KR20040057425A - Method for cutting non-metallic material substrate and equipment for cutting non-metallic material using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and an apparatus for cutting a non-metallic substrate are provided to remove particles generated during a cutting process of the non-metallic substrate, thereby preventing the particles from scattering and attaching again to the non-metallic substrate. CONSTITUTION: A TFT(Thin Film Transistor) substrate member(110) is formed at least one or more positions of the first non-metallic substrate. The TFT substrate member(110) includes a plurality of TFTs and pixel electrodes connected to each TFT. The TFT substrate member(110) is cut, thereby forming a TFT substrate. A color filter substrate member(130) is formed at the second non-metallic substrate and has the number which is the same as that of the TFT substrate members(110). A liquid crystal fence for receiving a liquid crystal is formed at one of the first and second substrates(100). After injecting the liquid crystal, the first and second substrates(100) are assembled with each other, thereby forming an assembly substrate(140). An LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) unit cell(150) is separated from the assembly substrate(140). The cut LCD unit cell(150) is called as an LCD panel(160). A driving module(170), for example, an FPC(Flexible Printed Circuit)(172) or a PCB(Printed Circuit Board)(175), is combined to the LCD panel(160).

Description

Non-Metal Substrate Cutting Method and Non-Metal Substrate Cutting Equipment Using the Same {METHOD FOR CUTTING NON-METALLIC MATERIAL SUBSTRATE AND EQUIPMENT FOR CUTTING NON-METALLIC MATERIAL USING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a non-metal substrate cutting method and a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus using the same, and more particularly, to a non-metal substrate cutting method and a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus using the same that can quickly remove a large number of particles generated when cutting the non-metal substrate It is about.

First, non-metallic substrates, which are frequently used hereinafter, are "silicon substrates" made of "silicon" or "glass substrates" made of "glass". ) "And the like.

Silicon substrates are used as the base material for semiconductor products that store vast amounts of data per unit area or process vast amounts of data per unit time.

On the other hand, the glass substrate has an advantage that the weight and volume is significantly reduced compared to the CRT-type display device (Cathode Ray Tube type display device), the display quality is used as a base material of the improved liquid crystal display device.

Recently, in order to maximize product productivity, a plurality of products are simultaneously formed on such non-metal substrates, and a method of individualizing these products is mainly used.

For example, a plurality of semiconductor chips are formed on a silicon substrate and then individually packaged to produce a plurality of semiconductor products from one silicon substrate. A plurality of display panels are formed on a glass substrate by a common manufacturing process, and the display panels manufactured on the glass substrate are assembled, and then a liquid crystal display panel is manufactured through a subsequent process to maximize the production efficiency of the liquid crystal display panel.

At this time, cutting of the nonmetallic substrate is very important. This is because the process of individualizing a plurality of products formed on a nonmetallic substrate is almost the last stage of product production. If a defect occurs in this process, the productivity is greatly reduced.

In addition, defects in the process of individualizing the product from the non-metallic substrate are almost impossible to rework, so the defects in this process lead to serious productivity degradation.

Conventionally, contact-impact cutting methods have been used to individualize products from nonmetallic substrates.

The contact-impact cutting method first forms a scribe line on the surface of the physically nonmetallic substrate. Subsequently, a physical impact is applied to the scribe line to cut the nonmetallic substrate.

A device for realizing this includes a diamond blade with a cutting diamond densely formed on the circumferential surface of a thin disk, a diamond blade having a disk rotating device in the center of the disk, and a diamond cutter having a light impact on a nonmetal substrate. diamond cutters have been developed.

However, the contact impact cutting method generates a large amount of particles during the formation of a scribe line on a nonmetallic substrate. Because the particles are very small in size and have static electricity, they are strongly attached to the nonmetallic substrate, and particles not attached to the nonmetallic substrate are scattered in the air. Particles strongly adhered to non-metallic substrates are difficult to remove in a general cleaning process and cause defects in subsequent processes. Particles scattered into the air have a serious effect on workers and severely pollute the surroundings. .

Accordingly, the present invention takes into account such a conventional problem, and a first object of the present invention is to remove particles generated during cutting of a nonmetallic substrate in the cutting process in order to prevent scattering of particles and reattachment to the nonmetallic substrate. It provides a method for cutting a non-metal substrate.

