KR101138729B1 - Substrate bonding device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate bonding apparatus and method in which the position of a lift pin is individually controlled. The substrate joining machine according to the present invention includes a chamber unit, which is a space where the substrate is bonded, a top and bottom stages installed to face each other in the chamber part, and a plurality of lift pins provided to be liftable on at least one of the top and bottom stages. And a plurality of driving means for individually driving the plurality of lift pins. According to the present invention, by individually driving a plurality of lift pins, even if the set value of the lift pins is changed by an unexpected external force, each of them can be controlled, so that the entire substrate can be uniformly adsorbed.

Lift pin, upper stage, position sensor, liquid crystal display

Description

Board Bonder and Board Bonding Method {SUBSTRATE BONDING DEVICE AND METHOD}

1 is a schematic view of a substrate cementer according to the prior art.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate combiner according to the present invention.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate combiner according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

4 to 8 are views illustrating a process of adsorbing a substrate by the substrate adhering machine according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of code for main member of drawing ※

30: loading means 110: chamber portion

120: upper stage 121: lower stage

130: lift pin 140: vacuum pump

150: first drive means 160: second drive means

200: position measuring sensor

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate bonding apparatus for liquid crystal display devices, and more particularly, to a substrate bonding apparatus and a method in which positions of lift pins are individually controlled.

As the information society develops, the demand for display devices is increasing in various forms, and recently, various flat panel displays such as liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panel (PDP) have been developed. Devices have been studied and some have already been used as display devices in various devices.

Among the display devices, LCDs are most frequently used, replacing CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes) for mobile image display devices due to the advantages of excellent image quality, light weight, thinness, and low power consumption. In addition to the mobile use, such as a variety of TV and computer monitors that receive and display broadcast signals have been developed.

Although such a liquid crystal display device has various technical developments to play a role as a screen display device in various fields, there are many aspects in which the work of improving the image quality as the screen display device is arranged with the above characteristics and advantages. . Therefore, in order for a liquid crystal display to be used in various parts as a general screen display device, development of high quality images such as high brightness and large area while maintaining the characteristics of light weight, thinness, and low power consumption can be said to be a matter of development. .

The liquid crystal display as described above may be broadly classified into a liquid crystal panel displaying an image and a driving unit for applying a driving signal to the liquid crystal panel, wherein the liquid crystal panel has a predetermined space and is bonded to each other. And a liquid crystal layer injected between the first and second glass substrates.

Here, the first glass substrate (thin film transistor array substrate) includes a plurality of gate lines arranged in one direction at a predetermined interval, a plurality of data lines arranged at regular intervals in a direction perpendicular to the gate lines, A plurality of pixel electrodes formed in a matrix form in a pixel region defined by crossing each of the gate lines and the data lines, and a plurality of pixels which are switched by signals of the gate lines to transfer signals of the data lines to the pixel electrodes Thin film transistors are formed.

The second glass substrate (color filter substrate) includes a black matrix layer for blocking light in portions other than the pixel region, R, G, and B color filter layers for expressing color colors, and a common electrode for implementing an image. Is formed. Such first and second substrates are held at a certain distance by spacers and their edges are bonded by a sealant.

In order to bond the two substrates, the two substrates are loaded and bonded to the bonding apparatus so that the two substrates face each other.

Referring to FIG. 1, which is a schematic view of a substrate joining machine according to the related art, a chamber part 110, which is a space for bonding a substrate, a stage part for supporting and holding a substrate, and driving means for driving the stage part up and down. And 150.

The stage unit includes an upper stage 120 and a lower stage 121, and two substrates (a thin film transistor array substrate and a color filter substrate) 10 and 20 are disposed on the upper stage 120 and the lower stage 121. It is arranged to be horizontally attached to each other and then joined up and down. The lower surface of the upper stage 120 is provided with a plurality of lift pins 130 are supported on the substrate 20 and primarily absorbed. An adsorption pad may be formed at a lower end of the lift pin 130, and the adsorption pad may absorb and adsorb the substrate using a vacuum. Although the lift pin is not shown in the lower stage 121 in FIG. It may be configured in the same manner as that of 120 and the substrate 10 may be adsorbed. In the prior art substrate combiner, the upper stage 120 and the lower stage 121 constituting the combiner are installed in the upper space and the lower space in the chamber part 110 of the combiner, respectively, by the substrate loading means 30. The substrates 10 and 20 loaded on the stages 120 and 121 may be bonded to each other up and down.

