JP2010261894A - Tft array inspection apparatus and tft substrate aligning method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the time required to align electrodes of a substrate with probe pins of a prober frame. <P>SOLUTION: The prober frame 7 provided for the inside of a main chamber 3 includes an imaging means 8 for alignment. By imaging an alignment mark 18 on a substrate by the imaging means 8, a position detection means 11 directly determines the positional relation of the prober frame 7 and the substrate 10. A stage control means 12 controls the movement of a stage on the basis of the positional relation and aligns the substrate 10 with the prober frame 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a TFT array inspection apparatus and a TFT substrate alignment method.

  As a configuration in which TFTs (thin film transistors) are arranged in an array, for example, there is a liquid crystal substrate, which is used for a flat panel display (FPD) such as a liquid crystal display.

  As a method for inspecting a TFT substrate, a method using a prober is known. In the inspection of the TFT substrate by this prober, the TFT substrate is placed on the stage, the probe pin of the prober is brought into contact with each electrode of the TFT substrate, the circuit of the TFT substrate is energized through this probe pin, and disconnection or Check for short circuits.

  In the TFT substrate inspection using this prober, it is important to accurately contact the electrode on the TFT substrate and the probe pin. Before the inspection, the TFT substrate placed on the stage is used as the probe pin of the prober frame. It is necessary to align the position accurately.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a probe device is known that performs alignment between a TFT substrate and a prober frame by detecting a position recognition mark provided on the TFT substrate (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In this probe device, a substrate is placed on a stage, an alignment mark for position recognition provided on the surface of the substrate is detected by a CCD camera, and the relative position between the substrate and the prober frame is recognized based on this detection signal. Then, a movement amount for correcting the positional deviation between the substrate and the prober frame is obtained, and the stage is moved based on the movement amount to align the substrate with the prober frame.

  Imaging means such as a CCD camera is fixed at a predetermined position such that the alignment mark provided on the TFT substrate is within the imaging range in a state where the prober frame and the TFT substrate are accurately aligned.

  At this position, the alignment mark is imaged by the imaging means. The image position of the imaged alignment mark represents the position of the TFT substrate with respect to the image pickup means, and the position shift of the TFT substrate with respect to the position of the image pickup means is obtained by obtaining the position shift from the image obtained when the alignment is performed. Can know. Here, by fixing the imaging means to the main chamber on the main body side of the inspection apparatus and setting it to a predetermined position with respect to the prober frame, the obtained positional deviation is obtained as the positional deviation of the TFT substrate with respect to the prober frame.

  By moving the stage so as to correct this misalignment, the TFT substrate is aligned with the prober frame.

  7 to 9 are views for explaining the alignment of the prober frame and the substrate by the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional TFT array inspection apparatus, shows only the configuration of the main chamber for inspecting the TFT array inspection apparatus, and FIG. 8 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus. FIG. 9 is an operation diagram for explaining the operation of the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus.

  In FIG. 7, a TFT array inspection apparatus 101 is placed in a main chamber 103 (hereinafter referred to as MC), a stage 106 on which a substrate 110 is placed and movable in the XYZ directions, and the stage 106. A prober frame 107 for applying an inspection signal to the substrate 110 in contact with the substrate 110 and an imaging means 109 for imaging the alignment mark 119 provided on the substrate 110 are provided. The imaging means 109 is fixed to the main chamber 103.

  After the gate 104 is opened and the substrate 110 is loaded into the load lock chamber 102 (hereinafter referred to as LL chamber) (S100), the gate 104 is closed and the inside of the LL chamber 102 is evacuated (S101) (FIG. 9A). . After the inside of the LL chamber 102 is evacuated, the gate 105 is opened and the substrate 110 is carried into the MC 103 (S102) (FIG. 9B).

  In the MC 103, the imaging means 109 images the alignment mark on the substrate, and aligns the substrate 110 with respect to the MC 103 (S103). Based on the positional deviation amount of the substrate 110 with respect to the MC 103 obtained by the alignment, the substrate 110 is moved with respect to the prober frame 107 (S104) (FIG. 9C).

