KR101701642B1 - Exposure device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an exposure device which is used to form patterns and by using UV LED as a light source, minimizes diffused light and maintains a constant light-shielding rate to improve exposure efficiency and exposure quality. The exposure device comprises: a stage on which a substrate is placed; a light module which is spaced apart from the stage and irradiates light to the stage; and a driving unit which moves the stage or the light module in a first direction, wherein the light module comprises a light source unit which extends in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction and includes UV LEDs disposed at a uniform distance, and a light alignment member which is disposed between the stage and the light source unit, and is made of a plurality of light tubes extending toward the stage to remove the diffused light from the light irradiated from the light source unit, wherein the UV LEDs of the light source unit are arranged so as to have 1:1 correspondence with the light tubes having rhombus-shaped cross-sections and also, are disposed along a virtual line passing through the light tube in the shape of a rhombus that corresponds to the light tubes.

Description

EXPOSURE DEVICE [0002]

In particular, the present invention relates to an exposure apparatus used in pattern formation, and more particularly, to an exposure apparatus for use in a UV LED as a light source, wherein an arrangement of a UV LED and a structure of a light tunnel are improved, To increase the exposure efficiency and the exposure quality.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] A touch panel is an input device for converting a physical contact of a user's finger or the like into an electrical signal, and is widely applied to various display devices.

Such a touch panel can be classified into a resistance film type, a capacitive type, an ultrasonic type, and an infrared type according to the operation principle, and recently, a capacitance type having a fast response speed is widely adopted.

Meanwhile, the touch panel is usually manufactured by forming a sensing pattern on a transparent electrode, and the sensing pattern is formed in the active area through the exposure process. In addition, the sensing pattern may be formed in the form of a metal mesh. In this case, a fine pattern process of several micrometers is required. In this regard, when the light irradiated to the mask is parallel light, it is possible to realize a fine pattern of several micrometers.

In a conventional exposure apparatus used in an exposure process for forming a sensing pattern, a plurality of lenses are used to convert the angle of the light irradiated by the light source into parallel light, but due to the limitation of the lens, It is not converted and is tilted at a predetermined angle to be irradiated to the mask. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to form a fine pattern in the conventional lens-type exposure apparatus. In addition, there is another problem that it is difficult to secure a sufficient light irradiation area when the exposure area is wide.

As a result, a new type of exposure apparatus has been developed in which a UV LED having a small light diffusion angle instead of the conventional UV light source is used as a light source for exposure and a cross section of the optical tube is changed to an isosceles triangle or a balanced quadrangle structure. It is confirmed that there is another problem that the exposure efficiency and the exposure quality are deteriorated because a sufficient amount of light can not be secured.

KR 10-2011-0001889 A KR 10-2011-0050168 A KR 10-2011-0058501 A KR 10-2014-0030527 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an exposure apparatus which can uniformly irradiate light to a large area, have.

In addition, the present invention minimizes diffused light through UV LEDs, minimizes the amount of light shielded or lost by the light tunnel by matching the UV LEDs to each light channel at a ratio of 1: 1 and improving the arrangement of the UV LEDs and the structure of the light tunnel And an object of the present invention is to provide an exposure apparatus in which an amount of light acting on exposure is increased to form an exposure efficiency.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an exposure apparatus which improves the quality of light by shielding scattered light generated at corners of a UV LED to improve the quality of light.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an exposure apparatus for collecting light irradiated from a UV LED and using the same for exposure, thereby increasing the amount of light and improving the exposure efficiency.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plasma display apparatus comprising: a stage on which a substrate is placed; An optical module disposed apart from the stage to irradiate light onto the stage; And a driving unit for moving the stage or the optical module in a first direction,

The optical module may include a light source unit including UV LEDs arranged at regular intervals and extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and a light source unit disposed between the stage and the light source unit, Wherein the UV LEDs of the light source unit are arranged so as to correspond to the respective optical tubes having a rhomboid cross-sectional shape at a ratio of 1: 1, and at the same time, And is arranged on a virtual line passing through the center of the optical tube in a corresponding diamond shape.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, the optical tube is characterized in that the front-back width and the lateral width are variable with respect to the cross section in accordance with the amount of light.

Further, according to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, an annular mask is attached to the bottom surface of the UV LED.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, the annular mask is characterized in that the inside diameter is an inscribed circle diameter of the UV LED, and the outside diameter is larger than the diagonal length of the UV LED.

