JP2000268418A - Annealing apparatus and production of disk for recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To three-dimensionally house disks and to effectively use spacers by placing and holding the individual disks for recording media to a pole via spacers and subjecting the plural held disks to an annealing treatment by heating. SOLUTION: The spacers 31 are penetrated with the pole 3 through the central holes disposed at their centers and are used by being disposed between the two plastic substrates 1 for optical disks. Spacer supporting surfaces composed of spacer supporting parts for supporting the spacers 31 placed thereon support the spacers 31 placed on the spacers 31 of these spacers supporting surfaces and the plastic substrates 1 for optical disks placed on the parts upper than the spacers 31 are supported on the disk supporting surfaces composed of the disk supporting parts for supporting the disks. The spacers 31 are so designed as to satisfy the conditions t1<t2 when the thickness of the plastic substrates 1 for optical disks is defined as t1 and the distance between the spacer supporting surfaces and disk supporting surfaces of the spacers 31 as t2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an annealing apparatus, and more particularly, to an annealing apparatus used for performing an annealing process on a recording medium disk. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a recording medium disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as the amount of information has increased, the density of optical recording media has increased, and the recording and reproduction of information due to changes in optical characteristics. The demand for improvement is increasing.

[0003] As a substrate of an optical disk, a plastic substrate is generally used. This plastic substrate has the advantage that it is lighter in weight and easier to mold than a glass substrate or the like, and can be manufactured at low cost.

[0004] As a plastic substrate of an ordinary optical disk, an injection-molded substrate obtained by injection-molding a polymer material such as polycarbonate is widely used due to cost problems in mass production. This injection-molded substrate usually has residual distortion, and if the residual distortion remains, the signal quality of the disk is significantly deteriorated due to the birefringence caused by the distortion. Therefore, in order to remove the residual strain, it is necessary to leave the disk at a temperature lower than the softening point of the polymer material for several hours.
This process is called an annealing process, and is a method widely used in the manufacture of optical discs. Further, in the production of an optical disk, even after a thin film is formed, an annealing process may be performed to reduce the internal stress in the thin film because the internal stress exists.

[0005] Usually, the annealing process is performed by placing the plastic substrate in a cassette in which it is stored vertically as shown in FIG. In this case, when raising or lowering the temperature during the annealing process, distortion occurs at the contact portion between the plastic substrate and the cassette due to the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the plastic substrate and the cassette, and the shape and optical defects of the disk occur. There is.

In order to solve these problems, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-63807 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-248
No. 345 has been devised. JP-A-8-6
Japanese Patent No. 3807 discloses a plastic for optical discs having uniform birefringence by eliminating the local birefringence abnormality of a plastic substrate by receiving the weight of the plastic substrate at one point while accommodating the plastic substrate in a cassette at the time of annealing. It is stated that a substrate can be obtained. On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-248345, a support is pierced through a center hole provided in a plastic substrate, and the plastic substrate is supported by the support and annealed. It is stated that a plastic substrate having a uniform refractive index distribution can be obtained.

[0007]

However, in any case, a method is employed in which the plastic substrates are stored vertically in a cassette and the plastic substrates are arranged in the horizontal direction.
In this method, when plastic substrates are continuously produced, a large space is required because the plastic substrates must be arranged in a horizontal direction. In order to solve this problem, a mechanism for three-dimensionally arranging cassettes and the like for accommodating plastic substrates must be provided, but the structure becomes extremely complicated as a manufacturing facility. This problem is not limited to the case where the plastic substrate is annealed.
Have the same problem.

Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed in view of such a conventional situation, and a recording medium disk is three-dimensionally accommodated, a space can be effectively used, and the shape is excellent. It is an object of the present invention to provide an annealing apparatus that can manufacture a recording medium disk having the following characteristics.

Further, the present invention provides a manufacturing method capable of storing a recording medium disk three-dimensionally, effectively using a space, and manufacturing a recording medium disk having excellent characteristics in shape. It is also intended to be.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An annealing apparatus according to the present invention is an annealing apparatus for performing an annealing process on a recording medium disk, wherein a plurality of recording medium disks formed in a predetermined shape are individually formed. In order to prevent a load other than its own weight from being applied to the recording medium disk, a disk holding means loaded and held on a pole via a spacer, and a plurality of recording medium disks held by the disk holding means are heated. And annealing means for performing an annealing process.

