JP3474927B2 - Manufacturing method of intaglio for printing - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing a printing intaglio suitable for precision printing by gravure offset printing represented by tampo printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For manufacturing circuit boards for electronic circuits and color filters for liquid crystal color displays used in electronic devices such as personal computers, electronic desk calculators, digital watches, and televisions. It has been proposed to use a printing method, which has a small number of manufacturing steps and is inexpensive. Among them, the use of gravure offset printing, which enables highly accurate and precise printing, is being considered.

The intaglio plate for gravure offset printing is
A step of forming an etching resist on the entire surface of the substrate, a step of forming a printing pattern by removing the etching resist at a portion corresponding to the printing pattern by laser light irradiation, and a step of forming a concave portion corresponding to the printing pattern by etching. Consists of. As the intaglio substrate, a glass substrate such as soda lime glass, quartz glass, non-alkali glass, low alkali glass, or low expansion glass is generally used. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the top surface 10 of the intaglio plate is flat, the depth d of the recess 11 is constant, the bottom surface 11a of the recess 11 is flat, and the linearity of the pattern (that is, the recess It is possible to manufacture an intaglio plate having high linearity (edge 12 of 11), and high-precision gravure offset printing becomes possible.

When gravure offset printing is performed using such an intaglio plate, ink is filled in the recesses 11 of the intaglio plate, the ink is transferred from the intaglio plate to the offset blanket, and then an ink layer is formed from the offset blanket to the printing medium. Transfer. When the ink is filled in the concave portion of the intaglio plate, doctor ring is used to scrape off the excess ink 8 on the upper surface 10 of the intaglio plate with a doctor blade 9 such as a mild steel plate, as shown in FIG.

However, when the doctoring is repeated, the edge 12 of the concave portion 11 of the intaglio plate is sharp, so that the edge portion 12 is apt to be chipped as shown in FIG. ). On the other hand, in the above glass substrate etching, the substrate is corroded not only in the depth direction of the recess 11 but also in the lateral direction (side etching). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the substrate 16 is etched after the etching resist 15 is removed with the pattern line width Wp and patterning is performed, the opening width of the finished recess 11 is the width Wp patterned by the etching resist. The width becomes wider than that of Wa. At this time, the opening width Wa of the intaglio recess 11 is determined by the following formula from the width Wp patterned on the etching resist and the depth of the recess 11 (that is, the etching amount Ya).

[0006]

## EQU1 ## Wa = Wp + Sa-(1) Sa = k.times.Ya-(2) Wp: Pattern line width Sa: Side etching amount k: Side etching rate (constant) Therefore, the predetermined depth was maintained. In order to finely adjust the opening width Wa of the recess 11 as it is, it was necessary to design the width Wp patterned on the etching resist from the above equations (1) and (2) and remake a new intaglio plate.

However, with the diversification of liquid crystal displays such as high resolution, the width of the intaglio plate used for printing the color filter cannot be adjusted to a single width, and an intaglio plate having concave portions with various opening widths has been required. Therefore, it is necessary to manufacture various intaglio plates having different opening widths Wa of the recesses, which necessitates a large number of original plates for resist patterns, resulting in increased cost and complexity.

A main object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an intaglio plate for printing, which prevents the recess from being chipped due to repeated doctoring and has improved durability. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a printing intaglio plate, which is capable of producing recesses having various opening widths using one type of resist pattern original plate.

The inventors of the present invention have a concept that the chipping of the recess due to repeated doctoring is likely to occur because the edge of the recess is sharp, so that the chipping of the recess can be prevented by rounding the edge. As a result of further research and development, an etching resist was formed on the substrate surface,
The etching resist on the part corresponding to the turn was removed
After that, a concave portion of the printed pattern was formed on the surface of the substrate by the first etching using the corrosive liquid , and then the etching resist was removed from the surface of the substrate , and then the corrosive liquid was used.
When the second etching is performed, the corners of the edge portion can be easily rounded, and as a result, the new fact that the chipping of the concave portion due to repeated doctoring can be prevented has been found, and the present invention has been completed. Moreover, in the present invention,
Even if the corners of the edges are rounded, as mentioned above, the advantage of using a glass substrate is that the plate top surface and bottom surface of the recess are flat, the depth of the recess is constant, and the linearity of the pattern is high. Is not damaged.

