JP3854727B2 - Color filter color unevenness inspection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting color unevenness of a color filter used in a liquid crystal color display device or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A color filter usually forms a color filter layer of each color of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) on a transparent substrate such as a glass plate, and further, a black matrix at the boundary of each color filter layer. Manufactured by forming layers.
The color filter layer is generally formed by a photolithography method in which a photosensitive ink is applied on a transparent substrate with a spin coater, dried, exposed, developed and cured. However, each color filter layer manufactured in this way is likely to have color unevenness due to uneven coating or uneven temperature. Such an uneven color filter must be removed from the product as a defective product.
[0003]
Therefore, it is necessary to perform color unevenness inspection on the finally produced color filter, confirm whether color unevenness occurs in any of the RGB color filter layers, and check the process of the color filter layer where the color unevenness has occurred. is there.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to inspect the presence or absence of color unevenness, it is necessary to inspect the color unevenness for each color filter layer (that is, for each color). Therefore, when inspecting color unevenness of a color filter, the color filter layer portion of the color is made light-transmitting so that only one color filter layer portion transmits light, and the other portions are shielded using a mask substrate. . That is, the mask substrate is overlapped with the color filter, the color filter layer of the color to be inspected is matched with the light transmitting portion in the mask substrate, light is irradiated from behind, and the color filter layer of the color is visually observed. Inspect for unevenness.
[0005]
8 and 9 show a state in which the color filter 4 is superimposed on the mask substrate 3 and the color filter layer 51 can be inspected for color unevenness. On the mask substrate 3, a light shielding layer 55 made of the same material as the black matrix layer 57 is formed on the surface of a transparent substrate 54 similar to the transparent substrate 50 of the color filter 4. A slit portion 56 (light transmission portion) is formed in the light shielding layer 55 at a position corresponding to the color filter layer of each color and slightly larger than the color filter layer.
[0006]
On the other hand, in the color filter 4, R, G, B color filter layers 51, 52, 53 are arranged in parallel in a stripe shape, and the gaps between the color filter layers 51, 52, 53 and the surroundings are black. A matrix layer 57 is formed.
In order to perform color unevenness inspection of the color filter layer 51, the mask substrate 3 and the color filter 4 must be positioned so that the color filter layer 51 is disposed on the slit portion 56 of the mask substrate 3. Don't be.
Conventionally, in the color unevenness inspection of the color filter 4, an inspector superimposes the color filter 4 and the mask substrate 3, and moves the color filter 4 by hand to match the color filter layer 51 and the slit portion 56 of the mask substrate 3. I was letting.
[0007]
However, the color filter layers 51, 52, and 53 are formed in stripes having a width of about 100 μm, and they are arranged in parallel at intervals of about 10 to 20 μm, and are very fine patterns.
For this reason, in the conventional method in which the color filter 4 and the mask substrate 3 are moved and aligned by hand, the alignment is very difficult. As a result, the inspection work takes a lot of time and the efficiency is poor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a color filter color unevenness inspection apparatus that facilitates alignment between a color filter and a mask substrate and can improve inspection workability and efficiency.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present inventors have made intensive studies in order to enable the One or easily align the most difficult color filter and the mask substrate reliably in color unevenness inspection of the color filter, a simple manual operation As a result, the inventors have succeeded in developing a color unevenness inspection apparatus equipped with a mechanism capable of aligning the positions, and completed the present invention.
[0009]
In other words, the color unevenness inspection apparatus of the present invention superimposes the color filter on the mask substrate so that only the color filter layer portion of one color in the color filter transmits light and blocks the color filter layer portions of other colors. A color unevenness inspection apparatus for aligning and inspecting color unevenness of the color filter layer of one color by irradiating light from behind, and an inspection table in which a light source is incorporated and a top surface is a light irradiation surface; The mask substrate fixing means for fixing the mask substrate placed on the upper surface of the inspection table and the color filter holding unit for pressing and holding the color filter superimposed on the mask substrate from above. Part, an arm having the color filter holding part attached to the tip, and a rear end of the arm being attached to the color filter via the arm. Alignment means for aligning the light transmitting portion formed on the mask substrate by aligning with the mask substrate and a predetermined color portion in the color filter, the alignment means comprising: a longitudinal direction of the mask substrate; and A slide adjustment unit that moves the color filters in the horizontal direction and a color filter that is overlapped on the mask substrate by moving the rear end of the arm in an arc shape around the mask substrate is parallel to the mask substrate. And an angle adjuster adapted to adjust the mounting angle.
