JP2008056544A - Method for producing glass sheet having fine linear groove and glass sheet produced thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing a glass sheet having a fine linear recessed groove. <P>SOLUTION: Provided is a method for forming a glass sheet having a fine groove by bringing an etchant into contact with a glass sheet GL subjected to a masking treatment to form a recessed groove in the non-masked area of the glass sheet. This method comprises repeating a plurality of times a series of a chemical polishing step of allowing the etchant to flow downwardly along the surface of the glass sheet GL which is kept slanted, an immersion step of immersing the glass sheet having been subjected to the chemical polishing step in a removing liquid, and a washing step of washing the glass sheet taken out from the removing liquid with a washing liquid. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a glass plate having a fine groove with high precision and a precision, a produced glass plate, a display device, and the like.

  The glass plate is suitably used not only as a component of a display device such as a flat panel display but also as a component of a chemical device or an electronic component. As a flat panel display, a liquid crystal display can be illustrated, for example.

  On the other hand, as a chemical apparatus, a microreactor (minimal reactor) can be illustrated, for example. Here, the microreactor is an apparatus that realizes a chemical reaction using a micro space of several μm formed on a glass plate, and has an advantage that a necessary amount of a necessary amount can be produced as required. ing.

  Each of these microreactors and liquid crystal displays has a masking step and an etching step during the manufacturing process. For example, a concave groove is formed by immersing a masked glass plate in an etching solution. As an etchant, an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) is used.

  However, when an etching solution containing hydrofluoric acid is used, the etching progresses in the depth direction of the glass plate, and the etching progresses considerably in the width direction perpendicular thereto. It was.

  That is, the etching progresses to a portion of the glass plate coated with the masking agent, and the etching amount in the width direction is considerably varied. Therefore, in a general etching method, a concave groove having a desired linearity is obtained. Could not be formed. This point is also the same in the depth direction, and a concave groove having a uniform depth cannot be formed by a general etching method.

  This invention is made | formed in view of said problem, Comprising: It aims at providing the manufacturing method of the glass plate which can form a fine linear recessed groove in a glass plate. It is another object of the present invention to provide a glass plate having fine and straight concave grooves, and a display device and chemical device using the glass plate.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for producing a glass plate having fine grooves, wherein a recess groove is formed in a non-masking portion of the glass plate by bringing an etching solution into contact with the masked glass plate. And a chemical polishing step for flowing the etching solution along the surface of the glass plate held in an inclined state, and a post-treatment for removing the reaction product by bringing the removal solution into contact with the glass plate that has undergone the chemical polishing step. The step and the cleaning step of cleaning the glass plate after the post-treatment step with a cleaning liquid are repeated a plurality of times. The manufacturing method according to the present invention can be incorporated into a manufacturing process of a display device or a chemical device using a glass plate having fine concave grooves.

  In the present invention, the shape of the fine groove is not particularly limited. However, in the case of a straight concave groove extending straight, the production method of the present invention exhibits an excellent effect. Here, the linear recess grooves may be unidirectional linear grooves aligned in one direction (see FIG. 1B), or multidirectional linear grooves aligned in a plurality of directions (FIGS. 1C to 1E). See). Note that there are cases where there are intersections in the multidirectional linear groove (see FIG. 1D) and cases where there are no intersections.

  Although the width | variety of the fine groove | channel of this invention is not ask | required, Preferably the depth is 10 micrometers-250 micrometers. In particular, when the depth of the fine groove is less than 50 μm, more preferably 15 to 50 μm, the production method of the present invention exhibits an excellent effect.

  That is, the manufacturing method of the present invention is a glass plate in which a concave groove having a depth of 15 to 50 μm is formed in a linear non-masking portion by bringing an etching solution into contact with a masked glass plate, The width of the concave groove can be a glass plate having a deviation of ± 10 μm or less over a length of 20 mm or more. Furthermore, if appropriate conditions that can be industrialized are taken, the width of the concave groove can be suppressed to ± 5 μm or less over a length of at least 300 mm.

  Moreover, the manufacturing method of the present invention is a glass plate in which a concave groove having a depth of 15 to 50 μm is formed in a linear non-masking portion by bringing an etching solution into contact with the masked glass plate, The depth of the concave groove can be a glass plate having a deviation of ± 6 μm or less over a length of 20 mm or more. Furthermore, if appropriate conditions that can be industrialized are taken, the depth of the concave groove can be suppressed to ± 3 μm or less over a length of at least 300 mm.

