KR100646694B1 - Method for assembling liquid crystal substrate and apparatus for liquid crystal dropping - Google Patents

Abstract

In the case of conventional liquid crystal drop bonding, since the liquid crystal amount per drop is controlled by the product of the dropping water, the supply amount of the liquid crystal agent is controlled. Therefore, it takes time to adjust the production so that one drop is adjusted to the desired amount. In addition to stagnation, the amount of a single drop is a few mg, so that it is difficult to measure accurately with an electronic balance.

Before supplying the liquid crystal agent to the substrate, the liquid crystal agent dropping onto the substrate is pre-weighed from the tank and filled in the micro syringe, and the liquid crystal filled in the micro syringe is changed while changing the relative position of the substrate and the liquid crystal discharge hole. It was made to supply on a board | substrate surface by dripping as much as a desired amount in a desired position.

Description

Assembly method of liquid crystal substrate and liquid crystal dropping device {METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING LIQUID CRYSTAL SUBSTRATE AND APPARATUS FOR LIQUID CRYSTAL DROPPING}

1 is a view showing the entire configuration of a liquid crystal dropping and substrate bonding apparatus;

2 is a view showing an example of a receiving cloth for receiving a substrate in a vacuum state and a holding mechanism for holding the lower substrate so as not to move in a horizontal direction;

3 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a liquid crystal supply system of a liquid crystal dropping apparatus;

4 is a diagram showing an example of measurement of the liquid crystal supply amount;

5 is a diagram illustrating an example of measuring the amount of liquid crystal in a tank;

6 is a view for explaining a situation in which a liquid crystal agent is dropped into a liquid crystal panel;

7 is a measurement example of a suction amount when a liquid crystal agent is sucked into a micro syringe.

The present invention relates to a method for assembling a liquid crystal substrate and a liquid crystal dropping apparatus in which liquid crystals are dropped on one substrate, the substrates to be bonded are held facing each other, and the gaps are narrowed and bonded.

In manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel, two glass substrates having a transparent electrode or a thin film transistor array are bonded to each other with an adhesive (hereinafter referred to as a sealant) at very close intervals of several micrometers, and formed into a space formed therefrom. There is a process of sealing a liquid crystal agent.

In the sealing of this liquid crystal, it draws in the pattern which closed the sealing compound so that an injection hole may not be provided on one board | substrate, and the liquid crystal agent is dripped so that it may become in the pattern again, and the other board | substrate is arrange | positioned on one board | substrate And Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-165622 for bonding upper and lower substrates in a vacuum.

As the dropping method of the liquid crystal, there is a method proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-164783 and the like.

In the method of assembling the substrate after dropping the liquid crystal agent, if the supply amount of the liquid crystal agent is small, a vacuum pool may be generated in the liquid crystal panel to cause a poor display, or when the supply amount is large, the liquid crystal agent may overflow from the panel to cause poor adhesion, or the liquid crystal agent may be inserted. Since the gap between the two pieces of glass becomes large, resulting in poor display, it is important to accurately manage the supply amount of the liquid crystal.

In the above prior art, since the liquid crystal supply amount is managed by the product of the dripping liquid of the liquid crystal and the amount of liquid crystal per drop, it is adjusted at the previous stage of production so that one drop of the liquid crystal supplied from the liquid crystal supply becomes a desired amount, The supply weight was measured during production, and the supply amount of one drop was adjusted for the change in supply amount over time.

In this method, the adjustment takes a long time and the production is not only stagnant, but because the amount of one drop is a few mg, it is difficult to measure accurately with an electronic scale.

In addition, since precision electronic balance is used for measurement, it takes time to measure a balance for stability measurement, and it is a factor which reduces productivity similarly.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for assembling a liquid crystal substrate capable of supplying a liquid crystal agent to a substrate with high precision and producing a liquid crystal panel without preliminary preparation of the liquid crystal supply or adjustment during production, without lowering the productivity. Is in.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, one substrate to be bonded is held on the lower surface of the holding plate, and the other substrate to be bonded is held on the table to face each other, and the liquid crystal agent is supplied onto the substrate held on the table. Then, when the two substrates are narrowed and the two substrates are bonded together by an adhesive provided on one of the substrates, they are supplied from a single or a plurality of liquid crystal supplies to a region of one substrate or one liquid crystal panel to be supplied. Means for measuring the amount of liquid crystal to be measured to measure the amount of liquid crystal to be supplied from the liquid crystal supply, and to measure the amount of liquid crystal to the desired position while changing the relative position in the direction parallel to the main surface of the substrate between the substrate and the liquid crystal supply. It's about supplying the desired amount.

