JP2010070388A - Laser beam machining device and laser beam machining method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To modify and temper the optional range at the inside of a glass object without having an influence of dusting, deformation or the like on the outside of the glass object. <P>SOLUTION: A crack repairing apparatus 100 includes: a laser unit 102 emitting an ultrashort pulse laser beam; and a condensing optical system 104 condensing the laser beam on the inside of a glass substrate 1. The crack repairing apparatus 100, when the irradiation range 2 to be irradiated with the laser beam is decided, controls the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 in such a manner that the focus of the condensing optical system 104 is positioned in the irradiation range 2. The laser unit 102 emits the laser beam in a state where the relative position is controlled in such a manner that the inside of the glass substrate 1 is melted in the irradiation range 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for processing a glass object using laser light.

  Glass is widely used in industrial products, and various techniques for processing glass objects are also known. For example, a laser dicing technique for cleaving a glass substrate using laser light is known.

  However, the laser dicing technique also proves the ease of occurrence of cracks due to heating. In general, undesired cracks cause various problems. Conventionally, it has been considered that glass fusion welding is a processing method that is not practical under general conditions because it involves the generation of cracks due to heating.

  However, in recent years, a technique for melting and welding glass using an ultrashort pulse laser beam having a pulse width on the order of femtosecond (fs) to picosecond (ps) has been known (for example, Non-Patent Document 1). See). By using an ultrashort pulse laser, it is possible to melt weld glass plates without generating cracks. In addition, the glass in the region irradiated with the ultrashort pulse laser is modified to increase the strength.

  As described above, there are various glass processing techniques, and products using glass are manufactured in various fields. However, it is still difficult to completely suppress the occurrence of chips (chips) or cracks due to mechanical impacts in the manufacturing process. In addition to mechanical impact, it is unavoidable that cracks are caused by thermal stress. The chip may grow and become a crack, and the crack may grow and the product being manufactured may be completely broken.

Therefore, various measures are required to prevent occurrence of chips or cracks, suppress growth after the occurrence, and correct if possible.
For example, in recent years, thin display devices using thin glass as a substrate have been widely manufactured. The thin display device is generally called a flat panel display (FPD). The FPD includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) display, and a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED).

In recent years, the size of glass substrates called “mother glass” for FPDs has increased significantly, and the importance of countermeasures against cracks has increased. The reason is as follows.
First, if a crack generated for some reason grows and the glass substrate breaks, all of the plurality of display panels that should have been manufactured from one glass substrate must be discarded. In recent years, glass substrates and individual display panels have become larger, and the price has increased accordingly. Therefore, both the loss of the glass substrate, which is a high-priced material, and the loss of individual display panels that were originally supposed to be profitable, the monetary loss when the glass substrate breaks is large. .

  Secondly, fine particles are generally scattered when the glass substrate is cracked. However, in the manufacture of FPD, dust is a cause of display defects and must be avoided. Therefore, if one glass substrate breaks during production, the production line must be stopped and various devices such as a clean room and an FPD production device must be cleaned. The labor required for cleaning is great. In addition, other glass substrates that are being manufactured in the same room as the broken glass substrate must be discarded because scattered particles are attached.

  Third, it takes a long time to clean the clean room and various devices and restore the production line. That is, by stopping the production line, it becomes impossible to manufacture a product that could have been originally manufactured, resulting in a large opportunity loss.

  Fourth, for the first to third reasons described above, it is necessary to avoid the glass substrate from being completely broken as much as possible. For this reason, the glass substrate may be discarded prophylactically. For example, a glass substrate that has not yet broken but has cracked is likely to break, and may be discarded without being sent to the next step. As a matter of course, a monetary loss similar to that of the first reason also occurs for a glass substrate that is discarded proactively.

For these various reasons, in the FPD manufacturing process, it is required to repair the crack so that the entire glass substrate does not break even if a crack occurs.
For example, a repair metal film is formed in advance on at least one surface of a glass substrate, and when a crack occurs in the glass substrate, the crack generation portion is irradiated with laser light through the repair metal film. It is also possible to melt the crack generating glass and repair the crack (for example, see Patent Document 1).

For example, in a liquid crystal display device including a pair of glass substrates facing each other with a liquid crystal interposed therebetween, heat treatment can be applied to the side end surfaces of the pair of glass substrates by laser light irradiation. Although cracks may occur on the side end surfaces of the glass substrate during the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal panel, the cracks can be eliminated by dissolving an appropriate position on the side surface of the substrate by heat treatment (see, for example, Patent Document 2). ).
Isamu Miyamoto “New Melt Welding Technology of Glass with Ultrashort Pulse Laser”, Journal of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, November, 110, 1068, 853-855 JP 2006-206372 A JP 10-1111497 A

However, the formation of the repair metal film leads to an increase in the number of manufacturing steps, and may cause dust generation due to peeling of the repair metal film.
In addition, with laser light irradiation from the side end face, it is difficult to apply sufficient heat treatment to the vicinity of the tip of the crack that has progressed to a location far from the side end face. Therefore, the tip of the crack remains without being heat-treated, and the crack may grow from there. In other words, it is necessary to irradiate laser light at a high output in order to perform sufficient heat treatment near the tip of the crack, and there is a concern about various influences due to heat such as thermal deformation near the side end face.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for modifying and strengthening an arbitrary range inside a glass object so that the outside of the glass object, such as dust generation and deformation, is not affected. .

According to one aspect of the present invention, a laser processing apparatus is provided, and according to another aspect of the present invention, a method performed by the laser processing apparatus is provided.
The laser processing apparatus is a laser processing apparatus that processes a glass object using laser light, and includes an emission unit, a condensing optical system, a determination unit, and a control unit.

The emission means emits the laser light from a laser light source.
The condensing optical system condenses the laser light emitted from the laser light source inside the glass object.

The determining means is a means for determining an irradiation range in which the laser light is to be irradiated inside the glass object.
The control unit controls a relative position between the condensing optical system and the glass object so that a focal point of the condensing optical system is located in the irradiation range determined by the determining unit.

  The emission means is configured to emit the laser light in a state in which the relative position is controlled by the control means so that the inside of the glass object is melted in the irradiation range by irradiation of the laser light to the irradiation range. Are emitted from the laser light source.

  According to the present invention, the laser beam is irradiated in a state where the focal point of the condensing optical system is located in the irradiation range determined inside the glass object. Therefore, the influence of the laser beam on the outer surface of the out-of-focus glass object is negligible. Further, in the present invention, since no auxiliary substance such as a metal film is used, there is no risk of dust generation.

  In addition, according to the present invention, since the relative position between the condensing optical system and the glass object is controlled, processing is performed in comparison with a case where laser light irradiation is performed only from a specific location such as a side end surface. High degree of freedom in the possible range.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail in the following order with reference to the drawings.
First, after describing some preconditions, a first embodiment relating to a crack correcting apparatus for correcting a crack generated in a glass substrate for FPD will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Then, 2nd Embodiment which changed the arrangement | positioning of each part of the crack correction apparatus of 1st Embodiment is described with reference to FIG. Furthermore, various patterns of laser irradiation in the first and second embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. Finally, various other embodiments will be described. In addition, the same referential mark is attached | subjected to the same component and description is abbreviate | omitted suitably.

  The first embodiment is an embodiment relating to correction of a crack generated in a glass substrate for FPD. That is, in the first embodiment, the glass object to be processed is a glass substrate for FPD, and the type of “processing” is processing for correcting a crack. In addition, although FPD is manufactured through a several process, the correction of the crack by 1st Embodiment can be performed in arbitrary steps.

  In the following description, unless otherwise specified, “correction” of a crack includes not only the disappearance of a part or all of the crack, but also a process for suppressing further growth of the crack.

  In the following description, the “glass substrate” includes a substrate on which a circuit pattern or the like is formed on the surface, that is, an upper surface, and a substrate on which a circuit pattern is not yet formed. For simplicity of explanation, it is assumed that the glass substrate is thin and the surface on which the circuit pattern is to be formed is rectangular. The coordinate axes in the directions of two sides of the rectangle orthogonal to each other are taken as the x-axis and the y-axis, and the coordinate axes in the thickness direction of the glass substrate are taken as the z-axis.

  Although there are various types of FPDs, the glass substrate in the first embodiment may be any type of FPD glass substrate. For example, a glass substrate having a thickness of about 0.7 mm is widely used for LCDs and organic EL displays, and a glass substrate having a thickness of about 1.4 mm is widely used for PDPs. Also, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the glass substrate are various. However, any type of glass substrate can be corrected for cracks by the crack correcting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment.

The “user” in the following description is, for example, a staff member in charge of a crack correction process in an FPD manufacturing factory.
Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described in detail.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a crack correcting apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. The crack correcting apparatus 100 includes a stage 101 on which the glass substrate 1 is placed, and a laser unit 102 for irradiating the glass substrate 1 with laser light. The laser unit 102 functions as an emission unit that emits laser light from the laser light source 115 illustrated in FIG. 3, and performs control of emission timing, cross-sectional shape of the emitted laser light, and the like.

  The crack correcting apparatus 100 also includes a stage moving mechanism 103. The stage moving mechanism 103 is a mechanism for making it possible to irradiate laser light to an arbitrary range inside the glass substrate 1 and for setting an arbitrary position of the glass substrate 1 as an observation surface. The stage moving mechanism 103 has a function of moving the relative position between the glass substrate 1 and the optical system that guides the laser light from the laser unit 102 to the glass substrate 1 in the x direction and the y direction.

  In general, there are three different coordinate systems based on the glass substrate 1, the crack correcting device 100, and a crack detecting device (not shown) described later. For example, coordinate data exchanged between different devices such as the crack detection device and the crack correction device 100 is represented by a coordinate system based on the glass substrate 1. The glass substrate 1, the crack detection device, and the crack correction device 100 have distortion, deflection, and warpage, respectively.