  After the substrate 110 is aligned with the prober frame 107, the stage 106 is moved in the Z direction to bring the substrate 110 into contact with the prober frame 107 (S105) (FIG. 9D), and the probe pins of the prober frame 107 An inspection signal is applied to the substrate 110 through (not shown), and a TFT array inspection of the substrate is performed (S106) (FIG. 9E).

  After the inspection is completed, the gate 105 is opened and the substrate 110 is unloaded from the MC 103 to the LL chamber 102 (S107). After the gate 105 is closed, the LL chamber 102 is returned to atmospheric pressure (S108). The gate 104 is opened, and the substrate 110 is unloaded from the LL chamber 102 (S109) (FIG. 9 (f)). When the inspection is continued and another substrate is inspected (S110), the process returns to S100 and the process is repeated.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-17194 JP-A-2005-274686

  In the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus, only the alignment of the main chamber on the main body side of the inspection apparatus and the substrate is performed, and the prober frame is fixed with respect to the main chamber, and its installation accuracy is not high. As a result, it is difficult to correctly align the substrate with the prober frame only by aligning the substrate with the main chamber. Therefore, it is necessary to drive the stage on which the substrate is placed so that the substrate position matches the position of the prober frame. It is.

  In FIG. 7, symbol b indicates the alignment of the substrate 110 with respect to the main chamber 103, and symbol c indicates the alignment operation of the substrate 110 by the stage 106 with respect to the prober frame 107. In the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus, the substrate 110 is aligned with respect to the main chamber 103 by imaging the alignment mark 119 provided on the substrate 110 by the imaging means 109, but the prober frame 107 is attached to the main chamber 103. Since it remains fixed, the substrate 110 needs to be moved relative to the prober frame 107.

  Since the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus only aligns the substrate with respect to the inspection apparatus main body as described above, the alignment between the substrate and the prober frame is the position of the prober frame fixed to the inspection apparatus main body. Relative only by combination.

  In the conventional TFT array inspection apparatus, only the positional relationship between the prober frame and the main chamber and the positional relationship between the substrate and the main chamber are determined, and the positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate is relative to the main chamber via the main chamber. It is calculated from the physical positional relationship. For this reason, in order to accurately contact the probe pins of the prober frame with the substrate, the position adjustment between the prober frame and the substrate is complicated, and the alignment takes a long time.

  Therefore, the present invention aims to solve the above-described conventional problems and shorten the time required for aligning the electrodes of the substrate and the probe pins of the prober frame.

  The present invention provides an imager for alignment on a prober frame provided in a main chamber, and images the alignment mark on the substrate by the imager, thereby directly obtaining the positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate. The substrate is aligned with the prober frame based on the positional relationship. According to the present invention, since the positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate can be directly acquired by the imaging means provided on the prober frame, the number of alignment procedures is reduced and the time for alignment is shortened. can do.

  The present invention can be in the form of a TFT substrate inspection apparatus and a TFT substrate alignment method.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a TFT substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a substrate by bringing an electrode of the TFT substrate and a prober pin of a prober frame into contact with each other. And a first control unit that images the alignment mark on the TFT substrate, and a stage control unit that controls the movement of the stage on which the TFT substrate is placed.

  The first imaging means images the alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame. In the captured image obtained by the first imaging means, the alignment mark represents the positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate, and the positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate can be obtained from the position of the alignment mark.

  The stage control unit controls the movement of the stage based on the image position of the alignment mark imaged by the first imaging unit.

  The device according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a second imaging unit in addition to the first imaging unit included in the first embodiment. The second imaging means is installed at a predetermined position with respect to the main chamber, and images the alignment mark on the TFT substrate. In the captured image obtained by the second imaging unit, the alignment mark represents the positional relationship between the main chamber and the substrate.

  In addition to being provided on the main chamber, the second imaging means can be provided at a site installed at a predetermined position with respect to the main chamber.

  The stage control unit controls the movement of the stage based on the image position of the alignment mark imaged by the first imaging unit and the image position of the alignment mark imaged by the second imaging unit.

