JP4748360B2 - Prober frame and LCD substrate inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a prober frame and a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus used for inspecting a liquid crystal substrate used for a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and the like, and more particularly to positioning of a liquid crystal substrate.

  A liquid crystal substrate or a thin film transistor array substrate (TFT array substrate) includes a TFT array in which thin film transistors (TFTs) are arranged in a matrix on a substrate such as a glass substrate, and a signal electrode that supplies a drive signal to the thin film transistor, The thin film transistor is driven by signals from the scanning signal electrode terminal and the video signal electrode terminal.

  As a device for inspecting a TFT array or a liquid crystal substrate formed on a substrate, a substrate inspection device such as a TFT array inspection device or a liquid crystal substrate inspection device is known. The substrate inspection apparatus includes an inspection prober and an inspection circuit that are electrically connected to the scanning signal electrode terminal and the video signal electrode terminal. The inspection circuit applies a predetermined voltage to the liquid crystal substrate through an inspection prober, and detects a short circuit between the gate and the source, a point defect, a disconnection, and the like by detecting the driving state of the liquid crystal substrate at this time.

  The driving state of the liquid crystal substrate is detected by, for example, irradiating the liquid crystal substrate with a charged particle beam such as an electron beam and detecting secondary electrons emitted from the liquid crystal substrate. Since the secondary electrons emitted from the liquid crystal substrate change according to the voltage of the liquid crystal substrate, the voltage that changes according to the inspection signal is detected by detecting the secondary electrons, thereby detecting defects in the liquid crystal substrate. To do.

  The TFT array formed on the liquid crystal substrate has various sizes and specifications, the layouts thereof are different, and the driving electrodes formed on the liquid crystal substrate are also different for each layout.

  For this reason, a substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a liquid crystal substrate is prepared by setting a prober pin electrode position according to the layout of the TFT array, and exchanging the inspection according to the liquid crystal substrate to be inspected.

   When inspecting the liquid crystal substrate, the prober frame is overlapped from above or below the liquid crystal substrate, and the probe pin provided on the prober frame is brought into contact with the electrode of the liquid crystal substrate, and the liquid crystal substrate and the prober are contacted by the contact between the probe pin and the electrode. There is an electrical connection between the two.

  In order to achieve good electrical connection between the probe pins provided in the prober frame and the electrodes provided on the liquid crystal substrate, it is necessary to correctly position the prober frame with respect to the liquid crystal substrate.

  In this positioning, the liquid crystal substrate and the prober frame are individually positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection device, and then the prober frame is placed on the liquid crystal substrate to accurately position the liquid crystal substrate and the prober frame. be able to.

  In order to position the prober frame with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection device, two positioning bushes are provided on the prober frame, and a positioning pin is provided on the liquid crystal substrate inspection device side, and this positioning pin is positioned. This is done by inserting it into the bush.

   In the positioning by the positioning bush and the positioning pin, the pitch between the positioning bushes changes due to the influence of machining accuracy and thermal expansion, and it may be difficult to insert the positioning pin into the positioning bush. If the positioning pin cannot be inserted into the bush, the prober frame cannot be correctly positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, and even if the positioning for the liquid crystal substrate side is performed accurately, the prober frame The probe pins cannot be brought into proper contact with the electrodes of the liquid crystal substrate.

  FIG. 8 is a view for explaining the relationship between the positioning bush and the positioning pin. FIG. 8 shows only a prober frame and positioning pins.

  In FIG. 8A, the prober frame 32 is provided with positioning bushes 33, 34, and is freely detachable from positioning pins 35, 36 fixed to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus side. When positioning the prober frame 32 with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, positioning pins 35 and 36 are inserted into the two positioning bushes 33 and 34. FIG. 8B shows this positioning state.

  When the position of the prober frame 32 is displaced due to the mechanical processing accuracy, or when the prober frame 32 is thermally deformed due to the influence of the heat of the substrate heating, a displacement occurs between the positioning bushes 33, 34 and the positioning pins 35, 36. If one positioning pin (positioning pin 35 in FIG. 8C) is aligned with the positioning bush 33, the other positioning pin 36 cannot be inserted into the positioning bush 34, and positioning is difficult. Become.

