JP5767595B2 - Scribing device for brittle material substrate - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a scribing apparatus for a brittle material substrate such as a glass substrate. The present invention can be used not only for a single glass substrate but also for a bonded substrate obtained by bonding two glass substrates.

  In a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display panel, a bonded substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a mother substrate) in which two large-area glasses are bonded together is used. A plurality of unit display panels are patterned on this mother substrate, and a plurality of liquid crystal display panels that are products are cut out by dividing each unit display panel into a single unit display panel in a scribing process for the mother substrate and a subsequent dividing process. It is.

  In general, in the process of cutting out the unit display panel from the mother substrate, first, the X direction orthogonal to each other is obtained by moving the cutter wheel (also referred to as a scribing wheel) relative to the surface of the mother substrate while pressing the cutter wheel along the planned scribe line. In addition, a scribe process for forming a scribe line (scribe groove) in the Y direction is performed. Then, the breaker is sent to the breaker side, and external force is applied along the scribe line with a break bar or roller, or steam is blown and thermally distorted to break the mother board completely into unit display panels. Perform the process.

  For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a scribing mechanism in which the above scribing process is performed on both upper and lower surfaces at the same time so as to be performed efficiently without inverting a large-area substrate. .

6 to 8 schematically show a conventional scribing mechanism in which the scribing process is performed simultaneously on two upper and lower surfaces. In this scribing mechanism 11, as shown in FIG. 7, a pair of upper and lower cutter wheels 12, 13 are arranged above and below the mother substrate M, and the mother substrate M is directed toward the cutter wheels 12, 13 by a transfer device 14 such as a conveyor. By moving, the scribe line S1 in the Y direction is processed as shown in FIG.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8, the cutting edges of the cutter wheels 12 and 13 are changed in the X direction and the cutter wheel is rolled in the X direction by a drive mechanism (not shown) in the X direction. As shown in b), the scribe line S2 in the X direction is processed.

  The cutting edge direction of the cutter wheel may be changed by providing a direction switching mechanism that forcibly changes the cutting edge direction in the holder that holds the cutting edge of the cutter wheel, or by using a holder that freely rotates the cutting edge direction. Alternatively, the blade edge direction may be switched by a “following action” in which the blade edge automatically follows the rolling direction when pressing and rolling.

  The mother substrate M on which the scribe lines S1 and S2 in the X direction and the Y direction are formed in this way is sent to the breaker and divided from each scribe line, and the unit product M1 is taken out. Area M2 is discarded.

International publication number WO2005 / 087458 JP 2010-052995 A

  The scribe line formed in the scribe process is not completely divided during the scribe process so that it can be completely divided after the subsequent break process (vertical crack). ) Is processed. On the other hand, if the groove depth of the formed scribe line is too shallow, it cannot be completely divided unless a large load is applied in the breaking process. Therefore, a scribe groove that is as deep as possible and still cannot be completely divided is formed. There must be. For this reason, a part of the scribe line may be completely cut off by mistake immediately after the scribe line is processed due to individual differences of substrates or insufficient adjustment of the pressure contact load.

  When such complete division occurs, for example, when the Y-direction scribe line S1 is processed, as shown in FIG. 10A, an intermediate substrate portion M3 divided by the left and right scribe lines becomes a mother substrate M. Even if it is gripped by the clamp 15 at the end portion on the rear end side in the conveying direction, the opposite end portion (leading end portion in the conveying direction) falls downward at the final scribing point in the Y direction, or the position is shifted, or FIG. As shown in b), the position may jump up and be displaced. Then, in the downward displacement, the blade edge of the lower cutter wheel collides with the dropped substrate portion M3 and is damaged, and in the upward displacement, the blade edge of the upper cutter wheel collides with the raised substrate portion M3. And may be damaged.

  When the blade edge of the cutter wheel is damaged, the sharpness is deteriorated, and the sectional surface of the scribe line of the mother substrate to be processed is deteriorated. Overlooking such a degradation of the cross section causes problems that the quality of the product is reduced and defective products are generated, resulting in a decrease in product yield.

  Further, even when the above-described dropping or jumping does not directly damage the blade edge of the cutter wheel, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B when the process proceeds to the X-direction scribing process in that state. In addition, the cutting edge of the cutter wheel 12 or 13 collides with the stepped portion caused by jumping or dropping, and the stepped portion of the substrate is also chipped, resulting in a bad product yield.