  Therefore, in general, some correction is required for the conversion of coordinates between coordinate systems. However, since an arbitrary correction method for coordinate system conversion can be used in the present embodiment, the following description will be given assuming that there is no influence of coordinate system conversion errors.

  That is, in the xyz coordinate system shown in FIG. 1, the direction of each coordinate axis is determined based on the glass substrate 1 as described above. In practice, the crack correcting device 100 recognizes the position based on a coordinate system different from the xyz coordinate system with reference to the crack correcting device 100 itself. However, on the premise that appropriate correction is performed, the crack correcting apparatus 100 recognizes the position according to the xyz coordinate system and performs relative movement to a desired position without being affected by errors due to coordinate system conversion. Can do. Therefore, in the following, only the xyz coordinate system is shown as the coordinate system.

  Here, returning to the description of the configuration of the crack correcting apparatus 100, the crack correcting apparatus 100 further includes a condensing optical system 104. The condensing optical system 104 is an optical system that condenses laser light emitted from a laser light source (not shown) included in the laser unit 102 inside the glass substrate 1, and includes an objective lens and other optical elements.

  The optical axis of the objective lens is parallel to the z axis, and the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 can be adjusted. Therefore, the focus of the objective lens can be set to an arbitrary depth inside the glass substrate 1.

  In the first embodiment, an optical system for guiding laser light from the laser unit 102 to the glass substrate 1 includes a mirror 105, an imaging lens 106 for imaging the laser light inside the glass substrate 1, and a beam splitter 107. And the condensing optical system 104.

  Furthermore, the crack correcting apparatus 100 also includes an observation system 108 for a user to observe a crack to be corrected, a correction result, and the like. As will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 3, the observation system 108 includes, for example, an imaging unit 120 and a display unit 121.

The outline of the crack correction in the crack correcting apparatus 100 configured as described above is as follows.
First, an irradiation range 2 to be irradiated with laser light is determined inside the glass substrate 1. Although details of the determination of the irradiation range 2 will be described later, a range suitable for crack correction is determined as the irradiation range 2.

  For example, FIG. 1 shows an example in which it is decided that the irradiation range 2 inside the glass substrate 1 should be irradiated with laser light. The irradiation range 2 may be, for example, a range irradiated by laser beam spot irradiation, or may be a linear or curved range.

  When the irradiation range 2 is determined, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 is set in the x direction, the y direction, and so that the focal point of the objective lens of the condensing optical system 104 is located in the irradiation range 2. And adjusted in the z and z directions, respectively. In this state, the laser unit 102 emits laser light from the laser light source.

  Then, the laser light emitted from the laser unit 102 is reflected by the mirror 105, reaches the beam splitter 107 via the imaging lens 106, is reflected by the beam splitter 107, and enters the condensing optical system 104.

  Here, since the condensing optical system 104 has already been adjusted so that the focal point of the objective lens is positioned in the irradiation range 2, the laser light incident on the condensing optical system 104 is irradiated on the irradiation range 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the crack correcting apparatus 100 transmits laser light from the surface of the glass substrate 1 to the irradiation range 2 inside the glass substrate 1 along the optical axis of the condensing optical system 104 parallel to the z axis. Each part is arrange | positioned so that it may irradiate.

  When the laser unit 102 that generates laser light having an appropriate wavelength and waveform according to the physical properties of the glass used for the glass substrate 1 continues to irradiate the laser light for an appropriate time, the glass substrate 1 in the irradiation range 2 is obtained. Melts.

  For example, a suitable waveform of the laser beam includes a pulse waveform having a pulse width of 10 ps or less and a pulse repetition frequency of about 100 kHz to 1 MHz. In recent years, it has become known that glass objects can be melted by ultrashort pulse laser light having a pulse width of the order of fs to ps. As described above, it is used for melting welding of glass plates, for example. ing. In this embodiment, the melting phenomenon of the glass object by the ultrashort pulse laser beam is used for correcting the crack.

  For example, by using a laser beam having a very narrow pulse width such as 10 ps or less, the influence of the diffusion of heat from the portion irradiated with the laser beam to the vicinity becomes very small. Therefore, by using the ultrashort pulse laser beam, only a specific range of the irradiation range 2 can be selectively heated and melted.

In addition, by irradiating laser light at a high pulse repetition frequency of, for example, 100 kHz to 1 MHz, heat can be efficiently transferred to the glass in the irradiation range 2.
Note that the objective lens of the condensing optical system 104 is preferably, for example, an aberration corrected. The contrast in selective processing is that the temperature of the glass rapidly rises and melts in the immediate vicinity of the condensing point where the energy density is high, while there is almost no influence of the temperature rise at a location far from the condensing point. Because it stands out more.

The intensity, pulse width, pulse repetition frequency, irradiation time, wavelength, and the like of the laser light are preferably set to appropriate values that have been examined through experiments, for example.
The glass in the irradiation range 2 melted by the laser beam irradiation is modified and strengthened. Further, when there is a minute gap having a width of about 10 μm or less due to a crack in the irradiation range 2, the gap is blocked by the molten glass. Therefore, by melting the irradiation range 2, it is possible to suppress the growth of cracks and eliminate at least part of the cracks. In other words, the cracks can be “corrected” in the sense defined above.

  Further, light such as illumination light reflected from the surface of the glass substrate 1 enters the beam splitter 107 via the condensing optical system 104, passes through the beam splitter 107, and reaches the observation system 108. The user can observe the state of the glass substrate 1 from the surface via the observation system 108. That is, the beam splitter 107 matches the optical path of the laser beam and the optical axis of the observation system 108 on the glass substrate 1 that is a processing target and an observation target.

Next, a specific example of the glass substrate 1 to be corrected will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a top view showing an example of a glass substrate in which cracks and chips are generated. That is, in FIG. 2, the vertical axis is the x-axis, the horizontal axis is the y-axis, and the axis passing through the page is the z-axis.

  The glass substrate 1 of FIG. 2 is for manufacturing four panels, and FIG. 2 includes rectangles of four panel regions 4a to 4d corresponding to each panel. In FIG. 2, cracks and chips are greatly represented for the convenience of illustration.

  For example, the glass substrate 1 may have chips 5a and 5b due to mechanical impacts when positioning the glass substrate 1 on the stage 101 or clamping the glass substrate 1 to hold it on the stage 101. May occur. Then, as illustrated as a crack 3a extending from the chip 5b, a crack may grow from the chip once generated. Of course, cracks may occur due to factors other than the generation of chips.

  For example, a crack that does not overlap any of the panel regions 4a to 4d, such as the crack 3b, does not directly cause the quality deterioration of the FPD product. However, the crack 3b may grow to, for example, reach the panel region 4b and cause a panel failure. In the worst case, the crack 3b may cause the glass substrate 1 to break. Therefore, if the occurrence of a crack is detected, it is desirable to correct it regardless of the location and size.

  Further, depending on the detection timing, the crack 3c may be detected in a state where the panel region 4b has already been advanced. In this case, the correction of the crack 3c is not too late.

  That is, the panel region 4b is damaged by the crack 3c, but the panel regions 4a, 4c and 4d are not yet damaged. Therefore, if only three panels are manufactured from the glass substrate 1, monetary loss can be minimized. For that purpose, it is necessary to prevent the glass substrate 1 from being broken. Specifically, it is necessary to correct the crack 3c and prevent the crack 3c from proceeding. That is, correcting the detected crack contributes to yield improvement regardless of the degree of progress of the crack.

As described above, the first embodiment is intended for correction of cracks in various states. Below, the more detailed function and operation | movement of the crack correction apparatus 100 are demonstrated.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the crack correcting apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, and is a diagram showing FIG. 1 in more detail. 3 shows the glass substrate 1, the stage 101, the laser unit 102, the stage moving mechanism 103, the condensing optical system 104, the mirror 105, the imaging lens 106, the beam splitter 107, and the observation system 108 as in FIG. Has been.

  In FIG. 3, the optical system on the optical path from the laser unit 102 to the glass substrate 1 is classified into a laser optical system 109, an observation optical system 110, and a condensing optical system 104 according to functions. The laser optical system 109 includes the mirror 105 and the imaging lens 106 also shown in FIG.

  Moreover, the crack correction apparatus 100 is provided with the control part 111 which controls each part. The control unit 111 can be realized by a general-purpose computer or can be realized by a dedicated hardware circuit.

  For example, a computer that implements the control unit 111 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is used as a work area, and an external device such as a hard disk device. These elements are connected to each other by a bus. The computer may further include a drive device for a computer-readable portable storage medium. When the CPU loads the program stored in the portable storage medium set in the ROM, the hard disk device, or the drive device to the RAM and executes it, the functions of the respective units in the control unit 111 described later are realized.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the crack correcting apparatus 100 further includes a data input unit 112 for receiving data input from a user and a communication unit 113 for communicating with an external device. For example, when the computer implements the control unit 111, the data input unit 112 may be one or more types of input devices such as a pointing device such as a mouse or a touch panel, a keyboard, and a microphone that are included in the computer. The communication unit 113 may be a wired or wireless communication interface provided in a computer that implements the control unit 111.

  Furthermore, the crack correcting device 100 includes a workpiece replacement unit 114 that carries in and out the glass substrate 1 that is a workpiece in the crack correcting device 100. The workpiece replacement unit 114 may be, for example, a mechanism including an arm having a gripping clamp at the tip. Alternatively, when the stage 101 is a levitation type stage that floats the glass substrate 1 by air ejection, the workpiece replacement unit 114 moves the glass substrate 1 in a specific direction by controlling the air ejection, and the glass A mechanism for replacing the substrate 1 may be used.