The disk holding means mounts a plurality of recording medium disks formed in a predetermined shape on a pole via a spacer so that a load other than its own weight is not applied to each recording medium disk. Hold. The annealing unit heats the plurality of recording medium disks held by the disk holding unit to perform an annealing process. Therefore, in the annealing apparatus described above, it is possible to perform the annealing process without applying a load other than its own weight to each recording medium disk.

The annealing apparatus according to the present invention is an annealing apparatus for performing an annealing process on a recording medium disk. The annealing apparatus performs an annealing process by heating a recording medium disk formed into a predetermined shape. Annealing means, cooling means for cooling the recording medium disk that has been annealed by the annealing means, and rotating means for rotating the recording medium disk, wherein the rotating means records at least the cooling means When cooling the medium disk, the recording medium disk is rotated intermittently or continuously.

The annealing means heats a recording medium disk formed in a predetermined shape to perform an annealing process. The cooling unit cools the recording medium disk that has been subjected to the annealing process by the annealing unit. The rotating means rotates the recording medium disk intermittently or continuously when cooling the recording medium disk. Therefore, in the annealing apparatus,
When the recording medium disk is annealed and then cooled, the recording medium disk is uniformly cooled without any variation between parts, so that thermal stress during cooling can be prevented and the resulting shape characteristics Can be prevented.

The method of manufacturing a disk for a recording medium according to the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of disks for a recording medium molded in a predetermined shape are formed so that a load other than its own weight is not applied to each disk for a recording medium. A loading step of loading the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step and performing an annealing process by heating the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step. A plurality of recording medium disks formed in the shape described above are mounted on the pole via the spacers so that a load other than the own weight is not applied to each recording medium disk. Further, in the annealing step, the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step are heated to perform an annealing process. Therefore, in the above manufacturing method,
The individual recording medium disks can be annealed in a state where no load other than their own weight is applied.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

The present invention is not limited to the following examples, and can be modified without departing from the gist of the present invention. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the annealing method before the film forming step after molding the plastic substrate for the optical disc. For example, the annealing treatment performed after the film formation to reduce the stress of the film, and various optical recording methods The present invention can be widely applied to annealing of a disk such as a medium and a magnetic recording medium.

FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of an annealing apparatus for a plastic substrate for an optical disk to which the present invention is applied. FIG.
FIG. 2 shows a view of the annealing zone of the annealing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the direction of the annealing zone exit.

In order to efficiently use the space and anneal the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, FIG.
(A), a method of vertically mounting the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk on a pole as shown in FIG. 4 using the spacer 2 shown in FIG.
However, in this case, the weight of all the plastic substrates 1 for optical disks and the spacers 2 loaded above the plastic substrate 1 for optical disks is added to the plastic substrate 1 for optical disks in addition to its own weight. Specifically, the weight of all the optical disc plastic substrates 1 and the spacers 2 loaded above the optical disc plastic substrate 1 is added to the inner peripheral portion of the optical disc plastic substrate 1.

Generally, when a plastic substrate is annealed, the strain in the plastic substrate does not relax uniformly over time, and the plastic substrate undergoes a slight deformation due to non-uniformity of strain relaxation in a transitional period. At this time, if a part or the whole of the plastic substrate is fixed by other factors, the plastic substrate is prevented from freely moving, and the shape of the substrate is adversely affected. When the loading method as shown in FIG. 4 is performed, the inner circumference of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk depends on how many plastic substrates 1 for an optical disk and the spacers 2 are mounted on the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk. The weight on the part is different. Therefore, this way pole 3
It is very difficult to perform an annealing process using the method of loading on the optical disc and obtain a plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc having uniform shape characteristics.

Therefore, in the annealing apparatus according to the present invention, for example, the spacer 3 shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B is used.
6, the optical disc plastic substrate 1 is vertically mounted on the pole magazine 4 as shown in FIG. FIG. 5A is a plan view of the spacer 31 according to the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a front view thereof. The spacer 31 according to the present invention is disposed between the optical disc plastic substrate 1 and the optical disc plastic substrate 1 through the pole 3 in the center hole provided at the center. The spacer 31 according to the present invention has a
The spacer 31 mounted on the spacer 31 is supported by a spacer support surface 5b formed by a spacer support portion 5a that supports the disk, and the spacer is supported by a disk support surface 6b formed by a disk support portion 6a that supports a disk. The optical disk plastic substrate 1 placed above the support 31 is supported. Here, the spacer 31 according to the present invention has a thickness t of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk.
When the distance between the spacer supporting surface 5b of the spacer 31 and the disk supporting surface 6b is t2, the dimension of t2 is t1
It is designed to satisfy the condition of <t2. As a result, the load applied to each optical disc plastic substrate 1 is only the own weight of the optical disc plastic substrate 1, and the other optical disc plastic substrates 1 and spacers 3
Since the weight of No. 1 is not added, the annealing process and the cooling process can be performed without adversely affecting the shape characteristics.

