JP2004025281A - Laser-beam machined workpiece placement table and laser beam machine equipped therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser beam machine which requires no special drilling in a placement table, and improves placement of a workpiece to be laser-beam machined. <P>SOLUTION: A placement member provided on a surface of a mobile table 5 is formed of an acrylic resin. Though the acrylic resin is very weak to the heat (the heat-resistant temperature is about 80°C), it has sufficient resistance to YAG laser beams. In addition, the acrylic resin can easily be drilled by a drill, different from a glass which has been used for the placement member. It is much hardly broken compared with glass, and the workpieces to be laser-beam machined need not be placed on the placement table delicately. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a laser processing object mounting table having a mounting portion on which a laser processing object is mounted and a supporting portion for supporting the laser processing object, and a laser processing apparatus including the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as this type of laser processing apparatus, an apparatus provided with an XY table as shown in FIG. 4 is known. In FIG. 4, an XY table 4 has a moving table 5 as a laser processing object mounting table, and a drive for supporting the moving table 5 and moving it in the XY directions (left and right directions and front and back directions in the figure) by driving means (not shown). And the like. The moving table 5 includes a mounting member 5a, which is a mounting portion on which the laser processing object is mounted, a support portion 5b for supporting the mounting member 5a, and an air chamber 5c is formed in the support portion 5b. I have. The mounting member 5a described above is closely attached to a support portion 5b (hereinafter, referred to as a ceiling portion) constituting a ceiling of the air chamber 5c. The ceiling portion and the mounting member 5a are provided with a plurality of suction holes 5d and 5e, respectively, which communicate with each other. The suction hole 5d on the ceiling portion further communicates with the above-described air chamber 5c. When the air in the air chamber 5c is sucked by suction means (not shown) and the inside of the air chamber 5c becomes a negative pressure, a suction force is generated in a plurality of suction holes 5e provided in the mounting member 5a, whereby the laser processing target is formed. The object 100 is suction-fixed on the mounting member 5a. The laser processing object 100 fixed in this way is moved in the X-Y direction on the movable table 5 and locally irradiated with the YAG laser light L by the laser light generating means (not shown), so that the irradiated part is irradiated. Removed.
[0003]
When the laser processing object 100 is made of a light transmitting material such as ITO (indium tin oxide), the YAG laser light L transmits through the laser processing object 100. Then, it reaches the mobile platform 5 and damages it. Therefore, in the illustrated moving table 5, the mounting member 5 a is made of a glass material that is not broken by the YAG laser light L, and the supporting portion 5 b is made of a polyacetal resin (hard to be broken) that is hardly affected by the YAG laser light L (Product name: Duracon). The YAG laser light L transmitted through the laser processing object 100 further passes through the glass mounting member 5a, and then reaches the support 5b. The polyacetal resin constituting the supporting portion 5b has extremely low light transmittance and is not necessarily not damaged at all by the YAG laser light L. However, there is no problem if the laser irradiation is performed in a unit of several msec. In addition to the fact that the supporting portion 5b is made of a polyacetal resin that is resistant to the YAG laser beam L, the mounting member 5a reduces the influence of the laser irradiation, so that the supporting portion 5b may be damaged in actual use. There is almost no. The reason why the mounting member 5a reduces the influence of the laser irradiation on the support portion 5b is as follows. That is, the YAG laser light L is emitted so as to be focused on the laser processing object 100, and becomes a diffused light when transmitted through the laser processing object 100. For this reason, the YAG laser light L after transmission spreads further away from the laser processing object 100 and the amount of energy per unit area decreases. The glass mounting member 5a is interposed between the laser processing object 100 and the support portion 5b so that the YAG laser beam L reaches the support portion 5b after the amount of energy is sufficiently attenuated. The effect is reduced.