As described below, according to the present invention, the liquid crystal agent is supplied to the substrate with high accuracy and stability, and the production of the liquid crystal supply is not carried out by preliminary preparation of the liquid crystal supply, confirmation of the supply amount during production or adjustment of the supply amount. It is possible to produce a liquid crystal panel.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In Fig. 1, the substrate assembly apparatus embodying the method of the present invention is composed of a liquid crystal dropping portion S1 and a substrate bonding portion S2, both of which are disposed adjacent to the mount 2.

Above the mount 2 is a frame 3 that supports the substrate bonding portion S2. The upper surface of the mount 2 is provided with an XYθ stage T1. The X stage 4a constituting the XYθ stage T1 can travel between the liquid crystal dripping portion S1 and the substrate bonding portion S2 in the left and right X-axis directions on the drawing by the driving motor 5. have. The Y stage 4b is on the X stage 4a, and the drive motor 6 can travel in the Y axis direction orthogonal to the X stage. The θ stage 4c is on the Y stage 4b, and is rotatable horizontally with respect to the Y stage 4b by the drive motor 8 via the rotation bearing 7, and on the θ stage 4c. The table 9 on which the lower substrate 1a is mounted is fixed. In addition, like the upper substrate described later, the table 9 mounts and holds the lower substrate 1a as a vacuum suction, electrostatic suction or adhesive member. In addition, the lower chamber unit 10 is fixed to the Y stage 4b by the plate 13. The θ stage 4c is rotatably installed via the rotating bearing 11 and the vacuum seal 12 with respect to the outer circumferential portion 10 of the lower chamber unit, and the θ stage 4c rotates outside the lower chamber unit. The circumferential part 10 has a structure which does not rotate accordingly. As shown in the figure, the θ stage 4c constitutes a part (bottom portion) of the lower chamber unit. That is, the θ stage 4c operates only in the rotational direction separately from the outer circumferential portion 10 of the lower chamber unit, but has a configuration in which the XY directions move together.

The liquid crystal dropping part S1 includes a dispenser 17 supported by a bracket 14 protruding from the frame 3 for dropping a desired amount of liquid crystal agent onto the lower substrate 1a mounted on the table 9. It consists of the Z-axis stage 15 for moving this up and down, and the motor 16 which drives it. The XYθ stage T1 holding the lower substrate 1a on the table 9 moves in the X and Y directions with respect to the nozzle 18 of the dispenser 17 dropping the liquid crystal agent. As a result, a desired amount of the liquid crystal agent is added dropwise to any portion on the lower substrate 1a.

The XYθ stage T1 on which the lower substrate 1a after the liquid crystal dropping is mounted is moved by the drive motor 5 under the substrate bonding portion S2.

In the board | substrate junction part S2, the upper chamber unit 21 and the holding plate 27 provided with the vacuum suction function and the electrostatic adsorption function in it are each independently moved up and down. That is, the upper chamber unit 21 has a housing 30 in which a linear bush and a vacuum seal are incorporated, and the upper and lower Z-axis directions are provided by the cylinder 22 fixed to the frame 3 with the shaft 29 as a guide. Go to.

When the XYθ stage T1 is moved to the substrate bonding portion S2 and the upper chamber unit 21 descends, the upper chamber unit (3) is connected to the O-ring 44 disposed around the outer circumference 10 of the lower chamber unit. The flanges 21a of 21 are brought into contact with each other to form a unit, and at this time, the flange 21a is in a state of functioning as a vacuum chamber. Here, the ball bearing 87 provided around the lower chamber unit outer periphery 10 can be set at any position in the up and down direction by adjusting the amount of crushing of the O-ring 44 by vacuum. The large force generated by the vacuumization is received by the lower chamber unit outer circumferential portion 10 via the ball bearing 87, and the O-ring 44 can be elastically deformed, and the XYθ stage at the time of joining will be described later. T1 can be easily finely positioned within the elastic range of the O-ring 44 to accurately position it.

Since the housing 30 has a vacuum seal that can move up and down without causing a vacuum leak with respect to the shaft 29 even if the upper chamber unit 21 forms a vacuum chamber with the lower chamber unit, deformation of the vacuum chamber is prevented. The force applied to the shaft 29 can be absorbed to prevent the holding plate 27 fixed to the shaft 29 from being deformed, and the upper substrate 1b held by the holding plate 27 as described later. ) And the lower substrate 1a held by the table 9 are maintained in parallel to each other, and bonding is possible.

