measuring substrate such as transparent substrate for LCD for measuring surface shape such as height or cross-sectional area or position of each layer of multilayer film structure such as semiconductor, and method of manufacturing color filter or transparent electrode substrate About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various methods are known for forming a spacer on a color filter. For example,
As described in JP-A-9-43425,
There is a technique in which each colored layer is laminated on a BM to form a spacer.
As a technique for measuring the spacer, a stylus height meter is used to measure the height of the spacer, and the area, length, position, and number of the spacer, or the pixel opening width, the distance between the pixel openings, and the stripe width The distance between stripes was measured using an optical microscope. However, such measurement has the following problems.

That is, a stylus-type height meter was used for measuring the height of a spacer, but it was difficult to capture the spacer on a measurement line in order to measure the height on a certain straight line. For this reason, measurement was performed several times within a certain range while slightly moving the straight line to be measured. In addition, the color filter measured must be discarded for destructive measurement, and because the inspector has read the height from the obtained chart, the reading error is large,
The measurement time was also long.

The area and position of the spacer, the width of the pixel opening, the distance between the pixel openings, the stripe width, and the distance between the stripes are measured by a measuring instrument on an image enlarged by an optical microscope using a length measuring instrument. However, reading errors were large due to manual measurement, and the measurement time was long.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and reduces a measuring time, a measuring device for a substrate with high accuracy and reproducibility, and a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing the same.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate measuring apparatus having the following configuration. That is, a substrate measuring device for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion placed on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display element having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposing substrates, A stage on which is mounted, a height measuring means or an imaging means, and a data processing device, and the presence or absence of a protruding object is determined from height information obtained from the height measuring means or luminance information obtained from the imaging means. It is characterized by doing.

[0007] Further, there is provided a substrate measuring apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion provided on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display element having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. The measurement area including one or more protrusions is divided into pixels, the height is measured for each of the divided pixel units, and the presence or absence of the protrusions is determined based on the height of each of the divided pixel units. It is characterized by doing.

[0008] Further, there is provided a substrate measuring apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion placed on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display element having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. Means for determining the part to be measured,
It is characterized by a means for measuring the height on a certain straight line and the presence or absence of a protruding object is determined from the obtained height information.

Further, there is provided a substrate measuring apparatus for judging the presence / absence of a protrusion placed on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. Means for determining the part to be measured,
Means for measuring the height of one or more points, and the presence or absence of a protrusion is determined from the obtained height measurement value.

A substrate measuring apparatus for measuring at least one of height, length, cross-sectional area, position, and number of a convex portion or a concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex portions or concave portions designed in advance, A stage on which the substrate is mounted, a height measuring device, and a data processing device, and from height information obtained by the height measuring device, the height, length, cross-sectional area, and position of the convex or concave portion. , And at least one item of the number is measured.

A substrate measuring apparatus for measuring at least one of a length, a cross-sectional area, a position, and a number of a convex portion or a concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex portions or concave portions designed in advance. It comprises a stage to be mounted, a lighting device, an imaging device, and a data processing device, and measures at least one item of the length, cross-sectional area, and position of the convex or concave portion from luminance information obtained by the imaging device. It is characterized by the following.

Further, a method of manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate according to the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein the presence or absence of a protrusion disposed on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined at one or more locations by the above-described substrate measuring device, and the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined. It is characterized in that the quality of the electrode substrate is determined.

The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein the height and length of one or more projections or depressions of a substrate having a plurality of projections or depressions on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate are provided. , A cross-sectional area and a position are measured, and manufacturing conditions are changed.

The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein the height and length of one or more projections or depressions of a substrate having a plurality of projections or depressions on the color filter or transparent electrode substrate are provided. , The cross-sectional area and the position are measured, and the quality of the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Embodiment 1] An embodiment of measurement using height information according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top view of a color filter 1 to be measured according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the color filter. Next, the height, cross-sectional area, position, pixel opening width, distance between pixel openings, stripe width, and distance between stripes of the spacer to be measured will be described.

[0017] As spacer height are shown in H _S of FIG. 2, the distance from the pixel openings 109 to the top of the spacer 110.

The spacer cross-sectional area is the cross-sectional area of the colored layer (red layer) at AA ′ in FIG.

As for the position of the spacer, the distance P ₁ from the stripe end 112 in FIG. 1 and the distances P ₂ and P ₃ from the end of the pixel opening 109 are measured.

The distances between the pixel openings are represented by L ₁ , L ₅ ,
Respectively the pixel aperture width L ₂ of FIG. 1, FIG. 1 of L ₃ stripe width, the distance between stripes L ₄ in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the measuring device of the present invention, which comprises a stage 2, a height measuring device 3, a data processing device 5, a control device 6, and a display device 6.

The stage 2 is for mounting and fixing a color filter on the surface so that an arbitrary point of the color filter can be measured, and moves in the XY directions.

The height measuring device 3 divides a certain range on the color filter into pixels and measures the height of each pixel. When a height measurement start signal is given from the control device 6, the height measuring device 3 When the measurement is started and the measurement is completed, a height measurement end signal is output to the control unit 6 and the height data is transferred to the data processing device 5. If the height measuring device 3 divides a certain range into pixels and measures the height of each pixel,
Anything is fine.

The data processing device 5 calculates the height, cross-sectional area, length, position, number of the spacers, the width of the color filter pixel opening, and the distance between the pixel openings from the height information measured by the height measuring device 3. , Stripe width, and distance between stripes. When a data processing start signal is given from the control device 6, the data processing is started, and when the data processing is completed, a data processing end signal is output to the control device 6.