[0010]
Thus, in the present invention, the color filter superimposed on the mask substrate is pressed by the holding portion, and this holding portion is attached to the arm. Therefore, the color filter is moved in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction via the arm by the positioning means. Since the color filter can be slid in the direction or the mounting angle of the color filter can be adjusted, the operation is significantly facilitated as compared with the conventional method of aligning while moving the color filter by hand.
It is preferable that the slide adjustment unit includes a vertical coarse adjustment unit, a vertical fine adjustment unit, a horizontal coarse adjustment unit, and a horizontal fine adjustment unit. Therefore, in the alignment, rough adjustment can be performed by the coarse adjustment unit, and fine adjustment can be performed by the fine adjustment unit.
[0011]
In the slide adjustment unit, a horizontal coarse adjustment unit, a vertical fine adjustment unit, a horizontal fine adjustment unit, and a vertical coarse adjustment unit are stacked in this order from the bottom, and the rear end of the arm is arranged in the vertical coarse adjustment. It is attached to the adjustment unit. By loading in this way, the apparatus can be made compact.
The vertical fine adjustment unit and the horizontal fine adjustment unit include an upper plate and a lower plate that are slidably engaged with each other in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction, and a micrometer head unit that slides the upper plate or the lower plate. What you have is available. Therefore, by operating the micrometer head unit, the arm can be accurately finely moved to a predetermined position, and fine alignment is facilitated.
[0012]
Moreover, it is preferable that the said angle adjustment part is equipped with the arc-shaped rail which has a center on the said mask board | substrate, and the moving stand which moves along this rail. Such an angle adjustment unit can easily correct the angle deviation between the mask substrate and the color filter, and the inspection of the color unevenness is hindered by the light having the angle shifted and transmitted through the color filter layer of another color. Can be prevented.
As described above, an arm may be attached to the moving table via the longitudinal coarse adjustment part, or an arm may be directly attached.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a color filter color unevenness inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a color filter color unevenness inspection apparatus according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an inspection table, in which a light source is incorporated and the upper surface is a light irradiation surface 2. A mask substrate 3 is placed on the light irradiation surface 2 as shown in FIG. 2, and an inspection color filter 4 is overlaid on the mask substrate 3. In FIG. 1, two color filters 4 and 4 are formed on one transparent substrate.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 1, an L-shaped mask substrate positioning tool 5 is provided at a corner portion of the light irradiation surface 2, and a corner portion of the mask substrate 3 is pressed against the positioning tool 5. A mask substrate fixing tool 6 (mask substrate fixing means) is provided on the opposite side of the positioning tool 5 on the diagonal line. The mask substrate fixture 6 is made of a relatively heavy member, and as shown in FIG. 2, the inner surface of the thin plate portion 61 provided inside the L-shape is in contact with the end surface of the mask substrate 3, The mask substrate 3 is fixed together with the positioning tool 5 so as not to move carelessly.
[0015]
The inspection color filter 4 superimposed on the mask substrate 3 is pressed and fixedly held from above so as not to move by the color filter holding unit 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the color filter holding unit 7 includes a rod 71 and a rubber elastic body 72 provided on the lower surface of the rod 71. The rod 71 is held at the tip 8a of the arm 8 by a pair of guide bars 75, 75 standing on both sides of the upper surface, and is pressed downward by a pressing portion 73 provided at the center of the upper surface of the rod 71. . The pressing portion 73 includes a coil spring (not shown) inside, and presses the rod 71 against the color filter 4 by the elastic force of the spring. The pressing force can be adjusted by adjusting the nut 74.