In addition, a second object of the present invention is to provide a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus that can be removed during the cutting process in order to prevent particles generated during the cutting of the non-metal substrate to be scattered in the air and re-attached to the non-metal substrate.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of cutting a non-metallic substrate for separating an LCD unit cell from an assembled substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a conceptual diagram of a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating in more detail a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic perspective view of FIG. 4.

In order to realize the first object of the present invention, the present invention provides a method of fixing a mother substrate on which at least one LCD unit cell is formed on a base body, supplying fluid to an edge portion of the LCD unit cell, and It provides a method for cutting a non-metallic substrate comprising the step of forming a scribe line along the edge and growing the scribe line to separate the LCD unit cell from the mother substrate.

In addition, the present invention to implement the second object of the present invention is a base body for fixing the mother substrate formed with at least one LCD unit cell, fluid supply means for supplying a fluid to the edge portion of the LCD unit cell, LCD unit cell Provided is a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus including a scribe line forming apparatus for forming a scribe line along the edge of the crack and a crack propagation unit for growing the scribe line to separate the LCD unit cell from the mother substrate.

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

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a TFT substrate unit 110 is formed in at least one or more places on a first non-metal substrate, which is indicated by reference numeral 100. The TFT substrate 110 includes a plurality of thin film transistors and a pixel electrode connected to each thin film transistor. The TFT substrate section 110 is cut to become a TFT substrate.

In addition, the color filter substrate 130 is formed on the second non-metal substrate, which is indicated by reference numeral 120, in the same number as the number of the TFT substrate 110. The color filter substrate unit 130 includes a color filter formed to face each pixel electrode and a common electrode covering the color filter.

The liquid crystal fan 115 is formed on either the first nonmetallic substrate 100 or the second nonmetallic substrate 120. The liquid crystal pan 115 provides a space for accommodating the liquid crystal. The liquid crystal fan 115 is formed along the edge of the TFT substrate portion 110 or the color filter substrate portion 130. In the present invention, the liquid crystal fan 115 is preferably formed at the edge of the TFT substrate section 110.

Liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal pan 115 in a dropwise manner. In the state in which the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal fan 115, the first non-metal substrate 100 or the second non-metal substrate 120 are assembled to each other. At this time, the TFT substrate unit 110 of the first non-metal substrate 100 and the color filter substrate unit 130 of the second non-metal substrate 120 are assembled in a precisely aligned state with each other.

The assembled first nonmetallic substrate 100 or second nonmetallic substrate 120 is referred to as an "assembled substrate 140". In addition, the TFT substrate unit 110 and the color filter substrate unit 130 that face each other in the assembly substrate 140 are referred to as "LCD unit cells 150".

Subsequently, the LCD unit cell 150 is separated from the assembly board 140. At this time, in order to separate the LCD unit cell 150 from the assembly substrate 140, a non-metal substrate cutting device is used. The LCD unit cell 150 cut from the assembly board 140 is called "LCD panel 160".

The LCD panel 160 is again coupled to a driving module 170, for example, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 172 or a printed circuit board 175. The LCD panel 160 to which the drive module 170 is coupled is called "LCD panel assembly 180". The LCD panel assembly 180 is again assembled to a case or the like, and is widely used in display devices of mobile phones, monitors, large TVs, and portable computers.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of cutting a non-metallic substrate for separating an LCD unit cell from an assembled substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 or 2, in order to separate the LCD unit cell 150 from the assembly board 140, first, a non-metal substrate on which at least one LCD unit cell 150 is formed is fixed (step 1). This is to prevent the non-metal substrate from moving in the process of separating the LCD unit cell 150 from the non-metal substrate.

Subsequently, fluid is supplied to the edge portion of the LCD unit cell 150 of the non-metal substrate (step 2). At this time, the fluid is gas or liquid. It is preferable to use an inert gas for the gas, and the liquid is used by mixing the detergent with pure water or pure water.

When the fluid is supplied to the edge of the LCD unit cell 150 of the non-metal substrate, a scribe line is formed along the edge of the LCD unit cell 150 on the non-metal substrate (step 3). The scribe line is a groove formed at a first depth in the surface of the nonmetallic substrate with a cutting blade that is in physical contact with the surface of the nonmetallic substrate. At this time, a large amount of particles are generated in the process of forming a scribe line on the surface of the non-metal substrate with the cutting blade. The particles are not attached to the nonmetallic substrate by the fluid supplied to the nonmetallic substrate and are mixed with the fluid and discharged.

