JP3082668U - Laminator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To make a base film of a photosensitive film adhered to a substrate hard to be damaged by a laminator. SOLUTION: In a laminator 10, a photosensitive film 3 including a photosensitive material layer 6 and a light-transmitting base film 7 supporting the photosensitive material layer 6 is attached to a substrate. The laminator 10
Between the time when the photosensitive film 3 wound in a roll shape is unwound and the time when the photosensitive material layer 6 is attached to the substrate 4 between the pair of pressure bonding rolls 12 so that the photosensitive material layer 6 is on the side of the substrate 4 A series of guide members 11, 14, 15, and 18 for guiding the photosensitive film 3 in contact with the base film 7 are provided. The surface in contact with the base film 7 in at least a part of the series of guide members is mirror-finished by metal plating.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

 The present invention relates to a laminator for attaching a photosensitive film to a substrate. The present invention is particularly suitable for an auto-cut laminator that can cut the photosensitive film into a desired length corresponding to the substrate before the photosensitive film is completely attached to the substrate. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Laminators such as those described above use a photosensitive film on these substrates prior to the exposure step of transferring the pattern of an electrical circuit or the like drawn on a photomask onto a printed circuit board or a flat display glass substrate, for example. Used to paste.

In recent years, patterns formed on a substrate have become increasingly finer. Therefore, a higher transfer accuracy is also required in the exposure step of transferring the pattern on the photomask onto the substrate by irradiating the substrate with light (including ultraviolet rays; the same in the present specification) through the photomask. It is becoming.

In order to transfer the pattern drawn on the photomask to the substrate by irradiating light, it is necessary to attach a photosensitive film on the substrate in advance by using a laminator. The photosensitive film includes a photosensitive material layer, a light-transmitting base film that supports the photosensitive material layer, and a cover film that is in contact with the photosensitive material layer on the side opposite to the base film. The film is wound in a roll. When the photosensitive film is wound into a roll, the cover film is peeled off at the time of unwinding, and the photosensitive film is attached to the substrate so that the photosensitive material layer is on the side of the substrate. The substrate on which the photosensitive film is attached proceeds to an exposure step.

The exposure step will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In the exposure step, a photomask 2 on which a pattern 1 such as an electric circuit is drawn and a substrate 4 on which a photosensitive film 3 is adhered are accurately aligned. The pattern 1 is transferred onto the substrate 4 by irradiating the substrate 4 with light 5 through a photomask 2 from a light source (not shown).

In the exposure step, generally, in order to prevent dust from adhering to the viscous photosensitive material layer 6, the exposure is performed in a state where the base film 7 is attached to the upper surface of the photosensitive material layer 6. Is performed. Therefore, the base film 7 is made of a translucent material. Furthermore, the base film 7 needs to have good light transmittance and be optically uniform over the entire surface. This condition can be satisfied when the base film 7 is manufactured.

However, as shown in FIG. 3, if a scratch 8 exists in the base film 7 during exposure for some reason, the portion becomes optically non-uniform. That is, since the light applied to this portion becomes the scattered light 9, the pattern 1 drawn on the photomask 2 cannot be faithfully transferred to the substrate 4. This flaw 8 becomes more unacceptable as the pattern 1 becomes finer.

[0008]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

 The flaw 8 which is a factor that hinders transfer of the pattern 1 onto the substrate 4 with high precision may occur in the laminator. In the laminator, a series of guide members contact the base film 7 to guide the photosensitive film 3 from the unwinding of the rolled photosensitive film to the attachment to the substrate 4. Such a guide member is generally made of metal, plastic, or the like (including a case where it is used as a coating material), and the surface in contact with the base film 7 is relatively well finished by polishing or the like. Still, the base film 7 may be finely scratched. Such small flaws may have been negligible in the past, but will be insignificant in future situations where high-definition patterns are required as described above.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a laminator that does not easily damage a base film.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 According to the present invention, there is provided a laminator for attaching a photosensitive film, comprising a photosensitive material layer and a light-transmitting base film supporting the photosensitive material layer, to a substrate. The base film is formed after the photosensitive film wound in a roll is unwound and before the photosensitive material layer is attached to the substrate between a pair of pressure bonding rolls such that the photosensitive material layer is on the substrate side. A guide member for guiding the photosensitive film in contact with the base film, and a surface of at least a part of the guide member that contacts the base film is metal-plated and mirror-finished. A laminator is provided.

The guide member having a metal-plated mirror-finished surface may include a film guide member disposed immediately before the pair of pressure rolls. This laminator can be an auto-cut laminator that can cut the photosensitive film into a desired length corresponding to the substrate before the photosensitive film is completely attached to the substrate.

In these laminators, the metal plating may be chrome plating.

[0013]

[Embodiment of the invention]

 The present invention can of course be applied to the case of newly manufacturing a laminator, but at least a part of a series of guide members of an existing laminator is metal-plated on a surface that comes into contact with a base film, and is mirror-finished. This is also realized by:

As an example of such an existing laminator, an auto-cut laminator is disclosed in JP-A-60-85927. An outline of the configuration and operation will be described with reference to FIG. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-85927 discloses a laminator capable of attaching (laminating) a photosensitive film to both sides of a substrate. It will be explained as a thing to be pasted.

The auto-cut laminator 10 includes a pair of upper and lower tacking members 11 (only one is shown), a pair of pressure rollers 12, a film cutter 13, a cutter backup member 14, and a film guide member 15. Above, a photosensitive film is provided in the form of a film roll 16. When the photosensitive film is unwound from the state of the film roll 16, the cover film is peeled off. The peeled cover film is taken up by a cover film take-up roller 17 in contact with the film roll 16. In this manner, the photosensitive film 3 has a configuration including the photosensitive material layer 6 and the base film 7 that supports the photosensitive material layer 6.

