KR100985016B1 - Apparatus for forming a pattern on a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A pattern forming device is provided to allow a user to stably form a linear pattern along the surface of a substrate. CONSTITUTION: A support stand(100) arranges a target substrate along longitudinal direction. A laser generation unit(200) is arranged on the top of the support stand. A laser projecting unit(300) revolves in the top of the support stand and guides laser on the substrate. A pattern is formed on the substrate. A movement converting unit(400) converts the rotation of the projecting unit to a linear movement.

Description

Pattern Forming Device {APPARATUS FOR FORMING A PATTERN ON A SUBSTRATE}

The present invention relates to a pattern forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a pattern forming apparatus for forming a linear pattern on a substrate using a laser.

BACKGROUND With the recent rapid development of semiconductor and information technology, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices having light weight, small size, high resolution, low power, and environmentally friendly advantages are widely used. Due to these advantages, the application range of these devices has recently been rapidly spread from small display devices such as screens of mobile communication terminals to large display devices such as monitors of computers and televisions.

However, since the LCD device itself is a light-receiving element that does not form an image by emitting light, but receives light from the outside to form an image, a separate light source must be provided. Accordingly, it is common to arrange a back light unit (BLU), which is a surface light emitting body, behind the liquid crystal panel displaying processed information such as text, images, and images.

The backlight unit is divided into a direct method and an edge method according to the position of the light source, and the edge type backlight unit in which the light source is disposed at both side ends of the liquid crystal panel to uniformly guide the line light source generated from the light source to the lower part of the liquid crystal panel. It includes a light guide plate for. The light emitted from the light source disposed in the side part is incident through the side surface of the light guide plate and scattered by the scattering pattern formed on the rear surface while passing through the inside of the light guide plate and uniformly enters the liquid crystal panel through the front surface of the backlight unit. In general, the scattering pattern is formed by regularly or irregularly arranging protrusions such as cutting grooves or dots having various shapes on the rear surface of the light guide plate.

At this time, the printing method, the injection method and the exposure method have been used to form the scattering pattern on the back surface of the light guide plate. Pattern forming methods are being developed. In particular, the development of an inline type pattern forming apparatus that improves the efficiency of the pattern forming process and improves the processing speed by rotating the laser head at a constant speed in the upper part of the substrate to be uniformly supplied through the inline process is intensive. Is going on.

However, since the inline type pattern forming apparatus forms a pattern by the rotation of the laser head, the dot pattern formed on the light guide plate has a linear shape corresponding to the rotational trajectory of the laser head to hinder the uniformity of reflected light. There is this.

One object of the present invention is to provide a pattern forming apparatus capable of processing a linear pattern on a substrate using a laser.

Pattern forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object is a support that the substrate to be processed is aligned on the upper surface in the longitudinal direction, disposed on top of the support to generate a laser for processing the substrate A laser generating unit, a laser irradiation unit for guiding the laser to the upper surface of the substrate while rotating in the upper portion of the support, and forming a pattern on the substrate, and linear rotation of the laser irradiation unit along the width direction of the support And a motion conversion unit for converting the motion.

In one embodiment, the laser generating unit includes a laser generator for generating the laser and a support member rotatably connected to the laser irradiation unit disposed on top of the support. For example, the support member is fixed to the pair of first vertical members symmetrically fixed to the support and the first vertical member and the top plate to cross in the width direction of the support, rotatably fixed to the top plate And a rotating plate arranged on the upper surface of the rotating plate, wherein the rotating plate can be configured to rotate on an upper portion of the support along an arc having a radius of a distance from an intersection point with the upper plate to an end of the rotating plate. have.

In one embodiment, the laser irradiation unit is disposed to face the laser generator, a reflecting mirror reflecting the laser, a focus lens for focusing the reflected laser to the substrate and between the reflecting mirror and the reflecting mirror and the focus lens It includes a body forming a light path.

In one embodiment, the movement conversion unit is a flexible coupler for connecting the rotating plate and the body and the linear transducer for linearly moving the body in accordance with the rotation of the rotating plate while variably adjusting the coupling distance between the rotating plate and the body It includes. In this case, the rotating plate may further include a slot formed along a longitudinal direction, and the elastic coupler may include a connecting rod inserted into the slot to linearly move along the slot by the rotation of the rotating plate. .

In one embodiment, the linear transducer is a guide member for contacting the outer surface of the body and extending along the width direction of the support to linearly move the body, and a predetermined distance along the longitudinal direction of the first vertical member and the support. And a pair of second vertical members disposed spaced apart by each other and connected to the guide member. The linear transducer may further include an auxiliary member connected to the second vertical member and extending along the width direction of the support side by side with the guide member to maintain contact between the guide member and the body. For example, the guide member, the auxiliary member, and the second vertical member are integrally disposed with each other, and the body is disposed between the guide member and the auxiliary member and passes through an opening extending along the width direction of the support. The guide member and the auxiliary member may be in contact with the side of the body at the same time.

