JP2003167223A - Tool for conveying substrate and method of manufacturing electric display device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tool for conveying work substrates which can maintain high dimensional accuracy of the substrates in spite of the heat treatment to be repeated in respective treating process steps after charging of the work substrates. <P>SOLUTION: This tool has a support 11 which has rigidity to prevent the deformation by an external environmental change during process stage conveyance and supports the work substrates 1 on its front surface, a plurality of through-holes 11a for vacuum suction for attracting and supporting the substrates 1 on the support 11 and silicone rubber 12 for supporting the substrates 1 by tacky adhesive force at all times to the support 11. The tacky adhesive force of the silicone rubber 12 is so set as not to hinder the expansion and contraction of the substrates 1 by the external environmental change during the process stage conveyance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a jig for conveying a work substrate used for manufacturing an electric display device using a thin glass substrate or a plastic substrate, and a method for manufacturing an electric display device using the same. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Thin glass substrates having a thickness of 0.55 mm and 0.4 mm have been put into practical use as glass substrates for electric display devices, particularly liquid crystal display devices, but glass substrates thinner than that are easily broken. However, the productivity was poor and the reliability of the product was a problem. Therefore, development of a liquid crystal display device using a plastic substrate that is hard to break is underway.

However, in the case of a plastic substrate,
Since the rigidity is low, the substrate is largely bent, and the substrate is significantly warped in the heating step, and the work substrate is likely to be deformed such as expansion and contraction due to the large linear expansion coefficient. Therefore, the manufacture of liquid crystal display elements on plastic substrates is
This is much more difficult than when using a glass substrate.

A vacuum suction table is often used in each manufacturing apparatus in the manufacturing process of liquid crystal cells for glass substrates. Further, in the loader and unloader of the drafting apparatus, and in the transfer system, many alignment mechanisms by automatic pin application for aligning the orientation of the substrates are provided.

Therefore, when the plastic substrate is flowed as it is to the liquid crystal cell process for the glass substrate, the substrate cannot be adsorbed by the vacuum adsorption table of the apparatus due to the warp of the substrate which is hardly seen in the glass substrate, and the process is stopped due to the process error. The problem arises that

Further, when the plastic substrate is directly passed through the liquid crystal manufacturing process for glass substrates, the plastic substrate loses the pressure of the alignment pin in the substrate alignment mechanism portion by the automatic pin contact, and the plastic substrate cannot be aligned well. In the worst case, there is a problem that the manufacturing process is stopped due to an error because it is dropped from the device.

Furthermore, since the weight of the plastic substrate is about half that of the glass substrate, there is a risk that the plastic substrate may ride on the rollers and fall off from the transportation system in a transportation system, especially a transportation system using rollers. I can't ignore it.

Further, since the weight of the plastic substrate is light, there is a problem that the weight-sensitive type sensor, which has been functioning on the glass substrate, such as a pendulum type switch, does not function and the process is stopped.

Further, since the plastic substrate is considerably softer than glass, it is difficult to insert the plastic substrate due to its own weight due to its bending even if it is stored in an ordinary glass cassette. Further, even if the plastic substrates are accommodated in the cassette, the adjacent plastic substrates may come into contact with each other due to bending or warping.

The work substrate described here means a large number of liquid crystal cells 3 as shown in FIG. 3 which is an explanatory view of the present invention.
1 is a large plate-shaped glass substrate or plastic substrate that can be handled, and a plurality of electrode patterns are arranged on this substrate, an alignment film is formed on this substrate, and then a counter substrate is attached. By combining and dividing, a plurality of liquid crystal display devices will be manufactured.

Therefore, in order to solve the various problems of the plastic substrate described above, conventionally, a work substrate which has no rigidity and is flexible is fixed to a frame-shaped frame, or
The process was conveyed and processed by fixing it to the glass plate with an adhesive.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-86993 (Reference 1), the bending of the inside of the frame of the work substrate that occurs when the frame is fixed to the frame-like frame described above, and the foreign matter and the number of steps due to the use of an adhesive In order to solve the problem of increase, a method has been proposed in which a work substrate is attached and fixed by an adhesive material such as silicone on a support, and the process conveyance is performed to manufacture a liquid crystal display element.

Here, emphasis is placed on solving the weakness of the rigidity of the plastic substrate, that is, the bending of the work substrate, and stress such as thermal expansion of the work substrate attached by the adhesive is The pressure-sensitive adhesive or the intermediate layer formed between the pressure-sensitive adhesive and the support is designed to be relaxed.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-117063 (reference 2), in a substrate transporting step, a resin substrate is superposed and fixed on an auxiliary plate such as glass and is put into a liquid crystal cell manufacturing process. It is described that the periphery of the resin substrate is temporarily fixed with a tape or a removable press-fitting pin, and the auxiliary plate is provided with a through hole for vacuum suction of the resin substrate via the auxiliary plate.

