JPH11258416A - Apparatus and method for manufacturing color filter and color filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color filter of high reliability with a low cost by making the best use of the characteristic of inkjet process by correcting the moving distance and the moving direction by regarding the difference in moving quantities in the travel directions perpendicular to each other as a magnification in the travel direction, and regarding the difference of moving quantities in the directions perpendicular to the travel directions as an orthogonal degree. SOLUTION: A substrate 1 is moved by an XY stage 6 with a reference unit, the deviation quantity in the X direction of an X stage is input as an X direction magnification, the derivation quantity in the Y direction of a Y stage is input as the Y direction magnification, and the deviation quantity in the X direction of the Y stage is input as an offset value of the orthogonal degree. In the drawing, the moving quantity of the XY stage 6 is corrected on the basis of the magnification and orthogonal degree. An instruction is given to an inkjet driver portion at a specified position on the basis of the result of an XY position detecting part while moving the substrate 1 by the XY stage 6, and the patterns of R, G, B are drawn by a head unit 2. The magnification and orthogonal degree of each direction are measured, and the drawing is performed while correcting the same as the offset of a moving body whereby the drawing of high accuracy can be performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a color filter of a color liquid crystal display used for a color television, a personal computer and the like, and more particularly to a technique for manufacturing a liquid crystal color filter using an ink jet recording technique. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional color filter manufacturing methods include:
Dyeing methods, pigment dispersion methods, electrodeposition methods, printing methods and the like are known. In the dyeing method, a water-soluble polymer material layer, which is a material for dyeing, is formed on a glass substrate, and this is formed into a desired pattern by a photolithography process. R, G, B
This is a method of forming a color filter by repeating three times. The pigment dispersion method is a method that is replacing the dyeing method, and includes a step of forming a photosensitive resin layer in which a pigment is dispersed on a glass substrate and patterning the same to obtain a monochromatic pattern by R, G, and B three times. This is a method of forming a color filter by repeating.

In the electrodeposition method, a process of patterning a transparent electrode on a glass substrate and immersing it in an electrodeposition coating solution containing a pigment, a resin, an electrolytic solution and the like to electrodeposit a single color is performed three times for R, G, and B. This is a method in which a color filter is formed by repeating the process, and finally baked. The printing method is a method in which a pigment is dispersed in a thermosetting resin, and the printing is repeated three times to separately apply R, G, and B, and then the resin is thermoset.

By the way, these methods have in common that it is necessary to repeat the same process three times in order to color R, G and B colors, and (1) the cost is increased. (2) There are drawbacks such as a low yield due to a large number of steps. In addition, the electrodeposition method limits the shape of a pattern that can be formed, so that it is difficult to apply the method to a TFT. The printing method has disadvantages such as poor resolution and difficulty in responding to pattern miniaturization. Can be

In order to make up for these drawbacks, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
75205 and JP-A-63-235901.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has the following drawbacks: (1) The method of compensating the accuracy of the device is not taken into consideration. As a method for compensating for the accuracy of the apparatus, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-217320 discloses a method in which a reference mark placed on a substrate is measured while scanning the substrate, and the position of the substrate is finely adjusted according to the amount of displacement. Has been proposed.
However, in this conventional example, (2) the drawing head and the alignment optical system scan over the substrate, and there is a concern that dust or the like may fall. (3) The alignment of a plurality of drawing heads is not considered. (4) Distortion correction of BM (black matrix) for drawing with higher accuracy is not considered.
And the like.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive and highly reliable apparatus and method for manufacturing a color filter which satisfies the characteristics such as the resolution of the above-mentioned conventional method and which makes use of the characteristics of an ink jet system. To provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a color filter manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a drawing head unit having at least one set of drawing heads for separately and independently ejecting ink jets of a plurality of colors. A moving means for mounting a substrate on which a color filter is formed by drawing by the ink jet and moving in a plane intersecting the ink jet discharging direction of the drawing head, and detecting a relative position between the substrate and the drawing head. An apparatus for manufacturing a color filter for liquid crystal, comprising: a relative displacement detecting means for simultaneously drawing a plurality of colors by the drawing head unit; provided in advance in at least three places corresponding to two orthogonal directions in the moving plane. When the substrate having the reference mark is mounted on the moving means, the reference Means for calculating the difference between the amount of movement of the moving means and the amount of movement of the reference mark, and the amount of movement in each of the orthogonal traveling directions when forming a color filter by the drawing. Means for correcting the moving distance and moving direction of the moving means by using the difference as a magnification in the traveling direction and the difference in the amount of movement in the direction perpendicular to each traveling direction as the degree of orthogonality.

