JPH02128890A - Pattern forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a required pattern to be obtained by making a transfer pattern flow to be transformed by a method wherein the transfer pattern is heated to not less than its melting point. CONSTITUTION:A metal mask 2 is put fixedly on a transfer medium 1 composed of a glass plate, and a conductive Ag paste 6 having glass frit as a pattern forming material is applied, in a dense direction of a dot pattern, onto this metal mask 2 with a blade 5. Then, a dot pattern 7 for an Ag electrode line is formed on the transfer medium 1 by peeling the metal mask 2 off from the transfer medium 1 to be removed. The transfer pattern thus formed is dried at 130 deg.C for 10 min, and is heat-treated by several temperature-time gradients containing a maximum temperature of 130 deg.C for 30 min for baking. Though a dot shape remains slightly, a linear Ag electrode pattern in which dots are connected to each other is formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is applicable to the general process of forming a thick film with fine patterns on a transfer target with high precision, and is particularly applicable to electrodes and the like of large-area image display devices. The present invention relates to a pattern forming method commonly used when forming thick films such as spacers and barriers.

[Prior art] In recent years, electrode patterns, spacers, barriers, etc. with fine line widths of about 100 to 200 μm have been used in LCDs, PDPs, EL, E
It is required for panel parts of image display devices such as CDs. In the case of an electrode pattern formed by a thick film method using a conductive paste, a film thickness of 60 to 100 μm is required to improve conductivity, and the required film thickness is increasing year by year.

Similarly, spacers, barriers, etc. are required to have a similar thickness or more due to the characteristics of the image display device.

Conventionally, the method of forming a pattern having a fine line width of about 100 to 200 am has been to use a screen mesh as a support and apply a photosensitive emulsion, photosensitive resin, etc. on the screen mesh by photolithography. A printing method using a screen plate formed using a metal mask is often adopted, but in recent years, a pattern forming method using a metal mask has been studied.

A pattern forming method using a metal mask involves forming a metal mask by opening a pattern shape in a metal plate of a predetermined thickness, bringing the metal mask into close contact with an object to be transferred, and then applying a paste-like pattern forming material. After the metal mask is applied uniformly from the upper surface of the metal mask to fill the openings of the metal mask, the metal mask is peeled off from the transfer target to form a pattern on the transfer target.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The metal mask method is particularly useful in forming a linear pattern, but the shape of the open pattern enclosed in the metal mask is not particularly limited, except for isolated patterns. However, in recent years, as pattern areas have become larger and pattern line widths have become finer, metal masks lack the strength to withstand forces perpendicular to the linear openings when forming long linear patterns, and are easily The problem is that it is subject to deformation. For this reason, beams (bridges) are appropriately inserted into the linear openings of the metal mask in a direction perpendicular to the openings for reinforcement, but due to the presence of the bridges, the opening pattern is no longer linear and becomes circular dots.
Or it becomes a slot (ellipse) shape. When a paste pattern is transferred using such a reinforced metal mask, the bridge portion obstructs the transfer and passage of the paste, causing the pattern to become disconnected.
A problem has arisen in that a straight line pattern cannot be obtained.

[Means to solve the problem]

Therefore, in the present invention, a transfer pattern in which the desired paste pattern has not been obtained due to wire breakage at the bridge portion, etc., is heated and fired to a temperature higher than the melting point of the main component of the pattern forming material, thereby slightly changing the pattern. It is made to flow and deform, and the patterns are fused to obtain a desired pattern.

That is, a metal mask is formed on a metal plate of a predetermined thickness by opening the pattern shape, the metal mask is brought into close contact with the object to be transferred, and then a paste-like pattern forming material is applied uniformly from the upper surface of the metal mask. In a pattern forming method in which a paste is applied to fill the openings of the metal mask, the metal mask is peeled off from the object to be transferred, and the paste is dried and baked to form a pattern on the object to be transferred. The pattern is heated to a temperature higher than the melting point of the pattern forming material and fired to deform it and re-form it into a desired pattern shape.

When using a conductive pattern paste such as Ag paste containing glass frit with a melting point of 430'C as a pattern forming material, or an insulating paste containing glass frit as the main component, melting of the glass frit is required. It is preferable to set the firing temperature to a point or higher. Such a pattern-forming material is not particularly limited to glass frit, and any material may be used as long as it can form a pattern applied when forming thick films such as electrodes and spacer barriers.

The transfer pattern may be any pattern as long as it is formed by placing circular dots or slot-shaped patterns in close proximity to each other, and effectively transforms the pattern into a linear pattern by fusing the adjacent portions by heating.

Furthermore, the pattern formed is not limited to a linear pattern.

The metal plate may be any material that can be etched, such as stainless steel or Ni, and the thickness of the metal plate is preferably the same as or slightly thicker than the thickness of the desired pattern forming material. In particular, the present invention is suitable for forming patterns applied when forming thick films such as electrodes, spacers, and barriers in plasma displays. ~200 μm is desirable.

Photo-etching is a good method for processing the metal mask. Furthermore, during the etching process, it is possible to appropriately control the cross-sectional shape of the opening and the opening dimension IO.
The cross-sectional shape of the opening is not limited to the cross-sectional shapes of the opening illustrated in FIGS. 2-4.

