JP2013049876A - Method and apparatus for treating long glass film - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for continuously applying a surface treatment with heat load to a long glass film that is hard to stretch and easily broken in comparison with a resin film.SOLUTION: A method for treating a long glass film G includes sequentially applying a heating treatment, a surface treatment and a cooling treatment to the long glass film G, while transferring the long glass film G, which is continuously drawn out from an unwinding roll 210, along the transfer passage. In the surface treatment, one surface of the long glass film G is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of a can roll 233 heated with a thermal medium, and at the same time, the other surface of long glass film G is subjected to a treatment with thermal load, such as sputtering, and the expansion and contraction of the long glass film G is adjusted by using, for example, an accumulator roll between the surface treatment and the heating treatment and/or after the cooling treatment, in the transfer passage.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for continuously performing a surface treatment such as a film forming treatment or an annealing treatment on a long glass film, and in particular, continuously pulling out a long glass film wound in a roll shape and reducing the pressure. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for performing film formation in an atmosphere and then winding it again into a roll or cutting it into a thin plate.

  Electronic devices such as liquid crystal panels, notebook computers, digital cameras, and mobile phones employ touch panels that can be operated with a fingertip or a pen tip. This touch panel has a resistance type and a capacitance type, both of which are provided with a patterned wiring made of a transparent conductive film such as ITO (indium tin oxide) on a substrate film, thereby detecting position information. It is structured.

  A roll-to-roll process is generally used to form such a wiring pattern of a transparent conductive film. The roll-to-roll process is a dry plating method such as sputtering on one surface of the drawn resin film while continuously drawing and transporting a highly transparent resin film such as a PET film wound in a roll shape. Then, a transparent conductive film is formed and wound around a roll again, and the formed transparent conductive film is patterned by etching in a separate process to form a wiring.

  A technique for forming a film by a dry plating method on a resin film conveyed by the roll to roll as described above has been known for a long time. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for performing sputtering film formation by running a film on the outer peripheral surface of a cooling roller. It is described that a film can be formed by this method without causing alteration or deformation of the film.

  By the way, since the transparent conductive film formed on the substrate film for the touch panel can reduce the film thickness for obtaining the same conductivity as the resistance value is low, the film formation time can be shortened. In addition, the amount of expensive material for the transparent conductive film used can be reduced. Furthermore, the transparency in the visible wavelength region can be increased by reducing the film thickness. In general, in order to reduce the resistance value of a transparent conductive film, it is known that the transparent conductive film is crystallized by increasing the film formation temperature or performing an annealing process after film formation.

  However, in the case of a highly transparent resin film such as a PET film, the annealing treatment limit is about 30 minutes in an atmosphere at a temperature of 150 ° C., and if a higher heat load is applied, the resin film is deformed. As described above, since the application range of the resin film is limited from the viewpoint of heat resistance, a highly transparent film that can be formed and annealed under conditions exceeding the temperature of 150 ° C. instead of the resin film is required. It was.

  Under such circumstances, in recent years, a glass film having a thickness of 300 μm or less by an overflow downdraw method as described in Patent Document 2 has been developed. And the glass film which is wound in roll shape with a thickness of 200 micrometers or less, and can be bent freely like a resin film is introduced to the market. If it is such a glass film, the film-forming process and annealing process of several hundred degreeC are attained.

  Patent Documents 3 and 4 describe techniques for performing sputtering film formation by pulling out a long glass film wound in a roll shape. Specifically, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for forming a film on a glass film in a floating state between an unwinding roll and a winding roll, and Patent Document 4 discloses an unwinding roll and a winding roll. A technique for forming a film by a sputtering method on a glass film brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of a heating roll located therebetween is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-247073 JP 2010-215498 A JP-A-1-500990 JP 2007-119322 A

  Thin glass film is hardly stretched compared to resin film and easily breaks. Therefore, when processing while transporting by roll-to-roll like resin film, it is necessary to strictly adjust transport speed and temperature control. There is. However, even if the adjustment is performed strictly as described above, it still often breaks, and a processing method and a processing apparatus for a long glass film with few cracks have been desired.

  This invention is made paying attention to such a problem, The place made into the subject is from the state wound by roll shape with respect to the long glass film which is hard to extend compared with a resin film, and is easy to break. It is to perform a process in which a heat load is applied to the surface without continuously pulling and breaking. Here, the heat load is a process performed in a state where the long glass film is heated to several hundred degrees C. For example, a film forming apparatus (web coater) is used for the long glass film. This includes a film forming process by dry plating and an annealing process.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present inventor continuously forms a film by a film forming means installed around the can roll while bringing the glass film conveyed by roll-to-roll into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the can roll. As a result of continuing intensive research on the above, it has been found that by providing a so-called accumulator mechanism that absorbs expansion and contraction of the glass film caused by temperature change at least upstream or downstream of the can roll, it is possible to remarkably suppress cracking of the glass film. It came to be completed.

  That is, the processing method of the long glass film of this invention is the long glass film which performs a heat processing, a surface treatment, and a cooling process in order, conveying the long glass film continuously pulled out from the roll along a conveyance path | route. In the surface treatment, the surface of the long glass film is subjected to a heat load applied to the other surface while contacting one surface of the can roll heated with a heat medium, and the transport The expansion and contraction of the long glass film is adjusted between the surface treatment and the heat treatment in the path and / or after the cooling treatment.

