JP6743686B2 - Method and apparatus for manufacturing glass film laminate - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing a glass film laminate by laminating a glass film on a supporting glass.

In recent years, further thinning of various glass plates including glass substrates for flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, organic EL displays and field emission displays has been required. Therefore, in response to the request, development of a so-called glass film, which is a thin glass plate, is being developed, and a glass film having a thickness of, for example, 300 μm or less has been developed.

Such a glass film has flexibility due to its thinness, and this flexibility makes it difficult to handle. In order to solve this problem, it has already been proposed to handle the glass film in the form of a glass film laminate in which a glass film is laminated on a supporting glass in order to improve the handling property of the glass film.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes a glass film laminate characterized in that the surface roughness Ra of the surfaces of the glass film and the supporting glass that contact each other is 2.0 nm or less. With this glass film laminate, the adhesion between the glass film and the supporting glass is improved, and the glass film and the supporting glass can be stably fixed without using an adhesive. Further, since no adhesive is used, the glass film can be easily peeled from the supporting glass.

JP, 2011-183792, A

By the way, as a method for automatically manufacturing such a laminated body, for example, a method using a diaphragm can be considered. In this method, the glass film is detachably fixed on the upper surface plate arranged on the upper side in the chamber, and the supporting glass is placed on the diaphragm arranged on the lower side in the chamber. In this state, while decompressing the upper region of the diaphragm in the chamber, the lower region of the diaphragm is pressurized. Thereby, the supporting glass is raised and laminated on the glass film.

However, this method requires a diaphragm and a mechanism for pressurizing the diaphragm. Further, when the lower area of the diaphragm is pressurized, the pressure is applied to the upper surface plate via the diaphragm, so that a support mechanism for preventing the deformation and movement of the upper surface plate is also required. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention has a technical problem of reducing the manufacturing cost for manufacturing a glass film laminate.

The method for producing a glass film laminate of the present invention, which was conceived to solve the above-mentioned problems, is a method for producing a glass film laminate by laminating a glass film on a supporting glass, and the method is provided below the supporting glass. The step of placing the supporting glass and the glass film in a chamber so as to be spaced apart from each other in a state where the glass film is positioned, and depressurizing the chamber to float the glass film to support the glass film. Laminating on glass.

According to this configuration, it is possible to float the glass film and bring it into close contact with the supporting glass, depending on the decompression ability of the chamber and the arrangement mode of the supporting glass and the glass film. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a glass film laminated body, without using a diaphragm. Therefore, the diaphragm and a mechanism for pressurizing the diaphragm are not required, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. That is, according to the method for producing a glass film laminate of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the production cost for producing the glass film laminate.

In the above configuration, a partial region of the glass film arranged in the chamber may be convex upward.

Here, as the size of the glass film in the longitudinal direction and the size of the glass film in the width direction increase, in the obtained glass film laminate, the glass film is likely to be wrinkled or the whole laminate is easily warped. When the glass film is large (for example, when the lengthwise dimension and the widthwise dimension of the glass film are 1000 mm or more), when the above-mentioned method using the diaphragm is used, wrinkling and warpage become remarkable. With this configuration, since the glass film is sequentially laminated on the supporting glass from the convex region, wrinkle can be suppressed even if the glass film is large.

In this configuration, the convex shape may be a ridge shape.

With this structure, the glass films are sequentially laminated on the supporting glass from the ridge-shaped region, so that even if the glass film is large, not only wrinkles but also warpage can be suppressed.

In this configuration, by disposing a ridge region forming member between the mounting surface on which the glass film is placed and the glass film, the partial region of the glass film is ridged upward. May be.

With this configuration, a partial region of the glass film can be easily and surely formed into a ridge shape.

In any of the above configurations, the glass film may have a rectangular shape, and the lengthwise dimension and the widthwise dimension thereof may be 1000 mm or more.

With this configuration, as described above, the effect of suppressing wrinkling and warpage becomes more effective.

Further, the manufacturing apparatus of the glass film laminate of the present invention was devised to solve the above problems, an upper surface plate on which the supporting glass is detachably fixed, and is arranged below the upper surface plate, A lower surface plate having a mounting surface on which a glass film is mounted, the supporting glass fixed to the upper surface plate, and the glass film mounted on the lower surface plate are housed, and a reduced pressure having an exhaust port Possible chamber, and a ridge area forming member arranged on the mounting surface in order to make a partial area of the glass film mounted on the mounting surface upward in a protruding shape. Characterize.

