JP2012011397A - Laser machining method, laser machining device, and method for manufacturing solar panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow laser beam irradiated from a laser generation device to be branched and introduced to a machining position as the same thing without influence of machining and to easily carry out adjustment of an optical system caused by the replacement of the laser generation device.SOLUTION: An optical fiber guide is used to introduce the laser beam irradiated from the laser generation device to the machining position, and the laser beam after branching is made to be introduced to the machining position by the optical fiber guide. Since the optical fiber guide is flexibly deformable, the laser beam is easily introduced to the machining position. The branch optical system of the laser beam is arranged immediately after the laser generation device, so that when replacing the laser generation device, only adjustment of the optical axis of the laser beam incident part of the optical fiber guide and the laser generation device and the adjustment of the branching optical system that is simultaneously carried out are needed, and accordingly the adjustment of the optical system caused by the replacement of the laser generation device is facilitated.

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing method, a laser processing apparatus, and a solar panel manufacturing method for processing a thin film or the like using laser light, and in particular, a laser processing method, laser processing apparatus, and solar for performing processing by branching laser light into a plurality of parts. The present invention relates to a panel manufacturing method.

  Conventionally, in a solar panel manufacturing process, a transparent electrode layer, a semiconductor layer, and a metal layer are sequentially formed on a translucent substrate (glass substrate), and each layer is processed into a strip shape with laser light in each step after the formation. A solar panel module has been completed. When manufacturing a solar panel module in this manner, scribe lines are formed on a thin film on a glass substrate with laser light at a pitch of about 10 mm, for example. The scribe line has a line width of about 30 μm, and is composed of three lines such that the distance between the lines is about 30 μm. When forming a scribe line with a laser beam, the laser beam is usually irradiated onto a glass substrate that moves at a constant speed. As a result, it was possible to form a scribe line having a stable depth and line width. In such a processing method using laser light, a method described in Patent Document 1 is known for performing processing by branching a laser beam into a plurality of parts.

JP 2004-141929 A

  In the laser processing method described in Patent Document 1, one laser beam is branched into a plurality of laser beams using a phase grating, and the workpiece is irradiated with the plurality of branched laser beams. Also, the angle θ formed by the branching direction of a plurality of laser beams irradiated simultaneously and the scanning direction of the laser beam is increased, the width of the irradiation area is reduced, and a plurality of irradiations are connected to form a wide removal unit. Is forming. However, in the laser processing method described in Patent Document 1, since the laser light is branched using the phase grating, it is very difficult to set the pitch width between the branched laser lights to about 10 mm. It has been difficult to apply the technique described in Patent Document 1 to the solar panel manufacturing process.

  Accordingly, the applicant of the present application is a laser configured to branch laser light emitted from a laser generator into laser light having a pitch width of about 50 to 100 mm using a plurality of half mirrors, reflecting mirrors, polarizing mirrors, and the like. He has filed several applications for processing equipment. In these applications, the laser beam is branched in the branch optical path, but it has been found that there is a variation in the power of each branch head. This is due to individual differences such as parts such as mirrors and non-polarized quartz glass for adjusting the parts. In some cases, the laser generator must be replaced depending on the lifetime, but it is necessary to adjust the entire branching optical system in accordance with the replacement of the laser generator, which requires much time.

  The object of the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the laser beam emitted from the laser generator can be branched and introduced to the processing position as the same without affecting the processing, so that the laser generator can be replaced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser processing method, a laser processing apparatus, and a solar panel manufacturing method capable of easily adjusting the accompanying optical system.

The first feature of the laser processing method according to the present invention is that the laser beam emitted from the laser generator is branched into a plurality of laser beams, and the plurality of branched laser beams are moved relative to the workpiece. In a laser processing method for performing predetermined laser processing on a workpiece by irradiating, an optical fiber guide means is used as means for introducing the laser light emitted from the laser generating means to a position where the laser processing is performed. .
Processing with laser light is performed by irradiating the surface of the glass substrate with laser light emitted from a laser generator substantially perpendicularly to process a thin film on the glass substrate. Conventionally, the laser light emitted from the laser generating means has been introduced to the processing position using a reflection mirror or the like. In this invention, the optical fiber is used to introduce the laser light emitted from the laser generating means to the processing position. Guide means were used. Since the optical fiber guide means can be flexibly deformed, the laser light can be easily introduced to the processing position. In addition, when the laser generator is replaced, it is not necessary to adjust the optical system in the middle only by adjusting the optical axis between the laser beam incident part of the optical fiber guide means and the laser generator, so that the branching optical system is previously The adjustment of the optical system accompanying the replacement of the laser generator becomes easy.

