JP4802027B2 - Pattern correction device and application unit thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a pattern correcting apparatus and a coating unit thereof, and more particularly to a pattern correcting apparatus and a coating unit for correcting a defective portion of a fine pattern formed on a substrate. More specifically, the present invention relates to pattern correction for correcting electrode open defects, plasma display rib (partition wall) defects, liquid crystal color filter blank defects, mask defects, etc., which occur in the manufacturing process of flat panel displays. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a coating unit used therefor.

  In recent years, with the increase in size and definition of flat panel displays such as plasma displays, liquid crystal displays, and EL displays, defects have occurred in the electrodes and ribs on the substrate in the display manufacturing process, and liquid crystal color filters There is a high probability that defects will occur in the colored layer. For this reason, there has been proposed a pattern correcting apparatus that improves the yield and corrects various defects.

  For example, as an apparatus for correcting a white defect in which a part of a colored layer of a liquid crystal color filter is missing, there is an apparatus that corrects a white defect by applying a correction ink attached to the tip of an application needle (for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, as a device that corrects a rib chip defect in which a part of the rib formed on the back glass substrate of the plasma display is chipped, a correction paste attached to the tip of the coating needle is applied to the rib chip defect and corrected. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

In these pattern correction devices, after the application needle is moved up and down on the liquid surface of the correction liquid (correction ink, correction paste) injected into the container to attach the correction liquid to the tip of the application needle, The application needle was moved up and down on the defect portion (white defect, rib defect defect) to apply the correction liquid at the tip of the application needle to the defect portion.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-61296 JP 2000-299059 A

  However, in the conventional pattern correction device, when the defect portion is large, it is necessary to apply the correction liquid to the defect portion a plurality of times.Each time the coating is applied, the application needle is returned from the defect portion to the container, and the correction liquid is applied to the application needle. It was necessary to reattach. For this reason, there has been a problem that the time required for correcting the defective portion becomes long.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a pattern correction apparatus and its coating unit that can quickly correct a defective portion with a simple configuration.

The coating unit according to the present invention is a coating unit of a pattern correction device for correcting a defective portion of a fine pattern formed on a substrate, a through hole is opened at the bottom, and a container into which a correction liquid is injected, A coating needle having a diameter substantially the same as that of the through-hole, for applying the correction liquid to the defective portion, a first linear motion guide member that supports the container and the coating needle so as to be movable up and down, and the container and the coating needle are relatively The second linear motion guide member that is supported so as to be movable up and down, the container and the application needle are moved up and down, and the container and the application needle are relatively moved up and down to project the tip of the application needle from the through hole. der that a drive unit for attaching the correction fluid to the distal end portion Te is, the drive shaft of the drive unit is Ru der only one.

Also preferably, the drive unit is lowered only applied needle after lowering the container and coating the needle to protrude the leading end of the coating the needle through the through hole.

  In addition, preferably, a support base and an application needle are provided at a tip portion thereof, and a base end portion thereof is coupled to the support base via a first linear motion guide member so as to be movable up and down with respect to the support base. A first arm provided, and a container at a distal end portion thereof, and a proximal end portion thereof coupled to the first arm via a second linear motion guide member, relative to the first arm; Movement range limitation that limits the vertical movement amount of the second arm relative to the first arm to the first arm so as to be movable in the vertical direction to a range smaller than the vertical movement amount of the first arm. And a drive unit that moves only the proximal end portion of the first arm up and down to move the container and the application needle up and down, and relatively moves the container and the application needle up and down.

  Preferably, the first and second arms are disposed on one side of the support base, the drive unit is disposed on the other side of the support base, and the container is provided at a position lower than the drive unit.

Moreover, the pattern correction apparatus according to the present invention includes the coating unit.
Preferably, the apparatus further includes a shielding plate that is disposed below the bottom of the container when the coating unit is in a standby state and receives correction liquid leaking from the through hole.

  Further preferably, the apparatus further comprises a moving means for moving the coating unit in the horizontal direction during the coating operation to separate the container from the shielding plate, and the drive unit is located at a position where the bottom of the container separated from the shielding plate is lower than the shielding plate. To lower.

  Preferably, a plurality of application units into which different types of correction liquids are injected are provided, and the correction liquid of the application unit selected according to the type of the defective part among the plurality of application units is applied to the defective part.

