JP2005189365A - Suction fixing apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct warpage of a sheet material by sucking the edges of the sheet material to a suction fixing bed regardless of the size of the sheet and to decrease the number of suction holes in the suction fixing bed. <P>SOLUTION: In the suction fixing apparatus 11 installed in a laser exposure apparatus 10, a substrate material 200 is placed as shifted on a stage body 22 (32) in accordance with the size of the substrate material 200 in such a manner that the distance between a small hole 22B (32B) in the outermost side of a region covered with the substrate material 200 and the edge of the substrate material 200 is controlled to be less than a predetermined distance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention provides a suction fixing device having a plurality of negative pressure generating holes for generating a negative pressure, and having a suction fixing base for sucking and fixing the placed sheet material with a negative pressure, and the suction fixing device The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a fixed sheet material.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image exposure apparatus that forms an image by exposing a sheet material such as a printed circuit board, a method is used in which exposure is performed by adsorbing and fixing a substrate to an adsorption fixing base in which a number of negative pressure generating holes are formed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method for adsorbing and fixing a plurality of sizes of sheet materials to an adsorbing and fixing base. In this method, when a substrate is placed on the suction fixing base, the sheet material is pressed against a reference member provided on the suction fixing base, thereby positioning the sheet material on the suction fixing base.

  For this reason, the distance between the edge portion of the sheet material pressed against the reference member and the negative pressure generating hole closest to the edge portion is always constant. However, the distance between the edge not pressed against the reference member and the negative pressure generating hole closest to this edge depends on the size of the sheet material, and this distance is the maximum (pitch of the negative pressure generating hole). − (Hole diameter of the negative pressure generating hole).

  Here, the sheet material has a slight warp, and it is necessary to correct this warp by adsorbing the warp to the suction fixing base with a negative pressure from the negative pressure generating hole. However, if the distance between the edge and the negative pressure generating hole closest to the edge becomes large, it becomes impossible to apply a large adsorption force to the edge of the sheet material to correct the warpage of the sheet material. End up.

This can be solved by reducing the pitch of the negative pressure generating holes, but if the pitch of the negative pressure generating holes is reduced, the number of negative pressure generating holes increases, and the processing cost of the suction fixing base increases. Further, there is a problem that piping for generating a negative pressure in the negative pressure generating hole becomes complicated.
Registered Utility Model No. 3013073

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and the number of negative pressure generating holes formed in the suction fixing base is imparted to the peripheral portion of the sheet material with an adsorption force sufficient to correct the warpage of the sheet material. It aims at reducing.

  The suction fixing device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of negative pressure generating holes for generating a negative pressure are formed at a predetermined pitch, and the suction fixing device is provided with a suction fixing base for sucking and fixing the placed sheet material by the negative pressure. A fixing device, wherein positioning means for positioning the sheet material on the suction fixing base positions the sheet material on the suction fixing base so that the maximum number of the negative pressure generating holes is blocked by the sheet material. Features.

  In the suction fixing device according to the first aspect, the sheet material is sucked and fixed to the suction fixing base by the negative pressure generated from the negative pressure generating hole formed in the suction fixing base. At this time, the sheet material is positioned on the suction fixing base by the positioning means.

  Here, the positioning means positions the sheet material on the suction fixing base so that the maximum number of the negative pressure generating holes is blocked by the sheet material. As a result, the distance between the peripheral edge of the sheet material and the outermost negative pressure generating hole blocked by the sheet material can be shortened as compared with the case where the sheet material is not shifted from the reference position. Accordingly, the peripheral edge of the sheet material can be adsorbed to the adsorption fixing base, and the warpage of the sheet material can be corrected. Further, since a margin for widening the predetermined pitch of the sheet material is created, the number of negative pressure generating holes can be reduced, and the processing cost of the suction fixing base can be reduced. Moreover, piping for generating a negative pressure in the negative pressure generating hole can be simplified.

  The suction fixing device according to claim 2 is the suction fixing device according to claim 1, wherein the positioning unit generates the outermost negative pressure that sucks a peripheral portion of the sheet material to the suction fixing base. The sheet material is positioned at a shift position on the suction fixing base where the distances D between the hole and the peripheral edge of the sheet material are substantially the same.

Here, the greater the distance D between the outermost negative pressure generating hole that adsorbs the sheet material to the adsorption fixing base and the peripheral edge portion of the sheet material, the weaker the force of adsorbing the peripheral edge portion of the sheet material to the adsorption fixing base, The sheet material is not corrected for warpage, and the amount of warpage that is not corrected increases. The maximum value D _MAX of the distance D is about the pitch of the negative pressure generating holes depending on the size of the sheet material.

Therefore, in the suction fixing device according to the second aspect, the positioning means positions the shift position on the suction fixing base so that all the distances D are substantially the same. As a result, the maximum value D _MAX is about ½ of the pitch of the negative pressure generating holes, and halved compared to the conventional case. Thus, since also small warpage amount of the peripheral portion of the sheet material by reducing the maximum value D _MAX, it is possible to minimize the maximum value of the warp amount of the sheet material throughout.

In addition, since the maximum value D _MAX is always ½ of the negative pressure generating hole, even when the pitch of the negative pressure generating hole is twice that of the conventional one, the same warp correction force as the conventional one can be exhibited. Therefore, since the number of negative pressure generating holes can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, the processing cost of the suction fixing base can be reduced, and piping for generating negative pressure in the negative pressure generating holes can be simplified. .

  The suction fixing device according to claim 3 is the suction fixing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the positioning means waits before the sheet material is placed on the suction fixing base. It is a loader that conveys the sheet material from a standby position, presses the sheet material against a positioning member that is shifted according to the size of the sheet material, and places the sheet material at a shift position on the suction fixing base.

  In the suction fixing device according to the third aspect, the positioning member is shifted according to the substrate size. Then, the loader conveys the sheet material from the sheet material standby position, presses the sheet material against the positioning member, and places it on the shift position on the suction fixing base.

  The suction fixing device according to claim 4 is the suction fixing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the positioning means waits before the sheet material is placed on the suction fixing base. A standby position positioning means provided at a standby position for positioning the sheet material at a position separated from the shift position on the suction fixing base by the predetermined distance; and holding the sheet material at the sheet material standby position; And a loader for moving the sheet material at a shift position on the suction fixing base.

  In the suction fixing device according to the fourth aspect, the sheet material stands by at the sheet material standby position before being placed on the suction fixing base. At this sheet material standby position, standby position positioning means is provided. The standby position positioning means positions the sheet material at a position away from the shift position corresponding to the size of the sheet material on the suction fixing base by a predetermined distance.

  The sheet material positioned at the sheet material standby position is held by the loader, moved by a predetermined distance, and placed at the shift position of the suction fixing base.

  That is, the loader holds the sheet material positioned corresponding to the shift position, moves by a predetermined stroke, and places the sheet material at the shift position. Accordingly, it is not necessary to control the amount of movement of the loader, the loader moving mechanism can be simplified, and an increase in cost can be suppressed.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fifth aspect includes the suction fixing device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the size of the sheet material is set on the sheet material placed at a reference position of the suction fixing base. An image forming unit that forms an image in a corresponding image forming region, and the image forming region is shifted according to a shift amount from the reference position of the sheet material placed at a shift position on the suction fixing base. Image forming area changing means for forming an image on the image forming means.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the image forming unit forms an image on the sheet material placed at the reference position of the suction fixing base in an image forming area corresponding to the size of the sheet material. When the sheet material is shifted from the reference position, the image forming area changing unit shifts the image forming area in accordance with the shift amount from the reference position of the sheet material to cause the image forming unit to form an image. Thereby, an image can be formed in a desired region of the sheet material.

  The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming area changing unit reads a position mark displayed on the sheet material and obtains position information of the sheet material. Position information acquisition means for transmitting to the image forming means; and shift means for shifting the position information acquisition means in accordance with a shift amount from a reference position of the sheet material on the suction fixing base to a shift position. It is characterized by.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the position information acquisition unit reads the position mark displayed on the sheet material and transmits the position information of the sheet material to the image forming unit. Further, the position information acquisition means is shifted according to the shift amount from the reference position of the sheet material by the shift means. For this reason, even if the sheet material is shifted from the reference position, the position mark can be read by the position information acquisition means. Further, even when the sheet material is shifted from the reference position, an image can be formed at a desired position of the sheet material.

  An image forming apparatus according to a seventh aspect is the image forming apparatus according to the fifth or sixth aspect, wherein the image forming means is a spatial modulation element.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 7, since the warp of the sheet material sucked and fixed to the suction fixing base is corrected, the optical distance between the spatial modulation element and the sheet material becomes substantially constant, and a good image is obtained. Can be formed.

  Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, it is possible to apply a suction force for correcting the warpage of the sheet material to the peripheral portion of the sheet material and reduce the number of negative pressure generating holes formed in the suction fixing base. .

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

  FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic perspective views showing a laser exposure apparatus 10 including the suction fixing apparatus 11 of the present invention and an exposure head 100 as an image forming means. The laser exposure apparatus 10 according to the present invention exposes a thin plate-like substrate material 200, which is a material for a printed wiring board, with a laser beam B modulated by image information while conveying the substrate material 200 at a predetermined speed. In 200, an image (latent image) corresponding to the wiring pattern is formed.

  Therefore, for convenience of explanation, the direction represented by the arrow X in FIG. 1 is referred to as the “conveying direction” of the substrate material 200, and “upstream side” and “downstream side” are expressed based on this. Further, the direction opposite to that is defined as the “return direction” of the substrate material 200. Furthermore, a direction orthogonal to the arrow X is represented by an arrow Y and is defined as a “width direction” in the laser exposure apparatus 10.

[Outline of exposure apparatus]
First, an outline of the laser exposure apparatus 10 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the laser exposure apparatus 10 is a substantially “L” -shaped stage member having a predetermined thickness and moving in the conveyance direction while adsorbing and holding the substrate material 200 on the surface (upper surface). Are provided. Although the two stage members 20 and 30 have the same configuration, for convenience of explanation, the left side in the transport direction is the stage member 20 and the right side is the stage member 30. In addition, the substrate material 200 may be described as the substrate material 200 </ b> A that is attracted and held on the stage member 20, and the substrate material 200 </ b> B that is attracted and held on the stage member 30.

  Each stage member 20 and 30 is cantilevered so as to be movable up and down by linear running bodies 40 and 60 as conveying means, respectively, and each linear running body 40 and 60 is adjacent so that stage members 20 and 30 come inside. Thus, it is supported so as to be movable in the transport direction and the return direction. Therefore, when the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 pass each other, for example, one stage member 20 is moved up and down, and the other stage member 30 is moved down to prevent the inner stage members 20 and 30 from interfering with each other. I try to move it. That is, the stage members 20 and 30 move in the transport direction at the upper position, and the substrate material 200 sucked and held by the stage members 20 and 30 is exposed and removed, and then moved in the return direction at the lower position. Then, it returns to the original initial position (mounting position where the substrate material 200 is loaded).

