KR100628267B1 - Photo-resist Coating Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photoresist coating apparatus comprising a detachable magnetic type VCD pin, in particular, a coating portion for coating a photoresist, a drying portion for drying the photoresist, and between the coating portion and the drying portion. Wherein the coating apparatus divided into a conveying unit for transporting a substrate located in the, wherein the drying unit, a process chamber, a drying process is performed, a hot plate disposed on the bottom of the process chamber, the substrate is mounted on the upper surface, and the hot plate And a plurality of VCD pins attached to the surface to support the substrate and detachable from the hot plate surface.

Photoresist Coating Equipment, VCD Pins, Magnetic Materials

Description

Photoresist Coating Apparatus {Photo-resist Coating Apparatus}

1 is an exploded perspective view showing a general liquid crystal display device.

2 is a block diagram of a general photoresist coating apparatus.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a drying apparatus of the drying unit according to the prior art.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the VCD pin of the photoresist coating apparatus according to the prior art.

5 is a layout view of a VCD pin in contact with a substrate.

6 is a layout view of a VCD pin for explaining the problems of the prior art.

7 is a perspective view showing a drying apparatus of the drying unit according to the present invention.

8 is a perspective view showing a VCD pin of the photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention.

9 is a perspective view of a VCD pin for explaining another embodiment of the present invention.

10a and 10b is a view showing the rearrangement process of the VCD pin according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

111: LCD substrate 113: active area

141: hot plate 161: VCD pin

171: magnetic material

The present invention relates to a photoresist coating apparatus for applying a photoresist on a substrate, and more particularly, to a photoresist coating apparatus designed to move a lift pin on a liquid crystal display device (LCD) substrate.

Recently, with the development of new advanced imaging devices such as high definition TVs, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), electro luminescence displays (ELDs), vacuum fluorescence displays (VFDs), and PDPs are used instead of CRTs. Research on flat panel display devices such as plasma display panels is being actively conducted.

Among them, the liquid crystal display device is a representative technology of a flat panel display, which has characteristics such as thin, low cost, low power consumption driving, and is used for loading a vehicle as well as a image of a color TV in addition to a lap top computer or a pocket computer. In addition, its use is expanding rapidly.

The liquid crystal display device having such a characteristic has a structure in which a color filter substrate as an upper substrate and a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) array substrate as a lower substrate are disposed to face each other, and a liquid crystal having dielectric anisotropy is formed therebetween. In this case, a thin film transistor (TFT) added to hundreds of thousands of pixels is switched through a pixel selection address line to drive a voltage to the corresponding pixel.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate 1 and a second substrate 2 bonded to each other with a predetermined space, and the first substrate 1 and the second substrate ( 2) a liquid crystal layer 3 injected therebetween, wherein the first substrate 1 has a plurality of gate lines 4 arranged in one direction at regular intervals and a direction perpendicular to the gate lines 4. The pixel region P is defined by a plurality of data lines 5 arranged at regular intervals, and the pixel electrode 6 and the thin film transistor T are formed in each pixel region P. In FIG.

The thin film transistor T is formed at a portion where each of the gate lines 4 and the data lines 5 intersect, and is turned on / off according to a driving signal of the gate line 4 so as to The video signal is applied to or not applied to each pixel electrode 6.

In addition, the second substrate 2 has a black matrix layer 7 formed at the edge of the pixel region to block light of portions except the pixel region P, and a color color corresponding to each pixel region P. R, G, and B color filter layers 8 for expressing the?, And a common electrode 9 for forming an electric field together with the pixel electrode 6 to control the arrangement of the liquid crystal layer 3 are formed.

An alignment film (not shown) is formed on the surfaces of the first and second substrates 1 and 2 facing each other as described above, respectively, and rubbed to align the liquid crystal layer 3.

In order to form various patterns on the first and second substrates, photolithography techniques are generally applied.

Photolithography techniques include coating a photoresist, a photoresist, on a film formed on a substrate, drying the photoresist to volatilize the solvent of the photoresist, and soft-baking the photoresist at a relatively low temperature. soft-baking, applying a photo mask to the photoresist, exposing the photoresist film in a pattern formed on the photomask, developing the exposed photoresist film, and developing the photoresist at a relatively high temperature. And hard-baking the photoresist, and patterning the film quality exposed between the photoresist films.

