JP2008286856A - Pressure welding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide pressure welding equipment to be used upon mounting a circuit component on a display panel and capable of preventing insufficient pressure upon pressure welding and preventing fracture in a drive substrate by improving conventional pressure welding equipment. <P>SOLUTION: The pressure welding equipment 10 connects a terminal of a LCD panel 20 to a terminal of a TCP 26 by pressurizing the terminal part of the LCD panel 20 to the terminal part of the TCP 26. The pressure welding equipment 10 is equipped with: a panel stage 11 mounting a panel part of the LCD panel 20 except for the terminal part thereon; a back support 12 having a buffer member 15 on its surface and mounting the terminal part of the LCD panel 20 on the buffer member 15; a pressure welding head 13 disposed vertically movably and opposite to the back support 12 and pressurizing the terminal part of the TCP 26 to the terminal part of the LCD panel 20 between the back support 12 and the head; and a pick tester 17 detecting a warpage amount of the LCD panel 20 induced between the terminal part of the LCD panel 20 and the panel part due to contraction of the buffer member 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressure welding apparatus, and more particularly to a pressure welding apparatus suitably used when circuit components are mounted on a display panel.

  An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel has a drive substrate and a counter substrate that face each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The drive substrate has a size larger than that of the counter substrate, and a driver substrate for controlling the drive by the drive substrate is placed on the peripheral drive substrate where the counter substrate is not formed via a TCP (Tape Carrier Package). Connected. TCP is formed by connecting an IC chip to tape-like wiring via a bump on a COF (Chip on Film), for example, an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) on a peripheral drive substrate. Pressed.

  An anisotropic conductive film is a film formed by uniformly mixing conductive particles in a thermosetting resin. When the TCP is pressed against the driving substrate, the anisotropic conductive film is heated and pressed between the driving substrate and the TCP, whereby both terminals are electrically connected by the conductive particles, and the thermosetting resin is cured. Both are fixed. In the in-plane direction of the anisotropic conductive film, the conductive particles do not contact each other, and the insulating property is maintained.

  FIG. 3 shows a conventional pressure welding apparatus for pressure-contacting TCP on a driving substrate together with an LCD panel to be pressure-contacted. A pair of polarizing plates 23 and 24 is disposed on each surface of the drive substrate 21 and the counter substrate 22. The pressure welding device 40 includes a panel stage 11 on which the central portion of the LCD panel 20 is placed, a back support part (backup) 12 disposed below the peripheral part 25, and a back support part 12 facing the LCD. A pressure contact head 13 disposed above a peripheral portion 25 of the panel 20.

  Prior to the press contact, the TCP 26 is placed on the drive substrate 21 of the peripheral portion 25 with the terminal portions facing each other. At this time, the anisotropic conductive film 27 is interposed between the terminal portion of the drive substrate 21 and the terminal portion of the TCP 26. The back support part 12 rises to the surface of the drive substrate 21 and supports the drive substrate 21 from below. In this state, the pressure contact head 13 is lowered and pressed from above the TCP 26. The pressure contact head 13 has a heater inside, heats the anisotropic conductive film 27 via the TCP 26, and presses the TCP 26 against the drive substrate 21 via the anisotropic conductive film 27.

At the time of pressure contact, silicone rubber is absorbed between the pressure contact head 13 and the TCP 26 in order to absorb unevenness on the surface of the TCP 26 and unevenness formed between the portion where the terminal of the TCP 26 is formed and the other portion. A buffer member 14 such as a sheet is interposed. A pressure welding apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 3 is described in Patent Document 1, for example.
JP2003-140179A (FIGS. 1 and 2)

  The drive substrate 21 includes a glass substrate having a thickness of, for example, 0.3 to 1.1 mm, and a TFT element or a wiring layer formed on the glass substrate. However, this glass substrate has a thickness variation of about 10% in the in-plane direction, and a local gap is generated between the back support portion 12 and the drive substrate 21 during the pressure contact, resulting in insufficient pressure or position. There is a problem that a gap occurs.