  The influence of the machining accuracy described above is due to an increase in the size of the prober frame and the like accompanying an increase in the size of the substrate, and positioning becomes difficult because the installation positions of the bush and the positioning pins deviate from predetermined positions. The influence of this machining accuracy becomes more conspicuous as the substrate becomes larger. For this reason, high machining accuracy is required with an increase in the size of the substrate, but high machining accuracy is accompanied by high costs.

  In addition, the influence of the thermal expansion described above may be inspected with the substrate heated in order to improve the inspection accuracy. At this time, the heating of the substrate affects the prober frame, and the prober frame is thermally deformed. To do. Due to this thermal deformation, the installation positions of the positioning bush and the positioning pins deviate from predetermined positions, and positioning becomes difficult.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-described conventional problems and facilitate the insertion of positioning pins into the positioning bush regardless of the pitch change between the bushes.

  In the present invention, the positioning bush portion has a mechanism for absorbing the positional deviation of the prober frame, so that even when the pitch between the positioning bushes changes, the positional deviation is absorbed and applied to the bushing. Easy insertion of positioning pins.

  The present invention includes a prober frame aspect and a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus aspect.

  The prober frame of the present invention is a prober for inspecting a liquid crystal substrate that supplies an inspection signal to the liquid crystal substrate, and the prober frame constituting the prober includes a plurality of positioning bushes that allow the positioning pins to be inserted and removed. At least one of the positioning bushes includes a roller mechanism that slides with the positioning pin.

  According to another aspect of the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus of the present invention, in the liquid crystal substrate inspection device for inspecting the liquid crystal substrate by supplying an inspection signal to the liquid crystal substrate, a prober frame constituting a prober for supplying the inspection signal to the liquid crystal substrate; And a top plate installed above the prober frame to determine a reference position for positioning the liquid crystal substrate. The prober frame includes a plurality of positioning bushes that allow the positioning pins provided on the top plate to be inserted and removed, and at least one of the positioning bushes includes a roller mechanism that slides with the positioning pins.

  The roller mechanism of the present invention absorbs the positional deviation of the positioning pin in the contact between the positioning pin and the roller portion by the relative displacement in the axial direction of the roller, and the positioning pin is used for positioning by the rotation of the roller. It is possible to move smoothly in the bush.

  In other words, the roller mechanism according to the present invention absorbs a positional deviation between the positioning bush and the positioning pin within a predetermined margin by sliding between the positioning bush of the prober frame and the positioning pin. Even when the pitch between the positioning bushes is changed, the positioning pin can be inserted into the positioning bush. As a result, the prober frame can be positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus. Further, after positioning, the positioning bush can be smoothly extracted from the positioning pin by the roller mechanism.

  As a result, the prober frame is positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection device, so that the prober frame and the liquid crystal substrate are placed on the liquid crystal substrate that is also positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection device in the same positional relationship. Can be easily aligned.

  Moreover, let the shape of the positioning bush provided with a roller mechanism be a long hole shape. As a result, the positional deviation in the axial direction of the roller can be absorbed by the positioning pin being displaced within the elongated hole.

  In addition, the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus may include a substrate heating mechanism that heats the liquid crystal substrate to a predetermined temperature. The roller mechanism has a deformation direction margin for absorbing thermal deformation of the prober frame due to heating of the substrate heating mechanism.

  According to the present invention, the positioning pin can be easily inserted into the bush regardless of the pitch change between the bushes.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The liquid crystal substrate is an inspection object to be inspected by a prober, and a TFT array is formed on the liquid crystal substrate. The layout, electrodes, wiring patterns, etc. of the TFT array formed on the liquid crystal substrate are variously set according to the size and specifications of the liquid crystal panel. Thin film transistors are formed in a matrix on the TFT array on the liquid crystal substrate, and signal electrode terminals (for example, scanning signal electrode terminals and video signal electrode terminals) for driving the thin film transistors are formed. In addition, an electrode for electrically connecting to the outside of the liquid crystal substrate is formed outside the array of the liquid crystal substrate.

  The prober is provided with a prober frame to be electrically connected to the electrodes of the liquid crystal substrate for inspection, and probe pins are electrically connected to the electrodes of the liquid crystal substrate.

