JP2011248102A - Lot configuration method and lot configuration system of defective substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lot configuration method of a defective substrate capable of efficiently performing reproduction processing.SOLUTION: In order to reuse a defective substrate generated in a color filter production process by reproduction processing, a method for configuring the lot of a defective glass substrate classifies the lot for introducing the defective substrate into a reproduction process, using at least information on the glass material of the defective glass substrate, information on the reproduction frequencies of the defective glass substrate carried out until now, information on the final processing process in which the final production processing of the defective glass substrate is carried out and information on the product name of the glass substrate.

Description

  The present invention is applied to the case of regenerating a glass substrate for a color filter that does not meet the quality standards generated in the color filter manufacturing process used in the color liquid crystal display device, and is regenerated among a plurality of regeneration processing conditions. The present invention relates to a method of forming a lot for each reproduction condition to which a substrate is adapted.

  A color liquid crystal display device is configured by enclosing a liquid crystal between a color filter substrate and an element substrate, and controls transmission or non-transmission of light by applying a voltage between the color filter substrate and the element substrate for each pixel. Then, the transmitted light is displayed on the screen as display light.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a color filter used in a color liquid crystal display device. The color filter 1 includes a black matrix (hereinafter referred to as BM) 3, a red R colored pixel (hereinafter referred to as R pixel) 4-1, a green G colored pixel (hereinafter referred to as G pixel) 4-2, blue on a glass substrate 2. B colored pixels (hereinafter referred to as B pixels) 4-3, a transparent electrode 5, a photo spacer (hereinafter referred to as PS) 6, and a vertical alignment (hereinafter referred to as VA) 7 were sequentially formed. Is.

  As a method for manufacturing a color filter having the above structure, a photolithography method, a printing method, and an ink jet method are known. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a process of a commonly used photolithography method. The color filter includes a step of forming BM on a glass substrate (C1), a step of cleaning the glass substrate (C2), a step of applying and pre-drying a colored photoresist (C3), and a colored photoresist. A pre-baking step (C4) for drying and curing, a step (C5) for exposing, a step (C6) for developing, a step (C7) for curing a colored photoresist, and a step (C8) for depositing a transparent electrode. , PS and VA are formed and processed in this order (C9).

  For example, when colored pixels are formed in the order of R pixel, G pixel, and B pixel, from the step (C2) of cleaning the glass substrate for color filter to the step (C7) of curing the colored photoresist. The color resist is changed in the order of red R, green G, and blue B, and the process is repeated three times to form R pixels, G pixels, and B pixels. Note that a polishing process may be performed between steps (C7) and (C8).

  The BM 3 is formed on the glass substrate 2 by, for example, forming a metal thin film on the glass substrate 2, applying a photoresist to the metal thin film, and then exposing, developing, and developing a pattern having a BM shape by a photolithography method. A method of forming by etching, or a black photoresist resin is applied on the glass substrate 2, and a pattern having a BM shape is exposed and developed by a photolithographic method to develop a so-called resin. A method of forming a pattern called BM is used.

  With the increase in the size of glass substrates for color filters, the formation of BM on a glass substrate is a black resin photoresist rather than forming a metal thin film with a vacuum device using a metal such as chromium as the material for BM. Since the resin BM formed by photolithography using a metal is more advantageous in terms of cost and environment, there is a tendency to avoid the BM of the metal thin film.

The color filter to be manufactured requires high reliability, but as described above, there are many steps in the manufacturing process of the color filter. There is a current situation in which a defect due to chipping or the like occurs, resulting in a defective substrate that does not meet the quality standard, and the yield is reduced. In addition, due to the increase in size of glass substrates for color filters with the recent spread of large-screen LCD televisions, for example, glass substrates for color filters that are as thin as 1 mm or less and have one side of 1 to 2 m or more are associated with a risk of disposal itself. .

  In general, the defect inspection of the glass substrate for the color filter is performed after the PS (VA forming process) (C9) which is the final process of the manufacturing process, and the process (C1) for forming BM as an intermediate process. ), After the pre-baking step (C4) for drying and curing the colored photoresist, after the step (C7) for curing the colored photoresist, and after the step (C8) for forming the transparent electrode. In practice, glass substrates for color filters that do not meet quality standards are inspected.