  In response to the above problem, the present inventor has studied to absorb variations in the thickness of the glass substrate by interposing a buffer member such as a silicone rubber sheet between the drive substrate 21 and the back support 12. . However, if a buffer member is interposed between the drive substrate 21 and the back support portion 12, the buffer member contracts during the pressure contact, so that the drive substrate 21 warps downward, warping, the position of the back support portion 12, the buffer Depending on the thickness of the member, the drive substrate 21 may break.

  In view of the above, the present invention provides a pressure welding apparatus that improves a conventional pressure welding apparatus and is used when circuit components are mounted on a display panel, and can prevent insufficient pressure during pressure welding and damage to a drive board. For the purpose.

In order to achieve the above object, the pressure welding apparatus of the present invention comprises:
A pressure welding device that connects the terminal of the display panel and the terminal of the circuit component by pressing the terminal portion of the circuit component against the terminal portion of the display panel,
A first stage on which a panel portion other than the terminal portion of the display panel is mounted;
A second stage having a buffer member on the surface and mounting the terminal portion of the display panel on the buffer member;
A pressure contact head that is arranged so as to be able to approach or separate from the second stage and presses the terminal part of the circuit component against the terminal part of the display panel between the second stage;
And a warp amount detecting device for detecting a warp amount of the display panel generated between the terminal portion of the display panel and the panel portion due to the contraction of the buffer member.

  According to the present invention, when the display panel and the circuit component are pressed against each other, the buffer member on the surface of the second stage absorbs the variation in the thickness of the display panel in the in-plane direction, resulting in local pressure shortage and positional displacement. Can be prevented. In addition, it is possible to select an appropriate pressure based on the warp amount of the display panel detected by the warp amount detection device.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a pressure welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention together with an LCD panel. The LCD panel 20 includes a drive substrate 21 and a counter substrate 22 that face each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, and a pair of polarizing plates 23 and 24 are disposed on each surface of the drive substrate 21 and the counter substrate 22. The drive substrate 21 is composed of a glass substrate having a thickness of 0.7 mm, for example, and a TFT element or a wiring layer formed on the glass substrate.

  The drive substrate 21 has a size larger than that of the counter substrate 22, and the driver substrate is connected via the TCP 26 to the peripheral portion 25 where the counter substrate 22 is not formed. The TCP 26 is formed by connecting an IC chip 28 to a tape-like wiring via a bump. The TCP 26 is pressed against the drive substrate 21 in the peripheral portion 25 via an anisotropic conductive film 27. The TCP 26 including the driver substrate corresponds to the circuit component of the present invention.

  The pressure welding apparatus 10 includes a panel stage 11 on which the central portion of the LCD panel 20 is placed, a back support 12 disposed below the peripheral portion 25, and the back support 12 facing the back support 12. And a press contact head 13 disposed above the peripheral portion 25. The panel stage 11 corresponds to the first stage of the present invention, and the back support 12 corresponds to the second stage of the present invention.

  Prior to the press contact, the TCP 26 is placed on the drive substrate 21 of the peripheral portion 25 with the terminal portions facing each other. At this time, the anisotropic conductive film 27 is interposed between the terminal portion of the drive substrate 21 and the terminal portion of the TCP 26. The press contact head 13 and the back support 12 are configured to be vertically movable by a driving device (not shown). The pressure contact head 13 has a heater inside, and heats the anisotropic conductive film 27 via the TCP 26 during pressure contact.

  The pressure welding device 10 further includes a lifting device 16 that moves the panel stage 11 up and down in the vertical direction, a pick tester (warpage amount detection device) 17 that detects the amount of warping of the drive substrate 21 when the TCP 26 is pressed, and a pick tester. A control unit (stage control device) 18 that controls the drive of the lifting device 16 to lower the panel stage 11 based on the warpage amount of the drive substrate 21 detected by 17.

  The pick tester 17 has a base portion 17a fixed to the side portion of the panel stage 11, and a tip portion 17b that can rotate in the vertical direction about the axis of the base portion 17a. The distal end of the distal end portion 17b is formed, for example, in a substantially spherical shape, and is urged by an elastic force against the surface of the drive substrate 21 in the peripheral portion 25. The pick tester 17 detects the amount of warpage of the LCD panel 20 by detecting the inclination (displacement) of the tip end portion 17 b, and transmits the detected amount of warpage to the control unit 18. The lifting device 16 is configured as a servo motor, and can lift and lower the panel stage 11 with high accuracy.