With this configuration, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the manufacturing method of the glass film laminate at the beginning. In addition, since the ridge area forming member is provided, a partial area of the glass film can be easily and surely formed into a ridge shape. For this reason, even if the lengthwise dimension and the widthwise dimension of the glass film are 1000 mm or more, it is possible to suppress wrinkling of the glass film or warpage of the entire laminate in the obtained glass film laminate.

As described above, according to the present invention, the manufacturing cost for manufacturing the glass film laminate can be reduced.

It is a schematic side view which shows the glass film laminated body manufactured by the manufacturing method of the glass film laminated body which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass film laminated body which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing in use of the manufacturing apparatus of a glass film laminated body. It is a schematic plan view of a glass film. It is a schematic sectional drawing in use of the manufacturing apparatus of a glass film laminated body. It is a schematic sectional drawing in use of the manufacturing apparatus of a glass film laminated body. It is a schematic plan view of a glass film.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a glass film laminate 1 manufactured by a method for manufacturing a glass film laminate according to an embodiment of the present invention. The glass film laminate 1 is in a state where the glass film 2 is directly laminated on the supporting glass 3.

For the glass film 2 and the support glass 3, silicate glass or silica glass is used, preferably borosilicate glass is used, and most preferably alkali-free glass is used. Here, the non-alkali glass is a glass that does not substantially contain an alkali component (alkali metal oxide), specifically, a glass having an alkali component of 3000 ppm or less. The content of the alkaline component in the present invention is preferably 1000 ppm or less, more preferably 500 ppm or less, and further preferably 300 ppm or less.

The thickness of the glass film 2 can be, for example, 300 μm or less, 200 μm or less, 100 μm or less, and 50 μm or less. On the other hand, the lower limit of the thickness of the glass film 2 can be 10 μm or more. The glass film 2 of this embodiment has a thickness of 100 μm.

Further, the glass film 2 has a rectangular shape, and the size thereof is, for example, 250 mm×340 mm to 2830 mm×3030 mm. In this embodiment, the glass film 2 has a size of 1096×1296 mm.

The supporting glass 3 is preferably thicker than the glass film 2, but may have the same thickness as the glass film 2. The thickness of the support glass 3 may be appropriately set according to the thickness of the glass film 2. For example, the thickness of the support glass 3 may be set so that the total thickness of the glass film 2 and the support glass 3 is 300 μm to 900 μm. The supporting glass 3 of the present embodiment has a thickness of 500 μm and is thicker than the glass film 2.

The supporting glass 3 has a rectangular shape and is preferably larger than the glass film 2, but may have the same size as the glass film 2 or may be smaller than the glass film 2. The size of the support glass 3 is, for example, 270 mm×360 mm to 2850 mm×3050 mm. In this embodiment, the size of the supporting glass 3 is 1100 mm×1300 mm, which is larger than the glass film 2 and thicker than the glass film 2.

The surface roughness Ra on both the facing surfaces 2a and 3a of the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 is, for example, 2.0 nm or less, and can be 1.0 nm or less, 0.5 nm or less, 0.2 nm or less. .. Here, the surface roughness Ra is an arithmetic average roughness based on JIS R 1683:2014 and may be measured by an atomic force microscope (the same applies hereinafter). In the present embodiment, among the front and back surfaces of the supporting glass 3 and the glass film 2, the surfaces 2b and 3b that do not face each other at the time of stacking have the same surface roughness Ra as the facing surfaces 2a and 3a. The supporting glass 3 and the glass film 2 having such a surface roughness Ra on the front and back surfaces can be obtained without polishing if they are manufactured by, for example, an overflow downdraw method.

Since the surface roughness Ra of both the facing surfaces 2a and 3a of the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 is 2.0 nm or less, they can be directly contacted and laminated without interposing another member such as an adhesive. , Are adhered to each other with a certain degree of adhesive force.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the manufacturing apparatus 4 for the glass film laminate 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The manufacturing apparatus 4 is for manufacturing the glass film laminate 1 by directly laminating the glass film 2 on the supporting glass 3.

The manufacturing apparatus 4 includes a chamber 5, an upper surface plate 6 disposed on the upper side of the chamber 5, a lower surface plate 7 disposed on the lower side of the chamber 5 and located below the upper surface plate 6, A ridge area forming member 8 arranged on the upper side of the lower turn table 7 is provided as a main component. The inside of the chamber 5 can be depressurized by exhausting air from an exhaust port 5a provided in the chamber 5.