The vacuum valve 23 is connected to the vacuum source (not shown) via the piping hose 24, and these are used when decompressing a vacuum chamber to make a vacuum. In addition, the gas purge valve 25 is connected to a pressure source such as nitrogen gas or clean dry air via the gas tube 26, which is used to return the vacuum chamber to atmospheric pressure.

The upper substrate 1b is held in close contact with the lower surface of the holding plate 27, but is held by vacuum suction (or suction suction) in the air. That is, a plurality of suction holes are provided on the holding plate 27 surface, and a suction tube 42 for supplying a negative pressure thereto is connected via a suction suction joint 41. The suction tube 42 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown).

Next, the electrostatic adsorption means will be described.

The holding plate 27 has two rectangular recesses on its lower surface, and covers a flat plate electrode embedded in each recess with a dielectric so that the main surface of the dielectric is flush with the lower surface of the holding plate 27. . Each embedded plate electrode is connected to a negative DC power supply via an appropriate switch. Therefore, when a positive or negative voltage is applied to each of the plate electrodes, negative or positive charges are induced on the main surface of the dielectric which is coplanar with the lower surface of the holding plate 27, and these charges make the upper substrate 1b transparent. The upper substrate 1b is electrostatically adsorbed by the Coulomb force generated between the electrode films. The voltage applied to each of the flat plate electrodes may be the same electrode or may be different from each other. In the case where the atmosphere is the atmosphere, vacuum adsorption may be used in combination, and when the electrostatic adsorption force is large, the vacuum adsorption means may not be required.

However, the shaft 29 is fixed to the housings 31 and 32. The housing 31 is provided with the linear guide 34 with respect to the frame 3, and the holding plate 27 is a structure which can move up and down. The vertical drive is performed by the motor 40 fixed to the bracket 38 on the frame 35 connected to the frame 3. Transmission of the drive is performed by the ball screw 36 and the nut housing 37. The nut housing 37 is connected to the housing 32 via a load gauge 33 and operates integrally with the retaining plate 27 thereunder.

Therefore, the shaft 29 is lowered by the motor 40, the holding plate 27 holding the upper substrate 1b is lowered, and the upper substrate 1b is in close contact with the lower substrate 1a on the table 9. It is designed to give the pressing force necessary for joining. In this case, the load gauge 33 acts as a pressing force sensor, and it is possible to give a desired pressing force to the upper and lower substrates 1a and 1b by controlling the motor 40 based on the gradually fed back signal.

Since the lower substrate 1a is mounted in the gravity direction, as shown in FIG. 2, the positioning by 81 in the horizontal direction by the pressure roller 82 is applied to the positioning member 81 provided on the table 9. Fixing is enough

However, there is a possibility that the lower substrate 1a may shift or rise due to the effect that the upper substrate 1b is in contact with the sealing agent or the liquid crystal agent on the lower substrate 1a at the time of the minute positioning just before bonding. In addition, in the process of decompressing the inside of the vacuum chamber to become a vacuum, air entering between the lower substrate 1a and the table 9 may be discharged and the lower substrate 1a may shake and shift. For this reason, the table 9 also has a function of electrostatic adsorption. When the pin 9 which is movable in the vertical (Z-axis) direction is provided on the table 9 and grounded, the antistatic of the substrate after the bonding and the detachment from the table 9 can be easily performed.

60, the holding plate 27 is vacuum-absorbed, the vacuum chamber is depressurized, and the vacuum suction force disappears, so that the upper substrate 1b falls off and is received at a position slightly below the holding plate 27. It is an anti-pool and is supported by the shape caught up by the shaft 59 extended downward in the two diagonal positions of the upper board | substrate 1b. Although not shown in detail, the shaft 59 is vacuum-sealed through the upper chamber unit 21 to allow rotation and vertical movement. In addition, the shaft 59 can be moved up and down independently of the up and down movement of the holding plate 27, and is also rotated by a rotary actuator. The fool 60 receives liquid crystals from the main surfaces of both substrates 1a and 1b. It can be expanded so as to extend in the width direction or retracted so as not to be hindered when joining the substrate thereafter.

Next, the process of joining a board | substrate with this board assembly apparatus is demonstrated.

First, the jig | tool which hold | maintained the upper board | substrate 1b is mounted on the table 9, and the XY (theta) stage T1 is moved to the board | substrate junction part S2 by the drive motor 5. As shown in FIG. There, the holding plate 27 is lowered via the shaft 29 by the motor 40, the upper substrate 1b on the table 9 is vacuum-adsorbed, and then raised to the motor 40 to raise the upper substrate 1b. To stand by.