[0004]
On the other hand, the present inventors are developing a moving table as shown in FIG. The moving table 5 also includes a mounting member 5a made of glass and a support portion 5b made of polyacetal resin. The specific configuration thereof is different from that shown in FIG. 4, and the support portion 5b has a plate-like shape in which the air chamber (5c) as described above is not formed. The mounting member 5a has a plurality of holes 5f similar to the above-described suction holes (5e) as shown in FIG. 6, but these are not for sucking the laser processing object 100. , For attaching the spacer member 5g by engagement. The spacer member 5g is made of a material such as glass, and is fixed on the mounting member 5a by engaging its rear end with the hole 5f. As shown in FIG. 7, the laser processing object 100 is mounted on the mounting member 5a via a plurality of spacer members 5g, and is fixed thereto by a clamp mechanism (not shown). A gap G is formed between the laser processing target 100 and the mounting member 5a by the interposition of the spacer member. In the moving table 5 shown in FIG. 4 earlier, such a gap is not formed, and when the laser processing object 100 is mounted on the mounting member 5a, dust or the like is placed between the two. Foreign matter may be pinched. The trapped foreign matter is broken by the YAG laser beam L transmitted through the laser processing object 100 during laser processing, and the impact may damage the back surface of the laser processing object 100 or the surface of the mounting member 5a. On the other hand, in the moving table 5 shown in FIG. 5, a gap G is formed between the laser processing object 100 and the mounting portion 5a, and even if the foreign matter existing there is broken by the laser, Since the impact escapes into the air, the foreign matter is destroyed by the YAG laser beam, and it is possible to suppress a situation in which the impact damages the back surface of the laser processing object 100 and the surface of the mounting member 5a. Note that a recess may be formed in the mounting member 5a instead of the hole 5f for engaging with the spacer member 5g.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in any of the mounting members 5a shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is necessary to form a hole for forming a suction hole (5e) and a hole (5f) for supporting a spacer member. The glass material forming the mounting member 5a is extremely difficult to perform general drilling with a drill or the like, and requires special drilling. Therefore, there is a problem that the processing cost increases. . Furthermore, the mounting member 5a made of a glass material has a problem that the workability is poor because the mounting member 5a is easily broken.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and an object thereof is to provide a laser that does not require a special drilling process and that can improve the workability of placing a laser processing object. An object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece mounting table and a laser processing apparatus including the same.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present inventors conducted an irradiation test with a YAG laser beam in order to examine whether various materials are suitable as a mounting table material. Specifically, a material having a relatively high heat-resistant temperature was selected, an object to be laser-processed (ITO film) was mounted on the material, and processing was performed using a YAG laser beam. Then, after processing was repeated a predetermined number of times, the damage state of the material was examined. However, none of the materials provided good results. Therefore, at one point, the point of view was changed, and an acrylic resin having excellent light transmittance was tested. Then, surprisingly, it was found that the acrylic resin exhibited sufficient resistance to YAG laser light despite being very weak to heat (heat-resistant temperature = about 80 ° C.).
[0008]
Therefore, in order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is directed to a laser processing object mounting table including a mounting portion on which a laser processing object is mounted and a support portion for supporting the mounting portion. The mounting portion is made of an acrylic resin.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laser processing object mounting table of the first aspect, the mounting portion is configured to be detachable from the support portion.
[0010]
The invention according to claim 3 is a laser processing object mounting table on which a laser processing object is mounted, and a laser beam irradiating means for irradiating laser light toward the processing object on the laser processing object mounting table. A laser processing apparatus for processing the object to be processed by irradiating the laser light, wherein the laser processing object mounting table according to claim 1 or 2 is used.
[0011]
In such a laser processing object mounting table and laser processing apparatus, the mounting portion is made of an acrylic resin, and, as is well known, has a property that is much more resistant to impact and hard to break as compared with glass. For this reason, there is almost no need to delicately mount the processing target on the laser processing target mounting table, and the work of mounting the processing target is greatly improved. In addition, it is well known that an acrylic resin can be easily drilled by a general processing method such as drilling. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a special drilling process on the laser processing object mounting table, and the work of mounting the processing object can be improved.
[0012]
In particular, in the laser processing object mounting table of claim 2, it is not necessary to replace the entire laser processing object mounting table even if the laser processing object is damaged by long-term use. Can be exchanged.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, as a laser processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied, implementation of a laser processing apparatus that forms a transparent electrode by removing a part of a transparent conductive film formed on an insulating transparent substrate of a hybrid touch panel in a slit shape. The form will be described.
[0014]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. First, a basic configuration of the laser processing apparatus will be described.
In FIG. 1, a YAG laser beam (hereinafter, simply referred to as a laser beam) composed of near-infrared light having a wavelength λ = 1064 [nm] emitted from a YAG laser light source unit 10 controlled by a Q switch 10a is a step index type. It is guided to the processing head 3 by the optical fiber 2. This processing head 3 has a lens group 3a composed of a plurality of lenses, a head case 3b for accommodating them, a laser outlet 3c, and the like. The laser light L that has entered the processing head 3 is emitted from the laser exit 3c toward the processing target 100 while being focused by the lens group 3a.
