JPH01261690A - Device for inspecting liquid crystal display body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To incline a stage at the same angle as the inclined angle of an object to be inspected before the object is placed on the stage by detecting the inclined angle of the object while the object is carried to the stage. CONSTITUTION:This inspection device is constituted of a detecting section 32 which detects the inclination of an uninspected large-sized liquid crystal display body (LCD) while the LCD is carried to a stage 4 after the LCD is taken out of an uninspected cassette, calculating section 33 which calculates the deviated quantity and deviated angle of the LCD from the inclination information detected by the section 32, and stage inclination driving section 35 which drives the stage 4 in the X- and Y-axis and peripheral directions based on the command of a CPU 34 which is exclusively used for a loader section produced in accordance with the calculated deviated quantity and deviated angle. Then the inclination of the object to be inspected is detected and calculated while the object is carried to the stage 4 after it is taken out of its cassette. Therefore, the stage can be pre-aligned by driving the stage 4 to the same inclination as that of the object.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display inspection device.

(Prior art) In recent years, large liquid crystal displays (hereinafter referred to as
There is an inspection device that uses an object to be inspected (abbreviated as LCD) as an object to be inspected, and observes and inspects its characteristics using an inspection device that performs eleven inspections on this object. By the way, there is a process of performing vA inspection on a large number of pixels formed on the surface of the LCD.

In the above process, the electrodes on the periphery of the LCD are brought into contact with the probe terminal electrodes provided on the back side of the head plate of the liquid crystal display inspection device to supply electricity, and after the electricity is supplied, the state of the pixels of the LCD is observed and inspected. Using an LCD inspection device called an LCD prober that includes the
We are conducting &11 inspection of CDs.

In this LCD inspection device, the above-mentioned head play 1
-LCD corresponding to the probe terminal electrode provided on
Positioning is performed in order to contact the electrodes at precise positions. This positioning includes coarse positioning and fine positioning, and after first rough positioning, fine positioning is performed to achieve even more accurate positioning. This rough alignment is called prealignment.

As shown in FIG. 7, the LCD inspection device has an inspection section
and a loader section ■. Above inspection department (1)
A stage (A) is provided on which the LCD (3) is placed and temporarily fixed.

The loader section ■ includes a mounting table ■ on which the cassette ■ is placed, a tweezers ■ that moves in the X-axis direction from the cassette ■ to take out the LCD ■, and a Y that transports the tweezers ■ in the Y-axis direction.
The IIIl transport section (8), the alignment plate 0 that moves parallel to this Y# transport section (8), and the tweezers ■
It consists of a mechanism called a sub-chuck (10) that transfers the LCD (1) placed on the alignment plate (9).

The action of the loader section (2) is such that the LCD (2) taken out from the cassette (2) is transported by the tweezers (2) to a position (12) where it is transferred to the X@ direction transport section (11) via the Y-axis transport section (8).

The alignment plate 0 is moved and arranged in the Y-axis direction at this transported position @(12) so as to overlap with each other with a space in between. Then, as the sub-chuck (10) rises, the L
The sub-chuck (10) in which the CD ■ has been transferred from the surface of the pin safety 8■ to the sub-chuck (10) rises to the top. Then, it is moved to a position (12) in the Y-axis direction with respect to the alignment plate 0). This is moved and transferred to the alignment plate (■).

This relocated LCD■ is Alignment 1-Fi■)
The frame (9a) provided in the frame (9a) is used for bris alignment. The tilt of this fully aligned LCD (3) is corrected by the frame (9a), and the stage (a)
is oriented in the same direction. LCD with this tilt corrected
■ is transferred to stage Ω) by an ordinary movement of the sub-chuck.

In this way, a method is generally used in which the frame (9a) slides toward the center of the four sides of the LCD (2) to achieve the alignment.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, the burr alignment mechanism in conventional LCD inspection equipment temporarily stops the conveyance state, transfers it to the alignment plate, and physically checks the burr by suppressing it with a piece or the like.
Since alignment is required, the mechanism of the loader section becomes complicated, and there is a problem in that it becomes an obstacle to shortening the working time for the alignment.

In addition, the pieces provided on the alignment plate on the four sides of the LCD collide with the LCD, and due to the strength of the pressing force, the
There was also the problem of damaging the sides of the CD.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to solve the problem of the inclination (displacement amount/shift) of the object to be inspected during transportation from the cassette in which the object to be inspected is stored to the stage. An object of the present invention is to provide an LCD inspection device that performs bristle alignment by detecting and calculating the angle) and driving and controlling the stage to the above-mentioned inclination.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving Problem A) The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus that transports the object to be inspected from a cassette containing the object to a stage and inspects the display state of the object to be inspected.

