JP6251061B2 - Scribing device for brittle material substrate - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a scribing apparatus for brittle material substrates such as glass substrates and semiconductor substrates. In particular, the present invention relates to a scribing apparatus for a mother substrate for a liquid crystal display panel in which a glass substrate is bonded.

  The mother board for the liquid crystal display panel uses two large-area glass substrates, a color filter is formed on one substrate, and a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) and terminal area for driving the liquid crystal are formed on the other substrate. Then, these two substrates are bonded together. Then, through the scribe process and the break process, the unit display panel is divided into individual unit display panels, and a liquid crystal display panel as a product is cut out.

  In general, in the process of cutting out the unit display panel from the mother substrate, the cutter wheels (also referred to as scribing wheels) are moved relative to each other along the planned scribe line with respect to the front surface and back surface of the mother substrate, so that they are orthogonal to each other. A scribe process for forming a scribe line in the direction and the Y direction is performed. Thereafter, a breaking process is performed in which the mother substrate is completely divided into unit display panels by applying an external force along the scribe line to bend the substrate.

  For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose scribing apparatuses that perform the above scribing process on both upper and lower surfaces at the same time and efficiently perform the process without inverting a large-area substrate. Yes.

FIG. 6 is a front view schematically showing a conventional scribing apparatus in which the scribing process is simultaneously performed on two upper and lower surfaces.
In this scribing device, a pair of front and rear belt conveyors 21a and 21b for placing the mother substrate M and transporting it in the Y direction are arranged in series with an interval therebetween. Between the front and rear belt conveyors 21a and 21b, an upper cutter wheel 22a and a lower cutter wheel 22b for processing scribe lines orthogonal to each other on both the front and back surfaces of the mother substrate M are disposed. By rolling these upper cutter wheel 22a and lower cutter wheel 22b against the front and back surfaces of the mother board M in the X direction (front-rear direction in FIG. 6), both the front and back surfaces of the mother board M are shown in FIG. The scribe line S1 in the X direction as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the mother substrate M is rotated by 90 degrees, and the cutter wheels 22a and 22b are rolled in the same manner as described above to process the Y-direction scribe line S2 as shown in FIG. 7B. The Y-direction scribe line S2 can also be processed by rotating the cutter wheels 22a and 22b by 90 degrees and rolling the scribe line S1 in the X direction. In this case, after processing the scribe line S2 in the Y direction, the direction of the cutter wheels 22a and 22b may be rotated by 90 degrees to process the scribe line S1 in the X direction.

  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 after the unit product M1 is taken out, the end of the edge portion is obtained. The material area M2 is discarded.

International Publication WO2005 / 087458 JP 2010-052995 A

In the scribing apparatus described above, a certain interval is required between the front belt conveyor 21a and the rear belt conveyor 21b for transporting the mother board M to arrange the upper and lower cutter wheels 22a and 22b. Since the mother substrate M is supported by the front and rear belt conveyors 21a and 21b across this interval during scribing, if the mother substrate M is thin, sagging downward may occur. Further, it is difficult to increase the processing accuracy on the ring body and the surface of the belt that bridges the belt of the belt conveyor, and fine irregularities remain. Therefore, when the mother board M straddling the conveyor is thin, the belt Swelling or the like may occur under the influence of the unevenness.
If the upper and lower cutter wheels 22a and 22b are scribed in a state where sagging or undulation occurs in the mother substrate M, cracks run irregularly or damage such as chipping occurs, resulting in defective products. In particular, in recent years, a mother substrate for a liquid crystal display panel to be processed is required to be a thin plate of 0.1 to 0.15 mm, for example, in order to achieve low power, high function, and compactness. Has become an issue.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a scribing device that can accurately scribe with the upper and lower cutter wheels without the occurrence of sagging or swell as described above, even for a thin mother substrate having a thickness of about 0.1 mm. The purpose is to do.

  The scribing device of the present invention made to solve the above problems is arranged in series at a predetermined interval on the same plane, and includes a front conveyor and a rear conveyor that carry and carry a brittle material substrate to be processed. The upper cutter wheel and the lower cutter wheel arranged between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor, and the upper cutter wheel and the lower cutter wheel are arranged on the respective side portions between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor. The upper air ejecting member and the lower air ejecting member for ejecting air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the brittle material substrate.

  The air ejection pressure by the lower air ejection member is equal to the air ejection pressure by the lower air ejection member so that the air ejection pressure by the upper and lower air ejection members is stable in the state where the brittle material substrate to be processed is levitated. It is desirable that the brittle material substrate can be held horizontally without contact so as to be set stronger than the pressure corresponding to the weight of the substrate.