  Further, the processing apparatus for a long glass film of the present invention comprises a transport means for pulling out the long glass film from the roll and transporting it along the transport path, a heating means for heating the drawn long glass film, A can roll having an outer peripheral surface heated by a heating medium is brought into contact with the heated long glass film, and the outer peripheral surface is opposed to the surface treatment of the long glass film in contact with the outer peripheral surface. A surface treatment means provided on the surface, a cooling means for cooling the surface-treated long glass film, and between the heating means and the can roll in the conveyance path so as to adjust expansion and contraction of the long glass film; And / or accumulator means provided on the downstream side of the cooling means.

  According to the present invention, a long glass film that is difficult to stretch and breaks more easily than a resin film is subjected to continuous surface treatment that requires a thermal load, such as film formation and annealing, without breaking the long glass film. It becomes possible to apply to. In particular, when the processing method and processing apparatus according to the present invention are applied to a film forming process by a dry plating method, a long glass film wound in a roll shape is continuously drawn out, and sputtering is performed on the outer peripheral surface of the can roll. The film forming means can continuously form the film.

  The film forming process by the processing method and the processing apparatus of the present invention is much more productive than the single wafer type in which the film forming process is performed on the cut glass film, and can form a film stably. Furthermore, the transparent conductive film for a touch panel on a long glass film formed by the film forming process by the processing method and processing apparatus of the present invention has a transparency in the visible short wavelength region as compared with that formed on a resin film. High and low resistance.

It is a top view which shows one specific example of the film-forming apparatus of the long glass film which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the other specific example of the film-forming apparatus of the elongate glass film which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the other specific example of the film-forming apparatus of the elongate glass film which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the film | membrane mechanism of a touch panel. It is a top view which shows the film-forming apparatus of the elongate glass film which concerns on a comparative example.

  The present invention is a process that applies a thermal load such as a film forming process and an annealing process while contacting a long glass film that is continuously conveyed on the outer peripheral surface of the can roll. In at least the upstream side or the downstream side of the step of applying, the expansion and contraction of the glass film due to the temperature change is adjusted. Thereby, the crack of a long glass film can be suppressed.

The long glass film targeted by the present invention has a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 4 × 10 ⁻⁶ (/ K) and is an order of magnitude smaller than that of a PET film. However, for example, in the process of forming a film on a long glass film, it is difficult to absorb expansion and contraction in the length direction of the long glass film due to temperature change only by motor control of the transport system. The reason is that the glass film can hardly be stretched, and therefore, it may be easily broken under the influence of a transport error that may occur in the motor control of the transport system.

  On the other hand, if it is a PET film, the conveyance error by the motor control of a conveyance system can be relieve | moderated by the elongation of PET film itself. Furthermore, since filler particles that improve the surface slip are present on the surface of the PET film, a transport error in the motor control of the transport system can be alleviated even by a slight slip. However, since the glass film has a very smooth surface and no filler particles, the glass film hardly slides on the outer peripheral surface such as a transport roll.

  As described above, when an excessive pull is generated on the long glass film due to a transport error in the motor control of the transport system, the long glass film may be easily broken. Therefore, in the present invention, a so-called accumulator that absorbs expansion and contraction of the long glass film is disposed on the upstream side or the downstream side of the surface treatment having a particularly large temperature change in the processing of the long glass film. Thereby, it is possible to absorb a transport error that may occur due to the expansion and contraction of the long glass film and the motor control of the transport system due to the temperature change, and to prevent excessive tension from being applied to the long glass film.

  Glass film is an unwieldy substrate that easily breaks due to excessive pulling or shock, but according to the present invention, it has high transparency in the visible short wavelength region and can withstand high-temperature processing (for example, film formation processing or annealing processing). It is possible to draw out the extremely excellent advantages of glass films. Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the method for processing a long glass film according to the present invention will be described in detail by taking up a film forming apparatus for a long glass film.

(1) Long glass film deposition equipment (basic type)
First, a specific example of a film forming apparatus for a long glass film according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The long glass film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is housed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped decompression vessel. This decompression vessel performs decompression up to an ultimate pressure of 10 ⁻⁴ Pa and subsequent pressure adjustment of about 0.1 to 10 Pa by introducing a sputtering gas, so that a dry pump, a turbo molecular pump, a cryocoil or the like (not shown) is used. It has various devices. Therefore, the decompression vessel only needs to be strong enough to withstand these pressures.

  The decompression vessel is partitioned into an unwinding zone 200, a heater zone 201, an upstream accumulator zone 202, a surface modification zone 203, a film formation zone 204, a cooling zone 205, a downstream accumulator zone 206, and a winding zone 207 by partition walls. It has been. The film forming apparatus has a transporting means, which pulls out the long glass film G wound in a roll shape and transports the long glass film G along a predetermined transport path passing through the zones. Yes.

  Specifically, the conveying means includes an unwinding roll 210, free rolls 212, 214, and 215, driving rolls 216 and 217, free rolls 218, 226, and 227, a front feed roll 232, a can roll 233, and a rear feed roll 234. , A free roll 244, a drive roll 247, free rolls 251, 252, and a take-up roll 256.

