JP2000321544A - Liquid crystal display element production apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a liquid crystal display element production apparatus which is capable of producing liquid crystal display elements having an excellent display grade despite of use of a substrate comprising plastic, etc., and attains a chucking state that the points right above chuck holes are locally deformed according to the chucking force from the holes. SOLUTION: When the flexible substrate 1 is transported onto a stage 2 and is subjected to positioning, a selector valve 6 is operated and both of a first communicating passage 6 and a second communicating passage 8 are brought into a connecting state to a vacuum pump 4. As a result, the flexible substrate 1 is put into a state such that the chucking may act over the entire surface thereof through the full chuck holes 3 and 7 which the substrate is positioned in alignment to the center of the stage 2, by which the substrate is attracted and fixed. The changeover manipulation of the selector valve 6 is then carried out, by which the connecting state of the second communicating passage 8 to the vacuum pump 4 is interrupted while the connecting state of the vacuum pump 4 on the first passage 5 side is kept continued and the vacuum chucking force through the central side chuck hole 7 is released. Consequently, the central chuck is changed over to the fixation in the peripheral edge chucking state in which the vacuum chucking force acts only through the peripheral edge side chuck holes 3. Resist is thereafter applied on the surface of the flexible substrate 1 and the treatment with this device is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus used in a liquid crystal display element manufacturing process, and more particularly to a resist coating device, an exposure device, an alignment film coating device, a printing machine, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid crystal display device has, for example, 300
A glass substrate having a size of about 300 mm x 300 mm x a thickness of about 1.0 mm is mainly used.
Larger glass substrates with a size of 00 mm have also been used.

During the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device, such a glass substrate is used, for example, in a resist coating device, an exposure device,
The glass substrate 11 is sequentially conveyed through an alignment film coating device, a printing machine, etc., and during a processing operation in each device, as shown in FIG. The upper part is fixed by vacuum suction. That is, the stage 12 is provided with a plurality of suction holes 13 having a diameter of about 0.5 to 1.0 mm.
The suction holes 13 are provided in a grid pattern at intervals of mm.
Is connected to a vacuum pump 15 provided below the stage 12 via a communication path 14. Glass substrate 11
Is absorbed over almost the entire surface by the vacuum suction force acting through each suction hole 13 and is fixed on the stage 12.

A glass substrate 11 manufactured in a flat shape
Has excellent flatness and high rigidity,
Even if the suction force is applied discretely through the suction holes 13 as described above, no deformation such as warpage occurs in the glass substrate 11 as shown in FIG. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the resist film 16 is uniformly applied by, for example, a resist coating process, and the finished state does not have irregularities.

On the other hand, in recent years, as the liquid crystal display elements have become thinner, substrates made of plastic or the like have been adopted.
It is about to be put to practical use. Conventionally, even when such a substrate is positioned and fixed in each manufacturing apparatus, a method of suction-fixing through the same suction hole 13 as described above is adopted.

[0006]

However, when the same suction fixing method is applied to the substrate as described above, due to the flexibility or rigidity of the material itself, as shown in FIG. In accordance with the suction force from the holes 13, a portion immediately above the holes 21 becomes a locally deformed suction state. As a result, as shown in FIG. It is to be done. That is, as described above, when the suction force is applied through the suction holes 13 opened at positions separated from each other,
Despite the fact that the entire substrate 21 is formed in a planar shape, a local adsorption state occurs due to the flexibility or rigidity of the material, and therefore, the fixed state in a state where the flatness is impaired conversely It is.

As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, the thickness of the resist film 22 after the resist coating process becomes non-uniform, resulting in unevenness in the finished state. For this reason, there is a problem that the display quality of the liquid crystal display element becomes uneven.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has been described in view of a situation in which a portion immediately above a suction hole made of plastic or the like is locally deformed in response to the suction force. It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus capable of obtaining a liquid crystal display element having excellent display quality even when a substrate is used.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element, comprising: a mounting table having a flat mounting surface on which an object to be processed is mounted; A plurality of suction holes provided on the mounting surface and spaced apart from each other and opened, and by applying suction force through the suction holes to fix the object to be processed, various types of the object to be processed are provided. In a liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus for performing a process, a mechanism for switching a suction state in which suction force is applied to the object to be processed through the suction holes is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus.
2. The liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism is configured to apply a suction force to the processing target through all the suction holes and apply a suction force to the processing target, and a peripheral portion excluding an effective use range of the processing target. 3. And a peripheral suction state in which a suction force is applied through the suction hole located in the position.

