JP2006188054A - Pattern forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep an accurate parallelism between a stamp and an ink pad and between the stamp and a printed substrate in a pattern forming apparatus for using the stamp. <P>SOLUTION: A printed substrate fixing stage 10 for fixing the printed substrate 20 is enabled to move vertically with a moving apparatus 60 by being placed on a spherical seat 50, and besides an ink pad fixing stage 11 for fixing the ink pad 30 is placed on a spherical seat 51 and enabled vertical movements with a movable apparatus 61. By that constitution, when the stamp 40 is pushed onto the ink pad 30, the spherical seat 50 moves to make the stamp 40 parallel to the ink pad 30 and the spherical seat 50 is fixed. Similarly, when the stamp 40 is pushed on to the printed substrate 20, the spherical seat 51 moves, the stamp 40 becomes parallel to the printed substrate 20 and the spherical seat 51 is fixed at that time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pattern forming apparatus that forms a fine pattern using a fluid such as printing ink.

Conventionally, as a so-called printing method for forming a fluid pattern, methods such as relief printing, intaglio printing, and lithographic printing are known.
For example, printed materials such as newspapers and magazines are formed by patterning printing ink, which is a fluid, on a substrate such as paper for information transmission.
In addition, electronic parts are manufactured by forming a pattern of a functional material in the form of a paste, that is, a fluid, for the production of so-called thick film parts such as conductors, resistors, capacitors, etc. Is well known.
Furthermore, recently, a printing technique called soft lithography has been attracting attention in the field of micron-order and nano-order microfabrication (see Non-Patent Document 1).

There are several methods called soft lithography. One of them, microcontact printing, is a method called letterpress printing or flexographic printing using a so-called rubber stamp.
However, materials used as pattern forming materials are materials that are completely different in chemical and physical properties from conventional inks, such as compounds themselves such as alkanethiols and DNA.
In addition, it is required to stack a plurality of functional organic materials with high accuracy like an organic transistor, or to arrange hundreds to hundreds of thousands of different DNAs with high accuracy on a pattern like a DNA chip. Yes.

For this reason, when using the currently used relief printing method as it is for microcontact printing, it is difficult to improve printing accuracy including pattern overlay accuracy and pattern accuracy of each plate in a plurality of printing processes. This will be described below.
In general, printing with a relief printing is performed by sticking a relief T to a cylindrical drum D as shown in FIG.
Here, in order to maintain the required strength, the relief plate needs to have a certain thickness corresponding to the height of the projections of the pattern.

For this reason, when fixed to the cylinder, as shown by the following formula, in the relief plate T having a width L, the width of the outer peripheral surface of the relief plate T along the curved surface is smaller than the width of the inner peripheral surface. It becomes longer by ΔL, and the widths of both are different.
ΔL = {2π × (d + R) −2π × R} × {(L / (2π × R)} = d × L / R
In the above equation, R is the radius of the cylinder, d is the average thickness in the plane of the relief plate T, and L is the length along the curved surface direction.
For example, when R = 10 cm, L = 10 cm, and d = 0.1 cm, ΔL = 0.1 cm, and the width of the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface differs by ΔL in the plate size.

  Therefore, the portion where the pattern of the letterpress T is formed is stretched in the curved surface direction, the dimension in the curved surface direction becomes longer than that at the time of plate making, and the dimension of one of the patterns on the letterpress T becomes the design value. In contrast, since the dimension of the other pattern in the axial direction of the cylinder does not change, it is difficult to perform a design that takes into account the extension of the plate at the time of designing in consideration of the pattern dimensions of both.

In reality, it is difficult to fix the plate to the cylinder so that the entire plate extends uniformly, and it is considered that the plate is distorted and fixed in the axial direction of the cylinder. It is difficult to improve the pattern accuracy because it is impossible to prevent an error with respect to the dimension at the time of manufacturing (or design) in the direction.
Furthermore, when aligning the pattern to be printed in order to perform superimposed printing, even if the alignment mark is aligned, the above-described pattern extension differs in the plane depending on the pattern shape, and the plate Since the whole is distorted and fixed, it is not possible to accurately overlay the patterns.