  In the masking treatment of the present invention, a masking agent is used for the glass plate leaving a portion corresponding to the desired fine groove. A masking agent that is not corroded by the etching solution is selected, and the masking method is preferably a screen printing method, a laminate film processing method, or a resist coating photolithography method.

  The screen printing method is a method in which a mask having a portion through which a masking agent passes and a portion through which the masking agent does not pass are brought into contact with the surface of the base material, and the masking agent is extruded from the portion through which the masking agent passes to mask the glass surface. The laminate film processing method is a method in which a film having an adhesive layer formed on one side is used as a masking agent, and this masking agent is applied to the surface of the base material. The resist coating photolitho method is a method in which a photoresist is used as a masking agent, and this is applied to the surface of a base material and then masked by irradiating light.

  In any case, in the present invention, the non-masking portion is preferably formed in a straight line extending straight. Thereby, a linear groove | channel is formed in a glass plate in a chemical polishing process. Here, also in the case of generating multidirectional linear grooves aligned in a plurality of directions (see FIGS. 1C to 1E), a plurality of chemical polishing steps are performed through a single masking process. Is repeated.

  In this case, in the chemical polishing process repeated a plurality of times, it is preferable to manage the etching solution to flow down in the length direction of the non-masking portion by appropriately changing the mounting posture of the glass plate. For example, in the case of FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, the case where the etching solution is caused to flow down in the vertical direction of the paper surface and the case where it is caused to flow down in the left-right direction are appropriately switched.

  However, in order to improve the manufacturing accuracy of the multidirectional linear groove as much as possible, it is preferable to provide a plurality of masking processes. In this case, first, after the first masking process, a plurality of etching processes are repeated to form linear grooves in the first direction. Subsequently, after the second masking process, a plurality of etching processes are repeated to form a linear groove in the second direction. Hereinafter, if the same processing is repeated, a linear groove having a complicated pattern can be formed with extremely high accuracy.

  In any case, in the chemical polishing step of the present invention, the etching solution is caused to flow along the surface of the glass plate. Here, the etching solution may selectively flow down only the non-masking part, but the reaction product in the chemical polishing process is effectively washed out on the entire surface of the glass plate including the masking part. It is preferable that the etching solution flows down along. As described above, it is preferable that the etching solution flows down in the length direction of the non-masking portion.

  The inclination angle of the glass plate is not particularly limited, but is usually inclined to about 5 to 30 degrees. The flow rate of the etching solution is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5 to 20 liters / minute, more preferably 7 to 12 liters / minute in terms of a glass plate of 100 mm × 100 mm.

  In the chemical polishing step, it is desirable to align a plurality of nozzles in one direction and output the etching solution from each nozzle simultaneously. The etching solution output from each nozzle tends to spread on the surface of the glass plate as it flows down, but it interferes with the etching solution output from the adjacent nozzles, resulting in a substantially linear liquid flow. Become.

  The etching solution of the present invention contains hydrofluoric acid as an essential component, and further contains one or more inorganic acids. Suitable examples of inorganic acids include hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. The mixing ratio and concentration of the etching solution are adjusted so that the etching rate is about 5 to 30 μm / min in the depth direction of the glass plate.

  In the case of a glass plate used for a display device, the depth D of the fine groove of the present invention is preferably about 10 μm to 100 μm (more preferably 15 to 50 μm), but in a single chemical polishing step, Rather than etching to the target depth D, it is preferable to shift to a post-processing step after a chemical polishing treatment of about 2 to 60 seconds. In the case of a glass plate used in a chemical apparatus such as a microreactor, the depth D of the fine groove is appropriately selected within a range of 10 to 250 μm. In this case, chemical polishing is performed for about 2 to 60 seconds. After the treatment, the post-treatment process is performed.

  The post-treatment step of the present invention is a step of removing a reaction product slightly remaining on the glass plate in the chemical polishing step. Therefore, the removal liquid is selected as a liquid for peeling the reaction product from the glass plate, and preferably contains one or more inorganic acids selected from hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid and nitric acid as a main component.

  In the present invention, the chemical polishing process is repeated a plurality of times to chemically polish the glass plate to the target depth D. Each time the chemical polishing process is completed, the glass plate is brought into contact with the removal liquid to generate a reaction. Remove objects. Therefore, in the chemical polishing process re-executed after the cleaning process, there is no adverse effect that the uniform chemical polishing process is hindered by the reaction product. In addition, although the processing time of a post-processing process is not specifically limited, A manufacturing line can be smoothed if it makes it comparable as the processing time of a chemical polishing process.