[0015]

However, in many cases, in the case of a thin work substrate using these transfer jigs or auxiliary plates, the substrate itself is sensitive to external environmental changes such as heat and humidity. Yes, the size of the board tends to expand and contract.

Particularly, in the photo process in forming the electrode wiring pattern, which requires dimensional accuracy, the temperature during exposure has a great influence on the dimensional accuracy, which causes a problem in the process of bonding the substrates to each other in the liquid crystal display device. There will be a problem that the fitting will not match.

In the case of forming a color filter, when four colors of R, G, B, and BK are superposed by an electrodeposition method, a resist is applied to a work substrate, and then pattern exposure and baking are performed for each color. It is necessary to repeatedly perform resist development, baking, dye electrodeposition, and baking, and it is extremely difficult to obtain a predetermined patterning accuracy in the use of a work substrate such as a plastic substrate which is greatly expanded and contracted.

For example, in Document 1 above, a method of fixing a plastic substrate by using a silicone sheet and carrying it is proposed. In this case, however, the work substrate is always fixed to the carrying jig, so Since the temperature of the work board is prevented from expanding and contracting due to heat, it cannot follow the temperature during exposure, so it may become larger or smaller than the design value
The pattern as designed is not formed.

Further, in the above-mentioned document 1, from the relationship of the degree of adhesion between the work substrate and the silicone sheet, the place where the degree of adhesion is low expands and contracts because the stress of the substrate prevails, and the place where the degree of adhesion is high is fixed. The pattern may be formed in a deformed shape or a distorted shape with respect to the design value.

Further, in the above-mentioned document 2, a method is proposed in which a through hole is provided in the auxiliary plate as an auxiliary plate for conveyance, and four sides or four corners of the work substrate are fixed, but also in this case, the work substrate expands and contracts. Are blocked by the tapes fixed on four sides or the press-fitting pins of the four corners. Even in this case, the parts other than the tape part or the press-fitting pin parts that fix the work substrate cause the expansion and contraction of the substrate. On the other hand, it may be deformed or distorted.

Further, fixing with a tape may contaminate the surface of the work substrate with an adhesive material, so that a quality problem remains. In addition, since such a transportation auxiliary plate is often used repeatedly such as peeling off the tape or pulling out a pin during the processing of the in-line facility, problems easily occur in terms of yield and workability.

The present invention solves each of the problems described above, and the object thereof is that it can be transported by the same process treatment as that of glass, and is repeated in each film treatment process from the introduction of a work substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer jig that can maintain high dimensional accuracy regardless of heat treatment and can perform stable process transferability, and a method of manufacturing an electric display device using the same.

[0023]

In order to solve the above problems, a substrate carrying jig of the present invention is a substrate carrying jig for carrying a process substrate while supporting a work substrate. Support having a rigidity that does not deform due to various environmental changes and supporting a work substrate on the surface, suction support means for suction-supporting the work substrate on the support, and the work substrate supporting the work substrate. It has an adhesive support means for always supporting the body with an adhesive force, and the adhesive force of the adhesive support means is an adhesive force that does not prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to an external environmental change during process transportation. It is characterized by being.

According to the above construction, since the work substrate is always supported by the support by the adhesive supporting means during the process transfer, it is possible to prevent the work substrate from falling off the support during the process transfer. . In addition, since the work substrate is supported by a support having a rigidity that does not deform due to an external environmental change during the process conveyance, the work substrate is suction-supported by the suction-supporting means, so that the manufacturing process is performed. It is possible to prevent warpage and distortion due to external environmental changes such as heating inside.

Therefore, even if the work substrate is a substrate having low rigidity such as plastic, it can be transported in the same process as that of glass by being supported by the support having high rigidity.

Moreover, since the adhesive force of the work substrate supported by the adhesive support means to the support is an adhesive force that does not prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to an external environmental change during the process conveyance. Even when the work substrate expands and contracts significantly due to external environmental changes (heating, cooling, etc.) during process transfer, the work substrate can flexibly cope with expansion and contraction. In other words, even if the work substrate is a plastic substrate or the like that expands and contracts significantly, it is possible to increase the flexibility of expansion and contraction of the work substrate supported by the support body, so that distortion and undulation of the work substrate during process transfer can be suppressed. To be

For example, in a work substrate used when manufacturing a color liquid crystal display device as an electric display device, it is necessary to form a color filter, and therefore, R, G, B, and BK are formed on the work substrate. Color pigments are superposed by electrodeposition. In this electrodeposition method, it is necessary to repeat pattern exposure, firing, resist development, firing, dye electrodeposition, and firing for each color after applying a resist on the work substrate, so that expansion and contraction of the plastic substrate or the like is severe. If the work substrate has a low degree of freedom of expansion and contraction while being supported by a support, the work substrate itself is distorted, and it is extremely difficult to obtain the desired patterning accuracy during exposure.