A microcontact printing method for solving the above-described problem caused by letterpress will be described with reference to FIG.
First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the stamp 40 is pressed onto the pattern forming material 90 fixed on the ink pad 30.
This stamp 40 has a convex portion 40a having a pattern shape to be formed, and usually a plurality of the convex portions 40a are arranged.
In addition, the shape of each convex part may differ depending on the pattern to form.

Next, the stamp 40 is peeled from the ink pad 30, and the pattern forming material 90 is attached to the convex portions 40a of the stamp 40 as shown in FIG.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4C, this is pressed against a predetermined substrate 20 to adhere the pattern forming material 90 to the substrate 20 to be printed, and then the stamp 40 as shown in FIG. Then, the pattern forming material 90 is transferred to the substrate 20 to be printed.

However, when the ink pad 30 and the stamp 40 are not parallel as shown in FIG. 4E, the pattern forming material 90 is only partially attached to the stamp 40 as shown in FIG. .
Further, even if the ink pad 30 and the stamp 40 are parallel, if the parallel of the substrate 20 to be printed and the stamp 40 is not obtained, the substrate 20 to be printed as shown in FIG. Only a part of the stamp 40 is in contact, and the pattern forming material 90 may not be transferred onto the substrate 20 to be printed as shown in FIG.
Accordingly, it is necessary to adjust the parallelism between the stamp 40 and the printing substrate 20 and between the stamp 40 and the ink pad 30.

In the stamp used for normal printing, the height of the convex part is several hundred microns, and the stamp is usually formed of an elastic body such as rubber, so that the stamp partially deforms and the parallel deviation occurs. Can be relaxed.
However, in the micro contact printing, the pattern width, the pitch, etc. are intended to form a pattern on the microfabrication level of the micron order and the nano order which are not performed in normal printing.
For this reason, not only the width but also the height and pitch of the stamp are several tens of microns or several microns or less, and are one to two orders of magnitude smaller than ordinary rubber stamps.
Therefore, the parallelism between the plate (stamp 40) and the ink pad and the parallelism between the plate and the substrate are required with higher accuracy than the conventional printing press.

In the field of soft lithography, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is generally used as a material for the stamp 40.
The manufacturing method of the stamp 40 is described in Non-Patent Document 1, but as shown in FIG. 10, for example, two-liquid curable PDMS is poured into a mother mold 130 having a pattern uneven pattern on the surface. .
For example, a photoresist pattern is formed on the surface of a silicon wafer by photolithography, and etching is performed using the photoresist as a mask to produce a mother die 130. On the surface of the mother die 103 on which an uneven die is formed, 2 The stamp 40 is produced by pouring liquid curable PDMS (FIG. 10A) and peeling it off after the two liquid curable PDMS is cured (FIG. 10B).

However, since the stamp 40 produced as described above is an elastic body, it is easily deformed, and in this state, printing accuracy cannot be obtained and it cannot be used for microcontact printing.
In addition, it is not impossible to form a pattern on a glass plate or silicon wafer and use it as a stamp as it is. However, since the rigidity of the pattern becomes high, it is impossible to follow the unevenness of the substrate that is the printed material. It is considered difficult.

Many examples of research on microcontact printing have been published, but the published results are within a narrow field of view that can be observed with a microscope.
In addition, there is almost no mention of pattern formation conditions and reproducibility, and apparatuses for obtaining them.
Nikkei Science December 2001 issue 30-41 pages

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to obtain a pattern forming apparatus capable of accurately maintaining parallelism between a stamp and an ink pad and between the stamp and a substrate.
A second object of the present invention is to obtain a pattern forming apparatus capable of performing accurate alignment when it is required to stack a plurality of types of films such as an organic transistor.
A third object is to obtain a nano-order fine pattern forming apparatus including DNA research and development.

  The invention according to claim 1 is an ink comprising an ink pad, an ink pad fixing stage for fixing the ink pad, and an ink pad fixing stage adjusting unit for moving the ink pad fixing stage on the base. A printing substrate having a pad support mechanism, a printing substrate fixing stage for fixing the printing substrate, and a printing substrate fixing stage adjusting unit for moving the printing substrate fixing stage. A support mechanism; a stamp; a stamp support mechanism movable between the support mechanism of the ink pad and the support mechanism of the substrate to be printed; the stamp and the substrate to be printed; and the stamp and the ink pad. And a contact mechanism between the stamp and the ink pad for bringing the stamp into contact with the ink pad, and the stamp in contact with the substrate to be printed. In the pattern forming apparatus having a contact mechanism between the stamp to be printed and the substrate to be printed, the ink pad fixing stage adjustment unit rotates the ink pad fixing stage around the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis and displaces the ink pad fixing stage in the vertical direction. In the pattern forming apparatus, the printing substrate fixing stage adjustment unit rotates and displaces the printing substrate fixing stage around the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis in the vertical direction.