  The unwinding roll 210 is provided in the unwinding zone 200. On the unwinding roll 210, a long glass film G is wound and set in a roll shape together with a long PET film P as a slip sheet. Since the long PET film P is discharged at the same time when the long glass film G is pulled out from the unwinding roll 210, the long PET film P is wound up by the PET film winding roll 213 located at the subsequent stage of the free roll 212. A touch roll 211 is provided so as to be in contact with the unwinding roll 210.

  A heating means for heating the long glass film G is provided in the heater zone 201 adjacent to the unwinding zone 200. This heating means is composed of heaters 219, 220, 221, and 222 provided in order along the transport path of the long glass film G. Each heater includes, for example, a sheath heater, a carbon heater, an infrared heater, and the like. The reason for providing the heater zone 201 on the upstream side of the film formation zone 204 is that the long glass film G may break due to the thermal load of the sputtering film formation unless the long glass film G is warmed before the sputtering film formation. Because there is.

  An accumulator means is provided in the upstream accumulator zone 202 adjacent to the heater zone 201. This accumulator means includes an accumulator roll (also referred to as a dancer roll) 224 that applies a constant tension to the long glass film G, and free rolls 223 and 225 provided before and after the accumulator roll.

  In order to apply the constant tension, the rotating shaft of the accumulator roll 224 is urged downward (in the direction of arrow A1 in the drawing) by the urging means. Thereby, the accumulator roll can be automatically displaced in the vertical direction following the expansion and contraction of the long glass film G. The specific mechanism of the urging means is not particularly limited. For example, one end portion of an elastic body such as a helical spring or a leaf spring is attached to a support portion that rotatably supports the rotation shaft of the accumulator roll 224, and others. The end may be attached to the floor or ceiling of the accumulator zone.

  Alternatively, when the accumulator roll 224 itself becomes very heavy, the long glass roll is transported with a tension lower than the gravity of the accumulator roll 224 itself, so a tension sensor is attached to the support portion that rotatably supports the rotating shaft. Attachment and control of moving the support portion up and down by driving means such as a motor may be performed so that the value of the tension sensor becomes constant.

  In the surface modification zone 203 adjacent to the upstream accumulator zone 202, two surface modification devices 229 and 230 for performing ion beam treatment and plasma treatment are provided in this order in the transport path in order to improve the adhesion of the film. It is provided along. The gas introduced into these two surface reforming apparatuses may use the same gas, or may use different gases.

  For example, after irradiating a nitrogen ion beam first, you may irradiate an oxygen ion beam. The treatment conditions such as ion beam treatment and plasma treatment applied to the glass film and the necessity of the surface modification treatment are appropriately selected according to the required adhesion. In the film forming apparatus of FIG. 1, a method of performing ion beam processing by passing a long glass film G between the ion beam shielding plate 228 and the surface modifying apparatuses 229 and 230 in the surface modifying zone 203 is shown. However, when a high thermal load comparable to sputtering film formation is applied to the long glass film G, it is necessary to perform surface modification by winding it around a heated can roll.

  A can roll 233 is provided in the film formation zone 204 adjacent to the surface modification zone 203. Inside the can roll 233, a heating medium such as a high boiling point organic solvent, a heating medium oil, or hot water supplied from the outside of the decompression vessel circulates, and thereby the long glass film G in contact with the outer peripheral surface is formed. It can be kept warm or heated. The reason why the can roll 233 is heated with the heat medium in this way is to prevent the glass film from being subjected to thermal shock and cracking due to the thermal load of the sputtering film formation.

  At a position facing the outer peripheral surface of the can roll 233, a surface treatment means for performing a surface treatment that applies a thermal load to the long glass film G is provided. In the surface treatment means shown in FIG. 1, sputtering cathodes 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, and 243 for performing sputtering film formation, which is a kind of dry plating method, are arranged in this order along the transport path. Yes.

  In the case of sputtering a metal film, it is preferable to use a plate-like target. However, when a plate-like target is used, nodules (growth of foreign matter) may occur on the target. When this becomes a problem, a cylindrical rotary target that does not generate nodules (growth of foreign matter) and has high target use efficiency may be used.

  A cooling means is provided in the cooling zone 205 adjacent to the film formation zone 204. The cooling means shown in FIG. 1 is provided with cooling rolls 245 and 246 along the transport path in this order. Inside the cooling rolls 245 and 246, coolant such as cooling water or an organic solvent supplied from the outside of the decompression vessel circulates. By making the temperature of the refrigerant of the cooling roll 245 higher than that of the cooling roll 246, the glass film after film formation can be cooled stepwise.

  The film can be cooled by bringing the long glass film G into contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of these cooling rolls one by one. The reason for providing the cooling zone 205 on the downstream side of the film formation zone 204 is that if the long glass film G is not cooled after the sputtering film formation, the film is cooled after being wound on the take-up roll 256 and tightened. This is because there is a risk of cracking.

  In the downstream accumulator zone 206 adjacent to the cooling zone 205, accumulator means similar to the upstream accumulator zone 202 described above is provided. That is, this accumulator means is constituted by an accumulator roll (also referred to as a dancer roll) 249 that applies a constant tension to the long glass film G, and free rolls 248 and 250 provided before and after the accumulator roll.