The spacer 31 according to the present invention may have a vertically symmetric shape as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B if the above conditions are satisfied. This eliminates the need to determine the up / down direction, and simplifies the work in the actual work process. It is desirable that the spacer 31 according to the present invention be used by chamfering or rounding the edge portion 7. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the plastic substrate for an optical disk 1 from riding on the spacer 31 and the plastic substrate for an optical disk 1 from hitting the edge portion 7 of the spacer 31 and damaging it.

The spacer 31 according to the present invention desirably has a coefficient of thermal expansion smaller than that of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk. Thereby, during the annealing process, the spacer 31 and the plastic substrate 1
This is because when the spacer expands, the spacer 31 can spread out the inner peripheral portion of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, thereby preventing the shape of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk from being adversely affected.

Next, the configuration of the annealing apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

The annealing apparatus according to the present invention includes an annealing zone 17 and a low dew point booth 18.

The annealing zone 17 includes an annealing zone inlet 8, an annealing zone outlet 10, a stainless steel conveyor 9, a hot air outlet 11, a jammer plate (not shown), and a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate A).
ir) A filter 12, a heating unit for hot air (not shown), a suction port 13, and a fan 14 for circulating hot air are provided.

The annealing zone entrance 8 is located on the side opposite to the low dew point booth 18 in the annealing apparatus, from which the optical disc plastic substrate 1 loaded on the pole magazine 4 is carried into the annealing zone 17.

The annealing zone outlet 10 is located on the side opposite to the annealing zone inlet 8 in the annealing zone 17 of the annealing apparatus.
8 and is located at the boundary. Anneal zone exit 10
Normally, the shutter is closed by a shutter (not shown) so that heat in the annealing zone 17 does not escape to the low dew point booth. The shutter is opened and closed only when the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc loaded on the pole magazine 4 after the annealing process is transferred to the low dew point booth 18 for performing the cooling process.

As shown in FIG. 8, the annealing zone 17 is divided into a first annealing furnace at the entrance 8 of the annealing zone and a second annealing furnace 16 at the exit of the annealing zone. Annealing is performed at two temperatures. That is, the annealing temperature in the first and second annealing furnaces is lower than the softening point of the plastic substrate 1 for optical discs, and the annealing temperature in the second annealing furnace 16 is the first. The temperature is set higher than the annealing temperature in the annealing furnace 15. The first annealing furnace 15 and the second annealing furnace 16 are separated by a wall, but the moving parts of the stainless steel conveyor 9 and the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk are open. The annealing process and the annealing process in the second annealing furnace 16 are performed continuously. As a result, the temperature of the plastic substrate 1 for the optical disk does not rise rapidly, so that the temperature deviation depending on the position does not depend on the loading position of the plastic substrate 1 for the optical disk and also in each plastic substrate 1 for the optical disk. And the adverse effect on the shape characteristics is prevented.

The stainless steel conveyor 9 is arranged on the floor of the annealing zone 17 from the outside of the annealing zone entrance 8 to the annealing zone exit 10 through the annealing zone entrance 8. The stainless steel conveyor 9 is operated at a predetermined speed from the direction of the annealing zone entrance 8 to the direction of the annealing zone exit 10, and the optical disk plastic substrate 1 together with the pole magazine 4 from the outside of the annealing zone entrance 8 to the annealing zone exit 10. Transport.