In one embodiment, a pair of the laser generator is disposed at both ends of the rotating plate, and the pair of the laser irradiation unit and the pair of motion conversion unit to the longitudinal direction of the substrate so as to correspond to the laser generator, respectively Accordingly arranged symmetrically with respect to the top plate.

In one embodiment, the support is provided on the upper surface is provided with a transfer guide extending along the longitudinal direction and detachably connected to the transfer guide and the transfer table is fixed to the substrate and the transfer table along the transfer guide Move along the longitudinal direction of the support in the feed pitch unit.

In one embodiment, the rotating plate rotates alternately along the clockwise or counterclockwise direction at the top of the support and the substrate moves by the conveying pitch along the transfer guide while the rotation direction of the rotating plate is changed. .

According to the present invention, it is possible to form a linear pattern linearly aligned along the width direction in spite of the rotation of the laser generating unit with respect to the substrate continuously supplied to the upper portion of the support. Conventionally, the dot pattern formed on the light guide plate is processed in a straight line according to the rotational movement of the laser generating unit, thereby remarkably improving the uniformity of the light reflected from the light guide plate.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a pattern forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the elastic coupler of the pattern forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating in detail a linear changer of the pattern forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of forming a pattern using the pattern forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a linear pattern forming step of the pattern forming method illustrated in FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In each of the drawings of the present invention, the size or dimensions of the structures are shown to be enlarged or reduced than actual for clarity of the invention.

In the present invention, the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

For the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, specific structural and functional descriptions are set forth for the purpose of describing an embodiment of the invention only, and it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various forms, But should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth in the claims.

That is, the present invention may be modified in various ways and may have various forms. Specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the text. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to a specific disclosed form, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Pattern Forming Device

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a pattern forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the pattern forming apparatus 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention is disposed on the support 100, the upper surface of the support 100 is aligned with the substrate to be processed (S) on the upper surface in the longitudinal direction And a laser generating unit 200 generating a laser for processing the substrate S, and driving the laser to the upper surface of the substrate S while rotating the upper portion of the support to form a pattern on the substrate S. It comprises a laser irradiation unit 300 to form and the movement conversion unit 400 for converting the rotational movement of the laser irradiation unit 300 into a linear movement along the width direction.

In one embodiment, the support 100 performs a patterning process by aligning the substrate to be processed on the upper surface and transfers the substrate (S) after the process is completed. The support 100 is a support plate 110 having an upper surface processed to have a flat plane, the transfer table 120 and the transfer table 120 is disposed on the upper surface of the support plate 110 to seat the substrate (S) Removably connected to the lower surface of the includes a transfer guide 130 that can linearly transfer the transfer table 120.

The support plate 110 is made of a material having a shockproof enough to accommodate vibration caused by the movement of the substrate table 120 along the transfer guide 130 and heat resistance sufficiently absorbing thermal expansion by laser processing. In addition, it has a thickness as thin as possible to sufficiently absorb vibration and thermal expansion and to have a load that does not impair the installation convenience of the pattern forming apparatus 1000. For example, the matrix 110 may be composed of flat rock or quartz having a predetermined thickness.

In one embodiment, the support plate 110 is provided to have a width extending in the x direction, a length extending in the y direction and a thickness extending in the z direction with respect to the coordinate axis shown in FIG. The substrate S has a length having a length of more than twice and the substrate S is provided from the first end in the longitudinal direction so that the patterning process starts and the process is completed through the second end corresponding to the first end. Discharged. Accordingly, the substrate undergoes a patterning process while being sequentially transferred in one line from one side of the support 100 to the other side opposite thereto in the y direction.

The transfer table 120 includes a plurality of vacuum suction holes to fix the substrate S by vacuum suction. Preferably, the substrate table may further include a substrate aligner (not shown) for aligning the initial patterning position of the substrate to correspond to the lower portion of the focus lens, which will be described later.

The transfer guide 130 is disposed on an upper surface of the support plate 110 and is coupled to a carrier (not shown) disposed on a lower surface of the transfer table 120. The conveyer has drive means (not shown) and scale (not shown), such as a linear motor or a ball screw motor. Accordingly, the transfer table 120 is linearly transferred in a preset feed pitch unit along the transfer guide 130 extending along the y axis. Preferably, the sensor may further include a detection sensor (not shown) capable of sensing a position of the scale to detect a feeding speed and a feeding distance.

