JP2009230870A - Organic el panel assembly system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that in an EL panel assembly system, a plurality of treating chambers and a plurality of substrate transfer parts are combined and, as a result, vibration generated in one treating chamber is transmitted to the other treating chamber and treatment accuracy in the other chamber is deteriorated. <P>SOLUTION: The EL panel assembly system is constructed of a plurality of treating chambers which house treating parts of a coating device for coating an adhesive on a substrate for assembling a panel, a dropping device for dropping a filling agent, and a pasting device for pasting the substrate, and a plurality of substrate transfer parts which house transfer robots for carrying the substrate in or out of the treating chamber. A gate valve and a rubber sheet are used to connect the connection part between each treating chamber and each substrate transfer part and thereby, vibration generated at treating operation of the devices in the treating chamber is not transmitted to the other treating chamber. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an organic EL panel assembling system, and more particularly, a configuration in which a plurality of chambers are connected to perform each process in each chamber. It is related with the system comprised so that it may not be transmitted to.

  For the manufacture of an EL display panel, a bottom emission method in which an EL thin film is formed on a TFT substrate and the EL thin film forming side is sealed with nitrogen gas, a TFT substrate on which an EL thin film is formed, a cover glass or a color There is a top emission system in which a fill material is sealed between a substrate on which a filter is formed. In both cases, two substrates are bonded together to form a panel.

  By the way, in both systems, it is necessary to finally manufacture a panel to be used for a final product by bonding two substrates in a vacuum or in a nitrogen atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary to perform operations such as bonding in a vacuum chamber or a nitrogen atmosphere chamber. In Patent Document 1, when a sealing glass substrate is bonded to a display glass substrate to form a display panel, the chamber is filled with nitrogen gas, the temperature is adjusted, and the glass is applied to the sealing glass. An apparatus for adjusting the viscosity of an adhesive and bonding glass for sealing is disclosed.

  Further, as shown in Patent Document 2, a substrate is loaded from a load lock chamber, and each process is performed in a plurality of consecutively formed processing chambers (divided processing chambers). An in-line vacuum processing apparatus for unloading a substrate is disclosed.

JP 2003-015552 A JP 2005-206852 A

  In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, since the substrate bonding apparatus is configured to be able to operate independently, the substrate is exposed to the air when the substrate is put in and out of the bonding apparatus from the previous adhesive coating process. There are problems such as air mixing into the adhesive, oxidation, and adhesion of dust. For this reason, it is considered in Patent Document 2 that the vacuum chamber is continuously formed as much as possible to suppress the occurrence of the above problem.

  When the processing chambers (chambers) are continuously arranged as in the cited document 2, if there is an apparatus that moves and processes in the chamber, vibration generated in the movable part is transmitted to the processing chamber that dislikes vibration and the like. Thus, the accuracy in processing operations there may be significantly reduced, and in the worst case the final product may be defective.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to arrange the devices so that the processes that should be processed in the same atmosphere are continued, and to vibrate and insulate each device with a simple structure, to the operation of the operating device. By preventing the accompanying vibration from being transmitted to other devices, it is possible to manufacture a highly accurate EL display panel.

  In the process of bonding two substrates processed separately in the pretreatment process, an application device for applying an adhesive to a substrate for assembling an EL display panel, a dropping device for dropping a fill agent, and bonding of the substrates A plurality of processing chambers storing processing units of the bonding apparatus to be performed, and a plurality of substrate transporting units storing transport robots for loading and unloading the substrates into and out of the processing chambers, each processing chamber and each substrate transporting unit, By connecting the gate valve and the rubber sheet using a rubber sheet, the vibration generated during the processing operation of the apparatus in the processing chamber is not transmitted to other processing chambers.

  Further, the configuration and shape of the substrate transfer unit were formed to be substantially the same.

  By preventing the vibration generated in one processing chamber from being transmitted to other processing chambers, the processing chamber and the substrate transfer unit are connected via a rubber sheet, preventing a decrease in accuracy due to vibration from other processing chambers. did it. Furthermore, the extensibility of the system is increased by forming the substrate transport section with the same configuration and the same shape.

