JP3198324U - Pattern transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a pattern transfer apparatus for accurately transferring a pattern such as wiring drawn on a roller to a substrate to be processed in an electronic device manufacturing process. A pattern transfer apparatus 1 for transferring a pattern formed of a processing liquid to a substrate G, the substrate holding unit 2 holding the substrate G, and the substrate G held by the substrate holding unit. And a rotatable roller 3 for transferring the pattern, and a nozzle 4 for directly drawing the pattern on the surface of the roller 3 by discharging a treatment liquid onto the surface of the roller 3. The substrate holding part 2 is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction along the rail 9. The roller 3 is configured to be rotatable by a drive mechanism with its center as a rotation axis and to be vertically movable. The surface of the roller 3 is formed of an elastic body. For example, an inkjet nozzle is used as the nozzle 4. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a pattern transfer apparatus for transferring a device pattern to a substrate to be processed in an electronic device manufacturing process.

  As a technique for forming a pattern of a device such as a liquid crystal display on a glass substrate or a film substrate, a technique using a printing method has been proposed. In recent years, such device patterns have been required to have high dimensional accuracy, for example, as the pixels of a liquid crystal display become finer. As a printing method capable of printing a pattern having high dimensional accuracy, reverse printing has been required. A method has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As a printing method using the reverse printing method, there is a method using a roller transfer cylinder. In the case of using a roller transfer cylinder, for example, an application process in which ink is applied to a roller transfer cylinder surface having silicone resin as a surface to form an application surface, and a roller transfer cylinder that has undergone the application process has a convex portion in a predetermined shape. Rolling on the formed relief plate (master plate) to remove and remove the ink on the application surface on the roller transfer cylinder side corresponding to the convex portion of the relief plate, and to remove the ink remaining on the application surface (printed body) Some have a transfer step of transferring to a workpiece plate (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  In the reversal printing method using such a roller transfer cylinder, the relief printing pattern formed by moving the relief transfer plate made of a glass substrate or a film substrate and the roller transfer cylinder relative to each other and rolling the roller transfer cylinder on the relief printing plate. Transfer to the roller transfer cylinder. Then, the pattern transferred to the roller transfer cylinder is moved by relatively moving the printing medium composed of a glass substrate or a film substrate and the roller transfer cylinder, and rolling the roller transfer cylinder on the printing medium. Transfer to the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain the same dimensional accuracy as the pattern formed by the photolithography method.

JP-A-4-279349 JP 2014-083746 A

  However, the relief printing plate and the roller transfer cylinder are elastic bodies, and change over time is likely to occur, and there is a possibility that transfer accuracy gradually deteriorates. In the method of transferring a pattern using a relief plate, there is a limit to the immediate response to the improvement in accuracy when the transfer accuracy of the apparatus deteriorates due to changes over time (for example, the accuracy is accurate unless the relief plate and the roller are replaced). Does not recover.)

  As another aspect, there are physical properties of the ink and the state of the surface of the roller transfer cylinder (including whether it is hydrophilic or water repellent) as control parameters for accurately transferring onto a glass substrate or a film substrate. . However, it is very difficult to control the transfer with high accuracy only by the physical properties of the ink and the surface state of the roller transfer cylinder.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a pattern transfer apparatus for transferring a pattern with high accuracy onto a glass substrate, a film substrate or the like.

  In order to solve the above problems, a pattern transfer device according to the present invention includes a substrate holding unit that holds a substrate, a rotatable roller for transferring the pattern to the substrate held by the substrate holding unit, And a nozzle for discharging the processing liquid onto the surface of the roller and directly drawing the pattern on the surface of the roller.

  According to the pattern transfer apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to transfer a pattern onto a glass substrate or a film substrate with high accuracy.

It is explanatory drawing which shows one structural example of the pattern transfer apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other structural example of the pattern transfer apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows one structural example of the surface modification process part which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the configuration of a pattern transfer apparatus 1 according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the pattern transfer apparatus 1 includes a substrate holding unit 2, a roller 3, and a drawing unit such as a nozzle 4. The substrate holding unit 2 sucks and holds a substrate to be processed, such as a glass substrate or a film substrate (hereinafter referred to as a substrate G). The roller 3 transfers a predetermined pattern drawn on its surface onto the substrate G. The nozzle 4 discharges a processing liquid for drawing a pattern, for example, ink onto the surface of the roller 3.