Hereinafter, the photoresist coating apparatus performing the coating step and the drying step will be described in detail.

Figure 2 is a schematic view of a general photoresist coating apparatus, Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a drying apparatus of the drying unit according to the prior art, Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a VCD pin of the drying apparatus according to the prior art.

5 is a layout view of the VCD pins in contact with the substrate, and FIG. 6 is a layout view of the VCD pins for explaining the problems of the prior art.

As shown in FIG. 2, a general photoresist coating apparatus includes a coating part for coating a photoresist, which is a polymer material, on a substrate 11, and a robot arm for conveying the photoresist-coated substrate 11 to a drying part. It consists of the conveyance part provided with (10), and the drying part which volatilizes the solvent of a photoresist using heat and a vacuum.

In the coating part, in order to evenly coat the photoresist with the entire area of the transparent substrate, a spin coating method using a spin coater 12 is generally used.

In the spin coating method, a photoresist is dropped in the vicinity of the center of rotation, and the substrate is rotated at high speed so that the photoresist is applied to the entire substrate by centrifugal force. The unnecessary photoresist is dropped by centrifugal force to remove it.

In such a spin coating method, the film thickness of the photoresist is determined by the viscosity of the photoresist and the rotational speed of the substrate, and there is an advantage that the coating is possible with a photoresist coater having a relatively simple structure.

Of course, there are also photoresist coaters that can coat a photoresist of desired thickness on the substrate without rotating the substrate.

On the other hand, the photoresist-coated substrate as described above is transferred to the drying unit via the conveying unit, the heat and vacuum is usually used in the drying unit.

In the process chamber 13 of the drying unit, as shown in FIG. 3, a hot plate 41 on which the substrate 11 is mounted, and a VCD pin 61 fixed on the hot plate 41 to support the substrate. And a vacuum pump (not shown) for depressurizing the inside of the process chamber to make a vacuum state, a vent valve (not shown) for introducing an inert gas to release the vacuum pressure formed in the process chamber, and into the process chamber. A circulation fan (not shown) is provided on the upper portion so as to circulate the inert gas flowing therein.

Looking at the operation of the drying apparatus as described above, the substrate 11 is mounted on the hot plate 41 of the drying apparatus by the robot arm of the conveying unit, at this time, the substrate 11 is fixed to the hot plate 41 It contacts and is supported by the VCD pin 61 which is made.

After the substrate is mounted on the hot plate 41, the process chamber is firmly locked and completely closed.

Then, the vacuum pump is operated to make the inside of the chamber in a high vacuum state and to reduce the pressure to make it low temperature, and heat is applied through a heating wire inserted into the hot plate. In this state, the solvent of the photoresist of the substrate accommodated in the process chamber is volatilized by heat and vacuum, and is gradually dried.

When the solvent of the photoresist is volatilized to some extent after a predetermined time, an inert gas such as nitrogen is introduced through the vent valve to release the vacuum pressure. At this time, the circulation fan in the upper part of the process chamber rapidly circulates the inert gas introduced through the vent valve, thereby making the inside of the process chamber at atmospheric pressure so that the door is easily opened.

Thus, after a drying process is completed, the said process chamber is conveyed to a hardening part.

However, in the drying process, the extent to which the photoresist on the substrate is dried by the VCD pin 61 is locally changed, thereby causing staining of the photoresist. That is, the stress is changed by the VCD pin 61, and the volatilization speed of the photoresist is changed.

If the photoresist is a positive photoresist that only plays a role of PR, the photoresist may be stripped after the photoetching technique. However, in the case of a negative photoresist that simultaneously plays a role of PR and film, the photoresist may be used as a pattern. Therefore, the stain of the photoresist adversely affects the image quality.

Therefore, it is important that the VCD pin 61 is located only outside the active area (image display area) 13 of the liquid crystal panel of the substrate 11, as shown in FIG. Do. Here, the substrate 11 is designed as a mother substrate (mother) a plurality of liquid crystal panels.