  The overall configuration of an example of the EL display panel assembly system of the present invention is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a lower substrate carrying portion which is a load lock chamber for carrying a color filter substrate (or sealing substrate and cover glass: hereinafter referred to as a lower substrate) 10 out of the two substrates processed in the previous process. 1 is provided. The lower substrate carry-in unit 1 is connected to the first substrate transfer unit 4 through a gate valve 5. A first positioning mechanism 31 and a transfer robot 3 are accommodated in the first substrate transfer unit 4. Two processing chambers are provided with the first substrate transfer unit 4 interposed therebetween. Among them, the first processing chamber 7 (application unit 1 for applying adhesive) is on one side, and the second processing chamber 12 (application unit 2 for applying adhesive) is on the other side, respectively. It is provided via. Note that the lower substrate 10 is carried into the lower substrate carry-in portion 1 with its face up (the bonding surface facing upward).

  When the lower substrate 10 is carried into the first substrate transfer unit 4, the first substrate transfer unit 4 is in a nitrogen atmosphere. Therefore, the lower substrate carry-in unit 1 is converted into a nitrogen atmosphere in a state where the gate valve 5 is closed before the substrate is carried into the first substrate transfer unit 4. After the substrate is loaded into the first substrate transfer unit 4, the gate valve 5 is closed. However, when the lower substrate carry-in unit 1 is configured to maintain a nitrogen atmosphere even after the lower substrate 10 is carried into the first substrate transfer unit 4 (when the nitrogen atmosphere is set on the pretreatment side), the gate The valve 5 may remain open. In the first substrate transfer unit 4, the lower substrate 10 positioned by the first positioning mechanism 31 is transferred to the next step by the robot hand of the transfer robot 3.

  The lower substrate 10 is carried into the first processing chamber 7 or the second processing chamber 12 where an adhesive (sealant) is applied, and is placed on the table of the seal coating apparatus. In the processing chamber, the upper part is stored from the table on which the substrate of the seal coating apparatus is placed. That is, the upper part of the gantry provided with the table is covered with the processing chamber so as to form a nitrogen atmosphere, and the gantry is in the atmosphere. The lower substrate 10 is carried onto the table by the robot hand of the first transfer robot 3 from the gate valve 21 or the gate valve 23 and placed thereon.

  For the lower substrate 10 placed on the table, the alignment mark is detected by the camera, and the application head is moved to the sealant application start position based on the detection result. And application | coating is started according to the pattern set beforehand. Since the first processing chamber 7 and the second processing chamber 12 are maintained in a nitrogen atmosphere, the gate valve 21 and the gate valve 23 may remain open. By the way, this seal coating device is provided with a coating head on the portal frame in order to move the coating head for coating the sealing agent in the XY direction when coating the sealing agent, and the portal frame is coated in the X direction. There are a head movement type that moves the head in the Y direction, a table drive type that moves the table while the application head is fixed, and a hybrid movement type that moves both the table and the head. Vibration occurs when is operated. This vibration is transmitted to the walls of the processing chamber and may be transmitted to other processing chambers.

  When the processing (application of the sealant) in the first processing chamber 7 or the second processing chamber 12 is completed, the first transfer robot 3 takes out the processed lower substrate 10 and transfers it to the second substrate transfer section 8. Send it out. The second substrate transfer unit 8 is also held in a nitrogen atmosphere. For this reason, the gate valve 22 is also open. A second positioning mechanism 32 and a transfer robot 9 are installed in the second substrate transfer unit 8. The second substrate transport unit 8 includes a third processing chamber 13 (fill agent dropping / filling chamber) and a fourth processing chamber 34 (fill agent dropping / filling chamber) via a gate valve 24 and a gate valve 35. Connected. The transport robot 9 carries the lower substrate 10 positioned by the second positioning mechanism 32 into the fill agent dropping / filling chamber which is the third processing chamber 13 or the fourth processing chamber 34. At this time, since the third processing chamber 13 and the fourth processing chamber 34 are also maintained in a nitrogen atmosphere, the gate valve 24 and the gate valve 35 are also opened. The third processing chamber 13 and the fourth processing chamber 34 have substantially the same structure as the seal coating device installed in the first processing chamber 7, and the fill agent supplied in the syringe is used as the lower substrate 11. A predetermined amount is supplied into the region where the sealant is applied. When the filling of the filling agent is completed, the second transfer robot 9 takes out the lower substrate 10 filled with the filling agent from the third processing chamber 13 or the fourth processing chamber 34 and receives it by the third substrate transfer unit 14. hand over. At this time, the third substrate transport unit 14 is also maintained in a nitrogen atmosphere. The third substrate transport section 14 has an upper substrate carry-in section 2 for carrying an EL element substrate (hereinafter referred to as an upper substrate) 11 coated with organic EL, and a bonding chamber which is a fifth processing chamber 16 in the other direction. They are connected through gate valves 6 and 26, respectively. The third substrate transport unit 14 is also provided with a third positioning mechanism 33 and a transport robot 15. The lower robot 10 positioned by the third positioning mechanism 33 is carried into the bonding chamber which is the fifth processing chamber 16 by the transfer robot 15.