With the above configuration, by moving the arm 8, the color filter 4 can be freely moved via the holding portion 7 attached to the arm tip 8a.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 3, the tip 8a of the arm 8 is connected to the main body 8b of the arm 8 by a hinge 40, so that the arm tip 8a having the color filter holding portion 7 can be rotated upward and lifted. . Therefore, the color filter 4 can be easily attached and detached. On the other hand, the lock portion 41 is provided together with the hinge 40 so that the arm tip 8a is not lifted carelessly during inspection. The locking portion 41 may be of any mechanism, but for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the arm tip 8a can be locked by sliding a slide piece 43 formed with a long hole 42 in the longitudinal direction to the arm tip 8a (FIG. 2 indicates a locked state). In order to release the lock, the slide piece 43 may be slid in the direction of arrow C.
[0017]
The rear end of the arm 8 is attached to the alignment means 9 as shown in FIG. This alignment means is for matching the light transmitting portion formed on the mask substrate 3 with the predetermined color portion in the color filter 4, and as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. It is installed on a table 10 attached to the front. More specifically, the alignment means 9 includes a lateral coarse adjustment unit 11, a vertical fine adjustment unit 12, a horizontal fine adjustment unit 13, an angle adjustment unit 14, and a vertical coarse adjustment unit 15. And are installed on the table 10 in this order. The arm 8 is attached to the upper part of the uppermost vertical direction coarse adjustment part 15.
Here, the horizontal direction means the direction of the arrow A shown in FIG. 1 (that is, the longitudinal direction of the table 10), and the vertical direction means the direction of the arrow B (that is, the width direction of the table 10). To do.
[0018]
The lateral direction coarse motion adjusting unit 11 is for roughly positioning the color filter 4 by moving the arm 8 in the lateral direction. The lateral coarse adjustment unit 11 includes a rail 16 laid on the table 10 along the lateral direction, and a slide base 17 that engages with the rail 16 and moves along the rail 16. In order to slidably engage the rail 16 and the slide base 17, for example, a non-grease type bearing type linear guide is provided.
As shown in FIG. 5, a slide lock 39 is attached to the lateral coarse motion adjusting unit 11 (for convenience, the slide lock 39 is omitted in FIG. 4).
[0019]
A vertical fine adjustment unit 12 provided at the upper part of the slide base 17 is an upper plate 18 and a lower plate 19 that are slidably engaged with each other in a vertical direction, and the upper plate 18 attached to the lower plate 19 in the sliding direction. And a micrometer head portion 20 for fine movement. Since the tip of the micrometer head portion 20 is in contact with or fixed to a contact plate 18a attached to the side of the upper plate 18, the upper plate 18 is moved to the lower plate 19 by turning the knob 20a. Can be finely moved. The fine movement range is preferably about 5 to 10 μm.
As shown in FIG. 5, the upper plate 18 and the lower plate 19 are slidably engaged with each other by a ball bearing 21. The upper plate 18 is provided with a locking knob 22 for fixing the upper plate 18.
[0020]
In the next lateral fine adjustment section 13, the upper plate 18 serves as a lower plate, and a second upper plate 24 is engaged with the upper surface of the upper fine plate 24 so as to be slidable in the lateral direction. Others are substantially the same as the vertical fine adjustment section. That is, a micrometer head portion 25 for finely moving the second upper plate 24 with respect to the upper plate 18 is provided on the side portion of the upper plate 18.
The upper plate 18 and the second upper plate 24 are slidably engaged by a ball bearing 23. The upper plate 24 is provided with a locking knob 26 for fixing the upper plate 24.
[0021]
An angle adjusting unit 14 is provided on the upper surface of the second upper plate 24. That is, on the upper surface of the plate 27 attached to the upper surface of the second upper plate 24, an arc-shaped rail 28 is laid as shown in FIG. 6, and the movable table 29 on which the arm 8 is loaded can move to the rail 28. Attached to. The arc-shaped rail 28 is set so that the center of the arc is on the mask substrate 3, preferably the center of the mask substrate 3.
A rack 30 is laid on the upper surface of the plate 27 in parallel with the arc-shaped rail 28 in the lateral direction. A handle 32 connected to the pinion is provided on the front surface of the operation unit 31 in which a pinion (not shown) that engages with the rack 30 is built.
[0022]
A U-shaped notch 33 is provided at the rear end of the operation unit 31. A pin 34 protruding from the movable table 29 is accommodated in the notch 33.