  The cleaning step of the present invention is a step of washing away the removal liquid, and water is preferably used as the cleaning liquid. The processing time of this cleaning process is not particularly limited, but the production line can be smoothed if the processing time is the same as the processing time of the chemical polishing process or the post-processing process.

  According to the above-described present invention, it is possible to realize a glass plate manufacturing method capable of forming fine and linear concave grooves on a glass plate. Moreover, the glass plate which has a fine and linear recessed groove | channel, and a chemical apparatus and a display apparatus using the same can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the manufacturing method of the glass plate which concerns on this invention based on embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a method for forming a fine linear concave groove on a glass plate with high accuracy. The glass plate is subjected to an appropriate masking process while leaving a desired concave groove, and is configured to be transferred rightward on the conveyance path. The concave groove may be a unidirectional linear groove as shown in FIG. 1B or a multidirectional linear groove as shown in FIGS. 1C to 1E. The manufacturing method of the glass plate provided with the groove (FIG. 1B) will be described.

<Manufacture of a glass plate having a unidirectional linear groove>

[Masking process]
Prior to the polishing step, the glass plate is subjected to a masking process leaving a gap T-2 × W, which is narrower by 2 × W than the target width T, corresponding to the desired unidirectional linear groove (see FIG. 3 (b)). Here, W is the etching amount in the width direction of the glass plate, and is set to W = D corresponding to the target depth D of the concave groove of the unidirectional linear groove. That is, in this embodiment, the chemical polishing step is set so that the etching amount D in the depth direction of the glass plate is the same as the etching amount W in the width direction.

[Chemical polishing process]
The glass plate that has been subjected to the masking process moves to the right in FIG. 1 on the conveyance path and is transferred to the position of the primary polishing step. FIG. 2 illustrates the inclined posture of the glass plate GL in the polishing process and the plurality of nozzles NZ positioned above the glass plate. As shown in the figure, the glass plate GL is held with an inclination of about 15 degrees in the length direction of the one-way linear groove, and a plurality of nozzles NZ aligned in the direction of the one-way straight groove are arranged on the upper part. Has been.

  In the chemical polishing step, the etching solution is simultaneously output from the plurality of nozzles NZ toward the upper surface of the stationary glass plate GL. For example, when a glass plate has a size of about 400 × 500 mm and a unidirectional linear groove is uniformly formed on the glass plate, about 10 to 15 nozzles are arranged at equal intervals, so that the total is 100. An etching solution of liter / min is output. The etching rate is preferably 10 to 25 μm / min. If the etching rate is about this level, the polishing step is continued for about 3 to 60 seconds.

[Immersion process (sludge removal process)]
The glass plate that has been subjected to the first chemical polishing process as described above moves in the transport path to the right in FIG. 1 and is immersed in the removing solution of the immersion tank. The removal liquid is a liquid for peeling the reaction product (sludge) generated in the chemical polishing step from the glass plate, and one or more inorganic acids selected from hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid are the main components. The The immersion time is not particularly limited, but is set to about 10 to 30 seconds corresponding to the duration of the polishing process.

[Washing process]
As described above, when the sludge is removed from the glass plate GL, the glass plate GL is pulled out of the dipping tank and moved to the right in FIG. And the removal liquid adhering to the glass plate is washed away by supplying sufficient washing water to the upper surface of the glass plate GL. The cleaning time is not particularly limited, but is set to about 10 to 30 seconds corresponding to the duration of the polishing process and the dipping process.

  As described above, the first treatment of the glass plate is completed by a series of polishing process → dipping process → cleaning process. And after that, by repeating the same series of processes, the glass plate is etched to the target depth D to form linear concave grooves (one-way linear grooves). In this case, in each polishing step, it is preferable to switch the vertical relationship by rotating the inclined state of the glass plate by 180 °.

  According to the above method, for example, when the target depth D is set to 30 μm and the one-way straight groove is generated by the above procedure, the depth deviation (variation) ΔD is obtained as a result of measurement over 300 mm on the straight line. It was confirmed that it was ± 3 μm or less. The target value W of the etching amount in the horizontal direction is 30 μm in accordance with the target depth D, and it was confirmed that the deviation ΔW is ± 5 μm or less.