  When the substrate is carried in, the bonding chamber is also in a nitrogen atmosphere. In the bonding chamber, a lower table for holding the lower substrate and an upper table for holding the upper substrate are provided. The lower table is supported so as to be movable in the horizontal direction (XY direction), and is held on the substrate held on the upper table and the lower table by pushing the table from three directions by a lateral pushing mechanism provided outside the processing chamber. Alignment with the prepared substrate is performed. Note that the lower table may be held on an XYθ table provided outside the processing chamber by a plurality of support beams, and the XYθ table may be driven to perform alignment.

  Although omitted in the above description, the upper substrate 11 from the upper substrate carry-in section 2 is carried down by the transfer robot 15 of the third substrate transfer section 14 in a face-down manner (the bonding surface faces upward). After being positioned by the positioning mechanism 33, it is carried into the fifth processing chamber 16 by the transfer robot 15 and is held on the upper table provided in the fifth processing chamber 16. In order to hold the upper substrate 11 with the bonding surface facing downward, the upper table is provided with any one or two of a suction adsorption mechanism, an adhesion mechanism, and an electrostatic adsorption mechanism. The suction adsorption mechanism has an adsorption force in a nitrogen atmosphere. However, since the adsorption force decreases as the pressure is reduced, it needs to be used together with an adhesion mechanism or an electrostatic adsorption mechanism. Therefore, the upper substrate can be reliably held even in a vacuum atmosphere by using an adhesion mechanism or an electrostatic adsorption mechanism.

  When the upper substrate 11 and the lower substrate 10 are respectively held in the fifth processing chamber 16 and the lower table, the gate valve 26 is closed and a vacuum pump (not shown) is operated to operate the fifth processing chamber. 16 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure. The alignment mark on the substrate held on the upper and lower tables is observed before or after the depressurization is started, the amount of positional deviation is obtained, and the lower table is moved in the horizontal direction for alignment. Then, when a predetermined reduced pressure (vacuum degree) is reached, bonding is performed. Bonding is performed by lowering the upper table to the lower table side and applying a predetermined pressure. Therefore, a load cell for measuring the applied pressure is provided on the drive shaft of the upper table. Further, the alignment may be performed in a state where a pressing force is applied. When the pressurization is completed, the bonding chamber is put into a nitrogen atmosphere.

  When the inside of the fifth processing chamber 16 becomes a predetermined nitrogen atmosphere, the gate valve 26 is opened and the transfer robot 15 is driven to take out the bonded substrate from the fifth processing chamber 16. The bonded substrates are carried into the nitrogen atmosphere replacement chamber which is the sixth processing chamber 17 by the transfer robot 15. When the bonded substrate is loaded, the inside of the sixth processing chamber 17 is in a nitrogen atmosphere. After the bonded substrate is loaded, the gate valve 27 is closed, and then the gate valve 28 is opened to open the sixth processing chamber to the atmosphere. To do. After the inside of the sixth processing chamber 17 is opened to the atmosphere, the substrate bonded to the seventh processing chamber 20 is loaded using the transfer robot 19. The sixth processing chamber 17 closes the gate valve 28 and replaces the processing chamber with nitrogen, and then opens the gate valve 27. The substrate carried into the seventh processing chamber 20 irradiates the sealing agent portion with UV light to cure the sealing agent. That is, the seventh processing chamber 20 is provided with a light source for irradiating UV light, a positioning table, a camera, and the like. The atmosphere for curing the sealant may be atmospheric and does not require a gate valve. When the curing of the sealant is completed, the substrate is carried out to the next step 30.