Here, the adsorption process is the substrate 20 in the lower region of the lift pin 130, which can be elevated in the upper stage 120 is installed in the chamber 110 by the loading means 30, as shown in FIG. When the position is located, a vacuum is formed on the adsorption pad at the lower end of the lift pin 130 by a vacuum pump, thereby adsorbing the color filter substrate 20 to the lower end of the lift pin 130. Thereafter, the lift pins 130 are lifted up and adsorbed in a completely close state by an electrostatic chuck (not shown) provided in the upper stage 120. Similarly, when the substrate 10 is positioned in an upper region of a lift pin (not shown) that can be lifted and lowered in the lower stage 121, the thin film transistor array substrate 10 is lifted through the aforementioned lift pin. The thin film transistor array substrate 10 is attracted to the lower stage 121 in a state in which the lift pin is supported on the fin and the lift pin is lowered and is completely in contact with the electrostatic chuck (not shown) provided in the lower stage 121.

Thereafter, the interior of the adapter chamber 110 is vacuumed by the operation of the vacuum pump 140 while the interior of the adapter chamber 110 is sealed, and the upper portion is driven by the stage driving means 150. Bonding between the substrates 10 and 20 is performed by the downward movement of the stage 120 and / or the upward movement of the lower stage 121.

However, as the substrate is enlarged, the substrate itself is bent, so that the number of lift pins 130 installed on the upper stage to absorb and absorb the substrate increases. These multiple lift pins 130 are driven and controlled by one or two drive means 160, which cannot individually control these lift pins 130 as the substrate bends and due to unexpected external forces The set value is changed, which causes the distance between the substrate and the lift pin to be different so that the substrate cannot be uniformly absorbed.

In this state, the substrate may fall from the lift pin 130 while the lift pin 130 is raised. If the substrate falls within the chamber, not only the substrate breakage problem but also the inside of the chamber is contaminated by the fragments of the substrate. Such contamination adversely affects the working process, such as increasing the idle period of the substrate adhering machine for cleaning the interior of the chamber.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate joiner and method having a plurality of lift pins that are driven individually to solve the above problems.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a substrate bonder and method having a position measuring sensor for measuring the position of a lift pin.

The substrate joining machine according to the present invention includes a plurality of lift pins which are provided to be liftable on at least one of a chamber part which is a space where the substrate is bonded, an upper and lower stages installed to face each other in the chamber part, and the upper and lower stages. And a plurality of driving means for individually driving the plurality of lift pins and a position measuring sensor for measuring the distance between the lift pins and the substrate.

Here, the position measuring sensor is provided at one end of the lift pin to measure the distance to the substrate.

In this case, a height measuring sensor formed on the lift pin may be further included to measure a distance between the lift pin and the upper stage or the lower stage. The apparatus may further include a height measuring sensor formed on the upper stage or the lower stage to measure the distance between the lift pin and the upper stage or the lower stage, and the lift pin may include a protrusion facing the height measuring sensor. Can be. On the other hand, the adjacent pair of lift pins may be provided with a transmitter and a receiver at the same distance from the front end thereof, respectively. The position measuring sensor includes any one of an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a proximity sensor.

A substrate bonding method according to the present invention comprises the steps of providing a substrate in a chamber portion, holding the substrate at the tip of a lift pin, and moving the lift pin to the stage side to adsorb the substrate to the upper and lower stages. And bonding the substrate, wherein retaining the substrate includes individually adjusting the vertical movement of the lift pins to equalize the height of the lift pins.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described embodiments of the present invention in more detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be embodied in various forms, and the present embodiments merely make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is provided to fully inform the person of the scope of the invention. Like numbers refer to like elements in the drawings.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate combiner according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the substrate joining machine according to the present invention includes a chamber unit 110, which is a space for attaching the substrate, a stage unit for supporting and holding the substrate, and first driving means for driving the stage unit up and down ( 150, a plurality of lift pins 130 that can be lifted and lowered in the stage portion, a loading means 30 for loading the substrate into the chamber portion 110, and a plurality of lift pins 130 respectively. A plurality of second drive means 160 is included. The substrate combiner further includes a position measuring sensor 200 that measures a distance between the lift pin 130 and the substrate, and the position measuring sensor 200 is located at a lower end of the lift pin 130. The position measuring sensor 200 is preferably any one of an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a proximity sensor composed of a transmitter and a receiver.