However, in the support of the work substrate by the suction support means and the adhesive support means, since it is supported by the support so as not to prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to heating, it is supported by the support. The degree of freedom of expansion and contraction of the work substrate in this state is high. As a result, the distortion due to the expansion and contraction of the work substrate does not occur, so that the desired patterning accuracy at the time of exposure can be obtained.

From the above, a high dimensional accuracy can be maintained regardless of the heat treatment repeated in each film processing step from the introduction of the work substrate, and stable process transportability can be performed. The yield of products such as electric display devices can be improved.

As the suction supporting means, a plurality of through holes may be provided in the support at a predetermined ratio so as to penetrate from the work substrate supporting surface of the support to the opposite surface.

In this case, the work substrate can be closely supported on the support by vacuum suction from the side of the through hole provided in the support opposite to the work substrate supporting surface of the support. . Furthermore, by placing the support on a suction stage for vacuum suction, the support and the work substrate supported on the support are simultaneously vacuum-sucked to the suction stage, and the support and the work substrate are simultaneously sucked. And can be stably fixed to the suction stage.

Further, as the above-mentioned adhesive supporting means, an adhesive material is provided on the work substrate supporting surface of the above-mentioned support, in which the adhesive force for supporting the work substrate is maintained substantially constant even after repeated use. Good.

The characteristics of the pressure-sensitive adhesive material are that it can be peeled off, does not exert a strong stress on the substrate during peeling, and can be repeatedly used.

Therefore, for example, silicone rubber is preferably used as the above-mentioned adhesive material in consideration of repeating the heat treatment process.

The surface area of the portion of the adhesive material exposed from the support is preferably 7 × 10 ⁻⁴ m ² or more and 10% or less of the surface area of the work substrate on the support side.

In this case, the surface area of the portion of the adhesive material exposed from the support is 7 × 10 ⁻⁴ m ² and the diameter is 30.
This area corresponds to an area of mm, and if it is smaller than this area, the work substrate is likely to be peeled off from the support during the process transfer. Further, when the surface area exceeds 10% of the surface area of the work substrate to be supported, the adhesive force to the work substrate becomes large, and the work substrate supported by the support has a low degree of freedom of expansion and contraction. There is a high possibility that it will be distorted under the influence of the above. It is considered that this is due to the two force relationships of the warp force of the work substrate and the adhesive force of the sticky substance × the force of the area.

The height of the above adhesive material from the surface of the support is
It is preferable that the height is substantially the same as the surface of the support or more and 100 μm or less.

In this case, if the height of the adhesive material from the surface of the support is higher than 100 μm, the gap between the work substrate and the support becomes large, and the adhesion between the work substrate and the support cannot be maintained.

Furthermore, by setting the height of the adhesive material from the surface of the support to 100 μm or less, it is possible to perform processing such as proximity exposure.

Here, the proximity exposure is a method in which the substrate coated with the photosensitive material is UV-exposed through a mask, and is the same as the so-called photolithography method.

The exposure accuracy in the proximity exposure varies depending on the gap difference (proximity gap) between the mask and the substrate. That is, the accuracy improves when the distance between the mask and the substrate is short, and the accuracy decreases when the distance is long. However, if foreign matter or CF protrusions are present on the substrate, the mask will be damaged and a problem will occur. In this case, a large foreign matter can be removed by a cleaner, but a foreign matter and a projection of about several tens of μm cannot be removed, so that the proximity gap is set with a margin as described above.

Therefore, as described above, by setting the height of the adhesive material from the surface of the support to 100 μm or less, it is possible to ensure the exposure accuracy and the stability of production.

As described above, the exposure applicable to the present invention is not limited to the proximity exposure described above, and any exposure method that can be influenced by the projections or foreign matters existing on the substrate surface can be applied.

Suction means may be provided in the vicinity of the adhesive provided on the support so as to allow the adhesive to be pressed against the adhesive when the work substrate is placed on the support. .

In this case, when the work substrate is adhesively supported on the support, if the work substrate is made of glass, the work substrate can be pressed by the adhesive material by its own weight to be adhesively supported. If you cannot press the adhesive due to its own weight, as described above,
When the work substrate is sucked toward the adhesive material by the suction means, the work substrate can be surely adhered to and supported by the support.

