JP2010194594A - Marking method and marking device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To apply an appropriate marking to an substrate even if the substrate is deflected or warped. <P>SOLUTION: In a marking method, firstly a substrate 200 is irradiated with a laser L from a laser head 104 while attenuating the laser L emitted from the laser head 104 to such a degree that marking is not executed on the substrate 200. By the irradiation, a distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is measured at a position P2 where marking is to be executed (a first step). Secondly, the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is adjusted to an appropriate distance d2 based on the distance d1 measured in the first step, and marking is executed by irradiating the laser L to the substrate 200 from the laser head 104 in a state of releasing attenuation of the laser L (a second step). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a marking method and apparatus for marking a substrate by irradiating a laser.

  A liquid crystal panel is formed by bonding a pair of substrates sandwiching a liquid crystal layer. The pair of substrates includes an array substrate (TFT substrate) on which thin film transistors (TFTs) are formed in a matrix and a color filter substrate (CF substrate) provided with a color filter. These substrates are subjected to various processes such as an electrode forming process and an alignment film forming process.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-68682 (Patent Document 1) describes a method for managing the types of glass substrates and the processing steps performed in a liquid crystal panel manufacturing process. Specifically, in the publication, the glass substrate is irradiated with a laser mark before the processing step, and the mark is erased after the processing is finished. A technique for grasping the processing contents is disclosed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-217994 (Patent Document 2) discloses an identification code marking method for marking a plurality of rows of identification codes while the laser irradiation apparatus moves one pitch relative to the glass substrate. ing.

JP-A-9-68682 JP 2003-217994 A

  By the way, as a glass substrate used when manufacturing a liquid crystal panel, a large substrate called a mother glass substrate corresponding to the size of a plurality of liquid crystal panels is used. Such a mother glass substrate is, for example, a size of 2160 × 2400 to 2300 × 2600 in a mother glass substrate called an eighth generation. In addition, the size is expected to increase further in the future. Further, such a mother glass substrate having a thin thickness of 1.1 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.5 mm or the like is used for weight reduction. Thus, the glass substrate used when manufacturing a liquid crystal panel tends to be an extremely thin and large glass substrate. Since such a glass substrate is extremely thin and has a large substrate size, it may be bent by the action of gravity, for example. In addition, a mother glass substrate that is extremely thin and has a large substrate size may be difficult to be formed completely flat, and may be slightly warped in the forming step.

  When laser marking is performed on such a mother glass substrate, if the mother glass substrate is bent or warped on the stage, the laser irradiation device and the glass substrate are moved when the laser irradiation device moves relative to the glass substrate. The distance of changes. When the distance between the laser irradiation device and the glass substrate changes greatly, an event occurs in which the focus of the laser is shifted on the glass substrate and the mark cannot be formed well. In view of this, the present invention proposes an apparatus capable of successfully marking a glass substrate.

  The marking method according to the present invention irradiates the laser from the laser head to the substrate in a state where the laser irradiated from the laser head is attenuated to the extent that the substrate is not marked. Thus, the distance between the laser head and the substrate is measured at the position where marking is performed (first step). Next, the distance between the laser head and the substrate is adjusted based on the distance measured in the first step, and marking is performed by irradiating the substrate with the laser from the laser head in a state where the attenuation of the laser is released (second). Process).

  According to this marking method, in the first step, since the distance between the laser head and the substrate is measured based on the laser emitted from the laser head, the distance between the laser head and the substrate can be accurately measured. For this reason, in the second step, it is possible to perform marking by adjusting the laser head and the substrate to an appropriate distance. Thereby, even when the substrate is bent or warped, appropriate marking can be applied to the substrate.

  The marking device includes a substrate placement unit, a laser head, a laser head moving mechanism, a laser attenuating unit, an attenuating unit moving mechanism, a distance measuring unit, a first control unit, and a second control unit. ing. A board | substrate arrangement | positioning part is a site | part by which a board | substrate is arrange | positioned. The laser head is a device that irradiates a laser. The laser head moving mechanism is a mechanism for moving the laser head relative to the substrate placement portion. The laser attenuation unit is a member that attenuates the laser. The attenuation unit moving mechanism is a mechanism for moving the laser attenuation unit between a first position on the laser path and a second position off the laser path. The distance measuring unit measures the distance between the laser head and the substrate based on the laser reflected on the substrate arranged in the substrate arrangement unit. The first control unit performs control to measure the distance between the laser head and the substrate by the distance measuring unit in a state where the laser attenuation unit is moved to the first position by the attenuation unit moving mechanism. The second control unit adjusts the distance between the laser head and the substrate by the laser head moving mechanism based on the distance between the laser head and the substrate measured by the first control unit. Further, the second control unit performs marking by irradiating the laser from the laser head to the substrate in a state where the laser attenuation unit is moved to the second position by the attenuation unit moving mechanism.