The structure is characterized in that the inclination of the object to be inspected being conveyed to the stage is detected, the stage is driven and controlled to have the same inclination as the inclination of the object to be inspected, and then the object to be inspected is placed on this stage. There is.

(Function/Effect) Since the inclination of the subject is detected during transportation of the subject to the stage, the stage is driven to the same inclination as the subject before placing the subject on the stage. becomes possible.

For example, the above detection is composed of a detection section and a calculation section,
Edges of the object to be inspected are detected while the object to be inspected is being transported to the stage, and since the edge positions are detected, the distance between the edges is calculated. The deviation amount and deviation angle can be calculated and detected from the calculated edge distance decoupling value.

Based on the calculated values of the deviation amount and deviation angle, the stage can be driven and controlled to the deviation amount and deviation angle.

Then, the object to be inspected can be placed on the stage whose drive is controlled according to the amount of deviation and angle of deviation.

By returning the stage on which the object to be inspected is placed a to its normal position, the inclination of the object to be inspected is corrected and the alignment is completed.

After detecting the inclination of the object to be inspected during transport of the object to be inspected to the stage, the stage is placed at the same inclination as the L mud wave inspection object.・It is possible to shorten the time required for alignment.

Since it is possible to carry out alignment without holding down the object to be inspected, there is an effect that the object to be inspected will not be damaged.

(Example) Hereinafter, the LCD inspection apparatus of the present invention will be explained by applying it to an LCD inspection apparatus system with reference to the drawings.

In the above description, the same parts described in the conventional example will be described using the same symbols.

In this embodiment, a probe terminal electrode is brought into contact with an LCD electrode, and a pattern signal from a pattern generator is used to control the LCD.
The D pixels are displayed, which are then inspected and sorted according to the degree of completion of the LCD.

First, to explain the LCD inspection apparatus system, the external configuration of the LCD inspection apparatus system (13) will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

First, it consists of a tester (14) and an LCD inspection device (15). Therefore, the above LCD inspection device (15)
The electrodes of the LCDs to be sequentially tested come into contact with the probe terminal electrodes, and a test pattern is sent by a tester connected to the probe terminal electrodes to sequentially test the LCDs.

The LCD inspection device vi(15)+L consists of an inspection section (1) that brings probe terminal electrodes into contact with the LCD (7) electrodes, and a loader section (2) that transports the LCD to the inspection section 0).

The LCD inspection apparatus (15) is provided with a display device 1, such as a television screen (16), which is necessary for the operator to perform alignment when alignment is performed using alignment target marks on the LCD. Furthermore, a scope (17) is provided for checking whether the probe terminal electrode is in contact with the LCD electrode at the set position.

Also, the above L CD inspection bag! (15) into which the floppy disk (15a) is inserted (15b).
) is provided.

Next, the internal structure of the LCD inspection device (15) will be explained with reference to FIG. 5.

The inspection section (1) is composed of an alignment section (not shown) and a stage (A).

The stage (2) is formed into a rectangular shape with a larger surface area than the LCD (2) on which it is placed.

A rotatable shaft is provided at the center of the bottom of this rectangular stage (A), and it is configured to be rotatable.

That is, in the stage (A), as shown by the arrow, an X-axis drive motor (18) that drives in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis drive motor (19) that drives in the Y-axis direction are connected to the ball screw shaft (
20) and a nut (not shown) that is threadedly supported by the ball screw shaft.

Above, it has been explained that the stage (A) moves in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, but to explain the rotation direction, there is a rotatable shaft at the center of the bottom of the stage (A), which is attached to the timing belt (21). ) etc., and the rotary motor (22) is driven to rotate based on a command from the CPU, so that the stage can be rotated. It is being

Next, the configuration of the loader section (2) will be explained.

The above-mentioned loader section (2) takes out the L CD (23) from the uninspected cassette (24) containing the uninspected L CD (23) and carries it to the stage (A). The inspection ends at the same time as the L
A CD (25) is stored in a cassette.

The loader section (■) includes a mounting table (■) on which an uninspected cassette (24) is placed, and an L from this uninspected cassette (24).
A tweezers ■ takes out the CD (23), a Y-axis transport section (8) moves the tweezers in the Y-axis direction, and from this Y-axis transport section ■, the L CD (23) is transferred to stage 0).
The receiver is made up of an X-axis direction conveying section (11) for passing.