The supporting glass 3 is detachably fixed to the lower surface of the upper surface plate 6, and the glass film 2 is placed on the upper surface of the lower surface plate 7. Therefore, the glass film 2 is located below (just below) the support glass 3. The ridge area forming member 8 has a ridge shape and is disposed between the glass film 2 and the mounting surface on which the glass film 2 is mounted, whereby a partial area of the glass film 2 is formed. Is to be convex upward.

Next, a method for manufacturing the glass film laminate 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the supporting glass 3 is detachably fixed to the lower part of the upper surface plate 6 of the manufacturing apparatus 4 by a vacuum chuck and/or an electrostatic chuck or the like. On the other hand, the glass film 2 is placed on the placement surface of the lower platen 7 of the manufacturing apparatus 4 with the ridge region forming member 8 interposed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, in the glass film 2, the ridge area forming member 8 extends along the width direction of the glass film 2 at the center in the longitudinal direction of the glass film 2 in a plan view. Is located in. Further, due to the ridge region forming member 8, a partial region of the glass film 2 has a ridge shape upward. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the lower plate surface of the supporting glass 3 and the upper plate surface of the glass film 2 face each other with a gap.

Next, the chamber 5 is hermetically closed, and as shown in FIG. 5, the inside of the chamber 5 is depressurized by exhausting from the exhaust port 5a. In this embodiment, the pressure in the chamber 5 is reduced from atmospheric pressure to about 100 Pa in about 1 minute by exhausting from the exhaust port 5a using a vacuum pump (not shown). Then, as indicated by an arrow A, an airflow is generated in the space between the supporting glass 3 and the glass film 2. As a result, an upward force acts on the glass film 2 and the glass film 2 floats. Then, the glass film 2 is brought into contact with the supporting glass 3 and adhered thereto, whereby the glass film 2 is laminated on the supporting glass 3 to form the glass film laminate 1, as shown in FIG. 6. Then, the inside of the chamber 5 is returned to atmospheric pressure, and the glass film laminate 1 is taken out from the chamber 5.

Since the glass film 2 is attached to the supporting glass 3 while the pressure inside the chamber 5 is reduced, it is possible to prevent bubbles from remaining between the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3. Further, when the glass film 2 is attached to the supporting glass 3, the supporting glass 3 is sequentially arranged in the longitudinal direction from a portion of the glass film 2 having a ridge shape as shown by an arrow in FIG. Stick to. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the glass film 2 from wrinkling and the glass film laminate 1 from being warped as a whole.

As described above, the reason why the glass film 2 is stuck to the supporting glass 3 from the ridge-shaped portion is considered as follows. Since the ridge-shaped portion is closer to the supporting glass 3 than the other portions, the time until sticking is shortened. Further, since the ridge-shaped portion is closer to the supporting glass 3 than the other portions, the velocity of the airflow between the supporting glass 3 and the ridge-shaped portion becomes faster. , It is conceivable that this causes a stronger upward force.

In addition, in the state of FIG. 3, the interval g1 between the ridge-shaped portion of the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 is preferably 0.3 mm to 2.0 mm, and more preferably 0.4 mm to 1.5 mm. .. When the gap g1 is less than 0.3 mm, the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 may interfere with each other when the glass film 2 or the supporting glass 3 is arranged. When the gap g1 exceeds 2.0 mm, the ridge-shaped portion may stick to the support glass 3 almost simultaneously with the non-ridge-shaped portion.

Moreover, in the state of FIG. 3, the interval g2 between the non-convex portion of the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 is, for example, preferably 3.0 mm to 10.0 mm, and more preferably 3.5 mm to 7.0 mm. .. When the gap g2 is less than 3.0 mm, the non-ridge-shaped portion may stick to the supporting glass 3 almost at the same time as the ridge-shaped portion. When the gap g2 is more than 10.0 mm, there is a possibility that the non-ridge-shaped portion may not stick to the supporting glass 3.

The width w1 (see FIG. 4) of the ridge area forming member 8 is preferably, for example, 5 mm to 100 mm. If it is less than 5 mm, the bonded pieces may be slightly warped, probably because the initial bonding is not stable. On the other hand, when the thickness exceeds 100 mm, a wide area is initially bonded almost at the same time, and bubbles are likely to be left behind.