In the coating unit and the pattern correction device according to the present invention, a through hole is opened at the bottom, the container into which the correction liquid is injected, and a diameter substantially the same as the through hole, and for applying the correction liquid to the defective portion An application needle, a first linear guide member that supports the container and the application needle so as to be movable up and down, a second linear motion guide member that supports the container and the application needle so as to be relatively movable up and down, a container, and an application needle with vertically moving the, container and coating the needle is relatively vertically movable, a driving unit for adhering the correction fluid to the tip portion is protruded tip portion of the application needle from the through hole is provided, the drive of the drive unit axis Ru der only one. Therefore, the correction liquid can be applied to the defective portion by causing the tip of the application needle to protrude from the through-hole at the bottom of the container so that the correction liquid adheres to the tip, and the tip of the application needle is brought into contact with the defect in that state. . Therefore, the defective portion can be quickly corrected with a simple configuration as compared with the conventional case where the application needle needs to be moved between the container and the defective portion.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a pattern correction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a pattern correction apparatus 1 includes an observation optical system 2 for observing the surface of a substrate, a monitor 3 for displaying an observed image, and irradiating the substrate with laser light through the observation optical system 2 to cut unnecessary portions. A cutting laser unit 4 to be applied, a coating mechanism unit 5 for applying a correction liquid to the tip of the coating needle and coating the defective part of the substrate, a substrate heating unit 6 for heating the correction liquid applied to the defective part, and a defective part An image processing unit 7 for recognizing the image, a host computer 8 for controlling the entire apparatus, and a control computer 9 for controlling the operation of the apparatus mechanism unit. In addition, an XY stage 10 that moves a substrate having a defective portion in the XY direction (horizontal direction), a chuck unit 11 that holds the substrate on the XY stage 10, and the observation optical system 2 and the coating mechanism unit 5 are moved in the Z direction. A Z stage 12 that is moved in the (vertical direction) is provided.

  The XY stage 10 is used to relatively move the substrate to an appropriate position when the correction liquid is applied to the defective portion by the application mechanism unit 5 or when the surface of the substrate is observed by the observation optical system 2. The XY stage 10 shown in FIG. 1 has a configuration in which two uniaxial stages are stacked in a perpendicular direction. However, the XY stage 10 only needs to be able to move the substrate relative to the observation optical system 2 and the coating mechanism unit 5, and is limited to the configuration of the XY stage 10 shown in FIG. is not. In recent years, gantry-type XY stages that can move independently in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction have been widely adopted as the substrate size increases.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the coating unit 20 included in the coating mechanism unit 5 shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the coating unit 20 has a container 21 in which a first hole 21 a is opened at the bottom thereof and a correction liquid 22 is injected, a lid 23 in which a second hole 23 a is opened and the container 21 is sealed, It includes an application needle 24 having substantially the same diameter as the first and second holes 21a and 23a.

  The distal end portion 24 a of the application needle 24 penetrates the second hole 23 a and is immersed in the correction liquid 22. Since the diameters of the first and second holes 21a and 23a are slightly larger than the diameter of the coating needle 24 penetrating them, the surface tension of the correction liquid 22 and the water / oil repellency of the container 23 There is almost no leakage of the correction liquid 22 from the first hole 21a.

  The hole formed in the container 21 for injecting the correction liquid 22 has a tapered shape in which the cross-sectional area decreases as the hole 21a is approached. Therefore, the tip portion 24a of the application needle 24 can be immersed with a small amount of correction liquid 22, which is economical. The amount of the correction liquid 22 is, for example, 20 μl (microliter). Some correction fluids 22 do not last for a long time, and the container 21 is periodically replaced. Alternatively, the used container 21 can be reused after washing. In order to simplify the attachment and detachment of the container 21, usability is improved by making the structure easy to grasp by hand.

  The base end portion of the application needle 24 is fixed to the application needle fixing plate 25, and the application needle fixing plate 25 is fixed to the distal end portion 26 a of the arm 26. The application needle fixing plate 25 is fixed to the arm 26 by a method such as screwing or magnet attraction. The arm 26 has an L shape, and a base end portion of the arm 26 is coupled to the support base 33 via the linear motion guide member 30. The arm 26 is supported by the linear motion guide member 30 so as to be movable up and down with respect to the support base 33.

  The container 21 is fixed to the distal end portion 28 a of the other arm 28. The container 21 is positioned by an abutting portion 28b provided at the distal end portion 28a of the arm 28, and is fixed to the arm 28 by a method such as screwing or magnet attraction. The arm 28 has an L shape, and a base end portion of the arm 28 is coupled to the arm 26 via a linear motion guide member 29. The arm 28 is supported by the linear motion guide member 29 so as to be movable up and down with respect to the arm 26.