The above-mentioned mounting table (2) is provided so as to arrange the uninspected cassette (24), the finished product cassette (26), the semi-finished product cassette (27), and the defective product cassette (28) in parallel. Needless to say, each cassette is provided so that the LCD can be accessed and removed from the cassette.

The tweezers (■) are provided on the top surface of the elevating section (not shown), and the bottom surface of this elevating section (not shown) is provided on the Y@[feeding section (8)] which is moved in the Y-axis direction. There is.

The X-axis direction transport section (11) has an LCD on the stage G).
” (23) to Uke, and after the inspection, the L CD (2
5) is configured so that the receiver is returned to the tweezers ■.

Here, the X-axis direction conveyance section (11) is provided so as to be movable in the X-axis direction at a position apart from the stage (A) and the tweezers (2).

Each of the above rotor sections ■ has a CPU dedicated to the loader section.
The drive is controlled based on the command.

Here, the y**m feed section (c) is a Y-axis motor (29
), and the tweezers ■ above are driven by a forward/backward motor (30).
is driven by. The X-axis direction conveyance section (11) is driven by an X-axis motor (31).

The feature of this embodiment is that the inclination of the L CD (23) is detected while the uninspected L CD (23) is taken out from the uninspected cassette (24) and transported to the stage (A). Calculate the amount of deviation in the XY axis directions and the deviation angle of one rotation from the inclination, and move the W! to the stage using the calculated deviation amount and deviation angle. After setting the value to j+, change the LCD to J”l l
l't. Then, the stage 0) is returned to its normal position and the tail alignment is performed.

The characteristic configuration of this embodiment is as shown in FIG.
A detection unit (32) detects the inclination while the CD (23) is being transported from the uninspected cassette (24) to the takeout stage O), and calculates the amount of deviation and deviation angle from the detected inclination information. The stage tilt drive unit (33) drives the stage O) in the X-axis, Y-axis and rotational direction based on the commands from the loader unit dedicated cPU (34) using the calculated deviation amount and deviation angle. 35).

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the inspection section (32) has a transport path where the inspection LCD (23) is taken out from the uninspected cassette (24) using tweezers and transferred to stage 0). is provided with an optical sensor, for example a reflective sensor (36).

By passing this reflective sensor (36) position at a constant speed, this L CD (23) detects the amount of pulses of the drive motor that has passed the bottom of the reflective sensor (36).

That is, the untested L CD (23) is placed in the untested cassette (
A detection unit (32) that detects the deviation amount and deviation angle of the inclination of this LCD (24) during transport while transporting it to the stage (A) is equipped with a reflective sensor ( 36) is provided facing the L CD (23) surface.

This reflective sensor (36) is connected to the uninspected cassette (24).
) A pair of reflective sensors (36a) are provided in the direction 1 for taking out the uninspected L CD (23) from, for example, the X-axis direction.

The distance between the pair of reflective sensors (36a) is defined as Ys.

Similarly, the uninspected L CD (23) taken out is
A pair of reflective sensors (36b) are provided in the axial direction conveyance section (11) while conveying the receiver to the transfer point II (12).

The distance between the pair of reflective sensors (36b) is defined as Xs. The reflective sensor (36) is configured with a light emitting part and a light receiving element as a pair, and the amount of light irradiated from the light emitting part is reflected and incident on the light receiving element, and the reflection is detected as a digital signal.

Next, the operation of the detection section (32) will be explained.

This detection unit (32) inputs reference data and detects uninspected LC.
It is used for data extraction to find the slope of D.

That is, the method of inputting the reference data is to input the reference data in the position and angle direction of the stage G) into the RAM (3g) in the length direction X. , width direction Y. L CD (39)
(hereinafter abbreviated as reference LCD) as shown in Fig. 3,
Place it on the center (7a) of the tweezers ■.

This placement is performed by the operator. In this placed state, the tweezers (2) are transported in the X-axis direction at a set speed.

At this time, the edge part (ey
g+f−h) can be detected.

Similarly, the Vincera I-0 is transported at a set speed in the Y-axis direction.

At this time, the edge part (a
tb, c) can be detected.

The reference data of the edge position of the second reference LCD (39) is stored in the RAM (38).

The detection data calculation for the uninspected L CD (23) is performed in the second
As shown in the figure, take out the uninspected L CD (23) from the uninspected cassette (24) with tweezers ■.

This taken out uninspected L CD (23) is in the X-axis direction,
It is transported at the speed set in the Y-axis direction.

At this time, the edge part (a') of the uninspected L CD (23)
,b′.

