JPH10333109A - Method for positioning insulating substrate for liquid crystal display panel and liquid crystal display panel manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable high-precision positioning without generating a crack in the insulating substrate. SOLUTION: A process stage part is so constituted that a substrate support stage is on an XYΘ stage 21 and limited reflection type laser sensors 4a, 4b, and 4c for detecting the position and attitude of the insulating substrate 3 made of glass, etc., are embedded in the substrate support stage. The insulating substrate 3 while mounted on a substrate reloading arm 5 is kept stationary above the substrate support stage 2, the position relation between the insulating substrate 3 and substrate support stage 2 is detected by the limited reflection type laser sensors 4a, 4b, and 4c, and the XY position and tilt Θ of the substrate support stage 2 are adjusted to the XY position and tilt Θ of the insulating substrate 3 by driving an X-axial driving motor 6, a Y-axial driving motor 10, and a Θ-axial driving motor 8. Then the insulating substrate 3 is reloaded from the substrate reloading arm 5 to a lift pin 12, which is lowered to suctionally fix the insulating substrate 3 to the substrate support stage 2, thus positioning the insulating substrate 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel and an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, and more particularly to an exposure apparatus, an alignment film printing apparatus, a rubbing apparatus, a common transfer apparatus, and a printing of a sealing material. The present invention relates to an apparatus, a substrate bonding apparatus, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus for performing various treatments on an insulating substrate to manufacture a liquid crystal display panel, for example, an exposure apparatus, an alignment film printing apparatus, a rubbing apparatus, a common transfer apparatus, a sealing material printing apparatus, and a substrate. In the bonding device, etc., when placing the insulating substrate on the processing stage of each device, the insulating substrate on the transfer arm is transferred to a lift pin protruding from the processing stage, and after the transfer arm is released, The insulating substrate is placed on the processing stage by lowering the lift pins.

The processing stage is provided with positioning pins for correcting the position and posture of the insulating substrate. When the insulating substrate is mounted on the processing stage,
The distance between the opposing positioning pins is set to be several mm to several tens of mm wider than the outer dimension of the insulating substrate, and after the insulating substrate is placed on the processing stage, the distance between the opposing positioning pins is predetermined. By narrowing the interval,
The position and orientation of the insulating substrate are corrected and positioned, and the insulating substrate is fixed to the processing stage by vacuum suction or the like.

After that, the alignment mark formed on the insulating substrate is recognized by using a CCD camera or the like, and the alignment is performed with high precision by an XY stage provided on the processing stage. Various processes such as matching are performed.

Here, the positioning by the above-described positioning pins will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a processing stage of a conventional liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 5, a processing stage section has a substrate supporting stage 52 on an XY stage 51, and a substrate supporting stage 52 for correcting the position and orientation of the insulating substrate 53. Positioning pins 54a, 5
4b, 54c, 55a, 55b, and 55c are provided.

The positioning pins 54a, 54b, 54c are
Whether the pin is completely fixed to the substrate support stage 52 with a pin serving as a reference for the position and posture of the two sides of the insulating substrate 53,
Alternatively, after placing the insulating substrate 53 on the substrate supporting stage 52, the substrate is moved to a reference position by a driving device such as an air cylinder or a motor and stopped.

[0008] The positioning pins 55a, 55b, 55c
After placing the insulating substrate 53 on the substrate supporting stage 52, the insulating substrate 53 is moved by a driving device such as an air cylinder or a motor in a direction in which the insulating substrate 53 is pressed against the positioning pins 54a, 54b, and 54c. And the posture is corrected and the insulating substrate 5 is positioned by vacuum suction.
3 is fixed to the substrate support stage 52.

[0009] Such a processing stage section includes an apparatus requiring an alignment accuracy of several μm or less, such as an exposure apparatus and a substrate bonding apparatus, an alignment film printing apparatus,
3 such as sealant printing device and common transfer device
It is widely used even in devices requiring alignment accuracy of about 0 to 50 μm.

[0010]

In the conventional positioning method as described above, after the insulating substrate is placed on the processing stage portion, the positioning pins are brought into contact with the end surface of the insulating substrate and pressed, whereby the insulating substrate is pressed. The position and posture of the person.

For this reason, a minute crack may be generated on the end face of the insulating substrate made of glass or the like. In this case, the insulating substrate is hardly cracked on the spot, but the insulating When a substrate is bent, pulled or subjected to thermal stress, it often breaks from a crack as a starting point.

