JP2002196347A - Liquid crystal panel and method for producing liquid crystal panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser beam machining device and machining method which has excellent machining quality and high machining ability and to provide a liquid crystal panel which is produced by the laser beam machining device and machining method and has high display quality. SOLUTION: This laser beam machining device is provided with plural pulse laser oscillators 1101a, 1101b, means 1102a, 1102b which shift respective oscillation phases and successively drive the pulse laser oscillators and a means 1109 which branches each one of beams 1104a, 1104b emitted from the pulse laser oscillators into plural beams, and features that an object 1111 to be machined is irradiated with the plural beams obtained by the branching means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus having high processing quality, capable of performing fine processing and excellent in mass productivity, the laser processing method, and a display quality having an electrode structure patterned by the laser processing method. Related to excellent liquid crystal panels.

BACKGROUND ART As a laser processing apparatus, cutting and drilling of a metal plate using a CO ₂ laser and precision processing of a metal thin plate using a YAG laser are widely known. In particular, YAG lasers are used for various types of precision processing because they are small, have good maintainability, and can easily obtain condensed spots with a diameter of several tens of μm. Further, since the second harmonic (wavelength 532 nm) can be obtained with the YAG laser, it can be applied to fine thin film processing utilizing the ablation effect. Laser ablation is a phenomenon in which when a polymer material is irradiated with a short-wavelength / short-pulse laser such as an excimer laser or a YAG harmonic, instantaneous decomposition, vaporization, and scattering occur, and the material is locally removed. It is. In fact, Q-switched YAG lasers have begun to be used for defect correction of masks for semiconductor manufacturing, patterning of detection sections of thin film sensors, and electrode patterning of liquid crystal panels. The reason why the Q switch is used is that high quality processing without thermal damage to a workpiece can be realized by using a beam having a short pulse rotation and a large peak power. As for ablation processing, "Study on removal processing by short wavelength and short pulse laser" (Journal of Precision Engineering, Vol. 3, 473-478 (1993))
Familiar with.

[0002] One of the recent great needs in thin film processing is patterning of transparent electrodes of liquid crystal panels, and there is a growing expectation for processing techniques that are processed through products and have excellent processing capabilities. Patterning of the electrodes of the liquid crystal panel is generally performed by cutting the conductive film at predetermined intervals while moving the substrate on which the light-transmitting conductive film is attached with respect to the laser beam. The processing quality at this time, that is, the electrical characteristics of the conductive film is determined by the characteristics (mainly, peak power) of the Q-switched YAG laser. The characteristics of the laser depend on the Q-switch frequency. That is, when the Q switch frequency is lowered, the pulse width becomes narrower, and the peak power becomes larger. Conversely, increasing the Q-switch frequency increases the pulse width and decreases the peak power.

From the viewpoint of processing quality, it is desirable to lower the Q switch frequency and increase the peak intensity of the beam. This makes it possible to instantaneously remove the processed portion via the ablation effect, and does not thermally damage the vicinity of the processed portion or the film substrate. Such a processing method is disclosed in JP-A-60-261142 and JP-A-2-259727. However, these processing methods have a problem in productivity. This is because lowering the Q switch frequency leads to a corresponding reduction in the stage feed speed, and as a result, the processing speed is significantly reduced.

On the other hand, from the viewpoint of processing speed, it is desirable to increase the Q-switch frequency and move the stage quickly. However, when the Q switch frequency is increased,
The peak power decreases and the pulse width increases. For this reason, when the electrodes of the liquid crystal panel are patterned, glass that is an electrode substrate is thermally damaged, and minute cracks and depressions are generated. These cracks and dents are factors that affect the display quality of the liquid crystal panel. Further, alkali metal ions contained in glass in minute amounts are eluted from the cracks and depressions into the liquid crystal, which causes display defects of the liquid crystal panel.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a laser processing apparatus and a processing method which are excellent in processing quality and high in processing ability. Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal panel having high display quality, which is manufactured using the laser processing apparatus and the processing method. (Disclosure of the Invention) A laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is configured to sequentially drive a plurality of pulsed laser oscillators while shifting the phase of an oscillation cycle, to make the quality of beams from the plurality of laser oscillators the same, By making beams from a plurality of laser oscillators into an elliptical beam, (1) it is possible to lower the oscillation frequency of each oscillator without lowering the effective average oscillation frequency. (2) As a result, By obtaining the required peak power and pulse width, it is possible to perform high quality processing without thermally damaging the workpiece. (3) By changing the beam to elliptically polarized light, The required processing quality can be constantly maintained without being influenced by the anisotropy or the deposit on the workpiece.

Further, by using a diffractive element having a phase modulation function and splitting a beam from the laser oscillator into a plurality of beams, a plurality of portions on the surface of the workpiece are simultaneously processed, thereby greatly improving the processing capability. be able to.
That is, assuming that the number of beam branches is N, a processing capability N times the processing capability when processing with one beam can be achieved.

According to the laser processing method of the present invention, a plurality of beams are selectively irradiated on the light-transmitting conductive film deposited on the substrate by using the processing apparatus described above, and the substrate or the plurality of beams is irradiated. By moving, a plurality of grooves can be simultaneously formed in the light-transmitting conductive film. By using a surface uneven type binary phase grating designed so that a plurality of beams after branching have the same intensity as the beam branching unit, a groove having a uniform processing shape and processing quality can be formed.

A liquid crystal panel according to the present invention is a liquid crystal panel having a striped electrode structure processed by the above-described laser processing apparatus and processing method. Since the width of the cut groove (gap) existing between the electrodes is 10 μm or less and the gap is uniformly formed in the display area at a predetermined interval, the main factors affecting the display quality of the liquid crystal panel However, the contrast ratio and visibility are greatly improved. Further, compared with the conventional method of patterning an electrode by photolithography, the electrode processing method of the present invention is excellent in that the number of steps is small and a wet processing step is not required. Therefore, the production equipment is simplified, and the process management is made easier and more reliable, which can greatly contribute to the reduction of the production cost of the liquid crystal panel.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration and features of the present oscillation light will be described in detail in a case of processing a stripe electrode usable for a liquid crystal panel of a simple matrix drive system.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. Laser oscillation turning point device 1101a, 1101b is Q-switched YAG laser emits a TEM ₀₀ mode of the linearly polarized light. The Q switch frequency of the laser oscillator is controlled by Q switch drivers 1102a and 1102b. Reference numeral 1103 denotes a Q-switch controller, which controls the phase of a noise signal provided by the Q-switch driver. By devising the installation form of the Brewster element in the oscillator, or by arranging a wave plate outside the oscillator, two beams 1104a emitted from the oscillator,
1104b are linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. The respective beams are expanded by the expander collimators 1105a and 1105b, and the optical path of the two beams is made common by using the polarization combining element 1107. And wave plate 1
After the polarization of the beam is changed to elliptically polarized light by 108, the beam is incident on the phase grating 1109. The phase grating 1109 has an operation of splitting one incident beam into 32 diffraction beams. Thirty-two beams emitted from the phase grating 1109 are condensed on a surface of a light-transmitting conductive film (ITO film) substrate 1111 held on a precision stage 1112 through a condenser lens 1110, and the 32 Condensing spots 1113 are formed at equal intervals. Then, by moving the precision stage 1112, the ITO film is cut into a straight line or a curved line. In the figure, reference numeral 1106 denotes an optical path bending mirror.

[0011] The two beams 1104a and 1104b are
By passing the light through the expander collimators 1105a and 1105b with variable magnification, the beam quality (spread voice, beam diameter) caused by the individual difference of the oscillator is made equal. This allows the electrode film to be cut with a uniform groove width, as will be described later in detail. In addition, by making the beam elliptically polarized using a wave plate, the ITO film has a uniform width and search without being affected by the anisotropy and non-uniformity of the ITO film and the deposits on the ITO film. , It is possible to constantly maintain the required processing quality.

The phase grating used in the structure of this embodiment is a one-dimensional surface unevenness type phase grating. The cross-sectional shape is almost rectangular, and is academically classified as a binary phase grating. FIG. 8 schematically shows the phase distribution (for one period) of the phase grating of this embodiment. In the figure, the phase value of the white portion is πrad, and the phase value of the hatched portion is 0 rad.

There are three main design items for the phase grating: the length of one cycle, the overall size, and the phase distribution within one cycle. The length of one cycle is determined by the interval between grooves formed on the ITO film, and the overall size is determined by the diameter of the incident beam. The phase distribution within one cycle is determined by the required number of beam splits and the required uniformity of the beam intensity.

From the diffraction theory, the period of the phase grating is given by the following equation.

P = mλf / △ x; m = 1 (when the number of beam branches is odd) (1) m = 2 (when the number of beam branches is even) where λ is the laser wavelength (532 nm) , F is the focal length of the condenser lens, and Δx is the interval between the grooves. For example, if the number of branches is an even number and f = 100 mm and Δx = 200 μm, p = 532
μm.

The overall size D of the phase grating is determined as follows from the theory of wave optics.

D> d = 2f · tan [sin ⁻¹ (2λ / πw)] (2) where d is the incident beam diameter (1 / e ² ), and w is the required focused spot diameter ( 1 / e ² ). For example, f = 100mm, w = 10
Assuming μm, D> d = 4 mm. The phase distribution of the phase grating is calculated using the simulated annealing method (Science2
20, 671-680 (1983), hereinafter abbreviated as SA method).
Several examples of designing a phase grating using the SA method have been reported (Appl. Opt. 32, 2512-2518).
(1993), Appl. Opt. 31, 3320-3336 (1992), App
l. Opt. 31, 27-37 (1992)). However, the construction of the rules required for the operation of the SA method requires experience, and the failure of these rules greatly determines whether a "good solution" can be obtained. A "good solution" is a solution that satisfies the optical performance required for a phase grating, and the optical performance is determined by the purpose of use of the phase grating.