  In this embodiment, during the pressure contact, the buffer members 14 and 15 are interposed between the pressure contact head 13 and the TCP 26 and between the back support 12 and the drive substrate 21, respectively. The buffer member 15 is made of a silicone rubber sheet having a thickness of 0.3 mm, for example. The glass substrate included in the drive substrate 21 has a variation of about 10% in the in-plane direction, and the buffer member 15 is interposed to absorb the variation in the thickness of the glass substrate in the in-plane direction. Uniform pressurization can be performed.

  Prior to the press contact, the back support 12 rises to the vicinity of the surface of the drive substrate 21 and supports the drive substrate 21 from below via the buffer member 15. In this state, the pressure contact head 13 is lowered and pressed from above the TCP 26 as shown in FIG.

  When the pressing head 13 is pressed from above the TCP 26, if the buffer member 15 contracts and the drive substrate 21 warps downward, the pick tester 17 detects the amount of warp of the drive substrate 21. The press contact head 13 presses the terminal portion so as to be a predetermined pressure. The control unit 18 controls the driving of the lifting device 16 based on the amount of warpage detected by the pick tester 17 and lowers the panel stage 11 by the amount of warpage as indicated by reference numeral 32 in FIG. Thus, during the press contact period, the drive substrate 21 is kept flat without causing a large warp and can be prevented from cracking. When the press contact process is completed, the press contact head 13 is raised and the back support 12 is lowered to the original position. Next, the control unit 18 controls the drive of the lifting device 16 to raise the panel stage 11 to the original position.

  When the anisotropic conductive film 27 is heated and pressurized between the driving substrate 21 and the TCP 26 when the TCP 26 is pressed against the driving substrate 21, both terminals are electrically connected to each other by the conductive particles, and anisotropic conduction is performed. Both are fixed by the curing of the thermosetting resin in the film 27. In the in-plane direction of the anisotropic conductive film 27, the conductive particles are not in contact with each other, and insulation is maintained.

  According to the pressure welding apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, during the pressure welding, the buffer member 15 is interposed between the drive substrate 21 of the peripheral portion 25 and the back support portion 12, so that the glass substrate in the in-plane direction of the drive substrate 21 is disposed. Absorbing variations in thickness, it is possible to prevent local pressure shortages and positional deviations. Further, since the panel stage 11 is lowered by the amount of warpage based on the amount of warpage detected by the pick tester 17 at the time of press contact, the drive substrate 21 can be kept flat and the crack can be prevented.

In addition to the silicone rubber sheet, for example, a fluororesin sheet (Teflon ^{(registered trademark)} sheet) may be used as the buffer member 15. The pick tester 17 may be fixed to the back support 12 in addition to the panel stage 11, for example. Further, a laser displacement meter may be used as the warp amount detection unit instead of the pick tester 17.

  As the laser displacement meter, for example, a triangulation type can be used. A triangulation laser displacement meter has a laser device and a position detection element. The laser device and the position detection element are arranged at a position forming a triangle with the object, the laser device irradiates the object with laser light, and the position detection element reflects the laser light on the object. Receives light. Since the reflected light received by the position detection element forms a light spot at a position corresponding to the displacement of the object, the displacement of the object can be detected by detecting the position of the light spot.

  The laser displacement meter is disposed above or below the portion adjacent to the terminal portion of the drive substrate 21 and measures the displacement of the portion adjacent to the terminal portion of the drive substrate 21. The laser displacement meter may be fixed to any one of the panel stage 11 and the back support part 12, or may be fixed to another member. Prior to the press contact, it is also a preferable aspect that a reflecting member is pasted on the surface of the portion adjacent to the terminal portion of the drive substrate 21. In detecting the amount of warping of the LCD panel 20, the height of the pressure contact head 13 may be detected instead of the above. In this case, for example, a laser displacement meter is disposed above the pressure contact head 13 and the displacement of the top of the pressure contact head 13 is measured.