In addition, according to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, the optical tubes are arranged in a row so as to have a zigzag shape as a whole.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, a light-converging lens is further provided between the UV LED and the optical tube, and the optical tube is positioned such that its upper end is located at a focal distance of the light-converging lens.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, the UV LED is disposed in an optical lens having a diffusion angle of 8 ° to 22 °, and is disposed at an upper portion of the optical tube, and is diffused in the middle portion of the optical tube through the optical lens A Fresnel lens or an optical lens for converting light into linear light is provided.

The exposure apparatus of the present invention uses a UV LED having a small diffusion angle as a light source and the UV LED is arranged in a rhomboidal shape to irradiate the light toward a light pipe having a rhombic cross-sectional shape, so that the quantity of light shielded or lost by the light pipe decreases, So that the exposure efficiency is improved and the utilization of the light amount is improved.

In addition, according to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, since an annular mask is attached to the bottom of the UV LED to shield the scattered light generated at the edge of the UV LED, the light quality is improved such that only a relatively uniform parallel light is irradiated on the substrate, And the exposure quality is improved.

In addition, according to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, since the condensing nozzle disposed between the UV LED and the optical tube collects the light irradiated from the UV LED, the quantity of light shielded or lost by the optical tube is reduced and the quantity of light acting on the exposure is increased And the exposure efficiency and the exposure quality are improved.

Further, according to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, there is an effect that the quantity of light acting on the exposure increases and the exposure efficiency improves as the photocatalyst is twisted so that it becomes a zigzag shape.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing an exposure apparatus according to the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a modification of the exposure apparatus of the present invention.
3 is a conceptual diagram of an optical module which is a main part of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the arrangement of a UV LED and a light pipe, which are essential parts of the present invention. FIG.
5 is a conceptual view showing an exposure pattern by a UV LED which is a main part of the present invention.
6 is a reference view showing an annular mask which is a substantial part of the present invention.
7 is a conceptual view showing another example of an optical module which is a main part of the present invention;
8 is a conceptual view illustrating the operation of the condenser lens according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, an exposure apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the exposure apparatus of the present invention according to the present invention includes a stage 200 on which a large-area substrate S is placed; An optical module 100 spaced apart from the stage 200 and irradiating light to the stage 200 with a mask M therebetween; And a driving unit 300 for moving the stage 200 or the optical module 100 in a first direction (D, X axis direction).

The optical module 100 includes a light source 110 having a UV LED 111 'extending in a second direction (Y-axis direction) perpendicular to the first direction (D) (Z-axis direction) formed between the stage 200 and the light source unit 110 so as to remove diffused light from the light emitted from the light source unit 110, And a Fresnel lens 150 for converting the light passing through the optical tube 141 into parallel light.

The UV LEDs 111 'of the light source unit 111 are arranged to correspond to the respective optical tubes 141 having a rhombic cross-sectional shape in a one-to-one correspondence, and the optical tubes 141' are arranged in a rhombic shape corresponding to the optical tubes 141 On the imaginary line passing through the center of the line. It is preferable that the Fresnel lens 150 is arranged to correspond to the optical tube 141 at a ratio of 1: 1, and that the Fresnel lens 150 is integrally coupled to the lower end of the optical tube 141 desirable.

Most of the light emitted from the UV LED 111 'is directly incident on the optical tube 141 and light L3 having an angle greater than a predetermined angle with respect to the optical path L1 is incident on the optical tube 141, And the light L2 having an angle smaller than the predetermined angle with the optical path L1 passes through the inner space 142 of the optical tube 141. [ Therefore, it becomes possible to irradiate only the light substantially parallel to the optical path to the mask M. [

Here, the optical path L1 can be defined as a shortest straight line between the light source 111 and the mask M, and the predetermined angle can be adjusted according to the area and length of the optical tube 141. [ That is, as the area of the optical tube 141 is narrowed or the length becomes longer, the angle becomes smaller, and the parallelism of the emitted light increases. However, if the area of the optical tube 141 is too narrow or the length of the optical tube 141 is too long, the quantity of emitted light decreases and the manufacturing cost increases. Therefore, it is necessary to appropriately control the width and the length. The optical tube 141 may have a length L of 20 to 100 mm and a width W of 20 to 60 mm to effectively remove scattered light emitted from the light source 110.

On the other hand, the width and width of the optical tube 141 may vary depending on the amount of light. That is, the optical tube 141 maintains a rhombic cross-sectional shape, and when the amount of light is further required, the width or width of the optical tube 141 is reduced so that more optical tubes 141 are disposed in the same area, Thereby securing the light amount.

