JP2018065179A - Laser processing device and laser processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily execute laser processing treatment of a panel joining material.SOLUTION: A laser processing device comprises a support part (a support plate 4) for supporting a panel joining material 20 for fixing a flexible substrate (a plastic substrate 22) for providing an element structure part (a display structure 23) in an upper layer on a rigid substrate (a glass substrate 21) for transmitting a laser beam 9 with the rigid substrate on the lower side, a laser beam irradiation part 7 for irradiating the laser beam 9 toward the rigid substrate supported by the support part (the support plate 4) from under the support part (the support plate 4) and a movement device (a stage 8) for relatively moving the laser beam 9 to the panel joining material 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing technology for a flexible display device and the like, and more particularly, a laser processing apparatus and a laser that can be applied to a manufacturing technology for a flexible display device that can easily handle a display on a film including a thin film transistor. It relates to a processing method.

  A liquid crystal display device having a thin film transistor (TFT) and an organic light emitting display device are currently used in digital cameras, video cameras, and portable information terminals (PDAs). The market is expanding as a display for mobile devices such as mobile phones. For such a mobile device, it is required to be light and thin and not easily cracked.

  In addition to the method of using a thin glass substrate at the time of manufacturing, in order to make the display light and thin, after using the existing glass substrate of the film, the glass substrate is thinned by a mechanical or chemical method. A method has been introduced. However, such a process is complicated and easily broken, and there is a problem in practical use. In addition, such a mobile device is easy to carry and is applied to display devices having various shapes, so that it requires flexible characteristics that can realize curved surfaces. However, the existing glass substrate has a problem that it is difficult to realize flexible characteristics.

  In order to solve such problems, there is an attempt to form a low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor on a plastic substrate. Plastic is less likely to break even when formed with a thickness of about 0.2mm, and its specific gravity is smaller than glass, making it possible to reduce the mass to 1/5 or less when compared to an existing glass substrate. There is an advantage that is possible. However, when the plastic substrate is thinly formed in the process of forming the thin film transistor and the display element on the plastic substrate, the plastic substrate is flexible in the process of sequentially forming the thin film transistor and the display element on the plastic substrate. Due to the characteristics, there is a problem that the plastic substrate is difficult to support the load formed on the substrate and is difficult to handle. In order to solve this, a method is proposed in which a plastic substrate is thinly formed on a glass substrate, a display structure including a thin film transistor and a display element is formed thereon, and then the glass substrate is separated from the plastic substrate. ing. (Patent Document 1)

  In the method of separating the glass substrate from the plastic substrate, the glass substrate is placed on the support plate so as to be the uppermost surface, the laser is irradiated from the upper side of the glass substrate, and the plastic is ablated by the laser to be separated from the glass substrate. In addition, since it is not easy to transport with the glass substrate on the top and the plastic substrate on the bottom, in general, after forming multiple display parts on a large-area glass substrate, this is cut into panels. Then, a method of separating is used.

The outline of the laser processing apparatus used for the said separation method is demonstrated based on FIG.
The annealing chamber 100 has a stage 110 that can move in the XY directions, and a laser oscillator 120 is installed outside the annealing chamber 100. A line beam shaping optical system 121 is arranged on the output side of the laser oscillator 120, and a mirror 122 is arranged on the emission side of the laser beam 125, and the laser beam 125 reflected by the mirror 122 is annealed chamber 100. Irradiated inside.
At the time of laser processing, a plurality of plastic substrates 31 are fixed on the glass substrate 30, and a laminated material provided with a display structure portion 32 including electrodes 32 </ b> A on each plastic substrate 31 is prepared. The glass substrate 30 is divided and placed on the transport plate 130 so that the glass substrate 30 is on the upper side and the display structure 32 is on the lower side, and is protected by the holding metal 130A. The laser beam 125 described above is irradiated from above the glass substrate 30 moving on the stage 110, passes through the glass substrate 30, causes ablation to the plastic substrate 31, and enables the glass substrate 30 to be peeled off.

JP 2007-512568 A

  However, in the above separation method, there is a problem that it is not easy to cut the substrate because two substrates, a glass substrate and a plastic substrate, must be cut. Moreover, since glass is cut, there is a problem that the glass becomes disposable.

Furthermore, due to the problem of accuracy, it is necessary to attach an electrode or the like to the display in advance, and since this electrode pops out of the glass substrate, a protective clasp is required. To deal with this problem, it is possible that the plastic substrate is peeled off from the glass substrate before cutting the glass. However, in this case, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to mount the electrodes because of the expansion and contraction of the plastic film. is there. In addition, the conventional peeling device is on the extension line of a general laser annealing device and irradiates with the constituent materials facing down and the glass substrate facing up. There are also problems that make it difficult.
As described above, the conventional flexible display manufacturing method has a problem of cutting the glass substrate and a problem that the glass cannot be reused.