The substrate S is not limited to its use and shape as long as it is a substrate for forming a predetermined pattern on the surface through laser processing. For example, the semiconductor substrate may include a semiconductor substrate for processing a semiconductor device such as a wafer, a glass substrate for manufacturing a flat panel display, and a light guide plate of a backlight assembly of the flat panel display. In the present exemplary embodiment, the dot pattern for light scattering is exemplarily described for the light guide plate for the backlight assembly of the liquid crystal display device. However, it is apparent that the pattern forming apparatus of the present invention can be used to form not only the dot pattern for the light guide plate but also various patterns.

In one embodiment, the laser generating unit 200 generates a laser having a predetermined period and radiates to the laser irradiation unit 300. In one embodiment, the laser generating unit 200 is fixed to the pair of first vertical member 210 and the first vertical member 210 symmetrically fixed to the support 100, the support 100 The upper plate 220 to traverse along the width direction of the), the rotating plate 230 is rotatably fixed to the upper plate 220 and the upper surface of the rotating plate 230 is fixed in accordance with the rotation of the rotating plate 230 It is provided with a laser generator 240 for generating the laser.

The first vertical members 210 protrude upwardly (z-axis direction) from the widthwise peripheral portion of the support plate 110 and are disposed symmetrically with respect to the center line of the support plate 110. On the other hand, the top plate 220 is fixed to the first vertical member 210 and extends to cross along the width direction of the support 100 is disposed to cross each other in the support plate 110 and space. Accordingly, the first vertical member 210 and the upper plate 220 are arranged in a bridge shape crossing the support 100 to have a transport space for transporting the substrate S at the bottom.

The first vertical member 210 has a hexagonal cylinder or a circular cylinder shape and has a constant height from an upper surface of the support plate 110. For example, the first vertical member 210 sufficiently positions the focus lens of the laser irradiation unit 240 on the substrate S in consideration of the shape and arrangement of the laser irradiation unit 240 which will be described later. Configure it so that it is high enough. In addition, the first vertical member 210 is sufficient to absorb vibrations and strains generated by the rotation of the rotating plate 230 disposed to be rotatable on the surface of the upper plate 220. Has strength and rigidity. In particular, it is arranged to have a cross-sectional area as wide as possible in a range that does not interfere with the transfer of the substrate (S) is configured to be sufficiently resistant to the vibration and strain.

For example, the upper plate 220 is formed of a slender member extending along the x direction. In addition, the surface of the upper plate 220 is processed to have a flat surface similar to the upper surface of the support plate 110 so that the upper surface of the support plate 110 and the surface of the upper plate 220 are substantially parallel to each other Configure.

The rotating plate 230 is disposed to be rotatable on the surface of the upper plate 220. For example, the rotating plate 230 is composed of a slender member and arranged to form a plane parallel to the support flat plate 110.

In the present embodiment, the intersection of the upper plate 220 and the rotating plate 230 is disposed on the centerline of the support plate 110 along the y axis. That is, the intersection of the upper plate 220 and the rotating plate 230 is located on the midpoint of the width of the support plate 110. However, it is apparent that the position of the rotating plate 230 may be different depending on the use environment of the pattern forming apparatus 1000 or the characteristics of the substrate to be processed. In addition, the surface of the rotating plate 230 is processed to have a flat surface similar to the upper surface of the support plate 110 and the surface of the upper plate 230, the upper surface of the support plate 110 and the surface of the upper plate 220 Constitute a plane that is substantially parallel to.

Although not shown, the rotary plate 230 may include a rotary motor (not shown) and a rotation controller (not shown) for controlling the amount of rotation of the rotary plate by controlling the driving force of the rotary motor. At this time, the rotating motor rotates the rotating plate 230 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and can be rotated forward and reverse along a clockwise and counterclockwise direction at a predetermined period. Accordingly, the rotating plate 230 may be rotated forward or reverse at the upper portion of the support 100 along an arc having a radius from the midpoint to the end of the rotating plate 230 as a radius.

The rotating plate 230 may further include a slot 231 into which a part of the end is opened to insert the connecting rod 412 to be described later. For example, a portion of the end portion of the rotating plate 230 is cut to have a predetermined length and width along the length direction and the width direction of the support plate 110 to form the slot 231 and the cutting of the slot 230. A transfer groove (not shown) for linear movement of the connecting rod 412 may be disposed at the cross section.

The laser generator 240 is fixed to the upper surface of the rotating plate 230 to generate a laser. The laser generator 240 melts or dissolves the surface of the substrate S to form a predetermined pattern on the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the laser generator 240 generates a laser to have a wavelength suitable for melting or melting the surface of the substrate according to the material of the substrate.