  The positional relationship between the prober frame and the substrate is obtained from the alignment mark imaged by the first imaging means, and the positional relationship between the main chamber and the substrate is obtained from the alignment mark imaged by the second imaging means. It is done.

  The stage control means determines the amount and direction of movement of the stage on which the substrate is placed based on the position of the substrate with respect to the main chamber and the position of the substrate with respect to the prober frame, and drives and controls the stage.

  The TFT substrate alignment method according to the embodiment of the present invention is a method of aligning a prober frame and a TFT substrate, and includes an imaging process and a control process.

  A first form of the method of the present invention is a method of aligning a prober frame and a TFT substrate, imaging a alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame, and an image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by imaging. And a step of determining the alignment of the substrate with respect to the prober frame based on the above and a step of controlling the movement of the stage on which the substrate is placed based on the alignment.

  In the imaging step, the alignment mark on the TFT substrate is imaged, and the alignment of the substrate is acquired based on the position of the alignment mark in the captured image. The alignment of the substrate obtained from the captured image is based on the prober frame on which the imaging means is installed.

  The control process controls the movement of the stage on which the TFT substrate is placed based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate.

  A second form of the method of the present invention is a method of aligning a prober frame and a TFT substrate, imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the main chamber, and image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by imaging. Determining the alignment of the substrate with respect to the main chamber based on the steps, imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame, and determining the alignment of the substrate with respect to the prober frame based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by imaging. And a step of controlling the movement of the stage on which the substrate is placed based on the two alignments.

  In both the first and second methods, the step of imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame and the position of the substrate relative to the prober frame based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by imaging. And a step of obtaining alignment, the position of the substrate with respect to the prober frame can be obtained, and the position of the substrate with respect to the prober frame can be controlled based on the position of the prober frame.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to shorten the time for aligning the electrode of the substrate and the probe pin of the prober frame.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline of the 1st form of the TFT array test | inspection apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of the 1st form of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline of the 2nd form of the TFT array test | inspection apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the 2nd form of this invention. It is an operation | movement diagram for demonstrating the operation | movement of the 2nd form of this invention. It is an operation | movement diagram for demonstrating the operation | movement of the 2nd form of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the conventional TFT array test | inspection apparatus. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the conventional TFT array test | inspection apparatus. It is an operation | movement figure explaining operation | movement of the conventional TFT array test | inspection apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, a configuration example of the TFT array inspection apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining a configuration example of the first embodiment, and FIGS. 3 to 6 are diagrams for explaining a configuration example of the second embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of a first embodiment of a TFT array inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

[First embodiment]
First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In FIG. 1, a TFT array inspection apparatus 1 includes a stage 6 that is placed in a main chamber 3 so that the substrate 10 can be moved in the XYZ directions, and a substrate 10 that is placed on the stage 6 in contact with the stage 6. 10 includes a prober frame 7 for applying an inspection signal to 10 and a first imaging means 8 installed on the prober frame 7 for imaging an alignment mark 18 provided on the substrate 10.

  The first imaging means 8 is mounted on the prober frame 7. Thereby, the position obtained from the image of the alignment mark 18 imaged by the first imaging means 8 can be set to the prober frame 7 as a reference position.

  The position detection unit 11 inputs a captured image of the alignment mark 18 of the substrate 10 captured by the first imaging unit 8 and detects the mark position of the alignment mark 18 with the prober frame 7 as a reference position. The alignment with respect to the prober frame 7 is obtained.

  The stage control unit 12 acquires alignment, which is position information of the substrate 10, from the position detection unit 11, and aligns the substrate 10 with respect to the prober frame 7.

  In FIG. 1, symbol A indicates the alignment operation of the substrate 10 by the stage 6 with respect to the prober frame 7.

  In the first embodiment of the present invention, the substrate 10 is aligned with respect to the prober frame 7 by imaging the alignment mark 18 provided on the substrate 10 by the first imaging means 8. With this alignment, the substrate 10 can be aligned with the prober frame 7.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, after the gate 4 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried into the load lock chamber 2 (S1), the gate 4 is closed and the load lock chamber 2 is evacuated (S2). After the load lock chamber 2 is evacuated, the gate 5 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried into the main chamber 3 (S3).