  The rotating shaft of the accumulator roll 249 is also urged downward (in the direction of arrow A2 in the figure) by the urging means, and thus the accumulator roll automatically moves up and down following the expansion and contraction of the long glass film G. It is designed to be displaced in the direction. Similar to the accumulator roll 224 described above, a tension sensor is attached to a support portion that rotatably supports the rotation shaft of the accumulator roll 249, and the support is supported by driving means such as a motor so that the value of the tension sensor is constant. You may perform control which moves a part up and down.

  In the winding zone 207 adjacent to the downstream-side accumulator zone 206, a winding roll 256 is provided for rewinding the long glass film G processed in each zone. In the winding zone 207, a PET film unwinding roll 257 in which a PET film 254 as a slip sheet is wound in a roll shape is provided, and the long glass film G is pulled out from the PET film unwinding roll 257. If the PET film 254 is sandwiched, it is wound on a winding roll 256. A near roll 255 is provided so as to be in contact with the winding roll 256. Thus, by winding up the glass film after film formation in a vacuum container, handling in the subsequent process of the formed long glass film G becomes easy.

  Next, the operation of the film forming apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The long glass film G drawn out from the unwinding roll 210 is first transported to the heater zone 201, where it is heated by the heaters 219, 220, 221 and 222 to prevent cracking due to the thermal load of the sputtering film formation as described above. Heated to a predetermined temperature.

  The long glass film G heated in the heater zone 201 is then sent to the accumulator zone 202 where the accumulator roll 224 is disposed. Here, the change in the length direction of the long glass film G due to the heat treatment of the heater zone 201 is absorbed. That is, when the long glass film G is elongated in the length direction by the heat treatment, the accumulator roll 224 is urged downward as described above, so that the urging force and the tension of the long glass film G are The accumulator roll 224 is displaced downward until the two are balanced. Conversely, when the long glass film G is cooled and contracts in the length direction, the tension of the long glass film G overcomes the urging force, and the accumulator roll 224 is displaced upward.

  Thus, by changing the position of the accumulator roll 224 in the vertical direction, the space between the accumulator roll 224 and the free rolls 223 and 225 provided before and after the accumulator roll 224 serves as a buffer, and the length of the long glass film G Changes in direction are absorbed. In the case of a resin film, for example, it is possible to prevent an excessive stress from being applied to the resin film by controlling the motor rotation speed of a driving roll that drives the heat-treated film. It is necessary to employ an accumulator roll in order to carry and control the glass film that is difficult to stretch and break easily.

  The accumulator roll 224 is provided with, for example, an accumulator roll position detecting means (not shown) for detecting the vertical position of the rotating shaft, and a drive roll positioned downstream of the accumulator roll 224 by a signal output from the accumulator roll 224, For example, the peripheral speed of the can roll 233 may be controlled. Specifically, when the position of the accumulator roll is in a downward trend, the downstream drive roll motor is controlled to become gradually faster, and conversely, if the accumulator roll is in an upward trend, the downstream drive roll motor is controlled. What is necessary is just to control so that it may become slow gradually.

  Thereby, the position (height) of the rotating shaft of the accumulator roll is accommodated in a substantially constant range, and the conveyance speed of the long glass film can also be contained in a substantially constant range. As a result, it is possible to minimize the change in film thickness during film formation. Here, keeping the position of the rotating shaft of the accumulator roll within a substantially constant range means keeping the change in the position of the rotating shaft within a range of several tens of centimeters. If the change in the position of the rotary shaft is as much as 1 m, the subsequent transfer speed is affected, and the film thickness change during film formation becomes significant. In addition, when controlling in this way, it is preferable to control the peripheral speed of a drive roll so that a peripheral speed may be fluctuate | varied in the range which does not give an impact to the elongate glass film G.

  As described above, when the accumulator roll 224 is controlled at the peripheral speed of the can roll 233, the conveyance speed of the long glass film G wound around the can roll 233 varies accordingly. As a result, a variation occurs in the film thickness when the surface of the long glass film G is formed by sputtering. If this becomes a problem, the power supplied to each sputtering cathode may be changed according to the peripheral speed of the can roll 233. Thereby, since the film-forming speed | rate by each sputtering cathode can be changed corresponding to the change of the conveyance speed of the long glass film G, the uniform film thickness without a dispersion | variation is obtained.

  The long glass film G whose lengthwise expansion and contraction is adjusted in the accumulator zone 202 is then sent to the surface modification zone 203, where surface modification is performed by ion beam treatment or plasma treatment, and the adhesion of the film. Will improve. Subsequently, the long glass film G is sent to the film formation zone 204, where it is wound around the can roll 233, while the sputtering cathodes 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, which are film formation means, and Film formation is sequentially performed by H.243.

  A tension sensor roll 231 that detects the tension of the long glass film G is provided on the upstream side of the can roll 233, and a tension signal detected by the tension sensor roll 231 is transmitted to the front feed roll 232 and the can roll 233. Feedback on speed. Thereby, adhesion to the can roll 233 can be ensured while maintaining the long glass film G at a predetermined range of tension.

  Similarly, a tension sensor roll 235 is provided on the downstream side of the can roll 233, and the tension signal of the long glass film G detected thereby is fed back to the peripheral speed of the can roll 233 and the rear feed roll 234. . Thereby, adhesion to the can roll 233 can be ensured while maintaining the long glass film G at a predetermined range of tension.