As a result, even if the work substrate cannot be pressed against the adhesive material by its own weight like a plastic substrate, it is not necessary to press the work substrate by another member, and the work substrate can be placed on the support without contact. It can be adhesively supported.

The method of manufacturing the electric display device of the present invention is premised on the use of the above-mentioned jig for transferring the substrate, and in the step where the dimensional accuracy of the work substrate is required, in addition to the adhesive supporting means, the suction supporting means. The work substrate is supported on a support by.

According to the above construction, the work substrate is surely supported on the support by adsorbing and supporting the work substrate using the suction supporting means in addition to the adhesive supporting means for always supporting the work substrate on the supporting body. be able to.

As described above, by adsorbing and supporting the work substrate on the support, the whole work substrate can be flattened, the proxy gap of the exposure processing can be made uniform, and the adhesive support means can provide adhesive support. By doing so, the expansion and contraction of the substrate due to the exposure atmosphere temperature of the work substrate will not be hindered.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the yield of the electric display device from being lowered due to the distortion of the work substrate.
In particular, the productivity of the electric display device can be improved when a plastic substrate having low rigidity is used as a work substrate.

[0051]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The following will describe one embodiment of the present invention. Note that in this embodiment mode, a case where the present invention is applied to a liquid crystal display device as an electric display device will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer jig according to the present embodiment includes a support 11 for mounting and supporting the work substrate 1.

The support 11 is formed with a plurality of through holes 11a ... Circular holes penetrating from the support surface of the work substrate 1 to the back surface. As shown in FIG. 1, these through-holes 11a ... When the support body 11 supporting the work substrate 1 is placed on the suction stage 21, the suction stage 21a.
The work substrate 1 is attached to the support 1 by suction of air from the
1 has a function as an adsorption hole for adsorption. Further, when the suction by the suction stage 21 is stopped, the suction of the work substrate 1 to the support 11 is released.

That is, the through hole 11a is formed by the support 11
The first fixing means is configured to allow the work substrate 1 to be attracted to and released from the work substrate 1.

Further, the support 11 is a silicone as a second fixing means which can always fix the work substrate 1 on the support 11 in the recess 11b formed in the substantially center of the support surface of the work substrate 1. The rubber 12 is embedded.

The support 11 is composed of a thin glass plate, a metal plate having a sufficient rigidity as compared with the work substrate 1 such as a plastic plate, a glass plate, etc. Aluminum (Al), which is a metal having excellent thermal conductivity and having a specific gravity not much different from that of glass, was used.

Further, in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device, since there is a treatment for exposing, in order to eliminate the influence of the reflection of the jig itself at the time of exposure, the surface is subjected to black alumite treatment, and the supporting body which is a jig. The thickness of 11 was 1.0 mm, which is the limit height when the work substrate 1 is transported.

The outer shape of the support 11 is 370 × 4 because the work substrate 1 is a substrate having a size of 300 × 423 × 0.3 mm, and the width of the line is matched.
The size was as large as 80 x 1.0 mm.

The size of the jig (support 11) is 340 × 480 mm according to the width of the line, but it is not limited to this and can be changed according to the width of the line, and the size is the same as the work substrate. Can be changed according to the river width of each line.

In the suction stage 21 which is the vacuum suction of the existing manufacturing equipment, the above-mentioned substrate transfer jig is aligned with the stage suction port as a work substrate suction hole for simultaneously sucking the support 11 and the work substrate 1. The through holes 11 a of the position, the number, and the size are provided in the support 11.

In the present embodiment, the through hole 11a
Are arranged at positions of about 2/3 with respect to the suction holes (not shown) on the suction stage 21. That is, 1/3 of all the through holes 11a are used for suction of the support 11 itself, and 2/3 of all of the through holes 11a are used for suction of the work substrate 1 through the support 11.

In addition to the through hole 11a and the silicone rubber 12, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the support 11 is used for positioning the support 11 when it is mounted on the suction stage 21. Necessary alignment marks and edge position marks are provided. These alignment marks and edge position marks are, for example, light transmission windows that transmit light. By irradiating light so as to pass through each mark, the support 11 is accurately aligned with the suction stage 21. .

As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the silicone rubber 12 has a concave portion 1 formed substantially in the center of the support 11.
It is fitted in 1b. Below the recess 11b,
The through hole 11a is provided, and the silicone rubber 12
When the support 11 is placed on the suction stage 21, the suction stage 21 sucks and fixes the support 11 in the recess 11b.

