KR20050097115A - Over turing apparatus of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

The substrate inverting apparatus according to the present invention includes an input robot into which a substrate is input, a substrate input through the input robot is loaded on the upper and lower surfaces, an inverter for inverting the substrate by rotating about a rotation axis, and loading of the first substrate of the inverter. And an output robot from which the substrate is unloaded from the second substrate loading portion. The inverter includes a main body, a first substrate loading part and a second substrate loading part on which upper and lower surfaces of the main body are loaded and loaded, and a first substrate loading part and a second substrate loading part formed on the main body. It consists of a fixing means for fixing the substrate.

Description

Substrate Inverter {OVER TURING APPARATUS OF SUBSTRATE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate inversion apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate inversion apparatus of a liquid crystal panel manufacturing line capable of quickly inverting a substrate by adsorbing the substrate on both sides and inverting the substrate.

Recently, with the development of various portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, and notebook computers, there is a growing demand for flat panel display devices for light and thin applications. Such flat panel displays are being actively researched, such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), FED (Field Emission Display), VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display), but mass production technology, ease of driving means, Liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) are in the spotlight for reasons of implementation.

LCD is a device for displaying information on the screen using the refractive anisotropy of the liquid crystal. As shown in FIG. 1, the LCD 1 is composed of a lower substrate 5 and an upper substrate 3 and a liquid crystal layer 7 formed between the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3. The lower substrate 5 is a drive element array substrate. Although not shown in the figure, a plurality of pixels are formed on the lower substrate 5, and a driving element such as a thin film transistor (hereinafter referred to as TFT) is formed in each pixel. The upper substrate 3 is a color filter substrate, and a color filter layer for real color is formed. In addition, a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed on the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3, respectively, and an alignment film for aligning liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 7 is coated.

The lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 are bonded by a sealing material 9, and a liquid crystal layer 7 is formed therebetween by a driving element formed on the lower substrate 5. Information is displayed by controlling the amount of light passing through the liquid crystal layer by driving the liquid crystal molecules.

The manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device can be largely divided into a driving element array substrate process of forming a driving element on the lower substrate 5, a color filter substrate process of forming a color filter on the upper substrate 3, and a cell process. However, the process of the liquid crystal display will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

First, a plurality of gate lines and data lines arranged on the lower substrate 5 to define a pixel region are formed by a driving element array process, and the gate line and the data are formed in each of the pixel regions. A thin film transistor which is a driving element connected to the line is formed (S101). In addition, the pixel electrode is connected to the thin film transistor through the driving element array process to drive the liquid crystal layer as a signal is applied through the thin film transistor.

In addition, the upper substrate 3 is formed with a color filter layer and a common electrode of R, G, B to implement the color by the color filter process (S104).

Subsequently, an alignment layer is applied to the upper substrate 3 and the lower substrate 5, respectively, and then the alignment control force or surface fixing force (ie, the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer formed between the upper substrate 3 and the lower substrate 5). In order to provide a pretilt angle and an orientation direction, the alignment layer is rubbed (S102 and S105). Subsequently, a spacer is disposed on the lower substrate 5 to maintain a constant cell gap, and a sealing material 9 is applied to an outer portion of the upper substrate 3, and then the lower substrate 5 is disposed. And the upper substrate 3 by applying pressure (S103, S106, S107).

On the other hand, the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 is made of a large area glass substrate. In other words, a plurality of panel regions are formed on a large area glass substrate, and a TFT and a color filter layer, which are driving elements, are formed in each of the panel regions. Must be processed (S108). Thereafter, the liquid crystal is injected into the liquid crystal panel processed as described above through the liquid crystal inlet, and the liquid crystal inlet is encapsulated to form a liquid crystal layer. Then, the liquid crystal display is manufactured by inspecting each liquid crystal panel (S109 and S110). .

The driving element array process and the color filter process are each performed in separate process lines. That is, the driving element and the color filter are formed on the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 by separate process lines, respectively. The lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 on which the driving element array process and the color filter process are completed are bonded together in the bonding process. In the driving element array process and the color filter process, the driving element and the color filter layer are formed on the upper surface of the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 (that is, the upper surface). On the other hand, in the bonding process, the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 should be bonded in a state where the surfaces on which the driving element and the color filter layer are formed face each other. Therefore, one of the lower substrate 5 and the upper substrate 3 input to the bonding process must have the upper and lower surfaces reversed.

3 is a diagram illustrating a substrate inversion apparatus for inverting the substrates 3 and 5. As shown in the figure, the substrate inverting device includes an input robot 32 for inputting the substrate 3 on which the previous process is completed, and an inverter for inverting the substrate 3 input by the input robot 32. And an output robot 34 for transferring the substrate 3 inverted by the inverter 20 to the next process.

The inverter 20 includes a main body 22, a substrate loading part 23 on which the substrate 3 is placed, and a plurality of suction ports 26 formed on the substrate loading part 23 to adsorb the substrate 3. And an exhaust port 24 connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) to make the inside of the suction port 26 into a vacuum state and adsorb the substrate 3 to the substrate loading part 23. At this time, reference numeral 28 denotes a rotating shaft inverted by the inverter 20.

The substrate inversion method using the substrate inversion apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (c).

First, as shown in Fig. 4A, the substrate 3 on which the previous process (for example, the color filter process or the thin film transistor process) is completed is input to the substrate inverting device by the input robot 32. As shown in FIG. 4B, the input substrate 3 is aligned with the substrate inverter 20 and then loaded into the substrate loading part 23 formed at one side of the substrate inverter 20. At this time, since the suction port 26 formed in the inverter 20 is connected to the vacuum pump through the exhaust port 24, the suction port 26 is placed on the substrate loading unit 23 as the vacuum pump operates. Adsorb and fix (3). Subsequently, the inverter 20 rotates about the rotation axis 28. By the rotation of the inverter 20 as described above, the upper surface (the surface on which the color filter is formed) of the substrate 3 is inverted downward.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4C, the inverted substrate 3 is transferred to the bonding process, which is the next process, by the output robot 34 to proceed with the bonding. After the substrate 3 is transferred to the output robot 34, the inverter 20 rotates again to prepare for inverting the next substrate 3 to be input.