  In the main chamber 3, the first imaging means 8 provided on the prober frame 7 images the alignment mark 18 on the substrate 10, and the substrate 10 is aligned with the prober frame 7 (S4). The stage control means 12 drives the stage 6 based on the positional deviation amount of the substrate 10 with respect to the prober frame 7 obtained by alignment, and moves the substrate 10 relative to the prober frame 7 (S5).

  After aligning the substrate 10 with the prober frame 7, the stage 6 is moved in the Z direction to bring the substrate 10 into contact with the prober frame 7 (S6).

  A substrate inspection is performed by applying an inspection signal from the prober frame 7 to the substrate 10 (S7).

  After the inspection is completed, the gate 5 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried out from the main chamber 3 to the load lock chamber 2 (S8). After the gate 5 is closed, the load lock chamber 2 is returned to atmospheric pressure (S9). The gate 4 is opened and the substrate 10 is unloaded from the load lock chamber 2 (S10). When the inspection is continued and another substrate is inspected (S11), the process returns to S1 and is repeated.

[Second form]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second mode, in addition to the first imaging unit included in the first mode, a second imaging unit that images the substrate from the main chamber is provided.

  In FIG. 3, the TFT array inspection apparatus 1 is placed in a main chamber 3 so that the substrate 10 is placed in contact with the stage 6 that can be moved in the XYZ directions and the substrate 10 placed on the stage 6. 10. A prober frame 7 for applying an inspection signal to the substrate 10, a first imaging means 8 for imaging the alignment mark 18 provided on the prober frame 7 and provided on the substrate 10, and a substrate installed on the main chamber 3. 10 and a second imaging means 9 for imaging the alignment mark 19 provided on the top 10.

  The first imaging means 8 is attached to a part provided on the prober frame 7 or at a predetermined position with respect to the prober frame 7. On the other hand, the second imaging means 9 is attached on the main chamber 3 or a portion provided at a predetermined position with respect to the main chamber 3. Thereby, the image of the alignment mark 18 imaged by the first imaging means 8 represents the positional relationship between the prober frame 7 and the substrate 10, while the image of the alignment mark 19 imaged by the second imaging means 9 is The positional relationship between the main chamber 3 and the substrate 10 is shown.

  The position detection unit 11 inputs the captured image of the alignment mark 18 captured by the first imaging unit 8 and the captured image of the alignment mark 19 captured by the second imaging unit 9, and sets the main chamber 3 as the reference position. And the alignment of the substrate with the prober frame 7 as a reference position is detected.

  The stage control means 12 obtains positional information of the positional relationship between the substrate 10 and the prober frame 7 and the positional relationship between the substrate 10 and the main chamber 3, and aligns the substrate 10 with the prober frame 7 as well as the main chamber 3. The substrate 10 can be aligned with respect to the substrate.

  In FIG. 3, the symbol A indicates the alignment of the substrate 10 with respect to the prober frame 7, and the symbol B indicates the alignment of the substrate 10 with respect to the main chamber 3.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the alignment mark 18 on the substrate 10 is imaged by the first imaging means 8 provided on the prober frame 7 to obtain the alignment of the substrate 10 with respect to the prober frame 7. The alignment mark 19 on the substrate 10 is imaged by the second imaging means 9 provided in the chamber 3 to obtain the alignment of the substrate 10 with respect to the main chamber 3.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, in addition to being able to directly determine the positional relationship between the substrate 10 and the prober frame 7 by the first imaging means 8, the second imaging means 9 and the substrate 10 and the main chamber 3 are used. And the substrate 10 can be aligned with the main chamber 3.

  Next, the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 and the operation diagrams of FIGS.

  First, after the gate 4 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried into the load lock chamber 2 (S1), the gate 4 is closed and the load lock chamber 2 is evacuated (S2) (FIG. 5A). After the load lock chamber 2 is evacuated, the gate 5 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried into the main chamber 3 (S3) (FIG. 5B).