  Therefore, when a glass substrate that does not satisfy the quality standards is generated in the color filter manufacturing process, the glass substrate other than the obvious cracked substrate, the substrate that exceeds the limit of the number of times of reproduction, and the substrate that has become NG in the inspection machine is used. Recycled by a regenerator, re-introduced into the manufacturing process and reused.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the flow and process contents of the color filter glass substrate regeneration process.

  The glass substrate detected by the defect inspection of the color filter glass substrate is then subjected to a regeneration process. In other words, the color filter glass substrate is regenerated after BM is formed, after resists for R pixels, G pixels, and B pixels are formed, after BM, R pixels, G pixels, and B pixels are formed. Or a transparent electrode (e.g., ITO (Indium Tin Oxide)) film formation, PS, or VA formation. It will be played back. The flow and process contents of the color filter glass substrate shown in FIG. 3 illustrate the case after the PS / VA film is formed.

  First, the PS / VA film on the uppermost layer of the glass substrate is peeled off and rinsed by alkali treatment (1) (K1), brush washing (K2), and water washing rinse (K3) (N1), (N2), (N3 ). Next, after the ITO film of the intermediate layer is peeled (N4) and rinsed (N5) by acid treatment (K4) and water rinse (K5), the BM and RGB resin films as the lowermost layer are treated with alkali (2) (K6). ), R / G / B and BM layers are peeled and rinsed (N6), (N7) and (N8) by brush washing (K7) and water rinse (K8), and finally for color filters by brush washing (K9) The cleaning residue remaining on the glass substrate is removed (N9) and dried by draining (K10) (N10).

JP 2001-124913 A JP 2010-15080 A

  In the recycling process in FIG. 3, the glass substrate determined to be a defective substrate depends on the state of the glass substrate, that is, the material of the glass, how far the glass substrate has been processed, the type of product used, and whether it is a new material or a recycled material. Therefore, it is necessary to change the processing conditions for regeneration such as the chemical temperature and the processing time in the alkali treatment (1) (step K1), the acid treatment (step K4), and the alkali treatment (2) (step K6).

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a lot of defective substrates that enables efficient regeneration processing.

In order to recycle and reuse the defective glass substrate generated in the color filter manufacturing process, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention,
Glass material information of the defective glass substrate;
Information on the number of times the defective glass substrate has been reproduced so far,
Final process information on the last manufacturing process of the defective glass substrate,
A defective substrate lot composition method characterized in that the defective substrate is divided into lots for use in a recycling process using the product name information of the glass substrate.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that a lot to be input into the regeneration process is created using a lot matrix composed of a glass material, the number of regeneration times, a final treatment process, and a product name. Item 2. A method for forming a lot of defective substrates according to Item 1.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present invention is the defective substrate lot composition method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the defective glass substrate is classified into a lot matched from the lot matrix. .

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present invention is characterized in that, among defective substrates divided into matching lots from the lot matrix, defective glass products that cannot be recycled are used as crushing substrates. 4. A method for forming a lot of defective substrates according to claim 1.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a defective substrate lot configuration system, wherein a defective substrate lot is configured using the defective substrate lot configuration method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

  The invention according to claim 6 of the present invention is the defective substrate lot configuration system according to claim 5, wherein defective substrates are accumulated in a cassette for each of the divided lots.

  The invention according to claim 7 of the present invention is characterized in that the storage state of the defective substrates integrated in the cassette is monitored, and the fractional storage cassette is preferentially transported. This is a lot configuration system for defective substrates.

  The invention according to claim 8 of the present invention is characterized in that a number of cassettes that are ready to be input into the reproduction process are assigned numbers in order of lot units, and cassettes are input into the reproduction process in the order of the assigned numbers. A defective substrate lot configuration system according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

  According to the defective substrate lot configuration method of the glass substrate for color filter of the present invention, it becomes possible to input a substrate that can be regenerated under the same conditions in a form that is classified as a lot for regenerating process input. The number of condition changes can be reduced. As a result, the setup time associated with the reproduction process is shortened, and the operation rate of the reproduction processing apparatus can be improved.