  The long glass film G subjected to the film forming process is then sent to the cooling zone 205 where it is cooled by the cooling rolls 245 and 246. The cooled long glass film G is then sent to the accumulator zone 206 where, like the accumulator roll 224 described above, the length direction of the glass film caused by cooling due to the vertical displacement of the accumulator roll 249. Changes are absorbed.

  This accumulator roll 249 is also provided with accumulator roll position detecting means (not shown) as in the above-described accumulator roll 224, and a signal output from the accumulator roll 249 is arranged around the drive roll positioned downstream of the accumulator roll 249. The speed may be controlled. Thereby, the displacement of the accumulator roll 249 can be kept within a certain range. The long glass film G whose expansion and contraction is adjusted in the accumulator zone 206 is finally sent to the winding zone 207, where it is wound around the winding roll 256 together with the PET film 254 as a slip sheet.

  Heretofore, a specific example of the method for treating a long glass film of the present invention has been described by taking sputtering film formation as an example of the surface treatment to which a thermal load is applied. However, the surface treatment to which the present invention is applied is a sputtering method. The surface treatment is not limited to the film formation, and may be a surface treatment with higher heat load such as plasma treatment or ion beam treatment. In this case, various surface treatment means are provided in place of the sputtering cathode of the film forming apparatus of FIG.

  In the above description, sputtering has been described as an example of dry plating. However, the present invention is not limited to this, but is not limited to this. CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition), Vacuum deposition, magnetron sputtering, or ion beam sputtering may be used.

(2) Long glass film deposition equipment (laser dicing type)
Next, another specific example of the apparatus for forming a long glass film according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The long glass film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is substantially the same as the deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1 except that a dicing zone 308 is provided instead of the winding zone 207 of FIG. That is, in the film forming apparatus for a long glass film shown in FIG. 2, the formed long glass film is cut by, for example, laser dicing, and the cut thin glass film S is stacked. It is a feature.

  Specifically, a long glass film deposition apparatus of another specific example of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 includes an unwind zone 300, a heater zone 301, an upstream accumulator zone 302, a surface modification zone 303, It is housed in a decompression vessel partitioned by a membrane zone 304, a cooling zone 305, a downstream accumulator zone 306, and a dicing zone 308.

  Among these, the components of the film forming apparatus housed from the unwind zone 300 to the downstream accumulator zone 306 are substantially the same as those of the long glass film forming apparatus shown in FIG. In the following description, components in the dicing zone 308 will be described. In FIG. 2, the same members as those in FIG. 1 have the same last two digits as those in FIG.

  In the dicing zone 308, there is provided a cutting means for cutting the long glass film G drawn by being sandwiched from above and below by the nip roll 358 and the drawing drive roll 359. This cutting means is composed of, for example, a laser irradiation device 360 (a device combining a laser oscillator and a scanner), and the irradiation position of the irradiation laser 361 emitted from the laser oscillator is measured in the width direction with respect to the long glass film G by the scanner. The long glass film G can be continuously cut by moving to.

  The cut thin glass film S is dropped and stacked in the stack box 362 located below. In addition, since the long glass film G is continuously conveyed, in order to cut | disconnect perpendicularly | vertically with respect to a conveyance direction, the irradiation position of the irradiation laser 361 is a little diagonal rather than the perpendicular direction with respect to this conveyance direction. It is preferable to move in the direction.

  In this way, the glass film after film formation is cut in a vacuum container, which is convenient when the post-process is a batch type or a single-tooth type. The cutting is desirably performed by the laser dicing described above. The reason is that, in laser dicing, the cut surface is slightly melted by the heat of the laser, so that it can be made difficult to break. On the other hand, when a dicing saw or a diamond cutter is used for cutting, countless microcracks are generated on the cut surface, and the cracks are easily triggered.

(3) Long glass film deposition equipment (in-air laser dicing type)
Next, still another specific example of the apparatus for forming a long glass film according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The film forming apparatus for a long glass film shown in FIG. 3 is almost the same as the film forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2 except that it is cut and stacked in the atmosphere by laser dicing. According to this method, since the glass film after film-forming can be taken out before the film-forming process for one glass film roll is complete | finished, productivity can be improved.

  Specifically, the long glass film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 3 includes an unwind zone 400, a heater zone 401, an upstream accumulator zone 402, a surface modification zone 403, a deposition zone 404, a cooling zone 405, It is housed in a decompression vessel partitioned into a downstream accumulator zone 406, a differential pressure zone 409, and a dicing zone 408.

  Among these, the components of the film forming apparatus accommodated from the unwinding zone 400 to the downstream accumulator zone 406 are substantially the same as those of the long glass film forming apparatus shown in FIGS. The components of the film forming apparatus housed in the dicing zone 408 are substantially the same as those of the long glass film forming apparatus shown in FIG. Therefore, in the following description, the differential pressure zone 409 will be described. In FIG. 3, the same members as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 have the same last two digits as those in FIGS.