  A second feature of the laser processing method according to the present invention is the laser processing method according to the first feature, wherein the laser beam emitted from the laser generating means is branched and then the optical fiber guide means is used for laser. It is to introduce to the position where processing is performed. In this case, when laser light is introduced into the optical fiber guide means, each of the branched laser lights is introduced to the processing position by the optical fiber guide means after the laser light is branched. That is, a branching optical system for laser light is provided immediately after the laser generating means, and the branched laser light is introduced into the processing position by using the optical fiber guide means. The system can be adjusted easily.

  The first feature of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is that the laser beam emitted from the laser generating unit is branched into a plurality of laser beams, and the plurality of branched laser beams are held by the holding unit. In a laser processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on a workpiece by irradiating while moving relatively, an optical fiber guide means as means for introducing the laser light emitted from the laser generating means to a position where the laser processing is performed It is used. This is an invention of a laser processing apparatus corresponding to the first feature of the laser processing method.

  A second feature of the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is the laser processing apparatus according to the first feature, wherein the first branching optical system means for branching the laser light emitted from the laser generating means, A group of optical fiber guide means for individually introducing the laser beams branched by the first branching optical system means to a position where the laser processing is performed; and the laser light introduced through the optical fiber guide means A second branching optical system for irradiating the workpiece. This is an invention of a laser processing apparatus corresponding to the second feature of the laser processing method.

  The solar panel manufacturing method according to the present invention is characterized in that a solar panel is manufactured using the laser processing method according to the first or second feature or the laser processing apparatus according to the first or second feature. There is to do. In this method, a solar panel is manufactured using any one of the laser processing method and the laser processing apparatus.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that the laser light emitted from the laser generator can be branched and introduced to the processing position as the same without affecting the processing.
Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the optical system can be easily adjusted with the replacement of the laser generator.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the laser processing apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of the process area part of FIG. 1 which performs the process of a scribe line. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of the branch optical system member of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This laser processing apparatus performs a laser beam processing (laser scribing) process of a solar panel manufacturing apparatus. The laser processing apparatus according to the present invention is configured so that alignment sections for performing alignment processing are provided at two positions on both sides of the laser processing station, and the alignment processing can be performed simultaneously during the laser processing to shorten the waiting time. is there.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a solar panel (photoelectric conversion device) manufacturing apparatus using a laser processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of a return method. This manufacturing apparatus includes a carry-in / out robot station 141 and a laser processing station 10. The roller conveyor 121 sequentially conveys the glass substrates 1x to 1z between a film forming apparatus (not shown) and a manufacturing apparatus that performs laser scribing processing. The carry-in / out robot station 141 carries in and temporarily holds the glass substrate 1x formed by the previous film forming apparatus (not shown) conveyed on the roller conveyor 121 as a glass substrate 1m, and the glass substrate. A front / back reversing mechanism 143 that reverses the front and back of 1 m is provided so that the warping direction of the glass substrate 1m changes depending on the content of the laser processing (scribe line P1, P2, or P3 processing) and the processing direction of the film surface. The glass substrate 1m is turned upside down and conveyed to the laser processing station 10. At this time, the loading / unloading robot station 141 transports the glass substrate 1m that has been turned upside down or not turned upside down to the laser processing station 10 as it is, and the glass substrate 1m that has been turned upside down or not turned upside down. The roller is conveyed to the right end position of 10 and then conveyed to the laser processing station 10. The carry-in / out robot station 141 directly receives the glass substrate processed by the laser processing station 10 by the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 or receives the glass substrate 1r received at the right end position of the laser processing station 10 up to the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143. The glass substrate after the roller processing or air levitation conveyance and laser processing by the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 is carried out to the roller conveyor 121 with the front / back reversed or the front / back reversed.

  The laser processing station 10 forms scribe lines on the thin film on the glass substrate carried in from the carry-in / out robot station 141, and includes alignment units 102 and 104, gripper units 106 to 109, gripper support driving units 110 and 111, A processing area 112 is provided. The alignment unit 102 receives the glass substrate 1m on the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 of the carry-in / out robot station 141, aligns the received glass substrate 1n to a predetermined position, and performs a scribing process in the processing area unit 112. The glass substrate 1n is carried out to the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 of the carry-in / out robot station 141. On the other hand, the alignment unit 104 receives a glass substrate 1r that is a glass substrate that has been turned upside down or not turned upside down by the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 of the carry-in / out robot station 141 and that has been conveyed by roller or air floating up to the right end. The received glass substrate is aligned at a predetermined position, and the glass substrate 1 q that has been subjected to the scribing process in the processing area unit 112 is carried out to the right end position of the loading / unloading robot station 141.