  According to this marking device, even when the substrate is bent or warped, appropriate marking can be applied to the substrate.

The figure which shows the marking apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the marking apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the laser head of the marking apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the laser head of the marking apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a marking method and a marking device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in the following description, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and demonstrated about the member and site | part which show | plays the same effect | action.

1 and 2 are diagrams schematically showing a marking device that embodies a marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the substrate 200 is bent or warped, the distance d between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 changes when the laser head 104 is scanned. For example, in FIG. 1, the distance d between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 changes while the laser head 104 moves from the position P1 to the marking position P2. 1 and 2 show only the laser head 104 for the convenience of illustration of the marking device 100 at the position P1, and the other structures are not shown.

  In the marking method according to this embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. 1, the laser L irradiated from the laser head 104 is irradiated toward the substrate 200 in a state where the laser L is attenuated to the extent that the substrate 200 is not marked. . Based on the reflected light of the laser L, the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 at the position P2 to be marked is measured (first step). Next, based on the distance d1 measured in the first step, as shown in FIG. 2, the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is adjusted to an appropriate distance d2, and the attenuation of the laser L is released. Then, marking is performed by irradiating the substrate 200 with the laser L from the laser head 104 (second step).

  According to this marking method, in the first step, as shown in FIG. 1, since the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is measured based on the laser irradiated from the laser head 104, the laser head The distance d1 between 104 and the substrate 200 can be accurately measured. Therefore, in the second step, as shown in FIG. 2, marking can be performed by adjusting the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 to an appropriate distance d2 at the marking position P2. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, even when the substrate 200 is bent or warped, the substrate 200 can be appropriately marked. In this case, in the second step, the distance d2 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 at the marking position P2 may be adjusted to the focal length of the laser L emitted from the laser head 104.

Hereinafter, a marking apparatus that embodies such a marking method will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the marking device 100 includes a substrate placement unit 102, a laser head 104, a laser head moving mechanism 106, a laser attenuation unit 108, an attenuation unit moving mechanism 110, a distance measuring unit 112, A first control unit 114 and a second control unit 116 are provided.

  The board | substrate arrangement | positioning part 102 is a site | part by which the board | substrate 200 is arrange | positioned, as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the substrate placement unit 102 is composed of a plurality of support pins that support the substrate 200, but other configurations can also be adopted. The support pins constituting the substrate placement unit 102 of the present embodiment have a movable structure. When a movable support pin is used, it becomes easy to cope with a large-sized substrate with multiple faces. The amount of deflection of the substrate 200 varies depending on the arrangement of the support pins in the imposition. Further, a marking confirmation light source 103 is disposed below the substrate placement portion 102 of the present embodiment. When the marking-confirming light source 103 is used, it is possible to confirm whether the marking is reliably performed by irradiating the substrate 200 with transmitted light from below. In this embodiment, the substrate 200 is a mother glass substrate that is a substrate of a liquid crystal panel. The laser head 104 irradiates the laser L. The structure of the laser head 104 will be described later.

  The laser head moving mechanism 106 is a mechanism for moving the laser head 104 with respect to the substrate placement unit 102. Although illustration is omitted, the laser head moving mechanism 106 may be composed of, for example, a mechanism that moves a support portion that supports the laser head 104 and a drive device that operates the mechanism.

  The laser attenuation unit 108 is a member that attenuates the laser L. In this embodiment, the laser attenuation unit 108 attenuates the transmitted laser L. Such a laser attenuator 108 may be constituted by, for example, a member in which a cut filter is provided on a quartz lens, or an attenuator. The laser attenuator 108 reduces the energy of the laser L output from the laser head 104 to such an extent that marking is not performed. In this embodiment, the laser attenuation unit 108 reduces the energy of the laser L output from the laser head 104 by about 80%.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the laser attenuator 108 includes a first position A1 (see FIG. 1) on the path of the laser L and a second position A2 off the path of the laser L in the laser head 104. (See FIG. 2). The attenuation unit moving mechanism 110 is a mechanism that moves the laser attenuation unit 108 between the first position A1 and the second position A2. In this embodiment, the laser attenuation unit 108 is provided in the laser head 104, but is not limited to such a form, and may be provided outside the laser head 104.