  In view of the above, the present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus of a flexible display device, and more particularly, to provide a laser processing apparatus and a laser processing method that can easily handle a flexible substrate including a thin film transistor. One of them.

That is, in the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the first aspect of the present invention provides a panel matching material in which a flexible substrate having an element structure portion provided thereon is fixed on a rigid substrate through which laser light is transmitted. A support part for supporting the lower side,
A laser beam irradiation unit configured to irradiate a laser beam toward the rigid substrate supported by the support unit from below the support unit;
And a moving device that moves the laser light relative to the panel alignment material.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the rigid substrate is a glass substrate and the flexible substrate is a plastic substrate.

  In the laser processing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the present invention, the laser beam is irradiated in the vicinity of an interface between the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate in order to separate the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate. It is characterized by that.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the support portion is a substance transparent to the wavelength of the laser beam.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the support portion has a cavity through which the laser beam passes.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the moving device moves an irradiation position of the laser beam irradiation section.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the moving device moves the panel alignment material.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the support unit floats and supports the panel alignment material by blowing gas from below the panel alignment material. However, it is characterized in that the panel alignment material that has been levitated by the support portion is moved while being levitated.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser processing apparatus according to the present invention, further comprising a laser oscillator, wherein the laser processing apparatus includes a laser beam transmission unit that transmits the laser beam output from the laser oscillator to the laser beam irradiation unit. To do.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laser processing method for supporting a panel matching material in which a flexible substrate having an element structure portion provided thereon is fixed on a rigid substrate through which a laser beam is transmitted, with the rigid substrate facing downward. And
Irradiate a laser beam toward the rigid substrate from below the supported rigid substrate,
In the irradiation with the laser beam, the laser beam is moved relative to the panel alignment material so that the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate can be peeled off.

  According to the present invention, it is easy to handle a panel matching material in which a rigid substrate through which a laser beam is transmitted and a flexible substrate on which an element structure is provided are fixed, and the laser beam is interposed between the flexible substrate and the rigid substrate. Can be easily separated.

It is the schematic which shows the laser processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. Similarly, it is the schematic which shows the laser processing apparatus of other embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the conventional laser processing apparatus.

(Embodiment 1)
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
The laser processing apparatus 1 has an annealing chamber 2 surrounded by hollow bases 3A and 3B which are vertical walls. The hollow bases 3A and 3B are stacked one above the other with the hollow base 3A on the lower stage and the hollow base 3B on the upper stage, and the step 3C is formed so that the inner wall of the hollow base 3A is located inside the inner wall of the hollow base 3B. Have. The support 4 is installed at a predetermined height so as to be placed on the step 3C. The support base 4 is made of quartz and corresponds to the support portion of the present invention. The installation method of the support base 4 is not limited to the above, and any method may be used as long as the support base 4 is stably held in the annealing chamber 2.

  A laser oscillator 5 is installed in a lower space of the annealer chamber 2, and an optical fiber 6 for transmitting laser light is provided on the output side of the laser oscillator 5 and disposed in the annealer chamber 2. Yes. The optical fiber 6 corresponds to a laser light transmission unit. The laser light transmission unit is not limited to an optical fiber as long as it can transmit laser light.

  The optical fiber 6 is connected to a laser beam irradiation unit 7 installed on a gantry-type stage 8, and laser beam irradiation upward from the laser beam irradiation unit 7 is possible. The laser light irradiation unit 7 includes an optical member that performs transmission, shaping, deflection, and condensing of the laser light, and can irradiate the panel alignment material installed on the support base 4 with the laser light 9. In shaping the laser beam, it is desirable to obtain a line beam. In the present invention, the configuration of the laser beam irradiation unit is not particularly limited.

  The stage 8 is movable in the X direction (the horizontal direction in the figure), the Y direction (the front side in the depth direction in the figure), and the Z direction (the vertical direction in the figure). The stage 8 is irradiated with the laser light 9 from the laser light irradiation unit 7. By moving in the X direction and the Y direction, it is possible to irradiate the entire surface of the panel matching material described later with the laser light 9. The optical fiber 6 has a length that follows the movement of the stage 8, and when the stage 8 moves in the X direction or the Y direction, the laser light output from the laser oscillator 5 is applied to the laser light irradiation unit. 7 is transmitted.