  The above is the overall configuration of the EL display panel assembly system, but most of the processing is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere in the manufacturing process of the EL display panel. In addition, by installing a gate valve between each processing chamber and the substrate transport unit, when performing maintenance of the device individually, the necessary sections are divided by the gate valve and the work is performed in an air atmosphere. It is possible to shorten the time for replacing the atmosphere with the nitrogen atmosphere. By the way, the time to replace the atmosphere with nitrogen atmosphere (both oxygen concentration and moisture concentration is 1 ppm or less) may take about one week depending on the processing chamber. By installing two or more processing chambers having the same function, There is no need to stop production while the gate valve is closed to maintain one processing chamber. In particular, the first to fourth processing chambers need to be refilled and replaced with the sealant and fill agent, and continuous production is possible without stopping production even during this replacement.

  By the way, each processing chamber is connected through the gate valve as described above. However, some processing devices in the processing chamber may generate large vibrations. Some processing devices need to work while. For this reason, it is a problem how to prevent the vibration between the processing chambers from being transmitted. In particular, when a positional shift occurs due to vibration in the laminating apparatus, the bonding apparatus becomes defective and all the operations in the previous steps are wasted. Therefore, it is necessary to suppress the generation of vibrations in each apparatus as much as possible, and to insulate vibrations between the processing chambers so that the vibrations generated by the apparatuses in each processing chamber are not transmitted to the apparatuses in other processing chambers.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a vibration isolation structure. This figure shows the connection structure between the first processing chamber 7 and the first substrate transfer section 4 in FIG. 1, but the same configuration is used between the other processing chambers and the substrate transfer section. is there. As shown in the figure, a gate valve 21 is provided between the first processing chamber 7 and the first substrate transfer unit 4. The gate valve 21 includes a gate valve main body 46, a valve driving device 47, and a gate valve valve portion 45. As the gate driving device, a pneumatic cylinder method using compressed air or an electric motor method is used. A gate valve body 46 is attached to the first processing chamber 7 with a bolt 44 through a seal member 43. The gate valve valve portion 45 is also provided with a seal member 43 so that airtightness is maintained when the first processing chamber is closed by the gate valve valve portion. A flange 42 is provided on the outer wall side of the gate valve main body 46, and one end of a flat elastic body (rubber sheet) 40 is held on the flange 42 via a rubber sheet pressing frame 41 by tightening bolts 44. The other end side of the rubber sheet 40 is held on the outer wall of the first substrate transport unit 4 by bolting via a rubber sheet pressing frame 41. That is, the rubber sheet in the middle part is vibration-insulated so that one end side of the flat rubber sheet 40 is held on the gate valve 21 side and the other end side is held on the first substrate transport unit 4 side, and the outside air The airtightness can be maintained. A seal member 43 is also provided between the gate valve main body 46 and the flange 42. With this configuration, the vibration between the processing chambers is suppressed by the elasticity of the rubber sheet and the sealing between the chambers can be reliably performed regardless of whether the gate valve is opened or closed. In consideration of the air permeability in order to also serve as a sealing member, it is better to use butyl rubber as the rubber. The thickness of the rubber sheet is preferably 2 to 5 mm in order to ensure the sealing performance by the rubber sheet holding frame. Sealing members 43 are provided between the processing chamber wall and the gate valve mounting portion, between the gate valve support wall and the gate valve, and between the gate valve outer wall portion and the rubber pressing metal to maintain the sealing degree. Thus, by using a flat rubber sheet, the interval between the processing chamber and the substrate transfer chamber or the interval between the substrate transfer chamber and the substrate transfer chamber can be minimized, and the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced. There is an advantage that the movable length of the robot hand installed in the substrate transfer chamber can be shortened.

  In the above description, the first substrate transfer unit 4, the second substrate transfer unit 8, and the third substrate transfer unit 14 can be formed with the same configuration and the same size, and the expandability of the apparatus is also improved. The layout can be changed easily and flexibly.