At this time, if the fluid is a gas, the gas and particles mixed in the gas are sucked by the duct formed with a vacuum pressure, if the fluid is a liquid, the particles mixed in the liquid and the liquid is drained through the drain pipe.

The nonmetallic substrate on which the scribe line is formed has a slight impact around the scribe line. Cracks occur in the scribe line due to the impact applied to the nonmetallic substrate. The crack proceeds in the thickness direction of the nonmetallic substrate, and the LCD unit cell 150 is separated from the nonmetallic substrate (step 4). A small amount of particles is also generated in the process of separating the LCD unit cell 150 from the non-metal substrate. The particles are also attached to the nonmetallic substrate by the fluid supplied to the nonmetallic substrate and mixed with the fluid and discharged.

At this time, if the fluid is a gas, the gas and the particles mixed in the gas are sucked by the duct formed with a vacuum pressure, if the fluid is a liquid, the particles mixed in the liquid and the liquid is drained through the drain pipe.

If the fluid supplied in the process of cutting the non-metal substrate is a liquid, the liquid is dried after the LCD unit cell 150 is selectively separated from the non-metal substrate (step 5).

3 is a conceptual diagram of a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the non-metallic substrate cutting device 300 includes a base body 310, a fluid supply device 320, a scribe line forming device 330, and a crack propagation unit 340. In addition, the non-metallic substrate cutting device 300 may optionally further include a fluid suction device 350 and a fluid drying device 360.

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating in more detail a non-metal substrate cutting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a schematic perspective view of FIG. 4.

4 or 5, the base body 310 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. An assembly board fixing part 312 on which the assembly board 140 is mounted is formed on an upper surface of the base body 310. The assembly board fixing part 312 firmly fixes the assembly board 140 by vacuum pressure.

A recessed fluid storage groove 314 is formed around the assembly board fixing portion 312. The fluid storage groove 314 temporarily stores the fluid, for example, water, supplied in the process of cutting the assembly substrate 140. The fluid storage groove 314 prevents liquid, such as water, supplied from cutting the assembly substrate 140 to flow out of the facility and contaminate the surroundings.

A drain pipe 316 is formed in the base body 300 to drain the fluid temporarily stored in the fluid storage groove 314. The drain pipe 316 is connected with the fluid storage groove 314. Fluid drained from the fluid storage groove 314 along the drain pipe 316 is stored in the drain tank 318 and then processed. Reference numeral 317 denotes a valve for opening and closing the drain pipe 316. Preferably the valve is used by a solenoid valve that is opened and closed by an electrical signal. On the other hand, the base body 310 having such a configuration may be configured to rotate.

Meanwhile, the fluid supply device 320 supplies a fluid to the LCD unit cell 150 formed on the assembly board 140 fixed to the base substrate 310. The fluid supply device 320 prevents particles generated during the cutting of the LCD unit cell 150 from the assembly board 140 to be reattached to the assembly board 140. The fluid supply device 320 includes a liquid storage tank 321, a fluid supply pipe 322, and an open / close valve 323.

The liquid storage tank 321 stores liquid such as water. The fluid supply pipe 322 supplies the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 321 to the assembly substrate 140. The opening / closing valve 323 is formed on the fluid supply pipe 322 to allow the liquid to be supplied or blocked to the assembly board 140. The on-off valve 323 preferably uses a solenoid valve that can be controlled by an electrical signal.

On the other hand, the liquid storage tank 321 may be further provided with a detergent supply device 324 for supplying a detergent to the liquid storage tank 321. The detergent supplied to the liquid storage tank 321 changes the surface tension of the fluid to effectively prevent particles from reattaching to the assembly substrate 140.

Meanwhile, the fluid supply device 320 supplies gas to the LCD unit cell 150 formed on the assembly board 140 fixed to the base substrate 310. The fluid supply device 320 includes a gas storage tank 325, a fluid supply pipe 322, and an open / close valve 327. In this case, since the fluid supply pipe can supply the liquid supplied from the liquid storage tank 321 together, reference numeral 322 will be used together.

The gas storage tank 325 stores gas such as an inert gas. The fluid supply pipe 323 supplies the gas stored in the gas storage tank 325 to the assembly board 140. The open / close valve 327 is formed on the fluid supply pipe 322 to allow gas to be supplied or blocked to the assembly board 140. The on-off valve 327 preferably uses a solenoid valve that can be controlled by an electrical signal.