  The linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 are movably supported on the base 12, and a pair of side walls 14 are erected on both sides of the base 12 in the transport direction. A gate 18 for mounting a CCD camera 182 (alignment camera) constituting the image position detection device 180 is installed in the width direction above the side wall 14. Further, a gate 16 for mounting a plurality of exposure heads 100 is installed in the width direction on the upper portion of the downstream side wall 14 spaced apart from the gate 18 by a predetermined distance.

  The exposure head 100 is fixed in a downward state so that the laser beam B can be irradiated toward the substrate material 200 passing through the gate 16, and the CCD camera 182 is positioned at the position of the substrate material 200 passing through the gate 18 ( (Drawing area) The alignment mark 201 (see FIG. 20) for detection is provided in a downward state and reciprocally movable in the width direction so that it can be imaged.

  Therefore, the laser exposure apparatus 10 mainly operates as follows. First, the substrate material 200 </ b> A is placed on the placement surface 22 </ b> A of the stage member 20 by the loader 80. Then, while being conveyed while being sucked and held on the mounting surface 22A, the CCD camera 182 images the alignment mark 201, detects its position (drawing area), and further, based on the detection result, A predetermined drawing area is exposed by the exposure head 100. When the exposure is completed, the substrate material (printed wiring board) 200A is removed from the stage member 20 by the unloader 90.

  On the other hand, at this time, the stage member 30 has already been transported in a state where the next substrate material 200B is sucked and held on the mounting surface 32A, the position is detected by the CCD camera 182, and exposure is started. In other words, the stage member 30 on which the substrate material (printed wiring board) has been unloaded first passes below the stage member 20 while the substrate material 200A on the stage member 20 is exposed, and the initial position (mounting). It moves back to the position), and the next substrate material 200 </ b> B is loaded, and the process proceeds to a step where the position is detected by the CCD camera 182.

  As described above, the laser exposure apparatus 10 is configured such that the exposure of the substrate material 200 is sequentially performed continuously by each stage member 20 and 30 being circulated alternately, and the operating rate of the exposure head 100, that is, The production efficiency of the printed wiring board is improved.

  Here, in the laser exposure apparatus 10, depending on the positional relationship between the small holes 22 </ b> B and 32 </ b> B formed on the placement surfaces 22 </ b> A and 32 </ b> A and the peripheral portion of the substrate material 200, the peripheral portion of the substrate material 200 is placed on the placement surface 22 </ b> A, In some cases, the warpage of the substrate material 200 cannot be corrected without being adsorbed by 32A. For this reason, the loader 80 positions the substrate material 200 on the mounting surfaces 22A and 32A according to the substrate size. Details will be described later.

  The above is the outline of the laser exposure apparatus 10, and the configuration of each unit will be described in detail below.

[Configuration of exposure head]
First, the configuration of the exposure head 100 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. As described above, the exposure head 100 is suspended from the upper portion of the gate 16 laid in the width direction of the laser exposure apparatus 10, and the exposure position directly below the substrate is sucked and held by the stage member 20 and conveyed. When the material 200 passes, the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200 is exposed by irradiating a laser beam B modulated based on image information from above, and the exposed surface 202 is printed on a printed wiring board. An image (latent image) corresponding to the wiring pattern is formed.

  Here, the upper surface portion of the substrate material 200 is an exposed surface 202 on which a thin photosensitive coating film is formed by a photosensitive material, and the exposed surface 202 is etched after forming a latent image (image). By receiving this predetermined processing, a wiring pattern corresponding to the latent image is formed. The photosensitive coating film is formed by applying a liquid photosensitive material to the substrate material 200 and drying and curing it, or laminating a photosensitive material previously formed into a film shape.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the exposure head 100 is configured by arranging a plurality (for example, 14 pieces) of an approximate matrix of m rows and n columns (for example, 3 rows and 5 columns). In relation to the width of the substrate material 200, four exposure heads 100 are arranged in the third row. Hereinafter, when the individual exposure heads arranged in the m-th row and the n-th column are indicated, they are denoted as the exposure head 100 _mn .

An exposure area 102 by the exposure head 100 has a rectangular shape with a short side in the sub-scanning direction. Accordingly, when the stage member 20 moves in the transport direction (by moving the exposure head 100 relatively in the sub-scanning direction), the drawing region 204 on the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200 is provided for each exposure head 100. A strip-shaped exposed region 206 is sequentially formed. Hereinafter, when the exposure area 102 by the individual exposure heads 100 arranged in the m-th row and the n-th column is indicated, it is expressed as an exposure area 102 _mn .

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the exposure heads 100 of each row arranged in a line are arranged so that the strip-shaped exposed regions 206 are arranged without gaps in a direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction (main scanning direction). They are arranged so as to be shifted in the direction by a predetermined interval (natural number times the long side of the exposure area, twice in this embodiment). Therefore, can not be exposed portion between the exposure area 102 ₁₁ in the first row and the exposure area 102 _12, it can be exposed by the second row of the exposure area 102 ₂₁ and the exposure area 102 ₃₁ in the third row.

As shown in FIG. 8, each of the exposure heads 100 _{11 to} 100 _mn is a digital micromirror device (hereinafter referred to as “a spatial light modulation device”) that modulates an incident light beam for each pixel in accordance with image information. DMD ”) 106. As shown in the figure, the DMD 106 includes a large number (for example, 600 × 800) of micromirrors (hereinafter referred to as “micromirrors”) 110 constituting a pixel (pixel) on a SRAM cell (memory cell) 108. The mirror device is integrally arranged in a shape, and a material having high reflectivity such as aluminum is deposited on the surface of the micromirror 110 so that the reflectivity is 90% or more. Each micromirror 110 is supported by a support (not shown) including a hinge and a yoke.

  Therefore, when a digital signal is written in the SRAM cell 108 of the DMD 106, the micromirror 110 supported by the support is within a range of ± α ° (for example, ± 10 °) with respect to the base side where the DMD 106 is disposed with the diagonal line as the center. Tilted at. That is, by controlling the tilt of the micromirror 110 of the DMD 106 according to the image signal, the light incident on the DMD 106 is reflected in the tilt direction of each micromirror 110. Incidentally, FIG. 9A shows a state where the micromirror 110 is tilted to + α ° when the micromirror 110 is in the ON state, and FIG. 9B shows a state where the micromirror 110 is tilted to −α ° when the micromirror 110 is in the OFF state. . A light absorber (not shown) is arranged in the direction in which the light beam is reflected by the micromirror 110 in the OFF state.

Further, as described above, the DMD 106 is configured by arranging a large number (for example, 800 sets) of micromirror arrays 110 in the longitudinal direction and arranging a large number of sets (for example, 600 sets) in the short direction. However, the side (short side) in the short direction is further slightly inclined so as to form a predetermined angle θ (for example, 1 ° to 5 °) with the sub-scanning direction. 10A shows the scanning trajectory of the reflected light image (exposure beam) 104 by each micromirror 110 when the DMD 106 is not tilted, and FIG. 10B shows the reflected light image when the DMD 106 is tilted by a predetermined angle θ. A scanning trajectory of (exposure beam) 104 is shown. Thus, when the DMD 106 is tilted, the pitch P ₂ of the scanning trajectory (scan line) of the exposure beam by each micromirror 110 can be made narrower than the pitch P ₁ of the scanning line when the DMD 106 is not tilted. The resolution can be greatly improved.

Furthermore, since the same scanning line is overlaid by different micromirror rows and exposed (multiple exposure), a very small amount of exposure position can be controlled, and high-definition exposure can be realized. Therefore, the joints between the plurality of exposure heads 100 arranged in the main scanning direction can be connected without a step by a very small exposure position control. Since the tilt angle θ of the DMD 106 is very small, the scan width W ₂ when the DMD 106 is tilted and the scan width W ₁ when the DMD 106 is not tilted are substantially the same. It goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained by arranging the micromirror rows in a staggered pattern shifted by a predetermined interval in a direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction instead of inclining the DMD 106.

  In addition, an image information processing unit 15 (see FIG. 19) and a mirror drive control unit 17 (see FIG. 19) are incorporated in the control device 13 (see FIG. 19) for driving and controlling the exposure head 100. In the image information processing unit 15, the DMD 106 controls the exposure head 100 within the region to be controlled based on the image information corresponding to the wiring pattern input from the controller 19 (see FIG. 19) that controls the entire laser exposure apparatus 10. A control signal for driving and controlling each of the micromirrors 110 is generated. Then, the mirror drive control unit 17 controls the angle of each micro mirror 110 of the DMD 106 to the ON state or the OFF state for each exposure head 100 based on the control signal generated by the image information processing unit 15. Yes.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11, on the light incident side of the DMD 106, a laser emitting portion in which the emitting end portion (light emitting point) of the optical fiber is arranged in a line along the direction corresponding to the long side direction of the exposure area 102. 114, a lens array 120 that corrects the laser light emitted from the fiber array light source 112 and collects the light on the DMD 106, and reflects the laser light transmitted through the lens system 120 toward the DMD 106. A mirror 116 is arranged in order. On the light reflection side of the DMD 106, lens systems 122 and 124 that form an image of the laser light reflected by the DMD 106 on the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200 have a conjugate relationship between the DMD 106 and the exposed surface 202. It is arranged to be.

  In the lens system 120, as shown in FIG. 12, a pair of combination lenses 126 that convert the laser light emitted from the fiber array light source 112 into parallel light and the light quantity distribution of the parallel laser light become uniform. A pair of combination lenses 128 that are corrected in this way, and a condensing lens 118 that condenses the laser light with the corrected light quantity distribution on the DMD 106. In the arrangement direction of the laser emitting end, the combination lens 128 spreads the light flux at a portion close to the optical axis of the lens, contracts the light flux at a portion away from the optical axis, and further in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction. On the other hand, it has a function of allowing light to pass through as it is, and corrects the laser light so that the light quantity distribution is uniform.

  As shown in FIG. 13A, the fiber array light source 112 includes a plurality of (for example, six) laser modules 130, and one end of a multimode optical fiber 132 is coupled to each laser module 130. Yes. An optical fiber 134 having the same core diameter as that of the multimode optical fiber 132 and a cladding diameter smaller than that of the multimode optical fiber 132 is coupled to the other end of the multimode optical fiber 132. As shown in FIG. The laser emission unit 114 is configured by arranging the emission end portions (light emission points) in one row along the main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction. As shown in FIG. 13D, it is also possible to arrange the emission end portions (light emission points) of the optical fibers 134 in two rows along the main scanning direction.