  Each of the linear motion guide members 29 and 30 has a rolling guide configuration in which a rolling element (such as a ball) is interposed between the rail portion and the slide portion, and the rail portion and the slide portion can be freely operated with an extremely light force. It is a linear guide that can move linearly. In order to improve application accuracy, a light preload may be applied.

  The amount of relative movement of the arms 26 and 28 in the vertical direction is limited by the pin 27 fixedly supported by the arm 26 and the notch hole 28 c provided in the arm 28. That is, the relative movement range is a range in which the pin 27 can move in the cutout hole 28c, and therefore it is not necessary to provide a stopper for preventing the linear motion guide member 29 from coming off. Stoppers 31 and 32 fixed to the support base 33 are provided above and below the linear motion guide member 30, and the vertical movement of the arm 26 is restrained by the stoppers 31 and 32. The lower stopper 32 also serves as a stopper that limits the operating range of the arm 28. Due to the stoppers 31 and 32, the pin 27, and the notch hole 28c, the amount of relative movement of the arm 28 in the vertical direction with respect to the arm 26 is limited to a range smaller than the amount of vertical movement of the arm 26.

  An air cylinder 34 is provided on the opposite side of the support base 33 from the arms 26 and 28 with the output shaft 34a facing downward. A drive plate 35 having a pin 35a fixed to the tip is fixed horizontally at the tip of the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34, and moves up and down integrally with the output shaft 34a. The pin 35a is in contact with a notch 26b provided at the base end of the arm 26 from below, and has a function of moving the arm 26 up and down by the vertical movement of the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34.

  In FIG. 2, the output shaft 34 a of the air cylinder 34 is on the upper side (in this example, the output shaft 34 a is retracted), the arm 26 is positioned at the upper end, and the arm 28 is suspended from the pin 27, that is, The pin 27 is in contact with the upper end of the cutout hole 28c. At this time, the tip 24 a of the application needle 24 is in a state of being immersed in the correction liquid 22 placed in the container 21. As described above, the tip of the coating unit 20 (the portion around the coating needle 24 and the container 21) is configured to be thin in the vertical direction, and the tip is disposed below the air cylinder 34. It is also possible to insert the portion between the objective lens of the observation optical system 2 and the substrate.

  FIG. 3 shows a state where the defective portion 41 a of the substrate 41 is observed with the objective lens 40 of the observation optical system 2. The coating unit 20 is arranged at a position away from the objective lens 40 and is waiting for a correction command. The coating unit 20 is fixed to a sub XYZ stage (not shown), and can move in the left and right direction, the front and rear direction, and the vertical direction of the paper. The sub XYZ stage is fixed to, for example, a Z stage 12 that fixes the observation optical system 2. In some cases, the secondary Y stage may be omitted.

  When a coating command is given here, coating is performed by performing the operations shown in FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the tip of the coating unit 20 is inserted into the gap between the objective lens 40 and the substrate 41 by the operations of the sub-X stage and the sub-Y stage, and the defective portion 41a is directly below the coating needle 24. Is positioned.

  When the working distance of the objective lens 40 (distance from the objective lens 40 to the focal position) is short and the coating unit 20 cannot be inserted, the revolver (not shown) is rotated to change to the objective lens 40 having a long working distance. In general, the working distance is longer for a low magnification lens. For example, the working distance of the 10 × objective lens 40 is about 30 mm, and can be easily inserted if the height of the coating portion of the coating unit 20 is designed to be low.

  Thereafter, the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34 is protruded downward, and the drive plate 35 is lowered. FIG. 4B shows a process in which the output shaft 34a is lowered, and FIG. 4C shows a state in which the output shaft 34a has reached the lowest end.

  When the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34 protrudes downward, the drive plate 35 fixed to the output shaft 34a and the pin 35a fixed to the tip of the drive plate 35 also move downward together, so that they are supported by the pin 35a. The arm 26 also moves downward accordingly. Further, the arm 28 also moves downward in accordance with the state suspended from the pin 27 fixed to the arm 26, but the relative position in the vertical direction of the two arms 26 and 28 does not change during the beginning.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, when the lower end of the base end portion of the arm 28 comes into contact with the stopper 32, the lowering of the arm 28 is stopped, and thereafter, only the arm 26 is lowered. When only the arm 26 is lowered, the tip 24a of the application needle 24 fixed to the arm 26 starts to protrude from the first hole 21a provided in the bottom surface of the container 21, and the protrusion is shown in FIG. In this way, the lower end of the base end portion of the arm 26 stops when it comes into contact with the stopper 32. In this state, the correction liquid 22 is attached to the tip portion 24a of the application needle 24, and preparation for application is completed. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4D, the entire coating unit 20 is lowered using a sub-Z stage (not shown), and the tip of the coating needle 24 is brought into contact with the defective portion 41 a of the substrate 41. Thereby, the correction liquid 22 adhering to the tip portion 24a of the application needle 24 is applied to the defective portion 41a.

