JPH0924557A - Manufacture of optical component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently manufacture an optical component of a large area by transfer molding a pattern by using a stamper manufactured by electroforming a large-area original plate having a plurality of laminated small- area original plates. SOLUTION: The method for manufacturing an optical component comprises the steps of coating a lattice pattern surface with ultraviolet curable hard coating agent, and then transferring the pattern to a glass board to a slave original plate 1a. The method further comprises the steps of polishing the plate 1a until the chips of the end face are eliminated by an ultraprecise end face polishing unit to arrange the parallelism and flatness. The method further comprises the steps of temporarily fixing 9 slave original plates (1a to 1i) similarly treated on an optically polished glass board with the pattern faces disposed at the lower side with epoxy resin having high viscosity, then uniformly coating it with epoxy resin having low viscosity, and then sticking a glass board to be backed to manufacture a secondary original plate 2. An Ni stamper is manufactured from the plate 2 by electroforming. The laminated part cannot be recognized by the visual inspection of the optical component transferred from the stamper, and hence a lattice pattern of a large area can be manufactured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a large area precision optical component having an ultrafine pattern.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Microlens arrays, diffraction gratings, optical filters for eliminating dots in liquid crystal display devices, screens, prism sheets and the like are used as precision optical components having ultrafine patterns. The fine patterns such as the microlens array, the diffraction grating, and the optical filter are produced by a lithography method, an electron beam drawing method, a laser beam drawing method, or the like. In the lithographic method, a substrate coated with a photosensitive resin and a photomask having a certain pattern are used to remove the unreacted portion or the reacted portion of the photosensitive resin by developing the photosensitive resin after exposing it to ultraviolet rays. It is common to create a pattern by. In this method, the maximum size of the pattern to be formed is limited by the size of the exposure apparatus, and generally the maximum size is about 8 inches. Further, the electron beam drawing method and the laser beam drawing method require a long drawing time and it is difficult to secure a stage having an ultra-flat region. Therefore, a pattern of about several cm square is generally the largest. However, in recent years, there is an increasing need for microlens arrays, diffraction gratings, optical filters, etc. having a large area of 8 inches or more. On the other hand, for screens and prism sheets, a metal master is manufactured using an ultra-precision lathe, and a press method using the metal master or a resin master replicated from the metal master, a 2P method using an ultraviolet curable resin, etc. It is generally produced by carrying out. In this case, the size of the chuck table of the ultra-precision lathe determines the maximum size of the screen to be manufactured.

[0003]

Regarding the precision optical component having the ultrafine pattern as described above, a lathe, an exposure device,
The size of the master is limited by the drawing device or the like, and the product size is also determined, so that a product having an area larger than that of the master cannot be manufactured.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a method for efficiently manufacturing a large-area optical component. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for reducing a gap, a step, and a flatness of a bonding end portion in order to reduce the visibility of the bonding end portion in a master production process for manufacturing a large area optical component. And

[0005]

In the method of manufacturing an optical component of the present invention for solving the above problems, the end faces of a plurality of masters, for example, having a diameter of 8 inches or less, which are manufactured by using a general exposure apparatus, are joined together. It is characterized in that a large-area master is produced by laminating them and a large-area optical component is produced by using a stamper produced from the master through an electroforming process. Here, in order to improve the parallelism and smoothness of the bonded end surface, is it an ultra-precision end surface polishing machine?
Alternatively, it is preferable to manufacture a master having a dummy glass bonded thereto and cut it with an ultra-precision cutting device or a dicing saw to manufacture a master having an end face with very small chipping. In addition, the laminating process of the master is performed on the optical polishing glass with the pattern surface facing downward in order to maintain the surface accuracy, and the master is temporarily fixed with a high-viscosity adhesive, and then a low-viscosity adhesive is applied. It is preferable to perform a backing process with a glass plate or the like. The small area master can be made of glass, metal or the like in addition to plastic. The laminating process of the master is performed by temporarily fixing a plurality of plastic small-area masters on an optically polished glass by using a good solvent for the plastic as an adhesive, and then using a glass plate or the like coated with a low-viscosity adhesive. You may go by lining.