  As shown in FIG. 13B, the exit end of the optical fiber 134 is sandwiched and fixed between two support plates 136 having a flat surface. A transparent protective plate 138 such as glass is disposed on the light emitting side of the optical fiber 134 to protect the end face of the optical fiber 134. The protective plate 138 may be disposed in close contact with the end surface of the optical fiber 134 or may be disposed so that the end surface of the optical fiber 134 is sealed. The exit end of the optical fiber 134 has a high light density and is likely to collect dust and easily deteriorate. However, the protective plate 138 can prevent dust from adhering to the end face and delay deterioration. Can do.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 13B, in order to arrange the output ends of the optical fibers 134 having a small cladding diameter in a single row without any gaps, between the two multimode optical fibers 132 adjacent to each other at a portion having a large cladding diameter. The multi-mode optical fibers 132 are stacked, and the output ends of the optical fibers 134 coupled to the stacked multi-mode optical fibers 132 are coupled to the two multi-mode optical fibers 132 adjacent to each other at a portion where the clad diameter is large. They are arranged so as to be sandwiched between the emission ends. This is because an optical fiber 134 having a small cladding diameter of 1 to 30 cm is coaxially coupled to the tip portion of the multimode optical fiber 132 having a large cladding diameter on the laser light emission side. It can be obtained by fusing to the emission end face of the optical fiber 132 so that both central axes coincide.

  As the multimode optical fiber 132 and the optical fiber 134, any of a step index type optical fiber, a graded index type optical fiber, and a composite type optical fiber can be used. As shown in FIG. The diameter is the same as the diameter of the core 132 </ b> A of the multimode optical fiber 132. That is, the optical fiber 134 has a cladding diameter = 60 μm and a core diameter = 25 μm, and the multimode optical fiber 132 has a cladding diameter = 125 μm and a core diameter = 25 μm. The transmittance of the incident end surface coat of the multimode optical fiber 132 is 99.5% or more.

  Although not shown, a short optical fiber in which an optical fiber with a short cladding diameter and a large cladding diameter is fused with an optical fiber with a small cladding diameter is coupled to the output end of the multimode optical fiber 132 via a ferrule or an optical connector. May be. In this way, when a short optical fiber (optical fiber with a small cladding diameter) is configured to be detachable from the multi-mode optical fiber 132 using an optical connector or the like, if the optical fiber with a small cladding diameter is damaged, the portion is replaced. Therefore, the cost required for maintenance of the exposure head 100 can be reduced. Hereinafter, the optical fiber 134 may be referred to as an emission end portion of the multimode optical fiber 132.

  The laser module 130 includes a combined laser light source (fiber light source) shown in FIG. This combined laser light source includes a plurality of (for example, seven) chip-shaped lateral multimode or single mode UV semiconductor lasers LD1, LD2, LD3, LD4, LD5, LD6 arranged and fixed on the heat block 140, LD 7, collimator lenses 142, 144, 146, 148, 150, 152, 154, one condenser lens 156, and one multimode provided corresponding to each of the UV semiconductor lasers LD 1 to LD 7 An optical fiber 132 is included. That is, the collimator lenses 142 to 154 and the condenser lens 156 constitute a condensing optical system, and the condensing optical system and the multimode optical fiber 132 constitute a multiplexing optical system.

  Therefore, in the exposure head 100, the laser beams B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7 emitted in a divergent light state from each of the UV semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 constituting the combined laser light source of the fiber array light source 112. Each is first collimated by corresponding collimator lenses 142-154. The collimated laser beams B <b> 1 to B <b> 7 are collected by the condenser lens 156 and converge on the incident end face of the core 132 </ b> A of the multimode optical fiber 132.

  The laser beams B1 to B7 converged on the incident end face of the core 132A of the multimode optical fiber 132 are incident on the core 132A, propagate through the optical fiber, and are combined into one laser beam B. The UV-based semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 all have the same oscillation wavelength and maximum output. If the coupling efficiency at this time is, for example, 85%, the outputs of the UV-based semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 are 30 mW. Can obtain a combined laser beam B with an output of about 180 mW (= 30 mW × 0.85 × 7).

  Thus, the combined laser beam B is emitted from the optical fiber 134 coupled to the emission end of the multimode optical fiber 132. For example, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 13C, the six optical fibers 134 are arranged in an array. In the case of the laser emitting units 114 arranged in a row (in which high-luminance light emitting points are arranged in a line along the main scanning direction), the output becomes a high output of about 1 W (= 180 mW × 6). The number of UV semiconductor lasers constituting the combined laser light source is not limited to seven.

  Further, the combined laser light source (UV semiconductor laser) as described above is housed in a box-shaped package 160 having an upper opening, together with other optical elements, as shown in FIGS. The package 160 includes a package lid 162 that can close the opening. After the degassing process, a sealing gas is injected, and the package 160 is closed with the package lid 162, whereby the package 160 and the package lid 162 are closed. The combined laser light source is hermetically sealed in a closed space (sealed space) formed by the above.

  A base plate 164 is fixed to the bottom surface of the package 160, and the heat block 140, the condensing lens holder 158 that holds the condensing lens 156, and the incident end of the multimode optical fiber 132 are disposed on the upper surface of the base plate 164. A fiber holder 166 for holding the part is attached. The exit end of the multimode optical fiber 132 is drawn out of the package 160 through an opening formed in the wall surface of the package 160.

  A collimator lens holder 168 is attached to the side surface of the heat block 140, and the collimator lenses 142 to 154 are held. An opening is formed in the lateral wall surface of the package 160, and wiring 170 for supplying a driving current to the UV semiconductor lasers LD <b> 1 to LD <b> 7 is drawn out of the package 160 through the opening. In FIGS. 16 and 17, in order to avoid complication of the drawings, only the UV semiconductor laser LD7 among the plurality of UV semiconductor lasers is provided with a reference numeral, and among the plurality of collimator lenses, the collimator is used. Only the lens 154 has a reference numeral.

  Moreover, the front shape of the attachment part of the collimator lenses 142-154 is shown in FIG. Each of the collimator lenses 142 to 154 is formed in a shape in which a region including the optical axis of a circular lens having an aspherical surface is cut out in a parallel plane. The elongated collimator lenses 142 to 154 can be obtained, for example, by molding resin or optical glass. The collimator lenses 142 to 154 are closely arranged in the arrangement direction of the light emitting points so that the length direction is orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the light emitting points of the UV semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 (left and right direction in the figure). Yes.

  The UV-based semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 each have an active layer with an emission width of 2 μm, and each laser beam has a divergence angle in a direction parallel to and perpendicular to the active layer, for example, 10 ° and 30 °. Lasers emitting B1 to B7 are used. These UV-based semiconductor lasers LD1 to LD7 are arranged so that the light emitting points are arranged in a line in a direction parallel to the active layer. Therefore, the laser beams B1 to B7 emitted from the respective light emitting points have a width direction in which the direction in which the divergence angle is large coincides with the length direction and the direction in which the divergence angle is small with respect to the elongated collimator lenses 142 to 154. Incident light is incident in a state that coincides with the direction (direction perpendicular to the length direction).

  In addition, the condenser lens 156 is obtained by cutting an area including the optical axis of a circular lens having an aspherical surface into a long and narrow plane parallel to the arrangement direction of the collimator lenses 142 to 154, that is, a direction that is long in the horizontal direction and perpendicular thereto. It is formed in a short shape. This condensing lens 156 can also be obtained, for example, by molding resin or optical glass.

[Configuration of loading surface of loader and stage body]
Next, the loading surfaces 22A and 32A of the loader 80 and the stage main bodies 22 and 32 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the loader 80 is provided so as to straddle the downstream end portion (sheet material standby position) of the supply conveyor 86 provided on the upstream side in the transport direction of the base 12.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 20, a positioning device 23 for positioning the substrate material 200 conveyed by the supply conveyor 86 is provided at the downstream end of the supply conveyor 86. The positioning device 23 includes a U-shaped frame 25 that contacts the upper surface of the supply conveyor 86.

  The frame 25 includes a first member 25A extending in the width direction of the supply conveyor 86, a second member 25B extending from the vicinity of both ends of the first member 25A to the upstream side in the transport direction, and a third member 25C. Has been. The first member 25A is supported by a support member (not shown) so as to be movable in the transport direction, and the second member 25B and the third member 25C are supported by a support member (not shown) so as to be movable in the width direction. ing.

  Further, the first member 25A is provided with a driving force transmission mechanism such as a rack or a gear (not shown), and a driving force is applied to the driving force transmission mechanism from the stepping motor 27 (see FIG. 19). Similarly, the second member 25B and the third member 25C are also provided with a driving force transmission mechanism, and a driving force is applied to the driving force transmission mechanism from the stepping motors 29 and 31 (both see FIG. 19). .

  When the size of the substrate material 200 is input to the size input unit 33 (see FIG. 19) by the user, a drive signal corresponding to the size is transmitted to the stepping motors 27, 29, and 31 by the controller 19. Then, the stepping motor 27 rotates by the number of rotations based on the drive signal, and moves the first member 25A to a predetermined position corresponding to the substrate size in the transport direction. Further, the stepping motors 29 and 31 rotate by the number of rotations based on the drive signal, and move the second member 25A and the third member 25C to predetermined positions according to the substrate size in the width direction.

  In addition, two positioning projections 25D, 25E, and 25F are formed on the inner edge portions of the first member 25A, the second member 25B, and the third member 25C, respectively, and the positioning projections 25D, 25E, and 25F are formed. The substrate material 200 is positioned by contacting the peripheral edge of the substrate material 200.

  Furthermore, tapered second guide portions 25G and 25H are formed on the second member 25B and the third member 25C so as to gradually spread from the upstream positioning protrusions 25E and 25F toward the upstream side in the transport direction. Therefore, the substrate material 200 conveyed to the positioning device 23 by the supply conveyor 86 is guided between the positioning protrusions 25E and 25F on both sides in the width direction by the guide portions 25G and 25H, and the positioning of the first member 25A is performed. Stops in contact with the protrusion 25D. As a result, the substrate material 200 is positioned in the transport direction and the width direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the loader 80 (mounting means) for transferring the positioned substrate material 200 to the mounting surfaces 22 </ b> A and 32 </ b> A of the stage main bodies 22 and 32 adsorbs the four corners of the substrate material 200. Four suction members 82 are provided. A large number of suction holes are formed on the suction surface of the suction member 82, and the four corners of the substrate material 200 are sucked by the suction member 82 by the negative pressure from the suction holes.