The control device 6 is for giving an operation command to the stage, the height measuring device and the data processing device based on a determined procedure.

The display device 7 is for displaying the height, cross-sectional area, length, position, and number of spacers measured by the data processing device.

Next, the operation of the measuring apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the sample is set on the stage and the measurement start button is pressed. (Step 1) The sample may be set manually or automatically by a robot arm or the like. When the measurement start button is pressed, the control device 6 gives the stage 2 a movement amount set in advance so that the spacer to be measured is within the measurement range of the height measurement device, and a movement start signal. At this time, if there is a variation in the sample installation position, it is desirable to correct the stage movement amount by performing alignment and measuring the installation error. The stage 2 to which the movement start signal is given starts to move, and after the movement ends, gives a movement end signal to the control device 6 (step 2).

The control device 6, to which the movement end signal has been given,
A height measurement start signal is given to the height measuring device 3. The height measuring device 3 given the measurement start signal starts the height measurement,
After the measurement is completed, the height data is sent to the data processing device 5, and a height measurement end signal is given to the control device 6 (step 3).
The height measuring device 3 starts measurement with a position several μm lower than the lowest position on the color filter surface as the height origin. The measurement range is set so that all irregularities on the surface of the color filter to be measured can be measured. FIG. 4 shows the height data of the color filter measured by the height measuring device 3.
The low part is indicated by dark hatching as shown at 102. FIG. 5 shows the height between XX ′ in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 shows the height between YY ′ in FIG. 4. The horizontal axis indicates the position, and the vertical axis indicates the height.

Control device 6 given a height measurement end signal
Supplies a data processing start signal to the data processing device 5.
The data processing device 5 given the data processing start signal
The height, cross-sectional area, and position of the spacer are measured by the following procedure.

First, the maximum value Hm of the given height data
a, a minimum value Hmin is obtained, and a difference between Hmax and Hmin is set as a height range R, and is compared with a preset value H. R ≧
In the case of H, the processing is continued as it is, but in the case of R <H, the processing is terminated assuming that there is no spacer in the screen or the height of the spacer is extremely low, and the height range R is displayed on the display device 7. (Step 4). H is determined from the thickness of the colored layer of the color filter and the like.

Next, binarization by height is performed to cut out the spacer portion. (Step 5). The threshold value TH for binarization is set so that the spacer portion can be cut out from Hmax and Hmin. The binarization is performed by comparing the height of each pixel obtained by the height measuring device 3 with the threshold value TH. FIG. 8 shows a binarized image obtained by cutting out the spacer portion. The white part is the spacer part higher than the threshold.

Next, the area, length,
The characteristic quantities such as the width and the position of the center of gravity are measured (step 6). Those whose characteristic amounts fall within a preset range are recognized as spacers. If none of the chunks have the feature amount within the set range,
The processing is terminated assuming that the spacer does not exist, and the fact is displayed on the display device 7 (step 7).

When the number of the blocks is one, the position of the center of gravity Xc, Y
c is stored (step 8). When there are two blocks, it is assumed that there are a plurality of spacers on one screen, and steps 8 to 18 are repeated for each spacer.

[0035] Next, with reference to the said center-of-gravity position, sets the window W ₁ to _W-6 shown in FIG. 9 (step 9).
Size and X _c of these windows, the relative position between the Y _c is set in advance in accordance with the color filter to be measured.
W ₁ is a window for measuring the thickness of the height and each layer of the spacer portion. W ₂ is a window for measuring the height of the opening. W ₃ and W ₄ are windows for measuring the opening edge. W ₅ and W ₆ are windows for measuring the opening edge, the stripe edge, and the adjacent stripe edge.

Next, the average height in the window W ₂ is obtained and set as the opening height W _H (step 10).

[0037] Next to create a distribution diagram of the height data for the window W ₁ (step 11). Figure 10 is an enlarged view of the window W ₁ portion of Fig. FIG. 11 is a distribution diagram of height data, in which the horizontal axis represents the height division value and the vertical axis represents the number of pixels. The height division value is obtained by converting the actual height into an integer. The peak at the portion 102 in FIG. 11 corresponds to the portion of the resin black matrix 102 shown in FIG.

Next, the peaks in the height distribution diagram of FIG. 11 are recognized, and the height of each colored layer is measured. (Step 12). For peak recognition, any method may be used.

Next, the spacer height H _S is obtained (step 13). The spacer height is an important factor that determines the cell gap after assembling the color filters into cells.
The maximum value of the spacer height W ₁ may be H _T but,
In order to improve the measurement accuracy, it is desirable that the height at which the cross-sectional area of the spacer reaches a certain area be H _T to eliminate the influence of spike noise or the like in the height measurement device 3.

Next, the thickness of each layer is calculated from the obtained height of each layer (step 14).

Next, the sectional area of the spacer and the position of the spacer are measured (step 15). 2 performed in step 5
In the binarization, it is not known exactly which part of the spacer has been binarized. Therefore, the threshold value _THS is obtained from the height of each colored layer obtained in step 12, and binarization is performed again.

The threshold T for the binarized image was measured feature value with _HS, spacer cross-sectional area A _s, the spacer positions the X-axis maximum value X _max, the minimum value X _min, Y-axis maximum value Y _max,
Y _min is obtained (step 16).