  The laser unit 102 in FIG. 1 includes a laser light source 115, a laser oscillation control unit 116, a guide illumination light source 117, a beam splitter 118, and a processing shape setting unit 119, as shown in FIG.

  The laser light source 115 emits laser light, and the laser oscillation control unit 116 controls laser oscillation in the laser light source 115. For example, the laser oscillation control unit 116 controls the irradiation time and irradiation timing. The laser light intensity, pulse width, pulse repetition frequency, and the like may be fixed, but may be controlled by the laser oscillation control unit 116. The output of the laser light source 115 may be about several mJ, for example.

The guide illumination light source 117 is a visible light laser light source, and emits a guide illumination light with a color so that the user can easily recognize it.
The beam splitter 118 is for aligning the optical paths of the laser light emitted from the laser light source 115 and the guide illumination light emitted from the guide illumination light source 117. In other words, the laser light emitted from the laser light source 115 and transmitted through the beam splitter 118 and the guide illumination light emitted from the guide illumination light source 117 and reflected by the beam splitter 118 travel on the same optical path thereafter.

  The laser light and the guide illumination light whose optical paths are aligned by the beam splitter 118 enter the machining shape setting unit 119. The machining shape setting unit 119 sets the beam cross-sectional shapes of the incident laser light and guide illumination light. The laser light and the guide illumination light whose beam cross-sectional shape is set by the processing shape setting unit 119 are emitted from the laser unit 102 and enter the mirror 105.

  For example, the processing shape setting unit 119 may include a component having an opening such as a slit and a control unit that controls the size and shape of the opening. Alternatively, the processing shape setting unit 119 may include a spatial light modulator such as a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) and a control unit of the spatial light modulator.

The observation system 108 in FIG. 1 includes an imaging unit 120 and a display unit 121 as shown in FIG.
The imaging unit 120 is an image sensor that receives light transmitted through the beam splitter 107 by a light receiving element, converts the light into image data, and outputs the image data. The imaging unit 120 may be, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor. Further, the imaging unit 120 may capture a monochrome luminance image or a color image. The light receiving surface of the imaging unit 120 is perpendicular to the optical axis of the condensing optical system 104.

  The display unit 121 is a monitor display that displays the image data output from the imaging unit 120. For example, when the control unit 111 is realized by a computer, the display unit 121 may be a monitor display included in the computer.

  The observation optical system 110 is located between the beam splitter 107 and the condensing optical system 104, and includes an illumination optical system 122, a beam splitter 123, an AF (AutoFocus) mirror 124, a focus correction optical system 125, and an optical system control unit. 126.

  The illumination optical system 122 irradiates the glass substrate 1 with illumination light for enabling observation by the observation system 108. In an environment where the periphery of the crack correcting device 100 is sufficiently bright, the illumination optical system 122 can be omitted.

  The beam splitter 123 reflects the illumination light emitted from the illumination optical system 122 and guides it to the condensing optical system 104. The beam splitter 123 transmits the light from the glass substrate 1 that has passed through the condensing optical system 104 and guides it to the beam splitter 107.

  The AF mirror 124 is used in an AF operation for determining the relative position in the z direction between the surface of the glass substrate 1 and the objective lens of the condensing optical system 104. 3 is positioned on the optical path connecting the beam splitters 123 and 107, so that the light transmitted through the beam splitter 123 can reach the beam splitter 107, for example, as follows. Has been.

  For example, the AF mirror 124 may be a movable mirror that can be retracted from the optical path connecting the beam splitter 123 and the beam splitter 107. Alternatively, the AF mirror 124 may be a mirror that transmits a part of incident light from the beam splitter 123, and may be a dichroic mirror when light having a specific wavelength is used for AF.

  The AF operation is performed as follows. That is, when the light from the glass substrate 1 that has passed through the condensing optical system 104 is reflected by the AF mirror 124, it is detected by a detector (not shown) included in the focus correction optical system 125. Then, in accordance with the detection result by the detector, the focus correction optical system 125 moves the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101, so that the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 are moved. The relative position in the z direction is moved.

  In addition to the AF operation using the AF mirror 124, the focus correction optical system 125 also performs an operation of moving the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 in accordance with an external designation.

  The optical system control unit 126 controls the illumination optical system 122 and the focus correction optical system 125. For example, the optical system control unit 126 may specify the amount of illumination light, the illumination angle, and the like for the illumination optical system 122. Further, the optical system control unit 126 may specify an amount of relative movement for changing the relative position of the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the z direction with respect to the focus correction optical system 125.

The control unit 111 includes a processing unit 127, an image processing unit 128, a laser control unit 129, an optical system control instruction unit 130, and a stage control unit 131.
The processing unit 127 receives various data, and controls each unit in the control unit 111 based on the received data. For example, the processing unit 127 receives data from the data input unit 112, receives data from an external device via the communication unit 113, and receives a processing result from the image processing unit 128.

The image processing unit 128 receives the image data output from the imaging unit 120, performs image recognition processing on the image data, and outputs the result of the image recognition processing to the processing unit 127.
The laser control unit 129 controls each unit in the laser unit 102 based on control by the processing unit 127. For example, the laser control unit 129 instructs the laser oscillation control unit 116 about the irradiation timing of the laser light, instructs the guide illumination light source 117 about the irradiation timing of the guide illumination light, and sets the beam cross-sectional shape to the processing shape setting unit 119. Instruct.

  The optical system control instruction unit 130 controls the observation optical system 110 based on the control by the processing unit 127. Specifically, the optical system control instruction unit 130 indirectly controls the illumination optical system 122 and the focus correction optical system 125 by giving an instruction to the optical system control unit 126 in the observation optical system 110.

  The stage control unit 131 controls the stage moving mechanism 103 based on the control by the processing unit 127. That is, the stage control unit 131 performs control for changing the relative positions of the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 in the x direction and the y direction. The stage control unit 131 performs, for example, coordinate conversion between two coordinate systems based on the glass substrate 1 and the crack correcting apparatus 100 as described above.

  Since the glass substrate 1 is held by the stage 101, the x direction and y of the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 are changed by the change in the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the x direction and the y direction. The relative position of the direction changes. As described above, the control unit 111, the optical system control unit 126, and the focus correction optical system 125 are relative to each other between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 so that the focus of the condensing optical system 104 is positioned in the irradiation range 2. It functions as a control means for controlling the position.

In addition, in order to make the relative position of the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 variable, the crack correction apparatus 100 is configured as, for example, (1), (2), or (3) below.
(1) The stage 101 is fixed to the floor. The crack correcting device 100 includes a gantry (not shown). The gantry has a horizontal beam that extends over the stage 101 and two columns that support the beam with the stage 101 interposed therebetween. The gantry is movable parallel to the x axis and the beam is parallel to the y axis.

  In addition, a portion including the condensing optical system 104, the observation optical system 110, the beam splitter 107, the observation system 108, the laser optical system 109, and the laser unit 102 in FIG. 3 is combined into one optical unit. The optical unit is attached to the beam of the gantry so as to be movable in the y direction along the beam.

According to the control by the stage controller 131, the stage moving mechanism 103 moves the gantry in the x direction and moves the optical unit in the y direction, so that the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 changes. As a result, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 also changes.
(2) The stage 101 can move relative to the floor only in the x direction. And the crack correction apparatus 100 is provided with the gantry which only differs in the point fixed with respect to the floor from (1). An optical unit similar to (1) is attached to the beam of the gantry so as to be movable in the y direction along the beam.

According to the control by the stage controller 131, the stage moving mechanism 103 moves the stage 101 in the x direction and moves the optical unit in the y direction, so that the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 changes. As a result, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 also changes.
(3) Regarding the x direction and the y direction, the condensing optical system 104 is fixed to the floor, and the stage 101 is movable in the x direction and the y direction.

  The relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 is changed by the stage moving mechanism 103 moving the stage 101 in the x direction and the y direction according to the control by the stage control unit 131. As a result, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 also changes.

The configuration of the crack correcting device 100 has been described above.
Next, the operation of the crack correcting apparatus 100 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the crack correcting apparatus 100 in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart relating to one glass substrate 1.

  In step S <b> 101, for example, the data input unit 112 receives an instruction from the user, and notifies the workpiece replacement unit 114 of the start of loading of the glass substrate 1 when the instruction is received. The trigger for starting to carry in may be, for example, receiving an instruction from the outside via the communication unit 113 according to the embodiment.

  When the start of loading is notified, the workpiece replacement unit 114 starts loading a new glass substrate 1. That is, the workpiece replacement unit 114 moves the glass substrate 1 to a predetermined reference position on the stage 101 while gripping the glass substrate 1 by holding it with a clamp or sucking with a suction head, for example. The glass substrate 1 is lowered onto the stage 101.

  In step S101, alignment is performed on the glass substrate 1 thus placed on the stage 101. The alignment generally includes rough adjustment by mechanical alignment and fine adjustment using an image obtained by imaging the glass substrate 1. In the fine adjustment, various corrections are performed. For example, correction for correcting the error of the coordinate system conversion described above may be performed in this fine adjustment.

In the present embodiment, the alignment method is arbitrary, and any available correction can be used. Therefore, in the following description, it is assumed that there is no influence of alignment errors.
In step S101, the processing unit 127 further receives data on a portion suspected of cracking from a crack detection device (not shown) via the communication unit 113. This data is hereinafter referred to as “input data”.

  For example, the crack detection device captures an image of the glass substrate 1 while scanning with a line sensor from above, and acquires an image of the entire surface of the glass substrate 1. Similarly, the crack detection apparatus may acquire an image of the entire back surface, that is, the bottom surface of the glass substrate 1.

  The crack detection device detects a portion suspected of cracking by performing image processing on the acquired images on the front surface, the back surface, or both the front and back surfaces. The crack detection device stores the coordinates and shape of the detected crack as a set.