FIG. 1A shows a concave portion 2 formed on the surface of the substrate 1 by the first etching, and the edge portion 3 is sharp. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the intaglio plate 4 according to the present invention, which has been subjected to the second etching described above, has a rounded edge portion 3 '. Further, as described above, when performing the etching twice,
Since the resist has been removed in the second etching, the top surface of the plate and the bottom surface of the recess are simultaneously etched by the same amount, so that the depth of the recess does not change, but the side faces of the recess are simultaneously etched by the same amount. As a result, only the opening width is widened without changing the depth of the recess.
Therefore, the opening width of the recess can be adjusted by adjusting the etching amount (corrosion amount) of the second time.

As the substrate of the intaglio plate of the present invention, for example, soda lime glass, non-alkali glass, quartz, low alkali glass, low expansion glass and the like can be used, and in particular, an intaglio plate suitable for precision printing such as color filters is manufactured. In order to do so, it is preferable to use a soft glass material such as soda lime glass. To perform the first etching, an etching resist is first formed on the surface of the substrate. The material of the etching resist may be any material having sufficient resistance to the corrosive liquid used for etching, and examples thereof include chromium and novolac resins. The thickness of the etching resist is usually
It is preferably about 0.05 to 0.5 μm. The etching resist is, for example, CVD (chemical vapor deposition) or PVD.
It is formed by uniformly vapor-depositing the above-mentioned material on the substrate by using (physical vapor deposition) or by directly coating the surface with various coaters.

After the etching resist is formed, the etching resist at the portion corresponding to the print pattern is removed by laser irradiation or a photolithography method to form the print pattern on the surface of the substrate. For example, in the case of a liquid crystal color filter, a stripe pattern having a width of about 100 μm is formed as a print pattern. Then, the first etching is performed. Examples of the corrosive liquid used for this etching include a mixed aqueous solution containing hydrofluoric acid as a main component and nitric acid, sulfuric acid, ammonium fluoride and the like. The type, concentration, etching time, and etching temperature of the corrosive liquid used are appropriately set according to the depth of the recesses formed in the substrate. Usually, the etchant for the first etching is adjusted to have a corrosion rate of 0.1 to 10 μm / min, and preferably used at a corrosion rate of 0.5 to 5 μm / min. Also, the etching is 20 to 25
Perform for 1 to 10 minutes in the temperature range of ° C.

After completion of the first etching, the etching resist on the surface of the substrate is completely removed, and then the second etching is performed. As the corrosive liquid used for the second etching, the same corrosive liquid as that used for the first etching can be used. It is preferable that the etching ability of the corrosive liquid used for the second etching is the same as or lower than that of the corrosive liquid used for the first etching. Specifically, for example, the concentration of the corrosive liquid used for the second etching is adjusted so that the etching capacity of the corrosive liquid is 1 in terms of the corrosion amount with respect to that of the first corrosive liquid.
/ 1 to 1/1000, preferably 1/2 to 1/1
It should be in the range of 00.

Here, when the corners of the edge of the recess are rounded in order to prevent the recess from being chipped due to repeated doctoring, the first etching amount (Ya, which means the etching depth) and 2 Second etching amount (Y
b, which means the etching depth) (Yb
/ Ya) is 1/10000 to 1/1, preferably 1/1
It is suitable that it is from 00 to 1/2.

On the other hand, when the opening width of the recess is adjusted, as shown in FIG. 2, the first etching is performed and the second etching is performed on the surface of the substrate from which the etching resist 5 has been completely removed. . At this time, assuming that the concave portion 2 formed by the first etching has the opening width Wa, the opening width Wb of the second etching is expressed by the following formula.