The hot air outlet 11 is disposed along the side surface of the stainless steel conveyor 9 from the annealing zone inlet 8 to the annealing zone outlet 10. A baffle plate is attached to the hot air outlet 11 so that the wind direction can be adjusted. This makes it possible to cope with various annealing processing conditions, such as a change in the number of stacked optical disc plastic substrates 1.
Further, the jammer plate of the outlet 11 may swing. As a result, the air in the annealing zone is uniformly stirred, and the uniformity of the temperature distribution is more reliably maintained. Then, instead of swinging the jammer plate of the outlet 11, the optical disc plastic substrate 1 may be rotated together with the pole magazine 4 on the stainless steel conveyor 9. This is because the plastic substrate for optical disc 1 is more reliably and uniformly heated.

Since the inside of the annealing zone 17 is heated by the warm air, the outlet 11 of the warm air is positioned in the annealing zone 17 so that the temperature distribution in the annealing zone 17 becomes uniform at a predetermined temperature. Designed. It is desirable that the warm air blown out from the outlet 11 for the warm air be as small as possible. By reducing the air volume, it is possible to prevent the hot air from hitting the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, and to prevent the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk from being locally heated. This is because it is possible to prevent the shape characteristics from being varied due to heating.

The HEPA filter 12 is disposed at the back of the outlet 11 for hot air, and cleans the hot air when circulating the hot air. The cleaned hot air is sent into the annealing zone 17.

The hot air heating section is located at the back of the HEPA filter 12, and heats the hot air when circulating the hot air.

The suction port 13 is disposed on the opposite side of the outlet 11 via the stainless steel conveyor 9 and collects air in the annealing zone 17. It is desirable that the suction port 13 be located at a lower position in the annealing zone 17. Thereby, compared to the warm air blown out from the outlet 11 for the warm air, the cooled air can be sucked and the temperature distribution in the annealing zone 17 can be kept more uniform.

The fan 14 is disposed on the ceiling in the annealing zone 17, sends the air in the annealing zone 17 sucked from the suction port 13 to the hot air heating section, and circulates the air in the annealing zone 17. do.

In the low dew point booth 18, a cooling zone 19 is provided.
, A cooling hood 24, a duct 25, a cooling air collecting hood 26, a partition plate 27, and a rotating mechanism of a pole magazine. The rotating mechanism of the pole magazine includes a pawl magazine supporting claw 21, an upper and lower cylinder 22, and a motor 23.
, A rotating shaft 29 and a gear 30. FIG. 9 shows FIG.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a cooling zone 19 viewed from the direction of a low dew point booth outlet 20 in FIG. FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a rotating mechanism of the pole magazine.

The low dew point booth 18 is located adjacent to the annealing zone 17 via the annealing zone outlet 10. Inside the low dew point booth 18, dried and cooled air is circulated.

The stainless steel conveyor 9 has a low dew point booth 1
8 is disposed on the floor surface from the annealing zone outlet 10 to the low dew point booth outlet 20. When the annealing process is completed, the stainless steel conveyor 9 is loaded with the optical disc plastic substrate 1 transferred from the second annealing furnace 16 into the low dew point booth 18 on the pole magazine 4 to a predetermined position where the cooling process is performed. The optical disk plastic substrate 1 after the cooling process is transported to the low dew point booth exit 20 while being loaded on the pole magazine 4. The stainless steel conveyor 9 has an opening large enough to allow the pawl magazine support claws 21 to move up and down at the position where the cooling process of the optical disc plastic substrate 1 is performed.

The pawl 21 for supporting the pole magazine has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which guides are formed at opposing edges on the upper main surface in order to mount the pole magazine 4 thereon and fix the pole magazine 4 therebetween. Have. The pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is located below the opening of the stainless steel conveyor 9 until the pawl magazine 4 is transported to a predetermined position. Further, the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is connected to a vertical cylinder 22 described later via a rotary shaft 29 described later, so that it can be moved up and down. Further, the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is connected to a motor 23 to be described later via a rotating shaft 29 and a gear 30 to be described later.
, And can be rotated by transmitting the driving force of the motor 23. Then, when the pole magazine 4 is transported to a predetermined position, the pole magazine supporting claw 21 is pushed up above the opening of the stainless steel conveyor 9 by the upper and lower cylinders 22, sandwiching the pole magazine 4 and holding the pole magazine 4. Separate from the stainless steel conveyor 9. And
The pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is rotated at a predetermined speed together with the pawl magazine 4 and the plastic substrate for an optical disc by transmitting the driving force of the motor 23. This allows the cooling air to uniformly hit the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, so that the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is uniformly cooled, thereby preventing a variation in shape characteristics. Here, the pawl magazine support claws 21 may be rotated continuously or intermittently.

