JPH09197361A - Substrate aligning device and substrate aligning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate aligning device and substrate aligning method capable of exactly aligning substrates to each other. SOLUTION: The aligning marks formed on the upper substrate 13a are superposed on the aligning marks formed on the lower substrate 13b and thereafter, the return force acting on a substrate chucking mechanism 16 is detected by a pressure sensor 28. The substrate chucking mechanism 16 is moved to such a position where the return force detected by the pressure sensor 28 attains zero after the alignment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate alignment device and a substrate alignment method used when manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display panel used as a display means of electronic equipment has two liquid crystal substrates facing each other with a liquid crystal sandwiched therebetween, and these liquid crystal substrates are bonded together by an adhesive that also serves as a sealant. It is composed.

Therefore, when manufacturing such a liquid crystal display panel, it is necessary to accurately align the substrates with each other so that the alignment direction of the liquid crystal is constant. Conventionally, the alignment is performed on two liquid crystal substrates. Marks are provided respectively, and one of the liquid crystal substrates is moved forward, backward, leftward and rightward so that the marks are aligned with each other.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, when one of the liquid crystal substrates is moved back and forth and left and right,
There is a problem that a returning force is generated between the liquid crystal substrate and the other liquid crystal substrate due to the viscosity of the adhesive agent, and the positional deviation easily occurs after the alignment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a substrate alignment apparatus and a substrate alignment method capable of accurately aligning substrates with each other.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 has a structure in which two layers are superposed with an adhesive.
A main body for aligning one of the liquid crystal substrates with the other liquid crystal substrate, a return force detecting means provided in the main body for detecting a return force acting on the one liquid crystal substrate, and the return force. A control means for calculating a position correction amount of the liquid crystal substrate on the basis of the returning force detected by the detection means, and controlling the drive of the main body portion based on the calculation result is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the main body portion has a base having a substrate fixing means for fixing a lower liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates, and an upper portion of the base. A substrate chuck mechanism for holding the upper liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates, and a rotation driving mechanism for rotationally driving the substrate chuck mechanism in the horizontal direction,
The present invention is characterized by comprising an elevating drive mechanism for vertically elevating and lowering the rotary drive mechanism, and a slide drive mechanism for slidingly driving the elevating and lowering drive mechanism in two horizontal directions orthogonal to each other.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the substrate chuck mechanism is provided with an image pickup means for picking up an image of an alignment mark formed on the two liquid crystal substrates. It is a thing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the main body portion has a shift amount calculating means for processing an image signal from the image pickup means to calculate a shift amount of the alignment mark. The upper liquid crystal substrate gripped by the substrate chuck mechanism is aligned with the lower liquid crystal substrate based on the signal from the deviation amount calculating means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the alignment mark formed on one liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates superposed on each other via the adhesive is overlapped with the alignment mark formed on the other liquid crystal substrate. After the adjustment, the return force acting on the one liquid crystal substrate is measured, and the one liquid crystal substrate is moved to a position where the return force reaches a predetermined value after the alignment, and the substrates are aligned with each other. It is what

[0011]

According to the substrate alignment apparatus of the present invention, the position correction amount of the liquid crystal substrate is calculated based on the returning force detected by the returning force detecting means, and the main body portion is drive-controlled based on the calculation result. As a result, the return force becomes zero after the alignment. As a result, the displacement due to the returning force can be prevented, and the two liquid crystal substrates can be accurately aligned.

Further, according to the substrate alignment method of the present invention, by moving one of the liquid crystal substrates to a position where the return force becomes zero after the alignment, it is possible to prevent the displacement due to the return force. The liquid crystal substrates can be accurately aligned.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a substrate alignment apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The substrate alignment apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention is
A main body 11 and a control unit 12 as a control means for driving and controlling the main body 11 are provided.

The main body 11 has a base 14 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and a lower liquid crystal substrate of the liquid crystal display panel 13 (hereinafter referred to as a lower substrate) is provided on an upper surface of the base 14. A plurality of positioning members 15 are provided as substrate fixing means for fixing 13a to the base 14.