[0016]

## EQU2 ## Wb = Wa + Sb- (3) where Sb is the side etching amount and is represented by the following formula.

[0017]

## EQU00003 ## Sb = k.times.Yb-(4) Yb: Etching amount of second etching k: Side etching rate (constant) From equations (3) and (4), side etching amount Sb of second etching. It is understood that the concave portions 6 having various opening widths Wb can be easily manufactured by changing

The side etching amount Sb of the second time, that is, the etching amount Yb of the second time can be arbitrarily set according to the target opening width Wb and is not particularly limited, but the thickness of the substrate 1 and Considering the strength, the second side etching amount Sb is usually 0.1 to 100 μm.
m, preferably 1 to 50 μm.

[0019]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be shown below. (Production Example of Intaglio Plate with Rounded Edges of Recesses) Example 1 A chrome film etching resist (thickness: 1000 A) was formed on the surface of a soda lime glass substrate, and a stripe pattern (width: 100 μm), which is a printing pattern, was formed by laser light. Formed by. The first etching was performed for 10 minutes using a corrosive solution (hydrofluoric acid / sulfuric acid mixed solution, pH = 1 to 2) kept at 23 ° C. so that the etching amount (Ya) was 8 μm. . Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and the second etching is performed for 10 minutes with a corrosive solution having a concentration of 1/1000 of the first etching,
I got an intaglio. Example 2 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and 1/10 of the first time is removed.
The second etching was performed for 10 minutes with the corrosive liquid having the concentration of, to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 3 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and 1/10 of the first time is removed.
The second etching was performed for 25 minutes with the corrosive liquid having the concentration of, to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 4 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and 1/10 of the first time is removed.
The second etching was performed for 50 minutes with the corrosive liquid having the concentration of, to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 5 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and 1/10 of the first time is removed.
The second etching was performed for 100 minutes with the corrosive solution having the concentration of, to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 6 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and 1/10 of the first time is removed.
The second etching was performed for 200 minutes with the corrosive solution having the concentration of, to obtain an intaglio plate. Comparative Example 1 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 1, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Then, the etching resist was removed from the substrate to obtain an intaglio plate. (Evaluation of Intaglio Plates with Rounded Edges of Recesses) Regarding the intaglio plates obtained in Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example of the present invention, the shape of the intaglio plate after the second etching and the occurrence of chipping of the edge part due to the doctoring test were observed. Examined. Swedish steel was used for the doctor blade of the doctoring test, and the state of the edge portion was examined every 1000 times out of a total of 100,000 times of doctoring. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0020]

[Table 1]

(The contents of each item in the table are shown below. "Shape of intaglio": Shows the shape of the intaglio after the second etching. "Upper surface": Smoothness of the surface of the intaglio with a ten-point average roughness. Sa (Rz)
Indicate. ◯: Sufficiently smooth (Rz <0.1 μm) Δ: Slightly rough (0.1 μm ≦ Rz <0.3 μm) ×: Rough (Rz ≧ 0.3 μm) “Depth”: at 25 points in the recess The standard deviation (σ) shows the variation in the measured depth of the recess.

◯: (σ <0.1 μm) Δ: (0.1 μm ≦ σ <0.3 μm) ×: (σ ≧ 0.3 μm) “Bottom surface”: The smoothness of the bottom surface of the recess is the ten-point average roughness. (Rz)
Indicate. ◯, Δ, and x are the same as the “top surface”.