Lasers selectable from infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) lasers include pulsed or continuous wave gas lasers and solid state lasers. Examples of gas lasers include CO 2 lasers, excimer lasers, Ar lasers, Kr lasers, and the like. Examples of solid state lasers include YAG laser, YVO4 laser, YLF laser, YAlO3 laser, glass laser, ruby laser, alexandrite laser, Ti: sapphire laser, Y2O3 laser and the like. Here, the solid-state laser may use crystals of YAG, YVO 4, YLF, YAlO 3, and the like doped with Cr, Nd, Er, Ho, Ce, Co, Ti, Yb, or Tm. These lasers provide a laser beam having a fundamental wave of 1 탆 wavelength band. Preferably, a pulse oscillation type CO2 laser is selected and used.

The position and number of the laser generators 240 may be different depending on the use environment and process conditions of the pattern forming apparatus 1000. In the present embodiment, a pair of laser generators 240 may be provided at one end of each of the rotary plates 230 in consideration of process efficiency.

The laser irradiation unit 300 guides the laser generated by the laser generator 240 to the substrate S disposed below the rotating plate 230 to form a pattern by dissolving or melting the surface of the substrate.

For example, the laser irradiation unit 300 is disposed so as to face the laser generator 240, a reflector 310 reflecting the laser, focusing the focusing the reflected laser to the substrate (S) And a body 330 that forms an optical path through which the laser travels between the reflector 310 and the focus lens 320.

The body 330 has a hollow cylinder shape extending along the z axis to be perpendicular to the surface of the substrate S and having a void therein. The reflector 310 is disposed above the cylindrical body 330 and is disposed on the same plane as the laser generator 240 so that the laser is incident. The focus lens 320 is disposed at a lower end of the body 330 and is disposed in a line along the z-axis with the reflector 310 to concentrate the laser reflected from the reflector to the surface of the substrate S.

The reflector 310 is disposed to face the laser emission stage (not shown) of the laser generator 240 to reflect the laser emitted from the laser generator 240. Accordingly, the optical path of the laser is changed. Therefore, the laser generated by the laser generator 240 may be guided to the substrate S by appropriately adjusting the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection on the surface of the reflector 310. Accordingly, if the incident angle and the reflection angle of the laser light can be properly adjusted by adjusting the reflector 310, the position of the substrate S may be variously modified without being limited to the upper surface of the support plate 110. Do.

The laser reflected from the reflector 310 is focused on the focus lens 320 to form a laser beam. Preferably, the focal point that maximizes the energy of the laser irradiated onto the surface of the substrate S by adjusting the focal length between the surface of the substrate S and the focus lens 320 on the side of the focus lens 320. A distance adjusting member (not shown) may be further arranged. In this case, the reflector 310 is formed integrally with the connecting rod 412 of the elastic coupler 410 and rotates together with the laser generator 240 as described below. Therefore, the reflector 310 and the laser generator 240 may maintain a face-to-face arrangement at all times despite the rotation of the laser generator 240.

The body 330 is connected to the rotating plate 230 by the elastic coupler 410 to be described later and linearly moves according to the rotation of the rotating plate 230. That is, the body 330 is driven by the rotational force of the rotating plate 230 to move linearly along the width direction of the support plate 110. Accordingly, the focus lens 320 linearly moves on the substrate S, and a linear pattern is formed on the surface of the substrate S. FIG.

In this embodiment, the laser irradiation unit 300 is a pair of symmetrical arrangement with respect to the top plate 220 along the longitudinal direction of the support 100 to correspond to a pair of laser generator 240 of the patterning process Process efficiency can be increased.

In this embodiment, the rotational force of the laser irradiation unit 300 is exemplified by the laser generation unit 200, but this is only one embodiment and the rotational force to the laser irradiation unit 300 by a variety of means Can be applied. For example, if only the optical paths of the laser generator 240 and the reflector 310 are ensured, it may be apparent that they may be rotated by independent power sources. In this case, since the laser generating unit 200 generates the laser and only needs to be supplied to the reflector 310, the laser generator 240 may be disposed at various positions.

The motion conversion unit 400 connects the laser generating unit 200 and the laser irradiation unit 300 to each other to convert the rotational movement of the rotating plate 230 into a linear movement of the body 330. Accordingly, the laser irradiation unit 300 performs a linear movement moving along the width direction of the support 100 in accordance with the rotation of the laser generation unit 200.

For example, the movement conversion unit 400 is a flexible coupler for connecting the rotary plate 230 and the body 330 while controlling the coupling distance between the rotary plate 230 and the body 330 ( The flexible connector 410 and a linear transformer 420 converting the rotational motion of the rotating plate 230 into linear motion of the body 330 in the x direction.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the elastic coupler of the pattern forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

1 and 2, the elastic coupler 410 has a connecting rod 412 inserted into the slot 231 to move along the slot 231 by the rotation of the rotating plate 230. Equipped.