Further, according to the color filter manufacturing method of the present invention, a substrate on which a color filter is formed by drawing by an ink jet is mounted on a moving means, and at least one substrate for ejecting a plurality of color ink jets separately and independently.
A method of manufacturing a color filter for liquid crystal, comprising: moving a drawing head unit including a set of drawing heads in a plane intersecting the ink jet direction of the drawing head and simultaneously drawing a plurality of colors by the drawing head unit. A substrate having reference marks provided in at least three places in at least three directions orthogonal to each other in the moving plane is mounted on the moving means, and the moving means is moved while the substrate on which the color filter is formed is drawn. Relative displacement detecting means for detecting a relative displacement in the plane with respect to the head finds a difference between a moving distance of the moving means and a moving amount of the reference mark coordinates. The difference in the movement amount in the direction is defined as the magnification in the traveling direction, and the difference in the movement amount in the direction orthogonal to each traveling direction is defined as the orthogonality. The moving distance and the moving direction of the moving means correcting the characterized by drawing.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a color filter for a liquid crystal by an ink jet system according to one embodiment of the present invention is a moving apparatus which mounts a glass substrate and moves in a plane parallel to a drawing head. An apparatus for detecting a gap between a glass substrate and a drawing head; a unit for keeping a gap between the glass substrate and the drawing head constant based on the detection result; and an alignment detection for detecting a relative displacement between the glass substrate and the drawing head. A drawing head unit, comprising: a device; means for detecting a landing position of ink ejected from a drawing head; and a device for performing alignment between a glass substrate and a drawing head based on the detection result of the landing position and the alignment detection result. In a color filter manufacturing apparatus characterized in that a plurality of colors are simultaneously drawn by A substrate having fiducial marks provided in three places is mounted on the moving body of the moving device, and the reference mark is moved by the relative displacement detecting device in the plane while moving the moving body and the reference mark coordinates. , The difference in the traveling direction of the moving object is set as the magnification, and the difference in the orthogonal direction is corrected as the degree of orthogonality.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a manufacturing method for manufacturing a color filter for liquid crystal by an ink-jet method, comprising: a moving device for mounting a glass substrate and moving in a plane parallel to a drawing head; A device for detecting a gap between the substrate and the drawing head, a unit for keeping a gap between the glass substrate and the drawing head constant based on the detection result, an alignment detecting device between the glass substrate and the drawing head, and ink ejected from the drawing head Means for detecting the landing position of the target, and a device for aligning the glass substrate and the drawing head based on the detection result of the landing position and the alignment detection result, wherein a plurality of colors are simultaneously drawn by the drawing head unit. When manufacturing a color filter using a color filter manufacturing apparatus, at least a direction orthogonal to the moving plane A substrate having reference marks provided in at least three places is mounted, and the reference mark is moved by a relative displacement detection device in a plane to determine the difference between the moving distance of the moving body and the reference mark coordinates. In this case, the difference in the traveling direction is corrected as a magnification, and the difference in the orthogonal direction is corrected as the degree of orthogonality.

In the present invention, a black matrix can be used instead of the reference mark.

[0013]

In order to form three color filters of R, G, and B on a glass substrate on which a black matrix is drawn, an apparatus for simultaneously drawing three colors by a unit in which a drawing head for three colors is positioned with high precision is used. If there is an error in the moving direction of the moving body that moves the glass substrate in a plane (XY plane) parallel to the inkjet discharge surface of the drawing head and in the direction orthogonal to the two axes, a position error with respect to the black matrix occurs, and the opening of the color filter There is a possibility that the ink may protrude from the part.

