JPH05226295A - Dry etching apparatus for tft-lcd - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the quality by preventing clouding of a transparent insulating board due to processing product when various thin films patterned with photoresist on the board is dry etched. CONSTITUTION:The dry etching apparatus for a TFT-LCD comprises board vertically moving pins 4, 4 for supporting a transparent insulating board 3 by a lower electrode plate 1 in the apparatus 8 and so vertically moving up or down as to place it on the plate 1, and a board retainer 6 for retaining the peripheral edge of the board 3 placed on the plate 1 to sealingly hold it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dry etching apparatus for a TFT-LCD for coating a thin film formed on a transparent insulating substrate with a photoresist, patterning the thin film, and etching the thin film according to the patterning. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid crystal panels are roughly classified into active matrix systems (thin film transistors are incorporated in each display pixel to make each pixel active, that is, thin film transistors: TFTs or MIM diodes) and a simple matrix system composed only of electrode lines. However, considering the crosstalk and the image quality, the liquid crystal panel with the former TFT (hereinafter referred to as TFT-LCD) is the most promising, and the development eye is also focusing on this direction. However, TFT-LC
In order to improve the image quality of D, it is necessary to reduce the size of the transistor, and further improve the film quality of the semiconductor thin film or the insulator thin film, or reduce the resistance value of the metal thin film or narrow the width of the wiring. Is required. Therefore, the above TFT-LC
D, that is, in a liquid crystal panel, when pixels are formed on a transparent insulating substrate (glass plate or the like), a photoresist is formed after forming various thin films such as a semiconductor thin film, an insulator thin film or a metal thin film on the transparent insulating substrate. Thin film transistor on a transparent insulating substrate by coating the photoresist, exposing and developing the photoresist, patterning, and etching the various thin films in an etching process according to the patterning.
(TFT). Therefore, in the etching process, there are a method by dry etching (dry type) and a method by wet etching (wet) .Here, of these, an example of a device for the step by dry etching is shown in relation to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the lower electrode 1 of the dry etching apparatus 8 is provided with substrate elevating pins 4, 4, ... Connected to a cylinder (not shown) or the like so as to move up and down to connect the lower electrode 1 and the upper electrode 2. There is a method in which the transparent insulating substrate 4 supplied between them is supported from the lower surface, and a high frequency electric field is applied to both lower electrodes from an AC power source 7 to etch the portion not covered by the photoresist.

[0003]

However, there are many problems in incorporating the method of dry etching in the mainstream of the method of wet etching, and particularly the problem is that the process generated by the etching process is generated. When an object adheres to the back surface of the transparent insulating substrate, that is, the surface opposite to the etching surface, the film is transformed into a stronger film by the subsequent heat treatment and passes through the subsequent wet etching process, and the etching rate is applied to the back surface of the transparent insulating substrate. The locality of
There is a problem that it becomes uneven and the glass surface becomes cloudy. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, a dummy glass is attached to the back surface of the transparent insulating substrate and the inside of the apparatus is transported by two sheets of glass, or a photoresist is applied to the back surface of the transparent insulating substrate to remove the substrate. Although it was prevented from directly adhering to the inside of the dry etching apparatus to prevent the processing products from adhering to the substrate, a cover glass may be provided along the back surface of the substrate or the substrate may not be completely prevented from clouding. In order to prevent the surface from being damaged, there are many complicated operations such as applying a photoresist to the back surface of the cover glass, which causes a problem of increasing the number of steps.

[0004]

[MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS] A transparent insulating substrate carrying various thin films such as a semiconductor thin film, an insulator thin film or a metal thin film is mounted on a lower electrode plate upper part in a dry etching apparatus, and is attached to the upper surface of the lower electrode plate. It is composed of a substrate elevating pin which is vertically movable so as to be lowered and left stationary, and a substrate holder which holds the transparent insulating substrate which is left stationary on the lower electrode plate in close contact with the lower electrode plate.