The XYθ stage T1 is returned to the liquid crystal dropping portion S1, the jig which is emptied is peeled off, and the lower substrate 1a is mounted on the table 9 and is fixedly held at a desired position.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, there is a dispenser for discharging the sealing agent in the frame 3 near the dispenser 17 for supplying the liquid crystal agent, and the lower substrate 1a is formed by each motor 5, 6 of the XYθ stage T1. The sealing compound is drawn in a pattern in which the sealing agent is discharged while moving in the XY axis direction and closed (closed) on the lower substrate 1a.

Thereafter, the liquid crystal agent is supplied from the dispenser 17 onto the lower substrate 1a.

3 shows the structure of the liquid crystal supply device of the present invention. The liquid crystal supply device is composed of a micro pump section M1, a flow path switching section M2, a suction section M3, a discharge section M4, a drive section M5, and a control section 100.

The micropump section M1 is composed of a glass microcylinder 101, which is a supply tank for supplying a desired amount of liquid crystal to the nozzle 109, and a piston 102, which is moved up and down in this drawing by the driving section. Doing.

The flow path switching unit M2 is composed of a switching valve 103 and a joint 105 for switching flow paths by rotating the flow path switching port 104 by a motor (not shown). The switching timing of the selector valve is controlled by the controller 100 so that the motor (not shown) does not overlap with the movement of the piston 102.

In this figure, the direction of the flow path switching port 104 is set to connect the flow path A-B, and this position is called a suction port position. The position where the flow path switching port 104 is rotated to connect the B-C is referred to as the discharge port position.

The suction part M3 is comprised from the tube 106 which comprises a part of piping which supplies a liquid crystal agent, and the tank 107 filled with the liquid crystal agent 120 which was already defoamed.

In the seam 105, ion exchange resins such as porous glass and porous silicon are incorporated in the flow path of the liquid crystal agent 120 as a filter. This filter adsorbs the ionic impurities of the liquid crystal to remove the contamination of the liquid crystal or prevents the dust generated by the deterioration of the flow path switching valve 103 from being supplied to the liquid crystal panel side.

The discharge part M4 is comprised from the tube 108 which comprises the piping which supplies a liquid crystal agent, and the nozzle 109 provided in the front-end | tip of the tube 108. As shown in FIG.

The drive unit M5 is for precisely positioning and driving the piston 102. That is, the rotational amount of the motor 110 is transmitted to the nut 112 via the screw 111, and the nut 112 moves up and down in this drawing along the guide mechanism 114. As a result, the piston 102 is driven via the connecting portion 113. In addition, as for the movement amount of the piston 102, the control part 100 observes the position change of the linear scale part 115 by the linear scale detection head 116 provided in the nut 112 vicinity.

Next, an operation example of the dispenser for performing the dropping operation will be described. Moreover, the sealing compound is apply | coated seamlessly on either board | substrate surface so that the display area of a liquid crystal panel may be enclosed.

The motor 110 of FIG. 3 is rotated to move the piston 102 in the microcylinder 110. The amount to move is the rotation amount of the motor 110 in the control part 100 based on the dripping amount. As the piston 102 moves, the tube 106 receives a negative pressure. As a result, the liquid crystal agent 120 can be sucked from the tank 107 by the volume of the piston 102 in the microcylinder 101.

The amount sucked here is an amount supplied by the said dispenser per board | substrate demonstrated later, and the movement amount of the piston 102 is determined from the diameter of the piston 102. FIG. However, the piston 102 is subjected to frictional loads and the like. For this reason, not only the amount of command rotation of the motor but also the amount actually moved by the piston 102 is read out from the count value of the encoder or linear scale 115 (not shown). And the control part 100 controls the rotation amount of a motor so that the movement amount of the piston 102 obtained by them may become a share of a desired suction amount and the diameter of the piston 102. FIG. As a result, the liquid crystal agent 120 can be sucked into the micro syringe 101 by the desired liquid crystal supply amount.

As another method of adjusting the suction amount, as shown in FIG. 4, a flowmeter 131 is provided between the suction part M3 and the tube 106 and the liquid crystal agent 120 flowing through the tube 106 during the suction operation. It is also possible to measure the quantity. That is, the measurement of the flow rate is started with the movement of the piston 102, and the movement of the piston 102 is stopped at the place where the amount of the liquid crystal agent 120 of the above-mentioned syringe is supplied during the movement of the piston 102. Let's do it. And the motor rotation amount at that time is coordinate-converted from the count value of the linear scale 115, and the position of the piston 102 is memorize | stored. In the case where the liquid crystal is continuously supplied to one substrate, the flow rate measurement is started again from the position stored here, and the coordinates of the piston 102 in which the supply amount and the flow rate observed by the flow meter 131 are similarly stored are stored separately. By repeating this, the liquid crystal agent 120 can be sucked into the micro syringe 101 by the desired liquid crystal supply amount.