  In order to inspect the liquid crystal substrate, the liquid crystal substrate is disposed on a pallet or a stage, and a prober frame is disposed on the liquid crystal substrate. The liquid crystal substrate and the prober frame are electrically connected when the electrode and the probe pin come into contact with each other, and an inspection signal is supplied to the TFT array through the connection between the probe pin and the electrode. Further, the connection between the prober frame and the pallet or stage is made by a prober frame and a connector provided on the pallet or stage.

  In a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus using a pallet, the pallet can be placed on a stage to be movable. Electrical connection between the pallet and the stage is performed by a pallet side connector provided on the pallet side and a stage side connector provided on the stage side.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view for explaining a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus and a prober frame of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1 supports a glass substrate 20 constituting a liquid crystal substrate and is movable in an XY direction and a θ direction, and a glass substrate placed on the XYθ stage 11. A prober 2 is provided which is arranged above and supplies an inspection signal.

  The XYθ stage 11 is driven in the XY direction and θ direction by a drive mechanism (not shown). By driving the XYθ stage 11, the electron beam irradiated from the electron gun 12 is scanned on the glass substrate 20 placed on the XYθ stage 11. Secondary electrons emitted from the glass substrate 20 by the irradiation of the electron beam are detected by a detector (not shown).

  The prober 2 includes a prober frame 3 and a prober pin (not shown) provided on the prober frame 3. The prober frame 3 is movable up and down by a lifter (elevator) 14 to which a top plate 15 is attached.

  The prober frame 3 includes a plurality of positioning bushes. In the figure, two positioning bushes 4 and 5 are provided. The top plate 15 is fixed to the base portion of the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, is a surface facing the prober frame 3, and is a positioning pin 16 at a position facing the positioning bushes 4 and 5 provided with the prober frame 3. It has.

  The lifting operation of the lifter 14 raises the prober frame 3 and inserts positioning pins 16 (only one is shown in the figure) into the positioning bushes 4 and 5. As a result, the prober frame 3 is positioned with respect to the top plate 15. Since the top plate 15 is fixed to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1, the prober frame 3 is eventually positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus.

  In the prober frame 3 of the present invention, at least one of the two positioning bushes 4 and 5 includes a roller mechanism 6. FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which the positioning bush 4 includes a roller mechanism 6.

  In addition, the liquid crystal substrate inspection device 1 includes an imaging device such as a CCD camera 13 in order to position the glass substrate 20 with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection device 1. The CCD camera 13 images the alignment mark 21 provided on the glass substrate 20, obtains a deviation between the imaged alignment mark 21 and a reference position determined on the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus side, and corrects this deviation by an XYθ stage. By driving, the glass substrate 20 can be positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus.

  Therefore, according to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1 of the present invention, the prober frame 3 is positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1 by engaging the positioning bushes 4 and 5 and the positioning pins 16, The glass substrate 20 is positioned with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1 by imaging the alignment mark. The prober frame 3 and the glass substrate 20 can be accurately positioned by these two positioning operations.

  In addition, the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus 1 includes a substrate heating mechanism 30 in order to heat the substrate 20 and perform inspection at a predetermined temperature. The substrate heating mechanism 30 can use a heater or a heating lamp, and can be provided, for example, in a support portion that supports the substrate 20 such as the XYθ stage 11.

  Next, an operation example of the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 and the operation diagrams of FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIG. 3A, the prober frame 3 is placed on the lifter 14 (S1), and the lifter 14 is raised to move the prober frame 3 to the top plate 15 side (S2). When the prober frame 3 is raised, the positioning bushes 4 and 5 are brought close to and engaged with the positioning pins 16 as shown in FIG. By this engagement, the prober frame 3 is positioned at a position determined by the positioning pins 16 (S3). The prober frame 3 is positioned by the steps S1 to S3.

  Next, the glass substrate is positioned in steps S4 to S6. The CDD camera 13 images the glass substrate 20 placed on the XY stage 11 and acquires an image of the alignment mark 21 provided on the glass substrate 20. FIG. 4A shows this process, and FIG. 4D shows an image acquired by this imaging. The alignment mark 21 is confirmed from the image and its position is obtained (S4). Based on the difference between the obtained position of the alignment mark 21 and the reference position of the alignment mark 21 when the glass substrate 20 is in the normal position, a correction amount for the positional deviation and inclination of the glass substrate 20 is calculated (S5).