Particularly, the outer size is 500 mm × 600 m
Insulating substrate made of large glass exceeding m, there are some differences depending on the glass components, but the weight is about 600 g of the conventional outer size of 400 mm x 500 mm and 1.1 mm thick, External size is 550
Approximately 1100 g when the thickness is 1.1 mm and the dimensions are 750 mm x 950 mm and the thickness is 1.
At 1 mm, it is about 2000 g, which is about 3.3 times the conventional value.

Also, since the contact area between the insulating substrate and the processing stage section is about 3.3 times in proportion to the external size, it is difficult to move the insulating substrate with the contact-type positioning pins. You need at least three times the required force,
The impact applied to the insulating substrate when the positioning pins come into contact increases accordingly, so that the cracking of the insulating substrate starting from the crack increases.

As a method of solving the crack of the insulating substrate due to the crack, there are many devices using a positioning pin made of plastic which is softer than a glass substrate which is an insulating substrate. It is easy to be scraped due to the unevenness of the polishing marks on the end surface, the positioning accuracy is low, the glass substrate is hooked on the shaved part, it breaks when lifting the glass substrate, the shaved pin adheres to the glass substrate, printing failure, sticking This causes various defects such as white spot defect, black spot defect, and cell gap defect after alignment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an insulating material for a liquid crystal display panel which can perform high-precision positioning without causing cracks in an insulating substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of positioning a substrate and an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel.

[0016]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, comprising the steps of: In a method of positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel performed when the insulating substrate is mounted on a stage, a position and a posture of the insulating substrate are detected by a non-contact method on a transfer arm or a lift pin, and based on the detection result. After moving the processing stage unit so as to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate, the insulating substrate is placed on the processing stage.

3. The liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: a processing stage on which the insulating substrate is mounted; a transfer arm for transferring the insulating substrate above the processing stage; And a lift pin for receiving the insulating substrate from the substrate and placing the insulating substrate on the processing stage unit, wherein the position and orientation of the insulating substrate are detected in a non-contact manner on the transfer arm or the lift pin. And a stage driving unit that moves the processing stage unit to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate based on information from the position detecting unit.

According to the method for positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel of the present invention, the position and posture of the insulating substrate are detected by a non-contact method on a transfer arm or a lift pin,
After moving the processing stage unit to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate based on this detection result, placing the insulating substrate on the processing stage, the insulating substrate becomes large. Also, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of cracks in the insulating substrate during positioning.

According to the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, position detecting means for detecting the position and posture of the insulating substrate on the transfer arm or lift pin in a non-contact manner, and processing based on information from the position detecting means. Stage driving means for moving the stage unit so as to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate, by preventing cracking of the insulating substrate during positioning even when the insulating substrate is enlarged. Can be prevented.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first example of a processing stage of a liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the structure of the processing stage unit is such that a substrate support stage 2 is provided on an XY stage 1, and the position and posture of an insulating substrate 3 made of glass or the like are provided on the substrate support stage 2. As a means to detect,
The limited reflection laser type sensors 4a, 4b, 4c are embedded.

When placing the insulating substrate 3 on the substrate supporting stage 2, the insulating substrate 3 is stopped above the substrate supporting stage 2 with the insulating substrate 3 placed on the substrate transfer arm 5.

At this time, the positional relationship between the insulating substrate 3 and the substrate supporting stage 2 is determined by the limited reflection type laser type sensor 4a,
4b, 4c, limited-reflection laser sensor 4
When the insulating substrate 3 is detected by either one of the substrates a and 4b, the substrate supporting stage 2 is moved by the X-axis drive motor 6 to a position where the limited reflection laser type sensors 4a and 4b do not detect the insulating substrate 3. I do. In addition, each of the limited reflection laser type sensors 4a and 4b
Is not detected, the limited reflection laser type sensor 4
The substrate supporting stage 2 is moved by the X-axis drive motor 6 to a position where the insulating substrate 3 is detected by a and b.

Then, the limited reflection type laser type sensor 4a
And 4b detect a shift in the timing of detecting the end face of the insulating substrate 3 by a pulse from an X-axis encoder 7 or an X-axis linear scale (not shown) connected to the X-axis drive motor 6, and The inclination direction and the inclination amount of the conductive substrate 3 are calculated.