  Image processing for detecting cracks may include, for example, edge detection processing. Or even if a crack detection apparatus detects a crack by acquiring the difference image of the standard image showing the ideal glass substrate without a crack, and the image which imaged the glass substrate 1 which is the object which detects a crack, Good.

  The input data received by the crack correcting device 100 in step S101 of the present embodiment is the coordinates and shape of each of one or more cracks detected and stored by the crack detecting device with respect to the glass substrate 1 as described above. This data consists of In the present embodiment, the coordinates of the crack in the input data are two-dimensionally expressed by a set of x and y coordinates.

  Further, the coordinates of the crack may be coordinates of one or more points that represent the crack, such as the center, the starting point, and the tip of the crack, depending on the embodiment. In the present embodiment, the input data includes the coordinates of the crack starting point. In general, cracks are generated starting from a point on the side in contact with the side surface on the front or back surface of the glass substrate 1. In other words, the coordinates of the starting point of the crack are on any of the four sides of the rectangle forming the front surface or the back surface of the glass substrate 1.

  Furthermore, the items that the crack detection device stores and the items that constitute the input data may vary depending on the embodiment. For example, the input data may consist only of the coordinates of the crack, or may further include other items such as the identifier and type of the crack.

  Subsequently, in step S101, the processing unit 127 selects data for one crack from the received input data. Then, the processing unit 127 instructs the stage control unit 131 to perform relative movement in the x direction and the y direction so that the coordinates of the selected crack are within the observation field of view by the observation system 108.

  For example, as described above, in the present embodiment, the input data includes the coordinates of the crack starting point. Therefore, the processing unit 127 instructs the stage control unit 131 so that the selected crack starting point is the center of the observation visual field.

  In accordance with an instruction from the processing unit 127, the stage control unit 131 controls the stage moving mechanism 103 by calculating, for example, a driving amount of a motor or actuator for designating to the stage moving mechanism 103. The stage control unit 131 calculates the driving amount of the motor and the actuator based on, for example, the difference between the reference position of the stage moving mechanism 103 and the current position and the coordinates of the crack instructed from the processing unit 127.

  As a result, the relative positions of the stage 101 on which the glass substrate 1 is placed and the condensing optical system 104 in the x direction and the y direction change, and the coordinates of the crack selected by the processing unit 127 enter the observation field of view.

  Then, in the next step S102, the imaging unit 120 performs the control to change the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101, while the imaging unit 120 performs the glass substrate 1 via the condensing optical system 104. Image. And the front surface or back surface of the glass substrate 1 is detected based on the imaged image.

The control of the relative position in the z direction by the processing unit 127 may be performed as follows, for example.
That is, the data input unit 112 receives an input from the user and outputs it to the processing unit 127. Based on the input from the data input unit 112, the processing unit 127 instructs the optical system control instruction unit 130 to change the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101.

  As a result, the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 is determined based on the input received by the data input unit 112 via the optical system control instruction unit 130, the optical system control unit 126, and the focus correction optical system 125. The relative position of changes. Therefore, the relative position of the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 in the z direction also changes.

  Alternatively, the control of the relative position in the z direction by the processing unit 127 may be performed as follows via the optical system control instruction unit 130, the optical system control unit 126, and the focus correction optical system 125.

  The thickness of the glass substrate 1 is known depending on the type of the glass substrate 1. Therefore, the processing unit 127 reads the known thickness t from a storage device (not shown). The processing unit 127 sets a value (t + m) obtained by appropriately adding a margin m to the read thickness t of the glass substrate 1 as an initial value.

  Then, the processing unit 127 collects light so that the focal point of the objective lens of the condensing optical system 104 is positioned higher than the placement surface of the glass substrate 1 on the stage 101 by a set initial value (t + m). The relative position in the z direction between the optical system 104 and the stage 101 is controlled. Thereafter, the processing unit 127 controls the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 so that the distance in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 is gradually reduced.

  In any case, the imaging unit 120 images the glass substrate 1 in a state where the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 is changed according to the control by the processing unit 127. In addition, it is preferable that the process part 127 controls so that the range which should change the relative position of az direction is limited based on the known thickness t of the glass substrate 1. FIG.

  Here, as described above, the relative positions of the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 in the x direction and the y direction have been adjusted in step S101 so that the starting point of the crack is in the observation visual field. Further, as described above, generally, the starting point of the crack is on the side that the front surface or the back surface of the glass substrate 1 forms the side surface. Therefore, the boundary between the glass substrate 1 and the outside is in the observation visual field.

  In general, a transparent object such as glass is difficult to recognize by observation using the observation system 108, and it is also difficult for the focus correction optical system 125 to focus on the surface of the transparent object by AF operation. However, the boundary is easy to recognize. Therefore, based on the clearness of the boundaries in the plurality of images captured by the imaging unit 120 in a state where the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 is continuously or intermittently changed, the glass The front surface or the back surface of the substrate 1 can be detected.

  For example, the imaging unit 120 outputs the captured image to the display unit 121, and the display unit 121 displays the output image. The data input unit 112 receives an input made by the user when it is determined that the boundary is most clearly reflected. That is, the data input unit 112 receives an input for notifying the detection of the front surface or the back surface, and outputs it to the processing unit 127.

  Alternatively, the imaging unit 120 may output the captured image not only to the display unit 121 but also to the image processing unit 128. Then, the image processing unit 128 may extract a line indicating the boundary of the glass substrate 1 from the image, for example, by edge extraction processing, and calculate the contrast of the contour of the extracted line. The image processing unit 128 determines that the higher the contrast is, the higher the degree of focusing of the image is. The image processing unit 128 detects the image with the highest focusing degree as an image obtained by imaging the front surface or the back surface of the glass substrate 1. 128 may be notified.

  As described above, the processing unit 127 performs control for changing the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 while imaging is performed. Therefore, the processing unit 127 includes the condensing optical system 104 and the stage when the imaging unit 120 captures the image displayed on the display unit 121 when the data input unit 112 or the image processing unit 128 is notified. The relative position in the z direction with respect to 101 can be recognized.

  The relative position recognized by the processing unit 127 is the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 when the focal point of the objective lens of the condensing optical system 104 is positioned on the front or back surface of the glass substrate 1. is there. For example, based on the known thickness of the glass substrate 1, the processing unit 127 may determine whether the recognized relative position corresponds to the front surface or the back surface of the glass substrate 1.

  Alternatively, after detecting one of the front and back surfaces of the glass substrate 1, the processing unit 127 performs control so that the other surface is also detected by changing the relative position of the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the z direction. May be performed.

In the following, for simplification of explanation, it is assumed that the starting point of the crack is on the side formed by the surface of the glass substrate 1 and the surface of the glass substrate 1 is detected in step S102.
Subsequently, in steps S103 to S105, fine adjustment is performed for positioning the tip of the crack at the processing target point of the laser beam. Here, before explaining the fine adjustment operation, a specific example of a crack will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of an irradiation range of cracks and laser light in the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 5A, in order to correct the crack 3 generated in the glass substrate 1, in this embodiment, the range including the tip of the crack 3 is determined as the laser light irradiation range 2. When the laser beam is irradiated, the glass inside the irradiation range 2 is melted and, as a result, is modified and strengthened. Therefore, the crack 3 can be prevented from proceeding further by strengthening the irradiation range 2.

  Further, the crack 3 can proceed arbitrarily in the x direction, the y direction, and the z direction, respectively. For example, the crack 3 in FIG. 5B starts from a point on the side formed by the surface and the side surface of the glass substrate 1. As shown in the figure, the crack 3 not only causes minute openings on the surface and side surfaces of the glass substrate 1, but also the gap due to the crack 3 dives into the glass substrate 1 as it progresses. Therefore, the tip of the crack 3 is not on the outer surface of the glass substrate 1.

  In order to correct the crack 3, it is beneficial to close the opening formed on the surface or side surface of the glass substrate 1, but it is also beneficial to strengthen the region including the tip of the crack 3. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5C, even if the tip of the crack 3 is not on the front or back surface of the glass substrate 1, the position of the tip of the crack 3 is specified, and the tip of the crack 3 is The area to be included is determined as the irradiation range 2.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, the irradiation range 2 in the present embodiment is not a dot-like (that is, spot-like) range but a linear range. The linear range may be linear or curved.

  In order to irradiate the laser beam in a linear shape, for example, the processing shape setting unit 119 may form the linear shape by passing the laser light through a linear slit. The processing shape setting unit 119 can use a spatial light modulator that is set so as to spatially modulate light linearly instead of the slit. Alternatively, the laser unit 102 may further include a scanning mechanism such as a galvano scanner (not shown), and the laser control unit 129 may be controlled to scan the laser beam linearly in the manner of laser marking. Alternatively, the processing unit 127 may perform irradiation with laser light while moving the relative position between the stage 101 and the condensing optical system 104 in the x direction, the y direction, or both xy directions, and the laser control unit 129 and the stage control unit. 131 may be controlled.

  Also, the reason for irradiating the laser beam in a line rather than a point is that, first, when the accuracy of setting the irradiation position of the laser beam is slightly lower, the linear irradiation range 2 than the point is This is because it is possible to irradiate a laser beam in a range including the tip of the crack 3 more reliably by one irradiation. Second, since the linear range is wider than the dot shape, the range to be strengthened is wide, and the progress of the crack 3 can be prevented more reliably.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 4, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 is finely adjusted in the x and y directions in step S103, and finely adjusted in the z direction in step S104. Then, it is determined whether or not the irradiation position is determined in step S105, and fine adjustments in steps S103 and S104 are repeated until the irradiation position is determined. The “irradiation position” is a position of a point representing the irradiation range. For example, the irradiation range 2 in FIG. 5C is represented by the position of the tip of the crack 3.