Next, the edge position in the window is measured (step 17). For the measurement of the opening edge, W ₃
Window will be described. First, the height data is averaged in a window in a direction parallel to the edge to be measured, and noise is removed. FIG. 12 shows height data after averaging.
FIG. 13 shows data obtained by further performing a moving average on this data to remove noise and performing differentiation. Recognizing the peak position of the differential value of FIG. 13 as the edge position E _3. Any method may be used for peak recognition. The following Similarly W ₄ determine the E ₄ measures the opening edge on.

[0044] Next, the edge measurement of the stripe part, a description will be given of the window of W _5. First, height data is averaged in a window in a direction parallel to the edge to be measured, and noise is removed. FIG. 14 shows height data after averaging. FIG. 15 shows data obtained by further performing a moving average on this data to remove noise and then performing differentiation. This FIG.
Is recognized as an edge. Peak 1 is the opening edge, peak 2 is the stripe edge,
Peak 3 is the edge of the adjacent stripe, and peak 4 is the edge of the opening of the adjacent pixel. Window W for peak recognition
The measurement is performed in the same manner as in step 3, and the opening edge position E _5a , the stripe edge position E _5b , the adjacent stripe edge position E _5c , and the opening edge position E _5d of the adjacent pixel are measured.

Similarly, for W ₆ , the opening edge E
_6d , a stripe edge position E _6c , an adjacent stripe edge position E _6b , and an opening edge position E _6a of an adjacent pixel were measured. Alternatively, a window may be set other than W _{1 to} W ₆ to measure the edge, and the other items may be measured.

Next, from the spacer position and the edge position, the distance P ₁ from the end of the stripe, the distances P ₂ and P ₃ from the end of the window opening, the distance L ₁ between the pixel openings, and the width L of the pixel opening.
_2, the stripe width L _3, the distance between the stripes L _4, L ₅
Are obtained (step 18).

Finally, the measurement result is displayed on the display device 7.
(Step 19) An example of an actual measurement result will be described below. The measurement was performed on a plurality of samples of the color filter shown in FIG. 1 in which the etching time during the production and the level of the colored layer thickness were changed. The following describes the measurement of the spacer near the center of the sample at a certain level.

First, when a sample is manually placed on the stage 2 and measurement is started, the stage 2 moves the sample such that the spacer comes within the measurement range of the height measuring device.

Next, the height measuring device 3 starts height measurement and sends height data to the data processing device 5. The height measuring device 3 used an optical interference type height meter, and measured with a height accuracy of ± 0.05 μm for 500 × 500 pixels in one pixel of 0.4 μm in a range of 200 μm. Maximum value H _max of the height data in the data processing device 5, the minimum value H _mi
n and the height range R were determined as follows. In addition, H was set to 4.00.

H _max = 8.90 [μm] H _min = 1.00 [μm] R = 7.90 [μm] Next, in order to cut out the spacer portion, binarization by height was performed. When the threshold value TH for binarization was determined by the following [Equation 1], TH = 7.32.

[Equation 1] TH = Hmin + 0.8 × R When a characteristic amount such as an area, a length, a width, and a position of a center of gravity was measured for a white block of the binarized image, an area set in advance was calculated.
Because there was one lump in the range of length and width,
This was recognized as a spacer, and the center of gravity positions Xc and Yc were stored.

Next, windows W _{1 to} W ₆ were set based on the positions of the centers of gravity Xc and Yc.

Next, when the average height in the window W ₂ was determined, the opening height W _H was as follows.

W _H = 2.50 [μm] Next, a distribution diagram of height data was created for the window W ₁ . In this embodiment, the distribution interval H _div is represented by H _div =
The division number DIV is calculated from the following [Equation 2] as 0.02 [μm].
Was obtained, DIV = 395 was obtained.

[0055] [Formula _{2] DIV = (H max -H} min) / H div (DIV is integer) actual height H and the height divided value D of the distribution diagram the horizontal axis of the height data
Has the relationship of the following [Equation 3].

[Equation 3] H = H _min + H _div · D Next, the peak position in the height distribution diagram was recognized. Recognition of the peak position is performed in the range from the minimum height value to the BM film thickness design value.
The height division value that maximizes the number of pixels is the BM height division value HD
Recognizing _BM , the BM height H _BM is obtained by the above [Equation 3]. Similarly, based on the BM height, it obtains the blue layer height H _B from the height divided value the number of pixels is maximum in the range of 60% of the blue layer thickness design value of 140%. Next, 60% to 140% of the green layer thickness design value based on the blue layer height
The number of pixels in the range of obtaining the green layer height H _G from the height divided value becomes maximum. Then determine the red layer height H _B number of pixels from the height divided value becomes maximum in the range of 60% to 140% of the red layer thickness design value relative to the green layer height. In this case, the peak recognition method as described above is used, but the peak may be recognized using differentiation or the like. The respective peak positions and coloring layer heights were as follows.

[0057] _{HD BM = 15 HD B = 140} HD G = 265 H BM = 1.30 [μm] H B = 3.80 [μm] H G = 6.30 [μm] Next, the spacer apex height _HT is determined (step 13). To improve the measurement accuracy without the influence of such spike noise at the level measuring device 3 calculates the division value HD _T that causes the cross-sectional area S. Division value HD with height distribution diagram
The spacer cross-sectional area S at _T is represented by the following [Equation 4].

[Equation 4] x: height division value f (x): number of pixels at height division value x DIV: division number of height distribution map P: width of one pixel [μm] Then, division value satisfying the following [Equation 5] by obtaining the HD _T, division value is obtained to be the cross-sectional area a of the spacer.

