JPH07281171A - Production device for color filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain a high working rate, to improve the working efficiency, to decrease the production of defective products, and to obtain a high yield by installing an in-line inspecting device and an extracting device of defective products at a specified position in this order and installing at least two devices adjacent to each other of a device to form a black matrix film, device to process a pattern and device to apply an overcoat. CONSTITUTION:This production device for a color filter includes a device to form a black matrix film, pattern processing device to process each pattern of three primary colors, and a device to apply an overcoat film. In-line inspecting devices 1c, 2b and extracting devices of defective products 1d, 2c are installed in this order at a specified position. Further, at least two of the device to form a black matrix film, pattern processing device, and device to apply an overcoat are successively installed. Further, a supply device 3 to supply a substrate to be treated which responses to the rejection of defective products and supplies a substrate to be treated in the successive stage is installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a color filter, and more particularly to an apparatus for manufacturing a color filter for a liquid crystal display (hereinafter abbreviated as LCD).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In manufacturing a color filter for an LCD, a step of forming a grid-like black matrix film on a glass substrate, a step of patterning each of the three primary colors, and the like are necessary. Moreover, in each of these processes, various processes (film forming process, exposure process, development process, etc.) must be sequentially performed, so that the process as a whole becomes long and complicated.

In order to maintain a high operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole and to reduce the production of defective products when one of the steps is stopped due to a failure or the like, the above steps are performed. They are independent of each other. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the stoppage of each process directly affects the other processes, and it is possible to maintain a high operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole and to generate defective products. It is possible to reduce the possibility of Here, regarding the occurrence of defective products, for example, in the development processing included in the black matrix film forming step, the pattern processing step, etc., it is necessary to immerse the substrate to be processed in a developing solution for a predetermined time. It is necessary to control the immersion time with a very high precision. However, when the next process is stopped due to a failure and both processes are continued, the substrate to be processed is stopped for an unnecessarily long time. As a result, the developing time becomes extremely long, resulting in defective products. On the other hand, if each process is independent of each other, even if the next process is stopped, the processing required time in the corresponding process can be accurately controlled, and as described above. The possibility of producing defective products can be significantly reduced. Regarding the operation rate, when a plurality of processes are continuous and one of the processes is stopped, the substrate to be processed is not sent to the next process, Since it will not be possible to operate all the processes of
The operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole is significantly reduced. However, if each process is made independent, even if one of the processes is stopped, the other processes can continue to operate, and the operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole can be increased.

[0004]

However, if each process is made independent of other processes, the glass substrate must be handled between one process and the other process, so that the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole has to be handled. It is not possible to increase the working efficiency of No. 1 and the processing yield can not be increased so much.

These points will be described in more detail. When each process is independent of other processes and a handling part is provided, the processes configured by integrally setting the device configuration are arranged in advance, and after the arrangement of each process is determined, the arrangement is made to correspond to these arrangements. A handling unit for handling the substrate to be processed is arranged. Therefore, depending on the arrangement state of each process, the handling section with a long handling required distance and the handling section with a short handling required distance coexist, and the required time in the handling section varies. As a result, the working efficiency of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole is regulated by the handling unit that takes the longest time.

Further, in order to improve the processing yield of the color filter, it is necessary to reduce the chance of handling by a worker who becomes a source of dust, and to put the substrate to be processed into and out of a cassette used for handling between steps. It is known that it is effective to reduce the number of times to do. However, if each process is made independent of other processes, the chance of handling by the operator and the number of times the substrate to be processed is taken in and out of the cassette used for inter-process handling will inevitably increase. Can not be raised too much.

That is, maintaining a high operating rate, improving work efficiency,
There has not been provided a color filter manufacturing apparatus capable of satisfying all of the reduction of defective products and the high yield.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to satisfy the requirements of maintaining a high operating rate, improving working efficiency, reducing the occurrence of defective products, and increasing the yield. An object is to provide a color filter manufacturing apparatus.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color filter manufacturing apparatus, which comprises a black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film and a pattern processing for each of the three primary colors. A color filter manufacturing device including a pattern processing device and an overcoat coating device for coating an overcoat film, in which an in-line inspection device and a defective product extraction device are arranged in this order at predetermined positions.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus of the second aspect, at least two apparatuses, that is, a black matrix film forming apparatus, a pattern processing apparatus, and an overcoat coating apparatus are continuously arranged. The color filter manufacturing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention further includes a processed substrate supply device that supplies a processed substrate to be processed by the next-stage device in response to the removal of the defective product.