  The pattern transfer apparatus 1 further includes a base 5, a first imaging unit such as the imaging unit 8, a second imaging unit such as the imaging unit 6, and a third imaging unit such as the imaging unit 7. A rail 9 is disposed on the upper surface of the base 5, and the substrate holding unit 2 is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction along the rail 9.

  The roller 3 is configured to be rotatable by a drive mechanism (not shown) with its center as a rotation axis, and to be vertically movable. The surface of the roller 3 is formed of an elastic body.

  For example, an inkjet nozzle is used as the nozzle 4. The nozzle 4 can directly draw a predetermined pattern on the surface of the roller 3 with high accuracy. The nozzle 4 sprays ink that has been atomized toward a predetermined portion of the surface of the roller 3 to directly draw a predetermined pattern on the surface of the roller 3.

  The imaging unit 8 that is the first imaging unit captures an image of the pattern transferred to the surface of the substrate G. The imaging unit 6 that is the second imaging unit performs imaging of the pattern drawn on the surface of the roller 3. The imaging unit 7 as the third imaging unit performs imaging of the surface of the substrate G before the pattern is transferred. For example, a CCD camera or the like is used for the imaging units 6 to 8.

  The pattern transfer apparatus 1 further includes a control unit 10. The control unit 10 controls the horizontal movement operation of the substrate holding unit 2, the rotation operation and elevation operation of the roller 3, the discharge operation of the nozzle 4, and the like. Further, the control unit 10 also performs pass / fail determination of the performed processing based on the image data captured by the imaging units 6 to 8. Further, feedback control is performed on the operation of each unit in the pattern transfer apparatus 1 based on the image data captured by the imaging units 6 to 8.

  Next, a processing procedure in the pattern transfer apparatus 1 will be described.

  First, the substrate G is carried into the pattern transfer apparatus 1, placed on the substrate holding unit 2, and then sucked and held. Then, in order to determine whether the substrate G on the substrate holding unit 2 is dirty or chipped, the surface of the substrate G is imaged using the imaging unit 7. The captured image data is sent to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 determines whether the substrate G is dirty or missing based on the image data.

  Next, it is confirmed that the surface of the roller 3 before drawing the pattern is free from ink stains. Therefore, the surface of the roller 3 is imaged using the imaging unit 6. At this time, imaging is performed while rotating the roller 3 so that the entire surface of the roller 3 can be imaged. The captured image data is sent to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 determines the quality of the surface of the roller 3 based on the image data.

  After it is determined that the surface of the roller 3 is good, ink is ejected from the nozzle 4 to directly draw a pattern on the surface of the roller 3. At this time, ink is ejected from the nozzle 4 toward the surface of the roller 3 while rotating the roller 3. Also at this time, the pattern drawn on the surface of the roller 3 is imaged using the imaging unit 6, and the captured image data is sent to the control unit 10. The ejection from the nozzle 4 and the rotation of the roller 3 are controlled until the captured image matches a predetermined pattern, and a predetermined pattern is drawn on the surface of the roller 3.

  When drawing of the pattern on the surface of the roller 3 is completed, the substrate holding unit 2 is moved horizontally in the right direction in FIG. Then, when the lowermost part of the roller 3 is positioned at the right end of the substrate G on the substrate holding unit 2, the horizontal movement of the substrate holding unit 2 is stopped. Next, the roller 3 is rotated, and the rotation of the roller 3 is stopped when the pattern corresponding to the right end of the substrate G is located at the lowermost part of the roller 3. Thereafter, when the roller 3 is lowered, the lowermost portion of the roller 3 comes into contact with the right end of the substrate G, and when the pressure applied to the substrate G by the roller 3 reaches a predetermined value, the lowering of the roller 3 is stopped.

  Next, the horizontal movement operation of the substrate holding part 2 in the right direction and the rotation operation of the roller 3 are started in synchronization, and the pattern drawn on the roller 3 is transferred to the surface of the substrate G. At this time, the horizontal movement operation of the substrate holding part 2 is performed so that the horizontal movement speed of the substrate holding part 2 in the right direction and the movement speed (circumferential speed) of the roller 3 surface in the counterclockwise rotation of the roller 3 coincide with each other. The controller 10 controls the rotation operation of the roller 3.