[0005]

[Function] The transparent insulating substrate transferred into the dry etching apparatus is placed on the upper end of the substrate elevating pin and is allowed to stand still on the upper surface of the lower electrode plate, and the substrate is held in close contact with the lower electrode plate by pressing the substrate. Then, by holding a high frequency electric field on the upper and lower electrode plates, the products generated during the etching process are prevented from wrapping around to the lower surface of the substrate and the thermal effect is enhanced by the close contact with the electrode plate. Dry etching.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. First, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment, in which a transparent insulating substrate (glass plate) is attached to a lower electrode plate 1 in a dry etching apparatus 8. Others) A plurality of board lifting pins 4, 4 for receiving 3 are vertically pierced through the lower electrode plate 1, and a board holder 6 is fixedly mounted on the upper end of the lower electrode plate 5, 5,
... are inserted so as to rotate and move up and down, and a cylinder device (not shown) is connected continuously to the lower ends of the elevating rods 5, 5, ... And the substrate elevating pins 4, 4 ,. Lifting rod 5,5, ...
Are configured to move up and down at the same time.

Next, the operation of the above apparatus will be described. First, the substrate elevating pins 4, 4, ... And the elevating rods 5, 5, .. are pushed up and project upward, and the elevating rods 5, 5 ,.
... is in a state of being rotated by 180 ° so that the substrate retainer 6 at the upper end is located outside each of the elevating rods 5, 5, ..., and here, the transparent substrate 3 (semiconductor thin film) already patterned with the photoresist in the previous step. Or an insulating thin film or a metal thin film) is supplied into the dry etching device 8 to be received by the upper ends of the substrate elevating pins 4, 4 ,. , Are lowered to place the substrate 3 on the lower electrode plate 1, and immediately thereafter, the elevating rods 5, 5, ... Are rotated 180 °,
After the substrate restraints 6, ... At the upper end are placed in such a position that they face each other inwardly, the elevating rods 5,5, ... Are lowered all at once, and at the end of the operation, the substrate restraints 6,6 ,. The outer edge of the substrate is suppressed on the lower electrode plate 1 and held in close contact, and then a high-frequency electric field is applied between the electrode plates 1 and 2 by an AC power source 7 to etch the patterning surface of the substrate left stationary between the electrode plates. Substrate 3 formed as a TFT array substrate
Since the lower electrode plate 3 and the lower electrode plate 3 are held in close contact with each other, the processed products generated by the etching process are prevented from wrapping around to the lower surface of the substrate 3, and the heat effectively acts on the substrate 3.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the first embodiment.
Although not so different from the embodiment, the substrate restraint 6a has a frame shape capable of restraining the peripheral edge of the substrate 3 all at once, so that the lifting rods 5a, 5a, ...
Each one only rotates as in the embodiment.
As a result, when inserting the substrate, it is not possible to insert it from the upper portion of the substrate retainer 6a, and only the lower portion of the substrate retainer 6a is inserted laterally. There is no particular difference from the first embodiment.

[0009]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the transparent insulating substrate carrying various thin films is adhered and held on the lower electrode plate, and the processing products generated during the dry etching wrap around to the lower side of the substrate. Can be prevented, and the white turbidity of the substrate generated during the process due to this can be removed. In addition, the thermal effect exerted on the substrate by adhering to the substrate lower electrode plate is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional side view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional side view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional side view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Lower electrode plate 3 Transparent insulating substrate 4 Substrate lifting pins 5, 5a Lifting rod 6, 6a Substrate restraint

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI technical display location // H01L 29/784 (72) Inventor Takehisa Sakurai 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Sharp Corporation (72) Inventor Ban Atsushi 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Sharp Corporation (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Nakazawa 22-22, Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside the corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for coating a photoresist on various thin films such as a semiconductor thin film, an insulator thin film, or a metal thin film formed on a transparent insulating substrate, patterning the photoresist, and etching the various thin films. A transparent insulating substrate carrying various thin films is mounted on the lower electrode plate in the etching apparatus and is vertically movable so that the transparent insulating substrate is supported on the lower electrode plate and placed on the upper surface of the lower electrode plate, and the lower electrode plate. A substrate holder that holds the transparent insulating substrate placed on the lower electrode plate in close contact with the lower electrode plate, and the transparent insulating substrate and the lower electrode plate are brought into close contact with each other by the operation of holding the substrate, thereby producing a product during the etching process. A dry etching apparatus for a TFT-LCD, characterized in that it is prevented from wrapping around under the transparent insulating substrate.