  According to the present invention, when the scribe line is processed by the upper and lower cutter wheels, the mother board between the front and rear conveyors is supported horizontally without contact so as to be sandwiched by the air jetted from the upper and lower air jetting members. Therefore, even if the mother substrate is a thin plate that hangs down under its own weight, it becomes possible to maintain a horizontal posture and scribe with high accuracy. Moreover, the bad influence received by the precision of the process and adjustment of the conveyor before and behind adjacent can be relieved. Furthermore, since the substrate is floated without being clamped, there is no possibility that non-uniform stress is generated in the vicinity of the clamp, and high-precision processing is possible.

In the above invention, the upper and lower air ejection members may be formed along the gap between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor and fixed to the frame of the scribing device, or the upper cutter wheel and the lower cutter wheel. It is good also as a structure attached to the scribe head which hold | maintains a cutter wheel so that it may be the length which ejects to the periphery of this, and it moves with the said cutter wheel. In particular, the latter case is suitable for a large-area substrate whose position is difficult to adjust, and has an effect of suppressing air consumption.

The perspective view which shows an example of the scribing apparatus which concerns on this invention. The front view of the scribing apparatus shown in FIG. The top view of the scribing apparatus shown in FIG. The principal part cross-sectional front view which shows another Example of the scribing apparatus of this invention. The top view of the scribe apparatus shown in FIG. The front view which shows an example of the conventional scribe apparatus. The top view of the scribe line processing procedure with respect to a brittle material board | substrate (mother board | substrate).

Below, the detail of the scribing apparatus of this invention is demonstrated based on FIGS.
The substrate to be processed by the scribing apparatus according to the present invention is not particularly limited as long as both sides are processed simultaneously, but here, a mother substrate for a liquid crystal display panel having a large area bonded with a glass substrate will be described as an example. To do. This bonded mother substrate for a liquid crystal display panel is hereinafter simply referred to as “mother substrate M”.

  The scribing apparatus A includes a pair of front conveyors 1a and a rear conveyor 1b for placing the mother board M and transporting it in the Y direction in FIG. The front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b are arranged in series in the Y direction on the same plane with a gap P in which cutter wheels 2a, 2b and air ejection members 8a, 8b described later are disposed. The front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b are preferably belt conveyors in which the belt rotates between the ring bodies.

  An upper cutter wheel 2a and a lower cutter wheel 2b for processing the scribe lines S1 and S2 (see FIG. 7) in the X direction and the Y direction on the front and back surfaces of the mother board M between the front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b. Is arranged. The upper cutter wheel 2a and the lower cutter wheel 2b are attached to the upper and lower scribe heads 4a and 4b via holders 3a and 3b, respectively, so as to be movable up and down. Further, the scribe heads 4a and 4b are attached so as to reciprocate in the X direction along guides 7 formed on the horizontal beams (lateral beams) 6a and 6b of the portal bridge 5. For example, when the scribe heads 4a and 4b are moved in the X direction along the beams 6a and 6b, a scribe line in the X direction can be processed, and the mother substrate M is beamed by the front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b. When moved in the vertical direction (Y direction) with respect to 6a and 6b, a scribe line in the Y direction can be processed. Further, when the mother substrate M is disposed obliquely with respect to the beams 6a and 6b, the scribing heads 4a and 4b move in the direction along the beams 6a and 6b, and the mother substrate M with respect to the beams 6a and 6b. By combining the movement in the vertical direction, the scribe lines in the X direction and the Y direction can be processed.

Further, in the present invention, an upper air ejection member 8a and a lower air ejection member 8b are provided on both sides of the upper cutter wheel 2a and the lower cutter wheel 2b in the gap P between the front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b. .
These air ejection members 8a and 8b extend in the X direction along the traveling direction of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2a and 2b, that is, the gap P, and are fixed to the left and right frames 9 of the scribe device A. An air ejection hole 10 is provided toward the mother substrate M to be processed, and is formed such that high-pressure air from an air supply source (not shown) such as a compressor is ejected from the air ejection hole 10.
Note that the air from the air ejection holes 10 of the upper and lower air ejection members 8a and 8b is set to have a uniform upper and lower ejection pressure with respect to the mother board M to be processed, thereby the front and rear conveyors 1a. The mother board M between 1b can be supported horizontally without contact.