[0006] In a master manufacturing process for laminating a master manufactured by an ultra-precision lathe, an exposure device, an electron beam drawing device, a laser beam drawing device, or a plurality of duplicate masters duplicated from the master, It is preferable to select the optimum combination of the material of the master and the type of adhesive, which makes it possible to reduce the gaps and steps on the bonding end face, and the visibility of the bonding end on the bonding master will be greatly reduced. To do. Here, in order to further reduce the visibility of the bonded end faces, the pattern surfaces of a plurality of masters to be bonded are placed on the lower side and pressed against the surface of the optical polishing glass to be vacuum-adsorbed so that the bonding surfaces are the same. It is preferable to maintain a flat surface and to apply a force from both sides to the laminated master to strongly press the end faces against each other to minimize the gap between the laminated faces.

A larger master can be manufactured by performing pattern transfer using the bonded masters, and then performing end face processing and end face bonding. According to this method, theoretically unlimited size masters can be produced from one master. And
With this master, a large-area master for manufacturing an optical component having an ultrafine repeating pattern can be manufactured. In addition, in order to reduce the deviation of the pattern on the bonding surface, the gap between the bonding end surfaces is preferably 10 μm or less.

[0008]

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to examples. Example 1 A glass substrate having a diameter of 5 inches and a thickness of 1 mm was coated with a photosensitive resin, and a grid pattern was exposed using a photomask and an exposure device. After the lattice pattern was developed, it was cut into 55 mm in length and width using a dicing saw, and was polished by an ultra-precision end face polishing device until chipping of the end face was eliminated, and parallelism and flatness were adjusted. 55mm vertically and horizontally processed
The four glass masters of No. 3 were vertically fixed on the optically polished glass substrate of 300 mm in length and width and 1 mm in thickness with the pattern side facing down, and the end faces were temporarily fixed with high-viscosity epoxy resin. The surface of the glass substrate was uniformly coated. Next, a glass substrate having a length of 110 mm in length and width and a thickness of 1 mm was adhered and subjected to a lining process to produce a master plate of 110 mm in length and width. The maximum gap between the bonded end faces of the glass master was 10 μm.

Next, an ultraviolet curable hard coat agent is applied to the lattice pattern surface, and then 110 mm in length and width and 1 in thickness.
The pattern was transferred to a mm glass substrate to prepare a child master 1a shown in FIG. After that, it was cut into 100 mm in length and width by using a dicing saw, and polished by an ultra-precision end face polishing device until chipping of the end face disappeared, and parallelism and flatness were adjusted. A 100 mm-long child master (1
a to 1i) 9 end faces are temporarily fixed with a high-viscosity epoxy resin with the pattern surface facing downward on an optically polished glass substrate having a length and width of 300 mm and a thickness of 1 mm, and then a low-viscosity epoxy resin After uniformly coating,
A glass substrate having a thickness of 1 mm and a thickness of 1 mm was adhered and subjected to a lining process to produce a grand master 2 having a length and width of 300 mm shown in FIG.

Using this grand master, an Ni stamper having a length and width of 300 mm was produced by electroforming. The bonded portion could not be recognized by visual inspection of the optical component transferred from the Ni stamper. By using this Ni stamper, it becomes possible to easily manufacture an optical component having a large-area lattice pattern.

Example 2 A glass substrate having a diameter of 5 inches and a thickness of 1 mm was coated with a photosensitive resin, and a grating pattern was exposed using a photomask and an exposure device. After development of the grid pattern, dummy glass having a thickness of 150 μm and a thickness of 1 mm were attached to the front and back of the glass substrate using wax, and cut into 55 mm in length and width using a dicing saw. The maximum chipping was 3 μm. The end faces of four glass masters 55 mm in length and width, which were similarly processed, were 300 mm in length and width and 1 m in thickness.
After temporarily fixing with a high-viscosity epoxy resin with the pattern surface facing downward on the glass substrate subjected to optical polishing of m, and then uniformly coating the low-viscosity epoxy resin on the glass substrate surface,
A glass substrate having a length and width of 110 mm and a thickness of 1 mm was adhered and subjected to a lining process to prepare a master plate having a length and width of 110 mm.
The gap between the end faces was 10 μm at maximum.