[Equation 5] In this embodiment, when A = 2.00, HD _T = 3
45 was obtained. By substituting this height division value HD _T into [Equation 3], the height H _T at the top of the spacer was as follows.

H _T = 7.90 [μm] From this, the spacer height H _S is as follows.

[0061] Next, the thickness of each layer is calculated from the obtained height of each layer. BM thickness T _BM , blue layer thickness T _B , green layer thickness T _G ,
Red layer thickness T _R the Expression 6] calculated from Expression 7] [Expression 8] [Expression 9].

[0062] [Formula _{6] T BM = H B -H} W [ Expression _{7] T B = H B -H} BM [ Equation _{8] T G = H G -H} B [ Expression 9] _{T R} = H T -H _G The film thickness of each obtained layer was as follows.

T _BM = 1.30 [μm] T _B = 2.50 [μm] T _G = 2.50 [μm] T _R = 2.50 [μm] Next, the sectional area of the spacer and the position of the spacer Was measured. In this embodiment, since the area of the column cross section at the center of the red layer was defined as the spacer cross sectional area, the threshold value T _HS for binarization was obtained by [Equation 10]. As a result, to obtain the TH _S = 7.55.

[0064] [Formula _{10] TH S = (H T} + H G) / 2 threshold TH feature amounts measured for binarized image _S, spacer cross-sectional area A _s, the spacer positions the X-axis maximum value X _{When the max} , the minimum value X _min , and the Y-axis maximum values Y _max , Y _min were determined, they were as follows.

[0065] ^{_{A s = 140 [μm 2]}} X max = 125 X min = 200 Y max = 230 Y min = 270 then the window _{W 3, W 4, W 5} , was measured edge position of W _6, an edge The position was as follows.

E ₃ = 200.0 E ₄ = 300.0 E _5a = 50.0 E _5b = 57.5 E _5c = 67.5 E _5d = 75.0 E _6a = 250.0 E _6b = 257. 5 E _6c = 267.5 E _6d = 275.0 Next, from the spacer position and the edge position, the distance P ₁ from the stripe end is expressed by [Equation 11], and the distances P ₂ and P ₃ from the window opening end are calculated. the expression 12], in [expression 13], the distance L ₁ between the pixel apertures in the expression 14], the pixel aperture width L ₂ in the formula 13, the stripe width L ₃ in the formula 16] And the distances L ₄ and L ₅ between the stripes were determined by [Equation 17] and [Equation 18], respectively.

[Equation 11] P ₁ = (X _min −E _5b ) × P [Equation 12] P ₂ = (Y _min −E ₃ ) × P [Equation 13] P ₃ = (E ₄ −Y _max ) × P [formula _{14] L 1 = (E 4} - E 3) × P [ equation _{15] L 2 = (E 6a} - E 5d) × P [ equation _{16] L 3 = (E 6b} - E 5c) × P [ formula _{17] L 4 = (E 5c} - E 5b) × P [ equation _{18] L 5 = (E 5d} - E 5a) × P calculated results were as follows.

P ₁ = 27.0 [μm] P ₂ = 12.0 [μm] P ₃ = 12.0 [μm] L ₁ = 40.0 [μm] L ₂ = 70.0 [μm] L ₃ = 76.0 [μm] L ₄ = 4.0 [μm] L ₅ = 10.0 [μm] The same measurement was performed for spacers on other colored layers and samples of other levels. There was a high correlation between the obtained measurement results and the results obtained by the conventional method.
In addition, the repetition accuracy when the same sample was repeatedly measured was improved in all measurement items compared to the conventional method.
The measurement time was significantly reduced.

In this embodiment, a device for measuring the height of each pixel by dividing a certain range into pixels is used as the height measuring device. However, the height is measured for a predetermined straight line or a certain point. By doing so, the presence or absence of the protrusion may be determined.

In this embodiment, the measurement was performed for the color filter shown in FIG. 2, but the color filter shown in FIG. 16 can also be measured. FIG. 16 shows a color filter in which a resin layer 111 is laminated in addition to the three colored layers, and pattern processing is performed to install spacers.

Further, when this measuring device was used in the manufacturing process, the effects of stabilizing the process, preventing outflow of defective products, and the like were obtained. Regarding the stabilization of the process, the thickness of each colored layer and the developed state can be determined by measuring the spacer of the final product. By feeding back the information, fluctuations in the process state could be managed within a range without any problem. This time, the measurement results were constantly monitored. However, if a certain number of defective products are found, an alarm may be issued to notify the worker of a process abnormality. In addition, all the substrates were measured to determine the quality, and defective products were extracted to prevent outflow of defective products.

[Embodiment 2] An embodiment of measurement using luminance information in the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Since the object to be measured is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of the measuring apparatus of the present invention.
It comprises a stage 2, a lighting device 8, an imaging device 4, a data processing device 5, a control device 6, and a display device 7.

The stage 2 mounts and fixes the color filter on the surface so that any point of the color filter can be measured, and moves in the XY directions.

The illumination device 8 irradiates light to the object to be measured. This time, coaxial epi-illumination was used, but dark-field illumination may be used. Further, transmission illumination may be used in combination.

The imaging device 4 divides a certain range on the color filter into pixels and measures the luminance of each pixel. When a luminance measurement start signal is given from the control device 6, the luminance measurement starts. When the measurement is completed, a luminance measurement end signal is output to the control unit 6, and the luminance data is transferred to the data processing device 5. In the present embodiment, an area sensor CCD camera was used as the imaging device, but a certain range was divided into pixels,
A line sensor CCD camera or the like may be used as long as it measures the luminance of each pixel.