In order to design a phase grating by using the SA method, it is necessary to define operation rules for at least the definition of an evaluation function and the setting of weights, temperature scheduling, and determination of an equilibrium state. The evaluation function is an amount corresponding to the difference between the estimated value and the target value related to the performance of the phase grating, and the solution when the function value is the smallest is the optimal solution.

The optical performance required for the phase grating used in this embodiment will be described below. (1) The light use efficiency is 80% or more. (2) The beam intensity uniformity of the branching class is 0.90 or more. Here, the light use efficiency means a ratio of light energy that can be supplied to a beam of a required diffraction order. The beam intensity uniformity means a ratio between the minimum and maximum intensities of the plurality of split diffraction beams. The conditions (1) and (2) are determined from the output of the laser oscillator, the processing threshold value, and the required processing uniformity, as described later.

In the actual measurement well, the conditions (1) and (2) are incorporated into the evaluation function, and a solution that satisfies the conditions (1) and (2) is further extracted from the solution satisfying the conditions (1) and (2). A solution satisfying the following conditions (3) and (4) was selected in consideration of the error. (3) The minimum line width of the phase grating must be as large as possible. (4) The performance of the phase grating is not greatly affected by manufacturing errors. The conditions (3) and (4) are determined by the pattern transfer capabilities of the photomask drawing apparatus, exposure / development apparatus, and etching apparatus used for manufacturing the phase grating.

As can be understood from the above, it can be said that the phase distribution data of the phase grating obtained by the SA method reflects the creativity of the designer. This situation is very similar to lens data in lens design. From this point of view, the present application discloses all phase distribution data of the phase grating used in carrying out the invention.

Hereinafter, in Tables 1, 2 and 3, the coordinates of the position where the phase value changes from 0 rad to π rad (or vice versa) are shown for one cycle. In Tables 4, 5, and 6, one cycle is equally divided into 256 or 128 sections, and the phase values of each section are indicated by 0 and 1. 0 corresponds to 0 rad and 1 corresponds to π rad (or vice versa). (Phase grating 1)-Number of branches: 32 Table 1-Phase distribution data of phase grating 1 (Phase grating 2) Number of branches: 16 Table 2. Phase distribution data of phase grating 2 (Phase grating 3) Number of branches: 2 Table 3. Phase distribution data of phase grating 3 (Phase grating 4)-Number of branches: 16 Table 4-Phase distribution data of phase grating 4 (Phase grating 5)-Number of branches: 8 Table 5. Phase distribution data of phase grating 5 (Phase grating 6) Number of branches: 5 Table 6. Phase distribution data of phase grating 6 Using the data shown in Tables 1 to 6, a surface roughness type phase grating was formed on a high quality quartz substrate by following the steps below. (1) Creation of photomask data (2) Preparation of photomask (3) Exposure and development of resist (4) Reactive ion etching and removal of resist The resulting diffraction grating has a light utilization efficiency of 80% or more and uniform beam intensity. 0.90 or more, which satisfied the required optical performance. Furthermore, there was no polarization dependence. The absence of polarization dependence means that regardless of the polarization state of the incident light,
The required light use efficiency and beam intensity uniformity can be obtained, which is an essential property for thin film processing using an elliptically polarized beam.

FIG. 1 shows the phase grating fabricated as described above.
Then, the ITO film on the glass substrate was cut at an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm to form a stripe electrode of a liquid crystal panel. FIG. 7 shows a cross section of the ITO film and the glass substrate. The material of the glass substrate 1403 is soda glass, and an ITO film 1401 is deposited on this glass substrate through an SiO ₂ buffer film 1402 by 1500 angstroms.

The phase grating used for beam splitting is prepared from the data of the phase grating 1 described above. In order to form grooves with a width of 10 μm on the ITO film at intervals of 200 μm,
Set the focal length of the condenser lens to 100 mm
The beam diameter was set to 12 mm and the size of the phase grating was set to 15 mm in consideration of aberration of the condenser lens. At this time, the minimum line width of the phase grating is 6.4 μm, and it has been confirmed that the concave-convex structure of the phase grating can be formed on a quartz substrate in accordance with the above-described manufacturing process, in accordance with the design dimensions.

The laser oscillator used is a lamp-pumped Q-switched YAG laser manufactured by Quantronix, and has an oscillation wavelength of 532 nm.
m, rated average output 8W. In order to investigate the processing conditions and the damage to the glass substrate, Q
The experiment of machining a single groove by changing the switch frequency was repeated. As a result, it was found that the groove could be formed without damaging the ITO film and the underlying glass substrate when the Q switch frequency was set to 10 KHz or less. It was also found that whether or not processing could be performed was determined by the magnitude of the peak power, regardless of the Q switch frequency.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show the relationship between the laser output and the time when the Q switch frequency is 10 KHz and 30 KHz, respectively. Assuming that the peak power during processing is 150 W, the pulse width and pulse energy when the Q switch frequency is 10 KHz are 150 nsec and 23 μJ, respectively. On the other hand, the pulse width and pulse energy when the Q switch frequency is 30 KHz are 300 nsec and 45 μJ, respectively. When processing the ITO film on the glass substrate under these laser oscillation conditions, no damage occurred when the Q switch frequency was 10 kHz,
Under the condition of Hz, fine scratches occurred on the periphery of the groove and on the glass substrate surface. The reason why damage or oscillation occurred at 30 KHz was that the pulse width was widened and excessive energy was input. In other words, even when the peak power has reached the processing threshold, if the pulse width determined by the Q switch frequency has spread beyond the allowable value, injuries during processing cannot be avoided. In such a case, reducing the pulse energy for the purpose of avoiding damage is not effective. This is because the peak power does not exceed the processing threshold value and processing cannot be performed.

Based on the above results, the Q-switch frequency of the two laser oscillators was set to 10 KHz and the rated average output was set to 8 K in consideration of the number of beam branches and the processing speed. The pulse width at this time is 150nsec, and the peak power is 5.3KV at the rated output.
It is. Then, a control signal is sent from the Q switch controller 1103, and each Q switch driver is driven with a phase of even 50 μsec. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between laser output and time in the embodiment of the present invention. Two
By driving the oscillators alternately with even phases, each oscillator oscillates at 10 KHz, but effectively achieves the same processing speed as when driven at 20 KHz.

In order to form one groove in an ITO film having a thickness of 1500 angstroms, a peak power of 110 W or more is required. Therefore, using the above-described phase grating 1109, a beam having a peak power of 5.3KW is split into 32 beams. Then, the 32 beams were Fourier-transformed into an optical scoop by a condenser lens, and 32 condensed spots with a spacing of 200 μm were irradiated on the surface of the ITO film. The focused spot diameter at this time is 18μ
m, and the diameter of the processing mark formed on the ITO film is 10 μm. Thus, 32 processing marks with a diameter of 10 μm could be simultaneously formed by one pulse. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the focused spot diameter and the processing diameter. Note that a processing mark smaller than the focused spot diameter can be obtained due to the threshold characteristics of the ITO film.

At an intermittent time of 50 μsec before the next pulse is oscillated, the precision stage is used to move the substrate by a distance equal to 5 μm, which is equivalent to half the diameter of the processing mark. In this way, pulsed beams from two oscillators alternate in diameter 1
Continue to form 32 0μm processing traces simultaneously.
As shown in FIG. 3, a groove having an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm could be processed without intermittent portions. During this time, the moving speed of the stage is 100 mm per second and is always constant. Processing speed,
Defining (processing speed) = (number of beam branches) × (stage moving speed) means that a processing speed of 3200 mm per second was achieved by simultaneously processing 32 grooves. Figure 4
The electrode pattern obtained as described above is shown below.

By inclining the direction of arrangement of the 32 condensed spots with respect to the stage moving direction, the interval between spots, that is, the interval between processing grooves can be adjusted. In order to incline the arrangement direction of the spots, a rotation stage may be used and the phase grating may be rotated in the plane. Assuming that the rotation angle at this time is θ, the interval Δx ′ between the processing grooves is given by the following equation.

Δx ′ = mλf COS (θ) / p; m = 1 (when the number of beam splits is odd) (3) m = 2 (when the number of beam splits is even) By providing the mechanism, it is possible to perform electrode patterning with high accuracy in accordance with the specifications of the liquid crystal panel, and it is also possible to easily cope with a trial production of a liquid crystal panel having different electrode intervals. Therefore, the lead time for product development can be significantly reduced.

According to the processing apparatus and the processing method of this embodiment, the ITO film can be patterned with a cutting width of 10 μm or less. As a result, the aperture ratio and the contrast ratio, which are the main factors controlling the display quality of the liquid crystal panel, are greatly improved. On the other hand, the electrode gap obtained by conventional electrode processing by photolithography is 30 μm, which is a major cause of lowering the aperture ratio and contrast ratio of a liquid crystal panel.

In this embodiment, a lamp-excited Q switch YAG
Although a laser is used, a semiconductor laser pumped Q-switched YAG laser may be used. The same effect can be obtained even when a YLF laser is used instead of the YAG laser. Further, a gas laser capable of pulse oscillation can be used instead of the solid-state laser. Further, the Q switch frequency suitable for processing depends on the characteristics of the laser oscillator, and is not limited to 10 KHz cited in the present embodiment. According to the characteristics of the laser oscillator used and the characteristics of the workpiece,
The optimal Q-switch frequency must be determined.