  According to the present invention, since the ink pad is fixed on the ink pad fixing stage mounted on the spherical seat which is the ink pad fixing stage adjusting unit, the stamp and the ink pad are formed in the pattern formation by the transfer using the stamp. Therefore, the pattern forming material can be uniformly attached in the plane of the stamp.

  Further, according to the present invention, the printing substrate is fixed on the printing substrate fixing stage placed on the spherical seat which is the printing substrate fixing stage adjustment unit, and therefore, by transfer using a stamp. In pattern formation, since the substrate to be printed and the stamp can be easily obtained in parallel, a desired pattern can be uniformly formed in a plane with high accuracy.

For this reason, an effect is acquired especially when performing fine pattern formation, such as microcontact printing.
In addition, since an alignment mechanism is provided between the stamp and the ink pad and / or between the stamp and the substrate to be printed, a pattern can be accurately formed at a predetermined position on the substrate.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a side view showing a pattern forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, 10 is a printing substrate fixing stage for mounting and fixing the printing substrate 20, and 11 is an ink pad fixing stage for mounting and fixing the ink pad 30.
The to-be-printed substrate fixing stage 10 is placed on the spherical seat 50, and the ink pad fixing stage 11 is placed on the spherical seat 51.
The to-be-printed substrate fixing stage 10 and the spherical seat 50 can be moved in the vertical direction of the drawing by the moving device 60.
The ink pad fixing stage 11 and the spherical seat 51 are movable in the vertical direction in the figure by a moving device 61.
The moving devices 60 and 61 are mounted on the base 100.

The spherical seat 50 includes a hemispherical body 52 integrally provided on the lower surface of the stage 10 and a mounting table 54 having a hemispherical recess 53, and the hemispherical body 52 is rotatably fitted in the hemispherical recess 53. ing.
As a result, the to-be-printed substrate fixing stage 10 can be rotated in any angle and direction together with the hemispherical body 52 (movable three-dimensionally).
The spherical seat 51 is also configured in the same manner as the spherical seat 50 by a hemispherical body 55 integrally provided on the lower surface of the ink pad fixing stage 11 and a mounting table 57 having a hemispherical concave portion 56. Can rotate with the hemispherical body 55 in any angle and direction.

The spherical seat 50 is provided with fixing means for fixing the hemispherical body 52 within the hemispherical recess 53.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the fixing means.
As shown in the figure, a cross-shaped groove 58 is provided at the bottom of the hemispherical recess 53 of the mounting table 54, and a hole 59 communicating with the groove 58 is provided.
By connecting a vacuum pump (not shown) to the hole 59 and vacuum-sucking the hemispherical body 52, the hemispherical body 52 is tilted arbitrarily in the hemispherical recess 53 together with the printing substrate fixing stage 10. Can be fixed in posture.
The spherical seat 51 is also provided with fixing means having the same configuration for fixing the hemispherical body 55 together with the ink pad fixing stage 11 in the hemispherical recess 56.

In FIG. 1, a guide rail 70 is suspended between two struts 110 provided on a base 100, and a stamp 40 having a convex portion 40a is attached to the guide rail 70.
The stamp 40 can be reciprocated in the left-right direction in the drawing by a moving device (not shown).
An alignment mark observation device 80 is disposed above the printing substrate fixing stage 10, and an alignment mark observation device 81 is disposed above the ink pad fixing stage 11.

The stamp 40 is made of various elastic materials such as an elastomer mainly composed of polydimethylsiloxane which is well known in the field of soft lithography, a hydrogel mainly composed of urethane rubber, butyl rubber or polyacrylamide. it can.
These are appropriately selected depending on the pattern forming material to be used.
Moreover, hard materials, such as resin and a metal, can also be used as a stamp depending on a use.
The ink pad 30 may be, for example, a glass plate or the like coated with a pattern forming material, or a sponge-like medium having the pattern forming material absorbed.