The chamber unit 110, which is a space for attaching the substrate, includes an upper chamber and a lower chamber, and the inside thereof may be maintained in a vacuum state by the vacuum pump 140 connected through the air discharge pipe 141. An open / close valve 142 is provided at the air discharge pipe 141 to open and close the air discharge pipe 141. In addition, a vent pipe 143 may be provided in the chamber 110 to communicate the inside of the chamber 110 with the atmosphere to release the vacuum inside the chamber 110.

The stage unit includes an upper stage 120 and a lower stage 121. In the present invention, since the lower stage 121 may be configured in the same manner as the upper stage 120, only the upper stage 120 will be described. . The upper stage 120 is connected to the first driving means 150 to move up and down. The upper stage 120 is provided with a plurality of lift pins 130 that can be individually lifted and lifted by the plurality of second driving means 160 therein. The substrate may be bent by the plurality of individually liftable lift pins 130, and the setting value of the lift pins may be changed by an unexpected external force of the lift pins 130 themselves so that the distance between the substrate and the lift pins 130 may be different from each other. In this case, by individually controlling the lift pins 130, the distance between the lift pins 130 and the substrate is constant to uniformly adsorb the substrate. This is done by the second drive means 160 which individually controls the plurality of lift pins 130. The second drive means 160 may preferably be a cylinder that uses hydraulic or pneumatic pressure to individually move the lift pins 130 up and down. Alternatively, the drive motor may also be used with a mechanism such as a rack-pinion that converts rotational motion into linear motion.

In addition, a position measuring sensor 200 is provided at the lower end of each lift pin 130 to measure the distance between the lift pin 130 and the substrate. The position measuring sensor 200 may include any one of an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a proximity sensor including a transmitter and a receiver arranged adjacent to each other, such that light or ultrasonic waves emitted from the transmitter are reflected from the substrate to the receiver. When incident again, the distance between the upper surface of the substrate and the position measuring sensor 200 is measured by measuring the amount of incident light or the converted wavelength to measure the moving distance of light or ultrasonic waves. As described above, the distance between the lower end of the lift pin 130 and the substrate may be adjusted more accurately by each position measuring sensor 200.

In more detail, as the substrate is enlarged, the substrate itself is bent, and the lift pin 130 is out of its set value due to an unexpected external force, and thus the vertical position between the bottom of the lift pin 130 and the substrate is mutually different. It will not be the same. At this time, if the plurality of lift pins 130 are controlled by the same driving means, since the plurality of lift pins 130 cannot all absorb the substrate, the plurality of lift pins 130 may be moved to the plurality of independent second driving means 160. The lift pins 130 may be individually controlled to align the distance between the lift pins 130 and the substrate. Accordingly, the lift pins 130 may be positioned at the same distance from the substrate to uniformly adsorb the entire substrate. In this case, the position measuring sensor 200 provided at the lower end of each of the lift pins 130 may adjust the mutual position of the plurality of lift pins 130 more precisely by measuring the distance to the substrate.

As described above, when the substrate is adsorbed to the lower end of the lift pin 130, the lift pin 130 is raised to the electrostatic chuck and the adsorption hole which is provided in the upper stage 120, but is not shown in Figure 2 can adsorb the substrate. As a result, the substrate is adsorbed to the bottom surface of the upper stage 120.

In addition, the present invention illustrates that the position measuring sensor 200 is provided at the lower end of each of the lift pins 130, the present invention is not limited to this, the position measuring sensor 200 is the bottom surface of the upper stage 120 The distance between the lift pin 130 and the substrate may be adjusted by measuring the vertical distance with the substrate. At this time, the movement distance of the lift pin 130 should be controllable by the driving means 160.

The loading means 30 is provided outside the chamber part 110 and serves to bring in and take out a substrate into the chamber part. The loading means 30 will be described in more detail. The loading means 30 includes a first arm 31 for conveying the first substrate 10 on which liquid crystal is dropped, and a seal material 21 (FIG. 4). And a second arm 32 for conveying the second substrate 20 to which the first substrate 20 is applied, wherein the first and second arms 31 and 32 have two or more robot fingers 33. can do. The first and second substrates are loaded into and out of the chamber part while being seated on the first and second arms 31 and 32, respectively. In this case, the first arm 31 is disposed above the second arm 32 in the standby state before the substrate is brought into the chamber. This is because the first substrate 10 seated on the first arm 31 is in a state where liquid crystal is dropped on the upper surface thereof, and the second substrate 20 seated on the second arm 32 has a sealing material ( When the second substrate 20 is rotated by 180 degrees, that is, the seal member 21 is directed downward, the second arm 32 is higher than the first arm 31. When positioned at, the various foreign substances that may be generated and scattered according to the movement of the second arm 32 may fall on the liquid crystal of the first substrate 10 seated on the first arm 31 to prevent contamination of the liquid crystal. This is to prevent.

