KR100758228B1 - exposure apparatus and exposure method - Google Patents

Abstract

By using a liquid crystal that transmits light by voltage, it can be exposed to the whole or selectively by a simple manufacturing process, and partial exposure within 10 μm can be performed in consideration of the distortion of the substrate, so that partial exposure of a specific specific area is possible. An exposure apparatus and an exposure method are provided. In addition, there is no fear of foreign matters caused by the movement of the shutter, and the dead space can be reduced, and liquid crystal shutters and polarizers are unnecessary as in a projection display, and there is no fear of temperature rise due to light absorption of the polarizers. An exposure apparatus and an exposure method using a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate that can be reduced can be provided. According to an aspect of the present invention, in the exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern printed on the photo mask to the substrate by laminating a photo mask on a substrate and irradiating light to the substrate through the photo mask. It has a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate for opening and closing the light in order to transfer the light in a batch or divided to the mask, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate can present an exposure apparatus that can transmit light in response to the application of an external voltage. have.

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel, split exposure, exposure apparatus, photo mask

Description

Exposure apparatus and exposure method

1 is a plan view showing the structure of an exposure apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of II-II 'portion of FIG. 1; FIG. And

3 is a cross-sectional view of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view showing split light opening and closing of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

10: exposure apparatus 110: substrate

120: photo mask 130: polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate

130a: light passing area 130b: light blocking area

130c: cell 135: wires

210: transparent protective layer 230: transparent electrode

250: polymer liquid crystal layer 251: liquid crystal

253: high molecular compound

The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and an exposure method, and more particularly, to an exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of batch or split exposure.

As the size of electronic devices becomes smaller, lighter, and thinner, electronic components included therein are required to have high density and high precision. Therefore, the conductive pattern formed on the substrate constituting the electronic component is a trend that requires high density and high precision. However, a polyimide film, an epoxy resin, or the like, which is used as an insulating layer of a general substrate, tends to cause a dimensional change due to a change in temperature or humidity. As a result, an error occurs in the formation of the conductive wiring pattern of each layer in the substrate having the laminated structure of the conductive wiring and the insulating layer. As the substrates are stacked in multiple layers, it is difficult to electrically connect the upper and lower conductive wirings due to the accumulation of these errors, thereby obstructing the demand for higher density and higher precision of the substrates.

In order to solve such a problem, in the step of exposing a wiring pattern to a substrate, a divisional exposure method is adopted in which the exposure area is divided into a plurality of areas, the exposure area is reduced, and the pattern printed on the photomask is accurately transferred to the substrate. .

Conventionally, various types of shutters are used for exposing only to divided areas and blocking light irradiation from other areas. However, these shutters have a low division capability in such a way that the light blocks itself while moving the division coordinate axis, and the defect of the substrate is frequently caused by foreign matter falling from the shutter itself. In addition, dead space is inevitably generated due to a portion in which the shutter is folded or accommodated according to the shielding of the shutter, thereby decreasing process efficiency. Moreover projection

The present invention provides an exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of exposing whole or selectively by a simple manufacturing process using a liquid crystal that transmits light by voltage.

In addition, the present invention provides an exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of performing partial exposure within 10 µm in consideration of the warpage of the substrate, thereby enabling partial exposure of a desired specific portion.

In addition, the present invention provides an exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of reducing dead space without fear of foreign matters caused by the movement of the shutter.

In addition, as in the projection display of the present invention, there is no need for a liquid crystal shutter or a polarizer, and there is no fear of temperature rise due to light absorption of the polarizer, and an exposure apparatus and an exposure method using a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate capable of greatly reducing the cooling system. To provide.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in the exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern printed on the photo mask to the substrate by laminating a photo mask on a substrate and irradiating light to the substrate through the photo mask. It has a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate for opening and closing the light in order to transfer the light in a batch or divided to the mask, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate can present an exposure apparatus that can transmit light in response to the application of an external voltage. have.

Herein, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate may be positioned corresponding to the position of the substrate on the side to which light is irradiated onto the photomask, and the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate may include one or more cells.

Here, each cell may include transparent protective layers positioned on upper and lower outer layers, a polymer liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the protective layers, and a transparent electrode positioned between the protective layers and the polymer liquid crystal layer. .

In addition, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate may further include a wire for supplying an external voltage to the transparent electrode, wherein the external voltage to the cell is applied to the polymer liquid crystal layer through the transparent electrode via the wire. Can be.

In addition, the polymer liquid crystal layer may include a liquid crystal oriented in a direction in which the external voltage is applied in response to the external voltage application, and a polymer compound used as a substrate so that the liquid crystal may be uniformly dispersed.

In addition, the liquid crystal may include a cyanoobiphenyl liquid crystal compound in which the terminal group is an alkyl group and an alkoxyl group.

In addition, when the external voltage is applied to the one or more cells, the cell to which the external voltage is applied may transmit light, and the external voltage may be selectively applied to the one or more cells.