The main body 11 includes a substrate chuck mechanism 16 provided above the base 14, and a rotary drive mechanism 20 for rotationally driving the substrate chuck mechanism 16 in the horizontal direction.
An elevation drive mechanism 22 that vertically drives the rotation drive mechanism 20 is provided, and a slide drive mechanism 25 that slides the elevation drive mechanism 22 in the arrow X direction in FIG. 2 and the arrow Y direction in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the substrate chuck mechanism 16 includes a plate 17 provided above a rectangular base 14 and chuck members 18a, 18b arranged on the front, rear, left and right sides of the plate 17. 18c, 18d, and these chuck members 18a, 18b, 18
The air cylinders 19a, 19b, 19c and 19d installed on the upper surface of the plate 17
The liquid crystal display panel 13 is configured to be pulled to the side and hold the upper liquid crystal substrate (hereinafter referred to as the upper substrate) 13b of the liquid crystal display panel 13.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rotary drive mechanism 20 has a motor 21 above the substrate chuck mechanism 16 and drives the motor 21 to drive the substrate chuck mechanism 16.
Is configured to be rotationally driven in the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the elevation drive mechanism 22 is provided with a motor 23. The motor 23 drives a ball screw 24 to drive the rotation drive mechanism 20 up and down. There is.

Further, the main body portion 11 is equipped with CCD cameras 26a and 26b as image pickup means. These C
The CD cameras 26a and 26b are for taking images of alignment marks (not shown) formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b of the liquid crystal display panel 13, and output from the CCD cameras 26a and 26b. The image signal is supplied to the image processing unit 27 (see FIG. 1) as a deviation amount calculating means.

The image processing unit 27 is a CCD camera 26.
The images taken by a and 26b are subjected to image processing to calculate the displacement amount of the alignment mark. The displacement amount of the alignment mark calculated by the image processing unit 27 is stored in the control unit 12 described above. It is supplied as a correction signal.

Further, the main body 11 is equipped with a pressure sensor 28 as a returning force detecting means. The pressure sensor 28 detects the pressure acting on the substrate chuck mechanism 16 in the directions of arrows X, Y and θ in the drawing.
The output signal of 8 is supplied to the control unit 12 described above.

FIG. 5 shows a control sequence of the control section 12. As shown in the figure, when a start switch (not shown) is turned on, the control section 12 sends a motor drive signal to the lift drive mechanism 22 of the main body section 11. Is transmitted (step ST
1). As a result, the motor 23 of the lifting drive mechanism 22 rotates in a predetermined direction, and the substrate chuck mechanism 16 of the main body 11 is lowered to a predetermined position.

When the substrate chuck mechanism 16 of the main body 11 is lowered to a predetermined position, the controller 12 sends a cylinder operation signal to the substrate chuck mechanism 16 of the main body 11 (step ST2). As a result, the cylinders 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d of the substrate chuck mechanism 16 are operated, and the upper substrate 13b of the liquid crystal display panel 13 is gripped by the chuck members 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d of the substrate chuck mechanism 16 (see FIG. 6). ).

The upper substrate 13b of the liquid crystal display panel 13 is the chuck members 18a, 18b, 1 of the substrate chuck mechanism 16.
When gripped by 8c and 18d, the control unit 12 sends an imaging start signal to the CCD cameras 26a and 26b of the main body 11 (step ST3). This allows the CCD camera 2
6a and 26b are activated, and the alignment marks formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b of the liquid crystal display panel 13 are imaged by the CCD cameras 26a and 26b.

The alignment marks formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b are CCD cameras 26a and 26b.
When the image is captured by, the control unit 12 sends a shift amount calculation command to the image processing unit 27 (step ST4). As a result, the image processing unit 27 operates, and the image processing unit 27 calculates the amount of misalignment between the alignment marks formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b.

The amount of misalignment of the alignment mark is determined by the image processing unit 27.
Then, the control unit 12 controls the rotation drive mechanism 2 of the main body unit 11 based on the shift amount calculated by the image processing unit 27.
1 and a position adjustment signal are sent to the slide drive mechanism 25 (step ST5). As a result, the rotation drive mechanism 21 and the slide drive mechanism 25 of the main body 11 are operated, and the substrate chuck mechanism 16 moves the arrow marks X and Y (mutually) so that the alignment marks formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b overlap. Orthogonal direction) and θ direction.