Next, the operation of the pattern forming apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, after the stamp 40 is moved above the printing substrate fixing stage 10, the printing substrate fixing stage 10 is moved upward together with the spherical seat 50 by the stage moving device 60.
When the printing substrate fixing stage 10 and the printing substrate 20 are not parallel as shown in FIG. 3A, the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing substrate fixing stage 10 covered as shown in FIG. The surface on which the printing substrate 20 is placed is pressed through the substrate 20 to be printed.
Due to this pressing force, the hemispherical body 52 of the spherical seat 50 rotates in the hemispherical concave portion 53, whereby the front end surface (pattern surface) of all the convex portions 40 a of the stamp 40 and the surface of the substrate 20 to be printed (printed substrate). Plane).
At this time, the parallel state can be maintained by operating the fixing means by the vacuum pump to fix the spherical seat 50 by suction.

Next, after moving the stamp 40 to above the ink pad fixing stage 11, the stage moving device 61 moves the ink pad fixing stage 11 together with the spherical seat 51 to press the stamp 40 and the ink pad 30. In the same manner as described above, the spherical seat 51 is fixed by the spherical seat 51 so that the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the pad surface of the ink pad 30 are parallel to each other.
In this state, as shown in FIG. 3C, after the stamp 40 is once separated from the ink pad 30 and ink (pattern forming material) is supplied to the ink pad 30, the stamp 40 and the ink pad 30 are brought into contact again. Ink is deposited on the stamp 40.

Ink is not yet supplied to the ink pad 30 until the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the pad surface of the ink pad 30 are in a parallel state, and the parallel state is obtained and the spherical seat 51 is fixed. Ink is supplied.
For this purpose, ink may be dropped on the ink pad 30 using a sponge-like material.
For example, a filter paper such as a membrane filter is used as the sponge-like material.

  Next, after the stamp 40 to which the ink has been applied is moved again above the printing substrate fixing stage 10, the printing substrate is made parallel to the stamp 40 by the already fixed spherical seat 50. By pressing 20 and the stamp 40, the ink of the stamp 40 can be transferred to the substrate 20 to be printed.

Next, alignment of the stamp 40 with the ink pad 30 and the printing substrate 20 will be described.
Alignment marks are provided at positions corresponding to each other on the ink pad 30 and the stamp 40, and the ink pad 30 and the stamp 40 are accurately positioned while observing the alignment marks with the alignment mark observation device 80. In the combined state, the pattern forming material can be attached to the stamp 40.

Similarly, alignment marks are provided at positions corresponding to each other on the printing substrate 20 and the stamp 40.
While observing the alignment mark with the alignment mark observation device 81, pattern formation can be performed in a state where the substrate 20 to be printed and the stamp 40 are accurately aligned.
As the alignment mark observation devices 80 and 81, for example, an alignment device using a laser beam of a stepper in manufacturing an optical microscope or a semiconductor is used.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the ink surface of the ink pad 30 and the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing surface of the printing substrate 20 are always accurately parallel. While maintaining the state, the ink can be attached to the stamp 40 and transferred from the stamp 40 to the substrate 20 to be printed.
Accordingly, the pattern forming material can be uniformly adhered to the stamp, and the stamp can be uniformly pressed against the substrate, so that the pattern forming material can be stably and uniformly applied to the surface of the substrate 20 to be printed. Since transfer is possible, pattern formation with good reproducibility can be performed.

  Further, since the stamp 40, the ink pad 30, and the printing substrate 20 can be aligned with high accuracy, a desired pattern can be accurately formed at a predetermined position on the printing substrate 20.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the printing substrate fixing stage 10 and the ink pad fixing stage 11 move up and down and the stamp 40 is movable left and right on the guide rail 70. The material fixing stage 10, the spherical seat 50, and the stage moving device 60, and the ink pad fixing stage 11, the spherical seat 51, and the stage moving device 61 may be integrally moved left and right, and the stamp 40 may be moved up and down.