  Further, in the scribe process of the mother substrate M in the X direction, the above-described division phenomenon occurs when the scribe line S2 that divides the end material region M2 in the X direction (see FIG. 9) is processed at the front end portion of the mother substrate M in the transport direction. When it occurs, as shown in FIG. 12, the divided end material region M2 may be displaced downward or dropped, and the cutting edge of the lower cutter wheel 13 may be damaged in the same manner as described above. In addition, there is a problem that, due to an unexpected fall of the end material, the end material and its fragments that have fallen and dispersed enter the drive mechanism portion of the device, thereby hindering the normal operation of the device.

  In addition, the fall of the mill ends becomes a problem not only for the mother substrate in which two substrates are bonded but also for a single plate substrate.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a scribing device that can solve a problem caused by complete breakage during processing of the scribing process, not the breaking process.

The scribing device of the present invention made to solve the above-described problem is provided with a lower cutter wheel on the lower side of a brittle material substrate to be processed, and transports the brittle material substrate in the Y direction by a transport mechanism. The cutting edge of the cutter wheel is positioned directly below the planned scribe line in the X direction perpendicular to the X direction, and then the cutter wheel is moved along the planned scribe line in the X direction while being pressed, thereby scribing in the X direction. A scribing device for processing a line, wherein the same plane as the lower surface of the brittle material substrate is used as a substrate reference surface, and at a position not supported by the transfer mechanism on the front end side in the transfer direction by the transfer mechanism, from the substrate reference surface Displacement detector that detects when at least part of the substrate is displaced toward the lower cutter wheel The is characterized in that provided.

According to the present invention, the scribe line process, a part of the scribe line is a part of the substrate by thus completely separated Ru-less not a position downward from the substrate reference plane, the displacement detected by the displacement detection mechanism Is done. As a result, when an abnormality is detected, it can be dealt with immediately. As a result, maintenance work can be performed so that proper scribe lines can be processed immediately, damage to the cutting edge of the cutter wheel can be confirmed when necessary, and product quality can be maintained. There is an effect.

The cutter wheel may be constituted by an upper cutter wheel and a lower cutter wheel.
Thereby, the process of the scribe line of a brittle material board | substrate can be performed in two upper and lower surfaces.

Also, the displacement sensing mechanism, so as to detect the displacement beneath the scan Clive line, the cutter wheel may be detected when spaced from the substrate surface.
Thereby, since the slight displacement of the board | substrate on the scribe plan line of a X direction can be detected, the collision with the board | substrate which the position of the cutter wheel shifted can be prevented reliably.

The scribing apparatus of the present invention further includes a lower cutter wheel below the brittle material substrate to be processed, and transports the brittle material substrate in the Y direction by a transport mechanism, thereby scribing in the X direction orthogonal to the Y direction. A scribing device that processes the scribe line in the X direction by positioning the cutting edge of the cutter wheel directly below the planned line, and then moving the cutter wheel in a pressed state along the planned scribe line in the X direction. And at least a part of the substrate is lower than the substrate reference surface at a position that is not supported by the transport mechanism on the front side in the transport direction by the transport mechanism, with the same plane as the lower surface of the brittle material substrate being the substrate reference surface. A displacement detection mechanism is provided for detecting this when it is displaced toward the cutter wheel.

  As a result, when processing the X-direction scribe line that divides the X-direction area at the front end of the substrate conveyance direction, a divided phenomenon occurs in the scribe line, and the divided area falls downward from the substrate reference surface. Then, even if it is in process, since it can detect immediately, maintenance work of an apparatus can be performed. As a result, damage to the cutting edge of the lower cutter wheel due to subsequent substrate dropping can be reduced, and unintentional dropping can cause debris that has fallen and dispersed in the drive mechanism of the device, impairing normal operation. Such a problem can be prevented in advance.

1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a scribing apparatus according to the present invention. The schematic front view which shows the state at the time of the scribe line process of the Y direction in the scribing apparatus shown in FIG. The front view similar to FIG. 2 which shows the state at the time of the scribe line process of a X direction. The front view similar to FIG. 3 which shows another Example of a scribe apparatus. The front view similar to FIG. 3 which shows another Example of a scribe apparatus. The schematic plan view which shows an example of the conventional scribe apparatus. The schematic front view which shows the state at the time of the scribe line process of the Y direction in the conventional scribing apparatus. The front view similar to FIG. 7 which shows the state at the time of the scribe line process of a X direction. The top view which shows the standard scribe line of a mother board | substrate in order of a process. The perspective view which shows the position shift phenomenon of the mother board | substrate which arises when the scribe line of a Y direction is formed. The figure which shows the scribing operation | movement of the cutter wheel at the time of a position shift phenomenon having arisen. The figure which shows fall of the end material when processing the scribe line of the X direction which divides the end material area | region of an X direction.