  The XYθ stage 11 is driven based on the correction amount calculated in the step S5, and the glass substrate 20 is finely adjusted to be in a predetermined position as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4E (S6). .

  The positioning of the prober frame and the glass substrate is completed by positioning the prober frame by the steps S1 to S3 and the glass substrate by the steps S4 to S6.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4F, the lifter 14 is lowered to extract the positioning bushes 4 and 5 from the positioning pins 16, and the prober frame 3 is moved to the glass substrate 20 side. (S7), the prober frame 3 is placed on the glass substrate. At this time, since the prober frame 3 and the glass substrate 20 are already positioned by the steps S1 to S6, the probe pin and the glass substrate of the prober frame 3 can be simply lowered by moving the prober frame 3 onto the glass substrate 20. The 20 electrodes can be accurately aligned (S8).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for comparing the conventional prober frame and the prober frame of the present invention. 5A shows a conventional probe frame, and FIG. 5B shows a prober frame of the present invention.

  In the conventional probe frame, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the pitch between the positioning bushes is not formed with a predetermined accuracy due to insufficient machining accuracy or the prober frame is not heated by the substrate heating. If the distance between the positioning pins differs from the distance between the positioning bushes due to changes in the pitch between the positioning bushes due to heating and thermal deformation, it is difficult to insert and remove the positioning pins into the positioning bushes. It becomes.

  On the other hand, according to the prober frame of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), a roller mechanism is provided on at least one of the two positioning bushes to change the pitch between the positioning bushes. However, the positioning pin can be easily inserted into and removed from the positioning bush.

  FIG. 6 is a view for explaining the relationship between the positioning bush and the positioning pin in the prober frame of the present invention. In FIG. 6, only the prober frame and the positioning pins are shown.

  In FIG. 6A, the prober frame 3 includes positioning bushes 4 and 5, and the positioning bush 4 includes a roller mechanism 6.

  When positioning the prober frame 3 with respect to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, the positioning pins 16 are inserted into the two positioning bushes 4 and 5. FIG. 6B shows a case where the pitch of the positioning bushes 4 and 5 and the pitch of the positioning pins match. Positioning is performed by inserting the positioning pins 16 into the positioning bushes 4 and 5.

  If the position of the prober frame 32 is shifted by the machining accuracy or if it is thermally deformed by the influence of the substrate heating, the position of the positioning bushes 4 and 5 is shifted, and the pitch of the positioning bushes 4 and 5 and the positioning pins are increased. A pitch shift occurs between 16 pitches.

  At this time, since the roller mechanism 6 provided in the positioning bush 4 has the roller shaft arranged in the pitch direction between the positioning bushes 4 and 5, the positioning pin 16 only changes the contact position with the roller. The position can be set so that it can be inserted into the positioning bush 4, and the positioning pin 16 can be slid into the positioning bush 4 by the rotation of the roller, thereby allowing easy insertion. Further, when the positioning pin 16 is pulled out from the positioning bush 4, the positioning bush 4 can be easily pulled out from the positioning pin 16 by sliding of the roller mechanism 6.

  That is, the roller mechanism 6 can absorb the displacement of the positioning bush and allow the positioning pin to be smoothly inserted and removed.

  FIG. 7 is a view for explaining the roller mechanism of the present invention. FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (c) are views of the roller mechanism as viewed from above, and FIG. 7 (b) is a view of the roller mechanism. It is the figure seen from the side.

  The roller mechanism 6 is configured by rotatably supporting two rollers 6a arranged in parallel with a roller shaft 6b. The arrangement interval of the two rollers 6a is at least larger than the diameter of the positioning pin, and is substantially the same, and is a size that allows the positioning pin to be put in and out while contacting the contact surface 7 of the roller 6a.