C' + d're' + f' + g' + h') can be detected.

Next, the -1- entry calculation unit (33) will be explained. As mentioned above, since the edge portion of the uninspected L CD (23) can be detected, it is compared with the reference data and the uninspected i L CD (
23), that is, a deviation of 1 in the XY axis direction, the deviation angle in the rotation direction can be calculated.

For example, the calculation formula for calculating the amount of deviation in the XY axis direction and the deviation angle in the rotation direction is based on the reference L CD (3
If the deviation angle with respect to 9) is θ, then the reference L CD
If the amount of deviation with respect to (39) is ΔX and Δy, then it is expressed as ΔX and Δy.

in the same way It is expressed as

It is configured to calculate the amount of deviation and angle of deviation by calculating the above-mentioned calculation formula.

This concludes the explanation of the calculation section.

Next, the stages X, Y, 0. rg moving part (35) c,
The signals of the deviation amount and deviation angle calculated by the calculation section (33) are sent to the stage-dedicated C through data communication between the stage-dedicated CPU (34a) and the loader section-dedicated CPU (34).
It is input to PU (34a).

This stage dedicated CPU (34a) is the stage)
It is configured to be controlled and driven in the X-axis direction, Y-axis direction, and rotational direction.

Next, one effect will be explained.

Place the untested cassette (24) on the loading table 0 of the loader section (■), and also place a total of multiple storage cassettes (26, 27, 28) for storing the L CD (25) after the test. do.

The operator holds the center of the tweezers ■ (7a) in the loader section ■.
) so that the centers of the reference L CD (39a) overlap.

This placed reference L CD (39) is
and a reflective sensor (36a) provided on the transport path in the Y-axis direction.

36), the edge part (ay
b + Q + d + e + f + g)
is detected.

This edge part (ay b+ Q+ d+ e+ f+
The location of g) is stored at address RAM (38).

Next, based on the command from the loader section dedicated CPU (34), the Y#lll1 feeding section (c) and the tweezers ■ are driven to transfer the uninspected L CD (2) from the uninspected cassette (24).
3) Take it out.

This taken out uninspected L CD (23) is driven by the Y-axis transport section (8), and the uninspected L CD (23) is transferred to the X-axis transport section (11).
The receiver transports D (23) to the delivery position.

During the transportation, the edges (a/ , b+ , c/ , d+ , e/ 4'9 of the uninspected L CD (23)
g/N).

Then, in the calculation unit (33) mentioned above, the uninspected L
CD (23) edges (a#, b', c/, d/
, e+ , fl , gl , hf ) information, the deviation angle (ill) is calculated, and furthermore, the deviation amount in the X direction (ΔX) and the deviation amount in the Y direction (Δy) are calculated.

The calculated deviation angle (θ), the amount of deviation in the X direction (ΔX), and the amount of deviation in the Y direction (Δy) are processed by the stage-dedicated CPU (34a
), the stage XYf3 drive unit (35) is driven, and the uninspected LCD (23)
The drive will be controlled to match the direction.

An uninspected L CD (23) is placed on this stage (A) and temporarily fixed, for example, by vacuum pressure.

The stage (a) is driven to rotate to the original normal position, and the pre-alignment is completed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block explanatory diagram for explaining the characteristic configuration of the LCD inspection device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an uninspected LC of FIG. 1.
An explanatory diagram for explaining a method of detecting the edge portion of D,
3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the method of detecting the edge portion of the reference LCD in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a flowchart diagram for explaining the operation of FIG. 1, and FIG. LCD
An explanatory diagram for explaining the inspection section and loader section of the inspection device,
FIG. 6 shows an example of the LCD inspection apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the external configuration of the D inspection device system, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the conventional LCD inspection device. 13...LCD inspection device system, 15...LCD inspection device, 23...Uninspected LCD
, 24... uninspected cassette, 25... inspection section L
CD, 32...detection section, 33...calculation section, 34.
...CPU dedicated to the loader section, 34a...CPU dedicated to the stage. 35... Stage X, YO drive section, 36... Reflective sensor, 36a... (For X axis) reflective sensor, 36b... (For Y@) reflective sensor. Patent applicant Tokyo Electron Ltd. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an inspection device that transports an object to be inspected from a cassette containing the object to a stage to a stage and inspects the display state of the object, the inclination of the object to be inspected being conveyed to the stage is detected. A liquid crystal display inspection apparatus characterized in that the stage is driven and controlled to have the same inclination as the inclination of the object to be inspected, and then the object to be inspected is placed on the stage.