  After the tip of the application needle 24 comes into contact with the defective portion 41a of the substrate 41, the application unit 20 is further moved downward by about 0.5 mm to 1 mm using the sub-Z stage. Since the linear guide member 30 is retracted upward together with the arm 26, no excessive force is applied to the application needle 24.

  After the application, the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34 is pulled upward to return to the original state (FIG. 4A), and one application is completed. If it is necessary to further apply the correction liquid 22 to the defective portion 41a, this application operation may be repeated. In addition, the larger the defect portion 41a, the greater the number of necessary application operations. However, the correction liquid 22 can be reattached to the application needle tip 24a simply by moving the application needle 24 up and down.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, since the step of reciprocating the coating needle between the defective portion and the container (ink tank or paste tank) as in the prior art is omitted, the time required for defect correction is shortened.

  The correction liquid 22 is contained in the sealed container 21 except for the holes 21a and 23a, and the application needle 24 is always inserted into the hole 23a of the lid 23 of the container 21 with a small gap. Therefore, the area where the correction liquid 22 directly contacts the atmosphere is small. Therefore, evaporation of the dilution liquid (solvent) of the correction liquid 22 can be prevented, the number of days (exchange period) in which the correction liquid 22 can be used can be increased, and maintenance of the pattern correction apparatus 1 is reduced. The

  Further, since the application needle tip 24a is immersed in the correction liquid 22 in the standby state of the application operation, it is possible to prevent the correction liquid 22 adhering to the application needle tip 24a from being dried. The cleaning process can also be omitted.

  Further, conventionally, when the correction liquid 22 is attached to the application needle tip 24a, the lower part of the correction liquid reservoir of the application needle tip 24a is swollen by its own weight, so that the correction liquid reservoir moves upward. Then, it waited until a thin layer of the correction liquid 22 was formed on the tip surface of the application needle. However, in this embodiment, when the application needle tip 24a protrudes from the first hole 21a, the correction liquid reservoir of the application needle tip 24a moves upward, and a thin layer of the correction liquid 22 is applied to the application needle tip surface. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a waiting time or the waiting time can be shortened.

  Conventionally, a plurality of application needles having different tip diameters are prepared, and the application needles are selected and used according to the size of the defect portion. However, since the time required for one application operation is short in this embodiment, the number of application operations may be adjusted by using only one application needle 24 having the smallest tip diameter. Accordingly, the configuration of the apparatus is simplified.

  In addition, since the coating unit and the observation optical system are conventionally fixed at positions separated in the horizontal direction, the substrate is placed so that the defective part comes directly under the coating unit from the position where the defective part is observed by the observation optical system. It is necessary to move the offset, and it is necessary to offset the substrate again to observe the state after the application of the correction liquid, resulting in a longer tact time. However, in this embodiment, since the container 21 and the application needle 24 can be inserted between the objective lens 40 of the observation optical system 2 and the substrate 41, the offset movement of the substrate 41 becomes unnecessary, and the tact time can be shortened. Can do.

  Further, since the arms 26 and 28 are moved up and down, in other words, the applicator needle 24 and the container 21 are moved up and down by a single drive unit (in the example shown here, the air cylinder 34), the mechanism can be simplified. Further, only one drive unit needs to be controlled, and the control is simple.

  In this embodiment, the air cylinder 34 is used as the drive unit. However, for example, if a single-acting extrusion type is used, the air that drives the air cylinder 34 is shut off, or a control signal for the air cylinder 34 is received. Even if it is interrupted, it is possible to keep the tip 24a of the application needle 24 immersed in the correction liquid 22, and the application needle 24 does not protrude and functions on the safe side.

  In this embodiment, since the mechanism for moving the container 21 containing the correction liquid 22 up and down is provided, the container 21 can be held upward at the standby position, and the entire coating unit 20 is brought close to the substrate 41. However, the distance between the container 21 and the substrate 41 can be sufficiently increased. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), the substrate 41 and the container 41 are not contaminated by the correction liquid 22 that has leaked from the container 21 even if the correction liquid 22 leaks from the container 21 during standby. It is also possible to provide a shielding plate 36 therebetween.