The scribe line forming apparatus 330 includes a blade 332 and a blade rotating apparatus 334.

The blade 332 is composed of a blade body 332a having a disc shape and a diamond 332b formed on an outer circumferential surface of the blade body 332a. The diamonds 332b are formed at narrow intervals on the outer circumferential surface of the blade body 332a.

The blade rotating device 334 is installed at the center of rotation of the blade body 332a to rotate the blade body 332a at high speed. The blade rotating device 334 preferably uses a motor installed at the center of rotation of the blade body 332a. The scribe line forming apparatus 330 contacts the blade 332 which rotates at high speed to the surface of the assembly board 140 so that the diamond 332b forms a groove-shaped groove on the surface of the assembly board 140.

A large amount of particles generated in the process of forming a scribe line on the assembly substrate 140 is discharged together with the fluid supplied from the fluid supply device (320). At this time, the fluid and the particles discharged from the fluid supply device 320 is removed by the fluid suction device 350. The fluid supply device 350 sucks and removes the fluid and the particles under vacuum pressure.

The crack propagation unit 340 exerts a slight impact on the scribe line formed by the scribe line forming apparatus 330. The impact applied by the crack propagation unit 340 is transmitted to the scribe line, and cracks are generated in the scribe line in the thickness direction of the assembly board 140, whereby the assembly board 140 is cut.

The fluid supplied from the fluid supply device 320 remains in the LCD unit cell 150 and the assembly board 140 separated by the crack propagation unit 340. In particular, when water is supplied from the fluid supply device 320, a large amount of water remains in the LCD unit cell 150 and the assembly board 140.

The fluid drying apparatus 360 dries a large amount of liquid remaining in the assembly substrate 140 and the LCD unit cell 150 after the LCD unit cell 150 is separated from the assembly substrate 140.

The fluid drying apparatus 360 sprays hot air at a high speed to the nonmetallic substrate to dry the liquid.

As described in detail above, in order to prevent the large amount of particles generated in the process of cutting the nonmetallic substrate from reattaching to the nonmetallic substrate, fluid, for example, water or gas, may be applied to the cutting portion when the nonmetallic substrate is cut. By supplying particles, the adhesion of particles to non-metal substrates is reduced, thereby preventing a process defect caused by particles in subsequent processes.

In the detailed description of the present invention described above with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art or those skilled in the art having ordinary knowledge in the scope of the invention described in the claims to be described later It will be understood that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (14)

Fixing a mother substrate on which at least one LCD unit cell is formed on the base body; Supplying a fluid to an edge portion of the LCD unit cell; Forming a scribe line along an edge of the LCD unit cell; And Growing the scribe line to separate the LCD unit cell from the mother substrate. The method of claim 1 wherein the fluid is a liquid. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising drying the liquid after separating the LCD unit cell. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid is a gas. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the scribe line comprises forming a groove having a first depth on the surface by a cutting blade in physical contact with the surface of the mother substrate. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after supplying the fluid, sucking the particles generated in the forming of the fluid and the scribe line. The method of claim 1, wherein the separating of the LCD unit cell comprises applying an impact to the mother substrate. A base body for fixing a mother substrate on which at least one LCD unit cell is formed; Fluid supply means for supplying a fluid to an edge portion of the LCD unit cell; A scribe line forming apparatus forming a scribe line along an edge of the LCD unit cell; And And a crack propagation unit for growing the scribe line to separate the LCD unit cell from the mother substrate. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the base body has a non-metal substrate fixing portion for fixing a non-metal substrate, a fluid storage groove for temporarily storing the fluid is formed around the non-metal substrate fixing portion, the fluid storage groove And a drain pipe for draining the fluid. 9. The non-metallic substrate cutting device according to claim 8, wherein the fluid supply means includes a liquid storage tank containing liquid, a fluid supply pipe for supplying liquid, and an on / off valve for supplying / blocking liquid. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the liquid storage tank further comprises a detergent supply device for supplying a detergent to the liquid storage tank. 11. The non-metallic substrate cutting device according to claim 10, further comprising a fluid drying device for injecting dry air to dry the fluid. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the fluid supply means comprises a gas storage tank, a fluid injection pipe for injecting gas stored in the gas storage tank, and an open / close valve for supplying / blocking the gas. 9. The non-metallic substrate cutting device according to claim 8, wherein a fluid suction device for sucking the fluid is further provided adjacent to the fluid supply means.