The data processing device 5 calculates the cross-sectional area, length, position, and position of the spacer from the luminance data measured by the imaging device 4.
The number and the width of the color filter pixel opening, the distance between the pixel openings, the stripe width, and the distance between the stripes are measured. When a data processing start signal is given from the control device 6, the data processing is started, and when the data processing is completed, a data processing end signal is output to the control device 6.

The control device 6 is for giving an operation command to the stage, the luminance measuring device and the data processing device based on a determined procedure.

The display device 7 is for displaying the cross-sectional area, length, position, and number of spacers measured by the data processing device.

Next, the operation of the measuring apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the sample is set on the stage and the measurement start button is pressed. (Step 1) The sample may be set manually or automatically by a robot arm or the like. When the measurement start button is pressed, the control device 6 gives the stage 2 a movement amount set in advance so that the spacer to be measured is within the measurement range of the imaging device, and a movement start signal. At this time, if there is a variation in the sample installation position, it is desirable to correct the stage movement amount by performing alignment and measuring the installation error. The stage 2 to which the movement start signal is given starts to move, and after the movement ends, gives a movement end signal to the control device 6 (step 2).

The control device 6 to which the movement end signal has been given
A luminance measurement start signal is given to the imaging device 4. The imaging device 4 to which the measurement start signal is given starts the brightness measurement, sends the brightness data to the data processing device 5 after the measurement is completed, and gives a brightness measurement end signal to the control device 6 (step 3). FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the luminance data of the color filters measured by the image pickup device 4, where a high luminance portion is displayed in white and a low luminance portion is displayed in black. FIG. 19 shows the luminance between XX ′ in FIG.
Indicates the luminance between YY ′ in FIG. 18, and the horizontal axis indicates the position,
The vertical axis is luminance.

Control device 6 supplied with a luminance measurement end signal
Supplies a data processing start signal to the data processing device 5.
The data processing device 5 given the data processing start signal
Measure the length, cross-sectional area, position, and number of spacers according to the following procedure.

First, as shown in FIG. 22, using the brightness data of the spacer portion set in advance as a master pattern, the brightness data of FIG. 18 is subjected to pattern matching to measure the approximate position and number of spacers. When the number of spacers is one or more, the process is continued as it is. When there is no spacer, the process is terminated assuming that there is no spacer in the screen or the shape of the spacer is extremely different, and the display device 7 informs the display device 7 to that effect. It is displayed (step 4).

If there is one spacer, the center positions Xc and Yc of the master pattern are stored (step 5). If there are two spacers, step 6 to step 1
1 is repeated for each spacer.

Next, windows W _{1 to} W ₆ shown in FIG. 23 are set based on the center position (step 6). Size and X _c of these windows, the relative position between the Y _c is set in advance in accordance with the color filter to be measured. W ₁ is a window for measuring the length of the spacer. W ₂ is a window for measuring the width of the spacer. W ₃ and W ₄ are windows for measuring the opening edge. W ₅ and W ₆ are windows for measuring the opening edge, the stripe edge, and the adjacent stripe edge.

Next, it is determined from the number of edges in the windows W ₁ and W ₂ whether or not the colored layers are laminated as designed (step 7). For the measurement of the edge, a description will be given of the window of W _1. First, the luminance data is averaged in a window in a direction parallel to the edge to be measured to remove noise. FIG. 24 shows luminance data after averaging. FIG.
4a and 4d are the edges of the colored layer of 5 in FIG.
And c are the edges of the colored layer of FIG. FIG. 25 shows data obtained by further performing a moving average on this data to remove noise and then performing twice differentiation. The peak positions of the second derivative in FIG. 25 are recognized as edge positions E _1a , E _1b , E _1c , and E _1d . Any method may be used for peak recognition. Hereinafter, similarly, the edge positions E _2a , E _2b , E _2c and E _2d are measured for W ₂ .

Next, the length, width, cross-sectional area and position of the spacer are measured from the edge positions in the windows W ₁ and W ₂ (step 8).

Next, the edge of the stripe portion is measured (step 9). Edge positions are recognized for windows W _{3 to} W _{6 in} the same manner as in step 7.

Next, from the spacer position and the edge position, the distance P ₁ from the end of the stripe, the distances P ₂ and P ₃ from the end of the window opening, the distance L ₁ between the pixel openings, and the width L of the pixel opening.
_2, the stripe width L _3, the distance between the stripes L _4, L ₅
Are obtained (step 10).

Finally, the measurement result is displayed on the display device 7.
(Step 11) Hereinafter, an example of an actual measurement result will be described. The measurement was performed on a plurality of samples of the color filter shown in FIG. 1 in which the etching time during the production and the level of the colored layer thickness were changed. The following describes the measurement of the spacer near the center of the sample at a certain level.

First, when a sample is manually placed on the stage 2 and measurement is started, the stage 2 moves the sample such that the spacer comes within the measurement range of the luminance measuring device.

Next, the imaging device 4 starts the luminance measurement and sends the luminance data to the data processing device 5. The imaging device 4 measured the luminance of 500 × 500 pixels in one pixel of 0.4 μm in a range of 200 μm using an area sensor CCD camera.

Next, when the number of spacers was measured by pattern matching, the number of spacers was two. First, measurement of one of them will be described.