According to the liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention,
By having a mechanism for switching the suction state in which the suction force is applied to the processing object through the suction hole, the processing object can be brought into a planar state in the effective use range, and the position of the processing object is prevented from being shifted. be able to. If the workpiece is fixed by suction only in the peripheral suction state, when the workpiece is placed on the mounting table due to a large curvature deformation exceeding the distance between the suction holes, this deformation should be corrected. Therefore, the object to be processed cannot be brought into a planar state, and the position of the object to be processed is shifted by an amount corresponding to the deformation. If the film is coated on the entire surface of the object to be processed, such as a resist, the positional deviation is not so much a problem. It is a big problem. Further, when performing various kinds of processing, the peripheral edge suction state may be set, the local undulation corresponding to the interval between the suction holes is eliminated, and the object to be processed can be brought into a planar state in the effective use range.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a resist coating apparatus in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display element has a stage (mounting table) 2 having a flat mounting surface on an upper surface.
Is provided. This stage 2 has a diameter of 0.5 to
A plurality of 1.0 mm suction holes 3 and 7
The openings are in a grid pattern at 0 mm intervals. Of these suction holes 3 and 7, the outermost peripheral side suction hole 3 is connected to a first communication path 5 provided horizontally inside the stage 2. The first communication path 5 is connected to the vacuum pump 4 via a switching valve 6. Further, the central suction holes 7 inside the peripheral suction holes 3 are connected to second communication passages 8 formed in the stage 2 separately from the first communication passages 5, respectively. Is connected to the switching valve 6.

A state in which the vacuum suction force when the vacuum pump 4 is operated by the switching valve 6 is applied from the first communication path 5 and the second communication path 8 through all the suction holes 3 and 7 (hereinafter, the entire suction operation). The state is switched between a state in which the first communication path 5 operates only through the peripheral suction holes 3 (hereinafter, referred to as a peripheral suction operation state).

When a flat flexible substrate 1 made of a material such as plastic is mounted on a resist coating apparatus having the stage 2 as described above,
The flexible substrate 1 is fixed by suction based on the following operation procedure. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the flexible substrate 1 has a rectangular shape as a whole, and has a two-stage structure as shown in FIG. It is assumed that display areas 1a and 1b are set. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the mounting surface of the stage 2 has a larger area than the flexible substrate 1 mounted thereon.

First, when the flexible substrate 1 is conveyed from outside the apparatus onto the stage 2 and positioning is performed, the switching valve 6 is operated as shown in FIG. Both of the two communication paths 8 are connected to the vacuum pump 4. As a result, the flexible substrate 1 is positioned in such a manner that the center of the flexible substrate 1 is aligned with the center of the stage 2, and all the suction holes 3, 7
Through which the entire surface is adsorbed and adsorbed and fixed.

Next, the switching operation of the switching valve 6 is performed, whereby the connection state of the second communication path 8 with the vacuum pump 4 is maintained while the connection state of the first communication path 5 with the vacuum pump 4 is maintained. And the vacuum suction force through the central suction hole 7 is released. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1, the peripheral edge on which the vacuum suction force acts only through the peripheral side suction holes 3 located in the peripheral side area (the shaded area in the figure) except the display range on the flexible substrate 1. The mode is switched to the fixed state in the suction operation state.

Thereafter, a resist is applied to the surface of the flexible substrate 1, and when the processing in this apparatus is completed, the switching valve 6 is further switched to release the suction force through the peripheral suction holes 3, and the next step is performed from this apparatus. It is carried out to.

Hereinafter, the flexible substrate 1 is also used in other manufacturing processes such as resist coating, exposure, alignment film coating, offset printing, and screen printing.
Is fixed by suction in the same manner as described above, and each process is performed to manufacture a liquid crystal display element.

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, when the flexible substrate 1 is suction-fixed on the stage 2 in each manufacturing apparatus and a process such as resist coating is performed, the flexible substrate 1 is used. The operation of applying the suction force is performed only through the peripheral side suction holes 3 located corresponding to the peripheral side excluding the display range of 1. Therefore, the region where local deformation occurs due to the suction force acting on each of the suction holes 3 separated from each other is limited to only the peripheral portion of the flexible substrate 1 excluding the display range, and is fixed on the stage 2.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the flatness of the flexible substrate 1 itself is maintained at least in the display range. As a result, for example, the thickness of the resist applied to the surface of the flexible substrate 1 can be made substantially uniform within the display range. Similarly, in other devices, uniform processing is performed over the entire surface within the display range, so that a liquid crystal display element with improved display characteristics can be manufactured.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, prior to the predetermined processing in each device, the flexible substrate 1 is conveyed into these devices, and when the flexible substrate 1 is positioned, the peripheral side suction holes 3 and the central side suction holes 3 are positioned. The fixing of the flexible substrate 1 is performed in a state where the suction force is applied to all the holes 7 in the entire surface suction operation state. That is, the suction force acts on almost the entire surface of the flexible substrate 1 in a positioning state where the center is aligned with the stage 2. At this time, the suction holes 3,
7 is undulated locally corresponding to each of the intervals of the suction holes 7, for example, when it is placed on the stage 2 with a large curvature deformation exceeding the interval between the suction holes 3 and 7. However, as a whole, it is corrected into a substantially flat shape along the upper surface of the stage 2 and is accurately fixed while maintaining the positioning position. In addition, since the suction force acts on the entire surface, the above-mentioned suction fixed state can be quickly obtained. After such a suction-fixed state, the state is switched to the peripheral suction state, thereby returning to the flat state of the flexible substrate 1 itself within the display range, and thereafter, each of the above-described processes is performed. It has become. As a result, uniform processing is performed in a state where the fixed position on the stage 2 is more accurately held, so that a liquid crystal display element with further improved display characteristics can be manufactured.