  The gripper unit 106 holds one side (the lower side of the glass substrate 1o in FIG. 1) along the conveyance direction of the glass substrate 1o aligned by the alignment unit 102, and the gripper unit 107 holds the same glass substrate 1o. The other side of the side along the transport direction (the upper side of the glass substrate 1o in FIG. 1) is held. The gripper unit 108 holds one side (the lower side of the glass substrate 1q in FIG. 1) along the conveyance direction of the glass substrate 1q aligned by the alignment unit 104, and the gripper unit 107 has the same glass substrate 1q. The other side of the side along the conveyance direction (the upper side of the glass substrate 1q in FIG. 1) is held. The gripper support driving units 110 and 111 synchronize the glass substrates 1o and 1q held by the gripper units 106 and 107 or the gripper units 108 and 109 with the laser light of the processing area unit 112, and It is moved between the dotted glass substrate 1p. In synchronism with this movement, the processing area portion 112 irradiates the glass substrates 1o and 1q held by the gripper portions 106 and 107 or the gripper portions 108 and 109 and air-carrying and irradiating them with laser light to process predetermined scribe lines. I do. FIG. 1 shows a state in which predetermined scribe line processing is performed while moving the glass substrate 1o held by the grippers 106 and 107 in a state where the glass substrate 1o is floated to the position of the glass substrate 1q indicated by a dotted line.

  An example of the operation of the return type solar panel manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1 will be described. First, the glass substrate 1x transported from the film forming apparatus of the previous stage via the roller conveyor 121 is temporarily held as a glass substrate 1m on the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 by the carry-in / out robot station 141, where the front / back is reversed. Or reversed. The glass substrate 1m that has been turned upside down or not displayed is transferred to the alignment unit 102 of the laser processing station 10, where it is subjected to alignment processing. The alignment-treated glass substrate 1n is held by the gripper portions 106 and 107, and air-lifted to the processing area portion 112 as the glass substrates 1o and 1p, and processing of a predetermined scribe line is performed. On the other hand, at the time of alignment processing of the alignment unit 102 and processing of the processing area unit 112, the next glass substrate 1y conveyed through the roller conveyor 121 is transferred onto the front / back reversing mechanism unit 143 by the loading / unloading robot station 141. It is temporarily held as the substrate 1m, and is turned upside down or not turned upside down. The glass substrate 1m that has been turned upside down or not turned upside down is conveyed as a glass substrate 1r to a right end position corresponding to the alignment unit 104 of the laser processing station 10. The glass substrate 1r is transported to the alignment unit 104 of the laser processing station 10 where it is aligned. The glass substrate 1q that has been subjected to the alignment processing is held by the gripper portions 108 and 109, and waits until the processing of the glass substrate that is held by the gripper portions 106 and 107 and is air-lifted and conveyed is completed.

  When the laser processing for the glass substrates held by the grippers 106 and 107 is completed, the glass substrate 1o held by the grippers 106 and 107 is turned over from the position of the glass substrate 1n via the alignment unit 102. It is temporarily held as a glass substrate 1m on the section 143, and is transferred onto the roller conveyor 121 in order to be transferred to the next-stage film formation apparatus with the front and back reversed or without being reversed. On the other hand, when the glass substrate 1o held by the grippers 106 and 107 floats on the alignment unit 102 as the glass substrate 1n, the glass substrate 1q held by the grippers 108 and 109 becomes the glass substrate 1o, As 1p, the air is floated and moved to the processing area 112, and processing of a predetermined scribe line is performed. In the return-type solar panel manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1, the waiting time and the like due to the alignment processing are greatly reduced by alternately repeating the above processing. Further, even if any one of the alignment units fails, the process can be continued by the other alignment unit.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the processing area portion of FIG. 1 that performs the processing of the scribe line. The processing area section includes a laser processing station 10, an air levitation stage 20, a slide frame 30, a laser generator 40, branch optical system members 50 and 60, a linear encoder 70, and a control device 80.

  In FIG. 1, an air levitation stage 20 is provided in most of the laser processing station 10, but only a part thereof is shown in FIG. 2. On the upper side of the air levitation stage 20, the glass substrate 1 to be laser processed is held and controlled by the grippers 106 and 107 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction. A slide frame 30 is provided above the laser processing station 10 to hold the branch optical system members 50 and 60 and to slide the branch optical system member 60 in the Y-axis direction. The air levitation stage 20 is configured to be rotatable in the θ direction about the Z axis as a rotation axis. Note that when the amount of movement in the Y-axis direction can be sufficiently secured by the slide frame 30, the air levitation stage 20 may be configured to move only in the X-axis direction. In this case, the air levitation stage 20 may be configured as an X-axis table. In FIG. 2, the alignment units 102 and 104 are not shown.