[0015]
The object to be processed 100 includes an insulating transparent base material 100c made of a transparent glass or plastic material (eg, PET or polycarbonate), and an ITO (indium tin oxide) film or a nesa (tin oxide) formed thereon. And a transparent conductive film 100b made of a film or the like.
[0016]
The laser light L emitted from the laser outlet 3c irradiates the transparent conductive film 100b to heat and evaporate. By this heating and evaporation, the transparent conductive film 100b is partially removed, and a plurality of transparent electrodes are formed on the insulating transparent base material 100c. In the present laser processing apparatus, the laser beam L is condensed by the lens group 3a in the processing head 3 to reduce the irradiation area on the processing target 100, so that the energy density can be increased and the processing efficiency can be improved. . Moreover, since a processing pattern having a small dimension can be processed, the processing pattern can be miniaturized.
[0017]
The processing object 100 on which the transparent conductive film 100b is formed is fixed on a moving table 5 of an XY table 4, and the moving table 5 is driven by a linear motor 6a provided in a driving unit 6. Thus, it is possible to move two-dimensionally in the horizontal direction in the figure. The YAG laser light source unit 10 and the linear motor 6a are controlled by a control unit 11 including a personal computer 11a, a sequencer 11b, a control circuit board 11c for synchronously linked operation, and the like. For example, the control unit 11 controls the driving unit of the YAG laser light source unit 10, and thereby changes the repetition period of the laser light.
[0018]
The control unit 11 drives and controls the linear motor 4 a in accordance with the output of the laser light from the YAG laser light source unit 10 to move the processing target 100, and in accordance with the moving state of the movable base 5, the YAG laser light source unit For example, the output of the laser light from 10 changes. For example, at the time of acceleration or deceleration at the start or end of the movement of the moving table 5, the energy density of the laser beam on the transparent conductive film 100b is made constant so that a uniform processed shape (tapered shape) can be formed. For this purpose, control is performed so that the repetition period is changed in real time according to the moving speed of the moving table 5. By performing such control, the acceleration and deceleration of the moving table 5 each require a run of about 100 mm, and the total moving distance of the moving table 5 is 700 mm × 700 mm. Can be reduced to about 500 mm × 500 mm. This makes it possible to perform slit processing at a processing speed equal to or higher than the conventional etching processing (for example, about 35 seconds to 15 seconds per substrate), to improve dimensional accuracy, and to improve burnt or unprocessed portions. Occurrence can be prevented. The laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is provided with a sensor for detecting the moving distance of the moving table 5, and the linear motor 6a is feedback-controlled based on the output of the sensor.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel on which an electrode pattern is formed by processing the processing target 100 by the laser processing apparatus. FIGS. 3A and 3B are an exploded perspective view and a plan view of the same touch panel, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the touch panel includes a pair of upper and lower touch panel substrates 101 and 102 having a predetermined height (for example, 9 to 12 μm) spacer 103 so that the transparent electrodes formed of the respective transparent conductive films 100b do not come into contact in a normal state. The structure is such that they face each other. When this touch panel is pressed from above in FIG. 2, the upper touch panel substrate 101 is deformed as shown by a two-dot chain line, and the transparent electrodes of the upper and lower touch panel substrates 101 and 102 come into contact with each other. From the change in resistance between the upper and lower transparent electrodes due to this contact, it is possible to know whether or not the pressing has been performed and the pressed position. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, slits 104 and 105 orthogonal to each other are formed in each of the transparent conductive films 100b on the upper and lower touch panel substrates 101 and 102, respectively.
[0020]
The laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment forms the slits 104 and 105 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B in the transparent conductive film 100b. The workpiece 100 having the transparent conductive film 100b (thickness = approximately 500 angstroms) formed on the surface thereof by vacuum deposition, ion plating, sputtering, or the like is placed on the XY table 4 in an upward direction on the transparent conductive film 100b side. Is set to The transparent conductive film 100b of the set processing object 100 is moved in the XY direction together with the moving table 5 while being irradiated with a laser beam focused to a predetermined spot diameter. During this movement, the heat generated by the irradiation of the laser beam having a width of about 500 to 1000 [μm] evaporates the laser beam irradiated portion and is removed from the transparent conductive film 100b, and the slits 104 and 105 insulate the respective electrode regions. Is formed.