In this embodiment, with respect to the support 11,
When the work substrate 1 is fixed, a silicone rubber 12 of 50 mmΦ is embedded in the central portion of the support 11 and fixed from the back of the work substrate 1.
At this time, the silicone rubber 12 is made to protrude from the surface of the support 11 by about 0 to 100 μm and attached without contacting the surface of the work substrate 1. Therefore, the through hole 1 in the mounting portion of the silicone rubber 12
1a is used to suck the suction stage 2 from the back surface of the support body 11.
The work substrate 1 is brought into contact with and fixed to the silicone rubber 12 by pulling a vacuum with 1 or the like.

The area, arrangement, and pattern of the silicone rubber 12 used for this permanent fixing differ depending on the thickness and size of the work substrate 1 actually used and the process conditions.
That is, it is necessary to determine the area, the arrangement, and the pattern of the silicone rubber 12 so that the work substrate 1 is not peeled off from the support body 11 due to the stress such as the bending of the work substrate 1 after the heat treatment without hindering the expansion and contraction of the work substrate 1.

Since the liquid crystal display device is described as the electric display device in the present embodiment, the work substrate 1 described above is used.
As shown in FIG. 3, it means a plate-shaped glass substrate or a plastic substrate, on which a liquid crystal cell 31 consisting of a plurality of electrode patterns is arranged on the work substrate 1, and an alignment film or the like is further formed on the surface. After forming, the opposite substrate is bonded,
A plurality of liquid crystal display devices will be manufactured by the division.

Further, since the work substrate 1 has an alignment mark for performing precision alignment in patterning superposition, printing, and laminating processing, a light transmission window for transmitting light to the alignment mark portion, and the substrate Since it corresponds to a device that detects and positions the end face of the substrate with an edge sensor, a light transmission window is provided so that light can be transmitted to the detection range position of the transmission type substrate edge detection sensor.

Further, although the support 11 has an example in which a plurality of round hole-shaped through holes 11a are arranged, depending on the form of the line for transporting the work substrate 1, the suction holes may be grooved. There is no problem even if a support having a shape such as a shape is used.

In this case, the circular silicone rubber 1
Instead of 2, as shown in FIG. 4A, the support 41 is provided with a rectangular silicone rubber 42.
Two through holes 41 are formed around the silicone rubber 42.
An adsorption groove 41b is formed so as to communicate with a and the through hole 41a and surround the silicone rubber 42.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the through hole 41a is provided in the suction stage 21 installed below the support 41.
The work board 1 (not shown) on the support 41 is evacuated through the through hole 41a. In this case, the suction groove 41b communicating with the through hole 41a is
Since it is provided around the work substrate 1, the work substrate 1 is attracted to the silicone rubber 42 with a uniform force.

Here, the dimensional accuracy in the electrodeposition type color filter manufacturing process is compared between the case of using the substrate carrying jig having the above-described structure and the case of using the conventional substrate carrying jig. went.

In the electrodeposition type color filter manufacturing process, after the work substrate 1 is charged, a resist is applied, and pattern exposure, baking and resist development are performed for each of the four colors of BK, R, G and B. The color filter is manufactured by repeatedly performing the firing, the electrodeposition of the dye, and the firing.

Here, as a comparative example, 370 × 480.
Silicone rubber having the same size as the work substrate 1 on a support 61 made of a 0.7 mm glass substrate (Comparative Example 1: FIG. 6A) and 370 × 480 × 0.7.
1 mm silicone glass on the support 71 made of a glass substrate
2 was not used, and a work substrate 1 having four sides fixed with heat-resistant tape (Comparative Example 2: FIG. 7A) was put in at the same time,
The dimensional accuracy of each design value was compared and evaluated.

The results are shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 (b) and FIG.
As shown in (b).

That is, when the substrate carrying jig according to the present embodiment is used, as shown in FIG. 5, there is almost no difference between the design value and the actual measurement value (error of 5 μm or less at all measurement points). I couldn't do it.

Further, in the example in which the silicone rubber is provided on the entire work substrate 1 like Comparative Example 1, as shown in FIG. 6B, a difference of 5 μm or more occurred between the design value and the actual measurement value. The spot was found.

Further, as in Comparative Example 2, in the example in which the silicone rubber is not provided and only the four corners of the work substrate 1 are fixed with the heat-resistant tape, as shown in FIG. It was found that there was a difference of 5 μm or more between the two.

As described above, in Comparative Example 1 (fixed on the entire surface) or Comparative Example 2 (fixed on the outer circumference), the design (see FIG.
(B) and FIG. 7 (b)), the shape is fan-shaped or hourglass-shaped, but it was found that the jig for substrate transfer of the present invention reproduced the shape almost as designed and had little distortion.