  The slide frame 30 is attached to a moving table provided at four corners on the laser processing station 10. The slide frame 30 is controlled to move in the Y-axis direction by this moving table. A vibration isolation member (not shown) is provided between the base plate 31 and the moving table. On the base plate 31 of the slide frame 30, a laser generator 40, branching optical system members 50 and 60, and a control device 80 are installed. Laser light emitted from the laser generator 40 is guided to the branching optical system member 50 via an attenuator 42 that adjusts the amount of light and an optical isolator 44 that removes noise light caused by external or reflection by matching the polarization direction.

  The branching optical system member 50 is configured by a combination of a mirror and a lens, and divides the laser light generated by the laser generator 40 into four series. The branching optical system member 50 and the branching optical system member 60 are connected by an optical fiber guide having a flexible wiring arrangement, and the laser beams divided by the branching optical system member 50 are branched through the optical fiber guides. Guided to the system member 60. The branching optical system member 60 is constituted by a combination of lenses, and guides laser light onto the glass substrate 1 on the air levitation stage 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the branch optical system member 60 is provided on the side surface side of the base plate 31 and is configured to move in the Y-axis direction along the side surface of the base plate 31. The branch optical system member 60 has a distal end portion that can rotate around the Z axis. Note that the number of divisions of the laser light is not limited to four, and any number may be used as long as it is two or more.

  The linear encoder 70 includes a scale member provided on the side surface of the X-axis moving table of the air levitation stage 20 and a detection unit attached to the gripper units 106 and 107. The detection signal of the linear encoder 70 is output to the control device 80. The control device 80 detects the moving speed (moving frequency) of the gripper units 106 and 107 in the X-axis direction based on the detection signal from the linear encoder 70, and controls the output (laser frequency, etc.) of the laser generator 40.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the branching optical system member of FIG. Since the actual configuration of the branching optical system members 50 and 60 is complicated, the illustration is simplified here for the sake of simplicity. In FIG. 3, a branching optical system member 50 shows the internal structure seen from the top of FIG. 2, and a branching optical system member 60 shows the internal structure seen from the -X axis direction of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, a through hole for introducing laser light incident through an attenuator 42 and an optical isolator 44 is provided on the side of the laser generating device 40 of the branch optical system member 50.

  The branch optical system member 50 includes half mirrors 511 to 513, reflection mirrors 521 to 523, shutter mechanisms 531 to 534, and condenser lenses 541 to 544. The laser light incident through the through hole provided on the side surface of the branch optical system member 50 is branched into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam by the half mirror 511, and the reflected beam is directed toward the left half mirror 512. The transmitted beam travels toward the reflection mirror 521 in the downward direction. The beam that has passed through the half mirror 511 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 521, travels in the right direction, and is split into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam by the half mirror 513. The transmitted beam that has passed through the half mirror 513 is reflected by the reflection mirror 523 and directed toward the shutter mechanism 531 and the condenser lens 541 in the downward direction, and the laser light condensed by the condenser lens 541 is introduced into the optical fiber guide 561. The On the other hand, the reflected beam reflected by the half mirror 513 is directed to the downward shutter mechanism 532 and the condenser lens 542, and the laser light condensed by the condenser lens 542 is introduced into the optical fiber guide 562.

  The beam reflected by the half mirror 511 travels in the left direction and is split by the half mirror 512 into a reflected beam and a transmitted beam. The reflected beam reflected by the half mirror 512 is directed to the downward shutter mechanism 533 and the condenser lens 543, and the laser light condensed by the condenser lens 543 is introduced into the optical fiber guide 563. The transmitted beam that has passed through the half mirror 512 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 522 and directed toward the shutter mechanism 534 and the condenser lens 544 in the downward direction. The laser light condensed by the condenser lens 544 is introduced into the optical fiber guide 564. The The laser light incident through the through hole is transmitted and reflected by the half mirrors 511 to 513 and the reflection mirrors 521 to 523 and guided to the condenser lenses 541 to 544. The shutter mechanisms 531 to 534 shield the emission state of the laser light emitted from the condenser lenses 541 to 544 of the branch optical system member 50. At this time, it is preferable that the optical path length from the through hole to each of the condensing lenses 541 to 544 is configured to be equal, or a configuration in consideration of the influence of loss.