  The adsorption member 82 is suspended from the support plate 85 by an extendable arm 83 that can be extended and contracted. The support plate 85 is suspended from the guide plate 84 by an arm 87 so as to be movable up and down. The guide plate 84 extends from the downstream end of the supply conveyor 86 to above the stage members 20 and 30 located at the initial position (mounting position), and the arm 87 is supported by the guide plate 84 so as to be able to reciprocate. Yes.

  Further, the arm 87 and the guide plate 84 are provided with a driving force transmission mechanism (not shown), and a motor 88 (see FIG. 19) for applying a driving force to the driving force transmission mechanism is provided. The motor 88 rotates by a predetermined number of rotations in the forward rotation direction and the reverse rotation direction, and moves the arm 87 by a predetermined distance S (see FIG. 20) in the transport direction and the return direction.

  As shown in FIG. 20, a large number of small holes (negative pressure generating holes) 22 </ b> B and 32 </ b> B are formed at predetermined pitches A on the mounting surfaces 22 </ b> A and 32 </ b> A of the stage main bodies 22 and 32. The small holes 22B and 32B are holes for air suction for sucking the substrate material 200 by negative pressure, and the stage members 20 and 30 are cable bears (including power supply lines or air pipes for generating negative pressure). (Not shown) are connected.

  That is, when the stage members 20 and 30 are equipped with a vacuum generator (not shown) such as a vacuum pump for air suction, a cable bear having a power supply line for driving the vacuum generator is obtained. Is not provided, the cable bear is provided with an air pipe connected to a vacuum generator (not shown) such as a vacuum pump installed separately. The cable bear is preferably formed of a flexible tube or the like so as to be able to follow the movement of the stage members 20 and 30, but the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 that integrally support the stage members 20 and 30. Is only reciprocated in the transport direction and the return direction on the same plane, the mounting structure of the cable bear to the stage members 20 and 30 is simple, and there is no problem that the cable bear becomes entangled.

  Here, when the peripheral portion of the substrate material 200 is adsorbed to the placement surfaces 22A and 32A, the outermost small holes 22B and 32B that are covered with the substrate material 200 and adsorb the substrate material 200 and the peripheral portion of the substrate material 200 The smaller the distance D, the smaller the amount of warp that cannot be corrected by suction.

  Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B, the placement on the placement surfaces 22A and 32A is shifted in the transport direction and the width direction according to the substrate size. Note that the loader arm 81 only moves a certain distance S, and the substrate material 200 is placed at a predetermined position on the placement surfaces 22A and 32A when it is attracted to the adsorption member 82. Is positioned by.

  Hereinafter, a method for determining the shift amount of the substrate material 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, n that satisfies nA <L <(n + 1) A is calculated. Here, L is the length of one side of the substrate material 200 (here, one side along the conveyance direction will be described as an example), and n is the conveyance direction in FIG. N = 2, and n = 3 in the transport direction of FIGS. 21B and 21C.

Then, D = (L−nA) / 2 is calculated, and the substrate material 200 is shifted and placed on the placement surfaces 22 </ b> A and 32 </ b> A such that D is obtained, whereby the substrate material 200 is reduced to the maximum number. The distances D at both ends of the substrate material 200 are equal to block the holes 22B and 32B. As a result, the maximum value D _MAX of the distance D of the substrate material 200 becomes A / 2, which is smaller than when the conventional arrangement method is used.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 21B, when the substrate material 200 is pressed against the reference member on the placement surfaces 22A and 32A and arranged regardless of the substrate size without taking the above determination method, the distance Since the maximum value D _MAX of D is equal to the predetermined pitch A, the same effect as that obtained by halving the predetermined pitch A can be obtained by using the above-described shift amount determination method.

  That is, it is only necessary to form the small holes 22B and 32B at twice the conventional pitch, the number of holes can be reduced to ¼, the processing cost of the small holes 22B and 32B can be reduced, and air suction can be achieved. Since the number of pipes can be reduced, the suction fixing device 11 can be remarkably reduced in cost.

[Modification of loader and stage mounting surface]
As shown in FIG. 22, only the stopper 35 is provided at the downstream end of the supply conveyor 86, and the substrate material 200 is not positioned on the supply conveyor 86. Instead, positioning pins 37A and 37B are provided on the placement surfaces 22A and 32A so as to be movable in the transport direction and the width direction, respectively.

  When the substrate size is input to the size input unit 33, the controller 19 moves the positioning pins 37A and 37 to predetermined positions in the transport direction and the width direction, respectively, according to the substrate size. The telescopic arm 83 is movable in the transport direction and the width direction, and the telescopic arm 83 is moved in the transport direction until one end of the substrate material 200 in the transport direction contacts the positioning pin 37A. Next, the telescopic arm 83 is moved in the width direction until one end portion of the substrate material 200 in the width direction comes into contact with the positioning pin 37B.

  Here, since the telescopic arm 83 is urged by a biasing means (not shown) in the transport direction and the width direction, it is not necessary to strictly control the amount of movement of the telescopic arm 83 in the transport direction and the width direction. .

  In this way, the substrate material 200 is placed at the shift position of the placement surfaces 22A and 32A according to the substrate size, the warpage is corrected, and the substrate material 200 is sucked and fixed to the placement surfaces 22A and 32A.

[Configuration of Image Position Detection Device]
Next, the image position detection apparatus 180 will be described. As described above, the image position detection device 180 includes the CCD camera 182 that is attached to the gate 18 installed in the width direction of the laser exposure device 10 so as to be movable along the width direction, and the alignment controller 21 (FIG. 19). The CCD camera 182 includes a two-dimensional CCD as an image sensor, and also includes a strobe as a light source at the time of imaging. The light receiving sensitivity of the element is set. The alignment control unit 21 processes the image signal from the CCD camera 182 and outputs position information corresponding to the position of the alignment mark 201 imaged by the CCD camera 182 to the controller 19.

  The CCD camera 182 is held downward by a holder 184, and this holder 184 is movably supported by a guide plate 186 disposed in parallel to the lower part of the gate 18. Therefore, the CCD camera 182 can reciprocate in the width direction along the guide plate 186 so that different areas of the substrate material 200 can be imaged. In other words, the position of the CCD camera 182 can be adjusted according to the position of the alignment mark 201 formed on the substrate material 200 to be imaged. The number of CCD cameras 182 is not limited to the one shown in the figure, and a plurality of CCD cameras may be provided and fixed at appropriate positions.

  On the other hand, a drawing area 204 in which a latent image corresponding to the wiring pattern is formed in advance is set on the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200, and a plurality of alignment marks 201 corresponding to the drawing area 204 are moved in the transport direction. It is formed along. Then, the CCD camera 182 emits a strobe at a predetermined timing when the substrate material 200 that is attracted and held by the stage member 20 and conveyed at a predetermined speed passes through the imaging position (reading position) directly below the CCD camera 182. By receiving the reflected light of the light from the strobe, the imaging range including the alignment mark 201 in the substrate material 200 is imaged.

  The alignment mark 201 is formed by providing a circular through-hole or recess in the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200, whereby the position (drawing region) of the substrate material 200 on the stage member 20 is detected. It has become so. The alignment mark 201 may use a land or the like which is a wiring pattern formed in advance on the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200 instead of the through hole or the recess.

  The holder 184 that holds the CCD camera 182 is provided with a driving force transmission mechanism (not shown), and a stepping motor 188 (FIG. 19) as a camera shift unit that applies driving force to the driving force transmission mechanism. Reference) is provided. When the size of the substrate material 200 is input to the size input unit 33 (see FIG. 19) by the user, the stepping motor 188 receives a drive signal corresponding to the size from the controller 19. The stepping motor 188 rotates by the number of rotations based on the drive signal, and moves the holder 184 to a position where the CCD camera 182 can read the alignment mark 201.

[Configuration of stage member and circulating means]
Next, the structure of the stage members 20 and 30 and the circulation means thereof will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The stage members 20, 30 have stage bodies 22, 32 whose upper surfaces (surfaces) are planar mounting surfaces 22 A, 32 A for placing the substrate material 200, and the outer sides of the stage bodies 22, 32. With the guide walls 24 and 34 erected integrally at the end upward, the guide walls 24 and 34 are formed in a substantially “L” shape in a side view longer in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction.

  A pair of rails 26 and 36 are formed at both ends of the outer surfaces of the guide walls 24 and 34. The pair of rails 26 and 36 are formed with guide grooves having a substantially inverted "concave" shape in cross section in the vertical direction and over the entire length. Yes. Moreover, the inside of the stage main bodies 22 and 32 is hollow, and as described above, small holes 22B and 32B for air suction for adsorbing the substrate material 200 by negative pressure on the mounting surfaces 22A and 32A. Many are drilled.

  The linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 are composed of bottom plates 42 and 62 and guide walls 44 and 64 which are integrally provided upward at the outer side end portions of the bottom plates 42 and 62, and are more vertical than the horizontal direction. It is formed in a substantially “L” shape in a side view with a long direction, and a pair of guide rails 46, 66 are projected along the vertical direction at the both ends of the inner surfaces of the guide walls 44, 64 over the entire length. ing. A guide groove is slidably fitted to the guide rails 46 and 66 so that the stage members 20 and 30 are cantilevered integrally with the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60.

  Ball screws 48 and 68 are arranged in parallel between the guide rails 46 and 66, and the ball screws 48 and 68 can be rotated forward and backward at one end (for example, the lower end) of the ball screws 48 and 68. A motor (not shown) is attached. On the other hand, between the rails 26 and 36 of the guide walls 24 and 34, cylindrical members 28 and 38 having screw threads inside are integrally projected along the vertical direction. The ball screws 48 and 68 are inserted into the screw 38. Therefore, when the motor (not shown) is driven to rotate forward and backward, the guide walls 24 and 34, that is, the stage members 20 and 30 can be moved up and down along the guide rails 46 and 66 of the guide walls 44 and 64. It is.

  In addition, rails 52 and 72 having guide grooves each having a substantially inverted “concave” shape in cross-section in the transport direction are integrally provided on the lower surface of the bottom plates 42 and 62 and in the vicinity of the four corners. The guide groove is slidably fitted to a pair of guide rails 54 and 74 projecting from the upper surface of the flat base 12 having a predetermined thickness. As shown in the drawing, the guide rails 54 and 74 are adjacent to a predetermined position on the base 12 and are arranged in parallel along the conveying direction (returning direction) and substantially along the entire length, respectively. Between the guide rails 54 and 74 (inside), ball screws 56 and 76 are arranged in parallel to each other by a predetermined length. Near both ends of the ball screws 56 and 76 are supported by a pair of support portions (not shown), and motors 50 and 70 capable of forward and reverse rotation are respectively provided at the upstream (or downstream) ends. It is attached.