In order to bring the stamp 40 and the ink pad 30 into contact with each other and between the stamp 40 and the substrate 20 to be printed, it is sufficient that at least one of them has a mechanism that can move in a direction perpendicular to the surface.
For this purpose, the stamp 40 or the ink pad 30, the printing substrate fixing stage 10 or the ink pad fixing stage 11 on the printing substrate 20 side may be moved by a feed mechanism such as an air cylinder or a pole screw.

Next, the configuration of the stamp support mechanism 120 that supports the stamp 40 and the stamp 40 will be described in detail.
Hereinafter, the light transmissive property is used to mean the property of transmitting light.
As shown in FIG. 5, the stamp support mechanism 120 has a bracket 120b made of a light transmissive and inflexible material, for example, a glass plate, and the bracket 120b attached to a moving device (not shown) and fixed. It is comprised from the bracket 120a to be made.
Here, the bracket 120a is processed into a frame shape having a predetermined width along the outer edge portion of the bracket 120b using a metal, for example, an aluminum alloy, so that the bracket 120a can be easily fixed and attached to the moving device. Light for alignment is transmitted through the image line portion 40b through the bracket 120b.
The bracket 120a and the bracket 120b are fixed to each other by a bolt or the like (not shown).

The stamp 40 includes a stamp portion 40c having a region of an image line portion 40b in which a concavo-convex pattern is formed by the convex portions 40a, and a backing portion 40d that is lined to fix the stamp portion 40c.
The stamp portion 40c is formed of an elastic body having a light transmitting property, for example, a cured silicone rubber, and the backing portion 40d is formed of a light transmitting and flexible material, for example, a polycarbonate plate. The stamp part 40 and the image line part 40b are pasted through the opposite surfaces.

Although the manufacturing method of the stamp part 40c will be described later, an elastic body is used to cope with the unevenness of the printing surface of the base material that is the printed material. .
Here, the predetermined width of the bracket 120b allows the light R emitted from the alignment mark observation device 80 (or 81) to pass through the entire image line portion 40b of the stamp 40 or a portion necessary for alignment. A value giving space.
That is, although defined as the width, if the position where the light R for alignment is transmitted is fixed in the image line portion 40b, a hole having an arbitrary size and shape is formed, and this hole is formed as the light beam. R may pass through and pass through the image portion 40b.

The stamp support mechanism 120 has a function of fixing the stamp 40 to the bracket 120b. However, the fixing method is not particularly limited, but fixing by screws, fixing by vacuum suction, or the like is used.
Hereinafter, fixing by vacuum suction will be briefly described.
A groove 120c for fixing the stamp 40 by vacuum suction is formed in the bracket 120b.

Here, in FIG. 5, the groove 120c is formed in the shape of “R”, assuming that the stamp 40 is square, but the region and position of the stamp portion 40c are matched to the shape of the stamp 40. You may produce in arbitrary shapes in the part except the area | region which the light R for alignment transmits.
Further, the bracket 120b has a suction surface provided with holes of a quantity and an area in which the ratio of scattering of the alignment light R to be transmitted satisfies the alignment accuracy and the suction force for fixing the stamp 40 is obtained. It is good also as a structure to have.

Next, a method for manufacturing the stamp 40 will be described with reference to FIGS.
In order to produce a concave / convex pattern opposite to the concave / convex pattern of the image line portion 40b of the stamp 40 on the surface of the glass plate, a resist pattern is formed by a photolithography technique, and an etching process is performed using the resist pattern as a mask. Then, an uneven pattern having reverse unevenness is formed with respect to the uneven pattern of the image line portion 40 b, and this glass plate is used as a mother mold 130.

Then, liquid silicone rubber (for example, TSE3032 manufactured by GR TOSHIBA) serving as the stamp portion 40 is poured into the mother die 130 and is superimposed on a 0.5 mm polycarbonate plate which is a resin plate (backing portion 40d) (FIG. 6A). )).
In order to increase the adhesive strength between the liquid silicone rubber and the resin plate, an optically permeable adhesive may be interposed.
While maintaining this state, the liquid silicone rubber is allowed to stand at room temperature for 72 hours to form the stamp portion 40c.
Then, in a state of being fixed by the backing portion 40d from the mother die 130, the stamp portion 40c is peeled off to complete the stamp 40 (FIG. 6B).