Next, the angle of the substrate support stage 2 is adjusted by driving the Θ-axis drive motor 8 in accordance with the direction and amount of inclination of the insulating substrate 3. The Θ-axis encoder 9 is for confirming whether or not the Θ-axis drive motor 8 has correctly rotated in response to the 入 力 -axis rotation input pulse, and for performing feedback control.

Here, the limited reflection type laser sensor 4
The substrate supporting stage 2 is moved by the X-axis drive motor 6 to a position where the insulating substrate 3 is not detected by the X-axis drive motor 6. By moving the substrate supporting stage 2 by the axis driving motor 6, the timing shift at which the limited reflection type laser sensors 4a and 4b detect the end face of the insulating substrate 3 is corrected by the X-axis encoder 7 or the X-axis linear scale. It is detected again by a pulse, and the relationship between the direction and amount of inclination of the insulating substrate 3, the X-axis coordinate, and the position of the end surface of the insulating substrate 3 is calculated.

At this time, if the difference between the inclination of the insulating substrate 3 and the inclination of the substrate support stage 2 is within an allowable range set for each apparatus, the positioning in the Θ-axis direction is terminated. If the difference between the inclination of the insulating substrate 3 and the inclination of the substrate supporting stage 2 is out of the allowable range set for each apparatus, the operation after the positioning by the Θ-axis drive motor 8 is performed again. The process is repeated until the difference between the inclination and the inclination of the substrate supporting stage 2 falls within the allowable range set for each apparatus.

Next, when the limited-reflection laser sensor 4c detects the insulating substrate 3, the substrate is supported by the Y-axis drive motor 10 to a position where the limited-reflection laser sensor 4c does not detect the insulating substrate 3. Move stage 2. When the limited reflection type laser sensor 4c does not detect the insulating substrate 3, the substrate support stage 2 is moved by the Y-axis drive motor 10 to a position where the limited reflection type laser sensor 4c detects the insulating substrate 3. I do.

Then, the relationship between the Y-axis coordinates and the position of the end surface of the insulating substrate 3 is detected by a pulse from the Y-axis encoder 11 or a Y-axis linear scale (not shown).

Next, the insulating substrate 3 detected as described above is used.
After the XY axes are offset so that the insulating substrate 3 is placed at a predetermined position on the substrate support stage 2 based on the positional relationship data between the end surface of the substrate and the XY axis coordinates, the insulating substrate 3 is moved from the substrate transfer arm 5. Transfer to the lift pins 12, lower the lift pins 12 to adsorb and fix the insulating substrate 3 to the substrate supporting stage 2, and end the positioning of the insulating substrate 3.

In the present embodiment, the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is performed on the substrate transfer arm 5. However, the positioning may be performed while the insulating substrate 3 is stationary on the lift pins 12. However, in this case, it is necessary to prevent the lift pins 12 from interlocking with the XY stage 1, and to provide a relief on the substrate support stage 2 so as not to interfere with the lift pins 12 during the operation of the XY stage 1. .

(Embodiment 2) Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a second example of the processing stage of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the structure of the processing stage section is such that a substrate supporting stage 2 is provided on an XY stage 1, and an insulating substrate 3 made of glass or the like is located near the substrate supporting stage 2. As means for detecting the posture, transmission type laser displacement sensors 13a, 13b, 1
3c is provided.

When the insulating substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate supporting stage 2, the insulating substrate 3 is stopped above the substrate supporting stage 2 with the insulating substrate 3 mounted on the substrate transfer arm 5.

Then, the positional relationship between the insulating substrate 3 and the substrate supporting stage 2 is determined by the transmission type laser displacement sensor 13a.
The transmissive laser displacement sensors 13a, 13b and 13c are moved to positions where the end faces of the insulating substrate 3 can be detected so that they can be detected by 13b and 13c.

Next, the transmission type laser displacement sensor 13
a of the insulating substrate 3 detected by a, 13b, 13c
The XY position and the inclination Θ of the insulating substrate 3 are calculated from the position data of the end face of the side.

Subsequently, the XY position of the insulating substrate 3 and the inclination Θ
, The XY position and the inclination の of the substrate support stage 2 are adjusted by driving the X-axis drive motor 6, the Y-axis drive motor 10, and the Θ-axis drive motor 8 of the XYΘ stage 1.