Next, an ultraviolet-curable hard coating agent is applied to the lattice pattern surface, and then 110 mm in length and width and 1 in thickness.
The pattern was transferred to a glass substrate having a size of mm to prepare a child master. Then, dummy glass having a thickness of 150 μm and a thickness of 1 mm were attached to the front and back of the glass substrate using wax, and cut into 100 mm in length and width using a dicing saw. The maximum chipping was 3 μm. The end faces of nine child masters of 100 mm in length and width treated in the same manner were temporarily fixed with a high-viscosity epoxy resin with the pattern surface facing down on an optically polished glass substrate of 300 mm in length and width and 1 mm in thickness, and then After uniformly coating a low-viscosity epoxy resin, a glass substrate having a length and width of 300 mm and a thickness of 1 mm was adhered and subjected to a backing process to produce a grand master of length and width of 300 mm.

Using this master disc, an Ni stamper having a length and width of 300 mm was produced by electroforming. The bonded portion could not be recognized by visual inspection of the optical component transferred from the Ni stamper. By using this Ni stamper, it becomes possible to easily manufacture an optical component having a large-area lattice pattern.

Example 3 A glass substrate having a diameter of 5 inches and a thickness of 1 mm was coated with a photo-sensitive resin, and a photo mask and an exposure device were used to make a coating 80.
A grid pattern with a μm pitch was exposed. After developing the grid pattern, the grid pattern produced on this glass substrate was transferred to four PMMA substrates with a thickness of 1 mm coated with an ultraviolet curable resin, and the grid pattern was transferred.
The substrate was cut into 55 mm in length and width using a dicing saw. Next, the pattern surface is placed on an optical polishing machined 300 mm vertical and horizontal bonding jig, and the PMMA substrate is evacuated while pressing the end faces against each other from both sides. It was dissolved in chloroform as a solvent and temporarily fixed. Then, a low-viscosity epoxy resin was uniformly coated on the PMMA substrate surface. Next, vertical and horizontal 1
Adhesion was performed with glass having a thickness of 10 mm and a thickness of 1 mm, and backing was performed to produce a master plate having a length and width of 110 mm. The gap between the bonded end faces was 5 μm or less, and the variation in height of each bonding master was 5 μm or less. The pitch and steps of the lattice pattern transferred from this laminated master to the TAC film coated with the ultraviolet curable resin are the same as those of the master,
The bonded portion could not be visually recognized. It is considered that the cause of the decrease in the gap between the bonded end faces is that the straightness is improved by the melt adhesion of the PMMA substrate with the good solvent. Similar good results were obtained when the PMMA substrate was replaced with a substrate made of a methyl methacrylate-styrene copolymer.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A large-area master can be easily manufactured from a master manufactured by a general exposure apparatus, and a large-area optical component can be efficiently manufactured by using a stamper manufactured from the master.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a stamper manufactured according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a-1i child master 2 grandchild master

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Koichiro Horino, Kobayashi Horino, 1621 Sakazu, Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Kuraray Co., Ltd. (72) Katsuhiko Hayashi, 1621, Satsuki, Kurashiki, Okayama, Kuraray

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An optical component characterized by performing pattern transfer molding using a stamper produced by performing electroforming processing using a large area master formed by laminating a plurality of end surfaces of a small area master. Of manufacturing. 2. The method for producing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein a gap between the small area masters on the bonded end face is 10 μm or less. 3. An end face of a small area master is prepared by temporarily fixing a plurality of small area masters on an optically polished plate with a high viscosity adhesive and then performing a lining process with a low viscosity adhesive. The method for producing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein the optical components are attached. 4. A plurality of plastic small-area masters are temporarily fixed on an optically polished plate with an adhesive made of a good solvent for the plastic, and then backed with a low-viscosity adhesive. The method for producing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein the end faces of the small area master are pasted together.