  As an example, FIG. 3 shows another configuration of the EL panel assembly system. In FIG. 3, the processing chambers having the same functions as those in FIG.

  The configuration of FIG. 3 is different from the configuration of FIG. 1 in that the upper substrate carry-in section 2 is provided at a position facing the third processing chamber 13 provided in the second substrate transfer section 8, and the fourth processing chamber 34. And the seventh processing chamber 20 for irradiating UV light is provided in a fifth substrate transport path 36 corresponding to the third substrate transport path 14 so as to face the fifth processing chamber. is there. That is, the upper substrate carry-in portion 2 for carrying the EL element substrate (upper substrate) 11 coated with organic EL to the second substrate carrying portion 8 is connected via the gate valve 6. A third positioning mechanism 37 and a transfer robot 15 are also installed in the fifth substrate transfer unit 36. The fifth positioning mechanism 37 is provided with two mechanisms: a mechanism for positioning the substrate and a mechanism for reversing the positioned substrate. The upper substrate carry-in section 2 is carried in with the upper substrate 11 face-up (the bonding surface faces up), and the upper substrate 11 carried in from the upper substrate carry-in section 2 is higher than that in the second substrate carry section 8. 5 is conveyed to the substrate conveying unit 36 of the fifth substrate. The transported upper substrate 11 is turned upside down (face down) by the third positioning mechanism 37, transported by the transport robot 15, and transported into the bonding chamber which is the fifth processing chamber 16. Further, the seventh processing chamber 20 is connected to the fifth substrate transport unit 36 via a gate valve 38. The seventh treatment chamber 20 cures the sealant by irradiating the sealant portion of the substrate bonded in a nitrogen atmosphere with UV light. In the previous embodiment, the structure in which the UV light is irradiated in the atmosphere is described. However, in this embodiment, the sealant is cured in a nitrogen atmosphere. As a result, the influence of dust and the like can be eliminated and the resin can be reliably cured.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of an example of an EL panel assembly system. It is a figure which shows the connection structure between a 1st process chamber and a 1st conveyance chamber. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of an EL panel assembly system.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Pre-processing chamber, 3 ... Positioning conveyance robot, 4 ... 1st board | substrate conveyance part, 5 ... Gate valve, 7 ... 1st processing chamber, 8 ... 2nd board | substrate conveyance part, 12 ... 2nd processing chamber , 13 ... third processing chamber, 14 ... third substrate transfer unit, 21 ... gate valve, 40 ... rubber sheet, 41 ... rubber sheet retaining frame, 42 ... flange, 43 ... seal member, 44 ... bolt.

Claims (6)

In an EL panel assembly system in which an EL display panel is formed by bonding two substrates processed separately in a pretreatment process,
A plurality of processing chambers containing a coating device for applying an adhesive to a substrate for assembling a panel, a dropping device for dropping a fill agent, and a processing unit of a bonding device for bonding substrates, and the processing chamber It consists of a plurality of substrate transfer units that contain transfer robots for loading and unloading the substrate, and by connecting the gate valve and rubber sheet to the connection part between each processing chamber and each substrate transfer unit An EL panel assembling system configured to prevent vibration generated during the processing operation of the apparatus in the processing chamber from being transmitted to another processing chamber. The EL panel assembly system according to claim 1,
An EL panel assembling system characterized in that each substrate transport section is formed to have substantially the same configuration and the same size and can be connected to a processing chamber so that the system can be easily expanded. The EL panel assembly system according to claim 1,
An EL panel assembling system characterized in that each processing chamber and each substrate transfer section are placed in a nitrogen atmosphere and the gate valve is opened. The EL panel assembly system according to claim 1,
2. An EL panel assembling system, wherein a plate-like butyl rubber having a thickness of 2 to 5 mm is used for the rubber sheet. The EL panel assembly system according to claim 1,
An EL panel assembling system characterized in that two or more processing chambers having the same function are installed to enable continuous production. The EL panel assembly system according to claim 1,
An EL panel assembling system characterized in that each processing chamber and each substrate transfer unit is set to a nitrogen atmosphere, a gate valve is installed, and a necessary section is set to an air atmosphere.

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