  The distance measuring unit 112 measures the distance d between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 based on the laser L reflected on the substrate 200 arranged on the substrate arranging unit 102. In this embodiment, the distance measuring unit 112 receives the laser L reflected on the substrate 200 by the light receiving unit 112 a provided in the laser head 104. Based on the laser L received by the light receiving unit 112a, the distance d between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is measured. Note that the distance measuring unit 112 may substantially have a structure that can measure the distance d between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 based on the laser L reflected on the substrate 200.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the marking device 100 includes a control unit 100A. The control unit 100A includes an electrical arithmetic device such as a CPU and an electrical storage unit such as a nonvolatile memory, and controls the marking device 100 in accordance with a preset program. The control unit 100A includes a first control unit 114 and a second control unit 116.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the first control unit 114 moves the laser attenuation unit 108 to the first position A1 by the attenuation unit moving mechanism 110, and the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 by the distance measurement unit 112. Measure d1. At this time, the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 may be measured at a position P2 where a preset marking is applied.

  Further, the second control unit 116 uses the laser head moving mechanism 106 to set the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 based on the distance d1 (see FIG. 1) between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 measured by the first control unit 114. The distance d2 (see FIG. 2) is adjusted. Further, the laser attenuation unit 108 is moved to the second position A2 by the attenuation unit moving mechanism 110. In this state, marking is performed by irradiating the substrate 200 with the laser L from the laser head 104. At this time, the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 may be adjusted to an appropriate distance d2 at a position P2 where a preset marking is performed. In this case, an appropriate focal length of the laser L emitted from the laser head 104 may be determined in advance, and the second control unit 116 may adjust the distance d2 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 to the focal length.

  That is, according to the control by the first control unit 114, as shown in FIG. 1, the laser attenuation unit 108 is moved to the first position A1 on the path of the laser L, and the marking is performed at the position P2. Then, the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is measured. At this time, since the laser attenuation unit 108 is located at the first position A1 on the path of the laser L, the laser L irradiated from the laser head 104 is attenuated to the extent that the substrate 200 is not marked. Further, since the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is measured based on the laser L actually emitted from the laser head 104, the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 can be accurately measured.

  Next, according to the control by the second controller 116, based on the distance d1 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 measured by the first controller 114, as shown in FIG. It is possible to perform marking by adjusting the distance to an appropriate distance d2. Therefore, in the marking apparatus 100, the laser head 104 is moved to the marking position P2, and the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 is adjusted to an appropriate distance d2 by the control by the second control unit 116. It is good to do. Accordingly, even when the substrate 200 is bent or warped, appropriate marking can be applied to the substrate 200.

  In this case, in the control by the second control unit 116, the distance d2 between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 may be adjusted to the focal length of the laser L emitted from the laser head 104. That is, the laser L emitted from the laser head 104 forms a focal point at a predetermined distance. For example, assume that the laser head 104 forms a focal point of the laser L at a distance of 50 mm from the laser head 104. In this case, it is assumed that the distance from the laser head 104 is about 50 mm ± 0.2 mm that is suitable for marking. In this case, the second control unit 116 may control the distance between the laser head 104 and the substrate 200 so as to be maintained at a distance of about 50 mm ± 0.2 mm. Such a focal length may be determined in advance in a program that defines the second control unit 116.

Hereinafter, the structure of the laser head 104 will be described. 3 and 4 are diagrams schematically showing a laser head of a marking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the laser head 104 includes an optical fiber 211, an optical resonator 212, a beam expander 213, an X deflection mirror 214, an X direction scanner 215, and a Y deflection mirror 216, as shown in FIG. , A Y-direction scanner 217, and an fθ lens 218.

In this embodiment, the light L 0 is introduced from the optical fiber 211 to the optical resonator 212. The optical resonator 212 includes an HR mirror 212a (total reflection mirror), an optical crystal 212b, a Q switch 212c, a shutter 212d, and an output mirror 212e (partial reflection mirror). In this embodiment, Nd: YVO ₄ (Neodymium Doped Yttrium Orthovanadate) is used as the optical crystal 212b. The light introduced from the optical fiber 211 to the optical resonator 212 is amplified by reciprocating between the HR mirror 212a and the output mirror 212e. The amplified light passes through the output mirror 212e and is output as a laser L when it becomes a certain amount of energy by the Q switch 212c and the shutter 212d.

  The laser L output from the optical resonator 212 is introduced into the beam expander 213. The laser L introduced into the beam expander 213 is expanded into a parallel light beam having a constant magnification. In this embodiment, the direction of the laser L output from the beam expander 213 is further changed in order by the X deflection mirror 214 and the Y deflection mirror 216, and is transmitted through the fθ lens 218 and output. The fθ lens 218 is a condensing lens and condenses the laser L that has passed.