An arm 8 is attached to the moving table 29 via a longitudinal coarse adjustment unit 15. The longitudinal coarse adjustment portion 15 includes a rack 35 and a pinion (not shown) that engage with each other. The rack 35 is attached to the lower part of the arm 8, and the pinion accommodation case 36 is attached to the movable table 29 via a spacer 37 as shown in FIG. A handle 38 connected to the pinion is attached to the side surface of the pinion housing case 36.
[0023]
Next, a method for inspecting the color unevenness of the color filter 4 using the color unevenness inspection apparatus of the present invention will be described.
First, the slide piece 43 provided at the arm tip 8a is slid in the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. 2 to unlock the arm tip 8a, and the color filter holder 7 is lifted upward. Next, after the mask substrate 3 is placed on the light irradiation surface 2 of the inspection table 1 and positioned by the positioning tool 5, the fixing tool 6 is arranged on the opposite side of the positioning tool 5 on the diagonal line and fixed.
Then, the color filter 4 is disposed on the upper surface of the mask substrate 3, the color filter holding portion 7 is lowered onto the color filter 4, and the color filter 4 is pressed and fixed onto the mask substrate 3. Then, the lateral coarse adjustment unit 11 and the vertical coarse adjustment unit 15 are operated in order to perform approximate alignment of the color filter 4 with respect to the mask substrate 3.
[0024]
In the lateral coarse adjustment unit 11, the slide lock 39 shown in FIG. 5 is loosened, the entire alignment means 9 is moved along the rail 16, and the color filter 4 is moved in the lateral direction. When the approximate predetermined position is reached, the slide lock 39 is tightened to lock the lateral coarse adjustment unit 11 so as not to move.
On the other hand, in the vertical direction coarse adjustment unit 15, the handle 38 connected to the pinion is rotated to move the rack 35, and the arm 8 mounted on the rack 35 is slid in the vertical direction, so that the color filter 4 is approximately predetermined. Move to position.
[0025]
If the color filter 4 is not parallel to the mask substrate 3 after the adjustment by the coarse movement in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction is completed, the mounting angle of the color filter 4 is adjusted by the angle adjustment unit 14. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the operation unit 31 is moved in the horizontal direction along the rack 30 while turning the handle 32 for angle adjustment to the left or right. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, the U-shaped notch 33 at the distal end of the operation unit 31 accommodates the pin 34 protruding from the moving table 29, and thus the operation unit 31 is moved in the lateral direction. [For example, when moving from the position (i) shown in FIG. 7 to the position (ii) or (iii)], the moving table 29 also moves in the lateral direction, but the moving table 29 is placed on the arc-shaped rail 28. Therefore, the moving base 29 moves while drawing an arc along the arc-shaped rail 28 while the pin 34 moves in the direction of coming out of the U-shaped notch 33. The moving angle θ of the moving table 29 may be about 60 ° (ie, ± 30 ° with respect to the center line of (i)).
[0026]
After aligning the color filter 4 in parallel with the mask substrate 3 in this way, fine adjustment is performed in the vertical and horizontal directions. In the vertical fine adjustment section 12, as shown in FIG. 4, the knob 20a of the micrometer head section 20 attached to the lower plate 19 is turned to finely move the upper plate 18 to finely adjust the vertical position of the color filter 4. adjust.
Further, in the lateral fine adjustment unit 13, the knob of the micrometer head unit 25 attached to the upper plate 18 is turned to finely move the second upper plate 24 slidably mounted on the upper plate 18. The position of the color filter 4 in the horizontal direction is finely adjusted.
[0027]
As a result of these adjustments, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, one of RGB color filter layers 51, 52, 53 formed on stripes alternately on the surface of the transparent substrate 50 of the color filter 4. the color filter layer 51 is coincident with the slit portion 56 of the optical layer 55 barrier provided on the transparent substrate 54 of the mask substrate 3, the light from below passes through the color filter layer 51 through the slit portion 56. Therefore, the light visible from above at the time of inspection is only the light transmitted through the monochromatic color filter layer 51, and the light transmitted through the other color filter layers 52 and 53 is not mixed. Further, since part of the color filter layer 51 does not overlap with the part of the light shielding layer 55 of the mask substrate 3, light is transmitted through the entire region of the color filter layer 51. Therefore, the color unevenness inspection of the color filter layer 51 can be performed with high accuracy. In the case of the other color filter layers 52 and 53, the color unevenness inspection can be performed by adjusting the position in the same manner.