Here, the backing portion 40d protects the shape so that the image line portion 40b is not deformed when the stamp portion 40c is peeled off from the mother die 130.
Further, when peeled off from the mother die 130, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), either the mother die 130 or the stamp 40 is a flexible material, a material that is not high in rigidity and deforms in response to an applied force. Is preferred.
The master block 130 is an original pattern of the concave / convex pattern of the image line portion 40b. Since the dimensional accuracy of the concave / convex pattern is required, the backing portion 40d is made of a flexible material.

Further, since the backing portion 40d needs to transmit the alignment light R to the image line portion 40b and the alignment region in the stamp portion 40c, it is necessary to use a light-transmitting material like the stamp portion 40c. is there.
A configuration in which the stamp 40 is directly fixed to the bracket 120a and printing is performed on the printing substrate 20 on the ink pad fixing stage 11 is also conceivable. However, since the backing portion 40d has flexibility, it is shown in FIG. As described above, the entire stamp 40 is deformed and sufficient pressurization cannot be performed, and the transfer (transfer) of the ink (or material) becomes insufficient.
For this reason, the bracket 120b of the stamp support mechanism 120 is made of an inflexible material for the purpose of preventing the stamp 40 from being deformed.

With the configuration as described above, the problem of low printing accuracy in the conventional example can be solved.
That is, by providing the backing portion 40d on the stamp 40, the force directly applied to the stamp portion 40c when the stamp portion 40c is peeled off from the mother die 130 is reduced, and the uneven pattern of the formed image portion 40b is deformed. By preventing this, it is possible to improve the manufacturing accuracy for the concave-convex pattern of the mother die 130.

  In addition, since the stamp 40 is manufactured in a planar shape and the stamp 40 is fixed by a non-flexible bracket 120b, the image portion 40b can be prevented from being deformed and similarly formed in a planar shape. Since the concavo-convex pattern surface of the image line portion 40b is in parallel contact with each of the printing substrate 20 and the ink pad 30 arranged on the surfaces of the printing substrate fixing stage 10 and the ink pad fixing stage 11 that are Ink is transferred from the ink pad 30 to the concave / convex pattern of the image line portion 40b and from the concave / convex pattern of the image line portion 40b to the surface of the substrate 20 to be printed with high accuracy.

  Furthermore, the light R incident from the upper part of FIG. 6 can be transmitted in the order of the bracket 120a, the bracket 120b, the backing portion 40d, and the stamp portion 40c, and is transferred to the alignment mark of the stamp portion 40c first. Optical alignment using the alignment mark on the surface of the substrate 20 to be printed, for example, an optical alignment mechanism using a laser used in a stepper or the like at the time of manufacturing a semiconductor can be used. By using this alignment mechanism, when a pattern of a predetermined configuration is formed by overlapping multiple types of patterns, the alignment accuracy between these multiple types of patterns (pattern formation accuracy) It is possible to improve to the same level as the process accuracy.

  That is, the pattern forming apparatus of the present invention uses a plurality of stamps, and when a predetermined pattern configuration is formed by overlapping a plurality of different patterns, alignment marks (other stamps already transferred to the substrate 20 to be printed). The alignment mark formed by the other stamp at the time of pattern formation by the above and the alignment mark provided on the stamp 40 are not misaligned (including the deviation). Optically measured by light or the like, and the control device controls the moving device based on the measurement result of the deviation, and the position of the alignment mark of the stamp 40 matches the alignment mark on the substrate 20 to be printed. As a result, the position of the stamp support mechanism is moved by the deviation amount by the moving device, and the alignment mark is aligned. To form a pattern of causes.

As mentioned above, although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and there are design changes and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention. Is included in the present invention.
For example, as another embodiment, the stamp support mechanism 120 and the stamp 40 illustrated in FIG. 6 may be configured as the stamp support mechanism 141 and the stamp 40 ′ illustrated in FIG.
The stamp 40 'is the same as the embodiment described above until the stamp portion 40c is attached to the backing portion 40d.

In the other embodiment described above, the bracket 120c is attached to the backing portion 40d, and the bracket 120c of the stamp support mechanism 120 is used as the support 40e having the inflexibility (rigidity) and light transmittance of the stamp 40 ′. Used.
For example, a glass plate having a thickness of 3 mm is used as the support 40e and is struck to the polycarbonate backing 40d by an acrylic adhesive.
The stamp support mechanism 141 is formed in the same structure as the bracket 12a, and in addition, a groove 141a for vacuum-adsorbing and holding the stamp 40 'is formed.