  When the substrate holding unit 2 moves to the right end of the base 5, the pattern transfer to the substrate G is finished, and the pattern is transferred to the surface of the substrate G.

  Next, the pattern transferred onto the surface of the substrate G is imaged using the imaging unit 8. The captured image data is sent to the control unit 10, and the quality of the transferred pattern is determined by the control unit 10. Further, based on this image data, feedback is performed for control of various operations in the roller transfer device 1 when performing transfer processing on the next substrate.

  Thereafter, the substrate G onto which the pattern has been transferred is received from the substrate holder 2 and the substrate G is unloaded from the pattern transfer device 1, and a series of transfer processes is completed.

  According to the first embodiment, since the drawing is performed directly on the surface of the roller 3 using the nozzle 4, it is possible to draw the pattern with high accuracy, and as a result, the pattern is transferred onto the substrate G with high accuracy. it can. In addition, when drawing on the surface of the roller 3, it is possible to draw a pattern in consideration of the pressure at the time of transfer (because the line width of the pattern changes depending on the pressure). For example, the pattern is drawn on the surface of the roller 3 so that the line width of the pattern becomes a desired value when pressed by the pressure at the time of transfer. Further, even when the roller 3 changes with time, it is possible to cope with a certain change with time by correcting and drawing the pattern when drawing the pattern on the surface of the roller 3. In this way, it is possible to deal with an opportunity compared to the conventional case.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. Description of the same parts as those in the first embodiment is omitted, and only different parts will be described. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the pattern transfer apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the nozzle 4 and the imaging unit 6 are arranged obliquely in the lower left direction with respect to the rotation center of the roller 3. Then, a pattern can be drawn as close to the lower surface of the roller 3 as possible by the nozzle 4, and a pattern drawn near the lower surface of the roller 3 can be imaged using the imaging unit 6.

  Further, the imaging unit 8 is disposed in a diagonally lower right direction with respect to the rotation center of the roller 3. The pattern on the substrate G can be imaged immediately after the pattern is transferred from the roller 3 to the substrate G.

  Next, a processing procedure in the second embodiment will be described. First, ink is ejected from the nozzle 4 while rotating the roller 3 counterclockwise, and a pattern is drawn on the surface of the roller 3. Next, when the front end of the pattern being drawn reaches vertically below the rotation center of the roller 3, the rotation of the roller 3 is stopped. Next, the substrate holding part 2 is moved horizontally in the right direction in the figure. Then, when the right end of the substrate G held by the substrate holding unit 2 reaches vertically below the rotation center of the roller 3, the horizontal movement of the substrate holding unit 2 is stopped. Next, the roller 3 is lowered, and the lowermost part of the roller 3 comes into contact with the right end of the substrate G. When the pressure applied to the substrate G by the roller 3 reaches a predetermined value, the lowering of the roller 3 is stopped.

  Next, the pattern drawn on the roller 3 is transferred onto the surface of the substrate G by synchronizing the movement of the substrate holding part 2 in the right direction and the rotation of the roller 3. At the same time, the image transferred on the substrate G is imaged by the imaging unit 6. This imaging data is sent to the control unit 10 to calculate how much the pattern on the substrate G is displaced from the desired position. At the same time, ink is ejected from the nozzle 4 toward the roller 3, and the remaining pattern is drawn on the roller 3. At that time, based on the shift amount, the drawing position of the remaining pattern is corrected and drawn.

  As described above, when the pattern of the remaining portion is drawn on the roller 3, the drawing position can be corrected based on the shift amount of the pattern transferred on the substrate G, and the transfer pattern on the substrate G with high accuracy. Can be formed.

  Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the third embodiment, a surface modification process is performed on the substrate G as a pre-process of the transfer process using the pattern transfer apparatus 1.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration example of the surface modification processing unit 20 that performs the surface modification processing on the substrate G.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the surface modification processing unit 20 includes a substrate holding unit, for example, a modification processing stage 22 that places and holds the substrate G, and a plasma irradiation unit 23 that emits plasma toward the substrate G. Have. Further, the surface modification processing unit 20 has a housing 21, and the modification processing stage 22 and the plasma irradiation unit 23 are arranged inside the housing 21. The plasma irradiation unit 23 is disposed above the modification processing stage 22. The plasma irradiation unit 23 is connected to a plasma generation unit (not shown), and the plasma generated by the plasma generation unit is irradiated from the plasma irradiation unit 23 toward the surface of the substrate G on the modification processing stage 22. The pressure inside the casing 21 is atmospheric pressure, and the plasma irradiation unit 23 can irradiate the plasma toward the substrate G under atmospheric pressure. The surface modification processing unit 20 is controlled by the control unit 10.

  The processing atmosphere in the housing 21 can be selected from any one of air, an oxygen-only atmosphere, a nitrogen-only atmosphere, or another processing gas atmosphere. Depending on the processing atmosphere selected, the surface of the substrate G can be controlled to be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic after plasma irradiation. Further, the plasma intensity acting on the substrate G may be varied for each of a plurality of regions of the substrate G, and the strength of surface modification can be changed for each of the plurality of regions of the substrate G.

  Next, a processing procedure in the third embodiment will be described.

  First, the substrate G is carried into the surface modification processing unit 20, placed on the modification processing stage 22, and sucked and held.

  Next, plasma is irradiated from the plasma irradiation unit 23 toward the substrate G on the modification processing stage 22 in an atmospheric pressure atmosphere. The surface of the substrate G is modified by the plasma. At this time, the surface of the substrate G is modified to be either hydrophobized or hydrophilized by selecting a processing atmosphere (atmosphere, for example, air, oxygen, nitrogen, or other gas).

  At the same time, the plasma intensity acting on the substrate G is varied for each of a plurality of regions of the substrate G, and the strength of surface modification is provided for each of the plurality of regions of the substrate G.

  When the surface modification processing of the substrate G is completed, the plasma irradiation from the plasma irradiation unit 23 is stopped. The surface-modified substrate G is unloaded from the surface modification processing unit 20 and then loaded into the substrate holding unit 2 of the pattern transfer apparatus 1 of the first or second embodiment. Then, a pattern transfer process is performed on the substrate G according to the first or second embodiment. The pattern transfer apparatus 1 includes a substrate transport mechanism (not shown) that transports the substrate G between the modification processing stage 22 of the surface modification processing unit 20 and the substrate holding unit 2. By controlling the substrate transport mechanism, the substrate G is transported from the modification processing stage 22 of the surface modification processing unit 20 to the substrate holding unit 2.

  Conventionally, the physical properties of the ejected ink and the state of the surface of the roller 3 (including whether it is hydrophilic or water repellent) have been used as control parameters during the transfer process. In the third embodiment, the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of the surface of the substrate G and the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of each of the plurality of regions of the substrate G are additionally used as control parameters during the transfer process. Can do. Therefore, the transfer process can be controlled in more detail, and the pattern can be transferred onto the substrate G with high accuracy.

  Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

G substrate 1 pattern transfer device 2 substrate holding unit 3 roller 4 nozzle 6 imaging unit (second imaging unit)
7 Imaging unit (third imaging unit)
8 Imaging unit (first imaging unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control part 20 Surface modification process part 22 Modification process stage 23 Plasma emission part

Claims (7)

A pattern transfer apparatus for transferring a pattern formed of a processing liquid to a substrate,
A substrate holder for holding the substrate;
A rotatable roller for transferring the pattern to the substrate held by the substrate holding unit;
A pattern transfer apparatus comprising: a nozzle for discharging a processing liquid onto the surface of the roller and directly drawing the pattern on the surface of the roller.   The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is an inkjet nozzle.   The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first imaging unit that images the pattern transferred to the substrate.   The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a control unit that corrects drawing of the pattern by the nozzle based on image data of the first imaging unit.   5. The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second imaging unit that images the pattern drawn on the surface of the roller.   The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third imaging unit that images the substrate before the pattern is transferred.   The pattern transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a surface modification processing unit configured to perform a modification process on a surface of the substrate before the pattern is transferred.

Images