<Manufacture of glass plate having bi-directional linear grooves>
Even when the straight grooves are formed in two orthogonal directions as shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D, the procedure is the same as the above case. However, in the i-th polishing step and the subsequent i + 1-th polishing step, it is necessary to change the mounting posture of the glass plate by 90 °. By changing the mounting posture of the glass plate, the etching solution can always flow down in any length direction of the non-masking portion.

  As described above, it was confirmed that by repeating the polishing process n times while changing the mounting posture of the glass plate by 90 °, it is possible to form a concave groove having the same depth deviation ΔD and width deviation ΔW as described above. .

<Manufacture of glass plate having multidirectional linear grooves>
When forming multidirectional linear grooves as shown in FIG. 1 (e), the same procedure as described above for forming the bidirectional linear grooves may be used. However, in order to further improve the linearity of each concave groove, it is preferable to divide the masking process into a plurality of times and to form the unidirectional linear groove separately for each masking process. For example, in the case of FIG. 1E, the masking process is divided into three times, and after the first masking process, a series of polishing process → dipping process → cleaning process is performed in the first direction (for example, the vertical direction). A recessed groove is formed.

  Next, after removing the mask for the first direction groove, the second masking process is performed, and then a concave groove in the second direction (for example, the vertical direction) is formed by a series of polishing process → dipping process → cleaning process To do.

  The same applies to the following, after removing the mask for the second direction groove, the third masking process is performed, and then the concave groove in the third direction (for example, oblique direction) is performed by a series of polishing process → dipping process → cleaning process. Form.

  Through such a plurality of treatments, the manufacturing accuracy of the concave groove having a complicated shape can be extremely improved. Needless to say, this method can also be used to form a bi-directional linear groove as shown in FIG.

  Although the present invention has been specifically described above, the specific description content does not particularly limit the present invention. For example, although the dipping process is provided in the production line of FIG. 1, it is not always necessary to immerse the glass plate in the removing liquid, and the removing liquid may be supplied from above the glass plate.

  In this case, the glass plate may be inclined and the removal liquid may flow down there, but the inclined posture is steeper than in the polishing step, and is preferably 45 ° or more.

  In addition, the production line of FIG. 1 is illustrated in a straight line, but when the series of steps (polishing step → dipping step → cleaning step) is repeated many times, it becomes a loop-like production line.

It is drawing explaining an example of the manufacturing method of this invention. It is drawing explaining the grinding | polishing process of FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the glass plate before and behind a grinding | polishing process.

Explanation of symbols

GL glass plate

Claims (11)

A method for producing a glass plate having a fine groove, wherein a recess groove is formed in a non-masking portion of the glass plate by bringing an etching solution into contact with the masked glass plate,
A chemical polishing step for flowing the etching solution along the surface of the glass plate held in an inclined state,
A post-treatment step of removing a reaction product by bringing a removal liquid into contact with the glass plate that has undergone the chemical polishing step;
A cleaning step of cleaning the glass plate after the post-treatment step with a cleaning liquid;
Is repeated a plurality of times, a method for producing a glass plate having fine grooves.   2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the fine groove is a one-way linear groove linearly aligned in one direction or a multi-directional linear groove aligned linearly in multiple directions.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the etching solution is flowed down in a length direction of the non-masking portion where the concave groove is to be formed.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein in the chemical polishing step, an etching solution is output simultaneously from a plurality of nozzles arranged in one direction.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the recess groove has a depth of 10 to 250 μm.   The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the etching solution contains hydrofluoric acid as an essential component, and further contains one or more inorganic acids.   The said removal liquid is a manufacturing method in any one of Claims 1-6 which have a 1 type, or 2 or more types of inorganic acid selected from hydrochloric acid, a sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid as a main component. A glass plate in which a concave groove having a depth of 15 to 50 μm is formed in a linear non-masking portion by bringing an etching solution into contact with the masked glass plate,
The concave groove has a width of 20 mm or more and a deviation of ± 10 μm or less. A glass plate in which a concave groove having a depth of 15 to 50 μm is formed in a linear non-masking portion by bringing an etching solution into contact with the masked glass plate,
The depth of the concave groove is a glass plate having a deviation of ± 6 μm or less over a length of 20 mm or more.   The display apparatus which uses the glass plate manufactured by the manufacturing method in any one of Claims 1-7. The chemical device which uses the glass plate manufactured by the manufacturing method in any one of Claims 1-7.

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