The configuration and operation of the X-axis drive motor 6, the X-axis encoder 7, the Θ-axis drive motor 8, the Θ-axis encoder 9, the Y-axis drive motor 10, and the Y-axis encoder 11 will be described in the first embodiment. The description is omitted because it is the same as that described above.

Thereafter, the insulating substrate 3 is transferred to the substrate transfer arm 5.
Then, the insulating substrate 3 is suction-fixed to the substrate support stage 2 by lowering the lift pins 12 and the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is completed.

In the present embodiment, the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is performed on the substrate transfer arm 5. However, the positioning may be performed while the insulating substrate 3 is stopped on the lift pins 12. However, in this case, it is necessary to prevent the lift pins 12 from interlocking with the XY stage 1, and to provide a relief on the substrate support stage 2 so as not to interfere with the lift pins 12 during the operation of the XY stage 1. .

(Embodiment 3) Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a third example of the processing stage section of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the structure of the processing stage portion is such that a substrate support stage 2 is provided on an XY stage 1, and a position of an insulating substrate 3 made of glass or the like is located above the substrate support stage 2. As means for detecting the attitude, CCD line sensor cameras 14a, 14b, 14
c is provided.

When the insulating substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate supporting stage 2, the insulating substrate 3 is stopped above the substrate supporting stage 2 with the insulating substrate 3 mounted on the substrate transfer arm 5.

Then, the CCD line sensor camera 14
a, 14b, and 14c are used to detect the positions of the end faces of the two sides of the insulating substrate 3, and from this data, the XY positions of the insulating substrate 3 are detected.
Calculate the position and inclination 算出.

Subsequently, the XY position of the insulating substrate 3 and the inclination Θ
, The XY position and the inclination の of the substrate support stage 2 are adjusted by driving the X-axis drive motor 6, the Y-axis drive motor 10, and the Θ-axis drive motor 8 of the XYΘ stage 1.

The configuration and operation of the X-axis drive motor 6, the X-axis encoder 7, the Θ-axis drive motor 8, the Θ-axis encoder 9, the Y-axis drive motor 10, and the Y-axis encoder 11 will be described in the first embodiment. The description is omitted because it is the same as that described above.

After that, the insulating substrate 3 is transferred to the substrate transfer arm 5.
Then, the insulating substrate 3 is suction-fixed to the substrate support stage 2 by lowering the lift pins 12 and the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is completed.

In the present embodiment, the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is performed on the substrate transfer arm 5. However, the positioning may be performed while the insulating substrate 3 is stopped on the lift pins 12. However, in this case, it is necessary to prevent the lift pins 12 from interlocking with the XY stage 1, and to provide a relief on the substrate support stage 2 so as not to interfere with the lift pins 12 during the operation of the XY stage 1. .

(Embodiment 4) Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fourth example of the processing stage section of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the structure of the processing stage section is such that a substrate support stage 2 is provided on an XY stage 1, and an insulating substrate 3 made of glass or the like is positioned above the substrate support stage 2. As means for detecting the posture, CCD area sensor cameras 15a, 15b, 15
c is provided.

When mounting the insulating substrate 3 on the substrate supporting stage 2, the insulating substrate 3 is stopped above the substrate supporting stage 2 with the insulating substrate 3 mounted on the substrate transfer arm 5.

Then, the CCD area sensor camera 15
a, 15b, and 15c are used to detect the positions of the end faces of the two sides of the insulating substrate 3, and from this data, the XY positions of the insulating substrate 3 are detected.
Calculate the position and inclination 算出. Also, a mark (not shown) formed on the insulating substrate 3 is recognized by two or more CCD area sensor cameras 15a, 15b, 15c,
From this data, the XY position and the inclination Θ of the insulating substrate 3 may be calculated. In this case, it is necessary to form a mark on the insulating substrate 3 in advance.

Subsequently, the XY position and the inclination Θ of the insulating substrate 3
, The XY position and the inclination の of the substrate support stage 2 are adjusted by driving the X-axis drive motor 6, the Y-axis drive motor 10, and the Θ-axis drive motor 8 of the XYΘ stage 1.

The configuration and operation of the X-axis drive motor 6, X-axis encoder 7, Θ-axis drive motor 8, Θ-axis encoder 9, Y-axis drive motor 10, and Y-axis encoder 11 will be described in the first embodiment. The description is omitted because it is the same as that described above.