  As described above, the film forming apparatus for the long glass film shown in FIG. 3 is the same as that shown in FIG. 2 except that the differential pressure zone 409 is provided between the downstream accumulator zone 406 and the dicing zone 408. Is almost equivalent. In the partition wall that partitions the downstream accumulator zone 406 and the differential pressure zone 409 adjacent to each other, and the partition wall that partitions the dicing zone 408 and the differential pressure zone 409 adjacent to each other, two pairs that sandwich the long glass film G from both sides respectively. Rubber rolls 452 and 453 are provided. These two pairs of rubber rolls are kept airtight to such an extent that the dicing zone 408 at atmospheric pressure does not affect the vacuum in the downstream accumulator zone 406.

  Accordingly, it is possible to perform cutting of the long glass film in an air atmosphere while maintaining a reduced pressure atmosphere from the unwinding zone 400 to the downstream accumulator zone 406. Accordingly, the cut glass sheet S can be taken out without interrupting the film forming process, and the post-process of the batch type or the single-tooth type can be performed.

Next, the film structure of the touch panel will be described with reference to FIG. In general, the film structure used for the touch panel is such that the first layer of the SiO ₂ layer 1 having a physical film thickness of 10 nm and the _second layer are formed in order from the glass film 1 side on one side of a long glass film G as a substrate. An Nb ₂ O ₅ layer 2 having a physical film thickness of 6 nm, an SiO ₂ layer 3 having a physical film thickness of 35 nm, and an ITO layer 4 having a physical film thickness of 22 nm are formed. Based on the laminated structure.

  As described above, the reason why a plurality of layers other than the ITO layer 4 for obtaining the transparent conductivity is formed is that when the glass film is used as a touch panel, the ITO layer 4 has a pattern serving as an electrode. This is because the part is formed. That is, in order to improve the appearance of the pattern part and the non-pattern part of the ITO layer 4, in other words, in order to prevent a large difference in reflectance and transmittance between the pattern part and the non-pattern part, the optical thin film The plurality of layers other than the ITO layer 4 are designed and formed on the basis of the theoretical calculation. In the case of the processing method of the present invention, even when a plurality of such layers are formed, it can be dealt with by appropriately changing the number and type of sputtering cathodes facing the can roll.

  As described above, according to the method for processing a long glass film of the present invention, it is possible to perform a process with a heat load on a glass film that is continuously conveyed without causing a problem of cracking. Moreover, since surface treatment such as film formation can be continuously performed on the surface of the glass film, the surface treatment conditions are stabilized. As a result, a thin film transistor or a solar cell with stable quality can be manufactured. On the other hand, in the conventional film formation on a glass film such as a thin film transistor and a solar cell, surface treatment and film formation are performed only by a single wafer processing method for processing each glass film. In such a single wafer type, continuous processing cannot be performed, resulting in variations in quality for each sheet.

  The thin film transistor manufactured by the long glass film processing method of the present invention can be used for a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel. Moreover, since it can form into a film by the dry-plating method on the surface of a highly transparent glass film, the application to optical components, such as an optical filter, is also possible. Furthermore, because of the chemical resistance of glass, it is possible to form a conductive film on the surface of the glass film and use it as an electrode member for a secondary battery. Thus, the use which can apply the processing method of the long glass film of the present invention is various.

[Example 1]
Using a film forming apparatus (sputtering web coater) shown in FIG. 1, a long glass film was subjected to a film forming process, and a four-layer film structure used for a touch panel as shown in FIG. 4 was produced. As the long glass film G serving as a substrate, a glass film having a width of 300 mm, a length of 300 m, and a thickness of 50 μm was used. The can roll 233 was made of aluminum having a diameter of 400 mm and a width of 500 mm. The surface of the main body of the can roll 233 was subjected to hard chrome plating. The can roll 233 has a jacket roll structure, and a heat medium whose temperature is adjusted outside the decompression vessel is circulated therein.

In order to obtain the four-layer film structure shown in FIG. 4, an AGC ceramic SiC target (width 600 mm × length 150 mm) for forming the SiO ₂ layer 1 corresponding to the first layer is formed on the sputtering cathodes 236 and 237. The NbO target made of AGC ceramics (width 600 mm × length 150 mm) for forming the Nb ₂ O ₅ layer 2 corresponding to the second layer was placed on the sputtering cathodes 238 and 239.

Further, an SiC target made of AGC ceramics (width 600 mm × length 150 mm) for forming the SiO ₂ layer 3 corresponding to the third layer is installed on the sputtering cathodes 240 and 241, Installed an ITO target (width 600 mm × length 150 mm) made by Sumitomo Metal Mining for forming the ITO layer 4 corresponding to the fourth layer.

  And for magnetron sputtering, a dual magnetron sputtering method using a medium frequency power source of 40 to 200 kHz was adopted. Further, the tension of the unwinding roll 210 and the winding roll 256 was both 50N. The peripheral speed of the can roll 233 and the peripheral speed of the upstream motor-driven pre-feed roll 232 and the downstream motor-driven post-feed roll 234 were controlled so that the film conveyance speed was 2 m / min.

  A long glass film G wound in a roll shape is set on the unwinding roll 210, and the PET film P sandwiched between the long glass films G as a slip sheet is wound while being wound around the PET film winding roll 213. The scale glass film G was pulled out. The leading end of the drawn long glass film G was wound around a take-up roll 256 via a can roll 233. At that time, the PET film P drawn out from the PET film unwinding roll 257 was sandwiched between the long glass films G as slip sheets.