Although the treatment by the substrate carrying jig is completed when the heat treatment is completed, the substrate carrying jig itself can be repeatedly used, and the adhesive force is lowered due to the deterioration of the silicone rubber. You can use it as many times as you like unless it occurs.

The effects of the embodiment will be described with respect to the following three points that should be noted.

Thickness of Silicon Rubber (Silicone Rubber 12) that is Always Fixed The thickness of the silicone rubber 12 is related to the exposure process in the photo process.

For example, in a proximity gap type exposure machine, the exposure gap, that is, the distance between the lower surface of the exposure mask and the surface of the work substrate is usually 60 μm to 100 μm.
Then, patterning is performed. Naturally, in order to fix the work substrate 1 to the support 11, a height higher than 0 μm is required.

The narrower the exposure gap is, the better the pattern is cut off. However, since the contamination of the mask by the foreign matter is concerned, the thickness of the silicone rubber 12 is set to be about -60 μm in consideration of the bending of the exposure mask. It is optimal that the height is higher than the surface of the substrate transfer jig (40 μm for a 100 μm gap).

Regarding the exposure window, since the substrate transfer jig is one size larger than the work substrate 1,
It is necessary to accurately determine the position of the work substrate 1 among them. If the positions vary, the operating range of the device may be exceeded during alignment, and errors may occur or defects may occur during transport. This exposure window is the work substrate 1
Is used as a hole for a positioning mechanism that determines the position when it is placed on the substrate transfer jig, and is also used as a window for illumination for alignment. That is, it serves as a positioning hole and an illumination window for alignment.

About non-contact sticking Normally, when the work substrate 1 is stuck to the support 11,
Pressing force is required. Ideally, the work substrate 1 is simply placed on the support 11 and the work substrate 1 is attached by its own weight. However, since the work substrate 1 is light, this method cannot be adopted.

Therefore, the substrate is attached by suction through a substrate transfer jig by applying atmospheric pressure. Substantially, pressure is applied only to the groove portions, so it is necessary to devise so that the silicone rubber is placed between the grooves to exert a pressing force. By this method, non-contact sticking can be realized.

The advantage of this attachment method is that the surface of the work substrate is not touched, so that the surface of the work substrate is not contaminated and a decrease in the yield rate can be prevented.

From the above description, the substrate carrying jig of the present invention is made of a metal, a glass plate or the like having a sufficient strength as compared with a thin plate-like plastic substrate which forms a liquid crystal substrate display device and has low rigidity. It has a support.

Further, the substrate carrying jig has a large number of suction holes for sucking through a support for vacuum suction of a manufacturing equipment stage or the like. Silicone rubber for fixing the work substrate is embedded in the center of the support. A thin work board with low strength is fixed to a jig with sufficient rigidity with silicone rubber, so the transfer system and processing system of the existing manufacturing equipment are not dropped, and board positioning is automatic. And the finished patterning is also good.

Therefore, with the substrate transfer jig of the present invention,
It becomes possible to flow a thin plate-like plastic substrate having low rigidity into a manufacturing line of an existing liquid crystal display device for glass substrates like a rigid glass substrate.

Further, in the present invention, the substrate carrying jig described below is adopted.

The substrate carrying jig of the present invention is a jig for a substrate which is carried and processed by supporting and fixing a work substrate for an electric display device on its surface, and a fixing means capable of adsorbing and releasing the work substrate. In the substrate jig having the fixing means that can be always fixed, the constant fixing portion is an adhesive means for fixing the work substrate from the back surface, and the adhesive means does not hinder the expansion and contraction of the work substrate.

According to the above structure, the jig for transferring a substrate according to the present invention has two means for fixing the work substrate to the jig from the back side.
One is always fixed by an adhesive material during normal transfer, and can be arbitrarily fixed by suction from the stage etc. through suction holes or grooves opened in the jig for substrate transfer during processing on the stage etc. Therefore, it can be performed without affecting the surface of the work substrate. Further, since the work substrate has the flexibility of expansion and contraction, it is possible to finish the dimension with high accuracy in patterning by exposure.

Further, since a vacuum suction method is used as the releasable fixing means, a plurality of perforation holes are provided in the support at a predetermined ratio, and as the constant fixing means, a substrate attached to the surface of the support is held. The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer may have a structure in which the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the support so that the pressure-sensitive adhesive force is maintained substantially constant even after repeated use.