In the above embodiment, the interval is 200 μm and the width is 10 μm.
Although the effects of the present invention have been described with respect to groove processing, groove processing under these conditions can be easily dealt with by changing the period of the phase grating or by changing the focal length of the condenser lens. it can. The number of beam branches is not limited to 32, and may be determined according to the specifications of the laser processing apparatus. For example, using the data in Table 2 or Table 4, a phase grating for 16 branches can be produced and used. Considering the physical properties of the workpiece, the output and number of laser oscillators to be used, determining the optimal number of branches from the viewpoint of machining capacity, designing and manufacturing the required phase grating, easily supports many machining applications can do.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 9 shows a configuration of a laser processing apparatus of this embodiment. The difference in configuration from the first embodiment is that a spatial filter is arranged on the optical path. The shape of the focused spot is controlled by modulating the beam wavefront with a spatial filter.

The purpose of using the spatial filter is to narrow the width of the groove to further improve the display quality of the liquid crystal panel. Other methods for reducing the width of the groove include shortening the focal length of the condenser lens or increasing the diameter of the beam incident on the condenser lens. But,
The method (1) requires a phase grating having a very small minimum line width (2 μm or less), and has a drawback that it is difficult to produce a phase grating satisfying required performance. In addition, it is difficult to design and manufacture a large-diameter and aberration-free condenser lens, which leads to a significant increase in lens cost.

In this embodiment, the spatial filter shown in FIG.
An amplitude filter having an amplitude transmittance distribution shown in FIG.
An amplitude filter is an element that modulates only the amplitude without changing the phase of a beam transmitted through the filter. This amplitude filter 2101 was arranged immediately before the phase grating 1109 to apply amplitude modulation to the beam wavefront. The shape of the focused spot when the amplitude filter is used and when it is not used
This is shown in 12 (a) and (b). By relatively increasing the intensity outside the beam, the spot diameter after condensing could be reduced as shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 shows a plan view of the groove obtained when the amplitude filter is used. The width of the groove was about 6 μm, and the aperture ratio and contrast ratio of the liquid crystal panel could be further increased as compared with Example 1.

In addition to the above-described amplitude filters, a number of amplitude filters having different transmittance distributions are prepared, and are exchanged and used according to requirements, so that the width of the processing groove can be increased or decreased. Or you can. Further, the same effect can be obtained even when the required transmittance distribution is formed on the back surface (the surface on which no grating is formed) of the phase grating substrate by means such as vapor deposition.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 13 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to this embodiment. The difference in configuration from Example 1 is
The point is that a condenser lens having astigmatism is provided. A converging lens having astigmatism is used to generate an elliptical converging spot that is long in the stage movement direction.

The condenser lens 3101 is anamorphic and has different wavefront conversion functions in two orthogonal directions (x, y). For example, in the x direction, it has an action of performing a Fourier transform of the transmitted wavefront of the phase grating, and in the y direction, it has an action of controlling the intensity distribution of the transmitted wavefront. Such an anamorphic condenser lens can be realized by an aspherical lens or a combination of a spherical lens and a cylindrical lens.
By using an anamorphic condensing lens, an elliptical condensed spot long in the stage moving direction is obtained, and the stage moving speed is increased, whereby the processing speed can be improved.

FIG. 15 shows a state in which a focused spot is generated using an aspherical anamorphic focusing lens.
In FIG. 15A, reference numeral 1109 denotes a phase grating, 3301 denotes an aspherical anamorphic condensing lens, 3302 denotes a laser beam, and 3303 denotes an array of 32 condensed spots. The phase grating is a one-dimensional grating having a periodic structure only in the x direction, and is the same as the phase grating used in the first embodiment. The aspherical anamorphic condensing lens has a Fourier transform function of the wavefront in the x direction, and has a function of converting the intensity distribution of the wavefront from the Gaussian distribution to the rectangular distribution in the y direction. FIG. 15B shows the light intensity distribution of the obtained condensed spot in the y-axis direction. The width of the focused spot is 18 μm and the length is 28 μm. However, it is the width and length of the portion giving 1 / e ² or more of the peak intensity.
By irradiating this focused spot on the ITO film, the width 1
The ITO film was able to be removed over 0 μm and 20 μm in length.

In this embodiment, 32 diffracted beams are optically Fourier-transformed by an anamorphic condenser lens,
32 processing marks of 10μm wide and 20μm long on the surface of O film 200μ
Formed at intervals of m. Then, during the pulse intermittent time of 50 μsec, the stage was moved by a distance equal to 10 μm corresponding to half the length of the processing mark. If pulsed beams from the two oscillators were used to alternately form 32 processing marks with a width of 10 μm and a length of 20 μm at the same time, as shown in FIG. 14, grooves with an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm were intermittently formed. It could be processed without any parts. During this time, the stage moves at a speed of 20 per second
0 mm, which means that a processing speed of 6400 mm per second has been achieved.

It should be noted that the stage movement amount can be increased to such an extent that individual processing marks are not separated, and thereby the processing speed can be maximized.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 16 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. The configuration difference from the first embodiment is that a two-dimensional phase grating is used instead of a one-dimensional grating. By using the two-dimensional phase grating 4101, two or more rows of spots can be simultaneously generated.

In order to determine the phase distribution of the two-dimensional grating, two one-dimensional gratings may be orthogonally overlapped. Since the phase value of a one-dimensional lattice is 0 or π, according to the following rules, 2
The phase distribution of the dimensional lattice is also 0 or π.

0 + 0 = 0, 0 + π = π, π + π = 2π (= 0) (4) In this embodiment, the data of the phase grating 1 and the phase grating 3 shown in the first embodiment are used to obtain 32 A two-dimensional grating capable of simultaneously generating × 2 condensed spots was designed and manufactured. FIG. 18 shows a plan view of the phase distribution of the phase grating.

The interval between the condensed spots on the first and second rows is (2k
+1) △ y, the stage movement amount during pulse intermittent time is 2
Δy. When the relationship between the focused spot interval and the amount of stage movement is examined in detail, a portion where a circular processed portion is not connected occurs at an initial portion where processing is started. In consideration of this, the processing speed ratio β to the processing speed when processing in one row
Is given by the following equation.

Β = 2 ｛1−k / n｝ (k is a natural number) (5) where Δy is a tatami mat determined in consideration of a focused spot diameter, and n is the number of irradiated laser pulses. is there. Since there is a phase difference between the condensed spots in the first and second rows, the distance between the condensed spots (2k + 1 ) It is necessary to expand △ y.

FIG. 19 shows the relationship of equation (5). Compared to the stage movement distance required to traverse the pixel portion of the liquid crystal panel (equal to the product of the number n of laser pulses irradiated and the stage movement amount 2 △ y), the interval between the condensed spots (2k + 1)
Since Δy is negligibly short, the processing speed ratio β is effectively equal to 2. In other words, 2
Double processing speed can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, the spot interval in the stage movement direction is set to 15 μm, and the pulse interval of 50 μsec is set to 10 μm.
The stage was moved by μm (corresponding to k = 1, Δy = 5 μm). In this way, the pulse beams from the two oscillators
Alternately, if 32 × 2 processing marks with a diameter of 10 μm are continuously formed simultaneously, as shown in FIG. 17, an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm
m grooves could be machined without intermittent parts. During this period, the moving speed of the stage was 200 mm / sec, and a processing speed of 6400 mm / sec was achieved. Although an unprocessed portion remains at the left end of FIG. 17, it occurs due to the relationship between the stage moving speed and the interval between the two rows of spots, and is negligible.

Further, assuming that the number of beam branches in the stage movement direction is increased, the number of arrangements of the condensed spots is m, and the interval between them is (mk + 1) △ y, the processing speed ratio β is given by the following equation.

Β = m ｛1− (m−1) k / n｝ (k is a natural number) (6) That is, the processing speed ratio is higher than when processing is performed by arranging the condensed spots in one row. β becomes m times, and the processing speed can be greatly improved.

(Embodiment 5) FIG. 20 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. The configuration difference from the first embodiment is that a combination of a one-dimensional grating and a polarization splitting element simultaneously generates a plurality of rows of spots.

The laser oscillators 1101a and 1101b are Q switch YAG
A laser, emits a TEM ₀₀ mode of the linearly polarized light. The orientation of the Brewster element in the oscillator is changed, or a wave plate is arranged outside the oscillator, so that the two beams 1104a and 1104b emitted from the oscillator become linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. The two beams 1104a and 1104b are expanded by expander collimators 1105a and 1105b, respectively. After passing through the polarization combining element 1107, the beams travel along a common optical path and enter the polarization splitting element 5101.

The direction of the fast axis (or the slow axis) of the polarization separation element 5101 is determined so as to be 45 ° with respect to the polarization direction of the beam. After the two orthogonal polarization components of the beam are separated by a predetermined angle, they become elliptically polarized by the wave plate 1108 and enter the phase grating 1109. The phase grating 1109 is the same as the phase grating used in the first embodiment, and has a function of splitting one beam into 32 beams. After this,
Two rows of 32 condensed spots are formed on the ITO film via the condensing lens 110 at predetermined intervals in the stage movement direction. Since there is a phase difference between the focused spots in the first and second rows, widen the intervals between the focused spots so that changes in the focused spot shape caused by this phase difference do not adversely affect processing. There is a need. Thus, as in the case of the two-dimensional lattice (Example 4), the processing speed ratio can be doubled.