  The laser beams divided equally by the branching optical system member 50 are guided to the branching optical system member 60 located at the processing location by the optical fiber guides 561 to 564. The branch optical system member 60 includes condenser lenses 611 to 614, optical isolators 621 to 624, and condenser lenses 631 to 634. The condensing lenses 611 to 614 collect the laser light emitted from the optical fiber guides 561 to 564 into parallel light. The optical isolators 621 to 624 prevent the laser light that is reflected back in the processing position or midway from returning to the optical fiber guides 561 to 564 by using the polarization direction. The condensing lenses 631 to 634 irradiate the respective processing positions with processing laser light having a wavelength of 1064 [nm] generated from the laser generator 40. These condenser lenses 611 to 614, optical isolators 621 to 624, and condenser lenses 631 to 634 are housed in casings 601 to 604 that are driven and controlled in the vertical direction along the respective optical axes.

  Although not shown, each casing 601 to 604 is equipped with a length measurement system for autofocus including a detection light irradiation laser and an autofocus photodiode. The reflected light reflected from the surface of the glass substrate 1 is received in the light irradiated from, and the casings 601 to 604 are driven up and down according to the amount of the reflected light, and the individual condenser lenses 631 to 631 for the glass substrate 1 are driven. Adjust the height of 634. Note that the focus adjustment drive mechanism for individually driving the casings 601 to 604 is not shown. Although not shown, the optical system member 60 has a distal end portion that can rotate around the Z axis. Thus, by appropriately adjusting the rotation angle of the optical system member 60, the pitch width of the scribe line can be variably adjusted to a desired value. At this time, since a flexible optical fiber guide is used, rotation can be easily performed.

In the above-described embodiment, a description of the mechanism for inspecting the optical axis deviation and the missing pulse of the laser beam is omitted. However, the laser beam state is appropriately combined with each of the optical axis deviation, the missing pulse, the pulse width, and the pulse height. May be inspected.
A phase-type diffractive optical element (DOE: Diffractive) that converts laser light having a Gaussian intensity distribution into laser light having a top hat intensity distribution in the optical path of the laser light.
An optical element 500 may be provided.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the laser beam is irradiated from the surface of the glass substrate 1 on which the thin film is formed and the scribe line (groove) is formed in the thin film is described. And you may make it form a scribe line in the thin film of the substrate surface.
In the above-described embodiment, the solar panel manufacturing apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus that performs laser processing, such as an EL panel manufacturing apparatus, an EL panel correction apparatus, and an FPD correction apparatus.

1 ... Glass substrate,
10 ... Laser processing station,
102, 104 ... alignment units 106, 107, 108, 109 ... gripper unit 110 ... gripper support drive unit,
112 ... processing area part,
121 ... roller conveyor,
141 ... a loading / unloading robot station,
143 ... front and back reversing mechanism part,
1x-1z, 1m-1r ... Glass substrate 20 ... Air levitation stage,
30 ... slide frame,
31 ... Base plate,
40 ... Laser generator,
42 ... Attenuator,
44 ... optical isolator,
50, 60 ... branching optical system member,
511-513 ... half mirrors 521-523 ... reflecting mirrors,
531 to 534 ... shutter mechanism,
541-544 ... Condensing lens,
56, 561 to 564, optical fiber guides,
601 to 604 ... housing,
611-614 ... Condensing lens,
621-624 ... optical isolator,
631 to 634 ... Condensing lens,
70: Linear encoder,
80 ... Control device

Claims (5)

Laser processing that divides laser light emitted from laser generating means into a plurality of laser beams, and irradiates the workpiece while moving the plurality of branched laser beams relative to the workpiece. In the method
An optical fiber guide means is used as means for introducing the laser light emitted from the laser generating means to a position where the laser processing is performed.   2. The laser processing method according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam emitted from the laser generating unit is branched and then introduced to a position where laser processing is performed using the optical fiber guide unit. . A laser beam emitted from the laser generator is branched into a plurality of laser beams, and the workpiece is irradiated with the plurality of branched laser beams while moving relative to the workpiece held by the holding unit. In laser processing equipment that performs processing,
An optical fiber guide means is used as means for introducing the laser light emitted from the laser generating means to a position where the laser processing is performed. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a first branching optical system unit that branches the laser beam emitted from the laser generation unit;
A group of optical fiber guide means for individually introducing the laser beams branched by the first branch optical system means to a position where the laser processing is performed;
And a second branching optical system for irradiating the workpiece with the laser beam introduced through the optical fiber guide.   A solar panel manufacturing method, wherein a solar panel is manufactured using the laser processing method according to claim 1 or 2, or the laser processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4.

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