As another method of adjusting the amount of suction, there is a method of using the above-described flow meter 131 as a liquid crystal residual meter in a tank. This installs an in-tank liquid crystal residual meter 131 in the middle of the suction section M3 and the tube 106 to measure the amount of the liquid crystal agent 120 supplied (inhaled) into the microcylinder during the suction operation. Measurement of the remaining amount in the tank starts with the movement of the piston 102. The piston 102 is positioned where the difference between the remaining amount in the tank before the start of the suction operation and the remaining amount in the tank measured during the suction operation becomes the amount to be supplied to the liquid crystal agent 120 of the syringe set in advance during the movement of the piston 102. Stop the movement of). The motor rotation amount at that time is coordinate-converted from the count value of the linear scale 115, and the position of the piston 102 is stored. Here, an example in which a weighing meter is used as the liquid crystal residual meter 131 in the tank is shown. However, as shown in FIG. 5, a liquid level sensor 132 using an ultrasonic sensor is provided outside the bottom of the tank 107 to measure a change in the liquid level. The same measurement is also possible. In addition, a weight scale may be provided at the bottom of the tank to measure the remaining amount of liquid crystal from the change in weight. It is also possible to install the liquid level gauge in the tank 107 and measure it.

In the case where the liquid crystal agent is continuously supplied to one substrate, the liquid crystal residual amount measurement in the tank is started again from the position stored here, and the amount of suction observed by the supply amount and the liquid crystal residual amount meter 131 or 132 in the tank (suction operation) By storing the coordinates of the piston 102 in which the remaining amount in the tank before the start and the remaining amount in the tank measured during the suction operation are equal to each other, and repeating this, the liquid crystal agent (in the micro syringe 101 by the desired liquid crystal supply amount) is repeated. It is possible to inhale 120).

When a predetermined amount of liquid crystal is sucked into the microcylinder 101, the flow path switching port 104 is rotated to the discharge port position. Next, the piston 102 is moved by rotating the motor 110, and the liquid crystal agent 120 is supplied (dropped) onto the substrate surface from the nozzle 109.

The amount to move the piston 102 is only equivalent to the amount per drop previously set. In this figure, a nozzle or a board | substrate is moved to the next dropping position, a piston is dripped again, and it carries out a predetermined division, and it supplies this to the board | substrate with the total amount of the liquid crystal sucked in the micro syringe 101 by this.

An example of determining the suction amount into the microcylinder with respect to the above liquid crystal supply operation will be described taking a specific substrate as an example.

6A illustrates an example in which six liquid crystal panels are taken from one substrate. In this example, although the dispenser 17 is not shown in figure, three sets of the dispenser 17A, the dispenser 17B, and the dispenser 17C are mounted in the apparatus, and all can be used.

The glass substrate 200 has a region 201 that is divided in advance and becomes a liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal 202 is dropped by moving a nozzle or a substrate along the dropping operation path 203 in the liquid crystal panel region 201. The dotted line 204 indicates the movement path between the liquid crystal panels, the dispenser 17A (not shown) of the liquid crystal panel region 201A and the liquid crystal panel region 201B, the dispenser 17B, and the liquid crystal panel regions 201C and 201D. The desired liquid crystal agent is supplied using the dispenser 17C (not shown) of the liquid crystal panel regions 201E and 201F. Here, in one liquid crystal panel region, an optimum supply amount of liquid crystal is set in advance according to the panel specifications from the target screen size and the cell gap design value. For example, a liquid crystal panel having a diagonal 20 inches is set to supply a liquid crystal of about 700 mg.

Therefore, in this example, the liquid crystal agent is first applied to each of the dispensers 17A, 17B, and 17C, that is, the amount of 700 mg is measured by a method such as the piston position measurement, the flow measurement, or the remaining tank measurement. It suctions in the syringe 101, and memorize | stores the piston position at the completion of suction as a motor coordinate.

For example, in the dispenser 17a, the motor coordinates at the time of inhaling 700 mg into the microcylinder were 700 count positions. In this example, 700 counts are stored. In this case, one count is equivalent to 1 mg. Next, measurement was started again from the position of 700 counts, and it was assumed that the motor coordinates when the 700 mg was inhaled in the microcylinder were 1405 counts. Since 1 mg corresponds to 1 count in the previous measurement, it can be predicted that the second measurement also shows 1400 counts in the same manner. However, in practice, this may be wrong because the feeding accuracy of the screw portion of the drive portion is uneven. In this example, since the feed amount decreases, the motor movement amount increases by 5 counts, but 1405 is stored as it is.