All zones were evacuated to 5 Pa by a plurality of dry pumps, and further evacuated to 3 × 10 ⁻³ Pa using a plurality of turbo molecular pumps and cryocoils. The heaters 219, 220, 221, and 222 in the heater zone 201 were temperature-controlled so that the set temperature was 200 ° C., and the long glass film G could be heated with these radiant heats.

  In the accumulator zone 202, the motor rotation speed of the front feed roll 232, which is a downstream drive roll, is controlled using an output signal from the accumulator roll position detecting means so that the displacement of the accumulator roll 224 is within a range of 100 mm. . At that time, the control parameters were set taking into consideration that the glass film was not impacted. In the surface modification zone 203, two ion beams were employed to improve the adhesion of the film. The first ion beam was irradiated with a nitrogen ion beam, and the next ion beam was irradiated with an oxygen ion beam. Nitrogen was introduced at 50 sccm and oxygen was introduced at 50 sccm, and a voltage of 2.0 kV was applied to each ion beam.

Then, after the conveyance speed of the long glass film G is set to 2 m / min, the sputtering cathodes 236 and 237 for forming the first SiO ₂ layer 1 have a cathode power of 2.0 kW and the second layer. Sputtering cathodes 238 and 239 for forming the _second Nb ₂ O ₅ layer 2 have a cathode power of 1.2 kW, and sputtering cathodes 240 and 241 for forming the third SiO ₂ layer 3 have A cathode power of 7.0 kW and a cathode power of 4.4 kW were applied to the sputtering cathodes 242 and 243 for forming the fourth ITO layer 4. Further, 200 sccm of argon gas was introduced near each cathode, and oxygen was further introduced.

  In the cooling zone 205, the cooling roll 245 controlled to 100 ° C. and the cooling roll 246 controlled to 50 ° C. are brought into contact with the long glass film G in this order to lower the temperature of the long glass film G. It was. In the accumulator zone 206, similarly to the above, the motor rotation speed of the take-up roll 256, which is the downstream drive roll, using the output signal from the accumulator roll position detecting means so that the accumulator roll 249 is within the range of 100 mm. Controlled. At that time, the control parameters were set taking into consideration that the glass film was not impacted.

  In this way, the long glass film G was subjected to film formation. Then, when all the 300 m long glass film G wound in a roll shape was drawn out, the power supply to each magnetron sputter cathode was stopped, and the gas introduction was also stopped. Finally, the conveyance of the long glass film G is stopped, and each pump is stopped and then vented (released to the atmosphere), the long glass film G terminal portion of the unwinding roll 210 is removed, and all the long glass The film G was taken up on a take-up roll 256 and then removed. After the film formation was completed, the long glass film G wound around the winding roll 256 was taken out into the atmosphere. As a result, it was possible to form a film without breaking a fragile glass film.

[Example 2]
Using the film forming apparatus (sputtering web coater) shown in FIG. 2, in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the long glass film was cut by the cutting means instead of winding with the winding roll performed in Example 1. A four-layer film structure used for the touch panel was prepared. Specifically, the long glass film formed in the same manner as in Example 1 is cut in the width direction by the laser irradiation device 357 provided in the dicing zone 308 so that the length in the transport direction becomes 40 cm. The cut glass film was stacked in the stack box 355. As the laser, a carbon dioxide laser with an output wavelength of 50 W and an oscillation wavelength of 10.6 μm was used.

  Then, when all the 300 m long glass film G wound in a roll shape was pulled out in the same manner as in Example 1, the film formation process was completed in the same procedure as in Example 1 and the glass film was taken out. . As a result, it was possible to form a film without breaking a fragile glass film.

[Example 3]
Using the film forming apparatus (sputtering web coater) shown in FIG. 3, a four-layer film structure used for the touch panel was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the long glass film was cut under atmospheric pressure. Specifically, a differential pressure zone 409 is provided between the accumulator zone 406 and the dicing zone 408, and the decompression atmosphere is maintained from the unwinding zone 400 to the downstream accumulator zone 406 in the same manner as in the first and second embodiments. Then, while forming the film on the long glass film G, laser dicing was performed in the same manner as in Example 2 while keeping the dicing zone 408 in the atmosphere.

  Then, when all the long glass films G having a length of 300 m wound in a roll shape are drawn out in the same manner as in Example 1 and Example 2, the film forming process is performed in the same procedure as in Example 1 and Example 2. finished. As a result, it was possible to form a film without breaking a fragile glass film. In addition, the thin glass film S cut from the stack box 462 in the dicing zone 408 was taken out at any time during film formation.

[Comparative example]
For comparison, a film forming process was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 using the film forming apparatus (sputtering web coater) shown in FIG. That is, a film forming process was performed on the glass film in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the accumulator means was not used. As a result, in the film forming apparatus of FIG. 5, the long glass film G was broken by the impact during conveyance. When one part broke, the tension was subject to large fluctuations in an instant, and all the glass films running on the transport path were broken, so it was impossible to determine where the cracks occurred. In FIG. 5, the same members as those in FIG. 1 have the same last two digits as those in FIG.