  In this embodiment, the laser L emitted from the laser head 104 is condensed by the fθ lens 218 and has a required energy required for marking the substrate 200 at a predetermined distance at which a focal point is formed. The X deflection mirror 214 and the Y deflection mirror 216 are mirrors that change the direction of light in predetermined directions defined by X and Y, respectively. The X direction scanner 215 and the Y direction scanner 217 are actuators that operate the X deflection mirror 214 and the Y deflection mirror 216, respectively. The direction of the light condensed by the fθ lens 218 is further changed in order by the X deflection mirror 214 and the Y deflection mirror 216. For this reason, when performing marking, the position of the focal point of the laser L is appropriately moved, and an appropriate mark can be formed.

  In this embodiment, the laser attenuation unit 108 and the attenuation unit moving mechanism 110 are disposed in the laser head 104. That is, in this embodiment, the laser attenuating unit 108 includes the first position A1 (see FIGS. 1 and 4) on the path of the laser L and the laser L between the beam expander 213 and the X deflection mirror 214. It is provided so as to be movable between the second position A2 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) deviating from the route.

  In addition, although the structure of the laser head 104 was illustrated as mentioned above, in the present invention, the laser head 104 is not limited to the above form. For example, various changes such as the type of the optical crystal 212b and the arrangement of each member of the laser head 104 are possible.

  As mentioned above, although the marking method and marking device which concern on one Embodiment of this invention were illustrated, the marking device 100 is not limited to said form.

  For example, various methods can be adopted as the principle of marking by the marking device. As a principle of marking, for example, the surface of the substrate may be altered using the heat of a laser applied to the substrate.

  In said embodiment, the large-sized mother glass substrate used for manufacture of a liquid crystal panel was illustrated as a board | substrate. In this case, for example, a thin film of metal or the like is formed on the mother glass substrate, and the required mark is formed by partially removing the thin film using the heat of the laser applied to the substrate. Also good. Moreover, although the large mother glass substrate used for manufacture of a liquid crystal panel was illustrated as a board | substrate above, the kind of board | substrate is not ask | required. Also, the use of the substrate is not limited to the liquid crystal panel, and for example, a substrate of a panel for solar power generation may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Marking apparatus 100A Control part 102 Substrate arrangement | positioning part 103 Light source 104 for marking confirmation Laser head 106 Laser head moving mechanism 108 Laser attenuating part 110 Attenuating part moving mechanism 112 Distance measuring part 112a Light receiving part 114 First control part 116 Second control part 200 Substrate 211 Optical fiber 212 Optical resonator 212a HR mirror 212b Optical crystal 212c Q switch 212d Shutter 212e Output mirror 213 Beam expander 214 X deflection mirror 215 X direction scanner 216 Y deflection mirror 217 Y direction scanner 218 fθ lens A1 First position A2 First 2 position L Laser L0 light

Claims (3)

A marking method for marking a substrate by irradiating a laser from a laser head,
The laser head at a position where marking is performed based on the reflected light of the laser by irradiating the laser irradiated from the laser head toward the substrate in a state where the laser is attenuated to such an extent that the substrate is not marked. A first step of measuring a distance between the substrate and the substrate;
Adjusting the distance between the laser head and the substrate based on the distance measured in the first step, and irradiating the laser on the substrate from the laser head in a state where the attenuation of the laser is released A second step of marking at a position for marking,
Marking method.   2. The marking method according to claim 1, wherein in the second step, a distance between the laser head and the substrate is adjusted to a focal length of a laser irradiated from the laser head. A marking device for marking a substrate by irradiating a laser,
A substrate placement section on which the substrate is placed;
A laser head for irradiating the laser;
A laser head moving mechanism for moving the laser head relative to the substrate placement portion;
A laser attenuation unit for attenuating the laser;
An attenuator moving mechanism for moving the laser attenuator between a first position on the laser path and a second position off the laser path;
A distance measuring unit that measures the distance between the laser head and the substrate based on the laser reflected on the substrate disposed on the substrate placing unit;
A first control unit that measures a distance between the laser head and the substrate by the distance measuring unit in a state where the laser attenuation unit is moved to the first position by the attenuation unit moving mechanism;
Based on the distance between the laser head and the substrate measured by the first control unit, the distance between the laser head and the substrate is adjusted by the laser head moving mechanism, and the attenuation unit moving mechanism A second control unit that performs marking by irradiating the laser onto the substrate from the laser head in a state where the laser attenuation unit is moved to the second position;
Marking device equipped with.

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