In the dispenser 17b, the motor coordinates at the time of inhaling 700 mg into the microcylinder were assumed to be 680 count positions. In this example, 680 counts are stored. This is considered to be smaller than the design value dispenser 17a because the diameter of the piston or the inner diameter of the microcylinder is larger than the design value dispenser 17a in addition to the nonuniformity in conveying accuracy as in the dispenser 17a. Similarly, in the second time, 1360 is stored because the motor coordinate is in the position of 1360 count.

In the dispenser 17c, it is assumed that the motor coordinates at the time of inhaling 700 mg into the microcylinder were 705 count positions. In this example, 705 counts are stored. As with the dispenser 17a, it is considered that the amount of movement of the motor is large because the diameter of the piston or the inner diameter of the micro syringe is smaller than the design value of the dispenser 17a in addition to the nonuniformity of the feeding accuracy. Similarly, in the second time, since the motor coordinate was at the position of 1410 count, 1410 is stored.

This non-uniformity in the measurement result is due to the device of the microcylinder, but since the motor movement amount for supplying the desired liquid crystal is stored, the liquid crystal panel region 201a is used in the first supply operation, that is, the dispenser 17a. ), The motor displacement for supplying the desired liquid crystal amount (700 mg) to the liquid crystal panel region 201c in the dispenser 17b and the liquid crystal panel region 201e in the dispenser 17c is 1405 to 700 in the dispenser 17a. For every count that divides 705 counts by the desired drip, every dispenser (17b) minus 680 counts from 1360 to 680 counts, and each dispenser (17c) counts 705 counts minus 705 for 1410 to the desired drip. It is good to supply along the movement route 202 for every divided count.

The second supply operation, that is, the desired amount of liquid crystal (700 mg) in the liquid crystal panel region 201b in the dispenser 17a, the liquid crystal panel region 201d in the dispenser 17b, and the liquid crystal panel region 201f in the dispenser 17c. The amount of motor movement for supplying is stored in the dispenser 17a for each count obtained by dividing the stored 700 counts by the desired dripping water, and in the dispenser 17b for each count obtained by dividing the stored 680 counts by the desired dripping water. The supplied 705 counts may be supplied along the movement route 202 for each count divided by the desired drip.

6B is an example which takes two liquid crystal panels from one board | substrate. Although the dispenser 17 is not shown in this example, it is assumed that four sets of the dispenser 17A, the dispenser 17B, the dispenser 17C, and the dispenser 17D are mounted in the apparatus and can be used.

200 denotes glass, 201 divides into a liquid crystal panel, 202 denotes a liquid crystal dropping, 203 denotes a dropping operation path, and 204 dotted lines indicate a movement route between the liquid crystal panels. The liquid crystal panel region 210A is divided into a region 211A and a region 211B so that two dispensers are used, and a region 211A of the liquid crystal panel region 210 using the dispenser 17A and the dispenser 17B (not shown). Is supplied from the dispenser 17A, and the region 211B is supplied from the dispenser 17B. Similarly, the liquid crystal panel region 210B is divided into two regions 211C and 211D to supply the region 211C from the dispenser 17C and the region 211D from the dispenser 17D. In this example, a liquid crystal panel supplying amount of 1400 mg is set as a diagonal 30-inch liquid crystal panel, and the liquid crystal suction amount of the micro syringe is set to 700 mg because one panel is supplied using two micro syringes.

6C is an example which takes one liquid crystal panel from one board | substrate. In this example, although the dispenser 17 is not shown in figure, four sets of the dispenser 17A, the dispenser 17B, the dispenser 17C, and the dispenser 17D are mounted in the apparatus, and it can be used.

The liquid crystal panel region 220 is divided into regions 221A, 221B, 221C, and 221D so as to use four dispensers, and a desired amount of liquid crystal agent is supplied to each region by using each dispenser. In this example, the liquid crystal panel supply amount of 3600 mg is set as a 50-inch diagonal liquid crystal panel. Therefore, the liquid crystal intake amount of the micro syringe is set to 900 mg because one panel is supplied using four micro syringes.

When the desired amount of the liquid crystal agent is added dropwise into the panel region of the substrate surface, the liquid crystal agent is spread widely inside the pattern of the sealing agent, and then the substrate is bonded.

