JP6206945B2 - Scanning exposure apparatus and scanning exposure method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a scanning exposure apparatus and a scanning exposure method used for photo-alignment processing and the like.

  In recent years, photo-alignment treatment has been used to form films and layers having the function of aligning liquid crystal molecules (hereinafter collectively referred to as alignment films), such as alignment films for liquid crystal elements and alignment layers for optical films using ultraviolet curable liquid crystals. Is adopted. In order to perform the photo-alignment treatment, light having a selected wavelength (for example, ultraviolet light) is irradiated on the photosensitive resin film serving as the alignment film in a polarization state (for example, a linearly polarized state) specified by the polarization axis.

  In order to continuously form an alignment film having a predetermined width, a scanning exposure apparatus for photo-alignment processing arranges a rod-shaped light source (long arc lamp) along the width direction of the alignment film. There is known a technique in which polarized light having a selected wavelength is irradiated along a width direction of an alignment film and scanned in a direction crossing the width direction of the alignment film (see Patent Document 1 below).

JP 2006-133498 A

  When scanning exposure is not limited to the above-described photo-alignment treatment, a film or a layer formed on the substrate is required to be confirmed that a desired light irradiation energy is irradiated on the substrate surface. To confirm such light irradiation energy, an illuminance sensor is installed at the same height as the substrate surface to be exposed, and the illuminance sensor is exposed under the same conditions (light emission amount and scanning speed) as the actual scanning exposure. It will be necessary.

  At this time, if the illuminance sensor is installed on the stage on which the substrate is supported, it is necessary to provide the illuminance sensor within the scanning exposure range. Will be forced to install. According to this, the range of scanning exposure is substantially expanded in order to expose the illuminance sensor, and there is a problem that the tact time of scanning exposure is extended. In particular, when high light irradiation energy is required, the scanning speed is slowed down to increase the integrated exposure amount, so that there is a problem that the influence of the tact time due to the expansion of the scanning range is further increased.

  This invention makes it an example of a subject to cope with such a problem. That is, an object of the present invention is to confirm the light irradiation energy on the substrate surface without affecting the tact time in the scanning exposure apparatus.

  In order to achieve such an object, a scanning exposure apparatus according to the present invention has at least the following configuration.

A substrate stage that supports the substrate and is movable along a scanning direction that intersects the width direction of the supported substrate; a light irradiation device that irradiates light to the entire width direction of the substrate supported by the substrate stage; and An illuminance sensor stage that supports the illuminance sensor at the same height as the surface of the substrate supported by the substrate stage and is movable along the scanning direction so that the illuminance sensor moves in a light irradiation range of the light irradiation device; Scanning control means for controlling movement of the substrate stage and the illuminance sensor stage along the scanning direction, and the scanning control means scans the substrate stage and moves the substrate supported by the substrate stage to the substrate stage. during the scanning exposure at a constant scanning speed by the light irradiation device, moving the illuminance sensor stage so that the distance between the substrate stage is constant, the scanning Wherein is moved from a faster rate scanning speed, scanning exposure of the illuminance sensor to scan the illumination sensor stage the scanning speed by the light irradiation device for discharging the substrate the substrate stage after the light ends A scanning exposure apparatus characterized by the above.

  According to the scanning exposure apparatus having such characteristics, the scanning exposure of the substrate and the scanning exposure of the illuminance sensor can be performed independently. Therefore, the substrate discharge time after the completion of the scanning exposure of the substrate is used to Scanning exposure can be performed. This makes it possible to check the light irradiation energy on the substrate surface without affecting the tact time of scanning exposure.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the whole structure of the scanning exposure apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the control by the scanning control means in one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a scanning exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The scanning exposure apparatus 1 includes a substrate stage 2, a light irradiation device 3, an illuminance sensor stage 4, an illuminance sensor 4 </ b> S, a scanning unit 5, and a scanning control unit 6. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the scanning unit 5 scans the substrate stage 2 and the illuminance sensor stage 4 in the Y direction in the drawing, but the positions of the substrate stage 2 and the illuminance sensor stage 4 are fixed and light irradiation is performed. The apparatus 3 may be scanned along the Y-axis direction in the figure by the same scanning means.

  The substrate stage 2 supports the substrate W to be subjected to scanning exposure, and is moved by the scanning unit 5 along a scanning direction (Y direction shown in the drawing) that intersects the width direction (X direction shown in the drawing) of the supported substrate W. Is a free configuration. In contrast, the light irradiation device 3 includes a light source 3A and the like, and irradiates light to the entire width direction (X direction) of the substrate W supported by the substrate stage 2.

  The illuminance sensor stage 4 supports the illuminance sensor 4S at the same height as the surface of the substrate W supported on the substrate stage 2, and the scanning means so that the illuminance sensor 4S moves in the light irradiation range of the light irradiation device 3. 5 is configured to be movable along the scanning direction (Y direction).

  The scanning control means 6 controls the movement of the substrate stage 2 and the illuminance sensor stage 4 along the scanning direction by the scanning means 5. In the embodiment of the present invention, scanning of the substrate stage 2 and scanning of the illuminance sensor stage 4 can be controlled independently by the scanning control means 6.

  Scanning of the illuminance sensor stage 4 is performed in order to confirm whether or not the light irradiation device 3 receives light irradiation energy per unit area set by the light irradiation device 3 by scanning exposure of the illuminance sensor 4S. The scanning speed of the illuminance sensor stage 4 is set to the same speed as the scanning speed of the substrate stage 2. However, when it is necessary to shorten the measurement time by the illuminance sensor 4S, the scanning speed of the illuminance sensor stage 4 is set to twice to several times the scanning speed of the substrate stage 2, and the measurement result of the illuminance sensor 4S is doubled. It is also possible to confirm the value of the light irradiation energy with which the substrate W is irradiated by increasing it to several times.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of control by the scanning control means 6. First, the scanning control means 6 executes a substrate exposure process as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). In the substrate exposure step, a light irradiation device 3 that irradiates light over the entire width direction of the substrate W is disposed on the substrate W supported by the substrate stage 2 to scan and expose the substrate W.