The temporary attaching member 11, the pressure roller 12, the cutter backup member 14, the film guide member 15, and the rotatable guide roller 18 have a width exceeding the width of the photosensitive film 3. Further, each of the tacking member 11, the cutter backup member 14, and the film guide member 15 has a plurality of suction holes (not shown, grooves, not shown) communicating with a vacuum source (not shown) on a surface in contact with the base film 7. May be included). The photosensitive film 3 can be sucked by performing a suction action through these suction holes, or the photosensitive film 3 does not perform the suction action (or performs only a weak suction action). Can be substantially not adsorbed.

The temporary attachment member 11 and the cutter backup member 14 are respectively adjacent to a pair of side plates 19 (only one is shown) of the laminator 10 and are attached to the side plates 19 so as to be slidable up and down. It is provided between blocks (not shown). The temporary attachment member 11 is attached to the movable block so as to be vertically movable, while the cutter backup member 14 is fixed to the movable block. A linear guide member (not shown) extending perpendicular to the side plate 19 is fixed between the pair of movable blocks. A film cutter 13 in the form of a rotary round blade is slidably mounted on the linear guide member.

First, the front end of the photosensitive film 3 pulled out from the film roll 16 is moved downward so as to approach the substrate 4 while the tacking member 11 is held by the above-mentioned suction action, and the photosensitive film 3 is moved downward. Is temporarily attached to the front end of the substrate 4. Then, the temporary attaching member 11 stops the suction operation and retreats upward from the illustrated position. The substrate 4 is sent between the pair of pressure bonding rollers 12 together with the photosensitive film 3 by the transport roller 20, and the film 3 is attached thereto. At this time, the suction action of the tacking member 11, the cutter backup member 14, and the film guide member 15 is continued, weakened, or stopped. These members serve as guide members for guiding the photosensitive film 3 while slidingly contacting the base film 7. On the other hand, the rotatable guide roller 18 serves as a guide member for guiding the photosensitive film 3 while being in rolling contact with the base film 7.

According to the present invention, at least a part of the temporary attaching member 11, the cutter backup member 14, the film guide member 15, and the guide roller 18, which are a series of guide members, is in contact with the base film 7. The surface to be plated is metal-plated and mirror-finished. By doing so, the surface becomes very smooth and the possibility of damaging the base film 7 is greatly reduced.

As the metal plating, chromium plating having high hardness is preferable. It is desirable that all the guide members are metal-plated on the surface in contact with the base film 7 and mirror-finished, but the film guide member 15 is given the highest priority. The reason is that the film guide member 15 is disposed immediately before the pressure roll 12, and in many cases, performs a suction action. Therefore, the contact pressure against the base film 7 is the highest, and therefore, the base film 7 is damaged. This is because the guide member is easy to attach. Also in the experiment, it has been found that the metal surface plating of the film guide member 15 to be mirror-finished is extremely effective in preventing the base film 7 from being damaged.

During the operation of attaching the photosensitive film 3 to the substrate 4, the temporary attaching member 11, the film cutter 13, and the cutter backup member 14 descend at the same speed as the traveling photosensitive film 3. With the relative speed between the photosensitive film 3 and the film cutter 13 substantially eliminated in this manner, the film cutter 13 is moved in the width direction of the photosensitive film 3, and the film 3 is moved to the position and size of the substrate 4. Cut to the desired length corresponding to.

The rear end portion of the photosensitive film 3 cut into a sheet shape receives a slight attraction force from the film guide member 15 to prevent the photosensitive film 3 from dripping onto the substrate 4 while preventing the film guide member 15 from dripping. It slides on the surface of the member 15 and is finally attached to the substrate 4 by the pressure roll 12.

[0023]

[Effect of the invention]

 According to the present invention, when a photosensitive film is attached to a substrate as a pre-exposure step, the possibility of scratching the base film of the photosensitive film, in particular, the possibility of severely damaging it, can be significantly reduced. In the process, high-definition patterns can be faithfully transferred to the substrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a laminator according to the present invention, in which a front side plate is omitted. The circle in the right side shows the enlarged side of the photosensitive film.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view for explaining an exposure operation in an exposure step.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion surrounded by a circle indicated by a symbol A in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 pattern, 2 photomask, 3 photosensitive film, 4 substrate, 5 light, 6 photosensitive material layer, 7 base film, 8 scratch, 9 scattered light, 10 auto cut laminator, 11 temporary attaching member, 12 pressure roller, 13 film Cutter, 14 cutter backup member, 15 film guide, 16 film roll, 17 cover film take-up roller, 18 guide roller, 19 side plate, 20 transport roller.

Claims (4)

[Utility model registration claims] 1. A laminator for attaching a photosensitive film, comprising a photosensitive material layer and a light-transmitting base film supporting the photosensitive material layer, to a substrate, wherein the photosensitive material is wound into a roll. From the unwinding of the conductive film to the photosensitive film in contact with the base film, before the photosensitive material layer is attached to the substrate between the pair of pressure rolls such that the photosensitive material layer is on the side of the substrate. A laminator characterized in that a surface of at least a part of the series of guide members that comes into contact with the base film is metal-plated and mirror-finished. . 2. The laminator according to claim 1, wherein the guide member having a metal-plated and mirror-finished surface includes a film guide member disposed immediately before the pair of pressure rolls. Characterized by the fact that
Laminator. 3. The laminator according to claim 2, wherein the laminator cuts the photosensitive film into a desired length corresponding to the substrate before the photosensitive film is completely attached to the substrate. A laminator characterized by being an auto-cut laminator that can be used. 4. The laminator according to claim 1, wherein said metal plating is chrome plating.