Next, the operation in the laser processing apparatus 1 will be described below.
As a preparation process, the plastic substrate 22 is fixed to the glass substrate 21. As the fixing method, the plastic substrate 22 may be fixed to the glass substrate 21 by adhesion or the like, or the plastic substrate 22 may be fixed on the glass substrate 21. In the present invention, the method for fixing the glass substrate and the plastic substrate is not particularly limited. The glass substrate 21 corresponds to a rigid substrate through which laser light is transmitted. The plastic substrate 22 corresponds to a flexible substrate. The rigid substrate has high rigidity with respect to the flexible substrate, and has a property of transmitting laser light. A typical example is a glass substrate.

  A display structure 23 is formed on the plastic substrate 22 given rigidity by the glass substrate 21 to constitute the panel matching material 20. The display structure unit 23 corresponds to an element structure unit. In this embodiment, the element structure portion includes an organic EL, a transistor, an electrode 23A, and the like. However, as the present invention, the element structure is not limited to these structures, and any element structure formed on a flexible substrate is within the scope of the present invention.

  The panel matching material 20 is installed on the support base 4 with the glass substrate 21 facing down and supported by the support base 4. Note that at least a part of the support 4 may be made porous and the panel matching material 20 may be adsorbed and fixed through the porous portion. It is desirable that the attracting portion is a position that does not interfere with the scanning of the laser beam 9.

The laser beam output from the laser oscillator 5 is transmitted through the optical fiber 6 and irradiated with the laser beam 9 from the laser beam irradiation unit 7. The laser light 9 reaches the glass substrate 21 through the support 4. The support base 4 is made of quartz and can transmit the laser light 9. The support base 4 may be any material as long as it can transmit according to the wavelength of the laser beam, and the material thereof is not limited to quartz. For example, a transparent oxide, sapphire glass, etc. are mentioned.
The laser light 9 is transmitted through the support base 4 and further through the glass substrate 21 to be irradiated onto the plastic substrate 22. The glass substrate 21 needs to transmit laser light, and may transmit laser light according to the wavelength of the laser light.

The laser light 9 is irradiated so as to be focused on the plastic substrate 22 in the vicinity of the interface between the glass substrate 21 and the plastic substrate 22, causing ablation to the plastic substrate 22, and immediately or thereafter, the glass substrate 21 is plasticized. The substrate 22 can be peeled off. The condensing point of the laser light 9 can be adjusted according to the position where the separation is planned, and the stage 8 may be adjusted in the Z direction.
By moving the stage 8 in the X direction and the Y direction during the irradiation of the laser beam 9, it is possible to irradiate the entire fixing surface of the glass substrate 21 and the plastic substrate 22 with the laser beam 9, and the separation work of both is ensured. And made easy. The panel matching material 20 is taken out from the annealing chamber 2 and a display device can be manufactured using the panel material from which the glass substrate 21 is peeled off.

(Embodiment 2)
In the above embodiment, the laser beam side is moved with respect to the panel alignment material, but the panel alignment material side may be moved with respect to the laser beam. This embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the structure similar to the said embodiment, and the description is abbreviate | omitted or simplified. In the present invention, both the laser beam and the panel alignment material may be moved.

The laser processing apparatus 1A of this embodiment has an annealing chamber 10 and has a support column 11 having a top plate 11A on the upper side. The top plate 11A has a cavity 11B through which laser light is transmitted. Have.
A laser oscillator 5 is installed outside the annealer chamber 10, and a line beam shaping optical system 12 is arranged at a position below the top plate 11 A in the laser light output direction of the laser oscillator 5. The mirror 13 is arranged in the emission direction of the line beam shaping optical system 12. The cavity 11B is located in the reflection direction of the mirror 13. The optical path along which the laser light moves in the annealing chamber 10 corresponds to a laser light transmission unit.

  On the top surface of the top plate 11A, there is a fluid film forming portion 16 that jets gas upward to float and support a panel matching material described later. The fluid film forming unit 16 is arranged so as to support the panel matching material within a range in which the panel matching material moves. In this embodiment, the fluid film forming unit 16 corresponds to the support unit of the present invention. The type of gas ejected from the fluid film forming unit 16 is not particularly limited, and an inert gas such as air or nitrogen can be used.

In the fluid film forming unit 16, it is possible to move the panel alignment material by tilting the gas blowing direction. In this case, the fluid film forming unit 16 also serves as the moving unit. However, it is desirable to move the panel matching material stably levitated and supported by the fluid film forming portion 16 by providing a moving portion 17 that applies a moving force in the X direction. Examples of the moving unit 17 include a unit that moves in the X direction while pushing the panel alignment material, pulls out and moves, or grips and moves in the X direction. However, it is not limited to these.
It is desirable to move the panel alignment material only by driving in one axis (X-axis) direction. For this reason, as will be described later, the shape of the laser beam is as long as the glass substrate. A line beam shape is preferred.