  In the above configuration, in processing, the mother substrate M is placed on the front conveyor 1a and the rear conveyor 1b, and the upper cutter wheel 2a and the lower cutter wheel 2b are pressed against both the front and back surfaces of the mother substrate M. By rolling in the X direction, the scribe line S1 in the X direction is processed. When processing of all the X-direction scribe lines S1 is completed, the mother board M is rotated 90 degrees and placed again on the conveyors 1a and 1b, and the upper and lower cutter wheels 2a and 2b are placed on the front and back of the mother board M in the same manner as described above. The Y-direction scribe line S2 is processed by rolling while pressing against both sides. In addition, without rotating the mother board | substrate M, the direction of cutter wheel 2a, 2b can be rotated 90 degree | times, and the cutter wheel 2a, 2b can also be rolled by moving the mother board | substrate M to a Y direction.

  During the processing of the scribe lines S1 and S2, the mother substrate M is supported horizontally without contact so as to be sandwiched by the air ejected from the upper and lower air ejection members 8a and 8b. Even a thin plate such as this can maintain a horizontal posture without sagging and can be scribed with high accuracy. Moreover, it is not influenced by the processing accuracy of the adjacent conveyors 1a and 1b. Furthermore, since the substrate itself is not clamped, it is in a free state and is not affected by local stress.

4 and 5 show a scribing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main part, and FIG. 5 is a plan view.
In this embodiment, the upper and lower air ejection members 8a and 8b have a length that ejects only around the cutter wheels 2a and 2b, and are formed to move together with the cutter wheels 2a and 2b. Specifically, the upper and lower air ejection members 8a and 8b are attached to the upper and lower scribe heads 4a and 4b via the support arms 11a and 11b, respectively.
As a result, the upper and lower air ejection members 8a and 8b are moved along with the movement of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2a and 2b, and the portion of the mother board M to which the cutter wheels 2a and 2b are pressed is horizontally held without contact. As with, it can be scribed with high accuracy. Particularly in the case of the present embodiment, there is an effect that the air consumption can be suppressed. In addition, when the device for a large area substrate is used, in the device described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the length of the air ejection member becomes long and the adjustment work becomes difficult, but in this embodiment that is attached to the scribe head. If it exists, since an air ejection member can be shortened, it is suitable for large areas.

As mentioned above, although the typical Example of this invention was described, this invention is not necessarily limited only to said Example structure. For example, in the above embodiment, the air ejection members 8a and 8b are provided on both sides of the upper and lower cutter wheels 2a and 2b, respectively, but either one may be omitted and provided only on one side.
Further, the air ejection holes 10 of the air ejection members 8a and 8b can be formed by ventilation holes made of a porous plate material having air permeability.
In addition, the present invention achieves its object and can be appropriately modified and changed without departing from the scope of the claims.

  The present invention can be applied to a scribing apparatus that processes scribe lines on both front and back surfaces of a brittle material substrate such as a glass substrate, a semiconductor substrate, and a bonded substrate for a liquid crystal display panel.

A Scribing device M Mother substrate (brittle material substrate)
S1 Y-direction scribe line S2 X-direction scribe line P Front and rear conveyor gap 1a Front conveyor 1b Rear conveyor 2a Upper cutter wheel 2b Lower cutter wheel 3a, 3b Holder 4a, 4b Scribe head 8a Upper air ejection member 8b Lower air Ejection member 9 Frame 10 Air ejection holes 11a, 11b Support arm

Claims (3)

A front conveyor and a rear conveyor that are arranged in series at a predetermined interval on the same plane and carry and carry a brittle material substrate to be processed,
An upper cutter wheel and a lower cutter wheel disposed between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor;
Between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor, an upper air ejection member and a lower air ejection, which are arranged on the side portions of the upper cutter wheel and the lower cutter wheel, respectively, eject air toward the upper and lower surfaces of the brittle material substrate. Ri Do not from a member,
The upper air ejection member and the lower air ejection member is formed along the gap between the front conveyor and the rear conveyor, the scribing device that is fixed to the frame of the scribing apparatus. The pressure at which the air ejection pressure by the lower air ejection member resists the weight of the substrate more than the air ejection pressure by the upper air ejection member so that the brittle material substrate to be processed is stabilized in the surface The scribing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scribing apparatus is set stronger by a considerable amount. The upper air ejection member and the lower air ejection member have a length to be ejected around the upper cutter wheel and the lower cutter wheel, and are attached to a scribe head that holds the cutter wheel so as to move together with the cutter wheel. The scribing device according to claim 1 or 2.

Images