For example, a portion of the end portion of the rotating plate 230 on which the laser generator 240 is disposed is removed to form the slot 231 and the connecting rod 412 along a transfer groove formed along the side surface of the slot 231. Insert). At this time, the frictional force when the connecting rod 412 is linearly moved along the slot 231 by using a lubricant such as grease or a friction removing auxiliary member such as a roller (not shown) inside the transfer groove. can do.

In this case, the reflector 310 is disposed on the upper end surface of the connecting rod 412 and the body 330 is connected to the lower end of the connecting rod 412 so that the laser reflected by the reflector 310 is the connecting rod ( It passes through 412 and is supplied to the body 330. Accordingly, an end of the connecting rod 412 may further include a through hole (not shown) for advancing the laser in the z-axis direction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating in detail a linear changer of the pattern forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

1 and 3, the linear transducer 420 linearly moves the body 330 along the width direction of the support 100. In one embodiment, the linear changer 420 is in contact with the outer surface of the body 330 and extends along the width direction of the support 100 to guide the linear movement of the body 330 and The pair of second vertical members 422 disposed to be spaced apart by a predetermined distance along the y-axis direction in the longitudinal direction of the first vertical member 210 and the support 100 and connected to the guide member 421. Include.

For example, the second vertical member 422 has a hexagonal cylinder or a circular cylinder shape like the first vertical member 210 and is symmetrically disposed along the width direction of the support 100, and the body Support and fix the guide member 421 in contact with the surface of 330. Thus, the guide member 421 is disposed to cross the support 100. The second vertical member 422 is formed to have a predetermined height from the upper surface of the support plate 110 to have a bridge shape crossing the support plate 110 together with the guide member 421. Accordingly, the substrate transfer space formed under the upper plate 220 may extend to the lower portion of the guide member 421. The guide member 421 may have various shapes and structures as long as it is a linear member capable of sliding or rolling with minimal frictional force along the guide member 421 while maintaining physical contact with the body 330. . For example, the surface of the body 330 and the guide member 421 may have a concave-convex structure coupled to each other, so that the guide member 421 may be configured as a guide rail to which the body 330 moves.

In particular, the second vertical member 422 is fixed to the guide member 421 in contact with the body 330 to sufficiently absorb vibration and strain caused by the driving of the body 330 relative to the guide member 421. It should be formed to have strength and rigidity enough. Like the first vertical member, it is arranged to have a cross-sectional area as wide as possible in a range that does not interfere with the contact between the body 330 and the guide member 421 is configured to sufficiently resist the vibration and strain.

Additionally, the linear transducer 420 is fixed to the second vertical member 422 to traverse along the width direction of the support 100 and transfer the body 330 along the guide member 421. An auxiliary bar may be further provided as an auxiliary member 423 for supporting and maintaining contact between the body 330 and the guide member 421.

For example, the guide member 421 and the auxiliary member 423 may be provided as an integral bridge structure that is fixed to the second vertical member 422 and crosses the support plate 110. Forming an opening 423a along the central portion of the bridge structure and using the first side defining the opening 423a as the guide member 421 and facing the first side and defining the opening 423a. A second side portion may be used as the auxiliary member 423. Accordingly, the contact state between the body 330 and the guide member 421 may be kept constant.

Accordingly, the rotational force of the rotating plate 230 is transmitted to the body 330 by the connecting rod 412 and the body 330 is moved along the guide member 421 so that the laser irradiation unit 300 It can move linearly along the width direction of the support (100). That is, despite the rotational movement of the laser generation unit 200, the pattern formed on the substrate may be linearly aligned along the width direction of the substrate (S).

The separation distance d between the body 330 and the rotating plate 230 has a minimum value when the laser generator 240 is parallel to the center line along the y direction of the support 100 and the rotating plate 230 rotates. In the case where the substrate S is disposed at the periphery of the substrate S, the maximum value is obtained. Therefore, when the rotating plate 230 rotates the upper portion of the substrate (S) continuously, the separation distance d between the body 330 and the rotating plate 230 is changed between the minimum value and the maximum value. When the rotating plate 230 is rotated, the connecting rod 412 moves linearly along the longitudinal direction of the rotating plate 230 along the slot 231, so that the connecting rod 412 is exposed to the outside of the slot 231. The change in the separation distance can be corrected by changing the exposure length of. That is, the exposure length of the connecting rod 412 from the slot 231 may change continuously in response to the change of the separation distance d between the rotating plate 230 and the body 330.