  Thus, in the substrate exposure process in which the scanning exposure is performed on the substrate W, the scanning control unit 6 stands by at a position where the illuminance sensor stage 4 does not interfere with the movement of the substrate stage 2 while the substrate W is scanned and exposed. In the example shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the illuminance sensor stage 4 is moved so that the distance from the substrate stage 2 is constant during the substrate exposure process. The illuminance sensor stage 4 may be stationary at a fixed position away from the substrate stage 2. By moving the illuminance sensor stage 4 so that the distance from the substrate stage 2 is constant, the moving distance of the illuminance sensor stage 4 in the next process can be shortened.

  After completion of the substrate exposure process, the scanning control means 6 executes a substrate discharge process for discharging the exposed substrate W on the substrate stage 2 as shown in FIGS. In the substrate discharge step, as shown in FIG. 2C, the substrate stage 2 is placed outside the light irradiation range of the light irradiation device 3 after the scanning exposure is completed. The movement speed at that time is set to a sufficiently high movement speed with respect to the scanning speed at the time of scanning exposure.

  When the substrate stage 2 stands by outside the light irradiation range of the light irradiation device 3, the exposed substrate W is discharged as shown in FIG. 2 (d). The stage 4 is scanned, and the illuminance sensor 4S is scanned and exposed by the light irradiation device 3. That is, during the substrate discharge process, the illuminance sensor exposure process is performed in which the light irradiation device 3 is arranged on the illuminance sensor 4S and the illuminance sensor 4S is scanned and exposed.

  In the description so far, the example in which the light irradiation device 3 is fixed and the scanning unit 5 scans the substrate stage 2 and the illuminance sensor stage 4 has been described. However, as described above, the substrate stage 2 and the illuminance sensor stage 4 are The same process can be executed by scanning the light irradiation device 3 while fixing.

  In this case, the light irradiation device 3 irradiates light to the entire width direction of the substrate W supported by the substrate stage 2 and is movable along the scanning direction intersecting the width direction of the substrate W. Then, the scanning control unit 6 scans the light irradiation device 3 and scans the illuminance sensor 4S by scanning the light irradiation device 3 after performing the substrate exposure process of scanning and exposing the substrate W supported by the substrate stage 2. An illuminance sensor exposure process is performed. At this time, in the same manner as described above, after the substrate exposure process is executed, a substrate discharge process for discharging the exposed substrate W on the substrate stage 2 is executed, and the light irradiation device 3 is scanned during the substrate discharge process. Then, an illuminance sensor exposure process for scanning and exposing the illuminance sensor 4S is executed.

  According to such an embodiment of the present invention, in the substrate exposure step, the light irradiation device 3 is arranged on the tip of the substrate W with respect to the substrate W on the substrate stage 2, and the substrate W is scanned by the length in the Y direction. Since exposure can be performed, the tact time of scanning exposure is not extended. And after completion | finish of a substrate exposure process, the board | substrate discharge process for processing the next board | substrate W will be performed, but since an illumination sensor exposure process can be performed using the period of the board | substrate discharge process, When the substrate exposure process is performed on the next substrate W, the illuminance sensor exposure process has already been completed. Thus, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the light irradiation energy of the light irradiation device 3 can be confirmed without affecting the tact time for scanning and exposing the substrate W.

  In the drawing, an example is shown in which one illuminance sensor 4S is provided on the illuminance sensor stage 4, but a plurality of illuminance sensors 4S may be provided along a direction intersecting the scanning direction. The illuminance sensor stage 4 may be provided with a sensor that measures the polarization direction together with the illuminance.

1: scanning exposure apparatus, 2: substrate stage, 3: light irradiation apparatus,
4: Illuminance sensor stage, 4S: Illuminance sensor, 5: Scanning means,
6: scanning control means, W: substrate

Claims (2)

A substrate stage that supports the substrate and is movable along a scanning direction that intersects the width direction of the supported substrate;
A light irradiation device for irradiating light across the entire width direction of the substrate supported by the substrate stage;
An illuminance sensor stage that supports the illuminance sensor at the same height as the surface of the substrate supported by the substrate stage and is movable along the scanning direction so that the illuminance sensor moves in the light irradiation range of the light irradiation device. When,
Scanning control means for controlling movement of the substrate stage and the illuminance sensor stage along the scanning direction;
The scanning control means scans the substrate stage and scans and exposes the substrate supported by the substrate stage at a constant scanning speed by the light irradiation device, and the distance between the illuminance sensor stage and the substrate stage is constant. And the substrate stage is moved at a speed higher than the scanning speed for discharging the substrate after the scanning exposure is completed , and the illuminance sensor stage is scanned at the scanning speed to thereby emit the light irradiation device. A scanning exposure apparatus characterized by scanning exposure of the illuminance sensor. A substrate exposure step in which a light irradiation device for irradiating light across the width direction of the substrate is disposed on the substrate supported by the substrate stage, and the substrate is scanned and exposed at a constant scanning speed ;
A substrate discharge step of discharging the exposed substrate on the substrate stage by moving the substrate stage at a speed faster than the scanning speed after the substrate exposure step is completed;
During the substrate discharging step, the light irradiation device is arranged on an illuminance sensor supported at the same height as the surface of the substrate supported by the substrate stage, and the illuminance sensor is scanned and exposed at the scanning speed. A scanning exposure method comprising: an illuminance sensor exposure step.

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