The figure which showed an example of the color filter used for a color liquid crystal display device in a cross section. The flowchart of the process of the photolithographic method generally used. The figure which shows an example of the flow of a reproduction | regeneration process of the glass substrate for color filters, and process content. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a glass substrate production line for a color filter to which a defective substrate lot configuration method according to the present invention is applied. The figure which shows the system structural example to which the lot structural method of the defective board | substrate of the glass substrate for color filters which concerns on this invention is applied. The flowchart of the transfer judgment process in the board | substrate transfer plan management part which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out a defective substrate lot configuration method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a glass substrate production line for a color filter to which the defective substrate lot configuration method according to the present invention is applied. The color filter glass substrate production line 10 shown in FIG. 4 is an example of a line including a regeneration line 11 and a substrate transfer line 12 for substrate integration.

  The color filter glass substrate production line 10 has an in-process stocker 13, a step of forming BM on the glass substrate (BM line 14), a step of forming R pixels (R line 15), and a G pixel. Step of forming (G line 16), step of forming B pixel (B line 17), step of forming a transparent electrode (ITO line 18), step of forming PS / VA (PS / VA line) 19), a final inspection line 20, a step of regenerating the glass substrate (regeneration line 11), a substrate transfer line 12, a receiving line 21, and a shipping line 22.

  A glass substrate delivered from a glass maker is first carried into a receipt / shipment stocker 23 and then stocked in an in-process stocker 13 by a receiving line 21. The glass substrate stocked in the in-process stocker 13 is carried into the BM line 14 by the LD (loader) 24, and then the BM is formed, and is further stocked by the ULD (unloader) 25 in the in-process stocker 13 again. Thereafter, the final inspection is performed in the final inspection line 20 through the R line 15, the G line 16, the B line 17, the ITO line 18, and the PS / VA line 19. After the glass substrate satisfying the quality condition is carried out to the shipping line 22 by the LD 26, it is stocked in an incoming / outgoing stocker. The glass substrate is inspected as appropriate by an inspection apparatus (not shown) after being processed in each processing line, in addition to being inspected in the final inspection line 20.

  The glass substrate stocked in the in-process stocker 13 is stored in the storage cassette, but when transferring the glass substrate to another storage cassette, the robot (RB) provided in the substrate transfer line 12. 27, and temporarily transferred to the buffer (BF) 28.

  The substrate transfer line 12 transfers a substrate that cannot be regenerated among glass substrates that do not satisfy quality requirements (hereinafter referred to as NG substrate) to the crusher 29 by the RB 27 as a crushing substrate. .

  NG substrates other than the crushing substrate are stocked in the in-process stocker 13 and then loaded into the regeneration line 11 for regeneration.

In the color filter glass substrate production line shown in FIG. 4, after the processing of each line (BM line to PS / VA) is completed, the glass substrate is stocked in the in-process stocker and then carried into the next processing line. In this example, each line is independent. For example, a device such as an exposure device or a development device is commonly used as a so-called job-shop, or configured by an ink-jet pixel forming device. Also good. Further, the final inspection line 20 and the regeneration line 11 are replaced with the glass substrate production line 10 for the color filter.
The line shape may be appropriately configured.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a system configuration to which the lot configuration method for defective substrates of the color filter glass substrate according to the present invention is applied.

  The system to which the defective substrate lot configuration method is applied includes various master information management unit 31, reproduction lot information management unit 32, substrate information management unit 33, substrate collection information reception unit 34, cassette information management unit 35, and substrate transfer. A plan management unit 36 and a substrate transfer instruction transmission unit 37 are provided.

  The various master information management units 31 manage the glass material information master, the manufactured product name information master, the manufacturing process information master, and the reproduction processable time setting information.

  Table 1 shows the glass material information master.

  The glass material information master manages a list of glass manufacturer information and glass material information.

  The product name master is shown in Table 2.

  The product name master manages a list of product name name information and product name code information.

  Table 3 shows the manufacturing process master.

  The manufacturing process master manages a list of manufacturing process name information and manufacturing process code information.

  The reproduction lot information management unit 32 performs matrix management of substrate states that can be reproduced under the same processing conditions using various master information.