Meanwhile, in order to flatten the substrate after the lift pins 130 are absorbed and absorbed by the bent substrate, the heights between the lift pins 130 need to be aligned with each other. To this end, Figure 3 schematically shows a configuration for aligning the height of the lift pin in this way. As shown in FIG. 3, the position measuring sensor may be separated into a transmitter 300a and a receiver 300b in addition to a function of measuring a vertical distance from the substrate, to align heights between the lift pins 130. However, in FIG. 3, the position measuring sensor 200 of FIG. 2 is omitted for simplicity of description. As shown in FIG. 2, since the position sensor uniformly absorbs and absorbs the substrate, the substrate is bent, so that the position sensor is adjacent to the transmitter 300a and the receiver 300b. It is further disposed on each of the pair of lift pins 130. The transmitter 300a and the receiver 300b are provided at the same distance from the distal end of each of the lift pins 130. If the substrate is bent and the light or ultrasonic wave from the transmitter does not reach the receiver provided at the tip of the lift pin 130 adjacent thereto, these lift pins are not at the same height, and if the receiver 300b receives the light or ultrasonic wave, This means that these lift pins are at the same height as each other. Therefore, when the height of the lift pins 130 is different from each other, the lift pins 130 may be lifted to allow the receiver 300b to receive light or ultrasonic waves so that the height of the lift pins may be equally adjusted. In order to align the height between the substrates, a sensor for measuring the distance between the lift pin 130 and the upper stage 120 may be installed instead of the transmitter 300a and the receiver 300b. For example, a height measuring sensor may be installed on the lift pin 130 to measure the distance between the lift pin 130 and the upper stage 120. In addition, the height measuring sensor may be provided on the bottom surface of the upper stage 120 to measure a vertical distance from the lift pin 130. In this case, a protrusion facing the position measuring sensor 200 is formed at a lower end of the lift pin 130 so that light or ultrasonic waves emitted from the transmitter may be reflected from the protrusion to be incident to the receiver.

4 to 8 are views illustrating a process of adsorbing a substrate by the substrate adhering machine according to the present invention.

2 to 8, since the seal member 21 is inverted so that the seal member 21 faces downward, the robot finger 33 of the second arm 32 is moved to the second substrate. It is disposed between the 20 and the upper stage 120. At this time, the second substrate 20 is bent under its own load (see FIG. 4). Here, the second substrate 20 is in a state of being adsorbed by the suction pad 33a of the robot finger 33, but The curved portion of the second substrate 20 may not be adsorbed by the suction pad 33a. Then, when the lift pin 130 is lowered to absorb the second substrate 30, the second substrate 30 is bent and the lift pin 130 is above the set value due to an unexpected external force or The case of falling below often occurs. In this case, in the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the position measuring sensor 200 measures the distance from the second substrate 20 to equalize the distance between the second substrate 20 and the lift pin 130. (Refer to FIG. 5) Then, the lift pin 130 provided in the upper stage 120 is lowered to absorb the back surface of the second substrate 20 (see FIG. 6). After the second substrate 20 is adsorbed by the pad 33a, the second arm 32 releases the adsorption force of the adsorption pad 33a and slightly rises to separate from the second substrate 20. It exits from the chamber part 110. Thereafter, the transmitter 300a and the receiver 300b illustrated in FIG. 3 may adjust the heights of the lift pins 130 to be equal to each other to flatten the second substrate 20 (see FIG. 7). Thereafter, the lift pins 130, which are temporarily absorbed and adsorbed on the second substrate 20, are raised to adsorb the second substrate 20 to the rear surface of the upper stage 120 (see FIG. 8).

Meanwhile, in the above description, the process of adsorbing the second substrate 20 on the upper stage 120 is illustrated, but the process of adsorbing the first substrate 10 on the lower stage 121 is similarly performed.

If the bonding process is performed just before the bonding stage is present in the lower stage 121, the second arm 32, which has carried the second substrate 20, moves the second substrate 20 to the upper stage. After adsorbing to the 120, by unloading the bonded substrate existing in the lower stage 121, the loading and unloading can be performed simultaneously to shorten the working time.