According to another aspect of the invention, the step of laminating a photo mask on a substrate, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate comprising one or more cells in the direction in which light is irradiated to the photo mask is located, all or one or more of the cells An exposure method of a substrate may be provided, including applying an external voltage to a portion and irradiating the light onto the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate.

Here, only the cells to which the external voltage is applied may transmit light among the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plates, and the substrate may be dividedly exposed by selectively applying an external voltage to the one or more cells.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the exposure apparatus and the exposure method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a plan view illustrating a structure of an exposure apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a II-II 'portion of FIG. 1. 1 and 2, the exposure apparatus 10 of the present invention arranges the photo mask 120 and the substrate 110 in close proximity, and transmits light from the exposure light source to the substrate 110 through the photo mask 120. By irradiating, the pattern drawn on the photomask 120 is transferred to the substrate 110. In addition, the photomask 120 is not limited to being disposed in close proximity, and the photomask 120 and the substrate 110 may be in contact with each other.

In detail, the exposure apparatus 10 includes a substrate holder 100 for suction-supporting the substrate 110 and a platen positioned between the substrate holder 100 and the substrate to serve as a flat table for fixing the substrate ( platen) 105. Here, the platen 105 may serve to rotate and align the substrate so as to correspond to the photomask 120 or the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate 130. In addition, the photo mask 120 is positioned corresponding to the substrate on the side to which the photo mask holder 125 and the photo mask 120 are irradiated with light, where the photo mask holder 125 and the photo mask 120 are fixed. Can be. The photomask 120 further includes a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate 130 capable of forming a light passing region 130a capable of collectively or dividing light in the photo mask 120. The polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may include one or more cells 130c, and these cells may be usefully used for split exposure through selective light switching. A liquid crystal plate holder 133 may be further included to fix the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate 130. The liquid crystal plate holder 133 may rotate at a predetermined angle on a plane to pre-align the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate 130 to correspond to the position of the substrate.

The polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may be manufactured by a conventional method in the liquid crystal display technology. In general, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel is used to display the scattering mode, so that the polarizing plate is unnecessary and the display can easily obtain a high brightness display, and is displayed by using refractive index matching between the liquid crystal and the polymer compound.

The polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may be classified into two types, one of which is a normal mode in which scattering display is performed without voltage and a transparent display is applied with voltage, and the other is transparent display without voltage. In reverse mode, scattering is displayed by applying voltage. The transparent display forms the light passing region 130a and the scattering display forms the light blocking region 130b.

3 is a view showing a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may include one or more cells 130c, and each cell may include a transparent protective layer 210 disposed above and below. The polymer liquid crystal layer 250 is interposed between the protective layers 210, and the transparent electrode 230 positioned between the protective layers 210 and the polymer liquid crystal layer 250. In addition, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may further include an electric wire 135 for supplying an external voltage to apply a voltage to the polymer liquid crystal layer 250.

The transparent protective layer 210 may be a resin layer or a glass layer, such as a transparent flexible film, it may be made of a multi-layer containing a transparent material in the conventional range of the art. In addition, the polymer liquid crystal layer 250 includes a liquid crystal 251 oriented in a direction in which an external voltage is applied in response to an external voltage application, and a polymer compound 253 used as a base substrate so that the liquid crystal can be uniformly dispersed. do. A nematic liquid crystal is mainly used as the liquid crystal 251, and according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a cyanobiphenyl liquid crystal compound in which the terminal group is an alkyl group and an alkoxyl group may be used.

In addition, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may be die doped, and as described above, the liquid crystal may be formed of only liquid crystal molecules, and the die doped polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate may be formed of liquid crystal molecules and die molecules. It may be made of.

In FIG. 3, in order to understand the alignment state, a space is present between the liquid crystals 251 for convenience, but in reality, all of the space portions except the polymer compound 253 are filled with liquid crystals.

The unusual behavior according to the voltage of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel occurs because the optical properties change depending on the voltage applied to the liquid crystal included in the liquid crystal panel. When a voltage waveform of a constant frequency is applied, the liquid crystal molecules exhibit orientation or non-orientation characteristics by the effective voltage of the waveform. In order to measure such an electro-optical characteristic, the light transmittance of the liquid crystal may be measured when a voltage signal is applied from the outside and the voltage is constantly increased. The polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel has a threshold voltage depending on the liquid crystal used. When a voltage lower than the threshold value is applied, no change in the transmittance is observed. When the applied voltage exceeds the threshold value, the transmittance rapidly changes and becomes random. Converges above any value of.