  An example of matrix management performed by the reproduction lot information management unit 32 is shown in Table 4.

  In the matrix management shown in Table 4 performed by the reproduction lot information management unit 32, conversion to a corresponding lot number is defined from each information of the glass material, the number of reproductions, the final processing step, and the manufactured product name. In the matrix management shown in Table 4, there are lots for inputting the recycling process from lot 1 to lot 34. For example, a glass substrate in which the glass material is A1, the number of recycling is 0, the final processing process is P1, and the manufactured product name is XXX. Represents lot 1, and the glass substrate of lot 1 is to be crushed. It should be noted that a glass defect that cannot be reclaimed (glass substrate receiving process, NG product in the reclaiming process, etc.) is defined to be attached to another lot number so as not to be mixed with other substrates.

The substrate information management unit 33 acquires glass material information when a new glass substrate is received from a glass manufacturer, and acquires the product name information when allocating the product name, and manages the information in association with each substrate. When a new glass substrate is received, the number of reproductions is set to 0.

  In the substrate collection information receiving unit 34, for example, substrate collection information from other systems acquired from each processing device, transfer device, inspection device, etc. connected by Ethernet (registered trademark), CC Link (Control & Communication Link), optical cable, etc. (Recovered process information, determination information, recovery cassette information (cassette number and number of storage stages), recovery date and time) 38 is acquired.

  The substrate information management unit 33 manages the substrate collection information acquired by the substrate collection information receiving unit 34 by combining the glass material information and the manufactured product name information. When the process of collecting the substrate is a regeneration process, the number of regenerations is incremented. At this point, the board information management unit 33 has all the information for automatically converting the defective board into a lot for reproduction.

  When the collected substrate is an NG substrate, the substrate information management unit 33 makes an inquiry to the reproduction lot information management unit 32 and acquires the reproduction input lot number to be automatically converted.

  In the substrate information management unit 33, after the automatic conversion to the recycle input lot number is normally completed, the elapsed time until the recycle processing is performed for each substrate (from the time when the glass substrate is changed to the NG substrate, the process proceeds to the recycle processing). Time), and a substrate that has exceeded the settable master processing time is set as a target substrate for automatic crushing processing.

  In the cassette information management unit 35, the substrate collection information, the glass material information, and the manufactured product name information are acquired from the substrate information management unit 33, and the automatic crushing target due to the storage status of the regenerated lot in units of cassettes and the recyclable processing time exceeded. Manage the storage status of the board.

  In the substrate transfer plan management unit 36, the cassette information management unit 35 acquires information on the storage status of the regenerated lot for each cassette and the storage status of the substrate to be automatically crushed due to the excess of the recyclable processing time. Check if the lot number for input is mixed or if the substrate to be crushed is not stored (lot number and whether there is a substrate that has exceeded the recyclable time). Automatically formulate a processing plan for the line.

  FIG. 6 shows a flow of transfer determination processing in the substrate transfer plan management unit 36. After the start (S1), if the lot number for recycling is not mixedly loaded in the cassette (NO in S2), and if the crushing substrate is not stored in the cassette (NO in S3), it is determined that transfer is not necessary. Otherwise, the flow ends (S5). On the other hand, if the crushing substrate is stored in the cassette in step (S3) (YES in S3), it is determined that crushing processing of the crushing substrate is necessary (S6).

  In step (S2), when the lot number for reproduction is mixedly loaded in the cassette (YES in S2), and the crushing substrate is not stored in the cassette (NO in S4), the substrate accumulation processing is transferred. Is determined to be necessary (S7). On the other hand, if the crushing substrate is stored in the cassette in step (S4) (YES in S4), it is determined that the substrate accumulation and the crushing processing of the crushing substrate are necessary (S8).

The substrate transfer instruction transmitting unit 37 issues a substrate transfer instruction to another system when it is determined that the substrate transfer and crushing are necessary based on the transfer determination process flow. The substrate transfer instruction information includes the following contents.
(1) Information about which cassette is transported to which port.
If there are fractional cassettes for storing lots to be accumulated in the ULD port, the cassette can be used effectively by having a logic for preferentially transporting the cassettes.
(2) Information on the level of the cassette conveyed to the LD port, the level of the cassette conveyed to the ULD port, or the movement to the BF.
(3) Information on which stage of the cassette that has moved the substrate moved to the BF to the ULD port is moved.
(4) Information on how many stages of the substrate conveyed to the LD port are conveyed to the crusher.