  That is, the repetition of steps S103 to S105 is a process of gradually tracing from the starting point of the crack 3 to the tip and identifying the position of the tip. Specifically, steps S103 to S105 are performed as follows, for example, in a state where the imaging unit 120 always images the glass substrate 1 and the captured image is displayed on the display unit 121.

  In step S <b> 103, the data input unit 112 receives an instruction regarding the relative movement amount in the x direction and the y direction from the user who has confirmed the crack 3 while viewing the display unit 121, and outputs the instruction to the processing unit 127. The instruction in step S103 is an instruction for relative movement for causing the condensing optical system 104 to be positioned closer to the tip of the crack 3 when viewed from the portion of the crack 3 currently displayed on the display unit 121. is there.

  For example, the processing unit 127 may display a pointer on the display unit 121, and the data input unit 112 may receive the movement amount of the pointer as an input and output it to the processing unit 127. In this case, the processing unit 127 calculates the relative movement amount in the x direction and the y direction between the stage 101 and the condensing optical system 104 from the movement amount of the pointer.

  Subsequently, in step S104, the relative movement in the z direction is performed in order to focus the condensing optical system 104 on the portion of the crack 3 in the observation field after the relative movement in the x and y directions in step S103. Is called.

  For example, the data input unit 112 receives an instruction regarding relative movement in the z direction from the user, and outputs the instruction to the processing unit 127. Then, in accordance with the instruction input from the data input unit 112, the processing unit 127 passes through the optical system control instruction unit 130, the optical system control unit 126, and the focus correction optical system 125, and the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101. To control the relative position in the z direction.

  Step S104 may be performed by trial and error. That is, after the relative position in the z direction is controlled as described above, an instruction based on the image captured by the imaging unit 120 is received again from the user by the data input unit 112, and the processing unit 127 again determines the relative position in the z direction. Control may be performed. Then, the above operations may be repeated as appropriate.

  For example, the user confirms the display unit 121 while trying to input an instruction regarding relative movement in the z direction to the data input unit 112 by trial and error, and the condensing optical system 104 and the stage so that the crack 3 can be seen clearly. The relative position in the z direction with respect to 101 is searched.

  Alternatively, if the crack 3 is captured as a clear line to some extent, the focus correction optical system 125 may realize the relative movement in the z direction in step S104 by the AF operation regardless of the input from the data input unit 112. it can.

  Subsequently, in step S105, the data input unit 112 receives an input as to whether or not the tip of the crack 3 has been reached from the user. If the tip of the crack 3 has not been reached, the process returns to step S103.

  If the tip of the crack 3 has been reached, the tip can be determined as the irradiation position, that is, the range including the tip can be determined as the irradiation range. For example, the data input unit 112 may receive an input for determining the irradiation range from the user and output the input to the processing unit 127, and the processing unit 127 may determine the irradiation range according to the input from the data input unit 112.

  For example, the data input unit 112 receives as input the coordinates of a point indicating the tip of the crack 3 in FIG. 5B on the image displayed on the display unit 121 and the slope of a straight line that defines the irradiation range. May be. Alternatively, the data input unit 112 may receive the coordinates of both end points of the linear irradiation range. In response to the input from the data input unit 112, the processing unit 127 performs processing such as converting the coordinates in the image into an xy coordinate system with the glass substrate 1 as a reference, and the irradiation range in FIG. 2 is determined.

  Alternatively, the image processing unit 128 performs processing such as edge extraction on the image output from the imaging unit 120 to detect the coordinates of the tip of the crack 3 and the inclination near the tip, and the inclination according to the detection result The irradiation range 2 defined by a straight line may be determined and notified to the processing unit 127.

  Thus, for example, a combination of the data input unit 112 and the processing unit 127 or a combination of the imaging unit 120, the image processing unit 128, and the processing unit 127 functions as a recognition unit that recognizes the position or range of the crack 3.

  In addition, the imaging unit 120, the display unit 121, the data input unit 112, and the processing unit 127 function as a determination unit for determining the irradiation range 2 to be irradiated with laser light inside the glass substrate 1 that is a glass object. . In some cases, the image processing unit 128 also functions as part of the determining unit. And each part which functions as a determination means determines the irradiation range 2 based on the position of the crack 3.

After the irradiation range 2 is determined, the process proceeds to step S106.
In step S <b> 106, the processing unit 127 notifies the laser control unit 129 of the determined irradiation range 2. Then, the laser control unit 129 controls the guide illumination light source 117 to emit guide illumination light. In addition, the laser control unit 129 controls the processing shape setting unit 119 so as to process the beam cross-sectional shape of the guide illumination light in accordance with the irradiation range 2.

  As a result, in step S106, the guide illumination light emitted from the guide illumination light source 117 is reflected by the beam splitter 118, the beam cross-sectional shape is processed by the processing shape setting unit 119, and the laser optical system 109, the observation optical system 110, and the collected light are collected. The glass substrate 1 is irradiated through the optical optical system 104. While the guide illumination light is irradiated, the imaging unit 120 images the glass substrate 1 and outputs the captured image to the display unit 121. Therefore, the user can check whether or not the guide illumination light is correctly irradiated on the irradiation range 2 by looking at the display unit 121.

  For example, when the crack correction apparatus 100 is configured to perform laser beam irradiation on the linear irradiation range 2 by performing laser beam scanning using a galvano scanner (not shown) or the like, in step S106 Scanning is also performed. Therefore, the user can check the scanning locus by looking at the display unit 121.

Subsequently, in step S107 and step S108, fine adjustment is performed as necessary.
In step S106, when the user determines that the irradiation range 2 is shifted in the x direction, the y direction, or both xy directions, the process in step S107 is as follows.

  That is, the data input unit 112 receives an instruction regarding the amount of relative movement between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the x direction, the y direction, or both xy directions from the user. Then, the data input unit 112 outputs the received instruction to the processing unit 127. The processing unit 127 controls and finely adjusts the relative position of the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the x direction, y direction, or both xy directions via the stage control unit 131. Thus, step S106 is a step similar to step S103.

In step S106, when the user determines that the irradiation range 2 is shifted in the z direction, the following processing is performed in the next step S108.
That is, the data input unit 112 receives an instruction from the user regarding the amount of relative movement between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 in the z direction. Then, the data input unit 112 outputs the received instruction to the processing unit 127. The processing unit 127 controls the relative position in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 via the optical system control instruction unit 130, the optical system control unit 126, and the focus correction optical system 125. Thus, step S108 is a step similar to step S104.

As described above, if any error remains as a result of the irradiation of the guide illumination light in step S106, fine adjustment is appropriately performed in steps S107 and S108.
While steps S107 and S108 are being performed, the guide illumination light source 117 may continue to emit guide illumination light, the imaging unit 120 may continue to image the glass substrate 1, and the display unit 121 may continue to display an image. preferable. Steps S106 to S108 may be repeated by trial and error.

In step S109, the processing unit 127 instructs the laser control unit 129 to irradiate laser light.
Then, the laser control unit 129 causes the laser oscillation control unit 116 to perform control for emitting laser light from the laser light source 115 with a pulse width, a pulse repetition frequency, and an irradiation time suitable for correcting the glass substrate 1. The data input unit 112 may receive data such as a pulse width, a pulse repetition frequency, and an irradiation time from the user as processing conditions, and notify the laser control unit 129 via the processing unit 127. Further, the processing shape setting unit 119 has already set the cross-sectional shape of the beam in accordance with the irradiation range 2.

  Therefore, in step S109, the laser light emitted from the laser light source 115 is shaped by the processing shape setting unit 119, and the inside of the glass substrate 1 is passed through the laser optical system 109, the observation optical system 110, and the condensing optical system 104. The irradiation range 2 is irradiated.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the laser beam irradiation to the linear irradiation range 2 is realized by scanning, the laser beam scanning is performed in the next step S110. The laser control unit 129 also controls the scan speed, for example.

  When the laser beam is irradiated onto the irradiation range 2 as described above, the laser control unit 129 instructs the guide illumination light source 117 to turn off in step S111. That is, actual laser light irradiation in steps S109 and S110 is performed in a state where both guide illumination light is irradiated.

  In step S112, the imaging unit 120 images the glass substrate 1 and outputs the captured image on the display unit 121. When the ultrashort pulse laser beam is appropriately irradiated, the glass is modified in the irradiation range 2, so that a difference in refractive index and the like occurs from outside the irradiation range 2. Therefore, in the image displayed on the display unit 121, the outline of the range irradiated with the laser light is visible. In step S112, the illumination optical system 122 may apply illumination light to the glass substrate 1 from an angle different from that in step S102, for example.

  In step S112, for example, the data input unit 112 receives an input from the user regarding whether or not the irradiation of the irradiation range 2 in steps S109 to S110 is appropriate, and outputs the input to the processing unit 127. As a result, the processing unit 127 can determine whether or not the irradiation of the laser beam to the irradiation range 2 in steps S109 to S110 is appropriate.

  If the laser beam irradiation is appropriate, the process proceeds to step S113, and if it is inappropriate, the process returns to step S106. For example, when the range in which the laser beam is actually irradiated is different from the desired irradiation range, or when the modification of the glass in the irradiation range 2 is not recognized due to insufficient irradiation, the processing is step S106. Return to.

  In step S113, the processing unit 127 determines whether or not data regarding the next unprocessed defect, that is, a crack remains in the input data received in step S101. If unprocessed cracks remain, the process proceeds to step S114. If all the defects in the input data have been corrected, the process proceeds to step S115.

  In step S114, the processing unit 127 selects one unprocessed crack from the input data received in step S101. Then, the processing unit 127 instructs the stage control unit 131 to perform the relative movement in the x direction and the y direction so that the coordinates of the selected crack are within the observation field of view by the observation system 108, as in step S101. . Then, the process returns to step S102.