Although the present embodiment discloses a pattern forming apparatus having a single motion conversion unit 400, when a plurality of the laser generators 240 are disposed, the laser irradiation unit corresponding to each laser generator and the body of each laser irradiation unit are provided. Obviously, it is possible to arrange a motion conversion unit in contact with. When the laser generator, the laser irradiation unit, and the motion conversion unit are disposed in plural, the pattern forming process may be simultaneously performed on the substrates corresponding to each laser irradiation unit, thereby sufficiently improving the efficiency of the pattern forming process.

The rotating plate 230 may rotate in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, and thus the body 330 may linearly move in the x direction or the -x direction along the width direction of the support 100. The direction of the linear movement is changed in accordance with the change in the rotational direction of the rotating plate 230 and the substrate can be transferred by a predetermined feed pitch at the time of change of the rotational direction.

Since the patterning process for the substrate does not need to be performed during the transfer of the substrate, it is necessary to suppress the irradiation of the laser. However, since the laser requires a considerable reserve time for generation, a laser absorbent (not shown) is disposed between the reflector and the laser generator during the substrate transfer time to temporarily prevent the laser generated from the laser generator from entering the reflector. It can prevent.

Although not shown, the pattern forming apparatus 1000 may introduce and align the substrate S to be processed into the support 100 through a central controller, generate and irradiate the laser, and linearly move the laser irradiation unit 300. The discharge of the processed substrate S may be organically controlled to perform a seamless pattern forming process. Accordingly, a pattern that is repeated on the surface of the substrate S in a predetermined shape can be formed.

According to the pattern forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, by using a laser generating unit that rotates with respect to the substrate continuously supplied to the upper portion of the support to form a linear pattern aligned linearly in the width direction can do. In particular, in spite of the rotational trajectory of the laser head, the uniformity of the light reflected from the light guide plate may be improved by linearly forming a dot pattern formed on the surface of the light guide plate.

Pattern Formation Method

Hereinafter, a method of forming various types of patterns on the surface of the substrate using the pattern forming apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described. For example, in the present embodiment, a method of forming a dot pattern for scattering light on a surface of a light guide plate for a backlight will be described. However, it is obvious that the present invention is not applied only to the formation of the dot pattern for the light guide plate. In addition, in the present embodiment, the pattern forming apparatus 1000 is exemplarily a dual pattern forming apparatus having a pair of laser generators and a pair of laser irradiation units and simultaneously forming a pattern on a pair of substrates. It is starting. However, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to the dual pattern forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of forming a pattern using the pattern forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 4, in order to form a pattern on the surface of the substrate in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention first to align the substrate to be processed thereon along the longitudinal direction of the support (100) (step S100) .

In one embodiment, the substrate S to be processed is seated on the transfer table 120 and moved on the support plate 120 to be aligned with the lower portion of the focus lens 320. In this case, the substrate S disposed on the transfer table 120 is fixed to the transfer table 120 by a vacuum suction method. That is, the substrate S is transported along the y-axis direction, which is the longitudinal direction of the support plate 110, along the transfer guide 130 and aligned at a predetermined position. For example, the substrate S may be aligned such that a linear trajectory of the laser irradiation unit 300 is formed along the width direction of the substrate on which the first linear pattern as described later is to be formed.

Although not shown, a substrate cassette (not shown) in which a substrate is stored is disposed on one side of the support 100, and the substrate is sequentially removed from the cassette and supplied to the transfer table 120. The substrate may be loaded in the number of sheets allowed by the cassette and moved to the support 100 at a time. Alternatively, a transfer means such as a robot arm may be disposed between the buffer space in which the substrate is accommodated and the support 100, and the substrate in which the pretreatment process is completed may be sequentially supplied to the support 100. Preferably, a load lock chamber may be disposed between the buffer space and the support 100 and the transfer means may be disposed inside the load lock chamber to prevent a sudden process environment change between the buffer space and the support 100. have.

Subsequently, a laser having a predetermined period is generated from the laser generation unit disposed above the support 100 (step S200). When the alignment of the substrate S is completed, the laser generator 240 is driven to perform a stabilization process to generate a laser of normal output. At this time, the rotating plate 230 is located in an area outside the upper region of the substrate (S) and the laser generator 240 checks the normal output while irradiating the laser with a flat plate having a test substrate or a laser absorber.

When the output of the laser generator 240 reaches a steady state, the laser is converted while converting the first rotational motion of the laser generating unit 200 into a first linear motion along a width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the support. Irradiating to the upper surface of the substrate S to form a first linear pattern on the substrate (step S300).

Specifically, after confirming the normal output of the laser to move the rotating plate 230 in the first rotation direction to move the laser irradiation unit 300 to the upper surface of the substrate (S). Data such as the size of the pattern formed on the substrate S, the width and length of the substrate and the transfer pitch of the substrate are programmed in advance and stored in the central controller.