A color filter manufacturing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is a black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film for manufacturing a color filter, a pattern processing apparatus for performing pattern processing for each of the three primary colors, and an overcoat. A color filter manufacturing apparatus including an overcoat coating apparatus for coating a film, wherein an unloader means, a loader means, and a bypass means for bypassing the unloader means and the loader means are arranged at a connection portion of the continuously arranged apparatuses. There is.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus of the fifth aspect, at least two apparatuses, that is, a black matrix film forming apparatus, a pattern processing apparatus, and an overcoat coating apparatus are continuously arranged.

[0013]

According to the color filter manufacturing apparatus of claim 1,
A color filter manufacturing apparatus including a black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film, a pattern processing apparatus for patterning each of the three primary colors, and an overcoat coating apparatus for coating an overcoat film for manufacturing a color filter. When manufacturing a color filter using the device, an in-line inspection device placed at a predetermined position inspects whether or not the process has been performed normally. The defective product can be extracted by the defective product extracting device, and it is possible to prevent the defective product from being processed in the subsequent steps. Therefore, the processing for defective products can be minimized, the final generation of defective products can be significantly reduced, and a high yield can be achieved. Further, the possibility that the subsequent steps are affected by the generation of defective products is significantly reduced, so that the high operation rate of the entire apparatus can be maintained.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the second aspect, at least two apparatuses, that is, the black matrix film forming apparatus, the pattern processing apparatus and the overcoat coating apparatus are continuously arranged, so that the operation of the apparatus as a whole is performed. Besides improving efficiency, it is possible to achieve the same effect as that of claim 1 which could not be achieved by the conventional continuous machining process.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the processing apparatus further includes a processing substrate supply device that supplies a processing substrate to be processed by the next-stage device in response to the removal of the defective product. The required number of substrates to be processed can be supplied to the next-stage device regardless of the defective product extraction, and the manufacturing capability of the color filter manufacturing device can be maximized.

According to the color filter manufacturing apparatus of claim 4, a black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film for manufacturing a color filter, a pattern processing apparatus for performing pattern processing for each of the three primary colors, In manufacturing a color filter using a color filter manufacturing apparatus including an overcoat coating apparatus that coats an overcoat film, an unloader means, a loader means, an unloader means and a loader are provided at a connection portion of continuously arranged apparatuses. By-pass means for bypassing the means is arranged, so if none of the devices is out of order,
By operating the bypass means, the desired color filter manufacturing operation can be performed. Further, when any one of the devices fails, the substrate to be processed is carried out by the unloader means of the previous stage, and the substrate to be processed is carried in by the loader means of the next stage, thereby operating the device in which no failure has occurred. Therefore, it is possible to minimize a decrease in the operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole.

In the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, since at least two devices, that is, the black matrix film forming device, the pattern processing device and the overcoat coating device are arranged in series, the working efficiency of the entire device is improved. Besides, it is possible to achieve the same effect as that of claim 4 which could not be achieved by the conventional continuous processing step.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings showing embodiments. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a part of an embodiment of the color filter manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.
Only two of the steps for processing each primary color pattern are shown. One is referred to as a first step 1 and the other is referred to as a second step 2.

In the first step 1, a loader 1a for carrying in a substrate to be processed, a processing apparatus 1b for performing the processing of the first step 1, an in-line inspection apparatus 1c, a defective product extracting apparatus 1d and a bypass apparatus 1e arranged in parallel with each other. , A processing device 1f for performing the remaining processing of the first step 1 is arranged in this order. In the second step 2, the processing section 2a for performing the process of the second step 2, the in-line inspection device 2b, the defective product extracting device 2c and the bypass device 2 arranged in parallel with each other.
d, a processing device 2e for performing the remaining processing in the second step 2, and an unloader 2f for discharging the substrate to be processed are arranged in this order. Then, the first step 1 and the second step 2 are connected via a transfer device 3 having a function of supplementing the substrate to be processed.

Therefore, the substrate to be processed supplied by the loader 1a is subjected to necessary processing by the processing device 1b, and the processed substrate is inspected by the in-line inspection device 1c. Then, as a result of the inspection, if the product is defective, it is prevented that the defective product extracting device 1d extracts the product from the processing line to perform the subsequent processing. On the contrary, if the product is not defective,
By the bypass device 1e is conveyed to the processing device 1f,
The rest of the process in step 1 is performed.

The substrate to be processed which has been subjected to the processing in the first step 1 is conveyed to the second step 2 by the conveying device 3, and is placed at a position corresponding to the substrate to be extracted extracted by the defective product extracting device 1d. With the substrate to be processed replenishing function of the transfer device 3, a substitute substrate to be processed is replenished. Therefore, in the second step 2, the substrate to be processed is supplied without any omission. Since the process in the second step 2 is the same as the process in the first step 1, detailed description will be omitted. As is clear from the above description, even if a defective product is generated and extracted in the first step 1, the substrate to be processed is supplied in the second step 2 without any omission, and the entire substrate is The operating rate of can be increased.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to provide an inline buffer in the middle of each process, and in this case, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the operating rate due to a small stop or stop. be able to.