"Linearity": Indicates the irregularity of the linearity of the edge portion. ◯: No turbulence Δ: Slight turbulence ×: The shape before rounding of the edge part is not retained “Number of times of chipping”: Indicates the number of times of doctoring when the edge part is chipped. (Example of Adjusting Opening Width of Recess) Example 7 An etching resist (thickness: 1000 A) of a chrome film was formed on the surface of a soda lime glass substrate, and a stripe pattern (width: 110 μm) that was a printing pattern was formed by laser light. . The first etching was performed for 10 minutes using a corrosive solution (hydrofluoric acid / sulfuric acid mixed solution, pH = 1 to 2) kept at 23 ° C. so that the etching amount (Ya) was 8 μm. . Next, the etching resist is removed from the substrate, and the etching ability is
The second etching was performed for 10 minutes so that the etching amount (Yb) was 0.8 m using a corrosive liquid of / 10 to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 8 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 7, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Then, the etching resist was removed from the substrate, and the second etching was performed for 20 minutes with a corrosive liquid having an etching capacity of 1/10 that of the first etching to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 9 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 7, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Then, the etching resist was removed from the substrate, and the second etching was performed for 50 minutes with a corrosive liquid having an etching ability of 1/10 that of the first etching to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 10 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 7, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Then, the etching resist was removed from the substrate, and the second etching was performed for 100 minutes with a corrosive liquid having an etching ability of 1/10 that of the first etching to obtain an intaglio plate. Example 11 An etching resist was formed on a soda lime glass substrate in the same manner as in Example 7, a stripe pattern was formed, and the first etching was performed. Then, the etching resist was removed from the substrate, and the second etching was performed for 200 minutes with a corrosive liquid having an etching ability of 1/10 that of the first etching to obtain an intaglio plate. (Evaluation of intaglio with adjusted opening width) Examples 7 to 1 of the present invention
Regarding the intaglio obtained in No. 1, the shape of the intaglio after adjusting the opening width of the indent by the second etching was examined. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0024]

[Table 2]

(In the table, "top surface" in the column "shape of intaglio",
The meanings of “depth”, “bottom surface”, “linearity” and symbols in the columns are the same as in the case of Table 1 above. )

[0026]

According to the present invention, after the concave portion is formed by the first etching, the etching resist is removed from the surface of the intaglio plate and the second etching is performed, so that the edge portion of the concave portion is formed by repeating the doctoring. It is possible to prevent chipping of the intaglio and enhance the durability of the intaglio plate.

Further, according to the present invention, since the recess and the surface are simultaneously etched by the second etching, the width of the opening can be increased without changing the depth of the intaglio recess. As a result, it is possible to arbitrarily adjust the opening width of the concave portion, and it is not necessary to prepare an original plate having many printing patterns according to the opening width, and the cost can be reduced.

The intaglio plate for printing obtained by the method of the present invention is suitable for use in precision printing requiring high dimensional accuracy such as printing of electronic circuits and resists on a high-density printed circuit board, or printing of liquid crystal color filters. It can be used for high-volume printing and has an extremely high industrial value.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A is a cross-sectional view showing the shape of a recess after the first etching in the process of one embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is the second etching. It is sectional drawing which shows the shape of the recessed part after.

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of an intaglio plate when a printing pattern is formed on an etching resist in the process of one embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. Sectional view of the intaglio when the etching of FIG.
Is a cross-sectional view of the intaglio when the etching resist is removed after the first etching, and FIG. 6D shows a case where the second etching is performed to adjust the opening width of the recess after removing the etching resist. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an intaglio plate when a glass substrate is used as the substrate.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an intaglio plate showing a doctoring process of filling ink in recesses.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an intaglio having a chipped edge portion due to a doctoring process.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing side etching during etching.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-Substrate 2-concave 3, 3'-edge part 4-Intaglio

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-55-124234 (JP, A) JP-A-55-124233 (JP, A) JP-A-53-61974 (JP, A) JP-A-5- 185327 (JP, A) JP-A-4-373126 (JP, A) JP-A-3-87383 (JP, A) JP-A-3-76158 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41C 1/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An etching resist is formed on the surface of a substrate.
The etching resist of the part corresponding to the print pattern.
After removal of the corrosion solution to form a recess of the print pattern by first etching the surface of the substrate using the, then after removing the etching resist from the surface of the substrate, etchant
A method of manufacturing an intaglio plate for printing, which comprises performing a second etching using. 2. The ratio (Yb / Ya) of the first etching amount (Ya) and the second etching amount (Yb) is 1/10.
The method for producing an intaglio plate for printing according to claim 1, wherein the intaglio is from 0 to 1/2. 3. The method for producing an intaglio plate for printing according to claim 1, wherein the etching ability of the corrosive liquid used for the second etching is equal to or lower than that of the corrosive liquid used for the first etching.