  On the other hand, a cylindrical member (not shown) having a screw thread inside is protruded integrally along the conveying direction (return direction) at the substantially lower center of the bottom plates 42 and 62. The ball screws 56, 76 are inserted in a state where they are screwed together. Therefore, when the motors 50 and 70 are driven to rotate forward and backward, the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 are moved along the guide rails 54 and 74 at a predetermined speed in the transport direction and the return direction (for example, 30 mm / s during exposure). It is possible to move so as to be separable (passable). The motors 50 and 70 are configured to be rotationally driven by a drive pulse signal output from a conveyance control unit (not shown), and the conveyance control unit is connected to the controller. Further, the means for causing the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 to travel is not limited to the illustrated ball screws 56 and 76, and may be configured to travel by a linear motor or the like.

  Further, as shown in the drawing, the linear traveling bodies 40, 60 are moved in the transport direction and the return direction with the cantilevered stage members 20, 30 facing each other. The length of the main bodies 22 and 32 in the width direction is longer than the length of the bottom plates 42 and 62 in the width direction. 22 and 32 move within the same area). Therefore, when the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60 pass each other, the stage members 20 and 30 are shifted from the upper position and the lower position so that the stage main bodies 22 and 32 do not interfere with each other.

  That is, the stage members 20 and 30 have the substrate material 200 mounted on the mounting surfaces 22A and 32A when the alignment process by the CCD camera 182 and the exposure process by the exposure head 100 are performed. When moving in the transport direction and returning from the take-out position to the mounting position, the substrate material 200 is removed from the placement surfaces 22A and 32A, so that it moves in the return direction at the lower position. Thus, if each stage member 20 and 30 moves up and down and mutual interference is avoided, the width direction of the laser exposure apparatus 10 can be comprised compactly (installation space can be reduced). There are advantages.

  As described above, when the alignment processing by the CCD camera 182 is performed after the stage members 20 and 30 are moved upward, the substrate material 200 when the stage members 20 and 30 are raised is used. Can be corrected during measurement by the CCD camera 182. Therefore, alignment with respect to the drawing area 204 can be performed with high accuracy.

  Further, since the stage members 20 and 30 are moved upward and exposure processing is performed by the exposure head 100, depending on the thickness of the substrate material 200, the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200, the exposure head 100, and the like. It is possible to adjust the focal length. That is, regardless of the thickness of the substrate material 200, the amount of elevation of the stage members 20 and 30 can be adjusted so that the distance between the exposed surface 202 of the substrate material 200 and the exposure head 100 is constant. It is not necessary to adjust the focal length by changing the mounting height position of the exposure head 100 for each substrate material 200 having a different thickness. Moreover, since the stage members 20 and 30 always travel integrally with the linear traveling bodies 40 and 60, the movement is performed with high accuracy.

[Operation of exposure apparatus]
Next, a series of operations in the laser exposure apparatus 10 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference mainly to FIG. 1, FIG. 4, and FIG. First, the substrate material 200 </ b> A sequentially supplied by the supply conveyor 86 is stopped and positioned by the positioning device 23, and the four corners are sucked by the suction member 82 of the loader 80. Then, the loader 80 conveys and places the substrate material 200 </ b> A on the placement surface 22 </ b> A of the stage member 20 waiting at the initial position (mounting position) from the supply conveyor 86.

  At this time, since a negative pressure is supplied to the stage member 20 by a vacuum pump or the like through a cable bear, air is sucked from a large number of small holes 22B formed in the mounting surface 22A. Since the distance D is arranged on the placement surface 22A so as to be smaller than the limit distance D ′, the substrate material 200A is fixed on the placement surface 22A in a close contact state and with its warpage corrected. Then, the stage member 20 is raised to a predetermined position. The upper position at this time is appropriately adjusted according to the thickness of the substrate material 200A.

  In this way, when the substrate material 200A is sucked and held on the mounting surface 22A of the stage member 20 and held at the upper position, the motor 50 is driven by the drive pulse signal from the transport control unit and the ball screw 56 rotates. Then, the linear traveling body 40 moves along the guide rail 54 in the transport direction at a predetermined speed. First, the CCD camera 182 moved to a predetermined position according to the substrate size along the transport direction of the substrate material 200A. The provided alignment mark 201 is imaged, and the position of the drawing region 204 of the substrate material 200A is detected.

  That is, when the alignment mark 201 of the substrate material 200 </ b> A reaches the imaging position (reading position) of the CCD camera 182, the strobe is emitted, and the imaging area including the alignment mark 201 on the exposed surface 202 is imaged by the CCD camera 182. The imaging information obtained by the CCD camera 182 is output to the alignment control unit 21. The alignment control unit 21 converts the imaging information into position information corresponding to the position along the scanning direction and the width direction of the alignment mark 201, and outputs this position information to the controller 19.

  The controller 19 determines the position of the alignment mark 201 provided corresponding to the drawing area 204 based on the position information of the alignment mark 201 from the alignment control unit 21, and determines the position of the drawing area 204 from the position of the alignment mark 201. The position along the scanning direction and the width direction and the amount of inclination of the drawing area 204 with respect to the scanning direction are determined. That is, the controller 19 determines the position of the substrate material 200 </ b> A on the stage member 20, determines the position of each alignment mark 201 on the substrate material 200 </ b> A based on the image information, and determines the drawing region 204.

  Then, the controller 19 calculates the exposure start timing for the drawing area 204 based on the position of the drawing area 204 along the scanning direction, and based on the position along the width direction of the drawing area 204 and the amount of inclination with respect to the scanning direction. Then, the conversion process is performed on the image information corresponding to the wiring pattern, and the converted image information is stored in the frame memory.

  Here, the contents of the conversion process include a coordinate conversion process for rotating the image information around the coordinate origin, and a coordinate conversion process for translating the image information along the coordinate axis corresponding to the width direction. Further, as necessary, the controller 19 executes a conversion process for expanding or contracting the image information in correspondence with the expansion amount and the reduction amount along the width direction and the scanning direction of the drawing area 204.

  Further, based on the image information after the conversion process and the position information of the drawing area 204 obtained in this way, the controller 19 uses the reference positions (the frame of the substrate material 200 shown in FIGS. 20A and 21A). The drawing region 204 may be shifted from the inner position) to the shift position shown in FIGS. 20B and 21C (within the frame of the substrate material 200) to form an image in a desired region of the substrate material 200. .

  Then, the image information after the conversion process and the position information of the drawing area 204 are temporarily stored in the frame memory of the controller 19 in association with the stage member 20, and the substrate material 200 </ b> A is received from the stage member 20 (from the laser exposure apparatus 10). ) After being sent to a transport device (not shown) for transporting to the next process, it is erased from the frame memory. The alignment processing time in this embodiment is 15 seconds.

  Now, the substrate material 200A on which the alignment mark 201 is imaged is supplied to the exposure position of the exposure head 100 that is suspended from the gate 16 as the stage member 20 (linear traveling body 40) further moves in the transport direction. The Then, while moving at a predetermined speed (for example, 30 mm / s), the drawing area 204 whose position is detected by the alignment control unit 21 based on the imaging by the CCD camera 182 is exposed based on the image information corresponding to the wiring pattern. Then, a latent image (image) such as a wiring pattern is formed in the drawing region 204 of the substrate material 200A. That is, when the substrate material 200A is moved in the transport direction together with the stage member 20, the exposure head 100 is relatively sub-scanned in the return direction, so that the substrate material 200A has a strip-shaped exposure for each exposure head 100. The completed region 206 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) is formed sequentially.

  Here, the exposure process will be specifically described. First, the controller 19 determines the position of the substrate material 200A on the stage member 20, and based on the position information of the drawing area 204 stored in the frame memory. The timing at which the leading end of the drawing area 204 reaches the exposure position is determined. Then, an exposure start signal is output to the image information processing unit 15 in synchronization with the timing when the leading end of the drawing area 204 reaches the exposure position. As a result, the image information processing unit 15 sequentially reads image information stored in the frame memory for each of a plurality of lines, and generates a control signal for each exposure head 100 based on the read image information. Then, the mirror drive control unit 17 controls each of the micromirrors 110 of the DMD 106 to be in an ON state or an OFF state for each exposure head 100 based on the generated control signal.

  Thus, when the micromirror 110 of the DMD 106 is ON / OFF controlled, laser light is irradiated from the fiber array light source 112 to the DMD 106 and reflected by the micromirror 110 in the ON state, and the lens system 122, 124 causes the substrate material. An image is formed on the exposed surface 202 of 200A. That is, the laser light emitted from the fiber array light source 112 is turned ON / OFF for each pixel, and the drawing area 204 of the substrate material 200A is exposed in a pixel unit (exposure area) that is substantially the same as the number of used pixels of the DMD 106. The image information referred to here is data representing the density of each pixel constituting the image by binary values (whether or not dots are recorded), and the exposure processing time by the exposure head 100 in this embodiment is 15 seconds. ing.

  On the other hand, the stage member 30 is in a return operation until the substrate material 200A on the stage member 20 is subjected to the alignment process and the exposure process is started. That is, the stage member 30 is lowered to the lower position, and the linear traveling body 60 is moved along the guide rail 74 from the take-out position to the mounting position at a predetermined speed. Then, during the exposure process of the stage member 20, the next substrate material 200 </ b> B is transported from the supply conveyor 86 onto the placement surface 32 </ b> A by the loader 80 at the loading position. At this time, similarly to the above, the substrate material 200B is adsorbed and held on the mounting surface 32A by a negative pressure action due to air being sucked from the small holes 32B of the stage member 30.

  Thus, when the substrate material 200B is mounted, the stage member 30 rises to the upper position, and the motor 70 is driven by the drive pulse signal from the transfer control unit, and the ball screw 76 rotates. Then, the linear traveling body 60 moves along the guide rail 74 in the transport direction at a predetermined speed, and the alignment marks 201 provided at the four corners of the substrate material 200B are imaged by the CCD camera 182 attached to the gate 18. The position of the drawing region 204 of the substrate material 200B is detected. That is, the steps from the mounting of the substrate material 200B on the stage member 30 to the steps are substantially completed in 15 seconds from the start to the end of exposure of the stage member 20.

  On the other hand, when the exposure of the substrate material 200A is completed, the stage member 20 is lowered to a lower position, the negative pressure by a vacuum pump or the like is released, and the substrate material (printed wiring board) 200A is unloaded from the placement surface 22A. Is taken out by. That is, the four corners of the substrate material 200 </ b> A are adsorbed by the adsorbing member 92 of the unloader 90 and conveyed from the stage member 20 to the discharge conveyor 96 along the guide plate 94. Then, the substrate material (printed wiring board) 200A is transported to the next process by a transport device (not shown).