The upper and lower cylinders 22 are arranged below the pawl magazine supporting pawls 21 and are connected to the pawl magazine supporting pawls 21 via a rotating shaft 29 described later. The upper and lower cylinders 22 raise the pawl magazine supporting claws 21 to a predetermined height together with the pole magazine 4 on which the optical disc plastic substrate 1 is loaded, and separate the pawl magazine 21 from the stainless steel conveyor 9 when cooling the optical disc plastic substrate. The upper and lower cylinders 22
When the cooling process is completed, the pawl supporting pawl 21
Is lowered to its original position, and the pole magazine 4 and the optical disc plastic 1 are placed on the stainless steel conveyor 9.

The motor 23 is arranged beside the rotating shaft 29 and is connected to the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 via a rotating shaft 29 described later and a gear 30 described later. Then, the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is rotated by transmitting the driving force via the rotating shaft 29 and the gear 30.

The rotating shaft 29 is provided with the pawl supporting pawl 2
The pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is connected to the upper and lower cylinders 22, and the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 is connected to the motor 23.

The gear 30 is attached to the end of the rotating shaft 29 opposite to the pawl magazine supporting pawl 21 and to the motor 23, and transmits the driving force of the motor 23 to the rotating shaft 29.

The cooling hood 24 is located on one side surface of the stainless steel conveyor 9 and is located at a side portion of the stop position of the pole magazine 4.

The duct 25 is disposed above the cooling hood 24, and is connected to a duct 25 for supplying cooling air having a low dew point in the low dew point regeneration device.

The cooling air collecting hood 26 is arranged on the opposite side of the cooling hood 24 via the pole magazine 4, and collects cooling air that has cooled the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk. Then, the cooling air collected in the cooling air collecting hood 26 is sucked into a lower portion of the cooling air collecting hood 26, sent to a low dew point regenerating device, and after the dew point is lowered, the cooling air is transferred to the cooling zone 19 as cooling air. Will be returned.

The partition plate 27 is disposed in the cooling hood 24, and the cooling air supplied from the duct 25 and having a reduced dew point strikes the partition plate 27 disposed in the cooling hood 24, thereby forming an optical disk. The traveling direction can be changed so as to hit the plastic substrate 1. As a result, the cooling air is applied to the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc to cool the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc.

Next, a method of manufacturing a plastic substrate according to the present invention will be described.

In the method of manufacturing a plastic substrate according to the present invention, the annealing and cooling of the plastic substrate are performed using the above-described annealing apparatus.

First, in the loading step, a plurality of optical disc plastic substrates 1 formed in a predetermined shape in the forming step are provided with spacers 31 according to the present invention as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b). Each of the optical disc plastic substrates 1 is loaded on the pole magazine 4 so that no load other than its own weight is applied to the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc.

Next, in an annealing step, an annealing process is performed on the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk while being loaded on the pole magazine 4. The plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is inserted into the annealing zone 17 using the stainless steel conveyor 9. That is, the optical disc plastic substrate 1 loaded on the pole magazine 4 is put on the stainless steel conveyor 9 together with the pole magazine 4 at the annealing zone entrance 8. As a result, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is inserted into the annealing zone 17 together with the pole magazine 4 and the first annealing furnace 15 and the second
And passed to the annealing zone outlet 10. At this time, the stainless steel conveyor 9 operates intermittently or continuously at a predetermined speed.

The annealing step is divided into a first annealing step and a second annealing step. In a first annealing step, an annealing zone 17 is set in a first annealing furnace 15.
Annealing is performed on the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk at room temperature inserted from outside. At this time, the inside of the first annealing furnace 15 is heated to a predetermined temperature which is lower than the softening point of the plastic substrate 1 for optical disks and lower than the heating temperature of the second annealing furnace 16.

In the second annealing step, the plastic substrate for the optical disk heated to a predetermined temperature in the first annealing step in the second annealing furnace 16 and conveyed from the first annealing furnace 15 by the stainless steel conveyor 9 is used. Annealing processing is performed on 1 in succession. At this time, the inside of the second annealing furnace 16 is
Is heated to a final annealing temperature lower than the softening point of the first annealing furnace and higher than the heating temperature of the first annealing furnace 15. The plastic substrate for an optical disk 1 is prevented from sharply rising in temperature by setting the annealing temperature in two stages in the first annealing process and the second annealing process and performing the annealing process. . Therefore, the plastic substrate for optical disc 1 has uniform shape characteristics without adversely affecting the shape characteristics.