The laser generator 240 is disposed on an upper surface of the rotating plate 230 to emit a laser in a direction parallel to the plane of the rotating plate 230. The emitted laser beam is vertically changed by the reflector 310 to be incident on the focus lens 320. The focus lens 320 disposed on the substrate S focuses the laser to irradiate the laser onto the surface of the substrate. Accordingly, the surface of the substrate S is melted or dissolved to form a linear dot pattern.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a linear pattern forming step of the pattern forming method illustrated in FIG. 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the rotating plate 230 continuously performs a first rotational motion in a first direction (step S310). For example, the laser generator 240 has a pulse shape having a predetermined period. To generate a laser.

Subsequently, while maintaining the laser generator 240 and the reflector 310 to face each other, a hollow cylindrical body 330 mounted with a focus lens for focusing the laser on the substrate S as the rotary plate 240 rotates. ) Is linearly moved along the width direction of the support 100 (step S320).

In this embodiment, the rotation of the rotating plate 230 is transmitted to the body 330 through the elastic coupler 410. In this case, the tangential component of the driving force for rotating the rotating plate 230 linearly moves the body 330 along the guide member 421. That is, the body 330 linearly moves along the width direction of the support 100 by the rotational force of the rotating plate 230. In this case, the reflector 310 is coupled to the upper surface of the end of the elastic coupler 410 and the body 330 is coupled to the lower surface of the end of the elastic coupler 410 is rotated integrally with the laser generator 240. Accordingly, the reflector 310 and the laser generator 240 may maintain a face-to-face arrangement structure to maintain a constant light supply path despite the rotation of the laser generator 240.

 While the reflector 310 and the body 330 on which the focus lens 320 is mounted continuously move linearly, the laser is irradiated onto the substrate through the focus lens to have a size corresponding to the irradiation period of the laser. A plurality of patterns are aligned on the substrate S (step S330). Accordingly, a first linear pattern is completed on the substrate. That is, as the rotating plate 230 rotates along the first rotation direction, the body 330 performs a first linear motion from the second side of the substrate toward the first side, so that the first linear pattern is the first linear pattern. It is formed in a first linear pattern that is linearly aligned from the two sides toward the first side.

When the first linear pattern is completed and the body 330 deviates from the first side of the substrate S, the reflector 310 and the laser generator to suppress the laser irradiation to the laser irradiation unit 300. The laser absorbent is disposed between 240 (step S340). Accordingly, the laser incident to the laser irradiation unit 300 can be prevented while maintaining the operation of the laser generator. While the laser incident is prevented, the rotation direction of the rotating plate 230 is switched in the opposite direction, and the substrate S moves along the longitudinal direction of the support 100 by a feeding pitch. As mentioned, since the laser generator 240 takes a certain time to generate a stable output, the laser generator 240 does not turn off the output of the laser generator while changing the rotational direction of the rotating plate and only blocks the laser incident to the reflector.

Subsequently, while the laser irradiation to the substrate S is blocked, the substrate S is transferred by a transfer pitch along the longitudinal direction of the support (step S400). That is, when the body 330 reaches the first side of the substrate S and the first linear pattern is completed, the laser beam is blocked and the substrate is transported by a transfer pitch to prepare a new linear pattern. .

When the substrate S is aligned again at the position where the second linear pattern is to be formed, the rotating plate 230 is switched to the second rotation direction opposite to the first rotation direction and the body 330 is the substrate ( Perform a second linear movement from the first side of S) towards the second side. In one embodiment, the laser is irradiated to the substrate in the form of a pulse during the second linear movement of the body so that a plurality of patterns having a size corresponding to the period of the laser is aligned on the substrate (S) It is formed in a second linear pattern directed from the second side of the first side (step S500).

Since the driving of the motion conversion unit for forming the second linear pattern is substantially the same as that for forming the first linear pattern, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Accordingly, first and second linear patterns having a separation distance corresponding to the transfer pitch are formed on the surface of the substrate S. Thereafter, the steps of forming the first linear pattern, transferring the substrate, and forming the second linear pattern are repeatedly performed on all necessary areas of the substrate, and thus have a separation distance corresponding to the conveying pitch on part or all of the substrate S. FIG. Multiple linear patterns can be formed.

In this case, in the dual mode in which the laser generators 240 are disposed in pairs on the rotating plate 230, a pair of pairs are arranged such that the substrates are individually disposed under the laser irradiation units corresponding to the respective laser generators. The laser can be irradiated to the surface of the substrate simultaneously. Accordingly, the efficiency of the patterning process can be doubled.