[0021]
In the laser processing apparatus having the above configuration, the transparent conductive film 100b can be processed to form a plurality of transparent electrodes on the processing target 100 (on the transparent base material 100c) without using a photolithography method involving an etching process. it can. Therefore, the upper and lower touch panel substrates 101 and 102 can be manufactured without polluting the environment with a photoresist developing solution or an etching solution waste solution. Even when the pattern shape of the transparent electrode is changed, a plurality of transparent electrodes corresponding to the pattern can be formed by processing the transparent conductive film 100b based on CAD data without using a light-shielding mask for photolithography. . For this reason, there has been a problem that the lead time has been prolonged due to a resist liquid removing operation caused by the photolithography method, in which a light shielding mask of a dedicated light shielding pattern must be prepared for each of the touch panel substrates 101 and 102 having different electrode patterns. Therefore, it is possible to sufficiently cope with a so-called on-demand request for small-quantity production of other products.
[0022]
On the other hand, in the electrode processing using the photolithography method, there is a problem that a waste liquid such as a developing solution or an etching solution for the photoresist is generated and pollutes the environment. Further, when changing the pattern of the transparent electrode, a new light-shielding mask for photolithography has to be created, so that the processing efficiency is poor, and it has been difficult to cope with low-volume production of other types and to reduce the cost. In particular, even in the case where several slits are formed in the transparent conductive film 100b as in the case of a hybrid touch panel, the same photolithography process is required as in the case of a digital touch panel in which several hundred slits are formed. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the waste liquid and reduce the cost even though the number of processed parts is small.
[0023]
Next, a characteristic configuration of the laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. The moving table 5 of the laser processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has substantially the same configuration as that of the conventional moving table shown in FIG. 4, except that the mounting member 5a is made of an acrylic resin. Is different from the mounting member of FIG. As is well known, an acrylic resin is much more resistant to impact and harder to break than glass. Therefore, unlike the conventional mounting member, there is almost no need for delicate mounting of the processing object 100, and the mounting operation is greatly improved. Moreover, the acrylic resin can be easily drilled by a general processing method such as drilling. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a special drilling process on the mounting member 5a, and the mounting operation of the processing object 100 can be significantly improved. The light transmittance of an acrylic resin to which no pigment is added is almost equal to that of glass. It transmits laser light very well and exhibits excellent durability to laser light.
[0024]
As the acrylic resin constituting the mounting member 5a, polymethyl acrylate, polymethyl methacrylate, polyethyl methacrylate, polyethyl acrylate, polybutyl methacrylate, polypropyl methacrylate, methyl methacrylate-methyl acrylate Copolymers, such as methyl methacrylate-ethyl methacrylate copolymer, methyl methacrylate-butyl methacrylate copolymer, methyl methacrylate-ethyl acrylate copolymer, such as methyl acrylate, ethyl, propyl, and butyl acrylate Homopolymers or copolymers of alkyl ester compounds are exemplified. These acrylic resins are desirably used as transparent without adding a coloring agent. This is because a situation may occur in which the YAG laser resistance is reduced due to deterioration of light transmittance due to coloring.
[0025]
It is desirable to use a material that is hardly affected by the YAG laser beam and can block the YAG laser beam, such as a polyacetal resin, for the support portion 5b. This is to avoid damage to the driving unit 6 due to the transmitted YAG laser light. Further, it is desirable that the mounting member 5a be configured to be detachable by bolting or the like, instead of being bonded to the supporting portion 5b. This is because, in such a configuration, even if the mounting member 5a is damaged due to long-term use, it is not necessary to replace the entire movable table 5, and only the mounting member 5a can be replaced.