According to the present invention, a substrate on which at least three reference marks exist in the orthogonal direction before drawing is mounted on a moving body, and the moving axis of the moving body in at least one axis direction is aligned with the reference mark, and the moving is performed. The amount of movement of the body and the displacement of the reference mark in the moving direction are measured. Also, the displacement in the moving direction and the displacement in the perpendicular direction with respect to the moving axis in the perpendicular direction are measured, and the displacement in the perpendicular direction is used as a correction value of the orthogonality, and the displacement in each moving direction is used as a magnification value. The correction is performed as an offset value of the movement amount of the body. This makes it possible to perform high-precision drawing while compensating for the moving accuracy of the moving body. Specifically, since ink can be accurately applied to the black matrix, highly accurate drawing is possible. The assembling accuracy of the moving body in the orthogonal direction can be reduced, thereby reducing costs.

Further, by performing the above-described correction with reference to the black matrix drawn on the glass substrate, in addition to the position correction of the moving body and the head, the accuracy of the drawing substrate can be compensated and the drawing can be performed with high accuracy. it can. That is, drawing can be performed in accordance with the accuracy of the black matrix, and the margin of drawing can be increased.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a glass substrate with a reference mark, 2 is a drawing head unit, 31 to 33 are distance measuring devices between the head and the substrate, 4 is a relative displacement detecting device in a plane between the head and the substrate, 5 is a head unit Cleaning device, 6 is X
A moving stage in the Y plane, 7 is a θ-Z-tilt moving stage, and 9 is a substrate transfer robot.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the stages 6 and 7 in FIG. In the figure, 8 (81 to 83) is Z-
This is a tilt drive actuator. 3 shows an image of a glass substrate with a reference mark, FIG. 4 shows an image of a measurement result, and FIG. 5 shows a drawing machine control system configuration. In FIG.
100 is an XY position detector, 101 is a Z-tilt XYθ
A measurement image processing unit 102 is an inkjet driver unit.

In the above configuration, the reference mark (4 in FIG. 4)
1) The attached glass substrate 1 is mounted on the θ-Z-tilt stage 7 by the robot 9. During this time, head unit 2
Is cleaned by the cleaning device 5. When the mounting of the substrate 1 is completed, the XY stage 6 moves to a head (substrate) distance (gap) measuring position while detecting and controlling the position of the substrate 1 with the XY position detector 100, and the Z-tilt measuring device 3 ( The distance between the head and the substrate is measured by 31 to 33), and the position of the substrate is adjusted by the Z-tilt driving actuator 8 so that the measured value becomes a predetermined value.

Next, the substrate 1 is moved to the reference position by the XY stage 6, and X, X are respectively determined from the positional deviation between the reference mark 41 on the substrate 1 at the reference position and the mark 42 provided at the reference position, and the reference position. The displacement of the marks 41 and 42 at the position stepped by a fixed amount in the Y direction is measured by the detecting device 4 (FIG. 4).

The X stage displacement δ _x of the X stage as a result of the measurement is multiplied by the X direction magnification, and the Y stage displacement δ in the Y direction.
_y is the magnification in the Y direction, and the displacement amount δ _xy of the Y stage in the X direction is input as the offset value θ _xy of the orthogonality. At the time of drawing, a production board is mounted, and the moving amount of the XY stage 6 is determined by the magnification and the orthogonality. While the substrate is moved on the XY stage 6, a command is issued to the inkjet driver unit 102 at a predetermined position based on the result of the XY position detection unit 100, and the R, G, and B patterns are drawn by the head unit 2.

According to this embodiment, since the drawing is performed by correcting the orthogonality and the magnification of the stage, it is possible to perform the drawing with high precision. Since the accuracy of assembling the stage and the apparatus can be reduced, the cost can be reduced. And so on.

[0022]

Second Embodiment FIGS. 6 and 7 are views for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 shows an image of a black matrix, and FIG. 7 shows an image of landing position measurement. In this embodiment, the orthogonality and the magnification of the moving body 6 are adjusted based on the black matrix drawn on the substrate by the method described in the first embodiment. This adjustment may be performed for each substrate or each time a substrate lot changes. In the present embodiment, when the substrate 1 is moved to the reference position by the XY stage 6 and the position of the mark at the reference position and the reference mark on the substrate 1 are shifted by a certain amount in the X and Y directions from the reference position. The deviation between the above mark and the reference mark on the substrate 1 is measured by the detecting device 4 (FIG. 7).