In the first annealing step and the second annealing step, the inside of the first annealing furnace 15 and the inside of the second annealing furnace 16 are always kept in a predetermined state by the warm air blown from the outlet 11 of the warm air. The plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is heated to a predetermined temperature while passing through the first annealing furnace 15 and the second annealing furnace 16 to be subjected to an annealing treatment. . First
The annealing temperature and the annealing time in the annealing step and the second annealing step are appropriately determined depending on the material and dimensions of the plastic substrate for optical disc 1 and the time for performing a cooling process described later.

Further, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk
May be rotated together with the pole magazine 4. Thereby, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is more uniformly heated, and the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk having more excellent shape characteristics can be obtained.

First annealing furnace 15 and second annealing furnace 1
When the plastic substrate for optical disc 1 subjected to the annealing process in 6 is carried to the annealing zone exit 10,
While being loaded on the pole magazine 4, it is taken out of the annealing zone outlet 10 and transported to the low dew point booth 18 arranged adjacent to the annealing zone 17.

Next, in the cooling step, the annealing process is completed, and the cooling process is performed on the plastic substrate 1 for the optical disc carried in the low dew point booth 18. Plastic substrate 1 for optical disc carried in low dew point booth 18
Is put on the stainless steel conveyor 9 arranged in the low dew point booth 18 together with the pole magazine 4 and the cooling zone 19
To a predetermined position. Next, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc carried to a predetermined position in the cooling zone 19
Is cooled by cooling air blown from the cooling hood 24 through the duct 25. At this time, the plastic substrate 1 for the optical disk is lifted together with the pawl magazine 4 by the pawl magazine supporting claws 21 and is separated from the stainless steel conveyor 9. Then, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is rotated together with the pole magazine 4 by the rotation mechanism of the pole magazine 4 in this state. As a result, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is uniformly exposed to the cooling air, and is uniformly cooled without any variation depending on parts. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of thermal stress at the time of cooling and to prevent the variation in shape characteristics due to the cooling. Because. The traveling direction of the cooling air is controlled by the partition plate 27 so that the cooling air hits all the plastic substrates 1 for the optical disk and the cooling air also enters the gap between the plastic substrates 1 for the optical disk. be changed. Thereby, the plastic substrate for optical disc 1 is uniformly cooled from the outer peripheral portion to the inner peripheral portion, so that the occurrence of thermal stress during cooling can be prevented, and the variation in shape characteristics due to the cooling can be prevented. . Cooling time is plastic substrate 1 for optical disk
It is appropriately determined according to the material, dimensions and the like. As for the speed of the cooling air, it is desirable to increase the air velocity as much as possible and increase the amount of air for rapid cooling. Specifically, a speed of 1 m / s ² or more is desirable. This is because rapid cooling can prevent moisture absorption during cooling of the optical disc plastic substrate 1.

Finally, the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, which has been cooled for a predetermined time and has been cooled, is placed again on the stainless steel conveyor 9 together with the pole magazine 4.
It is carried to the low dew point booth exit 20 by the stainless steel conveyor 9. Then, it is taken out from the low dew point booth outlet 20 and transferred to the film forming step which is the next step.

Through the above steps, the annealing process and the cooling process of the optical disc plastic substrate 1 are performed.

A plastic substrate for an optical disk was manufactured using the above-described annealing and cooling methods, and the mechanical properties were evaluated.

Substrate A Fifty optical disk plastic substrates are mounted on a pole using the spacers 31 shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, and the annealing conditions in the first annealing furnace are set to six.
0 ° C. × 0.5 hours, annealing condition in the second annealing furnace: 100 ° C. × 3 hours, cooling air velocity in cooling processing: ² m / s ² , rotation speed of plastic substrate for optical disk in cooling processing At 60 rpm to produce a plastic substrate for an optical disk.

When a plastic substrate for an optical disk is loaded on the substrate B pole,
A plastic substrate for an optical disk was manufactured in the same manner as the substrate A, except that the substrate 2 was mounted using the spacers 2 shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

The annealing condition in the first annealing furnace of the substrate C was set to 100.
A plastic substrate for an optical disk was prepared in the same manner as for the substrate A, except that the temperature was set to 3 hours.