  The shielding plate 36 is fixed to a sub Z stage of a sub XYZ stage (not shown), and is moved up and down by the sub Z stage in the same manner as the coating unit 20. At the time of application, first, as shown in FIG. 5B, the application needle 24 of the application unit 20 is moved above the defective portion 41a directly below the objective lens 40 by the sub XY stage. At this time, since the shielding plate 36 moves in the X-axis direction, there is no shielding plate 36 below the container 21 and application is possible.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34 is lowered to move the container 21 downward, and the tip 24a of the application needle 24 protrudes from the container 21. The application unit 20 is lowered by the Z-axis stage, and the correction liquid 22 is applied to the defective portion 41a. At this time, since the container 21 moves below the shielding plate 36 as the output shaft 34a of the air cylinder 34 protrudes downward, the substrate 41 and the shielding plate 36 do not interfere with each other during application. .

  When the substrate 41 is a color filter substrate, a coating unit is provided for each color to be corrected, R (red), G (green), B (blue), BM (black of the black matrix), and in some cases OC (overcoat). It is also possible to arrange a plurality of application units 20 with 20 and select the application unit 20 in accordance with the color to be corrected, and perform correction. In this case, since the correction is performed according to the color to be corrected, it is not necessary to clean the application needle 24.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the pattern correction apparatus by one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the application | coating unit contained in the application | coating mechanism part shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the standby state of the coating unit shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the application | coating operation | movement of the application | coating unit shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a change of embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pattern correction apparatus 2 Observation optical system 3 Monitor 4 Cutting laser part 5 Coating mechanism part 6 Substrate heating part 7 Image processing part 8 Host computer 9 Control computer 10 XY stage 11 Chuck part , 12 Z stage, 20 coating unit, 21 container, 21a first hole, 22 correction fluid, 23 lid, 23a second hole, 24 coating needle, 24a tip, 25 coating needle fixing plate, 26 arm, 26a tip Part, 26b notch part, 27 pin, 28 arm, 28a tip part, 28b abutting part, 28c notch hole, 29, 30 linear motion guide member, 31, 32 stopper, 33 support base, 34 air cylinder, 34a output Shaft, 35 Drive plate, 35a pin, 36 Shield plate, 40 Objective lens, 41 Substrate, 41a Defective part.

Claims (8)

A coating unit of a pattern correcting device for correcting a defective portion of a fine pattern formed on a substrate,
A through hole is opened at the bottom of the container, and a correction liquid is injected therein;
An applicator needle having substantially the same diameter as the through hole, and applying the correction liquid to the defect portion;
A first linear motion guide member that supports the container and the application needle so as to be movable up and down;
A second linear guide member that supports the container and the application needle so as to be relatively movable up and down;
The container and the application needle are moved up and down, and the container and the application needle are relatively moved up and down, and the tip of the application needle is protruded from the through-hole to attach the correction liquid to the tip. A drive unit ,
A driving shaft of the driving unit Ru der only one coating unit. 2. The application unit according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit lowers only the application needle after lowering the container and the application needle, and causes the tip of the application needle to protrude from the through hole. Furthermore, a support base,
The application needle is provided at the distal end portion, and the base end portion is coupled to the support base via the first linear motion guide member, and is provided to be movable up and down relative to the support base. Arm,
The container is provided at the distal end portion, and the base end portion is coupled to the first arm via the second linear motion guide member, and can move up and down relatively with respect to the first arm. A second arm provided;
A movement range limiting mechanism that limits the vertical relative movement amount of the second arm with respect to the first arm to a range smaller than the vertical movement amount of the first arm;
2. The drive unit moves up and down only the base end of the first arm to move the container and the application needle up and down, and relatively moves the container and the application needle up and down. Or the coating unit of Claim 2 . The first and second arms are disposed on one side of the support;
The drive unit is disposed on the other side of the support;
The coating unit according to claim 3 , wherein the container is provided at a position lower than the driving unit. Comprising a coating unit according to any of claims 1 to 4, pattern correction device. The pattern correction device according to claim 5 , further comprising a shielding plate that is disposed below the bottom of the container and receives the correction liquid leaked from the through hole when the coating unit is in a standby state. Furthermore, the moving unit for moving the coating unit in the horizontal direction during the coating operation to separate the container from the shielding plate,
The pattern correction apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the driving unit lowers the bottom of the container spaced apart from the shielding plate to a position lower than the shielding plate. A plurality of application units into which different types of correction fluids are injected,
Applying a correction fluid of the application unit, which is selected according to the type of the defect portion of the plurality of coating units on the defective portion, the pattern adjustment device according to any one of claims 5 to claim 7.

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