The structure of the polarization beam splitter used in this embodiment is shown in FIG.
See Figure 22. This element consists of two wedges (5
301, 5302). Assuming that the refractive index of _one wedge is n ₁ e, n ₁ o and the other is n ₂ e, n ₂ o, n ₁ e = n ₁ o, n ₂ e ≠ n ₂ o = n ₁ e Select wedge materials to satisfy the following relationship. However, the subscripts e and o represent extraordinary rays and ordinary rays. In this way, the 32 diffracted beams obtained from the S-polarized light component go straight, and the 32
The diffracted beams are deflected by a predetermined angle. By changing the combination of the refractive indices, both beams can be deflected by a predetermined angle in directions opposite to each other.

The distance between the spot arrangement in the first and second rows (2k +
1) The following relationship exists between Δy and the separation angle θ given by the polarization beam splitter.

(2k + 1) △ y = f · θ (7) From equation (7), the separation angle θ is given by θ = (2k + 1) △ y / f (8) For example, if f = 100 mm and (2k + 1) △ y = 15 μm, θ = 0.15 rad.

Assuming that the angle of the wedge of the polarization splitting element is φ and the refractive index difference required for deflection is △ n, φ · △ n ≒ θ (9) Therefore, if φ = 150 mrad, {n ≒ It becomes 0.001.
Δn is a value that can be sufficiently realized.

In the present embodiment, the spot interval in the stage movement direction is set to 15 μm, and the pulse interval of 50 μsec is set to 10 μm.
The stage was moved by μm. In this way, pulsed beams from the two oscillators alternately form machining marks with a diameter of 10 μm.
If the formation of × 2 pieces was continued at the same time, as shown in FIG. 17, grooves having an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm could be processed without intermittent portions. During this time, the stage moves at a speed of 200 m / s
m, which means that a processing speed of 6400 mm per second has been achieved.

In this embodiment, 32 × 2 condensed spots are simultaneously generated by using one polarization separation element. Two or more rows of the condensed light spots can be generated simultaneously.

(Embodiment 6) FIG. 23 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. The difference from the configuration of the first embodiment is that two rows of condensed spots are oscillated simultaneously by combining a one-dimensional grating and a deflection separation element.

The laser oscillators 1101a and 1101b are Q switch YAG
A laser, emits a TEM ₀₀ mode of the linearly polarized light. By changing the orientation of the Brewster polarizing element in the laser oscillator, or using a wave plate, the two beams 1104a and 1104b emitted from the laser oscillator are linearly polarized orthogonal to each other. The two beams are expanded by expander collimators 1105a and 1105b. Polarization combining element 1107
And the two beams travel along a common optical path. Using the wave plate 6101, the polarization direction of the beam is adjusted with respect to the direction of the fast axis (or out-of-phase axis) of the polarization separation element 6102.
Set to 45 °. By doing so, the polarization separation element 6102
The beam incident on is equally split in amplitude. Each of the divided components is converted into elliptically polarized light by the wavelength plate 1108, and enters the polarization splitting element 6104.

FIG. 25 shows the structure of the deflection separation element 6104.
A phase grating is formed on the front surface of the deflection separation element 6104, and a wedge is formed on the back surface. Phase grating 6301
Has two regions (A and B in the figure), and the region A receives a half amplitude component divided by the deflection separation element and the other half of the amplitude component B. Each of the phase gratings formed in the regions A and B is a phase grating produced from the phase data 1 shown in the first embodiment, and has an action of branching each of the two equally divided components into 32 beams. Have. The wedge normal 6305 of wedge 6304 is the lattice vector of the phase grating.
6302 and the substrate normal 6303 are in the plane created.

A predetermined angle is given between two amplitude components transmitted through the phase grating by a wedge 6304 formed on the back surface of the deflection separation element 6104. As a result, the 32 beams obtained from the half amplitude component and the 32 beams obtained from the other half amplitude components were separated by a predetermined distance in the stage movement direction via the condenser lens 1110, respectively. position,
An array of 32 focusing spots is formed on the ITO film.

In this embodiment, the spot interval was set to 15 μm, and the stage was moved by 10 μm during the pulse intermittent time of 50 μsec. As a result, as shown in FIG. 24, a groove having a width of 10 μm could be processed without intermittent portions. During this period, the moving speed of the stage was 200 mm / sec, and a processing speed of 6400 mm / sec was achieved. Thus, as in the case of the two-dimensional lattice, the processing speed ratio could be doubled.

(Embodiment 7) FIG. 26 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. The difference in configuration from Example 1 is that instead of forming a plurality of grooves at the same time, a long rod-like condensed light intensity distribution is created in the stage movement direction, and the stage is moved faster to increase the processing speed. is there.

The laser oscillators 1101a and 1101b are Q switch YAG
A laser, emits a TEM ₀₀ mode of the linearly polarized light. With a different orientation of the Brewster element in the oscillator, or by disposing a wave plate outside the oscillator, the two beams 1104a and 1104b emitted from each oscillator become linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. I do. Two beams 1104a and 11
04b are expander collimators 1105a and 1105, respectively.
Expanded by b. After this, the beam is
7 and travels along a common optical path,
Light is incident on 1. The structure of the light distribution device used in this embodiment is basically the same as that shown in FIG.
The configuration shown in FIG. 26 does not use a wave plate for elliptically polarizing the beam.

The two orthogonal polarization components of each beam enter a phase grating 7102 after being separated by a predetermined angle. The phase grating 7102 is a phase grating produced from the data of the phase grating 6 shown in the first embodiment, and has a function of splitting one beam into five beams. The condensing lens 1110 is applied to the five diffraction beams obtained from one polarization component and the five diffraction beams obtained from the other polarization component, so that half of the spot interval is formed on the surface of the ITO film. Are formed on the same straight line parallel to the stage moving direction.

FIG. 28 shows a light intensity distribution on the surface of the ITO film irradiated with the converging spot. FIG. 28 (a) shows a light intensity distribution created by one polarized light component, and FIG. 28 (b) shows a light intensity distribution created by the other polarized light component. The positions of the respective light intensity distributions are shifted from each other by half of the spot interval. When these light intensity distributions are added coherently (they are added in consideration of amplitude and phase), FIG.
(C). That is, it is possible to create a light intensity distribution whose width is almost equal to the spot diameter and whose length is about 5.5 times the spot diameter. The light intensity distributions shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B do not interfere because the polarization directions are orthogonal to each other. Therefore, since there is no influence of the phase difference between adjacent condensed spots, a substantially uniform light intensity distribution can be obtained.

To form a groove having a uniform width and depth, use ITO
It is necessary to make the light intensity distribution on the film uniform. The uniformity of the light intensity distribution on the ITO film is determined by the relative size of the phase grating and the beam. In this embodiment, the shape of the complex amplitude distribution of the array of spots is adjusted by making the beam diameter incident on the phase grating approximately equal to twice the length of the grating period and adjusting the beam diameter using an expander collimator. Optimized. When the beam diameter is 12 mm (1 / e ² ), the period p of the phase grating is p = 6.5 mm.

The following relationship exists between the amount of shift 集 光 s of the converging spot and the separation angle θ given by the polarization beam splitter. Δs = f · θ (10) From now on, to shift the arrangement of spots by half the spot diameter in the stage moving direction, from Δs = w / 2, w = 10μ
If m and f = 100 mm, θ = 50 μrad.

Assuming that the angle of the wedge of the polarization splitting element is φ and the refractive index difference required for deflection is φn, φ · △ n ≒ θ (11) Therefore, if φ = 50 mrad, {n ≒ It becomes 0.001.
Δn is a value that can be sufficiently realized.

In this embodiment, one beam having a peak power of 5.3 × W is split into two beams by the polarization splitting element, and five diffraction beams are obtained by the phase grating 7102 from the respective polarization components. Then, a total of 10 diffracted beams are optically Fourier-transformed by the condensing lens 1110, and a width of 18
A condensed light intensity distribution with a length of 99 μm was formed at μm. With this light intensity distribution, the ITO film could be removed over a width of 10 μm and a length of 91 μm.

In the present embodiment, the stage was moved by 45 μm during the pulse intermittent time of 50 μsec. In this way, as shown in FIG. 27, a groove having a width of 10 μm could be formed on the surface of the ITO film without any intermittent portions. The processing speed at this time is equal to the moving speed of the stage, and is 90 mm per second.

In this embodiment, a phase grating for five branches is used, but the number of branches can be increased or decreased according to a request from the stage control system. Optimum complex amplitude distribution of condensed spots by deciding the beam diameter and phase grating size in consideration of the threshold characteristics of the workpiece, the output and number of laser oscillators used, and the load on the stage control system. And a uniform processing groove can be obtained.

(Eighth Embodiment) FIG. 29 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to this embodiment. The difference in configuration from Example 1 is
Instead of forming a plurality of grooves at the same time, a rod-shaped condensed light intensity distribution long in the stage moving direction is formed, and the processing speed is increased by increasing the stage moving speed.

The laser oscillators 1101a and 1101b are Q switches YAG
A laser, emits a TEM ₀₀ mode of the linearly polarized light. The Brewster polarizing element in the laser oscillator is placed in a different position, or a wave plate is arranged outside the oscillator so that the beams emitted from the respective oscillators become linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. The two beams 1104a and 1104b are
It is enlarged by the expander collimators 1105a and 1105b. Thereafter, the two beams are combined by the polarization combining element 1107 and travel along a common optical path. The polarization direction of the beam is set to 45 ° with respect to the direction of the fast axis (or slow axis) of the polarization separation element 8102 using the wave plate 8101. By doing so, the beam incident on the polarization splitting element 8102 is equally split in amplitude. Each of the divided components enters the deflection / separation element 8104.