G Long glass film S Thin glass film P Long PET film 1 SiO ₂ layer 2 Nb ₂ O ₅ layer 3 SiO ₂ layer 4 ITO layer 100, 200, 300, 400 Unwind zone 101, 201, 301, 401 Heater Zone 202, 302, 402 Upstream accumulator zone 103, 203, 303, 403 Surface modification zone 104, 204, 304, 404 Deposition zone 105, 205, 305, 405 Cooling zone 206, 306, 406 Downstream accumulator zone 107 , 207 Winding zone 308, 408 Dicing zone 409 Differential pressure zone 110, 210, 310, 410 Unwinding roll 111, 211, 311, 411 Touch roll 112, 212, 312, 412 Free roll 113, 213, 313, 41 PET film take-up roll 114, 214, 314, 414 Free roll 115, 215, 315, 415 Free roll 116, 216, 316, 416 Drive roll 117, 217, 317, 417 Drive roll 118, 218, 318, 418 Free roll 119, 219, 319, 419 Heater 120, 220, 320, 420 Heater 121, 221, 321, 421 Heater 122, 222, 322, 422 Heater 223, 323, 423 Free roll 224, 324, 424 Accumulator roll 225, 325, 425 Free roll 126, 226, 326, 426 Free roll 127, 227, 327, 427 Free roll 128, 228, 328, 428 Ion beam shielding plate 129, 229, 32 9, 429 Ion beam 130, 230, 330, 430 Ion beam 131, 231, 331, 431 Tension sensor roll 132, 232, 332, 432 Pre-feed roll 133, 233, 333, 433 Can roll 134, 234, 334, 434 Rear feed roll 135, 235, 335, 435 Tension sensor roll 136, 236, 336, 436 Sputtering cathode 137, 237, 337, 437 Sputtering cathode 138, 238, 338, 438 Sputtering cathode 139, 239, 339, 439 Sputtering cathode 140 , 240, 340, 440 Sputtering cathode 141, 241, 341, 441 Sputtering cathode 142, 242, 342, 442 Sputtering Cathode 143, 243, 343, 443 Sputtering cathode 144, 244, 344, 444 Free roll 145, 245, 345, 445 Cooling roll 146, 246, 346, 446 Cooling roll 147, 247, 347, 447 Drive roll 248, 348, 448 Free roll 249, 349, 449 Accumulator roll 250, 350, 450 Free roll 151, 251 Free roll 152, 252 Free roll 155, 255 Dual roll 156, 256 Winding roll 157, 257 PET film winding roll 358, 458 Nip roll 359, 459 Drawer drive roll 360, 460 Laser irradiation device 361, 461 Irradiation laser 362, 462 Stack box 463 Rubber roll pair 464 Rubber Lumpur pair

Claims (14)

  A method for treating a long glass film in which a heat treatment, a surface treatment, and a cooling treatment are sequentially performed while a long glass film continuously drawn from a roll is conveyed along a conveyance path. A process of applying a thermal load to the other surface while bringing one surface of the film into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the can roll heated with a heat medium, between the surface treatment and the heat treatment in the transport path and / or Or the processing method of the long glass film characterized by adjusting the expansion-contraction of a long glass film after the said cooling process.   The long glass film processing method according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment of the expansion and contraction is performed by displacement of one or more accumulator rolls provided in the conveyance path.   The adjustment of the expansion and contraction is further performed by a change in a peripheral speed of a roll having a driving force provided in the conveyance path based on a displacement of the one or more accumulator rolls. Processing method for long glass film.   The method for forming a long glass film, wherein the surface treatment according to claim 1 is dry plating performed under a reduced pressure atmosphere.   The method for forming a long glass film according to claim 4, wherein the long glass film is cut into a plurality of thin plates having substantially the same dimensions after the cooling treatment.   6. The method for forming a long glass film according to claim 5, wherein the cutting is performed by laser dicing.   The method for forming a long glass film according to claim 4, wherein the dry plating is sputtering.   A heating medium that draws the long glass film from the roll and conveys it along the conveyance path, a heating means that heats the drawn long glass film, and a heating medium that contacts the heated long glass film. A can roll having a heated outer peripheral surface, surface treatment means provided opposite to the outer peripheral surface to perform surface treatment on the long glass film in contact with the outer peripheral surface, and the surface treatment A cooling means for cooling the long glass film, and an accumulator means provided between the heating means and the can roll and / or downstream of the cooling means in the transport path so as to adjust expansion and contraction of the long glass film And a processing apparatus for a long glass film.   9. The processing apparatus for a long glass film according to claim 8, wherein the accumulator means comprises one or more displaceable accumulator rolls provided in a transport path for the long glass film.   An accumulator roll position detecting means for detecting the position of the one or more accumulator rolls; and a roll having a driving force provided in the transport path based on a position signal detected by the accumulator roll position detecting means. The apparatus for processing a long glass film according to claim 9, wherein the peripheral speed is controlled.   10. The long glass film-forming apparatus, wherein the surface treatment means according to claim 8 or 9 is a dry plating means performed in a vacuum container.   The film forming apparatus for a long glass film according to claim 11, wherein a cutting means for cutting the long glass film into a plurality of thin plates having substantially the same dimensions is provided on the most downstream side of the transport path.   The long glass film deposition apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the cutting means is a laser dicing apparatus.   14. The apparatus for forming a long glass film according to claim 11, wherein the dry plating means is a sputtering cathode.

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