When loading of the substrates 10 and 20 through the above-described process is completed, each arm 31 and 32 constituting the loading means 30 exits to the outside of the chamber portion 110 and the chamber portion 110. The shielding door (not shown) installed in the outlet 111 of the) operates while closing the outlet 111 to form a sealed state inside the chamber 110.

Thereafter, the vacuum pump 140 is driven to generate an air suction force, and the opening / closing valve 142 provided in the air discharge pipe 141 of the chamber part 110 opens the air discharge pipe 141. By maintaining the interior of the chamber 110 to make a vacuum state.

As described above, when the inside of the chamber part 110 achieves a predetermined vacuum state, the upper stage 120 and the lower stage 121 are each substrate 10, 20 by their respective electrostatic chucks and suction holes (not shown). The upper stage 120 is positioned close to the lower stage 121 by moving the upper stage 120 downward with the first driving means 150 in the state of adsorbing.

Thereafter, the first driving means 150 is continuously driven to press the second substrate 20 attached to the upper stage 120 in close contact with the first substrate 10 attached to the lower stage 121. To perform mutual bonding.

Therefore, when the primary bonding process is completed, the electrostatic attraction force of the upper stage 120 is released and the upper stage 120 is separated from the bonded substrate 20. The vent pipe 143 is opened while the opening / closing valve 144 closing the vent pipe 143 is opened to form the chamber 110 at atmospheric pressure. When the bonding process is completed, the shielding door (not shown) of the chamber unit 110 is driven to open the outlet 111 closed by the shielding door.

Subsequently, while the unloading of the bonded substrate is performed by the loading means 30, the bonding between the substrates is performed while repeatedly performing the above-described series of processes.

Meanwhile, the present invention illustrates that the second substrate 20 is absorbed by the upper stage 120 and the first substrate 10 by the lower stage 121, but the present invention is not limited thereto. 20 may be adsorbed to the lower stage 121 and the first substrate 10 to the upper stage 120. In addition, although the sealant is coated on the second substrate 20 in the present invention, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be formed on the first substrate 10.

According to the present invention, by individually driving a plurality of lift pins, even if the substrate itself is bent or the set value of the lift pins is changed by an unexpected external force, each of them can be controlled, so that the entire substrate can be uniformly absorbed.

In addition, by providing the position sensor according to the present invention it is possible to measure the vertical distance and the height with respect to the substrate to uniformly adsorb the entire substrate.

Claims (7)

In the substrate adhering machine, A chamber part which is a space where the bonding of the substrate is performed; Upper and lower stages installed to face each other in the chamber, A plurality of lift pins provided to be movable on at least one of the upper and lower stages; A plurality of drive means for individually driving the plurality of lift pins; A position measuring sensor for measuring a distance between the lift pin and the substrate; A transmitter installed on at least one of the plurality of lift pins and a receiver installed on a lift pin adjacent to the lift pin provided with the transmitter to adjust the height of the plurality of lift pins, The transmitter and the receiver are located at the same distance from the tip of each of the lift pins, A pair of lift pins provided with the transmitter and lift pins provided with the receiver constitutes a pair; Substrate adapter. The method according to claim 1, The position measuring sensor is provided at one end of the lift pin, characterized in that for measuring the distance to the substrate, Substrate adapter. The method according to claim 1 or 2, A height measuring sensor installed on the lift pin and measuring a distance between the lift pin and an upper stage or a lower stage, Board Bonder The method according to claim 1 or 2, A height measuring sensor installed at the upper stage or the lower stage and measuring a distance between the lift pin and the upper stage or the lower stage, The lift pin is characterized in that the protrusion is formed facing the height measuring sensor, Substrate adapter. delete The method according to claim 1 or 2, The position measuring sensor may include any one of an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a proximity sensor. Substrate adapter. In the substrate bonding method, Providing a substrate in the chamber portion, Adsorbing the substrate using a suction pad of a robot finger installed in the chamber part; Measuring a distance between the substrate and the plurality of lift pins, respectively, using a position measuring sensor installed on the plurality of lift pins; Adjusting the heights of the plurality of lift pins such that the distance between each of the plurality of lift pins and the substrate is the same; Adsorbing the plurality of lift pins with a substrate; Separating the adsorption pad from the substrate; Individually adjusting the vertical movement of the plurality of lift pins to equalize the heights of the plurality of lift pins; Moving the plurality of lift pins to the stage side to adsorb the substrate to the upper and lower stages, and Characterized in that it comprises the step of bonding the substrate, Substrate Bonding Method.

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