The structure of the deflection separation element used in this embodiment is as follows.
At the time of basic operation, it is the same as that shown in FIG. A phase grating is formed, and a wedge is formed on the back surface. The phase grating has two regions, one region receiving half the amplitude component separated by polarization, and the other region receiving the other half amplitude component. The phase grating formed in the two regions is a phase grating produced from the data of the phase grating 4 shown in the first embodiment.

A predetermined angle is given between the two amplitude components transmitted through the phase grating by the wedge formed on the back surface of the deflection separation element 8103, so that eight beams obtained from half amplitude components are provided. By applying the condenser lens 1110 to the eight beams obtained from the other half amplitude components, the ITO
On the surface of the film, spot rows shifted from each other by half of the spot interval are formed on the same straight line parallel to the stage moving direction.

FIG. 31 shows an irradiation intensity distribution on the surface of the ITO film irradiated with the converging spot. FIG. 31 (a) shows a light intensity distribution created by one polarized light component, and FIG. 31 (b) shows a light intensity distribution created by the other polarized light component. The positions of the respective light intensity distributions are shifted from each other by half of the spot interval. When these irradiation intensity distributions are added together,
It looks like 31 (c). That is, it is possible to create a light intensity distribution whose width is almost equal to the spot diameter and whose length is about 8.5 times the spot diameter. The light intensity distributions shown in FIGS. 31A and 31B do not interfere with each other because the polarization directions are orthogonal to each other. Therefore, the effect of the phase difference between the adjacent condensed spots is not reduced, so that a substantially uniform light intensity distribution can be obtained. In the configuration of FIG. 29, a wave plate for elliptically polarizing the beam 1113 is not used.

To form grooves of uniform width and depth, use ITO
It is necessary to make the light intensity distribution on the film uniform. The uniformity of the light intensity distribution on the ITO film is determined by the relative size of the phase grating and the beam. In the present embodiment, the shape of the complex amplitude distribution of the array of spots is optimized by making the beam diameter incident on the phase grating equal to the length of the grating period and adjusting the beam diameter using an expander collimator. . If the beam diameter is 12 mm (1 / e ² ), the period p of the phase grating is p
= 12 mm.

The following relationship exists between the shift amount Δs of the focused spot and the separation angle θ given by the polarization separation element. Δs = f · θ (12) From now on, to shift the arrangement of spots by half the spot diameter in the stage moving direction, from Δs = w / 2, w = 10μ
If m and f = 100 mm, θ = 50 μrad.

Assuming that the angle of the wedge of the polarization splitting element is φ and the refractive index difference required for deflection is △ n, φ · △ n ≒ θ (13) (φ = 50 mrad) .001. △
n is a value that can be sufficiently realized.

In this embodiment, one beam having a peak power of 5.3 × W is split into two beams by the deflection separation element, and eight diffraction beams are obtained by the phase grating 8104 from the respective amplitude components. Then, a total of 16 diffracted beams are optically Fourier-transformed by the condensing lens, and a width of 18 μm and a length of 15 μm are formed on the surface of the ITO film.
A condensed light intensity distribution of 3 μm was formed. With this light intensity distribution, ITO film pus could be removed over a width of 10 μm and a length of 145 μm.

In this embodiment, the stage was moved by 70 μm during the pulse intermittent time of 50 μsec. In this manner, as shown in FIG. 31, a groove having a width of 10 μm could be formed on the surface of the ITO film without any intermittent portions. The processing speed at this time is equal to the moving speed of the stage, and is 1400 mm per second.

In this embodiment, a phase grating for eight branches is used, but the number of branches can be increased or decreased according to a request from the stage control system. Optimum complex amplitude distribution of condensed spots by deciding the beam diameter and phase grating size in consideration of the threshold characteristics of the workpiece, the output and number of laser oscillators used, and the load on the stage control system. And a uniform processing groove can be obtained.

(Embodiment 9) FIG. 32 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. The difference from Embodiments 1 to 8 in the configuration is that only one laser oscillator is provided.

The laser oscillator 9101 is a Q-switched YAG laser and emits linearly polarized light in the TEM ₀₀ mode. The Q switch frequency of the laser oscillator is controlled by a Q switch driver 9102. The beam 9103 emitted from the oscillator is expanded by the expander collimator 9104. After changing the polarization of the beam to elliptically polarized light by the wave plate 9106, the phase grating 9107
To be incident. The phase grating 9107 divides one incident beam into 32
It has the effect of branching into a diffracted beam. Phase grating 9107
Of the 32 beams emitted from the laser beam form a condensing lens 9108, and form 32 condensed spots 9111 at predetermined intervals on the surface of the ITO film 9109 held on the precision stage 9110. Then, by moving the precision stage 9110,
The ITO film is cut straight or curved. In the figure, 9105
Is an optical path bending mirror.

The beam is converted into elliptically polarized light using a wave plate, so that the beam has a uniform width and depth without being affected by the anisotropy and non-uniformity of the ITO film and the deposits on the ITO film. ITO
Since the film can be cut, the required processing quality can be maintained at a constant level.

The laser oscillator used was a lamp-excited Q-switched YAG laser manufactured by Quantronix, and had an oscillation wavelength of 532 nm.
m, rated average output 8W. In order to investigate the processing conditions and damage to the glass substrate, Q
The experiment of machining one groove by changing the switch frequency was repeated. As a result, it was found that the groove could be formed without damaging the ITO film and the underlying glass substrate when the Q switch frequency was set to 10 KHz or less. It was also found that whether or not processing could be performed was determined by the magnitude of the peak power, depending on the Q-switch frequency.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show the relationship between the laser output and the time when the Q switch frequency is 10 KHz and 30 KHz, respectively. Assuming that the peak power during processing is 150 W, the pulse width and pulse energy when the Q switch frequency is 10 KHz are 150 nsec and 23 μJ, respectively. On the other hand, when the Q-switch frequency is 30 KHz, the pulse width and the pulse energy are 300 nsec and 45 μJ, respectively, and when the ITO film on the glass substrate is processed under these laser oscillation conditions, damage will not occur at the Q-switch frequency of 10 KHz. Did not occur, but 30KHz
Under the conditions (1) and (2), microscopic damage occurred on the periphery of the groove and on the glass substrate surface. The reason that the damage occurred at 30 KHz is
This is because the pulse width is widened and excessive energy is input. In other words, even when the peak power has reached the processing threshold, if the pulse width determined by the Q switch frequency is wider than the allowable value, damage during processing is inevitable. In such a case, it is not effective to reduce the pulse energy for the purpose of avoiding damage. This is because the peak power does not exceed the processing threshold value and processing cannot be performed.

Based on the above results, the Q switch frequency of the laser oscillator was set to 10 KHz and the rated average output was set to 8 W in consideration of the number of beam branches and the processing speed. The pulse width at this time is 150 nsec, and the peak power is 5.3 KW at the rated output. FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the relationship between the laser output and time in this example.

In order to form one groove in an ITO film having a thickness of 1500 angstroms, a peak power of 110 W or more is required. Therefore, using the above-described phase grating 1109, a beam with a peak power of 5.3 KW is split into 32 beams. Then, 32 beams were optically Fourier-transformed by the condensing lens, and 32 condensed spots having an interval of 200 μm were irradiated on the surface of the ITO film. The focused spot diameter at this time is 18μ
m, and the diameter of the processing mark formed on the ITO film is 10 μm. Thus, 32 pulses of 10 μm in diameter can be simultaneously formed by one pulse. Fig. 6 shows the convergent spot diameter and the processing diameter. Note that a processing mark smaller than the focused spot diameter can be obtained due to the threshold characteristics of the ITO film.

At an intermittent time of 100 μsec before the next pulse is oscillated, the precision stage is used to move the substrate by a distance equal to 5 μm corresponding to half the diameter of the processing mark. In this way, pulsed beams from two oscillators alternate in diameter 1
Continue to form 32 0μm processing traces simultaneously.
As shown in FIG. 34, a groove having an interval of 200 μm and a width of 10 μm could be processed without intermittent portions. During this time, the moving speed of the stage is 50 mm per second and is always constant. By machining 32 grooves at the same time, a machining speed of 1600 mm per second has been achieved.

By tilting the arrangement direction of the 32 condensed spots with respect to the moving direction of the stage, the interval between the spots, that is, the interval between the processing grooves can be freely adjusted. Use a rotating stage to tilt the direction of the spots,
What is necessary is just to rotate the phase grating in that plane. By providing such an adjusting mechanism, it is possible to perform electrode patterning with high accuracy in accordance with the specifications of the liquid crystal panel, and it is also possible to easily cope with a trial production of a liquid crystal panel having different electrode intervals. Therefore, the lead time for product development can be significantly reduced.

According to the processing apparatus and the processing method of this embodiment, the ITO film can be patterned with a cutting width of 10 μm or less. As a result, the aperture ratio and the contrast ratio, which are the main factors controlling the display quality of the liquid crystal panel, are greatly improved. On the other hand, the electrode gap obtained by conventional electrode processing by photolithography is 30 μm, which is a major cause of lowering the aperture ratio and contrast ratio of a liquid crystal panel.

In this embodiment, the lamp excitation type Q switch YAG
Although a laser is used, a semiconductor laser-excited Q-switched YAG laser may be used. The same effect can be obtained even when a YLF laser is used instead of the YAG laser. Further, a gas laser capable of pulse oscillation can be used instead of the solid laser. Further, the Q switch frequency suitable for processing depends on the characteristics of the laser oscillator, and is not limited to 10 KHz cited in the present embodiment. According to the characteristics of the laser oscillator used and the characteristics of the workpiece,
The optimal Q-switch frequency must be determined.