  In step S115, since all the cracks in the input data received in step S101 have been corrected, the workpiece replacement unit 114 performs a payout operation of the glass substrate 1 from the crack correcting device 100. Then, the process of FIG. 4 ends. When the process of FIG. 4 is completed, the crack correcting apparatus 100 performs the process of FIG. 4 again on the next glass substrate 1.

  For the sake of simplicity, the flowchart of FIG. 4 has been described assuming that the crack correcting device 100 corrects all the cracks detected by the crack detecting device. However, in the process of observing the glass substrate 1 in detail in, for example, steps S103 to S105, it may be found that something that is not actually a crack, such as a thread-like dust, is erroneously detected as a crack. In that case, for example, when the data input unit 112 receives an input indicating that “there is no crack since it is not a crack” from the user, the crack correcting apparatus 100 can omit steps S106 to S112.

  In some embodiments, the guide illumination light source 117 may be omitted in FIG. 3, and the application of the guide pattern from the guide illumination light source 117 may be omitted in FIG. That is, an embodiment in which fine adjustment based on the guide illumination light in steps S106 to S108 is omitted, only laser light is irradiated in steps S109 and S110, and step S111 is omitted is also possible.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the ultrashort pulse laser beam is obtained in a state where the focus of the condensing optical system 104 is located in the irradiation range 2 that is the range to be processed inside the glass substrate 1. Is emitted from the laser unit 102. Regarding the processing of glass materials by ultrashort pulse laser light, the history of development is short, and it seems that the method of use as in the first embodiment is not known.

  According to the first embodiment, the crack 3 can be corrected at an arbitrary position, the glass substrate 1 can be prevented from being broken, financial loss, great labor for cleaning, and opportunity loss until the production line is restored. Various problems such as these can be avoided.

The first embodiment has the following advantages.
First, a film forming step is not required compared to a method in which a metal film for repair is formed on the outer surface of a glass substrate and the glass film is indirectly heated by melting the metal film by laser irradiation. It is. Moreover, the process of removing the unnecessary metal film remaining after the correction of the crack is not necessary.

  Second, the metal film is easy to peel off even with a slight impact, but the first embodiment does not use a repair metal film, so there is no concern that the metal film once formed peels off and causes dust generation. . Therefore, 1st Embodiment is suitable for the correction of the crack in the glass substrate 1 for various FPD which should be manufactured, inspected, and corrected in a clean room.

Third, the first embodiment can irradiate a laser beam to an arbitrary range in the glass substrate 1.
When laser light is irradiated from a specific location such as a side end surface of the glass substrate, there is a possibility that the laser light cannot be irradiated with sufficient intensity near the center of the glass substrate. In other words, if laser light is irradiated with sufficient intensity near the center of the glass substrate, high-power irradiation is required, and there is a concern about the influence of deformation of the glass substrate near the side end face. Therefore, if the intensity is suppressed so as not to be affected by deformation or the like, the processable range by laser light irradiation is limited.

  For example, if there is a crack that has curved and has progressed to the vicinity of the center of the glass substrate, the tip of the crack may be located outside the correctable range. Thus, if the range which can be corrected is limited, the crack which exists outside the range which can be corrected will advance, and there exists a possibility that a glass substrate may crack finally.

  However, in the first embodiment, the relative position between the condensing optical system 104 and the glass substrate 1 can be arbitrarily changed in any of the x direction, the y direction, and the z direction. That is, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to irradiate laser light while focusing on an arbitrary range in the glass substrate 1, and processing in an arbitrary range is possible.

  Fourthly, in the first embodiment, since the ultrashort pulse laser beam is irradiated while being focused on the irradiation range 2 inside the glass substrate 1, for example, the laser beam with respect to an unfocused portion such as the outer surface of the glass substrate 1 The impact of is negligible.

  For example, it is known that melting of a glass material by an ultrashort pulse laser beam having a pulse width of 10 ps or less has a feature that thermal deformation is small. In an FPD manufacturing process, a laser repair device that uses a laser beam to remove foreign matter attached to the surface of a glass substrate is used. The pulse width of the laser beam used in the laser repair device is, for example, a few ns. is there. The reaction process caused by the laser beam varies depending on the pulse width, and the glass substrate 1 can be processed with almost no deformation by using the ultrashort pulse laser beam.

Therefore, according to the first embodiment, there is almost no adverse effect that the outer shape of the glass substrate 1 is distorted by laser light irradiation, and can be ignored.
For example, in a method of forming a repair metal film on the outer surface of a glass substrate, a crack to be corrected is hidden by the metal film. Therefore, the exact position of the crack cannot be confirmed from the appearance during actual irradiation. Moreover, it cannot be judged from the appearance whether the crack is actually corrected as intended by the irradiation of the laser beam on the metal film.

  Therefore, in order to reliably correct the crack in the method using the correcting metal film, it may be necessary to irradiate the irradiation range set to be wider with the laser beam set to have a higher output. However, as a result, the laser beam may be irradiated unnecessarily at a high output and in a wide range, and the glass substrate may be deformed, or the circuit pattern or the color filter provided on the upper layer may be altered. There is sex.

  On the other hand, in the first embodiment, as described above, the influence of the laser beam on the out-of-focus portion is negligible. The ability to correct cracks without distorting the outer shape of the glass substrate is very beneficial in the production of glass substrates for LCDs, for example.

  The reason is as follows. The LCD panel has a configuration in which a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between a glass substrate on which a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) is formed and a glass substrate on the counter electrode side. In recent years, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer (that is, the cell gap) is 2. Shrinks to about ~ 5 μm. In addition, precise management of the cell gap is required in the LCD panel manufacturing process. That is, in recent years, the slight unevenness generated on the surface of the glass substrate in contact with the liquid crystal layer makes it difficult to control the cell gap and directly increases the display defect. Therefore, the first embodiment without the side effect of deformation of the glass substrate is beneficial.

The first embodiment has been described above. Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a crack correcting apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment. The crack correcting apparatus 200 is configured to irradiate laser light from the back surface of the glass substrate 1, that is, the side of the surface on which a circuit pattern such as a transistor or a wiring is not formed, so that the crack correcting apparatus according to the first embodiment is used. Different from 100. Such a configuration has been made in view of the following points.

  That is, a glass material that melts by irradiation with an ultrashort pulse laser beam instantaneously reaches several thousand degrees, but the melting point of a metal or other material used in a circuit pattern formed on the glass substrate 1 may vary depending on circumstances. Is a few hundred degrees. Alternatively, it may not be preferable to be exposed to a high temperature even if the melting point is not reached.

  Although the influence of the laser beam on the surface of the glass substrate 1 that is not in focus has been ignored in the first embodiment, it may not be ignored. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the crack correcting device is configured so that the laser beam is irradiated from the back surface on which the circuit pattern is not formed so that the metal or other material constituting the circuit pattern does not exist on the optical path of the laser beam. 200 is configured.

  Specifically, the crack correction apparatus 200 includes a stage 101 having a hollow structure that holds the glass substrate 1 on both sides, and further has a laser unit 102 and a stage that are similar in function to those of the first embodiment except for the arrangement. The moving mechanism 103, the condensing optical system 104, the mirror 105, the imaging lens 106, the beam splitter 107, the observation system 108, and the control part 111 are provided.

  FIG. 6 also shows a table 132 on which the observation system 108 and the laser unit 102 are placed. For example, the stage 132 may be a stage that can move along a conveyance axis parallel to the y-axis. In that case, a stage control unit 131 (not shown) included in the control unit 111 controls the movement of the table 132 along the conveyance axis, as in FIG. Thereby, relative movement in the y direction between the stage 101 and the condensing optical system 104 is realized.

  Each part of the crack correcting device 200 is arranged so that the optical axis of the condensing optical system 104 is positioned in the hollow portion of the stage 101b. In addition, the stage moving mechanism 103 adjusts the relative position between the stage 101 and the condensing optical system 104 while adjusting the position in the glass substrate 1 specified by the xy coordinates so as to be positioned on the hollow portion of the stage 101b. The position is moved in the x and y directions.

  Similar to the stage 101, the stage 101b may be a floating stage. Further, the stage 101b shown in FIG. 6 has a space for a hollow portion in the middle of two portions divided in the x direction, but the shape of the space for the hollow portion is arbitrary. For example, the stage 101b may have a rectangular frame shape, and the rectangular space may be hollowed out.

  Further, in order to hold the glass substrate 1 without losing the balance when the end of the glass substrate 1 is positioned on the hollow portion, the stage 101b may include a clamp or a suction pad (not shown).

  In the crack correcting apparatus 200, the laser beam follows the following optical path. That is, the laser light is first emitted from the laser unit 102, reflected by the mirror 105, and reaches the beam splitter 107 via the imaging lens 106. Then, the laser beam is reflected by the beam splitter 107 and enters the condensing optical system 104, and is irradiated to the irradiation range 2 in the glass substrate 1 through the condensing optical system 104.

  This optical path is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the condensing optical system 104 is arranged on the back side of the glass substrate 1 and other elements are arranged on the back side of the glass substrate 1 accordingly. It is.

  In the second embodiment, the transmitted light from the front surface side of the glass substrate 1 and the reflected light on the back surface of the glass substrate 1 reach the beam splitter 107 via the condensing optical system 104, The light is transmitted and observed in an observation system 108 including an imaging unit 120 (not shown) provided on the optical axis of the condensing optical system 104. That is, the optical path from the glass substrate 1 to the observation system 108 is the same as in the first embodiment except that the optical path is on the back side of the glass substrate 1.