In the substrate D cooling process, a plastic substrate for an optical disk was produced in the same manner as the substrate A, except that the plastic substrate for the optical disk was cooled without rotating.

<Evaluation> With respect to the plastic substrates for optical disks produced from the substrates A to D, every third substrate was extracted from 50 plastic substrates for optical disks, and the vertical acceleration was measured. FIG. 11 shows the result of the substrate A, and FIG.
12 is shown in FIG. 12, the result of the substrate C is shown in FIG. 14, and the result of the substrate D is shown in FIG. In FIGS. 11 to 14, Disc No. on the horizontal axis is shown. Indicates the order from the top of the loaded optical disc plastic substrate. Table 1 summarizes the average value of the acceleration in the longitudinal direction and the variation (standard deviation) between the plastic substrates for the optical disk on the plastic substrates for the optical disk of the substrates A to D based on the results of FIGS. Show.

Note that the measurement conditions for the acceleration are ISO / IE
C15041 was followed.

[0067]

[Table 1]

From FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, FIG.
It can be seen that the shape characteristics are improved by using the spacer 2 shown in (b) and loading the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disc so that a weight other than its own weight is not added thereto and performing the annealing process.

From FIG. 11 and FIG. 13, when annealing the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk, the temperature of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is not divided into two stages and the temperature of the plastic substrate 1 for an optical disk is increased in two stages. It can be seen that the shape characteristics are improved by raising.

From FIGS. 11 and 14, it can be seen that the shape characteristics are increased by rotating the optical disc plastic substrate 1 during the cooling process.

Further, from Table 1 which summarizes these results,
Regarding the vertical acceleration, both the average value and the variation between the plastic substrates for the optical disk, the individual plastic substrates are loaded on the pole via the spacer 31 so that a load other than their own weight is not applied, and the second annealing is performed. It can be seen that extremely excellent characteristics can be obtained by performing the annealing treatment under the condition that the annealing temperature in the furnace is higher than the annealing temperature in the first annealing furnace and performing the cooling treatment while rotating the plastic substrate for the optical disk.

[0072]

As described above, according to the annealing apparatus of the present invention, since the recording medium disk is loaded on the pole, the recording medium disk is stored three-dimensionally and the space is effectively used. be able to.

According to the annealing apparatus of the present invention, the individual recording medium disks are annealed in a state where no load other than their own weight is applied, and the cooling processing is performed while rotating the recording medium disks. Thus, it is possible to manufacture a recording medium disk having excellent shape characteristics.

According to the method of manufacturing a recording medium disk according to the present invention, since the recording medium disk is mounted on the pole, the recording medium disk can be stored three-dimensionally and the space can be used effectively. .

Further, according to the method of manufacturing a recording medium disk according to the present invention, the individual recording medium disks are annealed in a state where no load other than their own weight is applied, and the recording medium disks are rotated. Since the cooling treatment is performed, it is possible to manufacture a recording medium disk having excellent shape characteristics.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an annealing apparatus for a plastic substrate for an optical disk to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a view of an annealing zone of the annealing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from a direction of an annealing zone outlet.

FIG. 3A is a plan view of a flat spacer.
(B) is a front view of the spacer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a plastic substrate is mounted on a pole using a flat spacer.

FIG. 5A is a plan view showing an example of a spacer according to the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a front view of the spacer.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a state in which a plastic substrate is mounted on a pole using the spacer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7A is a plan view showing another example of the spacer according to the present invention, and FIG. 7B is a front view of the spacer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a plastic substrate for an optical disk loaded on a pole magazine is being transported between a first annealing furnace and a second annealing furnace.

FIG. 9 is a view of a cooling zone of the annealing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from a low dew point booth outlet direction.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a rotation mechanism of a pole magazine.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating acceleration characteristics of a substrate A in a vertical direction.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a vertical acceleration characteristic of a substrate B;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing acceleration characteristics of a substrate C in a vertical direction.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing acceleration characteristics of a substrate D in a vertical direction.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional cassette-storing-type plastic substrate housing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 plastic substrate for optical disk, 4 pole magazine, 8 annealing zone inlet, 9 stainless steel conveyor, 10 annealing zone outlet, 11 hot air outlet, 12 HEPA filter, 14 fan, 17 annealing zone, 18 low dew point booth, 19 cooling zone ,
20 Low dew point booth exit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Nemoto 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo F-term in Sony Corporation (reference) 5D121 AA02 GG08 GG28 5F031 CA01 DA20 FA01 FA09 GA51 GA53 MA30