[0028]
In addition, although the fixture 6 was used for fixation of the mask substrate 3, you may fix using an adhesive agent or an adhesive tape, and the mask substrate fixing means in this invention is such an adhesive agent or an adhesive tape. It is a concept that also includes.
In the above description, the lateral coarse adjustment unit 11, the vertical fine adjustment unit 12, the horizontal fine adjustment unit 13, the angle adjustment unit 14, and the vertical coarse adjustment unit 15 that constitute the alignment means 9 are described. Although the stacking is performed from the bottom in order, the stacking order is not limited to this order, and can be appropriately changed as necessary.
Furthermore, the attachment positions of the micrometer head portions 20 and 25 are not limited to the positions shown in FIGS.
Further, in the positioning means 9, the arm may be coarsely moved by hand without providing the coarse adjustment part.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is easy to align the color filter and the mask substrate, which are required at the time of color unevenness inspection of each color filter layer formed on the color filter, and the workability and efficiency of the inspection are improved. There is an effect of improving.
[0030]
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a color unevenness inspection apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a fixed state of a mask substrate 3;
[0031]
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a tip portion of an arm having a color filter holding portion.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing an example of alignment means.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the alignment means shown in FIG.
6 is a plan view showing a main part of the alignment means shown in FIG. 4. FIG.
[0032]
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the angle adjustment unit.
FIG. 8 is a plan view of a color filter 4 aligned with a mask substrate.
9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inspection table 2 Light irradiation surface 3 Mask board | substrate 4 Color filter 6 Mask board | substrate fixture 7 Color filter holding | maintenance part 8 Arm 9 Positioning means 11 Lateral coarse adjustment part 12 Vertical fine adjustment part 13 Lateral fine adjustment part 14 Angle Adjustment unit 15 Longitudinal coarse adjustment unit

Claims (6)

Overlay the color filter on the mask substrate, align only the color filter layer part of one color in the color filter and transmit the light from behind. A color unevenness inspection apparatus for inspecting color unevenness for the color filter layer of one color,
An inspection table with a built-in light source and a light irradiation surface on the top,
A mask substrate fixing means for fixing the mask substrate placed on the upper surface of the inspection table;
A color filter holding unit for fixing and holding the color filter by pressing the color filter superimposed on the mask substrate from above;
An arm with the color filter holder attached to the tip;
Positioning means for attaching a rear end of the arm and aligning the color filter with respect to the mask substrate through the arm so as to match a light transmitting portion formed on the mask substrate with a predetermined color portion in the color filter. And
The alignment means includes a slide adjustment unit that moves the color filter in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the mask substrate, and a rear end of the arm that moves around the mask substrate in an arc shape so as to overlap the mask substrate. An apparatus for inspecting color unevenness of a color filter, comprising: an angle adjusting unit configured to adjust a mounting angle so that the combined color filter is parallel to the mask substrate . The color unevenness inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slide adjustment unit includes a vertical coarse adjustment unit, a vertical fine adjustment unit, a horizontal coarse adjustment unit, and a horizontal fine adjustment unit. The horizontal coarse adjustment unit, vertical fine adjustment unit, horizontal fine adjustment unit, and vertical coarse adjustment unit that constitute the slide adjustment unit are stacked in this order from the bottom, and the arm performs vertical coarse adjustment. The color unevenness inspection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the color unevenness inspection device is attached to an adjustment unit. The color unevenness inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the angle adjustment unit is provided between the horizontal fine adjustment unit and the vertical coarse adjustment unit. The vertical fine adjustment part and the horizontal fine adjustment part are attached to either the upper plate or the lower plate, and the upper plate or the lower plate are slidably engaged with each other in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction. The color unevenness inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising a micrometer head unit that finely moves the plate in a sliding direction thereof. The color unevenness inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the angle adjustment unit includes an arc-shaped rail having a center on the mask substrate, and a moving base that moves along the rail.

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