Further, as a method for fixing and holding the stamp 40 ′ with respect to the stamp support mechanism 141, a fixing method using a bolt or the like may be used instead of vacuum suction.
With the above-described configuration, other embodiments can obtain the same effects as those of the above-described embodiments.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the stamp pattern surface and the pad surface of the ink pad (upper surface of the printing substrate fixing stage 10) are parallel and / or the stamp pattern surface and the printing substrate surface (ink). Since it can be easily obtained in parallel with the upper surface of the pad fixing stage 11, the pattern forming material can be uniformly attached in the surface of the stamp, or a desired pattern can be uniformly applied in the surface of the substrate to be printed. Can be formed with high accuracy.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the second embodiment, only differences from the configuration of FIG. 1 described in Example 1 will be described.
The same code | symbol is used about the same structure.
In the second embodiment, instead of the spherical seats 50 and 51 shown in FIG. 1, each of the printing substrate fixing stage 10 and the ink pad fixing stage 11 is movable (three-dimensional) similarly to the spherical seats 50 and 51. The movable seats 91 and 92 using the gimbal mechanism are used. The substrate 20 to be printed is fixed to the movable surface seat 91, and the ink pad 30 is fixed to the movable surface seat 92.

The printing substrate fixing stage 10 is provided on the movable surface seat 91, and is a stage (a base having a smooth upper surface) for placing and fixing the printing substrate 20 thereon.
The ink pad fixing stage 11 is provided on the movable surface seat 92 and is a stage for mounting and fixing the ink pad 30.
The printing substrate fixing stage 10 is placed on the movable surface seat 91 composed of a gimbal mechanism, and can be moved in the vertical direction together with the movable surface seat 91 by a moving device 60.
The ink pad fixing stage 11 is mounted on a movable surface seat 92 formed of a gimbal mechanism, and can be moved in the vertical direction together with the movable surface seat 92 by a moving device 61.

Although the movable surface seat 91 will be described with reference to FIG. 11, the movable surface seat 92 has the same configuration. FIG. 11 shows a conceptual diagram of the upper surface including the printing substrate fixing stage 10 when the movable surface seat 91 is viewed from above.
The movable surface seat 91 includes a first base 94 provided on the fixed shaft 93 and rotatable about the x-axis, and a second base provided on the upper portion of the first base 94 and rotatable about the y-axis. The base 95 is comprised. The printing substrate fixing stage 10 is fixed to the upper surface of the second table 95.
Further, the first base 94 of the movable surface seat 90 can be rotated around the fixed shaft 93, and the degree of freedom in position control can be further improved.

Thereby, the movable surface seat 91 can control the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing surface of the substrate 20 to be parallel to each other, similarly to the spherical surface 50 described in the first embodiment.
Similarly, the movable surface seat 92 can control the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the pad surface of the ink pad 30 to be parallel to each other, similarly to the spherical surface seat 51 described in the first embodiment.
Other configurations, operations, and manufacturing methods are the same as those of the embodiment described in the examples, and thus description thereof is omitted.
With the above configuration, the same effects as those of the first and second embodiments of Example 1 can be obtained.

Furthermore, the structure which performs non-contact parallel control of the to-be-printed surface of the to-be-printed substrate 20 and the pattern surface of the stamp 40 is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 12, the rising of the printing substrate fixing stage 10 by the stage moving device 60 is temporarily stopped at a preset position.
And the said control part measures the space | interval of the stamp support mechanism 120 and the to-be-printed substrate fixing stage 10 from a side surface using a laser displacement meter etc., and the space | intervals D1 and D2 of at least 2 places become the same. In addition, in the gimbal mechanism already described, the first table 94 and the second table 95 are rotated around their respective axes by a servo motor (not shown) or the like.

Desirably, the control unit measures the distances D1, D2, D3, and D4 at a plurality of places, for example, four places as shown in FIG.
That is, the distance D1 is measured by a laser displacement meter composed of the laser light source L1 and the light receiver R1, the distance D2 is measured by a laser displacement meter composed of the laser light source L2 and the light receiver R2, and the distance D3 is measured by the laser light source L3 and the light receiver R3. The distance D4 is measured by a laser displacement meter comprising a laser light source L4 and a light receiver R4.