3 and 7, the light source unit 110 includes an LED bar 111 having a UV LED 111 'corresponding to the optical tube 141 and extending in the second direction, And a holder 112 extending in the second direction and holding the LED bar 111.

In this case, the holder 112 preferably includes a heat sink for emitting heat generated from the UV LED 111 ', and the heat sink of the holder 112 may include a plurality of Hole 113, as shown in Fig. Accordingly, the heat generated according to the operation of the UV LED 111 'is emitted early by the air flowing into the hole 113 formed in the holder 112.

It is further preferable that an annular mask 114 is attached to the bottom of the UV LED 111 '. The UV LED 111 'emits relatively parallel light as a surface light source, but the scattered light must be generated at the corner of the UV LED 111', so that the amount of light irradiated to the substrate S becomes uneven, Can be degraded. Accordingly, by attaching the annular mask 114 to the bottom surface of the UV LED 111 ', the scattered light generated at the edge of the UV LED 111' is shielded and removed, and only the parallel light is incident on the optical tube 141 . However, if the shielded portion is too much, the amount of light is reduced, so that the portion shielded by the UV LED 111 'is preferably minimized. To this end, the annular mask 141 has an inner diameter equal to the inscribed circle diameter of the UV LED 111 'and an outer diameter larger than the diagonal length of the UV LED 111'.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, it is more preferable that the optical tubes 141 are arranged in a row so as to have a zigzag shape as a whole. Accordingly, not only a sufficient amount of light can be ensured but also a uniform amount of light can be ensured irrespective of the position since the optical tube 141 is arranged in a zigzag form.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, a condenser lens 115 may be further provided between the UV LED 111 'and the optical tube 141. In this case, the optical tube 141 should be positioned at the focal length f of the condenser lens 115. This is for minimizing the light that is shielded and lost among the light emitted from the UV LED 111 'and minimizing the light to be condensed to be used in exposure, thereby improving the exposure efficiency and the exposure quality.

9, the UV LED 111 'is disposed in the upper portion of the optical tube 141 and is located in the optical lens 121 having a diffusion angle of 8 ° to 22 °, A Fresnel lens or an optical lens 122 for converting the light diffused through the optical lens into linear light may be provided at an intermediate portion. Accordingly, light that is lost while passing through the inside of the optical tube 141 is minimized, and exposure efficiency and exposure quality are formed.

In the exposure apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the parallel light irradiated from the optical module 100 is selectively transferred to the substrate (M) by the mask M while the optical module 100 moves in the first direction by the driving unit 300 S so that the electrode pattern is formed on the substrate S by an exposure difference between the irradiated area and the non-irradiated area.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous changes and modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. And all such modifications and changes as fall within the scope of the present invention are therefore to be regarded as being within the scope of the present invention.

100 ... optical module
110 ... light source
111 ... LED bar
111 '... UV LED
112 ... Holder
113 ... hole
114 ... annular mask
115 ... condenser lens
140 ... photo-
141 .... Lightwave
150 ... Fresnel lens
200 ... stage
300 ... driver
S ... large area substrate
M ... Mask

Claims (7)

A stage on which a substrate is placed; An optical module disposed apart from the stage to irradiate light onto the stage; And a driving unit for moving the stage or the optical module in a first direction,
The optical module may include a light source unit including UV LEDs arranged at regular intervals and extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and a light source unit disposed between the stage and the light source unit, And a plurality of light tubes extending toward the stage to remove the light,
The UV LEDs of the light source unit are disposed on the virtual line passing through the center of the optical tube in a rhombic shape corresponding to the optical tube in a one-to-one correspondence to the respective optical tubes having a rhombic cross-sectional shape,
Wherein an annular mask is attached to the bottom surface of the UV LED. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the optical path has a front-back width and a left-right width varying with respect to a cross section according to an amount of light. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the annular mask has an inner diameter that is an inscribed circle diameter of the UV LED and an outer diameter that is larger than a diagonal length of the UV LED. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the optical tubes are arranged in a zigzag manner in a zigzag manner. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4, and 5,
Wherein a condenser lens is further provided between the UV LED and the optical tube, and the optical cable is positioned at an upper end of the condenser lens at a focal length of the condensing lens. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4, and 5,
Wherein the UV LED is disposed in an upper portion of the optical tube in an optical lens having a diffusion angle of 8 to 22 degrees,
And a Fresnel lens or an optical lens for converting the light diffused while passing through the optical lens into linear light is provided at an intermediate portion of the optical tube.

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