In the above embodiment, the interval is 200 μm and the width is 10 μm.
The effect of the invention was sharpened for the groove processing of the above, but groove processing under these conditions can be easily dealt with by changing the period of the phase grating or by changing the focal length of the condenser lens. Can be. The number of beam branches is not limited to 32, and may be determined according to the specifications of the laser processing apparatus. For example, using the data in Table 2 or Table 4, a phase grating for 16 branches can be produced and used. Considering the physical properties of the workpiece, the output and number of laser oscillators to be used, determining the optimal number of branches from the viewpoint of machining capacity, designing and manufacturing the required phase grating, easily supports many machining applications can do.

(Embodiment 10) An alignment film is formed on an ITO film substrate processed by the processing apparatus of Examples 1 to 9, and a required alignment treatment (for example, rubbing treatment) is performed on the alignment film.
Add. After the alignment process, the electrode patterns are orthogonal
The liquid crystal is sealed between the two ITO film substrates, and the liquid crystal panel is assembled. As shown in FIG. 35, there are three methods for mounting the drive circuit on the assembled liquid crystal panel. The term TAB used in the following description is TapeAutomated Bonding
And generally means that a drive circuit is formed on a tape. Here, the term TAB tape is used to mean a tape on which a drive circuit is formed. (1) A method of mounting the TAB tape on only one side of the panel The wiring interval in the TAB tape 10102 is equal to the interval between the pixel electrodes 10101 of the liquid crystal panel. According to the mounting method, the intermediate area (for example, the area where the groove is inclined in FIG. 36) connecting the liquid crystal panel and the TAB tape is unnecessary, and the TAB tape is provided only on one of the upper and lower sides and the left and right sides of the liquid crystal panel. Is sufficient, so the storage space for the LCD panel can be greatly reduced. Saving the LCD panel storage space has the effect of reducing the size and weight of the display device and adding a variety of optional functions (see Fig. 35 (a)). (2) Stagger the TAB tape on both sides of the panel. Since the TAB tape undergoes heat shrinkage, it may be difficult to ensure the accuracy of the wiring interval of the TAB tape over the length of one side of the liquid crystal panel. In this regard, there is a technical difficulty in the mounting method (1). Therefore, TAB of appropriate length
By preparing a plurality of tapes 10202 and arranging them in a zigzag manner on the upper, lower, left and right sides of the liquid crystal panel, it is possible to secure the wiring accuracy of the TAB tape. Even with this implementation method,
Since an intermediate region connecting the pixel electrode 10201 and the TAB tape 10202 is not required, the effect of saving the storage space of the liquid crystal panel is great. (See Fig. 35 (b).) (3) Method of mounting TAB tape via the intermediate area For example, by using a galvanomirror and irradiating a beam in a direction perpendicular to the stage movement direction, the electrode pattern as shown in Fig. 36 To form By providing such an electrode pattern as the intermediate region 10303, the pixel electrode 10301 and the TAB tape 1
Connect 0302. This method has a small effect of saving the storage space of the liquid crystal panel, but since the mounted components can be used as they are, the effect of reducing the mounting cost is significantly greater than the above methods (1) and (2). . (Figure 35
(See (c)) A plan view of a stripe electrode of a simple matrix drive type liquid crystal panel processed by the processing apparatus of Examples 1 to 9
This is shown in 37 (a). The electrode pitch is 200 μm and the electrode gap is 10 μm. In the figure, reference numeral 11101 denotes an electrode gap of the upper substrate, and reference numeral 11102 denotes an electrode gap of the lower substrate. The distinction between the upper side and the lower side is defined such that, when viewed from a viewer standing in front of the liquid crystal panel, the near side is the upper side and the far side is the lower side.

On the other hand, FIG. 37B is an enlarged view of a stripe electrode patterned by photomask exposure according to a conventional method. In the figure, 11201 is an electrode gap on the upper substrate, and 11202 is an electrode gap on the lower substrate. The electrode pitch is 200 μm and the electrode gap is 30 μm.

The main factors that determine the display quality of a liquid crystal panel are the electrode aperture ratio and the contrast ratio. The electrode aperture ratio is an effective electrode area where light transmittance (or reflectance) can be controlled. The electrode aperture ratio is defined by the following equation. α = (P−g) ² / P ² = (1−g / P) ² (14) where P is the electrode pitch and g is the electrode gap. Naturally, α <1.

On the other hand, the contrast ratio is a ratio between the maximum value and the minimum value of the light transmittance (or reflectance), and can be defined by the following equation. C = χ · P ² [P ² − (P−g) ² ] = χ / (1−α) (15) where χ is mainly the alignment condition of the liquid crystal and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer. ,
It is a variable determined from the driving conditions. From Equations (14) and (15), it can be understood that there is a large correlation between the electrode aperture ratio and the contrast ratio.

Using equations (14) and (15), FIG.
The electrode aperture ratio and contrast ratio of the two types of liquid crystal panels were calculated. For the liquid crystal panel of the present invention, the electrode aperture ratio
0.90 and a contrast ratio of 20 were obtained. On the other hand, in the conventional liquid crystal panel, an electrode aperture ratio of 0.72 and a contrast ratio of 3.6 were obtained. With respect to these calculated values, the measured values are as follows: the liquid crystal panel of the present invention has an electrode aperture ratio of 0.90 and a contrast ratio of 45, and the conventional liquid crystal panel has an electrode opening ratio of 0.70 and a contrast ratio of 30. there were.

By performing electrode patterning of a liquid crystal panel using the laser processing apparatus and the processing method of the present invention,
The electrode gap is narrowed by one third or less (10 μm or less)
The electrode aperture ratio was 1.3 times and the contrast ratio was 1.5 times. As a result, the visibility of the liquid crystal panel of the present invention was significantly improved as compared with the conventional liquid crystal panel. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the laser processing apparatus of the present invention can be widely used for micro-cutting and micro-perforation. The laser processing method of the present invention is particularly suitable for electrode patterning of a liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel of the present invention has a high aperture ratio and a high contrast ratio, and is much superior in display quality to a conventional liquid crystal panel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating that two laser oscillators are alternately driven.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a processed ITO film.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a Q switch frequency and a beam characteristic. (A) Q switch frequency is 10KHz (b) Q switch frequency is 30KHz

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a condensing spot diameter and a processing diameter.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an ITO film and a glass substrate.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an overview of a one-dimensional phase grating.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an amplitude transmittance distribution of a spatial filter.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a shape of a converging spot. (A) With spatial filter (b) Without spatial filter

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an anamorphic condensing lens. (A) Function of anamorphic focusing lens (b) Light intensity distribution

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of a two-dimensional phase grating.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining that a processing speed ratio is improved.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a polarization separation element.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a sixth embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a configuration of a deflection separation element. (A) is a top view of a polarization separation element. (B) is sectional drawing of a polarization separation element.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a seventh embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a plan view showing the shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining a method of forming a slit-like light intensity distribution. (A) Light intensity distribution created by the S-polarized component of the beam. (B) Light intensity distribution created by the P-polarized component of the beam. (C) Coherent sum of (a) and (b)

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to an eighth embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a plan view showing a shape of a processing groove.

FIG. 31 is a diagram for explaining a method of forming a slit-like light intensity distribution. (A) Light intensity distribution created by the S-polarized component of the beam. (B) Light intensity distribution created by the P-polarized component of the beam. (C) Coherent sum of (a) and (b)

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to a ninth embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between laser output and time.

FIG. 34 is a plan view showing the shape of a machining groove.

FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating a method for mounting a liquid crystal panel. (A) When the TAB tape is mounted on only one side of the panel (b) When the TAB tape is mounted on both sides of the panel in a staggered manner (c) When the TAB tape is mounted via the intermediate area

FIG. 36 is a plan view of an intermediate region connecting a stripe electrode and a TAB tape.

FIG. 37 is a plan view of an electrode pattern of the liquid crystal panel. (A) Electrode pattern processed by the processing device and processing method of the present oscillation light (b) Electrode pattern processed by the conventional processing method

[Explanation of symbols]

1101a Laser oscillation machine 1101b Laser oscillation machine 1102a Q switch driver 1102b Q switch driver 1103 Controller 1104a Laser beam 1104b Laser beam 1105a Expander collimator 1105b Expander collimator 1106 Optical path bending mirror 1107 Polarization combining element 1108 Wave plate 1109 1-dimensional phase grating 1110 Optical lens 1111 ITO film substrate 1112 Precision stage 1113 Focusing spot 1201 Processing groove 1202 ITO film 1301 Processing groove 1302 ITO film 1401 ITO film 1402 SiO ₂ buffer film 1403 Glass substrate 2101 Spatial filter 2201 Processing groove 2202 ITO film 3101 Anamorphic condensing lens 3201 Processing groove 3202 ITO film 3301 Aspherical anamorphic condensing lens 3302 Laser beam 3303 Arrangement of elliptical condensing spots 4101 2D phase grating 4201 Processing groove 4202 ITO film 5101 Polarization separation element 5201 Processing domain 5202 ITO 5301 Wedge 5302 Wedge 6101 Wave plate 6102 Polarization separation element 6103 Optical path folding Bending mirror 6104 Deflection element 6201 Processing groove 6202 ITO film 6301 Phase grating 6302 Grid vector 6303 Substrate normal 6304 Wedge 6305 Wedge normal 7101 Polarization separation element 7102 1D phase grating 7201 Processing groove 7202 ITO film 8101 Wave plate 8102 Light separation Element 8103 Optical path bending mirror 8104 Deflection element 8201 Machining groove 8202 ITO film 9101 Laser oscillator 9102 Q switch driver 9103 Laser beam 9104 Expander collimator 9105 Optical path bending mirror 9106 Wave plate 9107 Phase grating 9108 Condensing lens 9109 ITO film substrate 9110 Precision stage 9111 Focus spot 10101 Pixel electrode 10102 TAB tape 10201 Pixel electrode 10202 TAB tape 10301 Pixel electrode 10302 TAB tape 10303 Intermediate area 10401 Processing groove 10402 ITO film 11101 Upper electrode gap 11102 Lower electrode gap 11201 Upper electrode gap 11202 Lower electrode gap

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] October 25, 2001 (2001.10.
25)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Name of invention

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Patent application title: Liquid crystal panel and method of manufacturing liquid crystal panel
Law

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0001

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0001]

The present invention relates to the high microfabrication processing quality can also be laser machining apparatus and laser with excellent mass productivity
The present invention relates to a processing method , a liquid crystal panel having an electrode structure patterned by the laser processing method and having excellent display quality, and a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel .

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0005

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a laser processing apparatus and a processing method which are excellent in processing quality and high in processing ability. Furthermore, there is a case where a liquid crystal panel having high display quality and a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel manufactured by using the laser processing apparatus and the processing method are provided. (Disclosure of the Invention) A laser processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: (1) driving a plurality of pulsed laser oscillators sequentially while shifting the phase of an oscillation cycle, and elliptically polarizing beams from the plurality of laser oscillators. It is possible to lower the oscillation frequency of each oscillator without lowering the effective oscillation frequency. (2) As a result, the required peak power and pulse width are obtained, and the workpiece is thermally damaged. (3) By making the beam elliptically polarized, the required processing can be performed without being affected by the anisotropy of the workpiece or the adherence of the workpiece. Quality can be constantly maintained.

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0007

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

According to the laser processing method of the present invention, the above processing apparatus is used to selectively irradiate a plurality of beams to a light-transmitting conductive film deposited on a substrate to move the substrate or the plurality of beams. By doing so, a plurality of grooves can be simultaneously formed in the translucent conductive film. By using a surface uneven type binary phase grating designed so that a plurality of beams after branching have the same intensity as the beam branching unit, a groove having a uniform processing shape and processing quality can be formed.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0009

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Here, the configuration and features of the present invention will be described in detail in a case where a stripe electrode used for a liquid crystal panel of a simple matrix drive system is processed.

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0010

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(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention. Laser oscillation devices 1101a and 1101b are Q-switched YAG lasers, and emit linearly polarized TEM00 mode. The Q switch frequency of the laser oscillator is controlled by Q switch drivers 1102a and 1102b. 1103 is a Q switch controller, a drive provided by a Q switch driver
Controls the phase of the signal . By devising the arrangement of the Brewster element in the oscillator, or by disposing a wave plate outside the oscillator, two beams 1104a and 11
04b are linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. By the expander collimators 1105a and 1105b, each beam is expanded, and further, using the polarization combining element 1107,
The optical path of the two beams is made common. Then, the wave plate 1108
After changing the polarization of the beam to an ellipse, the beam is made incident on the phase grating 1109. The phase grating 1109 has an operation of splitting one incident beam into 32 diffraction beams. The 32 beams emitted from the phase grating 1109 are
On the surface of a light-transmitting conductive film (ITO film) substrate 1111 held on a precision stage 1112 via 32, 32 condensed spots 1113 are formed at equal intervals. And precision stage
By moving the 1112, the IT can be linear or curved
Cut the O film. In the figure, reference numeral 1106 denotes an optical path bending mirror.

[Procedure amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0020

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In the actual calculation , the conditions of (1) and (2) are incorporated into the evaluation function, and a solution satisfying the conditions of (1) and (2) is further extracted from the solutions satisfying the conditions of (1) and (2). Considering the following
Solutions that satisfy the conditions of (3) and (4) are selected. (3) The minimum line width of the phase grating is as large as possible. (4) The performance of the phase grating is not largely affected by manufacturing errors. The conditions (3) and (4) are determined by the pattern transfer capability of each of the photomask drawing apparatus, exposure / development apparatus, and etching apparatus used for producing the phase grating.

[Procedure amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0025

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The laser oscillator used is a lamp-pumped Q-switched YAG laser manufactured by Quantronix, and has an oscillation wavelength of 532 nm.
m, rated average output 8W. Processing conditions and glass substrate
To check for damage , use Q
The experiment of machining one groove by changing the switch frequency was repeated. As a result, it was found that the groove could be formed without damaging the ITO film and the underlying glass substrate when the Q switch frequency was set to 10 kHz or less. It was also found that whether or not processing could be performed was determined by the magnitude of the peak power, regardless of the Q switch frequency.

[Procedure amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0049

[Correction method] Change

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Β = 2 {1−k / n} (k is a natural number) (5) where Δy is an amount determined in consideration of the diameter of the focused spot, and n
Is the number of irradiated laser pulses. Since there is a phase difference between the condensed spots in the first and second rows, the distance between the condensed spots (2k + 1) is small enough that the change in the shape of the condensed spot caused by this phase difference does not adversely affect the processing. ) It is necessary to expand △ y.

[Procedure amendment 11]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0079

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The laser oscillators 1101a and 1101b are Q switch YAG
It is a laser and emits TEM00 mode of linearly polarized light. The Brewster polarizing element in the laser oscillator is placed in a different position, or a wave plate is arranged outside the oscillator so that the beams emitted from the respective oscillators become linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other. The two beams 1104a and 1104b are
It is enlarged by the expander collimators 1105a and 1105b. Thereafter, the two beams are combined by the polarization combining element 1107 and travel along a common optical path. The polarization direction of the beam is set to 45 ° with respect to the direction of the fast axis (or slow axis) of the polarization separation element 8102 using the wave plate 8101. By doing so, the beam incident on the polarization splitting element 8102 is equally split in amplitude. Each split component is polarized
The light enters the separation element 8104.

[Procedure amendment 12]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0080

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

The structure of the polarization beam splitter used in this embodiment is as follows.
Basically, it is the same as that shown in FIG. A phase grating is formed, and a wedge is formed on the back surface. The phase grating has two regions, one region receiving half the amplitude component separated by polarization, and the other region receiving the other half amplitude component. Each of the phase gratings formed in the two regions is a phase grating produced from the data of the phase grating 4 shown in the first embodiment.

[Procedure amendment 13]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0081

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

A predetermined angle is given between the two amplitude components transmitted through the phase grating by the wedge formed on the back surface of the polarization separation element 8103, so that eight beams obtained from half amplitude components are provided. By applying the condenser lens 1110 to the eight beams obtained from the other half amplitude components, the ITO
On the surface of the film, spot rows shifted from each other by half of the spot interval are formed on the same straight line parallel to the stage moving direction.

[Procedure amendment 14]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 008

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In this embodiment, one beam having a peak power of 5.3 kW is split into two beams by a polarization splitting element , and eight diffraction beams are obtained by a phase grating 8104 from each amplitude component. Then, a total of 16 diffracted beams are optically Fourier-transformed by the condensing lens, and a width of 18 μm and a length of 15 μm are formed on the surface of the ITO film.
A 3 μm light intensity distribution was formed. With this light intensity distribution, the ITO film could be removed over a width of 10 μm and a length of 145 μm.

[Procedure amendment 15]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Explanation of sign

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Description of Signs ] 1101a Laser oscillator 1101b Laser oscillator 1102a Q switch driver 1102b Q switch driver 1103 Controller 1104a Laser beam 1104b Laser beam 1105a Expander collimator 1105b Expander collimator 1106 Optical path bending mirror 1107 Polarization combining element 1108 Wave plate 1109 One-dimensional phase grating 1110 condenser lens 1111 ITO film substrate 1201 kerfs 1202 ITO film 1301 kerfs 1302 ITO film 1401 ITO film 1402 SiO ₂ buffer layer 1403 a glass substrate 2101 spatial filter 2201 kerfs 2202 ITO film 3101 Anamorufuikku condenser lens 3201 machining Groove 3202 ITO film 3301 Aspheric anamorphic condensing lens 3302 Laser beam 3303 Arrangement of elliptical condensed spots 4101 Two-dimensional phase grating 4201 Processing groove 4202 ITO film 5101 Polarization separation element 5201 Processing groove 5202 ITO 5301 Wedge 5302 Wedge 6101 wavelength plate 6102 polarization separation element 6103 optical path bending mirror 6104 Henhikaribun Element 6201 machined groove 6202 ITO film 6301 phase grating 6302 grating vector 6303 substrate normal 6304 Wedge 6305 Wedge normal 7101 polarization separation element 7102 1-dimensional phase grating 7201 kerfs 7202 ITO film 8101 waveplate 8102 polarization separation element 8103 optical path bending mirror 8104 Polarization separation element 8201 Machining groove 8202 ITO film 9101 Laser oscillator 9102 Q switch driver 9103 Laser beam 9104 Expander collimator 9105 Optical path bending mirror 9106 Wave plate 9107 Phase grating 9108 Focusing lens 9109 ITO film substrate 9110 Precision stage 9111 Focusing spot 10101 pixel Electrode 10102 TAB tape 10201 Pixel electrode 10202 TAB tape 10301 Pixel electrode 10302 TAB tape 10303 Intermediate area 10401 Processing groove 10402 ITO film 11101 Upper electrode gap 11102 Lower electrode gap 11201 Upper electrode gap 11202 Lower electrode gap