However, since the VCD pin 61 is fixedly welded to the hot plate 41 in a bolted pin type as shown in FIG. 4, when the size of the liquid crystal panel is changed, as shown in FIG. 6, the liquid crystal panel The VCD pin 61 comes into contact with the active region 13 of the.

In this way, since the VCD pin 61 of the conventional photoresist coating apparatus is fixedly designed, the contact position with the substrate may be inside the active region of the liquid crystal panel according to the model of the liquid crystal panel, and in this case, when the device is driven, It will cause local stain defects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in all liquid crystal models by moving the position of the VCD pin, the VCD pin and the LCD substrate by moving the contact position of the VCD pin and the LCD substrate to the outside of the active area. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a photoresist coating apparatus for removing a defect defect caused by contact of a substrate.

The photoresist coating apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object is a coating part for coating the photoresist, a drying part for drying the photoresist, and a conveying part for transporting the substrate located between the coating part and the drying part In the coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drying unit comprises a process chamber in which a drying process is performed, a hot plate disposed at a bottom of the process chamber and mounted on an upper surface thereof, and attached to a surface of the hot plate to support the substrate. And a plurality of VCD pins detachable from the hot plate surface.

That is, the VCD pin of the photoresist coating apparatus is designed to be movable so that all models of the liquid crystal panel can be located outside the active area, which is designed as a removable magnetic type of the VCD pin. The purpose can be achieved by doing this.

Hereinafter, a photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7 is a perspective view showing a drying apparatus of the drying unit according to the present invention, Figure 8 is a perspective view showing a VCD pin of the photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention.

And, Figure 9 is a perspective view of the VCD pin for explaining another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 10a and Figure 10b is a view showing the rearrangement process of the VCD pin according to the present invention.

The photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention has the same or similar configuration as the photoresist coating apparatus according to the prior art, except that the VCD pin of the drying unit is designed as a magnetic type rather than a fixed type. . Therefore, below, the photoresist coating apparatus by this invention is demonstrated only to a dry part.

In the process chamber of the drying unit according to the present invention for drying the photoresist using heat and vacuum, as shown in FIG. 7, a hot wire is inserted into a heating chamber to warm the inside of the process chamber and at the same time a substrate on which the photoresist is coated is mounted. Magnetic type VCD pin 161 that can be attached to and detached from the plate 141, the hot plate 141, and supports the substrate mounted on the upper surface of the hot plate, and decompresses the inside of the process chamber to make a vacuum state. A vacuum pump (not shown), a vent valve (not shown) for injecting an inert gas to solve the vacuum pressure formed in the process chamber, and a circulation provided at the top to circulate the inert gas introduced into the process chamber. A fan (not shown) is provided.

At this time, the VCD pin 161 itself is a magnetic body or as shown in the figure, it is designed in a form fixed to the magnetic body 171 by an adhesive. The magnetic material may be, for example, NdFeB-based permanent magnet or Sm Base permanent magnet.

Meanwhile, the VCD pins 161 may be detachably attached one by one, but as shown in FIG. 9, the VCD pins 161 may be detached at the same time by configuring a set of three or a plurality of the VCD pins 161 at regular intervals. You may also do it. In this way, a plurality of sets of VCD pins 161 constituted by a plurality of sets may be provided, and the cooking may be selected according to each LCD panel model.

As described above, since the VCD fin 161 of the photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention can be attached and detached from the hot plate 141, the VCD fin can be positioned outside the active region for all liquid crystal panel models. Therefore, staining by the VCD pin can be prevented from the small liquid crystal panel to the large liquid crystal panel.

In addition, in order for the VCD pin 161 to be attached to the hot plate 141, the hot plate itself may be made of a conductive material such as aluminum, or a magnetic plate (not shown) may be further provided on the bottom of the hot plate. The magnetic plate is mounted such that a plurality of magnetic bodies 171 made of, for example, NdFeB-based permanent magnets or Sm Base-based permanent magnets are detachable from an upper surface of the hot plate 141.