Referring to FIG. 3A, when no voltage is applied to the transparent electrode 230, a scattering display state in which light is scattered or absorbed by liquid crystal molecules irregularly dispersed in the liquid crystal 251, and thus the light is not transmitted. That is, the light blocking region 130b is formed. However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a voltage is applied to the transparent electrode 230, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in the liquid crystal 251 along the direction in which the voltage is applied, so that scattering or absorption of light does not occur, Most of the light is transmitted to form a transparent display state, that is, a light passing region 130a.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating split light opening and closing of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, each cell 130c of the four-divided polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 exhibits light switching according to whether an external voltage is applied. That is, the cell through which the external voltage is applied configures the light passing region 130a, and the cell without applying the external voltage configures the light blocking region 130b. Therefore, after dividing the cell into 2, 4, 8, 16, and the like, the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 may be exposed by selectively applying an external voltage only to a portion to be exposed on the substrate. . However, of course, the present invention includes not only the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate but also the whole composition as a spirit of the invention.

In the method of exposing a substrate by the exposure apparatus, the photomask 120 is laminated on the substrate 110, and the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate 130 is positioned in a direction in which light is irradiated onto the photomask 120. And applying an external voltage to all or a part of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130 and irradiating the light to the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel 130. When the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel is in the normal mode, only a portion of the polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel to which the external voltage is applied may transmit light.

In the above description, the exposure apparatus and the exposure method have been described generally with reference to the drawings, and the following will be described with reference to specific embodiments according to the present invention.

<Example>

After bonding two sheets of indium tin oxide (ITO) deposited with a UV adhesive containing a spacer mixed with a spacer, a gap between the films is formed, and then uniform mixing of the UV polymerized prepolymer and the nematic liquid crystal is formed in this gap. The material is injected using capillary action to form a cell. After the prepolymer was photopolymerized by irradiating UV of 300-400 nm, preferably 365 nm, to the cell into which the uniform liquid crystal polymer compound was injected, the cell edge was sealed with epoxy resin to complete the cell.

A plurality of cells manufactured as described above were connected to make a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate, a glass mask was mounted on the lower portion thereof, and a voltage was applied in an ON / OFF mode. Cells in the region where the voltage was applied are transparent to the light through the liquid crystal is arranged, the other portion is scattered in the OFF state, the UV was not transmitted. By using this, the substrate can be selectively exposed, and the substrate can be exposed by dividing it into units of 10 μm or less.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variations are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

As described above, the exposure apparatus and the exposure method according to the present invention can be selectively exposed by a simple manufacturing process using a liquid crystal that transmits light by voltage, and may be exposed to within 10 μm in consideration of the distortion of the substrate. It is possible to provide an exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of dividing exposure of a desired specific portion. In addition, the exposure apparatus and the exposure method according to the present invention do not cause foreign matters due to the movement of the shutter, and can reduce dead space, and do not require a liquid crystal shutter or a polarizer as in a projection display, resulting in light absorption of the polarizer. The polymer dispersed liquid crystal panel was used, which can greatly reduce the cooling system because there is no fear of temperature rise.

Claims (13)

In the exposure apparatus which transfers the pattern printed on the said photo mask to the said board | substrate by laminating | stacking a photomask on a board | substrate and irradiating light to the said board | substrate through the said photomask, An exposure apparatus comprising a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate for opening and closing the light in order to collectively or separately transmit the light to the photo mask, wherein the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate transmits light in response to the application of an external voltage. . The method according to claim 1, And the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate is positioned corresponding to the position of the substrate on the side to which light is irradiated onto the photomask. The method according to claim 1, The polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate comprises at least one cell. The method according to claim 3, Each cell Transparent protective layers positioned on upper and lower outermost layers; A polymer liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the protective layers; And And a transparent electrode positioned between the protective layers and the polymer liquid crystal layer. The method according to claim 4, The polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate further comprises a wire for supplying an external voltage to the transparent electrode. The method according to claim 5, And the external voltage to the cell is applied to the polymer liquid crystal layer through the transparent electrode via the wire. The method according to claim 5, The polymer liquid crystal layer is A liquid crystal oriented in a direction in which the external voltage is applied according to the external voltage application; And Exposure apparatus comprising a polymer compound used as a base material so that the liquid crystal can be uniformly dispersed. The method according to claim 7, And the liquid crystal comprises a cyanoobiphenyl liquid crystal compound in which the terminal group is an alkyl group and an alkoxyl group. The method according to claim 7, And when the external voltage is applied to the at least one cell, the cell to which the external voltage is applied transmits light. The method according to claim 9, And selectively applying an external voltage to the at least one cell. Depositing a photo mask on the substrate; Positioning a polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate including one or more cells in a direction in which light is irradiated onto the photo mask; Applying an external voltage to all or part of the one or more cells; And And exposing the light to the polymer dispersed liquid crystal plate. The method according to claim 11, The applying of an external voltage to all or part of the one or more cells may include applying the external voltage to the one or more cells so that the cell to which the external voltage is applied transmits light. The method according to claim 12, The step of applying an external voltage to the at least one cell, the exposure of the substrate by selectively applying an external voltage to the at least one cell, the exposure method of the substrate.

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