In this case, as the releasable fixing means, by providing a plurality of through holes in the support at a predetermined ratio, the support and the support are on the vacuum suction stage used in the process. The work substrate and the work substrate can be simultaneously vacuum-adsorbed and fixed. Further, as the adhesive material that is constantly fixed, an adhesive material such as silicone rubber that can maintain a certain adhesiveness is required because it is repeatedly used in the heat treatment step and the manufacturing step.

Further, it is preferable that the total area of the above-mentioned adhesive material, which corresponds to the always-fixed adhesive portion, is 7 × 10 ⁻⁴ m ² to 10% or less of the total area of the substrate.

In this case, in the panel process, the heat process is repeated until the area of the adhesive portion for fixing the work substrate and the jig reaches 7 × 10 ⁻⁴ m ² (area of 30 mmΦ) in the panel process. However, the work substrate did not peel off from the substrate carrying jig, but if the work area was smaller than this area, the work substrate fell off from the substrate carrying jig. On the contrary, when the adhesive portion exceeds 10% of the substrate area, the action of the adhesive portion is large, and even if a pattern is created by exposure processing, the adhesive portion is formed in a distorted shape by preventing expansion and contraction of the work substrate. .

The above-mentioned pressure-sensitive adhesive preferably has the same height or a height of 100 μm or less when the height of the surface of the support is the origin.

In this case, the adhesive material to be embedded in the central part of the jig for transferring the substrate is taken into consideration in the proximity exposure,
By making the height below 100 μm from the surface of the support,
Processing becomes possible. Further, by fixing the central portion, the degree of freedom of expansion and contraction of the work substrate is increased, and the alignment process, dimensional accuracy, etc. are improved.

When the work substrate is fixed to the adhesive portion which is always fixed, the work substrate may be attached to the support in a non-contact manner by vacuuming a suction hole or a suction groove provided through the support at that portion. .

In this case, as a method of fixing the work substrate to the adhesive material on the jig, the work substrate can be fixed by drawing a vacuum through the suction holes, and the non-contact fixing does not contaminate the work substrate surface. .

In the method of manufacturing an electric display device using the above-mentioned substrate transfer jig, the step of requiring the dimension accuracy of the work substrate in the exposure process or the like is carried out by fixing by vacuum suction, and otherwise the fixing means is always used. It is characterized by fixing using.

In this case, in vacuum suction of many existing manufacturing facilities, in order to suck the work substrate through the jig,
Provide a large number of suction holes. In the formation of the electrode pattern and the like, this adsorption action fixes and flattens the entire work substrate, uniformizes the proxy gap in the exposure process, and does not hinder the expansion and contraction of the substrate due to the exposure atmosphere temperature of the work substrate. Further, in other processes, the thin work substrate is fixed to a jig having sufficient rigidity by silicone rubber, so that even in the existing manufacturing equipment, the substrate transfer system,
Since it is possible to flexibly deal with the expansion of the substrate without causing the processing system to fall off or cause processing abnormalities, the occurrence of distortion and undulation can be suppressed.

[0104]

As described above, the substrate carrying jig of the present invention is a substrate carrying jig that carries a process substrate while supporting a work substrate, and has rigidity that does not deform due to an external environmental change during the process carrying. A support that has and supports the work substrate on the surface, a suction support means for suction-supporting the work substrate on the support, and the work substrate is always supported on the support by an adhesive force. Adhesive force of the adhesive support means is set so that the adhesive force of the adhesive support means does not prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to an external environmental change during the process transportation.

Therefore, since the work substrate is always supported by the support by the adhesive support means during the process transfer,
It is possible to prevent the work substrate from falling off the support during the process conveyance. In addition, since the work substrate is supported by a support having a rigidity that does not deform due to an external environmental change during the process conveyance, the work substrate is suction-supported by the suction-supporting means, so that the manufacturing process is performed. It is possible to prevent warpage and distortion due to external environmental changes such as heating inside.

Therefore, even if the work substrate is a substrate having low rigidity such as plastic, it can be transported in the same process as that of glass by being supported by the support having high rigidity.

Moreover, since the adhesive force with which the work substrate is supported by the adhesive supporting means with respect to the support is an adhesive force which does not prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to an external environmental change during the process conveyance, Even when the work substrate expands and contracts significantly due to external environmental changes (heating, cooling, etc.) during process transfer, the work substrate can flexibly cope with expansion and contraction. In other words, even if the work substrate is a plastic substrate or the like that expands and contracts significantly, it is possible to increase the flexibility of expansion and contraction of the work substrate supported by the support body, so that distortion and undulation of the work substrate during process transfer can be suppressed. To be

From the above, high dimensional accuracy can be maintained and stable process transportability can be achieved regardless of the heat treatment repeated in each film processing step from the introduction of the work substrate. It is possible to improve the yield of products such as electric display devices.