The details of the scribing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
The scribing apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to various brittle material substrates, but a mother substrate for a large area liquid crystal display panel bonded with a glass substrate is particularly preferable. Hereinafter, the mother substrate for a bonded liquid crystal display panel will be described as an example.

  The scribing apparatus 1 includes an upper cutter wheel 2 and a lower cutter wheel 3 for processing scribe lines S1 and S2 (see FIG. 9) in the X direction and the Y direction orthogonal to each other on the front and back surfaces of the mother substrate M. The upper cutter wheel 2 and the lower wheel 3 are attached to the scribe head 4 so as to be vertically movable. Further, the scribe head 4 is formed so as to reciprocate in the X direction of FIG. 1 by a moving mechanism (not shown) along the guide member 5.

  The scribing device 1 is provided with a transport device 6 for transporting the mother substrate M in the Y direction in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the transport device 6 is composed of a first conveyor 6a and a second conveyor 6b divided into left and right, and the upper cutter wheel 2 above and below a space P between the conveyors 6a and 6b. And the lower cutter wheel 3 is arrange | positioned. The mother substrate M is placed on the transfer device 6 and moved in the Y direction, and the upper cutter wheel 2 and the lower cutter wheel 3 are brought into contact with and pressed against the upper and lower surfaces of the mother substrate M to thereby scribe in the Y direction. The line S1 is formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the mother substrate M at the same time.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the scribe line S2 in the X direction changes the cutting edge direction of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2 and 3 to the X direction, and moves the cutter wheels 2 and 3 along the guide member 5 to the mother board. By being rolled while being pressed against the surface of M, the front and back surfaces of the mother substrate M can be processed simultaneously.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, horizontal planes that are flush with the upper surface and the lower surface of the mother substrate M that is processed by being placed on the transfer device 6 are defined as substrate reference surfaces R1, R2, and the mother substrate M is formed from the substrate reference surfaces R1, R2. When the part in the position of the space P is displaced to the cutter wheels 2 and 3 side, that is, as shown in FIG. 10A, the position is shifted downward, or as shown in FIG. A displacement detection mechanism 7 is provided for detecting when the position is displaced. The displacement detection mechanism 7 detects the displacement and stops the operation of the apparatus.

As the displacement detection mechanism 7, for example, a photoelectric sensor can be used. The photoelectric sensor is formed of a light emitting unit 7a and a light receiving unit 7b, and transmits light such as visible light or infrared light as signal light from the light emitting unit 7a, and the light receiving unit 7b provided on the opposite bank side of the substrate M. Or the light reflected by the mirror provided on the opposite side of the substrate M is received by the light receiving unit 7b provided on the same side as the light emitting unit 7a, and the displacement of the substrate is detected by the output signal. . In the present embodiment, the displacement detection mechanism 7 is arranged so that the substrate reference planes R1 and R2 can be measured at an intermediate portion of the space P between the left and right conveyors 6a and 6b. The displacement detection mechanism 7 is disposed on a virtual vertical line connecting the upper and lower cutter wheels 2 and 3 in the middle portion of the space P, so that the displacement can be accurately measured at the machining position of the cutter wheel.
In this case, since the cutter wheel disturbs the measurement during the scribe line processing, the displacement detection mechanism 7 is set to operate when the cutter wheels 2 and 3 are separated from the surface of the substrate M after the scribe line processing. Has been. When a displacement larger than a preset threshold value (determination value) is detected, the operation of the apparatus is stopped.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the displacement detection mechanism 7 may be installed at a position where the optical path is not obstructed by the upper and lower cutter wheels 2 and 3. In this case, the accurate position of the substrate surface at the processing position of the cutter wheel cannot be grasped, but it can be detected in real time when the displacement of the substrate occurs during the scribe line processing. Therefore, the operation of the apparatus can be stopped immediately after detecting the displacement. However, for convenience of maintenance, it is preferable to set, for example, by programming an accompanying control computer so that the operation of the apparatus is stopped after the cutter wheels 2 and 3 are separated from the substrate surface.