When the alignment marks formed on the lower substrate 13a and the upper substrate 13b overlap each other, the control unit 12 takes in the output signal of the pressure sensor 28 and measures the return force F acting on the substrate chuck mechanism 16 (step ST
6). Here, when the return force F acting on the substrate chuck mechanism 16 is a predetermined value (for example, zero), the alignment control by the controller 12 ends.

On the other hand, when the return force acting on the substrate chuck mechanism 16 is not a predetermined value (for example, zero),
The control unit 12 calculates the position correction amount (overrun amount) A of the upper substrate 13b based on the magnitude and direction of the return force F,
Based on the position correction amount A, the rotation drive mechanism 21 and the slide drive mechanism 25 of the main body 11 are drive-controlled to overrun the upper substrate 13b from the regular position (steps ST7 and ST8).

In this way, the position correction amount A of the upper substrate 13b is calculated based on the magnitude and direction of the return force F, and the rotary drive mechanism 21 and the slide drive mechanism 25 of the main body 11 are calculated based on the position correction amount A. Drive control the upper substrate 13b
Is overrun from the regular position, the upper substrate 13b is returned by the amount of overrun after the alignment. As a result, the return force after alignment becomes zero, so that it is possible to prevent positional displacement due to the return force.
The liquid crystal substrates 13a and 13b can be accurately aligned.

That is, in the above-described embodiment of the present invention, of the two liquid crystal substrates 13a and 13b bonded with an adhesive, for example, the liquid crystal substrate 13a is moved to align the substrates, and then the liquid crystal substrate 13a is used. The return force is measured, and the liquid crystal substrate 13a is moved to a position where the return force F becomes zero after the alignment, so that the substrates are aligned with each other. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the displacement due to the returning force, and it is possible to accurately align the two liquid crystal substrates 13a and 13b.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, after the substrates are aligned with each other, the return force by one of the liquid crystal substrates is measured, and the return force becomes zero after the alignment. By moving the liquid crystal substrates to align the substrates with each other, it is possible to provide a substrate alignment apparatus and a substrate alignment method capable of accurately aligning the substrates.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a substrate alignment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of the main body of the substrate alignment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the configuration of the main body of the substrate alignment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control sequence of a control unit of the substrate alignment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the upper substrate of the liquid crystal display panel is held by the substrate chuck mechanism of the substrate alignment apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... Main body part 12 ... Control part 13 ... Liquid crystal display panel 13a ... Lower substrate 13b ... Upper substrate 14 ... Base 15 ... Positioning member 16 ... Substrate chuck mechanism 20 ... Rotation drive mechanism 22 ... Elevating drive mechanism 25 ... Slide drive mechanism 26a, 26b ... CCD camera 27 ... Image processing unit 28 ... Pressure sensor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A main body for aligning one liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates superposed on each other with an adhesive, and a main body provided on the main body for acting on the one liquid crystal substrate. Return force detection means for detecting the return force, and a control for calculating the position correction amount of the liquid crystal substrate based on the return force detected by the return force detection means, and controlling the drive of the main body based on the calculation result. A substrate alignment apparatus comprising: 2. The base body includes a base having a substrate fixing means for fixing a lower liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates, and an upper side of the two liquid crystal substrates provided above the base. A substrate chuck mechanism for holding the liquid crystal substrate of
A rotation drive mechanism that horizontally rotates the substrate chuck mechanism, a lift drive mechanism that vertically drives the rotation drive mechanism, and a slide drive that slides the lift drive mechanism in two horizontal directions orthogonal to each other. The substrate alignment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanism. 3. The substrate alignment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate chuck mechanism includes an image pickup unit that captures an image of alignment marks formed on the two liquid crystal substrates. 4. The main body section has a deviation amount calculation means for processing an image signal from the imaging means to calculate a deviation amount of the alignment mark, and based on a signal from the deviation amount calculation means. 4. The substrate alignment apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the upper liquid crystal substrate held by the substrate chuck mechanism is aligned with the lower liquid crystal substrate. 5. The alignment mark formed on one liquid crystal substrate of the two liquid crystal substrates superposed with an adhesive on top of the alignment mark formed on the other liquid crystal substrate Of the liquid crystal substrates, the one liquid crystal substrate is moved to a position where the return force reaches a predetermined value after the alignment, and the substrates are aligned with each other. Method.