[0026]
If a member made of an acrylic resin is used as the mounting member 5a, it is possible to adopt a spacer type as shown in FIG. In such a configuration, foreign matter such as dust floating in the air in the gap G formed between the processing target 100 and the mounting member 5a does not contact the lower surface of the processing target 100, Even if it is destroyed by the transmitted laser light L transmitted through the object 100, the lower surface of the object 100 and the upper surface of the mounting member 5a are not damaged by the impact at the time of the destruction. Further, in the gap G, the workpiece 100 and the mounting member 5a are not in close contact with each other, and for example, foreign matter is broken while adhering to the lower surface of the processing object 100 and the upper surface of the mounting member 5a in the gap G. Even so, the impact at the time of destruction escapes into the air, making it difficult to transmit to them. Therefore, damage to the processing object 100 and the mounting member 5a due to the laser destruction of the foreign matter that has entered between the processing object 100 and the glass plate 4d can be suppressed.
[0027]
As a material of the spacer member 5g, it is desirable to use a material that is hardly affected by the laser beam L, such as glass, polyacetal resin, and Teflon (registered trademark). When such a material is used, even if the spacer member 5g is irradiated with the laser beam L transmitted through the processing object 100, the spacer member 5g is not instantaneously destroyed. This is because it is possible to eliminate the scratches.
[0028]
More preferably, it is desirable to use a resin material such as polyacetal resin or Teflon (registered trademark). This is because when glass is used, the possibility that the spacer member 5g is broken when the workpiece 100 is placed is relatively high, whereas when a resin material is used, such a possibility can be almost eliminated. Further, when glass is used as the transparent base material 100c of the processing object 100, the impact given to the transparent base material 100c at the time of mounting is softened more than the glass spacer member, and the transparent base material 100c is split. This is because such situations can be suppressed.
[0029]
As previously shown in FIG. 6, the spacer member 5g is detachably fixed to the mounting member 5a by engaging the rear end with the hole 5f. With such a configuration, even if the spacer member 5g is damaged, only the damaged one can be removed and replaced. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate wasteful cost consumption caused by exchanging the entire mounting member 5a and the entire movable base 5 in which a plurality of spacer members 5g that can be sufficiently used still remain.
[0030]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the laser processing apparatus provided with the step index type as the optical fiber 2 has been described, but the laser processing apparatus which can guide the energy distribution of the laser light while making the energy distribution uniform by refraction or reflection in the internal optical transmission path. If so, another type of optical fiber may be used.
[0031]
Further, the scanning of the transparent conductive film 100b is performed by the movement of the movable table 5, but the laser light is scanned by a scanning mechanism such as a galvanometer mirror while the workpiece 100 is fixed. May be scanned by the movement of.
[0032]
In addition, the case where the present invention is applied to processing of the transparent conductive film 100b for a touch panel has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the touch panel, and may be applied to the case of processing a transparent conductive film for a liquid crystal panel, for example. The same effect can be obtained.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first, second or third aspect of the present invention, there is an excellent effect that it is not necessary to perform a special drilling process on a laser processing object mounting table, and the work of mounting the processing object can be improved. .
[0034]
In particular, according to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the mounting portion is damaged due to long-term use, it is not necessary to replace the entire laser processing object mounting table, and the mounting portion is replaced. There is an excellent effect that it can be completed only by.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a touch panel manufactured by the laser processing apparatus.
FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel.
(B) is a plan view of the touch panel.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an XY table of a conventional laser processing apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a side view showing a moving table of an XY table being developed by the present inventors.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting member of the moving table together with a spacer member.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the mounting member in a state where a processing object is mounted.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 1 laser generating unit 2 optical fiber 3 processing head 3a lens group 3b head case 3c laser exit 4 XY table 5 moving table (laser processing object mounting table)
5a Mounting member (mounting part)
5b Support part 5c Air chamber 5d, 5e Suction hole 5f Hole 5g Spacer member 6 Drive part 6a Linear motor 100 Workpiece 100b Transparent conductive film 100c Transparent base material 101 Upper touch panel substrate 102 Lower touch panel substrate 103 Spacer 104 Slit 105 Slit

Claims (3)

A mounting portion on which the laser processing object is mounted, and a laser processing object mounting table including a support portion for supporting the mounting portion,
A mounting table for laser processing, wherein the mounting section is made of an acrylic resin. In the laser processing object mounting table of claim 1,
A mounting table for laser processing, wherein the mounting section is configured to be detachable from the support section. A laser processing object mounting table for mounting the laser processing object, and a laser light irradiating means for irradiating the laser light toward the laser processing object on the laser processing object mounting table; In a laser processing apparatus for processing the laser processing object by irradiation,
3. A laser processing apparatus using the laser processing object mounting table according to claim 1 or 2.

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