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G02B 5/00 G02B 5/00 A 5F072 5/18 5/18 5/30 5/30 13/00 13 / 00 13/08 13/08 H01S 3/00 H01S 3/00 B 3/109 3/109 3/117 3/117 // B23K 101: 36 B23K 101: 36 (31) Priority claim number Japanese Patent Application No. 5- 186442 (32) Priority date July 28, 1993 (July 28, 1993) (33) Priority claiming country Japan (JP) (31) Priority claim number Japanese Patent Application No. 5-240090 (32) Priority date Heisei September 27, 5 (September 27, 1993) (33) Priority claim country Japan (JP) (31) Priority claim number Japanese Patent Application No. 6-4244 (32) Priority date January 19, 1994 ( (19 Jan 1994) (33) Countries claiming priority Japan (JP) (72) Inventor Tomio Sonehara 3-5-5 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture Seiko Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Tsutomu Ota 3-5-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano F-term in Seiko Epson Corporation (reference) 2H042 AA11 AA13 AA19 AA20 AA21 2H049 AA03 AA04 AA50 AA55 AA64 AA65 AA66 BA05 BA06 BA42 BB87 BC21 LA21 LA28 NA01 PA01 PA17 PB01 RA06 RA11 2H092 HA04 MA12 MA35 4E068 CA03 CA06 CB01 CD02 CD04 CD06 CK01 5F072 AB02 AB15 HH05 HH07 JJ08 KK12 MM04 MM07 PP01 PP07 QQ02 RR03 SS01 SS06 YY06

Claims (61)

[Claims] At least a plurality of pulsed laser oscillators, means for sequentially driving the plurality of pulsed laser oscillators by shifting the respective oscillation phases of the plurality of pulsed laser oscillators, and light emitted from the plurality of pulsed laser oscillators 1. A laser processing apparatus comprising: means for splitting each of a plurality of beams into a plurality of beams; and irradiating a plurality of beams obtained by the splitting means to a workpiece. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of pulsed laser oscillators are Q-switched laser oscillators.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The multiple Q-switched laser oscillator according to claim 2, wherein
3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the laser processing apparatus is a solid-state laser oscillator that emits a harmonic. 4. A laser processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of solid-state laser oscillators are ramp-pumped oscillators. 5. The solid-state laser oscillator according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of solid-state laser oscillators are semiconductor laser-pumped oscillators.
The laser processing apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 6. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for matching optical paths of beams emitted from said plurality of laser oscillators. 7. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for converting the latter number of beams for irradiating the workpiece into elliptically polarized light. 8. A laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for rotating said branching means at least in a plane orthogonal to an optical path. 9. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said branching means is a phase grating. 10. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a spatial filter for applying amplitude modulation or phase modulation to beams emitted from said plurality of laser oscillators. 11. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for adding at least astigmatism to each of the plurality of beams obtained by said branching means. 12. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for deflecting and separating the beam in addition to said branching means, wherein the branching direction and the separation direction are different. 13. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a means for deflecting and separating the beam in addition to the branching means, wherein the branching direction and the separation direction are the same. 14. A pulse laser oscillator, means for driving said pulse laser oscillator, and means for branching a beam emitted from said pulse laser oscillator into a plurality of beams, wherein said means is obtained by said branch means. A plurality of beams that are irradiated on a workpiece. 15. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said pulse laser oscillator is a Q-switch laser oscillator. 16. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said Q-switched laser oscillator is a solid-state laser oscillator that emits a second harmonic. 17. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said plurality of solid-state laser oscillators are ramp-pumped oscillators. 18. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said solid-state laser oscillator is a semiconductor laser excitation type oscillator. 19. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising means for converting the plurality of beams irradiating the workpiece into elliptically polarized light. 20. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising means for rotating said branching means at least in a plane orthogonal to an optical path. 21. A laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said branching means is a phase grating. 22. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a spatial filter for applying amplitude modulation or phase modulation to a beam emitted from said laser oscillator. 23. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising means for adding at least astigmatism to each of the plurality of beams obtained by said branching means. 24. In addition to the splitting means, a means for deflecting and splitting the beam is provided, and the splitting direction of the beam split by the splitting means and the splitting direction of the beam split by the splitting means are determined. 15. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the laser processing apparatus is different. 25. A beam splitting means for deflecting and splitting a beam in addition to the splitting means, and a splitting direction of a beam split by the splitting hand and a splitting direction of a beam split by the splitting means. 15. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the values are the same. 26. At least two units for emitting the second harmonic
Q-switch solid-state laser oscillator, means for sequentially driving the laser oscillators by shifting the phases of the respective Q switches of the two laser oscillators, and means for matching the optical paths of the beams emitted from the two laser oscillators And a transmission phase grating that splits the beam into a plurality of beams, and irradiates a workpiece with a plurality of beams obtained by the transmission phase grating. 27. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, wherein said two Q-switched solid-state laser oscillators are ramp-pumped oscillators. 28. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, wherein said two Q-switched solid-state laser oscillators are semiconductor laser pumped oscillators. 29. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising means for converting the plurality of beams irradiating the workpiece into elliptically polarized light. 30. A laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising means for rotating said transmission type phase grating at least in a plane orthogonal to an optical path. 31. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising a spatial filter for applying amplitude modulation or phase modulation to beams emitted from said two Q-switched solid-state laser oscillators. 32. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising means for applying at least astigmatism to each of a plurality of beams obtained by said transmission phase grating. 33. A laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising another beam branching means in addition to said transmission type phase grating, wherein respective branching directions are parallel to each other. 34. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising another beam branching means in addition to said transmission type phase grating, wherein respective branching directions are orthogonal to each other. 35. A plurality of pulse laser oscillators, each of which oscillates in phase, drives the plurality of pulse laser oscillators sequentially, and splits each of the beams emitted from the plurality of pulse laser oscillators into a plurality of beams. Forming a groove in the light-transmitting conductive film by irradiating the light-transmitting conductive film attached on the substrate with the plurality of branched beams and moving the substrate or the plurality of beams. A laser processing method characterized by the above-mentioned. 36. The laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein said light-transmitting conductive film is an ITO film. 37. The laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YAG laser oscillator. 38. A laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YLF laser oscillator. 39. A laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein said plurality of beams are irradiated substantially perpendicularly to said light transmitting conductive film. 40. The laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein the plurality of beams are irradiated obliquely to the light-transmitting conductive film. 41. The laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein one beam train obtained by said branching means is irradiated on said light transmitting conductive film. 42. A laser processing method according to claim 35, wherein a plurality of beam trains obtained by said branching means are applied to said light-transmitting conductive film. 43. A beam emitted from a pulsed laser oscillator is split into a plurality of beams, and the plurality of split beams are irradiated on a light-transmitting conductive film deposited on a substrate, and the substrate or the plurality of beams are irradiated. Forming a groove in the translucent conductive film by moving the beam. 44. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein said light-transmitting conductive film is an ITO film. 45. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YAG laser oscillator. 46. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YLF laser oscillator. 47. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein said plurality of beams are irradiated substantially perpendicularly to said light-transmitting conductive film. 48. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein said plurality of beams are irradiated obliquely to said light-transmitting conductive film. 49. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein one beam train obtained by said branching means is irradiated on said light transmitting conductive film. 50. The laser processing method according to claim 43, wherein a plurality of beam trains obtained by said branching means are applied to said light transmitting conductive film. 51. A Q-switch solid-state laser oscillator that emits a second harmonic is sequentially driven by shifting the phase of each Q-switch of the Q-switch solid-state laser oscillator, and a beam emitted from the two laser oscillators is emitted. A plurality of beams obtained by a transmission-type phase grating that matches optical paths and branches the beam into a plurality of beams are irradiated on a light-transmitting conductive film deposited on a substrate, and the substrate or the plurality of beams are irradiated. Forming a groove in the translucent conductive film by moving the laser beam. 52. The laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein said light-transmitting conductive film is an ITO film. 53. A laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YAG laser oscillator. 54. The laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein said laser oscillator is a second harmonic YLF laser oscillator. 55. A laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein said plurality of beams are irradiated substantially perpendicularly to said light transmitting conductive film. 56. The laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein said plurality of beams are irradiated obliquely to said light-transmitting conductive film. 57. The laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein one beam train obtained by said branching means is irradiated on said light transmitting conductive film. 58. The laser processing method according to claim 51, wherein a plurality of beam trains obtained by said branching means are applied to said light transmitting conductive film. 59. A plurality of pulsed laser oscillators, each of which is shifted in oscillation phase to sequentially drive the plurality of pulsed laser oscillators, and splits each of the beams emitted from the plurality of pulsed laser oscillators into a plurality of beams; A plurality of branched beams are applied to a light-transmitting conductive film attached to a substrate, and the substrate or the plurality of beams are moved to form a stripe-shaped groove in the light-transmitting conductive film. A liquid crystal panel characterized by comprising provided electrodes. 60. A beam emitted from a pulse laser oscillator is split into a plurality of beams, and the plurality of split beams are irradiated on a light-transmitting conductive film deposited on a substrate, and the substrate or the plurality of beams are irradiated. A liquid crystal panel comprising an electrode in which a stripe-shaped groove is formed in the translucent conductive film by moving the beam. 61. A Q-switch solid-state laser oscillator for emitting a second harmonic, wherein the phases of the respective Q-switches are shifted to sequentially drive the laser oscillators. A plurality of beams obtained by a transmission-type phase grating that matches optical paths and branches the beam into a plurality of beams are irradiated on a light-transmitting conductive film deposited on a substrate, and the substrate or the plurality of beams are irradiated. A liquid crystal panel comprising an electrode in which a stripe-shaped groove is formed in the light-transmitting conductive film by moving.