  Thus, since 2nd Embodiment is the same as that of 1st Embodiment except the direction to which a laser beam is irradiated, detailed description, such as an operation | movement, is abbreviate | omitted. In addition to the observation system 108 shown in FIG. 6, the crack correction apparatus 200 may further include a second observation system for observing the glass substrate 1 from above.

The second embodiment described above has the following effects in addition to the same effects as the first embodiment.
That is, since the laser beam is irradiated from the back surface, the second embodiment cannot ignore the influence of the laser beam on the substance other than the glass in the place where the focusing optical system 104 is not focused. Also suitable. In other words, according to the second embodiment, only cracks are selectively avoided while avoiding damage to the circuit pattern, regardless of the material constituting the circuit pattern made of wiring, conductive film, insulating film, etc. formed on the surface. It is possible to make corrections.

  As described above, the first and second embodiments have been described in detail. In any of the embodiments, the pattern of the irradiation range 2 is not limited to the first pattern illustrated in FIG. 5, and various patterns are possible. In the following, various laser irradiation patterns applicable to both the first and second embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a second example of a laser light irradiation range. FIG. 7A shows a pattern in which a plurality of places are irradiated along a linear crack 3 generated in the glass substrate 1.
As shown in FIG. 7A, when laser light is irradiated to a plurality of locations along the crack 3, it is desirable that one of the locations includes the tip of the crack 3. This is because the tip of the crack 3 is a starting point for the growth of the crack 3 in the future, so that correcting the tip of the crack 3 leads to a more reliable correction of the crack 3.

Moreover, especially when the crack 3 has already grown to some extent, the growth of the crack 3 can be prevented more reliably by setting a plurality of locations as the irradiation range as shown in FIG.
In the example of FIG. 7A, the irradiation ranges 2b and 2c are irradiated with laser light in addition to the irradiation range 2a including the tip of the crack 3. The irradiation ranges 2a to 2c are each a linear range, but may be a curved range. The crack correcting device 100 or 200 corrects the crack 3 by melting and strengthening the glass in the irradiation ranges 2a to 2c.

  In the case where a plurality of locations along the crack 3 are set as the irradiation range, the order of irradiation is arbitrary. For example, FIG. 7B shows an example in which the laser beam is first irradiated to the irradiation range 2 that crosses the crack 3 in the middle of the crack 3.

  The crack correcting device 100 or 200 irradiates the irradiation range (not shown) including the tip of the crack 3 after irradiating the irradiation range 2 that crosses the crack 3 in the middle of the crack 3 in this way. May be. Alternatively, the order of irradiation may be reversed.

  By the way, although FIG. 7A illustrates a plurality of irradiation ranges having different x-coordinate or y-coordinate ranges, the crack correcting device 100 or 200 has a plurality of irradiation ranges having different z-coordinates as shown in FIG. The crack 3 may be corrected by irradiating with laser light.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a third example of the laser light irradiation range. That is, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the glass substrate 1 taken along a plane parallel to the z axis.
FIG. 8 shows a cross section of the V-shaped crack 3. The gap due to the crack 3 may have an opening on the surface of the glass substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 8 or may have an opening on the back surface of the glass substrate 1.

  The gap generated by the crack 3 may not be recognized with the naked eye. However, at the micro level, as shown in FIG. 8, there is a narrow gap sandwiched between the fracture surfaces 6a and 6b facing each other.

  It is preferable that the crack correcting apparatus 100 or 200 irradiates a laser beam in a range including the tip of the crack 3 also in the z direction that is the thickness direction of the glass substrate 1. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 8, the laser beam is irradiated to the irradiation range 2b including the tip of the crack 3 in the z direction.

  Furthermore, in the example of FIG. 8, in order to correct the crack 3 more reliably, another irradiation range 2a is set in a region shallower than the irradiation range 2b, that is, a region closer to the surface of the glass substrate 1. The laser beam is also irradiated to the irradiation range 2a. The irradiation range 2a is a range that crosses the gap of the crack 3 between the fracture surfaces 6a and 6b.

  If the width of the gap is sufficiently narrow, the fracture surfaces 6a and 6b are welded at the depth of the irradiation range 2a by the glass melted by the laser beam irradiation to the irradiation range 2a, and the gap of the crack 3 is blocked. . That is, by continuous laser beam irradiation in the manner of laser marking, a continuous molten surface is formed in the irradiation range 2a, and the molten glass is connected across the fracture surfaces 6a and 6b. For example, if the width of the gap is about 10 μm, the gap will be blocked.

  That the air gap is blocked means that at least a part of the crack 3 disappears. That is, the crack 3 is more reliably corrected by closing the gap. Therefore, it is preferable to set the irradiation range to a depth at which the gap width is about 10 μm or less.

  According to the example of FIG. 8, since two glass melt strengthening layers are formed in the depth direction, the weld strength of the fracture surfaces 6a and 6b is compared with, for example, the case where the irradiation range 2b is irradiated with laser light only. Goes up. Therefore, according to the example of FIG. 8, the growth of the crack 3 can be more reliably inhibited by the increase in the welding strength, and the entire glass substrate 1 can be prevented from being broken.

  The irradiation ranges 2a and 2b in FIG. 8 are linear ranges perpendicular to the z-axis, but a range along a curve on a plane perpendicular to the z-axis may be the irradiation range. The irradiation of the laser beam to the irradiation range along the straight line or curve on the plane perpendicular to the z axis may be performed by scanning the laser beam in one or both of the x direction and the y direction. The light need not be scanned. That is, even in the latter case, the processing shape setting unit 119 sets the beam cross-sectional shape in a linear shape or a curved shape, so that the laser beam is irradiated in an irradiation range along a straight line or a curved line on a plane perpendicular to the z axis. Is irradiated.

Next, a pattern in which laser light is irradiated so as to cross the crack 3 continuously and repeatedly will be described.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing a fourth example of the laser light irradiation range. 7 and 8 are examples in which laser light is irradiated to a plurality of irradiation ranges separated from each other. However, the crack correcting device 100 or 200 may correct the crack 3 more reliably by irradiating the laser beam along the crack 3 in a zigzag manner.

  For example, FIG. 9A shows an example in which laser light is irradiated along a zigzag line on a plane parallel to the xy plane. In other words, the irradiation range 2 in FIG. 9A is a range along a line that partially crosses the tip of the crack 3 and proceeds zigzag along the crack 3.

  When irradiating the irradiation range 2 as shown in FIG. 9A with the laser beam, the processing in FIG. 4 may be modified as follows. That is, the process of FIG. 4 is a process of performing irradiation by steps S106 to S112 after searching for the tip of the crack 3 by repeating steps S103 to S105. By changing the processing order in FIG. 4, the crack correcting apparatus 100 or 200 may repeat the irradiation of the linear laser light while following the crack 3. As a result of repetition, the irradiation range 2 is a zigzag range as a whole, in which a plurality of linear ranges are connected.

  FIG. 9B shows an example in which laser light is irradiated along a zigzag line on a plane parallel to the z-axis, that is, a laser so as to cross the crack 3 many times in the depth direction. An example of light irradiation was shown. The zigzag irradiation as shown in FIG. 9B may be executed in a plurality of times as follows, for example.

Laser irradiation to the linear irradiation range 2a including the tip of the crack 3 in the z direction Laser irradiation to the linear irradiation range 2b connected to the irradiation range 2a Link to the irradiation range 2b Further, the zigzag line that defines the irradiation range may be on a plane that is not parallel to any of the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis. .

  Or the crack correction apparatus 100 may irradiate a laser beam to the irradiation range along the zigzag-shaped line | wire which has a three-dimensional expansion. In this case, for example, the relative movement in the x direction and the y direction by the stage moving mechanism 103 and the relative movement in the z direction between the condensing optical system 104 and the stage 101 via the optical system control unit 126 are simultaneously performed. The processing unit 127 controls the entire crack correcting device 100 so as to perform it.

Then, the pattern which suppresses the progress of the crack 3 by surrounding the crack 3 continuously from the periphery is demonstrated.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing a fifth example of a laser light irradiation range. The pattern shown in FIG. 10 is suitable for correcting a very thin crack 3 having a width of, for example, about 10 μm or less.

  FIG. 10A shows a curved shape so as to surround the crack 3 from the origin to the tip in the manner of laser marking on a plane parallel to the xy plane or while changing the z coordinate according to the depth of the crack 3. The example which irradiates laser beam to the irradiation range 2 is shown. By irradiating the irradiation range 2 with laser light, the periphery of the crack 3 is surrounded by tempered glass, and the extension of the crack 3 can be prevented.

  FIG. 10B shows a pattern in which the laser beam is irradiated in a curved shape surrounding the crack 3 over a plurality of layers in the z direction. That is, FIG. 10B is an example in which irradiation ranges are set in the next three layers in order from the side closer to the surface of the glass substrate 1.

The cross section is represented by the irradiation ranges 2a and 2d and the irradiation range is along the curve surrounding the crack 3. The cross section is represented by the irradiation ranges 2b and 2e and the irradiation range is along the curve surrounding the crack 3. The cross section is the irradiation range 2c. FIG. 10B shows the irradiation range along the curve surrounding the crack 3 by irradiating laser light to the plurality of irradiation ranges so as to form a plurality of molten layers. This is the same as FIG. 7A and FIG.

  As mentioned above, although various irradiation patterns were demonstrated with reference to FIGS. 7-10, all the irradiation patterns shown in FIG. 5 and FIGS. 7-10 have the following characteristics. In other words, the irradiation ranges 2 and 2a to 2f are set so as not to come into contact with either the front surface or the back surface of the glass substrate 1 in order to avoid deformation such as swell of the outer surface of the glass substrate 1. Therefore, when the glass substrate 1 is for LCD, precise cell gap control is possible even in the glass substrate 1 after the crack 3 is corrected.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified. Some examples are described below.
A first aspect of deformation is an object to be irradiated with laser light.