  By performing the above processing, only one substrate having a lot number for inputting a reproduction process is stored in one cassette. As a result, substrates of the same lot number (recycling can be performed under the same conditions) can be put together into the recycling process in cassette units.

  When the cassette information management unit 35 is ready to be put into the reproduction line, it is possible to perform reproduction processing sequentially from the old substrate by assigning the loading order to the reproduction line and carrying in accordance with the loading order. .

  As described above, according to the lot configuration method and the lot configuration system for defective substrates according to the present invention, the defective substrate is divided into lots in advance, and the regeneration processing conditions can be changed by inputting each lot into the regeneration processing step. The number of times can be reduced. As a result, the setup time associated with the reproduction process can be shortened, and the operation rate of the reproduction processing apparatus can be improved.

  Further, by reducing the number of times of changing the regeneration processing conditions, it is possible to reduce the loss of defects due to the quality variation that occurs at the time of change and the consumption of the chemical solution that accompanies the conditions.

  Furthermore, by making a substrate that cannot be reclaimed into a crushing substrate, it is possible to prevent the crushing substrate from flowing out into the regeneration process and to reduce unnecessary storage cassette shelves.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Color filter 2 ... Glass substrate 3 ... Black matrix (BM)
4-1 ... Red R colored pixels (R pixels)
4-2 ... Green G coloring pixel (G pixel)
4-3 ... Blue B colored pixels (B pixels)
5 ... Transparent electrode 6 ... Photospacer (PS)
7 ... Vertical alignment (VA)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Color filter glass substrate manufacturing line 11 ... Regeneration line 12 ... Substrate transfer line 13 for substrate integration ... In-process stocker 14 ... BM line 15 ... R line 16・ ・ G line 17 ... B line 18 ... ITO line 19 ... PS / VA line 20 ... Final inspection line 21 ... Reception line 22 ... Shipping line 23 ... Receiving / shipping stocker 24 ... LD (loader)
25 ... ULD (Unloader)
26 ... LD
27 ... Robot (RB)
28 ... Buffer (BF)
29 ... Crusher 31 ... Various master information management units 32 ... Reproduction lot information management unit 33 ... Substrate information management unit 34 ... Substrate collection information reception unit 35 ... Cassette information management unit 36 ... Substrate transfer plan management unit 37 ... Substrate transfer instruction transmission unit 38 ... Substrate recovery information

Claims (8)

In order to recycle and reuse the defective glass substrate generated in the color filter manufacturing process,
Glass material information of the defective glass substrate;
Information on the number of times the defective glass substrate has been reproduced so far,
Final process information on the last manufacturing process of the defective glass substrate,
A defective substrate lot composition method, characterized in that the defective substrate is divided into lots for use in a recycling process using product name information of a glass substrate.   2. The defective substrate lot composition method according to claim 1, wherein a lot to be input into the regeneration process is created by using a lot matrix comprising a glass material, the number of times of regeneration, a final processing process, and a product name. .   3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the defective glass substrate is divided into matching lots from the lot matrix.   4. The defective glass substrate that cannot be regenerated among defective substrates divided into matching lots from the lot matrix is used as a crushing substrate. 5. Lot configuration method for defective substrates.   5. A defective substrate lot configuration system, wherein a defective substrate lot is configured using the defective substrate lot configuration method according to claim 1.   6. The defective substrate lot configuration system according to claim 5, wherein defective substrates are accumulated in a cassette for each of the divided lots.   7. The defective substrate lot configuration system according to claim 5, wherein the storage state of the defective substrates integrated in the cassette is monitored, and the fractional storage cassette is preferentially transported.   8. A cassette according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that numbers are assigned in order to lots of cassettes that are ready to be input into the reproduction process, and cassettes are input into the reproduction process in the order of the assigned numbers. Lot configuration system for defective substrates as described.

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