Claims (14)

[Claims] An annealing apparatus for performing an annealing process on a recording medium disk, comprising: a plurality of recording medium disks formed in a predetermined shape;
Disk holding means for loading and holding each of the recording medium disks on a pole via a spacer so as to prevent a load other than its own weight from being applied; and heating the plurality of recording medium disks held by the disk holding means. And annealing means for performing an annealing process. A first annealing furnace that heats the plurality of recording medium disks to perform an annealing process; and a plurality of recording mediums that have been subjected to the annealing process in the first annealing furnace. A second annealing furnace for heating and performing an annealing process on the disk, wherein an annealing process temperature in the first and second annealing furnaces is equal to or lower than a softening point of the recording medium disk; 2. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an annealing temperature in the second annealing furnace is higher than an annealing temperature in the first annealing furnace. 3. A rotating means for rotating a recording medium disk held by the disk holding means, wherein the rotating means performs the recording held by the disk holding means when performing the annealing process by the annealing means. 2. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium disk is rotated intermittently or continuously. 4. A cooling means for cooling a recording medium disk which has been annealed by said annealing means, wherein said plurality of recording medium disks held by said disk holding means are annealed by said annealing means. 2. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after being applied, it is transferred to said cooling means and cooled. 5. A rotating device for rotating a recording medium disk held by the disk holding device, wherein the rotating device holds the recording medium disk when the cooling device cools the recording medium disk. 5. The annealing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording medium disk is rotated intermittently or continuously. 6. The disk according to claim 1, wherein the spacer is different from a disk supporting surface for supporting the recording medium disk when the recording medium disk is mounted on the pole and a spacer supporting surface for supporting the spacer mounted thereon. The holding means stacks the spacers on the spacer supporting surfaces of the individual spacers, and places the recording medium disks on the disk supporting surfaces of the spacers, respectively, so that the individual recording medium disks have a weight other than their own weight. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the annealing apparatus is held so that a load is not applied. 7. The recording medium disk has a circular opening in the center, and the spacer has a disk support portion forming a disk support surface and a spacer support portion forming a spacer support surface. The disk holding means holds the recording medium disk by placing the recording medium disk on the disk support surface of the disk support portion with the spacer support portion inserted into the opening of the recording medium disk. 7. The annealing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein at least a part of an edge portion of the spacer supporting portion is chamfered or rounded. 8. The annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a thermal expansion coefficient of the spacer is smaller than a thermal expansion coefficient of the recording medium disk. 9. An annealing apparatus for performing an annealing process on a recording medium disk, comprising: an annealing unit for heating a recording medium disk formed into a predetermined shape to perform an annealing process; Cooling means for cooling the recording medium disk that has been subjected to the annealing treatment, and rotating means for rotating the recording medium disk, wherein the rotating means is used to cool the recording medium disk by at least the cooling means. An annealing apparatus for intermittently or continuously rotating a recording medium disk. 10. The recording medium disk according to claim 9, wherein the rotating means rotates the recording medium disk intermittently or continuously even when performing an annealing process on the recording medium disk by the annealing means. Annealing equipment. 11. A loading step of loading a plurality of recording medium disks formed in a predetermined shape on a pole via a spacer so that a load other than its own weight is not applied to each recording medium disk; An annealing step of heating and annealing the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step. 12. The annealing step comprises: a first annealing step of heating the plurality of recording medium disks to perform an annealing treatment; and a plurality of recording medium disks subjected to the annealing treatment in the first annealing step. A second annealing step of heating the disk to perform an annealing process, wherein the annealing temperature in the first and second annealing steps is equal to or lower than the softening point of the recording medium disk, and The method according to claim 11, wherein the annealing temperature in the second annealing step is higher than the annealing temperature in the first annealing step. 13. The recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step are rotated intermittently or continuously when performing the annealing process in the annealing step. Method of manufacturing discs. 14. A cooling step for cooling the plurality of recording medium disks loaded in the loading step after the annealing step, wherein the cooling step cools the recording medium disks in the cooling step.
The method for manufacturing a recording medium disk according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of recording medium disks stacked in the loading step are intermittently or continuously rotated.