  The stage member 20 (linear traveling body 40) from which the substrate material 200A has been removed returns to the original mounting position (initial position) when the motor 50 rotates and drives the ball screw 56 in the direction opposite to that during conveyance. Moving. Then, the next substrate material 200A is mounted on the mounting surface 22A by the loader 80. At this time, the alignment mark 201 of the substrate material 200B mounted on the stage member 30 has already been picked up by the CCD camera 182, the position of the drawing area 204 is detected, and exposure is started. That is, when the controller 19 completes the exposure for the drawing area 204 of the substrate material 200A, the drawing area of the next substrate material 200B is based on the converted image information and position information as in the case of the drawing area 204. The exposure to 204 is executed.

  When the exposure of the substrate material 200B sucked and held on the stage member 30 is completed, the stage member 30 is lowered to a lower position, the negative pressure by the vacuum pump or the like is released, and the substrate is placed on the placement surface 32A. The material (printed wiring board) 200B is taken out by the unloader 90. This state is shown in FIG. Then, the stage member 20 on which the new substrate material 200A is mounted at the mounting position repeats the above operation, and the stage member 30 (linear traveling body 60) from which the substrate material has been removed also returns in the same process as the stage member 20. In operation, the next substrate material (not shown) is placed on the placement surface 32A, and the above operation is repeated.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the structure similar to 1st Embodiment, and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  23 to 25 show the flood bed type laser exposure apparatus 1 of the second embodiment.

  The laser exposure apparatus 1 is configured such that each part is housed in a rectangular frame 2 configured by assembling rod-shaped square pipes into a frame shape. In addition, the inside and outside are shut off by attaching a panel (not shown) to the frame 2.

  The frame body 2 includes a tall housing portion 2A and a stage portion 2B provided so as to protrude from one side surface of the housing portion 2A.

  The stage unit 2B has an upper surface lower than the housing unit 2A, and is substantially in a waist-high position when an operator stands in front of the stage unit 2B.

  An opening / closing lid 4 is provided on the upper surface of the stage portion 2B. A hinge (not shown) is attached to one side of the opening / closing lid 4 on the side of the casing 2A, and opening / closing operation is possible around this one side.

  The exposure stage 6 (see FIG. 26) can be exposed on the upper surface of the stage portion 2B with the open / close lid 4 opened.

  A leg portion 6A (see FIG. 26) having a substantially U-shaped cross section is attached to the lower surface of the exposure stage 6, and the leg portion 6A extends from the stage portion 2B to the housing portion 2A. The exposure stage 6 is slidably supported with respect to the board 8 and is supported via a pair of sliding rails 9 arranged parallel to each other and along the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8.

  The exposure stage 6 is supported by the slide rail 9 so that it can slide in the y direction with almost no frictional resistance (only through the rolling resistance of the bearing when a bearing or the like is interposed).

  One end of the surface plate 8 in the longitudinal direction reaches the stage portion 2B, and the operator places or removes the photosensitive material 220 on the exposure stage 6 with the exposure stage 6 positioned at this position. be able to.

  The surface plate 8 is supported by a pedestal 240 that is firmly fixed to a square pipe that constitutes the casing 2A, and serves as a reference for the movement locus of the exposure stage 6.

  A linear motor unit 260 is disposed between the pair of slide rails 9 disposed along the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8.

  As is well known, the linear motor unit 260 is a linear drive source that applies the driving force of the stepping motor, and includes a bar-shaped coil unit 260 </ b> A provided along the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8 and the lower surface of the exposure stage 6. The coil portion 260 </ b> A provided on the side is composed of a stator portion (magnet portion) 260 </ b> B (see FIG. 24) disposed at a predetermined interval.

  That is, the exposure stage 6 obtains a driving force by a magnetic field generated by energizing the coil portion 260A and moves on the surface plate 8 along the slide rail 9 in the longitudinal direction (y direction). is there.

  As described above, since the principle is the same as that of the stepping motor, the exposure stage 6 according to the present embodiment has a high speed by electrical control such as constant speed, positioning accuracy, and torque fluctuation at start and stop. High drive control is possible.

  As described above, the photosensitive material 220 is laid on the exposure stage 6. The exposure stage 6 is provided with a plurality of small holes 6D on the mounting surface 6C of the photosensitive material 220. With the photosensitive material 220 mounted by a loader 80, a negative pressure is applied from the small holes 22 by a vacuum pump or the like. The photosensitive material 220 can be brought into close contact with each other.

  As shown in FIG. 24, a supply conveyor 86 and a loader 80 similar to those in the first embodiment are adjacent to the stage unit 12B. The photosensitive material 220 is sequentially conveyed by the supply conveyor 86 and positioned by the positioning device 23 (see FIG. 20) in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The photosensitive material 220 is sucked and held by the loader 80, moved by a predetermined stroke, and mounted on the placement surface 6C in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  Thus, the distance D (see FIG. 21) between the peripheral edge of the photosensitive material 220 and the outermost small hole 6D that covers the photosensitive material 220 and adsorbs the photosensitive material 220 is always set to A regardless of the size of the photosensitive material 220. / 2 (see FIG. 21) or less. Therefore, the peripheral edge of the photosensitive material 220 can be adsorbed to the mounting surface 6C, and the warp of the photosensitive material 220 can be corrected.

  An exposure head unit 280 (see FIG. 27) is disposed at a substantially intermediate position of the movement locus on the surface plate 8 in the exposure stage 6.

  The exposure head unit 280 is broken so as to be stretched over a pair of support columns 30 erected on the outer sides of both ends in the width direction of the surface plate 8. That is, the gate through which the exposure stage 6 passes between the exposure head unit 280 and the surface plate 8 is formed.

  The exposure head unit 280 includes a plurality of head assemblies 280A arranged along the width direction of the surface plate 8. Each head assembly is moved at a predetermined timing while moving the exposure stage 6 at a constant speed. The photosensitive material 16 can be exposed by irradiating the photosensitive material 220 on the exposure stage 6 with a plurality of light beams (details will be described later) irradiated from 280A.

  As shown in FIG. 28B, the head assemblies 280A constituting the exposure head unit 280 are arranged in an approximately matrix of m rows and n columns (for example, 2 rows and 5 columns), and the plurality of head assemblies 280A. Are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the exposure stage 6 (hereinafter referred to as the scanning direction). In the present embodiment, a total of 10 head assemblies 280A are provided in two rows in relation to the width of the photosensitive material 220.

  Here, the exposure area 280B by one head assembly 280A is a rectangular shape having a short side in the scanning direction and is inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the scanning direction, and as the exposure stage 6A moves, In the photosensitive material 220, a strip-shaped exposed region is formed for each head assembly 280A (see FIG. 28A).

  As shown in FIG. 23, a light source unit 300 is disposed in the housing portion 2A at another location that does not hinder the movement of the exposure stage 6 on the surface plate 8. A plurality of lasers (semiconductor lasers) are accommodated in the light source unit 300, and light emitted from the lasers is guided to the respective head assemblies 280A via optical fibers (not shown).

  Each head assembly 280A is guided by the optical fiber, and controls an incident light beam in units of dots by a not-shown digital micromirror device (DMD) which is a spatial light modulation element. Expose the dot pattern. In the present embodiment, the density of one pixel is expressed using the plurality of dot patterns.

  As shown in FIG. 29, the above-described band-shaped exposed region 280B (one head assembly 280A) is formed by 20 dots that are two-dimensionally arranged (for example, 4 × 5).

  The two-dimensional array of dot patterns is inclined with respect to the scanning direction so that the dots arranged in the scanning direction pass between the dots arranged in the direction intersecting the scanning direction. The substantial dot pitch can be narrowed, and high resolution can be achieved. As described above, the inclination of the head assembly 280A may overlap a plurality of dot patterns on the same scanning line depending on the setting of the standard resolution of the apparatus. In such a case, the DMD corresponding to one of the dot patterns (dotted pattern in FIG. 29) is always turned off, and an unused dot pattern may be provided.

  Here, in the stage unit 2B, the exposure process to the photosensitive material 220 positioned on the exposure stage 6 is performed by placing the photosensitive material 220 on the exposure stage 6 and along the slide rail 9 on the surface plate 8. This is not performed when moving to the far side (outward path) but once when reaching the far end of the surface plate 8 and returning to the stage unit 2B (return path).

  That is, the forward travel is a movement for obtaining the position information of the photosensitive material 220 on the exposure stage 6, and an alignment unit 320 (see FIG. 30) is provided on the surface plate 8 as a unit for obtaining this position information. Is arranged.

  The alignment unit 320 is disposed on the far side in the forward direction from the exposure head unit 280, and is fixed to a pair of beam portions 340 (see FIG. 30) constituting a part of the housing portion 2A.

  The alignment unit 320 includes a base portion 360 fixed to the pair of beam portions 340, and a plurality of (four in the present embodiment) cameras that can move in the width direction of the surface plate 8 with respect to the base portion 360. Part 380.

  The camera unit 380 is attached to a pair of parallel rail units 400 arranged independently along the base unit 360 so as to be slidable in the x direction via the camera base 420.

  The camera unit 380 is provided with a lens unit 380B on the lower surface of the camera body 380A, and a ring-shaped strobe light source 380C is attached to the protruding tip of the lens unit 380B.

  The light from the strobe light source 380C is irradiated onto the photosensitive material 220 on the exposure stage 6, and the reflected light is input to the camera body 380A via the lens unit 380B, whereby the mark M ( 31) can be taken.

  The camera base 420 can be moved in the width direction (x direction) of the surface plate 8 by driving the ball screw mechanism 440, and the movement of the exposure stage 6 and the movement of the ball screw mechanism 440. By moving the surface plate 8 in the width direction by the driving force, the optical axis of the lens unit 38A can be arranged at a desired position of the photosensitive material 220. That is, since the relative positional relationship between the exposure stage 6 and the photosensitive material 220 is determined by the operator placing the photosensitive material 220, a slight shift may occur.

Therefore, the mark M (see FIG. 31) provided on the photosensitive material 220 is photographed by the camera body 380A. The deviation is recognized by this photographing, the exposure timing by the exposure head unit 280 having a known relative relationship with the exposure stage 6 is corrected, and the relative position between the photosensitive material 220 and the image is set as a desired position.
[Relative positional relationship between exposure head unit 280 and alignment unit 320]
Incidentally, in the present embodiment, the relative position between the alignment unit 320 and the exposure head unit 280 is such that the exposure stage 6 has the shortest distance based on the appearance structure of the alignment unit 320 and the appearance structure of the exposure head unit 280. The arrangement is such that it can be moved back and forth.

  FIG. 32A is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement relationship between exposure head unit 280 and alignment unit 320 of the present embodiment.

  When the exposure stage 6 located on the stage unit 2B moves forward along the surface plate 8 (rightward in FIG. 32A), first, it passes under the exposure head unit 280 and reaches the alignment unit 320. The alignment unit 320 is reached. The distance until the entire surface of the exposure stage 6 passes through the alignment unit 320 is the dimension L1.