Next, the operation in the laser processing apparatus 1A will be described below.
As a preparatory step, a panel matching material 20 is prepared as in the first embodiment.
The panel matching material 20 is levitated and supported by the gas ejected by the fluid film forming unit 16 with the glass substrate 22 facing down.

  On the other hand, the laser beam output from the laser oscillator 5 is shaped into a line beam according to the width of the panel matching material 20 by the line beam shaping optical system 12. The line beam shaped laser beam 15 emitted from the line beam shaping optical system 12 is reflected upward by the mirror 13 and reaches the glass substrate 21 through the cavity 11B. Therefore, in this embodiment, the mirror 13 corresponds to a laser beam irradiation unit.

  The laser beam 15 passes through the glass substrate 21 and is irradiated onto the plastic substrate 22. The laser beam 15 is irradiated so as to be focused on the plastic substrate 22 in the vicinity of the interface between the glass substrate 21 and the plastic substrate 22, causing the plastic substrate 22 to be ablated, and immediately or thereafter, the glass substrate 21 is peeled off. Make it possible to do.

  The moving unit 17 moves the panel alignment material 20 that is levitated and supported by the fluid film forming unit 16 in the X direction during the irradiation process of the laser beam 15, thereby bonding the glass substrate 21 and the plastic substrate 22 to the entire fixing surface. Can be processed by irradiating with laser beam 15. As a result, the glass substrate 21 and the plastic substrate 22 can be reliably and easily separated. The panel matching material 20 is taken out from the annealing chamber 2 and a display device can be manufactured using the panel material from which the glass substrate 21 is peeled off.

By using the apparatus and method of the present invention, it becomes possible to separate the glass substrate and the plastic substrate without cutting the glass substrate.
(1) The problem that the two substrates of the glass substrate and the plastic substrate must be cut, so that the substrate is not easy to cut. (2) The glass is disposable because the glass is cut. (3) It is necessary to attach electrodes etc. to the display in advance due to accuracy problems. This electrode pops out of the glass substrate, so that a protective clasp is required. (4) Peeling due to unevenness of the display Can solve the difficulties.
In addition, (5) the peeled glass substrate can be used as a carrier even after peeling, and there is an effect that a special transport device is not required.

  As described above, the present invention has been described based on the above embodiment, but appropriate modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser processing apparatus 1A Laser processing apparatus 2 Annealer chamber 3A Hollow base 3B Hollow base 4 Support base 5 Laser oscillator 6 Optical fiber 7 Laser light irradiation part 8 Stage 9 Laser light 10 Annealing chamber 11 Support | pillar 11A Top plate 11B Hollow part 16 Fluid Film forming part 17 Moving part 20 Panel matching material 21 Glass substrate 22 Plastic substrate 23 Display structure part 23A Electrode etc.

Claims (10)

A support portion for supporting a panel matching material, on which a flexible substrate having an element structure portion provided in an upper layer is fixed on a rigid substrate through which laser light is transmitted, with the rigid substrate facing down;
A laser beam irradiation unit configured to irradiate a laser beam toward the rigid substrate supported by the support unit from below the support unit;
And a moving device for moving the laser light relative to the panel alignment material.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rigid substrate is a glass substrate, and the flexible substrate is a plastic substrate.   3. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam is applied to the vicinity of an interface between the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate in order to separate the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate. .   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support portion is a material that is transparent to the wavelength of the laser light.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support portion has a cavity through which the laser light passes.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving device moves an irradiation position of the laser light irradiation unit.   The laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving device moves the panel alignment material.   The support unit is configured to float and support the panel alignment material by blowing gas from below the panel alignment material, and the moving device is left floating on the panel alignment material floating on the support portion The laser processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the laser processing apparatus is moved by a step.   The laser processing according to claim 1, further comprising: a laser oscillator, and a laser beam transmission unit configured to transmit the laser beam output from the laser oscillator to the laser beam irradiation unit. apparatus. On the rigid substrate through which the laser beam is transmitted, the panel matching material in which the flexible substrate having the element structure portion provided in the upper layer is fixed is supported with the rigid substrate facing down,
Irradiate a laser beam toward the rigid substrate from below the supported rigid substrate,
In the laser beam irradiation, the laser beam is moved relative to the panel alignment material so that the rigid substrate and the flexible substrate can be peeled off.

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