The center coordinates X _c and Y _c of the spacer were as follows.

X _c = 160 Y _c = 250 The windows W _{1 to} W ₆ were set on the basis of the center coordinates, and the edge positions were measured. The edge positions were as follows.

E _1a = 115.0 E _1b = 125.0 E _1c = 200.0 E _1d = 210.0 E _2a = 220.0 E _2b = 230.0 E _2c = 270.0 E _2d = 280. 0 E ₃ = 200.0 E ₄ = 300.0 E _5a = 50.0 E _5b = 57.5 E _5c = 67.5 E _5d = 75.0 E _6a = 250.0 E _6b = 257.5 E _6c = 267.5 E _6d = 275.0 Next, from the spacer position and the edge position, the distance P ₁ from the stripe end is represented by [Equation 11], and the distances P ₂ and P ₃ from the window opening end are represented by [Equation 11]. In Equations 12 and 13, the length K ₁ , width K ₂ , and cross-sectional area A of the spacer are represented by Equations 14 and 1, respectively.
5], in [Expression 16], the distance L ₁ between the pixel apertures [Formula 1
7], the pixel opening width L _{2 is represented} by [Equation 18], the stripe width L _{3 is represented} by [Equation 19], and the distances L ₄ and L ₅ between the stripes are obtained.
Were obtained by [Equation 20] and [Equation 21], respectively.

[Equation 11] P ₁ = (E _1b −E _5b ) × P [Equation 12] P ₂ = (E _2b −E ₃ ) × P [Equation 13] P ₃ = (E _{4 −E 2c} ) × P [Expression 14] K ₁ = (E _{1c −E 1b} ) × P [Expression 15] K ₂ = (E _{2c −E 2b} ) × P [Expression 16] A = (K ₁ −K ₂ ) × K ₂ + 0.78
5 × K _{² 2} [Formula _{17] L 1 = (E 4} - E 3) × P [ Equation _{18] L 2 = (E 6a} - E 5d) × P [ Equation _{19] L 3 = (E 6b} - E 5c ) × P [equation _{20] L 4 = (E 5c} - E 5b) × P [ equation _{21] L 5 = (E 5d} - E 5a) × P calculated results were as follows.

P ₁ = 27.0 [μm] P ₂ = 12.0 [μm] P ₃ = 12.0 [μm] K ₁ = 30.0 [μm] K ₂ = 16.0 [μm] A = 425.0 [μm ² ] L ₁ = 40.0 [μm] L ₂ = 70.0 [μm] L ₃ = 76.0 [μm] L ₄ = 4.0 [μm] L ₅ = 10.0 [ μm] The same measurement was performed for spacers on other colored layers and samples of other levels. There was a high correlation between the obtained measurement results and the results obtained by the conventional method.
In addition, the repetition accuracy when the same sample was repeatedly measured was improved in all measurement items compared to the conventional method.
The measurement time was significantly reduced.

In this embodiment, pattern matching is used for recognition of spacers. However, only spacers may be emphasized and recognized using a frequency filter or the like.

In this embodiment, the color filter shown in FIG. 2 was measured. However, as shown in FIG. 16, a color filter having a spacer using a resin layer in addition to the three colored layers can also be measured. It is.

Further, when this measuring device was used in the manufacturing process, the effects of stabilizing the process, preventing outflow of defective products, and the like were obtained. Regarding the stabilization of the process, the thickness of each colored layer and the developed state can be determined by measuring the spacer of the final product. By feeding back the information, fluctuations in the process state could be managed within a range without any problem. This time, the measurement results were constantly monitored. However, if a certain number of defective products are found, an alarm may be issued to notify the worker of a process abnormality. In addition, the measurement of all the substrates was performed to determine the quality, and defective products were extracted to prevent outflow of defective products.

[0104]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a projection provided on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. According to this, an excellent effect that determination with good accuracy and reproducibility can be performed in a short time can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a projection on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. An excellent effect is obtained in that a determination with good accuracy and reproducibility can be made in a shorter time than the information on the cross-sectional area, position and number of the protrusions.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a projection on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. An excellent effect is obtained in that it is possible to perform determination and determination with good accuracy and reproducibility in a shorter time than the information on the length and position of the projection.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a projection provided on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. An excellent effect that determination can be performed in a short time with an inexpensive device can be obtained.

According to the apparatus of the fifth aspect, an excellent effect that determination can be made without contact is obtained.

According to the apparatus of claim 6, there is obtained an excellent effect that a spacer for maintaining a constant gap between substrates can be determined in a short time with good accuracy and reproducibility.

According to the apparatus of claim 7, an excellent effect is obtained in that a portion to be measured is determined from a reference position set in advance on the substrate, and a determination with good accuracy and reproducibility can be made in a short time.

According to the apparatus of the eighth aspect, for the spacer formed by laminating a plurality of resin layers, it is possible to recognize at least one or more layers from the luminance information obtained by the imaging means to determine the presence or absence of the spacer. Is obtained.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for measuring a convex portion or a concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex portions or concave portions designed in advance, the height, the length, the sectional area, the position, and the number of the convex portions or the concave portions. An excellent effect that at least one item can be measured is obtained.

According to the apparatus of the tenth aspect, an excellent effect is obtained that at least one of the substrates constituting the liquid crystal display device having the liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates can be measured. Can be

According to the measuring apparatus of the eleventh aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that it is possible to measure the projections provided on the color filters or the display pixel openings of the color filters.