As the suction supporting means, a plurality of through holes may be provided in the support at a predetermined ratio so as to penetrate from the work substrate support surface of the support to the opposite surface.

In this case, the work substrate can be closely supported on the support by vacuum suction from the side of the through hole provided in the support opposite to the work substrate supporting surface of the support. . Furthermore, by placing the support on a suction stage for vacuum suction, the support and the work substrate supported on the support are simultaneously vacuum-sucked to the suction stage, and the support and the work substrate are simultaneously sucked. It is possible to stably fix and to the suction stage.

The method for manufacturing an electric display device of the present invention is premised on the use of the substrate transfer jig according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and is used in a process requiring dimensional accuracy of a work substrate. In addition to the adhesive supporting means, the suction supporting means supports the work substrate on the support.

Therefore, by adsorbing and supporting the work substrate using the adsorbing and supporting means in addition to the adhesive supporting means for always supporting the work substrate on the supporting body, the work substrate can be reliably supported on the supporting body.

As described above, by adsorbing and supporting the work substrate on the support, it is possible to flatten the entire work substrate, uniformize the proxy gap of the exposure process, and perform adhesive support by the adhesive support means. By doing so, the expansion and contraction of the substrate due to the exposure atmosphere temperature of the work substrate will not be hindered.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the yield of the electric display device from decreasing due to the work substrate being distorted, and particularly to improve the productivity of the electric display device when a plastic substrate having low rigidity is used as the work substrate. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate carrying jig according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B show a support member that constitutes the substrate transfer jig shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2A is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a work substrate in which a plurality of liquid crystal cells are arranged on the surface.

4A and 4B show another constant fixing member of the support member that constitutes the substrate transfer jig shown in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. .

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a comparison result of dimensional accuracy by the substrate carrying jig of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a comparative example of the substrate transfer jig of the present invention,
(A) is a top view of the board | substrate conveyance jig of a comparative example, (b) is a figure which shows the comparison result of dimensional accuracy.

FIG. 7 shows a comparative example of the jig for substrate transfer of the present invention,
(A) is a top view of the board | substrate conveyance jig of a comparative example, (b) is a figure which shows the comparison result of dimensional accuracy.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 work board 11 Support 11a Through hole (adsorption supporting means) 12 Silicone rubber (adhesive support means) 21 Adsorption stage 41 Support 41a Through hole (suction support means) 42 Silicone rubber (adhesive support means)

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoichi Nishi             22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka             Inside the company (72) Inventor Yoshihide Koyama             22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka             Inside the company F term (reference) 2H088 FA17 FA18 FA30 HA01 MA20                 2H090 JB03 JC19                 5F031 CA05 FA02 FA07 FA12 GA08                       GA30 PA13 PA18                 5G435 AA12 AA17 BB12 CC09 GG12                       HH02 HH18 KK05 KK10 LL06                       LL07 LL08

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A substrate carrying jig for carrying a process substrate while supporting a work substrate, having a rigidity that does not deform due to an external environmental change at the time of carrying the process, and a support for supporting the work substrate on the surface. A suction support means for supporting the work substrate by suction on the support, and a sticking support means for constantly supporting the work substrate on the support with an adhesive force. The substrate transfer jig is characterized in that the adhesive force is an adhesive force that does not prevent the work substrate from expanding and contracting due to an external environmental change during process transfer. 2. The support as the adsorption supporting means,
2. The jig for transferring a substrate according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of through holes are provided so as to penetrate from the support surface of the support body to the opposite surface thereof. 3. As the adhesive support means, an adhesive material is provided on the work substrate support surface side of the support body so that the adhesive force for supporting the work substrate is maintained substantially constant even after repeated use. Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above.
The substrate transfer jig described. 4. The adhesive material has a surface area of a portion exposed from the support of 7 × 10 ⁻⁴ m ² or more and 10% or less of the surface area of the work substrate on the support side. The substrate transfer jig according to claim 3, which is characterized in that. 5. The height of the pressure-sensitive adhesive material from the surface of the support is
The substrate transfer jig according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the height of the surface of the support is not less than 100 μm and not more than 100 μm. 6. A suction means is provided in the vicinity of the adhesive material provided on the support, and when the work substrate is placed on the support, suction means is provided so that the work substrate comes into contact with the adhesive material. The substrate transfer jig according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein: 7. A method of manufacturing an electric display device using the jig for transferring a substrate according to claim 1, wherein an adhesive support is used in a process requiring dimensional accuracy of a work substrate. In addition to the above means, a method for manufacturing an electric display device, characterized in that the work substrate is supported by a support by suction support means.