In particular, as described above, temporarily bringing the entire surface into the suction state is effective when the size of the flexible substrate 1 is relatively large, for example, about 200 to 500 mm. In other words, in this case, in the state where the flexible substrate 1 is placed on the stage 2 as described above and is to be immediately fixed in the peripheral suction state, for example, the flexible substrate 1
The air layer between the lower surface and the upper surface of the stage 2 does not immediately escape from the peripheral side, so that it takes some time for the entire surface to be flat along the stage 2. Further, in this case, there is a possibility that the center side may be in a fixed state in which large undulation has occurred, or may be shifted from the positioning position and fixed. So, as mentioned above,
Once the entire surface is adsorbed, it is possible to quickly fix it in a state where it is fixed at the positioning position.

As described above, according to the present invention, uniform processing can be performed within a display range on a substrate in which a portion immediately above the substrate is locally deformed according to the suction force from the suction hole and is in a suction state. Thus, a liquid crystal display element with improved display characteristics can be manufactured. Such liquid crystal display elements include TN (Twisted Nematic), STN
(Super Twisted Nematic) and FSTN (Film-compensated S)
There are drive types such as upper twisted nematics, and drive types such as STN and FSTN are used for recent large-sized devices such as word processors and personal computers. In particular, liquid crystal alignment control of this type of liquid crystal display element requires tighter control than before,
When these substrates are used in these types of liquid crystal display devices, where the substrate directly above it is in an adsorption state in which the area directly above it is deformed according to the adsorption force from the adsorption holes, the flatness of the substrate during liquid crystal alignment processing is maintained. Is very important, and in this case, by applying the method described above,
The characteristics can be improved.

Although the description has been made mainly on the resist coating apparatus in the liquid crystal display element manufacturing process, the present invention can be applied to other manufacturing apparatuses.

[0025]

As described above, according to the liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the mechanism for switching the suction state in which the suction force is applied to the object to be processed through the suction holes is provided, so that the entire surface suction state is achieved. In the effective use range, the target object can be brought into a planar state, and the positional deviation of the target object can be prevented. Therefore, since a film having a uniform thickness can be formed with high positional accuracy, a liquid crystal display element having excellent display characteristics can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a relationship between a stage and a flexible substrate used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a stage.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a flexible substrate is fixed by suction on a stage.

FIG. 4 is a plan view for explaining a display range on a flexible substrate.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart when the flexible substrate is fixed by a two-stage suction operation.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional stage and a glass substrate mounted on the stage.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state in which a glass substrate is fixed by suction to a conventional stage.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a glass substrate to which a resist film has been applied.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a suction-fixed state of a substrate in which a portion immediately above a conventional stage is in a suction state in which a portion immediately above the suction hole is locally deformed according to a suction force from a suction hole by a conventional stage.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional substrate in which a portion immediately above the resist is locally deformed in accordance with the suction force from a suction hole after a resist is applied in a suction-fixed state, and is in a suction state.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flexible board 2 Stage (mounting table) 3 Peripheral side suction hole 4 Vacuum pump 5 1st communication path 6 Switching valve 7 Central side suction hole 8 2nd communication path 11 Glass substrate 12 Stage (mounting table) 13 Suction hole 14 Communication path 15 Vacuum pump 16 Resist film 21 Substrate which is in an adsorption state in which a portion immediately above it is locally deformed according to the adsorption force from the adsorption hole 22 Resist film

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mounting table having a flat mounting surface on which an object to be processed is mounted, and a plurality of suction holes provided on the mounting surface and separated from each other and opened, wherein the suction holes are provided. In the liquid crystal display device manufacturing apparatus for fixing the object to be processed by applying an attraction force through the through hole and performing various processes on the object to be processed, the suction state in which the attraction force is applied to the object to be processed through the suction holes A liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus having a switching mechanism. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism is configured to apply a suction force to the object through all of the suction holes,
A peripheral suction state in which the suction force is applied through the suction holes located at the peripheral portion except the effective use range of the object to be processed,
2. The liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display element manufacturing apparatus can be switched over.