  On the other hand, FIG. 32B is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement relationship that is most implemented in a system in which imaging by the alignment unit 320 is performed in the forward path and exposure is performed by the exposure head unit 16 in the backward path.

  Similarly to FIG. 32A, when the exposure stage 6 positioned on the stage portion 2B moves forward (rightward in FIG. 32B) along the surface plate 8, it first passes under the alignment unit 320. . Thereby, photographing by the alignment unit 320 becomes possible.

  However, in order to perform exposure by the exposure head unit 280 on the return path, the forward path must be continued until the entire surface of the exposure stage 6 passes through the exposure head unit 280. As a result, the movement distance of the exposure stage 6 is It becomes the dimension L2.

Here, the relationship between the dimension L1 and the dimension L2 is clearly L1 <L2, and, as in the present embodiment, the alignment unit 320 to be implemented in the outward path is set to the back side in the forward movement direction, thereby exposing the exposure stage 6. It is possible to reduce the amount of movement.
[Dust exclusion structure]
As shown in FIG. 23, a chamber 460 is provided on the back side of the surface plate 8 including the exposure head unit 280 so as to be further isolated from the space in the housing 2A.

  That is, the exposure head unit 280 and the alignment unit 320 are disposed in the chamber 460, and the surface plate 8 is continuous from the inside of the chamber 460 to the stage portion 2B. Only the exposure stage 28 moves inside and outside the chamber 460. It is structured to go back and forth (moving forward and returning).

  One end of an air duct 480 is attached to the ceiling portion of the chamber 460. The other end of the blower duct 480 is attached to an air discharge port of the blower 500, and when the blower 500 is operated, air is sent into the chamber 460 via the blower duct 480.

  Here, when air is sent into the chamber 460, the pressure in the chamber 460 becomes positive, and flows through the only escape area, that is, the movement space of the exposure stage 6 to the stage unit 2B. By this flow, dust around the exposure head unit 280 that should avoid dust most can be discharged, and even when the opening / closing lid 4 is opened, new dust can be prevented from entering due to the pressure difference. It is possible.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a static eliminator (ionizer) 520 extends across the width direction of the surface plate 8 on the front side in the forward movement direction of the exposure stage 6 in the exposure head unit 280, that is, on the side close to the stage portion 2B. It is arranged.

  The static eliminator 520 includes a hollow pipe-shaped blowing unit 520A and an ion generating unit 520B that supplies ionized air to the blowing unit 520A, and the ionized air is directed toward the surface plate 8. It has a structure that blows out.

  More specifically, in the ion generator 520B, ions are generated by generating corona discharge between the ground electrode and the discharge electrode, and the ions are guided to the blowing unit 520A by a blower source, and are made to withstand electricity by static electricity. Neutralize and remove static electricity from the dust and ions of different polarity.

As a result, when the exposure stage 6 on which the photosensitive material 220 is placed moves on the surface plate 8, the surface of the photosensitive material 220 is neutralized to remove dust adhering thereto due to static electricity, and the exposure stage 6 is air blown. It is possible to remove dust floating in the upper space of the.
[Mark detection control]
The mark detection control applied to the photosensitive material 220 for grasping the relative positional relationship between the photosensitive material 220 and the exposure head unit 280, which is executed at the time of alignment in the laser exposure apparatus 1 having the above configuration, will be described.

  FIG. 33 shows a functional block diagram of a control system for mark detection in alignment unit 320.

  The camera operation control unit 560 of the controller unit 540 sends an activation signal to the camera unit 380 when an exposure stage operation control signal is input. In response to this activation signal, the camera unit 380 starts photographing. That is, the operation timing of the exposure stage 6 and the shooting timing by the camera unit 380 are synchronized.

  In addition, the size data is input to the width direction position setting unit 580 together with the exposure stage operation control signal, and the operation of the ball screw mechanism unit 440 is controlled by the width direction position setting unit 580, and the surface plate 8 of the camera unit 380 is controlled. The position in the width direction with respect to is adjusted.

  During the photographing operation of the camera unit 380, the exposure stage 6 moves at a constant speed along the forward path on the surface plate 8. Therefore, the mark M (see FIG. 31) given to the photosensitive material 220 placed on the exposure stage 6 is photographed by the camera unit 380.

  The photographed data is sent to the photographing data analysis unit 600, and the photographing data is analyzed. Basically, the captured image data is analog data (the amount of light is converted into voltage immediately after photoelectric conversion). Therefore, the analog data is converted into digital image data, and the digital image data is combined with the position data. Numerical value (density value) is managed.

  The digital image data analyzed by the photographic data analysis unit 600 is sent to the mark extraction unit 620, where marks are extracted and sent to the mark collation unit 640. On the other hand, the position data associated with the digital image data is sent to the exposure position correction coefficient calculation unit 660.

  The mark collating unit 640 collates the extracted mark image data with the mark data stored in the mark data memory 680 in advance, and sends a signal indicating coincidence / mismatch to the exposure position correction coefficient computing unit 660.

  The exposure position correction coefficient calculation unit 660 recognizes an error between the position data corresponding to the mark data determined to be coincident as a result of the collation and the original (designed) mark position data, and the exposure position. A correction coefficient of (the exposure start position in the moving direction of the exposure stage 6 and the dot shift position in the width direction of the exposure stage 6) is calculated and sent to the exposure control system.

  Here, the feature of mark detection in the present embodiment is that the mark is detected while moving the exposure stage 6 at a constant speed. As shown in FIG. 31, the mark M originally imparted to the photosensitive material 220 is circular (see FIG. 31A). When this is photographed while moving the exposure stage 6, the photographed image becomes an oval mark ML (see FIG. 31B), depending on the shutter speed at the time of photographing. For this reason, conventionally, when the mark M is photographed (detected), the exposure stage 6 is temporarily stopped.

  However, the temporary stop of the exposure stage 6 causes a reduction in work efficiency and causes a problem in high-speed processing.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, an image ML ′ (see FIG. 33) in which the mark data stored in the mark data memory 680 (see FIG. 33) is added to the shooting environment (shutter speed, movement speed of the exposure stage 6) of the camera unit 380. 31 (C)). In other words, not the original mark shape but the mark data corresponding to the actually photographed image in the photographing environment is stored, so that the collation is optimized.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.
[Flow of image recording]
The exposure stage 6 that adsorbs the photosensitive material 220 placed on the surface by the loader 80 is driven from the stage portion 2B to the back of the housing portion 2A along the slide rail 9 of the surface plate 8 by the driving force of the linear motor portion 260. It moves to the side at a constant speed (outward movement). Here, when the exposure stage 6 passes through the alignment unit 320, the mark M previously applied to the photosensitive material 220 is detected by the camera unit 380. The mark M is collated with a mark stored in advance, and the exposure start time by the exposure head unit 280 is corrected based on the positional relationship.

  FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing the exposure start timing correction routine.

  In step 100, it is determined whether or not an exposure start instruction has been issued. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 102 to instruct the camera unit 380 to be activated. If the determination at step 100 is negative, this routine ends.

  When the activation of the camera unit 380 is instructed in step 102, the process proceeds to step 104 and it is determined whether or not the size data of the photosensitive material 220 has been input. If an affirmative determination is made in step 104, the position in the width direction of the camera unit 380 with respect to the surface plate 8 is adjusted based on the size data input in step 106 (drive control of the ball screw mechanism unit 440).

  In step 108, it is determined whether or not the adjustment is completed. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 110, and the forward movement of the exposure stage 6 is started. The movement of the exposure stage 6 is constant speed conveyance.

  While the exposure stage 6 is moving forward, in step 112, the position of the exposure stage 6 is confirmed (can be determined by the drive pulse of the linear motor unit 260), and in step 114, it is determined whether or not it is an imaging timing. That is, it is determined whether or not the front end of the exposure stage 6 in the moving direction is a position immediately before passing under the camera unit 38. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 116 to start photographing.

  In the next step 118, the position of the exposure stage 6 is confirmed, and in step 120, it is determined whether or not it is the photographing end timing. That is, it is determined whether or not the rear end of the exposure stage 6 in the moving direction has passed right under the camera unit 38. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 122 to end the shooting.

  In the next step 124, the photographed data is analyzed, and then the process proceeds to step 126 to extract image data corresponding to the mark M.

  Next, in step 128, reference data is read from the mark data memory 680 (see FIG. 33), and in step 130, the photographed and extracted mark image data is compared with the reference data.

  In the next step 132, an exposure position correction coefficient is calculated based on the collation result, the process proceeds to step 134, and the calculated correction coefficient data is sent to the exposure control system, and this routine ends.

  By the way, the photographing of the mark M of the photosensitive material 220 and the exposure start timing correction by the alignment unit 320 are executed without stopping the exposure stage 6 during the forward movement.

  In general, if only positioning in the moving direction (that is, one-dimensional) is performed, even if detection is performed during movement, there is almost no detection error. However, in the case of planar positioning of the photosensitive material (that is, two-dimensional), at least A cross mark (so-called registration mark) in the direction perpendicular to the movement direction is necessary. Furthermore, in order to improve accuracy, it is preferable to use an image having a predetermined area as the mark M, and the optimum shape is a circle. In this embodiment, this circular image is applied as the mark M (see FIG. 31A).

  In this case, if photographing is performed while the exposure stage 6 is moving, the photographed image does not become circular due to environmental conditions such as the shutter speed of the camera unit 32 and the movement speed of the exposure stage 6, and an ellipse mark ML (FIG. 31). (See (B)).

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, a reference mark image stored in the mark data memory 680 is stored as an oval image ML ′ set based on the environmental conditions (see FIG. 31C). As a result, it is possible to collate with the mark ML actually taken and formed into an oval shape, and the photosensitive material 220 can be accurately positioned.

  When the exposure stage 6 reaches the forward path end, it turns back and returns at a constant speed in the direction of the stage portion 2B (return path movement). The exposure head unit 280 passes through this return path movement.

  In the exposure head unit 280, the DMD is irradiated with laser light based on the corrected exposure start time, and the laser light reflected when the micromirror of the DMD is in the on state passes through the optical system to the photosensitive material 220. And imaged on the photosensitive material 220.

  As described above, the laser exposure apparatus 1 of the present embodiment sets the exposure start time based on the relative position between the photosensitive material 220 and the exposure head unit 16 by the reciprocation of the exposure stage 6 (outward movement). The exposure processing by the exposure head unit 16 is performed (return path movement). At this time, it is general that the unit reaches the unit required for the forward path movement first (FIG. 32 ( B)).

  However, in the present embodiment, the exposure head unit 280 is disposed on the front side of the exposure stage 6 in the forward movement direction, and the alignment unit 320 is disposed on the back side in the forward movement direction (see FIG. 32A). .