According to the measuring device of the twelfth aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that the spacer formed by the resin layer on the black matrix of the color filter or the display pixel opening of the color filter can be measured.

According to the measuring device of the thirteenth aspect, the excellent effect that the height of the spacer or the thickness of each layer can be measured from the distribution diagram of the height information obtained by the height measuring device is obtained. Can be

According to the measuring device of the present invention, (1) a height threshold value is set from a distribution map of height information obtained by the height measuring device. (2) a height exceeding the threshold value. Since the cross-sectional area or the length is measured from the pixel having the height, an excellent effect that the cross-sectional area of the spacer can be measured is obtained.

According to the measuring device of the fifteenth aspect, the position of the spacer is determined by: (1) setting a height threshold from a distribution map of height information obtained by the height measuring device; Measure the position of the protrusion from the pixel with a height exceeding the threshold (3) Measure the position of the window and measure the relative position of the protrusion from the window, so measure the cross-sectional area of the spacer An excellent effect of being able to perform is obtained.

According to the measuring device of the sixteenth aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that it is possible to measure the colored layers forming the pixels of the color filter and the gap between the colored layers.

According to the measuring apparatus of the seventeenth aspect, an excellent effect that measurement can be performed without contacting the substrate can be obtained.

According to the measuring apparatus of the eighteenth aspect, an excellent effect that determination with good accuracy and reproducibility can be performed in a short time can be obtained.

According to the apparatus for measuring a convex portion or a concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex portions or concave portions designed in advance according to claim 19, the length, cross-sectional area, position,
An excellent effect that at least one item of the number can be measured is obtained.

According to the measuring apparatus of the twentieth aspect, there is an excellent effect that it is possible to measure at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. can get.

According to the measuring apparatus of the twenty-first aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that it is possible to measure the projections provided on the color filters or the display pixel openings of the color filters.

According to the measuring apparatus of the twenty-second aspect, the convex portion is measured by reflected illumination, and the aperture of the display pixel is measured by transmitted illumination. can get.

According to the measuring apparatus of the twenty-third aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that a spacer formed by a resin layer on a black matrix of a color filter or a display pixel opening of a color filter can be measured.

According to the measuring device of the twenty-fourth aspect, an excellent effect that at least one item of the length, the cross-sectional area, the position, and the number of one or more layers of the spacer can be measured is obtained.

According to the measuring device of the twenty-fifth aspect, an excellent effect is obtained in that it is possible to measure the colored layer forming the pixel of the color filter or the gap between the colored layers of the color filter.

According to the measuring device of the twenty-sixth aspect, an excellent effect is obtained that a determination with good accuracy and reproducibility can be made in a short time.

According to the method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate according to the twenty-seventh aspect, the presence / absence of one or more protrusions disposed on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined, and the presence of the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined. An excellent effect that it is possible to make a quality judgment is obtained.

According to the method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate of claim 28, the height and length of one or more projections or depressions of a substrate having a plurality of projections or depressions on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate. An excellent effect is obtained in that at least one of the cross-sectional area and the position can be measured and the manufacturing conditions can be changed.

According to the method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate of claim 29, the height and the length of one or more convex portions or concave portions of a substrate having a plurality of convex portions or concave portions on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate. An excellent effect is obtained in that at least one of the cross-sectional area and the position is measured and the quality of the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate can be determined.

According to the method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate for forming a plurality of colors in each pixel according to claim 30,
An excellent effect is obtained in that the conditions of the manufacturing process can be determined by measuring the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate after the formation of the three primary colors.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a color filter to be measured according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a color filter to be measured according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall schematic diagram of a measuring device as an example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram in which the height measurement result is converted into light and shade.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating height data of XX ′ in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating height data of YY ′ in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a measurement procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram when the height measurement result is binarized at a certain height.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between windows.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a window W1.

FIG. 11 is a distribution diagram of height data of a window W1.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing height data of a window W3.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a differential value of height data of a window W3.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing height data of a window W5.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a differential value of height data in a window W5.

FIG. 16 is an example of a cross-sectional view of a color filter that can be measured in the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an overall schematic diagram of a measuring device as an example of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram in which the luminance measurement result is converted into light and shade.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating luminance data of XX ′ in FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing luminance data of YY ′ in FIG. 18;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a measurement procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a master pattern used in pattern matching.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between windows.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing luminance data of a window W1.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a differential value of luminance data of a window W1.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Color filter 2 ... Stage 3 ... Height measuring device 4 ... Imaging device 5 ... Data processing device 6 ... Control device 7 ... Display device 8 ... Illumination device 101 ... Transparent substrate (glass substrate) ) 102: resin black matrix 103: colored layer (blue layer) 104: colored layer (green layer) 105: colored layer (red layer) 106: blue layer 107 laminated on resin black matrix Green layer laminated on resin black matrix 108 Red layer laminated on resin black matrix 109 Pixel opening 110 Spacer 111 Resin layer 112 Strip end

Claims (30)