The X-axis displacement δ _x of the X stage as a result of the measurement is multiplied by the X-direction magnification, and the Y-stage displacement δ of the Y stage is
_y is the magnification in Y direction, X of X stage and X of black matrix
The amount of angular deviation θ _x in the direction, the orthogonality offset in the X direction,
Y type stage and the black matrix Y direction angular displacement theta _y as Y-direction orthogonality offset, the magnification at the time of drawing, corrected as orthogonality, the substrate for production equipped to move the substrate in the XY stage 6 While instructing the inkjet driver unit 102 at a predetermined position based on the result of the XY position detection unit 100,
The G and B patterns are drawn.

According to this embodiment, in addition to the features of the first embodiment, the alignment of the device and the head is performed with respect to the black matrix, so that more accurate correction is possible. Even if there is a distortion as shown in FIG. 6 in the black matrix, it is possible to perform drawing with correction, and it is possible to enlarge the margin of drawing accuracy. And so on.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, a high-precision drawing is possible by measuring the magnification and orthogonality of the moving body in each direction and drawing while correcting the offset of the moving body. Features include coarser accuracy and lower cost. High-precision drawing is possible without reducing tact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of a stage in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a reference mark arrangement diagram on a substrate according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an image diagram of a reference mark measurement result of a substrate according to the first example.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a control system of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a magnification measuring method according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an orthogonality measuring method according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: glass substrate, 2: drawing head unit, 3 (31 to 31)
33): Distance measuring device between head substrate, 4: Relative displacement detecting device in the plane between head and substrate, 5: Head unit cleaning device, 6: XY plane moving stage, 7: θ-Z-
Tilt moving stage, 8 (81 to 83): Z-tilt driving actuator, 9: substrate transport robot, 10
0: XY position detector, 101: image processing, 102: inkjet driver.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A drawing head unit having at least one set of drawing heads for separately and independently ejecting ink jets of a plurality of colors, and a substrate on which a color filter is formed by drawing by the ink jets. A moving unit that moves in a plane that intersects the inkjet discharge direction, and a relative displacement detecting unit that detects a relative position between the substrate and the drawing head, and simultaneously draws a plurality of colors by the drawing head unit; In the apparatus for manufacturing a color filter for liquid crystal, when a substrate having fiducial marks provided in at least three places corresponding to two orthogonal directions in the moving plane is previously mounted on the moving means, the moving means is moved. While measuring those reference marks by the relative displacement detection means,
Means for calculating the difference between the amount of movement of the moving means and the amount of movement of the reference mark; and when forming a color filter by the drawing, the difference in the amount of movement in each of the orthogonal traveling directions is a magnification in the traveling direction, and A means for correcting a moving distance and a moving direction of the moving means by using a difference in a moving amount in a direction orthogonal to the direction as a degree of orthogonality. 2. A drawing head unit having a substrate on which a color filter is formed by drawing by an ink jet, mounted on a moving unit, and having at least one set of a drawing head for ejecting ink jets of a plurality of colors individually and independently. A method of manufacturing a color filter for liquid crystal, in which a drawing head unit is moved in a plane intersecting an ink jet ejection direction and a plurality of colors are simultaneously drawn by the drawing head unit. A substrate having reference marks provided in at least three places is mounted on the moving unit, and a relative displacement between the substrate on which the color filter is formed and the drawing head is detected in the plane while moving the moving unit. The displacement detecting means calculates the difference between the moving distance of the moving means and the moving amount of the reference mark coordinates. When forming a color filter by the drawing, the moving amount difference in each traveling direction orthogonal to the magnification of the traveling direction, and the moving amount difference in the direction perpendicular to each traveling direction as orthogonality, the moving means A color filter manufacturing method, wherein the drawing is performed by correcting the moving distance and the moving direction of the color filter. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a black matrix previously formed on a substrate on which the color filter is formed is used as the reference mark. 4. A color filter manufactured by using the apparatus according to claim 1. 5. A color filter manufactured by the method according to claim 2 or 3.