Thereafter, the insulating substrate 3 is transferred to the substrate transfer arm 5.
Then, the insulating substrate 3 is suction-fixed to the substrate support stage 2 by lowering the lift pins 12 and the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is completed.

In the present embodiment, the positioning of the insulating substrate 3 is performed on the substrate transfer arm 5. However, the positioning may be performed while the insulating substrate 3 is stationary on the lift pins 12. However, in this case, it is necessary to prevent the lift pins 12 from interlocking with the XY stage 1, and to provide a relief on the substrate support stage 2 so as not to interfere with the lift pins 12 during the operation of the XY stage 1. .

In the method described above, the positioning accuracy of the insulating substrate 3 transferred to the substrate supporting stage 2 is:
The repetition accuracy of 50 to 100 μm or less is ensured. When analyzed by error factors, the recognition accuracy of the end face of the insulating substrate 3 is 10 μm or less, the transfer accuracy from the substrate transfer arm 5 to the lift pins 12 is about 50 μm, The accuracy of the transfer from the substrate to the substrate support stage 2 is about 50 μm, the alignment accuracy of the XYΘstage 1 is 20 μm or less, and the total accuracy is about 74 μm when viewed from the square root of the sum of squares of each error.

According to the positioning method of the present invention, in an apparatus that does not require a high-precision alignment higher than the above-described accuracy,
Various types of processing can be performed immediately, and alignment marks for positioning can be recognized by a CCD area sensor camera or the like even in an apparatus requiring alignment accuracy of several μm or less, such as an exposure apparatus or a substrate bonding apparatus. Can be in range. For example, 100 μm × 100 μ
500 μm × 500 alignment mark of size m
± 200μm required when recognizing with a visual field of μm
Can sufficiently satisfy the positioning accuracy.

[0060]

As described above, according to the method for positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel of the present invention, the position and orientation of the insulating substrate are detected by a non-contact method on a transfer arm or a lift pin. Then, based on this detection result, the processing stage is moved to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate, and then the insulating substrate is placed on the processing stage, so that the insulating substrate cracks during positioning. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the insulating substrate from cracking due to a crack at the time of positioning.

According to the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the position detecting means for detecting the position and the posture of the insulating substrate on the transfer arm or the lift pin in a non-contact manner, and the processing based on the information from the position detecting means. By providing a stage driving unit that moves the stage unit so as to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of cracks in the insulating substrate during positioning,
It is possible to prevent the insulating substrate from cracking due to a crack during positioning.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first example of a processing stage section of a liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a second example of the processing stage of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a third example of the processing stage unit of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fourth example of the processing stage of the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a processing stage of a conventional liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus.

[Description of Signs] 1 XY stage 2 Substrate support stage 3 Insulating substrate 4a, 4b, 4c Limited reflection laser type sensor 5 Substrate transfer arm 6 X-axis drive motor 7 X-axis encoder 8 Θ-axis drive motor 9 Θ-axis encoder Reference Signs List 10 Y-axis drive motor 11 Y-axis encoder 12 Lift pin 13a, 13b, 13c Transmission type laser displacement sensor 14a, 14b, 14c CCD line sensor camera 15a, 15b, 15c CCD area sensor camera 51 XY stage 52 Board support stage 53 Insulation Substrates 54a, 54b, 54c Positioning pins 55a, 55b, 55c Positioning pins

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, which is performed when the insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel is mounted on a processing stage of a manufacturing apparatus, wherein a position and a posture of the insulating substrate are transferred. Alternatively, detection is performed by a non-contact method on a lift pin, and based on the detection result, the processing stage is moved to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate, and then the insulating substrate is mounted on the processing stage. A method of positioning an insulating substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, comprising: 2. A processing stage for mounting an insulating substrate, a transfer arm for transferring the insulating substrate above the processing stage, and a process for receiving the insulating substrate from the transfer arm and performing the processing. A liquid crystal display panel manufacturing apparatus comprising: a lift pin mounted on a stage; a position detection unit configured to detect a position and a posture of the insulating substrate on the transfer arm or the lift pin in a non-contact manner; And a stage driving means for moving the processing stage section so as to match the position and posture of the insulating substrate based on information from the liquid crystal display panel.