[Claims] 1. A substrate measuring device for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion placed on at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display element having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. A stage on which a sample is mounted, a height measuring means or an imaging means, and a data processing device, and a projection-like object is obtained from height information obtained from the height measuring means or luminance information obtained from the imaging means. An apparatus for measuring a substrate, characterized in that the presence or absence is determined. 2. A substrate measuring device for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion provided on at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. And dividing the measurement area including one or more protrusions into pixels, measuring the height of each divided pixel unit,
A substrate measuring apparatus, wherein the presence or absence of the protrusion is determined based on the height of each divided pixel unit. 3. A substrate measuring device for judging the presence or absence of a projection placed on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of substrates facing each other. And a means for determining a portion to be measured, a means for measuring a height on a certain straight line, and determining the presence or absence of a protruding object from the obtained height information. 4. A substrate measuring device for judging the presence or absence of a projection placed on at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display element comprising a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. A means for determining a portion to be measured and a means for measuring the height of one or more points, and determining the presence or absence of a protrusion from the obtained height measurement value. 5. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the means for measuring the height can be performed without contacting the substrate to be measured. Substrate measuring device. 6. A substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said projections are spacers for keeping a gap between said pair of substrates constant. measuring device. 7. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining a portion to be measured from a reference position set in advance on the substrate. Measuring device. 8. A method for judging the presence or absence of a protrusion provided on at least one of the substrates constituting a liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates according to claim 1. In the substrate measuring apparatus, the protrusions are spacers formed by laminating resin layers of a plurality of colors,
An apparatus for measuring a substrate, characterized in that at least one or more layers are recognized from luminance information obtained by an imaging means to determine the presence or absence of a spacer. 9. A substrate measuring apparatus for measuring at least one of height, length, cross-sectional area, position and number of a convex or concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex or concave portions designed in advance, A stage on which the substrate is mounted, a height measuring device, and a data processing device, and from height information obtained by the height measuring device, the height, length, cross-sectional area, and position of the convex or concave portion. And a substrate measuring device for measuring at least one item of the number. 10. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said substrate is at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. Characteristic substrate measuring device. 11. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 9, wherein said projection is a projection provided on a color filter.
Alternatively, the concave portion is a display pixel opening of a color filter. 12. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the convex portion is a spacer formed by a resin layer on a black matrix of a color filter, or the concave portion is a display pixel opening of the color filter. A substrate measuring device characterized by the above-mentioned. 13. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the height of the spacer or the thickness of each layer is measured from a distribution diagram of height information obtained by the height measuring apparatus. Substrate measuring device. 14. A substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 12, wherein: a cross-sectional area of the spacer is determined by: (1) determining a height threshold from a distribution map of height information obtained by the height measuring apparatus; (2) measuring a cross-sectional area or a length from a pixel having a height exceeding the threshold value. 15. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 12, wherein: the position of the spacer is set; and (1) a height threshold is set from a distribution map of height information obtained by the height measuring apparatus. (2) measuring the position of the protrusion from the pixel having a height exceeding the threshold, (3) measuring the position of the window,
A substrate measuring device for measuring a relative position of a projection from a window. 16. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the convex portion is a colored layer forming a pixel of a color filter, or the concave portion is a gap between the colored layers. . 17. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 9, wherein said height measuring device equally divides a pixel in a measurement area including at least one of said convex portion or concave portion, and for each divided pixel unit. An apparatus for measuring a substrate, wherein the means for measuring the height can be performed without contacting the substrate to be measured. 18. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising means for determining a portion to be measured from a reference position set in advance on the substrate. 19. The length, cross-sectional area, position, and length of a convex or concave portion of a substrate having a plurality of convex or concave portions designed in advance.
A substrate measuring device for measuring at least one of the number, comprising a stage on which the substrate is mounted, an illumination device, an imaging device, and a data processing device, and based on luminance information obtained by the imaging device, The length and cross-sectional area of the protrusion or recess,
A substrate measuring device for measuring at least one item of a position. 20. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 19, wherein said substrate is at least one substrate constituting a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal composition sandwiched between a pair of opposed substrates. Characteristic substrate measuring device. 21. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 19, wherein the projection is a projection provided on a color filter, or the depression is a display pixel opening of the color filter. Substrate measuring device. 22. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the convex portion is measured by reflected illumination, and the display pixel opening is measured by transmitted illumination. apparatus. 23. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the convex portion is a spacer formed by a resin layer on a black matrix of a color filter, or the concave portion is a display pixel of the color filter. An apparatus for measuring a substrate, which is an opening. 24. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 23, wherein at least one of a length, a cross-sectional area, a position, and a number of one or more layers is measured from the luminance information obtained by the imaging device. An apparatus for measuring a substrate, comprising: 25. The apparatus for measuring a substrate according to claim 19, wherein the convex portion is a colored layer forming a pixel of a color filter, or the concave portion is a gap between the colored layers. Substrate measuring device. 26. The substrate measuring apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising means for determining a portion to be measured from a reference position set on the substrate in advance. Measuring device. 27. A method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein the presence or absence of a projection on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined by the measuring apparatus according to claim 1. A method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, comprising determining at least one location and determining whether the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is good. 28. A method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, comprising: height and length of one or more projections or depressions of a substrate having a plurality of projections or depressions on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate. A method for measuring a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate by measuring at least one of a cross-sectional area and a position, and changing manufacturing conditions. 29. A method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, comprising: height and length of one or more projections or depressions of a substrate having a plurality of projections or depressions on the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate. A method of manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein at least one of a cross-sectional area and a position is measured, and the quality of the color filter or the transparent electrode substrate is determined. 30. A method for manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate for forming a plurality of colors in each pixel, wherein the color filter or the transparent film after three primary colors are formed using the measuring device according to claim 6 or 7. A method of manufacturing a color filter or a transparent electrode substrate, wherein conditions of the manufacturing process are changed by measuring an electrode substrate.