  Further, a long hole 6c in the same direction as the axial direction of the roller 6a is formed in the main body of the roller mechanism 6, and at least a part of the roller 6a is exposed through the long hole 6c. Accordingly, the positioning pin 16 can be passed between the two rollers 6a while being in contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the two rollers 6a arranged to face each other through the elongated hole 6c. Further, the positioning pin 16 moves in a direction orthogonal to the roller shaft 6b while being in contact with the contact point 7 by rotating the roller shaft 6b after contacting the roller 6a at the contact point 7. Can do.

  Since the two rollers 6a are arranged in parallel, even if the positioning pin 16 is displaced in the axial direction of the roller shaft 6b, only the contact point 7 between the positioning pin 16 and the roller 6a is shifted. The positioning pins 16 can be taken in and out of the roller mechanism 6 without change.

  FIG. 7C shows a case where a positional deviation occurs between the positioning pin and the positioning bush. In this case, the positioning pin 16 can be engaged with the positioning bush by contacting the roller 6a at a position shifted in the axial direction of the roller shaft 6b of the roller mechanism 6.

  The configuration of the prober frame of the present invention is not limited to the liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, and can be applied to poor contact due to misalignment caused between the prober frame and the electrodes due to thermal expansion due to thermal heating or the like.

It is the schematic for demonstrating the liquid crystal substrate test | inspection apparatus and prober frame of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation example of the liquid crystal substrate test | inspection apparatus of this invention. It is an operation | movement figure for demonstrating the operation example of the liquid crystal substrate test | inspection apparatus of this invention. It is an operation | movement figure for demonstrating the operation example of the liquid crystal substrate test | inspection apparatus of this invention. It is a figure for comparing the conventional prober frame and the prober frame of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the positioning bush and the positioning pin in the prober frame of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the roller mechanism of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the bush for positioning and the pin for positioning.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus, 2 ... Probe, 3 ... Prober frame, 4, 5 ... Positioning bush, 6 ... Roller mechanism, 6a ... Roller, 6b ... Roller shaft, 6c ... Long hole, 7 ... Contact point, 11 ... XYθ stage, 12 ... electron gun, 13 ... CCD camera, 14 ... lifter, 15 ... top plate, 16 ... positioning pin, 20 ... glass substrate, 21 ... alignment mark, 30 ... substrate heating mechanism.

Claims (5)

In a prober for liquid crystal substrate inspection that supplies inspection signals to the liquid crystal substrate,
The prober frame constituting the prober includes a plurality of positioning bushes that allow the positioning pins to be inserted and removed, and at least one of the positioning bushes includes a roller mechanism that slides the positioning pins,
The roller mechanism includes a roller rotatably supported by a roller shaft and a hole through which the positioning pin passes,
In the state where the roller is in contact with the positioning pin at a contact point,
Enabling movement of the positioning pin in a direction perpendicular to the roller axis by rotation of the roller shaft, and displacement of the positioning pin in the axial direction by sliding to the contact point,
The prober frame according to claim 1, wherein the hole has a predetermined margin in the roller axial direction with respect to sliding of the positioning pin. The prober frame according to claim 1, wherein the rollers are two rollers arranged in parallel. Said hole is characterized in that the axial direction the same as the direction of the roller is a long hole to the long axis direction, prober frame according to claim 1 or 2. In a liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus that inspects a liquid crystal substrate by supplying an inspection signal to the liquid crystal substrate,
A prober frame constituting a prober for supplying inspection signals to the liquid crystal substrate;
A top plate installed above the prober frame to determine a reference position for positioning the liquid crystal substrate;
The prober frame, at least one positioning bush comprising said top plate is provided with a roller mechanism to slide the positioning pin,
The roller mechanism includes a roller rotatably supported by a roller shaft and a hole through which the positioning pin passes,
In the state where the roller is in contact with the positioning pin at a contact point,
Enabling the movement of the positioning pin in the direction orthogonal to the roller axis by rotation of the roller shaft and the displacement of the positioning pin in the axial direction by sliding at the contact point,
The liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hole has a predetermined margin in the roller axial direction with respect to the sliding of the positioning pin . A substrate heating mechanism for heating the liquid crystal substrate to a predetermined temperature;
The liquid crystal substrate inspection apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the roller mechanism has a deformation direction margin for absorbing thermal deformation of the prober frame due to heating of the substrate heating mechanism.

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