  In preventing warping of the LCD panel 20, the panel stage 11 may be lowered, the back support 12 and the pressure contact head 13 may be raised, or both of them may be raised and lowered.

  The thickness of the silicone rubber sheet constituting the buffer member 15 is preferably 0.1 to 0.5 mm corresponding to the thickness of the glass substrate of 0.3 to 1.1 mm. This is because if the thickness is too small, the variation in the thickness of the glass substrate cannot be sufficiently absorbed and the durability is lowered, and if the thickness is too large, the thermal conductivity at the time of press contact is lowered. For example, when the thickness of the glass substrate is 0.3 to 0.5 mm, it is about 0.2 mm, and when the thickness of the glass substrate is 0.7 mm, it is about 0.3 mm, so that durability and thermal conductivity are increased. The variation in the thickness of the glass substrate can be effectively absorbed while securing the above. Further, when the buffer member 15 is made of a fluororesin sheet, for the same reason, the thickness may be 0.05 to 0.3 mm corresponding to the thickness of the glass substrate of 0.3 to 1.1 mm. preferable.

  In addition, you may estimate the pressure at the time of the press-contact applied to the terminal part only by detection of the predetermined | prescribed curvature amount, without controlling the position of the panel stage 11. FIG. In this case, for example, it is determined that an appropriate pressure is applied when a predetermined amount of warpage is detected. This can prevent the drive substrate 21 from cracking.

  Further, the amount of warpage of the LCD panel 20 may be measured in real time, and the height of the panel stage 11 may be controlled based on the measured value. Furthermore, after reaching a certain amount of warpage due to the lowering of the pressure contact head 13, the position of the panel stage 11 is controlled to set the amount of warpage to zero, and then the pressure contact head 13 is further lowered to detect a certain amount of warpage. May be.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiments, the pressure welding apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made to the configurations of the above embodiments. Those subjected to are also included in the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the pressure contact of the LCD panel has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to pressure contact of a PDP (Plasma Display Panel) or an organic EL panel.

It is a side view of the press-contacting device concerning one example of the present invention. It is a side view which shows the use condition of the press-contacting apparatus of FIG. It is a side view of the conventional press-contact apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10: Pressure contact device 11: Panel stage 12: Back support 13: Pressure contact head 14: Buffer member 15: Buffer member 16: Lifting device 17: Pick tester 17a: Base portion 17b: Tip portion 18: Control unit 20: LCD panel 21: Drive Substrate 22: counter substrate 23: polarizing plate 24: polarizing plate 25: peripheral portion 26: TCP
27: Anisotropic conductive film 28: IC chip

Claims (8)

A pressure welding device that connects the terminal of the display panel and the terminal of the circuit component by pressing the terminal portion of the circuit component against the terminal portion of the display panel,
A first stage on which a panel portion other than the terminal portion of the display panel is mounted;
A second stage having a buffer member on the surface and mounting the terminal portion of the display panel on the buffer member;
A pressure contact head that is arranged so as to be able to approach or separate from the second stage and presses the terminal part of the circuit component against the terminal part of the display panel between the second stage;
A pressure contact apparatus, comprising: a warp amount detection device that detects a warp amount of a display panel generated between a terminal portion of the display panel and the panel portion due to contraction of the buffer member.   The pressure welding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stage control device that controls a position of the first stage based on a warp amount detected by the warp amount detection device.   The warp amount detection device has a base fixed to the first stage, and a tip that is supported by the base so as to be displaceable and contacts a panel portion adjacent to a terminal portion of the display panel. The pressure welding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a warpage amount is detected based on a displacement amount.   The pressure welding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stage control device that controls a relative position of the pressure welding head, the second stage, and the first stage based on a warpage amount detected by the warpage amount detection device.   The pressure welding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the warpage amount detection device includes a laser displacement meter.   The pressure welding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the buffer member is made of a silicone rubber sheet having a thickness of 0.1 to 0.5 mm.   The pressure welding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the buffer member is made of a fluororesin sheet having a thickness of 0.05 to 0.3 mm.   The pressure welding apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the display panel includes a glass substrate having a thickness of 1.1 mm or less.

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