That is, the upper chamber unit 21 is lowered to the cylinder 22, and the flange portion 21a is brought into contact with the O-ring 44 to form the lower chamber unit 10 and the vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber 23 is opened to depressurize the inside of the vacuum chamber. At this time, since the upper substrate 1b is in the state of being vacuum-adsorbed by the holding plate 127, if the decompression proceeds and is vacuumed, the vacuum adsorption force acting on the upper substrate 1b disappears, and the upper substrate 1b is removed. This falls to its own weight. As shown in FIG. 2, this is picked up by the pick-up container 60, and it hold | maintains in the slightly lower position of the holding plate 27. As shown in FIG.

When the vacuum chamber is sufficiently vacuumed, a voltage is applied to the electrostatic adsorption means of the holding plate 27 to hold the upper substrate 1b on the pick-up column 60 with the coulomb force on the holding plate 27. In this case, since it is already in vacuum, air does not remain between the holding plate 27 and the upper substrate 1b, and the upper substrate 1b does not shake when the air is discharged.

Thereafter, the shaft 59 is lowered by a lifting actuator (not shown), and then the shaft 59 is rotated by a rotary actuator, and the motor 60 is prevented from interfering with the joining of the upper and lower substrates. The furnace 40 is further lowered so that the lower surface of the upper substrate 1b is brought into contact with the sealing agent on the lower substrate 1a, and the motor 40 is controlled while measuring the pressing force applied to the sealing agent by the load gauge 33. The upper and lower substrates 1a and 1b are joined at desired intervals. In addition, in the above description, the electrostatic adsorption force is applied after the substrate is received in the receiving foam in a vacuum state, but the electrostatic adsorption force may be applied before the vacuum adsorption force is not applied to the substrate.

In this case, since the upper substrate 1b is in close contact with the holding plate 27 and the center portion thereof is not arranged downward, the upper substrate 1b does not adversely affect the spacers in the liquid crystal and the alignment of the substrates is not poor. In this regard, the alignment is measured by image processing by reading the alignment marks provided on the upper and lower substrates 1a and 1b with an image recognition camera from the observation window provided in the upper chamber unit 21 (not shown). Then, the stages 4a to 4c of the XYθ stage T1 are finely moved to perform high precision alignment. In this fine movement, the ball bearing 87 maintains the space between the upper and lower chamber units 10 and 21 so that the O-ring 44 is not deformed to the extreme and the vacuum is maintained.

When the bonding is completed, tighten the vacuum valve 23 to open the gas purge valve 25, supply N2 or clean dry air to the vacuum chamber, return to atmospheric pressure, close the gas purge valve 25, and close the cylinder 22. The furnace chamber unit 21 is raised, the XYθ stage T1 is returned to the liquid crystal dropping section S1, and the bonded substrate is removed from the table 9 to prepare for the next bonding. After removing from the table 9, the board | substrate hardens a sealing compound with a downstream UV light irradiation apparatus, a heating apparatus, etc.

In the above embodiment, since a sealing agent is discharged and a liquid crystal is dripped, it can transfer to bonding immediately, and a board | substrate is less likely to receive dust, and a production yield can be improved. In addition, the XYθ stage T1 can be used for conveyance into the vacuum chamber of the upper substrate 1b, thereby miniaturizing the apparatus. In particular, since the liquid crystal agent is spread while the substrate is held by the movement of the XYθ stage T1, the number of supply points to one substrate can be reduced, and the variation in supply amount becomes small, and the substrates to which the expansion of the liquid crystal agent is bonded are performed. Therefore, it can progress from supply to joining in a short time, and productivity will improve.

In addition, since the liquid crystal agent can supply the correct amount, there is no fear that the liquid crystal agent overflows to the outside of the sealant pattern and contaminates the substrate, and the cleaning process becomes unnecessary, thereby eliminating the wasteful consumption of the liquid crystal agent.

In addition, in the structure shown in the present embodiment, the lower table of the substrate bonding apparatus moves to the paste coating portion and the liquid crystal dropping portion to perform paste coating, and then the liquid crystal is dropped, and then the lower chamber is moved to the bonding portion to incorporate the lower table. The vapor phase chambers merged together to form a vacuum chamber, and the pressure was reduced in the chamber before joining. Instead, the paste coating and the liquid crystal dropping and the device for laminating may be different devices, or the apparatus for performing the paste coating and liquid crystal dropping as one device may be configured as another device. . As described above, if each device is independent, the robot hand is used to transfer the boards between the devices, and each device is provided with a mechanism for transferring the boards from the robot hand. Moreover, the board | substrate bonding apparatus does not need to be divided into two chambers, and the board | substrate bonding apparatus can be used as the structure which provided the gate valve for entering and leaving a board | substrate in a chamber as an integrated chamber.