  Then, the control unit obtains a difference between each of the intervals D1, D2, D3, and D4 by calculation, so that each of these differences is minimized, that is, the control unit fixes the stamp support mechanism 120 and the substrate to be printed. In the movable surface seat 91, the first table 94 and the second table 95 are arranged around the x axis and the y axis, respectively, so that the distances D1, D2, D3, D4 with the stage 10 are equal to each other. The surface of the stamp support mechanism 120 (pattern surface of the stamp 40) and the surface of the printing substrate fixing stage 10 (the printing surface of the printing substrate 20) are parallel to each other. Adjust.

The light receiving parts R1 to R2 are obtained by directly joining a plurality of light receivers.
Then, the laser light source is scanned with respect to the light receiving unit, and the interval is determined according to the number of light receivers that detect the laser light passing between the measurement objects (between the stamp support mechanism 120 and the printing substrate fixing stage 10). The measurement is performed.
By the non-contact described above, control (parallel control) is performed so that the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing surface of the substrate 20 to be printed are parallel in the movable surface seat 91. Similarly, in the movable surface seat 92, the stamp 40 Since the parallel control of the pattern surface and the pad surface of the ink pad 30 is performed, the contact process is not necessary, and the printing process can be simplified.

  Since the pattern forming apparatus of the present invention can form a multi-layered or fine pattern using a fluid such as printing ink made of an organic material, an inorganic material, a metal material, etc., an electronic device such as a transistor, It can be used in a wide range such as DNA research and development.

It is a side view which shows the structure of the pattern formation apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is the principal part side view and top view which show an example of the fixing means of a spherical seat. It is a principal part side view which shows operation | movement of the pattern formation apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the procedure of the conventional microcontact printing. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the stamp support mechanism 120 and stamp 40 by embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the manufacturing process of the stamp 40 by embodiment of this invention. It is a key map of printing explaining the necessity of bracket 120b in a stamp support mechanism. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the stamp support mechanism 120 and stamp 40 by other embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram explaining the printing by the conventional letterpress. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the manufacturing method of the conventional stamp 40. FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the structure of the movable surface seat 90 (91) by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram explaining parallel control of the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing surface of the printing substrate 20 in a non-contact manner. It is a conceptual diagram explaining parallel control of the pattern surface of the stamp 40 and the printing surface of the printing substrate 20 in a non-contact manner.

Explanation of symbols

10 .... Printed substrate fixing stage 11 ... Ink pad fixing stage 20 ... Printing substrate 30 ... Ink pad 40 ... Stamp 40a ... Pattern-shaped convex part 40b・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Image section 40c ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Stamp section 40d ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Backing section 40e ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・········· Supports 50, 51 ······· Spherical seats 60, 61 ··········· Stage moving device 70 ·················· Guide rail 80, 81 ... Positioning mark observation device 90 ... Pattern forming material (ink)
91 ··············································································. ·································································································································· Brackets 120c, 141a... Grooves L1, L2, L3, L4... Laser light sources R1, R2, R3, R4.

Claims (1)

On the base,
An ink pad support mechanism including an ink pad, an ink pad fixing stage for fixing the ink pad, an ink pad fixing stage adjustment unit for moving the ink pad fixing stage, and
A printing substrate fixing stage for fixing the printing substrate, a supporting mechanism for the printing substrate including a printing substrate fixing stage adjustment unit for moving the printing substrate fixing stage, and
Stamp and
A stamp support mechanism movable between a support mechanism of the ink pad and a support mechanism of the substrate to be printed;
An alignment mechanism between the stamp and the substrate to be printed, and the stamp and the ink pad;
In a pattern forming apparatus provided with a contact mechanism between a stamp and an ink pad for contacting the stamp with the ink pad, and a contact mechanism between the stamp and the substrate to be printed to contact the stamp with the substrate to be printed,
The ink pad fixing stage adjustment unit rotates the ink pad fixing stage around the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis and displaces the ink pad fixing stage in the vertical direction, and the printing substrate fixing stage adjustment unit fixes the printing substrate. A pattern forming apparatus, characterized in that a stage is rotated and displaced vertically about an X axis, a Y axis, and a Z axis.

Images