According to the manufacturing method and the manufacturing apparatus 4 of the glass film laminate 1 configured as described above, the following effects can be enjoyed.

Depending on the decompression ability of the chamber 5 and the arrangement mode of the supporting glass 3 and the glass film 2, the glass film 2 can be floated and brought into close contact with the supporting glass 3. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture the glass film laminated body 1 without using a diaphragm. Therefore, a diaphragm, a mechanism for pressing the diaphragm, and a support mechanism for preventing the deformation and movement of the upper surface plate due to the pressing are not necessary, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. That is, according to the manufacturing method and the manufacturing apparatus 4 for the glass film laminate 1 of the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost for manufacturing the glass film laminate 1.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea thereof. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the ridge-shaped member is used as the ridge region forming member 8. However, the ridge-shaped region forming member 8 may have a convex shape on the upper side, for example, a hemispherical member. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the ridge area forming member 8 is preferably arranged so as to be located at the center of the glass film 2. According to this aspect, when the glass film 2 is attached to the supporting glass 3, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 7, along the direction from the ridge-shaped portion of the glass film 2 toward the peripheral edge portion in the radial direction. It sticks to the supporting glass 3 in sequence.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, the convex area|region formation member 8 makes a partial area|region of the glass film 2 convex. The ridge region forming member 8 can be made of, for example, an elastic body such as rubber. In the present invention, for example, in order to make a partial region of the glass film 2 convex without using the convex region forming member 8, a convex protrusion formed on the mounting surface by welding or machining is used. The lower turn table 7 may have. Furthermore, the glass film 2 may be arranged on the lower surface plate 7 in a flat state without making a partial region of the glass film 2 convex.

Further, in the illustrated example of the above-described embodiment, the exhaust port 5a of the chamber 5 is arranged on the short side of the glass film 2, but the invention is not limited to this. On the other hand, it may be arranged on the long side.

Further, in the illustrated example of the above-described embodiment, the upper surface plate 6 and the lower surface plate 7 are housed in the chamber 5, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the upper surface plate 6 and/or the lower surface plate 7 may be used to form the chamber. 5 may be configured. More specifically, the upper surface plate 6 may be used as part or all of the upper wall of the chamber 5, and the lower surface plate 7 may be used as part or all of the lower wall of the chamber 5.

Here, if the adhesive force between the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3 is excessively large, it becomes difficult to separate the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3. Therefore, if necessary, a treatment for reducing the adhesive force may be applied to the facing surfaces 2a, 3a of the glass film 2 and the supporting glass 3. In the processing for reducing the adhesive force, for example, an inorganic thin film may be formed on at least one of the facing surfaces 2a and 3a.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass film laminated body 2 Glass film 3 Support glass 4 Glass film laminated body manufacturing apparatus 5 Chamber 8 Relief area|region formation member

Claims (6)

A method for producing a glass film laminate by laminating a glass film on a supporting glass,
In a state where the glass film is positioned below the supporting glass, a step of disposing the supporting glass and the glass film in a chamber in a spaced manner,
Laminating the glass film on the supporting glass by depressurizing the inside of the chamber to float the glass film, and a method for manufacturing a glass film laminate. The method for manufacturing a glass film laminate according to claim 1, wherein a partial region of the glass film arranged in the chamber is convex upward. The method for manufacturing a glass film laminate according to claim 2, wherein the convex shape is a convex shape. By disposing a ridge area forming member between the mounting surface on which the glass film is mounted and the glass film, the partial area of the glass film is formed in a ridge shape upward. The method for producing a glass film laminate according to claim 3. The method for manufacturing a glass film laminate according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the glass film has a rectangular shape, and the lengthwise dimension and the widthwise dimension are 1000 mm or more. An apparatus for producing a glass film laminate by laminating a glass film on a supporting glass,
An upper surface plate on which the supporting glass is detachably fixed,
A lower surface plate that is disposed below the upper surface plate and has a mounting surface on which the glass film is mounted,
A supporting glass fixed to the upper surface plate, and a chamber capable of decompressing, containing the glass film placed on the lower surface plate and having an exhaust port,
A glass film, characterized in that the glass film is provided with a ridge area forming member arranged on the mounting surface in order to make a partial area of the glass film mounted on the mounting surface upwardly convex. Laminate manufacturing equipment.

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