As described above, according to the present invention, the liquid crystal agent can be supplied to the substrate with high accuracy, and the liquid crystal panel can be produced without lowering the productivity in advance preparation of the liquid crystal supply and adjustment during production, thereby increasing productivity.

Claims (13)

One substrate to be bonded is held on the lower surface of the holding plate, and the other substrate to be bonded is held on the table to face each other. After supplying the liquid crystal agent on the substrate held on the table, the distance between both substrates is narrowed. In the method of assembling a liquid crystal substrate in which both substrates are joined by an adhesive provided on any one substrate, Before supplying the liquid crystal agent to the substrate, filling the microcylinder while measuring the liquid crystal agent from the tank, and counting the number of pulses of the encoder installed in the piston drive motor in the microcylinder; Measuring and controlling the supply operation so that the liquid crystal agent in the microcylinder is a desired amount of liquid crystal; The liquid crystal agent metered and filled in the microcylinder is dropped while driving the piston according to the number of counts of the encoder at a desired position while changing the relative position in the direction parallel to the main surface of the substrate between the substrate and the liquid crystal discharge hole. A method of assembling a liquid crystal substrate, comprising the step of supplying the total amount charged on the substrate surface. delete The method of claim 1, The measurement made of liquid crystal. A method of assembling a liquid crystal substrate, characterized in that the position of the piston in the microcylinder is measured by the number of pulses of the encoder provided near the motor and obtained from the product of the changed number of pulses and the existing piston diameter. The method of claim 1, A tank containing a liquid crystal agent to be supplied, a flow meter for measuring the flow rate for supplying the liquid crystal agent from the tank, and a control unit for calculating the supply amount into the microcylinder from the measured flow rate; In the liquid crystal suction step, the amount of liquid crystal drawn into the microcylinder is measured by the flow rate of the liquid crystal, and the position of the piston when the desired amount of the liquid supplied into the microcylinder is sucked is stored. In the liquid crystal discharging step, a liquid crystal substrate is assembled by supplying a liquid crystal agent to a substrate by moving the piston by an amount in which the position of the piston when the desired amount is sucked is stored. The method of claim 1, A tank containing a liquid crystal agent to be supplied, a remaining amount measuring instrument for measuring the remaining amount of liquid crystal in the tank, and a control unit for calculating a supply amount into the microcylinder from the remaining liquid crystal amount of the measured tank; In the liquid crystal suction step, the liquid crystal amount sucked by driving the piston in the microcylinder is measured by the liquid crystal remaining amount in the tank, and the position of the piston when the desired amount supplied to the microcylinder is sucked is stored. and, In the liquid crystal discharging step, the liquid crystal substrate is assembled to the substrate by moving the piston by an amount in which the position of the piston when the desired amount is sucked is stored. The method of claim 5, The remaining amount measurement is a method for assembling a liquid crystal substrate, characterized in that the method of measuring the weight of the liquid crystal tank. The method of claim 6, The remaining amount measurement is a method for measuring the liquid level of the liquid crystal made in the liquid crystal bottle. The method of claim 1, A method of assembling a liquid crystal substrate, further comprising the step of providing a filter by an ion exchange resin between the liquid crystal bottle and the supply tank to remove ionic impurities in the liquid crystal before the liquid crystal agent is filled. The method of claim 1, A method of assembling a liquid crystal substrate, wherein a filter by an ion exchange resin is provided between the supply tank and the liquid crystal discharge hole to remove ionic impurities of the liquid crystal during the step of filling the liquid crystal. In the liquid crystal dropping device which consists of a nozzle which discharges a liquid crystal agent, the tank which accumulated the liquid crystal agent supplied to the said nozzle, and the supply piping which connects between the said tank and the said nozzle, In the middle of the supply piping, a flow path switching port and a micropump connected to the flow path switching port are provided, and a pulse of an encoder provided in a motor for driving the micropump a predetermined amount of ink from the ink tank to the micropump. The liquid crystal dropping device is configured to suck while counting the number of water, and to switch the switching port to supply the liquid crystals sucked into the micropump according to the counted pulse number. The method of claim 10, A linear scale for measuring the amount of movement of the piston in the syringe of the micropump is installed outside the syringe, and the amount of movement of the piston is measured by a linear detection head provided in the piston drive, and the suction amount of the liquid crystal is obtained from the measured value. Liquid crystal dropping device characterized in that. The method of claim 11, A liquid crystal dropping device, wherein a flowmeter is provided between the tank and the switching port, and the suction amount of the liquid crystal of the micropump is measured. The method of claim 11, A liquid crystal dropping device, characterized in that a weighing device is arranged at the bottom of the tank to measure the suction amount of the liquid crystal of the micropump from the change in weight.

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