  In the above configuration, first, as shown in FIG. 2, the mother substrate M is placed on the transport device 6, and the upper substrate 2 and the lower cutter wheel 3 are pressed against the surface of the mother substrate M. Is moved in the Y direction to sequentially process the scribe line S1 in the Y direction. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, by changing the direction of the cutting edge of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2 and 3 to the X direction and rolling the cutter wheel against the surface of the mother substrate M along the guide member 5, The scribe line S2 in the X direction is sequentially processed.

In this scribe line process in the Y direction, some scribe lines are completely divided, and as shown in FIG. 10, the divided intermediate substrate portion M3 is displaced downward from the substrate reference planes R1 and R2, If the position is displaced upward, this displacement is detected by the displacement detection mechanism 7 after the cutter wheel is separated from the mother substrate surface, and the operation of the apparatus is stopped. Further, if necessary, an operation may be performed in which an alarm sound or the like notifies an abnormality with a warning lamp or the like.
As a result, the pressing force of the cutter wheel and the feeding speed of the transport device are corrected, and maintenance work is performed so that the scribe line can be processed properly. The work of replacing the wheel with a new one can be performed immediately after the occurrence of the misalignment.

Similarly, in the subsequent scribing process of the mother substrate in the X direction, when processing the scribe line S2 that divides the end material region M2 in the X direction (see FIG. 9) at the front end of the mother substrate in the transport direction. When the above-described dividing phenomenon occurs and the end material region M1 is displaced downward from the substrate reference surface R2 or falls, this displacement is detected by the displacement detection mechanism 7, and the operation of the apparatus is stopped.
As a result, the maintenance work of the apparatus can be performed without any delay after the occurrence of the trouble as described above.

  In the above embodiment, an upper cutter wheel 2 for processing a scribe line on the upper surface of the mother substrate M to be processed and a lower cutter wheel 3 for processing a scribe line on the lower surface of the mother substrate M are provided. Although the example which processes a scribe line simultaneously on both front and back of M was shown, you may form by omitting any one of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2 and 3.

Further, in place of the above embodiment, a single plate substrate or the like can be formed only by the lower cutter wheel 3 without the upper cutter wheel 2 as shown in FIG. It may be formed only by the wheel 2).
In this case, in the X direction scribing process of the mother substrate, it is particularly effective for detecting the falling off of the end material when processing the scribe line S2 that divides the end material region M2 in the X direction at the front end portion of the mother substrate M in the transport direction. It is. That is, when a dividing phenomenon occurs in the X-direction scribe line S2, since there is no support portion such as a conveyor below, the divided end material region M2 is displaced downward from the substrate reference plane R2 or dropped. To do. This phenomenon is detected by the displacement detection mechanism 7 and the operation of the apparatus is stopped. In particular, if the displacement detection mechanism 7 is provided at a position slightly away from the cutter wheel 3 as shown in FIG. 5, an abnormality can be detected simultaneously with the fall.
As a result, it is possible to perform maintenance and correction of the apparatus immediately after the occurrence of the fall, and when the lower cutter wheel 3 is used, it is possible to reduce damage to the blade edge and to anticipate It is possible to prevent such a problem that, due to the falling off the end material, the fragments of the end material falling and dispersed on the drive mechanism portion of the apparatus are mixed, thereby hindering normal operation.

  As mentioned above, although the typical Example of this invention was described, this invention is not necessarily limited only to said Example structure, Comprising: It corrects suitably in the range which achieves the objective and does not deviate from a claim. It is possible to change.

  The present invention can be applied to a scribing apparatus that processes a scribe line on a brittle material substrate such as a glass substrate.

M Mother substrate M2 End substrate region S1 Y-direction scribe line S2 X-direction scribe line R1, R2 Substrate reference plane 1 Scribe device 2 Upper cutter wheel 3 Lower cutter wheel 6 Transport device 7 Displacement detection mechanism

Claims (1)

  A lower cutter wheel is provided below the brittle material substrate to be processed, and the brittle material substrate is conveyed in the Y direction by a conveyance mechanism, so that the cutter wheel is directly below the scribe line in the X direction perpendicular to the Y direction. A scribing device that processes a scribe line in the X direction by positioning the blade edge and then moving the cutter wheel in a pressed state along the planned scribe line in the X direction,
  At the position where the same plane as the lower surface of the brittle material substrate is the substrate reference surface and is not supported by the transport mechanism at the front end side in the transport direction by the transport mechanism, at least a part of the substrate is on the lower cutter wheel side from the substrate reference surface A scribing device comprising a displacement detection mechanism for detecting a displacement when the displacement is detected.

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