  In 1st and 2nd embodiment, the crack correction apparatuses 100 and 200 which correct the crack which generate | occur | produced in the glass substrate for FPD were illustrated. However, the first or second embodiment may be modified so that a crack is corrected for a glass object having an arbitrary shape and size other than the glass substrate for FPD. For example, the size of the stage on which the glass object is placed, the movable range of relative movement in the z-axis direction, and the like can be appropriately determined according to the embodiment according to the shape and size of the glass object to be corrected.

  The second viewpoint of deformation is the purpose of irradiating laser light. That is, the crack correcting device 100 or 200 described above can be used for purposes other than correction for a crack that has already occurred.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the chip 5a or 5b is generated for some reason, the possibility of growing into a crack is high. Therefore, when a chip is generated, for example, the crack correcting device 100 or 200 may irradiate a laser beam around the chip in the same manner as in FIG.

  Then, since the glass around the chip is strengthened, it is possible to prevent the chip from growing into a crack. Thus, 1st and 2nd embodiment can be utilized also for the use of the prevention of a crack other than correction of a crack.

  Further, the crack correcting device 100 or 200 can be used as a laser processing device for modifying a part inside the glass object irrespective of the crack. That is, according to the above-described embodiment, a laser processing apparatus that performs various processing on the inside of a glass object, such as correction of cracks, prevention of occurrence of cracks, modification and strengthening inside the glass object, and change in the refractive index inside the glass object. And a laser processing method are provided.

  A third aspect of the deformation is a laser light irradiation range. The irradiation range is not limited to the pattern exemplified above, and any combination of the exemplified patterns may be used. Further, irradiation with various other patterns is also possible.

  That is, any irradiation range along any straight line or curve may be used as long as it is effective for correcting cracks. For example, the linear or curved irradiation range may be in contact with the crack, cross the crack, or away from the crack. For example, FIG. 9A shows an irradiation range 2 located on the side where the crack 3 grows away from the crack 3. In FIG. 9A, the molten layer formed in the irradiation range 2 by the laser beam irradiation serves as a barrier against the progress of cracks.

  In general, since a crack may further progress from the tip, the side opposite to the starting point when viewed from the tip of the crack is the side on which the crack grows. In general, the crack may follow the progress that the width of the fine opening generated on the front surface, the back surface, or the side surface of the glass substrate is further expanded by the crack. Therefore, for example, in FIG. 9A, it can be said that the irradiation range 2 surrounding the left and right of the crack 3 is also located on the crack growing side.

Examples of laser light irradiation patterns other than those described above include the following examples.
The crack correcting apparatus 100 or 200 may set the zigzag irradiation range 2 of FIG. 9A to a plurality of layers in the z direction in a manner similar to that of FIG. .

  In FIG. 10A, the irradiation range 2 is a curved shape that surrounds the crack 3 from the starting point to the tip, but the irradiation range 2 is a curved range that surrounds a portion near the tip of the crack 3. Also good. An embodiment in which a closed linear irradiation range such as a circle, an ellipse, or a polygon surrounds the vicinity of the tip of the crack 3 is also possible.

The illustrated irradiation range is a linear or curved continuous range, but the irradiation range may be a set of a plurality of points that are intermittently continuous in a linear or curved shape.
As described above, the shape of the irradiation range is various. For example, the processing unit 127 can set the irradiation range 2 as shown in FIG. 10A surrounding the crack 3 in accordance with the shape of the crack 3. The irradiation range 2 as shown in FIG. 9A that crosses the crack 3 many times can also be set. For example, the processing unit 127 can recognize the shape of the crack 3 when the image processing unit 128 performs edge extraction processing or the data input unit 112 receives input from the user. Therefore, the processing unit 127 may determine the irradiation range 2 according to the recognized shape.

  In addition, for example, the data input unit 112 may receive an input designating an irradiation pattern to be applied from a plurality of irradiation patterns prepared in advance from the user and output the input to the processing unit 127. If necessary, the processing unit 127 can recognize the shape of the crack 3 and control the irradiation of the laser light according to the designated irradiation pattern.

A fourth aspect of the deformation is the arrangement of the optical elements in the laser processing apparatus according to the crack correcting apparatuses 100 and 200 or other modified examples. For example, the crack correcting apparatus 100 can be modified as shown in the following (1) and (2). Of course, similar modifications are possible in the crack correcting apparatus 200 and other laser processing apparatuses. Further, modifications other than (1) and (2) are possible, and for example, the crack correcting device can be configured so that laser light can be irradiated from both the front surface and the back surface of the glass substrate 1. .
(1) In the crack correction apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, the positions of the observation system 108 and the processing laser unit 102 may be reversed.

  That is, the laser unit 102 is placed on the optical axis of the condensing optical system 104 so that the laser light emitted from the laser unit 102 passes through the beam splitter 107 and is irradiated to the irradiation range 2 through the condensing optical system 104. It may be arranged.

In the case of (1), the imaging lens 106 may be disposed between the laser unit 102 and the beam splitter 107, for example. Further, the light that has reached the beam splitter 107 from the glass substrate 1 via the condensing optical system 104 is reflected by the beam splitter 107, is reflected again by the mirror 105, and enters the observation system 108.
(2) The mirror 105 may be omitted in the crack correcting apparatus 100 of FIG.

  In FIG. 1, the mirror 105 may be omitted, and the position of the laser unit 102 may be changed so that the optical path of the laser light from the laser unit 102 coincides with the optical axis of the imaging lens 106.

  In the case of (1), the mirror 105 is omitted as in (2), and observation is performed so that the optical axis of the imaging unit 120 (not shown) of the observation system 108 matches the optical path of the reflected light from the beam splitter 107. System 108 may be arranged.

It is a block diagram of the crack correction apparatus by 1st Embodiment. It is a top view which shows the example of the glass substrate which the crack and the chip | tip generate | occur | produced. It is a functional block diagram of the crack correction apparatus 100 by 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the crack correction apparatus 100 in 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the irradiation range of the crack and laser beam in 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram of the crack correction apparatus by 2nd Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the 2nd example of the irradiation range of a laser beam. It is sectional drawing which shows the 3rd example of the irradiation range of a laser beam. It is the perspective view and sectional drawing which show the 4th example of the irradiation range of a laser beam. It is the perspective view and sectional drawing which show the 5th example of the irradiation range of a laser beam.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate 2, 2a-2f Irradiation range 3 Crack 4a-4d Panel area | region 5a, 5b Chip 6a, 6b Fracture surface 100, 200 Crack correction apparatus 101, 101b Stage 102 Laser unit 103 Stage moving mechanism 104 Condensing optical system 105 Mirror DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 106 Imaging lens 107 Beam splitter 108 Observation system 109 Laser optical system 110 Observation optical system 111 Control part 112 Data input part 113 Communication part 114 Work replacement part 115 Laser light source 116 Laser oscillation control part 117 Guide illumination light source 118 Beam splitter 119 Processing shape Setting unit 120 Imaging unit 121 Display unit 122 Illumination optical system 123 Beam splitter 124 AF mirror 125 Focus correction optical system 126 Optical system control unit 127 Processing unit 128 Image processing unit 129 Laser control unit 130 Optical system control instruction unit 131 Stage control unit 132 units

Claims (10)

A laser processing apparatus for processing a glass object using laser light,
An emitting means for emitting the laser light from a laser light source;
A condensing optical system for condensing the laser light emitted from the laser light source inside the glass object;
Determining means for determining an irradiation range to be irradiated with the laser light in the inside of the glass object;
Control means for controlling the relative position of the light collecting optical system and the glass object so that the focal point of the light collecting optical system is located in the irradiation range determined by the determining means;
The emission means is configured to emit the laser light in a state where the relative position is controlled by the control means so that the inside of the glass object is melted in the irradiation range by irradiation of the laser light to the irradiation range. Emitted from the laser light source,
The laser processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam is a pulsed laser beam.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a pulse width of the pulsed laser light is 10 ps or less. Recognizing means for recognizing the position or range of cracks or chips generated in the glass object,
The determining unit determines one or more irradiation ranges based on the position or the range of the crack or the chip recognized by the recognition unit.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the irradiation ranges includes a point at a tip of the crack. Each of the one or more irradiation ranges is
A point on the crack,
Whether it touches, crosses the crack, is located on the side where the crack grows away from the crack, surrounds at least a part of the crack including the tip, or surrounds the chip A line or curve, and a set of points that are intermittently distributed along the line or curve,
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the laser processing apparatus is any one of the following. At least one of the irradiation ranges crosses the crack;
The emission means emits the laser light from the laser light source so as to weld the fracture surfaces of the cracks by melting glass.
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 6. The glass object is a glass substrate for a flat panel display,
The laser light source and the condensing optical system are arranged so that the laser light is irradiated from one or both of the surface side of the glass substrate on which a circuit pattern is formed and the back side facing the surface. Being
The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1. A laser processing apparatus that processes a glass object using laser light,
Based on an instruction from the user, determine an irradiation range to be irradiated with the laser light inside the glass object,
Control the relative position of the condensing optical system and the glass object so that the focal point of the condensing optical system that condenses the laser light inside the glass object is located in the determined irradiation range,
In order to melt the inside of the glass object in the irradiation range, the laser light is emitted from a laser light source to irradiate the irradiation range.
The laser processing method characterized by the above-mentioned. The irradiation range is
A point on a crack generated in the glass object,
It contacts the crack, crosses the crack, is located on the side where the crack grows away from the crack, surrounds at least a part including the tip of the crack, or occurs in the glass object A straight line or a curve surrounding or surrounding the chip, and a set of points intermittently distributed along the straight line or the curve,
The laser processing method according to claim 9, wherein the laser processing method is any one of the following.