  In the main chamber 3, the first imaging means 8 images the alignment mark 18 on the substrate 10, and aligns the substrate 10 with the prober frame 7 (S4a). Further, the second imaging means 9 images the alignment mark 19 on the substrate 10, and aligns the substrate 10 with the main chamber 3 (S4b) (FIG. 5C).

  The stage control means 12 drives the stage 6 based on the positional deviation amount of the substrate 10 with respect to the prober frame 7 obtained by the alignment, and moves the substrate 10 relative to the prober frame 7 (S5) (FIG. 5 ( d)).

  After aligning the substrate 10 with the prober frame 7, the stage 6 is moved in the Z direction to bring the substrate 10 into contact with the prober frame 7 (S6) (FIG. 6A).

  Substrate inspection is performed by applying an inspection signal from the prober frame 7 to the substrate 10 (S7) (FIG. 6B).

  After the inspection is completed, the gate 5 is opened and the substrate 10 is carried out from the main chamber 3 to the load lock chamber 2 (S8). After the gate 5 is closed, the load lock chamber 2 is returned to atmospheric pressure (S9). The gate 4 is opened, and the substrate 10 is unloaded from the load lock chamber 2 (S10) (FIG. 6C). When the inspection is continued and another substrate is inspected (S11), the process returns to S1 and is repeated.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, since the position of the prober frame with respect to the main chamber can be controlled, the contact state between the substrate and the prober frame can be stabilized, thereby reducing the yield of the substrate due to poor contact. In addition, an increase in the defect detection failure rate can be suppressed, and an increase in processing time required to correct the contact failure can be suppressed.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Various modifications can be made based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

  The TFT array inspection apparatus and the TFT substrate inspection method of the present invention can be applied not only to a liquid crystal substrate but also to a semiconductor substrate.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 TFT array inspection apparatus 2 Load lock chamber 3 Main chamber 4 Gate 5 Gate 6 Stage 7 Prober frame 8 Imaging means 9 Imaging means 10 Substrate 11 Position detection means 12 Stage control means 18 and 19 Alignment mark 101 Array inspection apparatus 102 Load lock chamber 103 main chamber 104 gate 105 gate 106 stage 107 prober frame 109 imaging means 110 substrate 119 alignment mark

Claims (5)

A TFT substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a substrate by bringing the electrode of the TFT substrate into contact with the prober pin of the prober frame,
A first imaging unit that is installed at a predetermined position of the prober frame provided inside the main chamber and images an alignment mark on the TFT substrate;
Stage control means for controlling the movement of the stage on which the TFT substrate is placed;
The TFT substrate inspection apparatus, wherein the stage control unit controls the movement of the stage based on an image position of an alignment mark imaged by the first imaging unit. A TFT substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a substrate by bringing the electrode of the TFT substrate into contact with the prober pin of the prober frame,
A first imaging unit that is installed at a predetermined position of the prober frame provided inside the main chamber and images an alignment mark on the TFT substrate;
A second imaging unit that is installed at a predetermined position with respect to the main chamber and images an alignment mark on the TFT substrate;
Stage control means for controlling the movement of the stage on which the TFT substrate is placed;
The stage control unit controls the movement of the stage based on the image position of the alignment mark imaged by the first imaging unit and the image position of the alignment mark imaged by the second imaging unit. Board inspection equipment.   The TFT substrate inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second imaging unit is installed in the main chamber. A method for aligning a prober frame and a TFT substrate,
Imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame;
Obtaining alignment of the substrate with respect to the prober frame based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by the imaging;
And a step of controlling the movement of the stage on which the substrate is placed based on the alignment,
A TFT substrate alignment method, wherein the TFT substrate is aligned with a prober frame. A method for aligning a prober frame and a TFT substrate,
Imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the main chamber;
Obtaining alignment of the substrate with respect to the main chamber based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by the imaging;
Imaging the alignment mark on the substrate from the prober frame;
Obtaining alignment of the substrate with respect to the prober frame based on the image position of the alignment mark on the substrate by the imaging;
And a step of controlling the movement of the stage on which the substrate is placed based on the two alignments,
A TFT substrate alignment method, wherein the TFT substrate is aligned with a prober frame.