[Function] In the present invention, a linear pattern, which is a desired pattern, can be obtained by subjecting the transferred pattern material to a heat treatment at a temperature higher than the pouring point to cause it to flow and deform, and to connect circular dots to each other. This is what I found possible. At this time, other parts of the pattern are also deformed, but by adjusting the opening size of the metal mask in advance, the deformed bones can be prevented from being connected to other parts.

〔Example] This will be explained below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a state in which a pattern forming material is applied using the metal mask of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the metal mask taken along line A in FIG. 1, and FIG. The figure is a cross-sectional view showing the state after applying the pattern forming material, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the state in which the metal mask is peeled off from the object to be transferred, and FIG. Figure 5 (a) is a partial plan view of the same, Figure 5 (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line B, Figure 5 (C) is a cross-sectional view taken along line C, and Figure 6 shows the pattern forming material. Figure 6(a) is a plan view, Figure 6(b) is a sectional view taken along line D, and Figure 6(C) is taken along line B. FIG.

The metal plate shown in Figure 1 has an outer diameter of 200 mm x 15 mm.
Using a 5US304 plate with a thickness of 0 mm and a thickness of O, lan, the pattern area is 160 mm x 110 M, and the opening diameter is 100 mm.
A dot pattern 3 of μm is formed at a pitch of 200 μm in the direction of line A in FIG.
, the pitch is 120 μm in the direction perpendicular to the A line in Fig. 1.
That is, a metal mask 2 was fabricated by etching, in which the non-opening dimensions were arranged to be 20I1m. A cross-sectional view of the metal mask 2 is shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, this metal mask 2 is placed on a transfer body 1 made of a glass plate, and then a conductive film containing glass frit as a pattern forming material is placed on this metal mask 2. Ag paste (771 manufactured by DuPont)
3) Apply 6 with the blade 5 in the direction of placement of the dot pattern as shown by the arrow. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the openings of the metal mask are filled with pattern forming material. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the metal mask 2 was peeled off and removed from the transfer body 1, thereby forming a dot pattern 7 for Ag electrode lines with a film thickness of 95 μm on the transfer body 1. The planar state of the transfer body to which the dot pattern has been transferred is shown in FIG. 5(a). Note that FIG. 5(b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line B in FIG. 5(a), and the distance 4'' between the transfer patterns is 20 μm, and FIG. 5(c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line B in FIG. 5(a). is a cross-sectional view taken along line C, and the distance 4'' between the transfer patterns is 100 μm.

The transfer pattern thus formed was heated at 130°C for 10
Heat treatment was carried out using several temperature-time gradients, including drying for 30 minutes and calcination at a maximum temperature of 600°C for 30 minutes. As a result, as shown in Fig. 6, a slight dot shape remains, but the transfer pattern in Fig. 5(b) is a linear Ag electrode pattern in which the dots are connected, as shown in Fig. 6(b). was formed with a film thickness of 70 μm. Note that the transfer pattern in FIG. 5(c) only slightly flowed as shown in FIG. 6(C).

Furthermore, a pattern could be formed using an insulating paste whose main component is glass frit instead of the conductive paste as a pattern-forming material in the same manner as described above.

[Effects of the Invention] In recent years, pattern forming methods using metal masks have been expanding pattern areas and miniaturizing pattern dimensions, and the present invention has been developed to improve the ability to form original patterns due to constraints such as the strength of metal masks. If this is not possible, heating the transferred pattern above its melting point will cause it to flow.
A desired pattern can be obtained by deforming the metal mask. In particular, by patterning the metal mask into a circular dot shape or a slot shape, the metal mask can be given strength, and the transferred pattern can be heated, etc. It is possible to change the pattern to a desired straight line pattern.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a state in which a pattern forming material is applied using the metal mask of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the metal mask taken along line A in FIG. 1, and FIG. The figure is a sectional view showing the state after applying the pattern forming material, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the state in which the metal mask is peeled off from the transferred object, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the dot pattern after transfer, and FIG. 6 FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which the pattern forming material is fluidized and deformed by firing. In the figure, 1 is the transferred object, 2 is the metal mask plate, 3 is the metal mask opening, 4°, 4'' is the dimension between the openings, 5 is the blade, 6 is the pattern forming material, 7 is the pattern, and 8 is the metal The thickness is shown. Fig. 4 Fig. 5 (b) Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 6 (b) (c)

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Form a metal mask on a metal plate with a predetermined thickness by opening the pattern shape, bring the metal mask into close contact with the object to be transferred, and then apply a paste-like pattern forming material uniformly from the top surface of the metal mask. In a pattern forming method in which a paste is applied to fill the openings of the metal mask, the metal mask is peeled off from the object to be transferred, and the paste is dried and baked to form a pattern on the object to be transferred. A method for forming a pattern, which comprises heating the pattern to a temperature higher than the melting point of the pattern forming material and firing it to deform the pattern and reforming it into a desired pattern shape. (2) circular dots in which the component of the pattern forming material is glass frit, and the transferred pattern shapes are close to each other;
2. The pattern forming method according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is formed into a slot shape and is changed into a linear pattern by heating and baking. (3) The pattern forming method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pattern forming material is a conductive or insulating paste. (4) The pattern forming method according to claim 1, wherein the metal plate has a thickness of 60 to 200 μm.