  This is because the alignment unit 320 is provided with a mechanism for moving in the width direction of the surface plate 8, and has a large dimension that occupies the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8. As shown in FIG. 6 is disposed at the front side in the forward movement direction, the exposure head unit 280 is retracted by the occupied dimension in the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8 of the alignment unit 320.

  As a result, the distance is the dimension L2 necessary until the rear end of the exposure stage 6 in the forward movement direction finishes passing directly under the back exposure head unit 280.

  On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 32A which is the arrangement of the present embodiment, the exposure head unit 280 and the alignment unit 320 can be arranged in a relatively close state. For this reason, the distance required for the rear end of the exposure stage 6 in the forward movement direction to finish passing immediately below the rear alignment unit 320 is the dimension L1.

  That is, since the alignment unit 320 is used in the forward path and the exposure head unit 280 is used in the backward path, the general concept that the exposure stage 6 is arranged so as to reach the necessary unit first is not the above. When the mechanism for causing the alignment unit 320 to move in the width direction of the surface plate 8 occupies the longitudinal direction of the surface plate 8, the opposite side of the moving mechanism faces the exposure head unit 280, and the exposure head unit 280 and By disposing the alignment unit 320 closest to the alignment unit 320, the moving distance of the exposure stage 6 can be shortened, and as a result, the processing efficiency can be improved.

  Here, the distance D (see FIG. 21) between the outermost small hole 6D that covers the photosensitive material 220 and adsorbs the photosensitive material 220 and the peripheral portion of the photosensitive material 220 is A / 2 (see FIG. 21) or less. The peripheral edge of the photosensitive material 220 is adsorbed to the mounting surface 6C. That is, the warp of the photosensitive material 220 is corrected. For this reason, the optical distance between the photosensitive material 220 and the exposure head unit 280 is constant, and a good exposure image is obtained.

  Next, the area where the exposure head unit 280 and the alignment unit 320 are disposed is completely separated from the space inside the other housing 12A by the chamber 460. In addition, one end of an air duct 480 is attached to the ceiling portion of the chamber 460. By the operation of the blower 500, air from the air discharge port of the blower 500 is sent into the chamber 460.

  Due to the air feeding, the inside of the chamber 460 becomes a positive pressure, and the air flows to the stage portion 2B which is the only escape place.

  By this flow, dust around the exposure head unit 280 and the alignment unit 320 that should most avoid dust can be discharged from the stage portion 2B.

  When the photosensitive material 220 is attached to or detached from the exposure stage 6, the opening / closing lid 4 of the stage portion 2B is opened. At this time, dust may have entered from the open stage portion 2B, but in this embodiment, since the inside of the chamber 460 is set to a positive pressure, new dust does not enter due to the pressure difference. Environmental degradation around the exposure head unit 280 and the alignment unit 320 can be prevented.

  On the other hand, the photosensitive material 220 is charged with static electricity depending on the material of the base, and may be attracted with dust by being charged. The dust that is attracted and adhered by static electricity may not be wiped away only by the air flow. Therefore, a static eliminator (ionizer) 520 is provided across the width direction of the surface plate 8 on the front side of the exposure head unit 280 in the forward movement direction of the exposure stage 6.

  Thereby, the photosensitive material 220 positioned on the exposure stage 6 sliding on the surface plate 8 always faces the static eliminator 520, and ionized air is blown from the blowing portion 520A.

  That is, a corona discharge is generated between the ground electrode and the discharge electrode by the ion generator 520B to generate dust and ions having a different polarity from static electricity, and the ions are blown out from the blow-out unit 520A by the blower source. Therefore, neutralization is performed by neutralization.

  As a result, when the exposure stage 6 on which the photosensitive material 220 is placed moves on the surface plate 8, the surface of the photosensitive material 220 is neutralized to remove dust adhering thereto due to static electricity, and the exposure stage 6 is air blown. Dust floating in the upper space of can be removed.

  As described above, in the first and second embodiments, the suction fixing apparatus according to the present invention has been described by taking the leather exposure apparatus including the suction fixing apparatus as an example. It can be applied to an apparatus that needs to be fixed by suction to a fixed base. Further, as an example of an image forming apparatus including the suction fixing device according to the present invention, a laser exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate material 200 that is a material of a printed wiring board has been described. However, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is a substrate. The present invention is not limited to a laser exposure apparatus that exposes the material 200, but can also be applied to photosensitive printing plates such as PS plates and CT printing plates, and exposure devices that expose photosensitive materials such as photosensitive paper.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to a laser exposure apparatus that performs digital exposure, but can also be applied to a laser exposure apparatus that performs mask exposure. In this case, the exposure area can be shifted to a desired position by moving the mask in accordance with the travel position of the alignment mark. In addition to the laser beam, visible light, X-rays, or the like can be used as the light beam for exposing these. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to an inkjet image forming apparatus and a display manufacturing apparatus.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the laser exposure apparatus of 1st Embodiment, a loader, and an unloader. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the structure of the laser exposure apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a principal part schematic front view which shows the structure of the laser exposure apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the process of the laser exposure apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the tact of the laser exposure apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic perspective view which shows an exposure head. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the exposed area | region formed in a substrate material, (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement | sequence of the exposure area by an exposure head. It is the elements on larger scale which show the structure of a digital micromirror device (DMD). (A) is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of DMD, (B) is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of DMD. (A) is a schematic plan view showing the scanning line of the exposure beam when the DMD is not tilted, and (B) is a schematic plan view showing the scanning line of the exposure beam when the DMD is tilted. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the structure of an exposure head. (A) is a schematic sectional drawing of the subscanning direction along the optical axis which shows the structure of an exposure head, (B) is a schematic side view of (A). (A) is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the fiber array light source, (B) is a partially enlarged view of (A), (C) is an explanatory view showing the arrangement of light emitting points in the laser emission part, and (D) is laser emission. It is explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement | sequence of the light emission point in a part. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of a multimode optical fiber. It is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of a multiplex laser light source. It is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of a laser module. It is a schematic side view which shows the structure of a laser module. It is a schematic front view which shows the structure of a laser module. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the circuit structure of a laser exposure apparatus. (A), (B) is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of the loader of a suction fixing apparatus, and a stage main body. (A), (C) is a schematic plan view showing a method of arranging a substrate material on the mounting surface, and (B) is a method of positioning the substrate material by pressing the substrate material against a reference member of the mounting surface. It is a schematic plan view shown. (A), (B) is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of the loader of a suction fixing apparatus, and a stage main body. It is a perspective view which shows the outline of the image recording device of 2nd Embodiment. It is a side view which shows the outline outline of the image recording device of 2nd Embodiment. It is a top view which shows the outline of the image recording device of 2nd Embodiment. It is a perspective view of an exposure stage. It is a perspective view of an exposure head unit. (A) The top view which shows the exposure area | region by an exposure head unit, (B) is a top view which shows the arrangement pattern of a head assembly. It is a top view of the dot pattern at the time of magnification. It is a top view which shows the arrangement | sequence state of the dot pattern in a single head assembly. It is a perspective view of a camera unit. It is explanatory drawing which shows the procedure of collation with the mark on the photosensitive material, and the mark on the memory | storage used as a reference | standard. The positional relationship of an exposure head unit and a camera unit is shown, (A) is a side view of the positional relationship of this Embodiment, (B) is a side view of the positional relationship of a general form (conventional). It is a functional block diagram of the control system for the mark detection in a camera unit. It is a control flowchart which shows an exposure start time correction routine.

Explanation of symbols

1 Laser exposure equipment (image forming equipment, suction fixing equipment)
6 Exposure stage (Suction fixture)
6D small hole (negative pressure generating hole)
10 Laser exposure equipment (image forming equipment)
11 Suction Fixing Device 13 Control Device (Image Forming Area Changing Unit)
19 Controller (Image forming area changing means)
21 Alignment control unit (image forming area changing means)
22, 32 Stage body (adsorption fixing base)
22B, 32B Small hole (negative pressure generating hole)
23 Positioning device (standby position positioning means)
37A, 37B Positioning pin (Positioning means)
40, 60 Linear traveling body (conveying means)
80 Loader (Positioning means)
100 exposure head (image forming means)
106 DMD (Spatial Modulation Element)
182 CCD camera (image forming area changing means, position information acquiring means)
188 Stepping motor (shift means)
200 Substrate material (sheet material)
201 Alignment mark (position mark)
204 Drawing area (image forming area)
220 Photosensitive material (sheet material)
260 Linear motor section (conveying means)
280 Exposure head unit (image forming means)
280A Head assembly (spatial modulation element)
280B Exposed area (image forming area)
380 Camera unit (image forming area changing unit, position information acquiring unit)
440 Ball screw mechanism (shift means)
540 control unit (image forming area changing means)
M mark (position mark)

Claims (7)

A plurality of negative pressure generating holes for generating negative pressure are formed at a predetermined pitch, and an adsorption fixing device including an adsorption fixing base that adsorbs and fixes a placed sheet material by negative pressure,
A suction fixing device for positioning the sheet material on the suction fixing base, wherein the positioning member positions the sheet material on the suction fixing base so that the maximum number of the negative pressure generating holes is blocked by the sheet material. .   The positioning means is provided on the suction fixing base where the distance D between the outermost negative pressure generating hole for adsorbing the peripheral edge of the sheet material to the suction fixing base and the peripheral edge of the sheet material is substantially the same. The suction fixing device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material is positioned at a shift position.   The positioning means conveys the sheet material from a sheet material standby position where the sheet material waits before being placed on the suction fixing base, and presses the sheet material against the positioning member to place it on the shift position on the suction fixing base. The suction fixing device according to claim 1, wherein the suction fixing device is a loader. The positioning means includes
A standby position that is provided at a sheet material standby position where the sheet material waits before being placed on the suction fixing base, and that positions the sheet material at a position away from the shift position on the suction fixing base by the predetermined distance. Positioning means;
A loader that holds the sheet material at the sheet material standby position, moves by a predetermined distance, and places the sheet material at a shift position on the suction fixing base;
The adsorbing and fixing device according to claim 1, wherein A suction fixing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Image forming means for forming an image in an image forming area corresponding to the size of the sheet material on the sheet material placed at a reference position of the suction fixing base;
An image forming area changing unit that shifts the image forming area and forms an image on the image forming unit according to a shift amount of the sheet material placed at the shift position on the suction fixing base from the reference position; ,
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming area changing means is
Position information acquisition means for reading a position mark displayed on the sheet material and transmitting position information of the sheet material to the image forming means;
Shift means for shifting the position information acquisition means in accordance with a shift amount from a reference position on the suction fixing base of the sheet material to a shift position;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming unit is a spatial modulation element.

Images