According to the pattern forming method as described above, the linear pattern is formed on the substrate to be processed by the rotational movement of the laser generator and the linear movement of the laser irradiation unit linked to the rotation.

In this embodiment, the rotational force is applied to the laser irradiation unit for irradiating the laser by the laser generating unit that generates the laser. However, if only the optical paths of the laser generator and the reflector are ensured, the laser irradiation unit is connected to an independent power source. Obviously, the rotation may be performed irrespective of the laser generating unit.

As described above, it is possible to form a linear pattern linearly aligned along the width direction in spite of the rotation of the laser generating unit with respect to the substrate continuously supplied to the upper portion of the support. Conventionally, the dot pattern formed on the light guide plate is processed in a straight line according to the rotational movement of the laser generating unit, thereby remarkably improving the uniformity of the light reflected from the light guide plate.

In the present embodiment, a method of forming a scattering pattern of a light guide plate for a backlight unit of a flat panel display device is disclosed, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Obviously, it can be used in various ways.

As described above, although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be variously modified and modified within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below. It will be appreciated that it can be changed.

100: support 200: laser generation unit
300: laser irradiation unit 400: motion conversion unit
1000: pattern forming apparatus

Claims (10)

A support on which the substrate to be processed is aligned on the upper surface along the longitudinal direction;
A laser generation unit disposed above the support to generate a laser for processing the substrate;
A laser irradiation unit which forms a pattern on the substrate by guiding the laser to an upper surface of the substrate while rotating on the support; And
And a motion conversion unit for converting the rotational motion of the laser irradiation unit into a linear motion along the width direction of the support. The laser generating unit of claim 1, wherein the laser generating unit includes a laser generator arranged on an upper portion of the support to support the laser generator, and a support member rotatably connected to the laser irradiation unit. Pattern forming apparatus. According to claim 2, The support member is a pair of the first vertical member symmetrically fixed to the support and the top plate which is fixed to the first vertical member and crosses along the width direction of the support, rotatable to the top plate And a rotating plate fixed to the rotating plate, wherein the laser generator is disposed on an upper surface of the rotating plate, and the rotating plate rotates on an upper portion of the support along an arc having a radius of a distance from an intersection with the upper plate to an end of the rotating plate. Pattern forming apparatus characterized in that. 3. The laser irradiation unit of claim 2, wherein the laser irradiation unit is disposed to face the laser generator, and includes a reflector reflecting the laser, a focus lens for focusing the reflected laser on the substrate, and the reflector and the reflector and the focus lens. Pattern forming apparatus comprising a body for forming an optical path therebetween. According to claim 4, wherein the motion conversion unit is a flexible coupler connecting the rotating plate and the body while adjusting the coupling distance between the rotating plate and the body and a linear transducer for linearly moving the body in accordance with the rotation of the rotating plate Pattern forming apparatus comprising a. 6. The rotating plate of claim 5, wherein the rotating plate further comprises a slot formed along a longitudinal direction, and the elastic coupler includes a connecting rod inserted into the slot to linearly move along the slot by rotation of the rotating plate. Pattern forming apparatus characterized in that it comprises. 6. The linear transducer according to claim 5, wherein the linear transducer is in contact with the outer surface of the body and extends along the width direction of the support to linearly move the body, and is constant along the longitudinal direction of the first vertical member and the support. A pair of second vertical members spaced apart by a distance and connected to the guide member; And
An auxiliary member connected to the second vertical member and extending along the width direction of the support side by side with the guide member to maintain contact between the guide member and the body,
The guide member, the auxiliary member, and the second vertical member are integrally disposed with each other, and the body is disposed between the guide member and the auxiliary member and passes through an opening extending along the width direction of the support and the guide member. The auxiliary member is a pattern forming apparatus, characterized in that the contact with the side of the body at the same time. 3. The laser beam of claim 2, wherein a pair of the laser generators are disposed at both ends of the rotating plate, and a pair of the laser irradiation unit and the pair of motion conversion units correspond to the laser generators along the length direction of the substrate, respectively. Pattern forming apparatus, characterized in that each arranged symmetrically with respect to the top plate. According to claim 8, wherein the support is provided with a transfer guide that is disposed on the upper surface extending in the longitudinal direction and detachably connected to the transfer guide and the substrate is fixed, the transfer table is the transfer guide The pattern forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is moved in the longitudinal direction of the support in the feed pitch unit to transfer the substrate in one line from one side of the support to the other side facing the support. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the rotating plate is rotated alternately with each other along the clockwise or counterclockwise direction in the upper portion of the support and the substrate is moved by the conveying pitch along the transfer guide while the rotation direction of the rotating plate is changed. Pattern forming apparatus, characterized in that.

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