[0023]

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a part of another embodiment of the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, in which only two of the steps for processing each pattern of the three primary colors are performed. Shows. One is referred to as a first step 1 and the other is referred to as a second step 2. In this embodiment, the unloader 4a and the loader 4b are arranged in this order between the first step 1 and the second step 2, and the bypass transfer device 4c for vaping the unloader 4a and the loader 4b is arranged. There is. The configurations of the first steps 1 and 2 are conventionally known configurations. That is, the configuration does not include an in-line inspection device, a defective product extraction device, and a bypass conveyance device.

Therefore, when the first steps 1 and 2 are operating normally, the substrate to be processed processed in the first step 1 can be transferred to the second step 2 by the bypass transfer device 4c. , Processing by the first step 1, second step 2
Can be sequentially processed. Also, the first
When the step 1 is stopped, the substrate to be processed can be supplied to the second step 2 by the loader 4b and the processing in the second step 2 can be performed. On the contrary, when the second step 2 stops, the substrate to be processed processed in the first step 1 can be extracted by the unloader 4a, and as a result, the processing in the first step 1 can be continued.

As is clear from the above, even if any one of the processes is stopped, the processing of the substrate to be processed by the other process can be continued, and the operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole is reduced. It can be suppressed significantly. Although not shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to provide an inline buffer in the middle of each process, and in this case, it is possible to further suppress a decrease in operating rate due to a small stop or stop.

[0026]

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a part of still another embodiment of the color filter manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. The difference from the embodiment of FIG. 3 instead of using the unloader 4a, the loader 4b and the bypass transfer device 4c of the embodiment of FIG.

Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, FIG.
The effect of the embodiment of FIG. 2 and the effect of the embodiment of FIG. 2 can be achieved. Incidentally, also in this embodiment, an in-line buffer can be provided as in the above embodiment.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the processing of defective products can be minimized, the final generation of defective products can be significantly reduced, and a high yield can be achieved. In addition, it is possible to significantly reduce the possibility that the subsequent steps will be affected by the generation of defective products, and it is possible to maintain a high operating rate of the entire apparatus.
The invention of claim 2 can improve the working efficiency of the entire apparatus, and can also achieve the same effect as that of claim 1 which cannot be achieved by the conventional continuous machining process.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the required number of substrates to be processed can be supplied to the next-stage device regardless of the defective product extraction, and the manufacturing capability of the color filter manufacturing device can be maximized. be able to. According to the invention of claim 4, when any one of the devices fails, the substrate to be processed is carried out by the unloader means in the previous stage and the substrate to be processed is carried in by the loader means in the next stage, so that no failure occurs. It is possible to operate the apparatus, and it is possible to achieve a unique effect that the reduction in the operating rate of the color filter manufacturing apparatus as a whole can be minimized.

The invention of claim 5 can improve the working efficiency of the entire apparatus, and can also achieve the same effect as that of claim 4 which cannot be achieved by the conventional continuous machining process. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a part of an embodiment of a color filter manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a part of another embodiment of the color filter manufacturing apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a part of still another embodiment of the color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 1st process 2 2nd process 1c, 2b In-line inspection device 1d, 2c Defective product extraction device 3 Conveying device having a substrate replenishing function 4a Unloader 4b Loader 4c Bypass conveying device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film for manufacturing a color filter, a pattern processing apparatus for patterning each of the three primary colors, and an overcoat coating apparatus for coating an overcoat film. A color filter manufacturing apparatus including a color filter manufacturing apparatus, wherein an in-line inspection device (1c) (2b) and a defective product extracting device (1d) (2c) are arranged in this order at a predetermined position. . 2. The color filter manufacturing device according to claim 1, wherein at least two devices, that is, a black matrix film forming device, a pattern processing device, and an overcoat coating device are continuously arranged. 3. The substrate supply apparatus (3) according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate supply device (3) for supplying a substrate to be processed by a next-stage device in response to extraction of a defective product. The described color filter manufacturing apparatus. 4. A black matrix film forming apparatus for forming a black matrix film, a pattern processing apparatus for patterning each of the three primary colors, and an overcoat coating apparatus for coating an overcoat film for manufacturing a color filter. An apparatus for manufacturing a color filter including a unloader means (4a), a loader means (4b), an unloader means (4a) and a loader means (4b) at a connection portion of continuously arranged devices (1) and (2). And a bypass means (4c) for bypassing (4) is arranged. 5. The color filter manufacturing device according to claim 4, wherein at least two devices, that is, a black matrix film forming device, a pattern processing device, and an overcoat coating device are continuously arranged.