However, when a high temperature heat is applied to the hot plate in a state in which the magnetic type VCD pin is attached, the heat output from the hot plate 141 is transferred to the magnetic material of each VCD pin 161, and the corresponding magnetic bodies are damaged. Of course, the problem may be that the magnetization value of each magnetic material is greatly reduced.

Therefore, a cooling tube (not shown) is further disposed inside the hot plate, or a cooling plate (not shown) in which coolant is selectively flowed between the hot plate 141 and the VCD pin 161 is disposed to process the process. By preventing the heat output from the hot plate 141 from being transmitted to the respective magnetic bodies during the performance, problems such as damage of the magnetic bodies and a decrease in the magnetization value of the magnetic bodies are blocked in advance.

After all, after attaching the VCD pin, it is not necessary to perform the removal process of the VCD pin to prevent the magnetic change due to heat for a long time, it is possible to perform a normal function for a long time.

Looking at the operation process of the drying apparatus as described above, first select the model of the liquid crystal panel, and accordingly accordingly a new VCD pin 161 attached to the upper surface of the hot plate or by attaching and detaching the attached VCD pin and then reattached the VCD pin Set the position of.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the VCD pin 161 already attached is positioned inside the active region 113 of the liquid crystal panel, as shown in FIG. 10B, the active region 113 of the liquid crystal panel is shown. Reset the VCD pin 161 to be located at the outer portion.

At this time, since the VCD pin 161 of FIG. 10A is set according to the liquid crystal panel of the 18.1 "model, when manufacturing the liquid crystal panel of the 42" model of FIG. 10B, the VCD pin should be reset so that the VCD pin 161 is positioned outside the active region. do.

Next, the board | substrate is mounted on the hotplate 141 of a drying apparatus using the robot arm of a conveyance part, and a board | substrate is contacted and supported by the VCD pin 161.

After that, the process chamber is firmly locked and completely sealed, and the vacuum pump is operated to make the inside of the chamber high vacuum, to reduce the pressure to low temperature, and to apply relatively low temperature heat through a hot wire inserted into the hot plate. . In this state, the solvent of the photoresist of the substrate accommodated in the process chamber is volatilized by heat and vacuum, and is gradually dried.

When the solvent of the photoresist is volatilized to some extent after a predetermined time, the vent valve is opened to introduce an inert gas to relieve the vacuum pressure to make the atmospheric pressure. At this time, the inert gas is rapidly circulated by rotating the circulation fan above the process chamber.

As mentioned above, after a drying process is completed, the said process chamber is conveyed to a hardening part.

At this time, the photoresist coated and dried on the substrate is a negative photoresist that simultaneously performs a PR role and a film quality role, and is mainly used as a color filter layer and a protective film in a liquid crystal display device.

On the other hand, the present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiment and the accompanying drawings, it is possible that various substitutions, modifications and changes within the scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in Esau.

In addition, although the case of an LCD substrate as a to-be-processed board | substrate was demonstrated as said Example, this invention is not limited only to this, It can be applied also to a semiconductor wafer etc.

The photoresist coating apparatus according to the present invention as described above has the following effects.

That is, by manufacturing the VCD pin located on the hot plate in a magnetic type to be able to change the position, in all liquid crystal models, it is possible to move the contact position of the VCD pin and the LCD substrate to the outer portion of the active area.

As a result, unevenness caused by contact between the VCD pin and the LCD substrate in the active region can be flexibly prevented.

Claims (8)

In the coating apparatus which is divided into a coating part for coating a photoresist, a drying part for drying the photoresist, and a conveying part which is located between the coating part and the drying part and conveys the substrate, the drying part, A process chamber in which a drying process is performed, A hot plate disposed at the bottom of the process chamber and having a substrate mounted thereon; And a plurality of VCD pins attached to the hot plate surface to support the substrate and detachable from the hot plate surface one by one in a plurality of sets. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hot plate is a conductor. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein a magnetic plate is further provided at a bottom of the hot plate so that the VCD pin is detachable. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein a cooling plate is further disposed between the hot plate and the VCD pin to block heat from the hot plate. delete The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the process chamber further includes a vacuum pump and a vent valve. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one set of VCD pins is a magnetic material. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one set of VCD pins is attached to a magnetic material.

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