As described above, in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device, the substrate is inverted by the inverter and then transferred to the next process to proceed with the bonding process. However, the conventional substrate inversion apparatus as described above may cause a delay in the process speed of the entire liquid crystal display device.

As described above, in the conventional substrate inversion apparatus, the inverter 20 must be restored to the original state again in order to invert the substrate 3 input next. When the traveling speed of the previous process line and the subsequent process line of the substrate inversion device is made faster than that of the substrate inversion device, the substrate 3 input during the inversion operation of the substrate inversion device has a predetermined time (that is, the input robot 32). Wait time for the reversal 20). Therefore, the overall process time of the liquid crystal display device is delayed by the standby time of the substrate, and as a result, there is a problem that the manufacturing efficiency of the liquid crystal display device is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate inverting device having a substrate loading portion formed on the upper and lower surfaces thereof to reduce the waiting time of the substrate when the substrate is inverted.

In order to achieve the above object, the substrate inverting device according to the present invention is an input robot to which the substrate is input, the substrate input through the input robot is loaded on the upper and lower sides, and an inverter for inverting the substrate by rotating around the rotation axis, And an output robot from which the substrate is unloaded from the first substrate loading portion and the second substrate loading portion of the inverter.

The inverter includes a main body, a first substrate loading part and a second substrate loading part on which upper and lower surfaces of the main body are loaded and loaded, and a first substrate loading part and a second substrate loading part formed on the main body. It consists of a fixing means for fixing the substrate.

At this time, the fixing means includes an adsorption port formed in the first substrate loading part and the second substrate loading part and an exhaust port connected to the adsorption port to vacuum the inside of the adsorption port.

In the above-described substrate inversion apparatus, the loading of the substrate into the first substrate loading portion and the unloading of the substrate in the second substrate loading portion are performed at substantially the same time. The substrate includes a panel unit substrate or a plurality of panel regions. Characterized in that the formed disc.

The substrate inverted during the bonding process of the liquid crystal display device is not particularly determined. In other words, the substrate inverted for bonding depending on the manufacturing conditions of the liquid crystal display device process may be a driving element array substrate or a color filter substrate. Accordingly, the following description of specific substrates by way of example is for convenience of description only.

In addition, the present invention is not only applied to the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device by the vacuum injection method of injecting the liquid crystal through the liquid crystal inlet to the individual liquid crystal panel to form the liquid crystal layer (liquid crystal dispensing) It can also be applied to the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process by the method).

In the liquid crystal dropping method, a liquid crystal is directly dropped on a driving element array substrate or a color filter substrate, and then the liquid crystal spreads to the outside by the pressure applied when the driving element array substrate and the color filter substrate are bonded to each other. It is a system which forms the liquid crystal layer of uniform thickness in the. In other words, the biggest feature of the liquid crystal dropping method is that the liquid crystal is dropped on the substrate in advance before the liquid crystal panel is bonded, and then the panel is bonded.

The liquid crystal display device manufacturing method to which the above liquid crystal dropping method is applied is shown in FIG. 5. As shown in the figure, TFTs and color filter layers, which are driving elements, are formed on the driving element array substrate and the color filter substrate, respectively, through the driving element array process and the color filter process (S201 and S202). Subsequently, after the alignment layer is applied to the driving element array substrate on which the TFT is formed and the color filter substrate on which the color filter layer is formed, rubbing is performed (S202 and S205), liquid crystal is dropped into the liquid crystal panel region of the driving element array substrate, and color is applied. Sealing materials are applied to the outer region of the liquid crystal panel of the filter substrate (S203, S206).

Thereafter, pressure is applied while the color filter substrate and the drive element array substrate are aligned to bond the color filter substrate and the drive element array substrate with a sealing material, and at the same time, the liquid crystal dropped by the application of pressure is applied to the entire panel. Spread uniformly over (S207). Through such a process, a large area glass substrate is formed with a plurality of liquid crystal panels in which a liquid crystal layer is formed. The glass substrate is processed and cut, separated into a plurality of liquid crystal panels, and a liquid crystal display device is manufactured by inspecting each liquid crystal panel. (S208, S209).

Comparing the difference between the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device to which the liquid crystal drop method shown in FIG. 5 is applied and the method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device to which the conventional liquid crystal injection method shown in FIG. 2 is applied, the difference between the vacuum injection and the liquid crystal drop of the liquid crystal and In addition to the difference in the processing time of the large-area glass substrate it can be seen that there are other differences. That is, in the method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device to which the liquid crystal injection method shown in FIG. 2 is applied, the injection hole must be sealed by an encapsulant after the liquid crystal is injected through the injection hole. This eliminates the need for sealing of these inlets. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 2, in the manufacturing method to which the liquid crystal injection method is applied, since the substrate contacts the liquid crystal when the liquid crystal is injected, the outer surface of the panel is contaminated by the liquid crystal. In the manufacturing method in which the liquid crystal dropping method is applied, since the liquid crystal is directly dropped on the substrate, the panel is not contaminated by the liquid crystal, and as a result, the cleaning process is unnecessary. As described above, the manufacturing method of the liquid crystal display device by the liquid crystal dropping method is made of a simple process by the manufacturing method by the liquid crystal injection method, so that not only the manufacturing efficiency can be improved but also the yield can be improved.

On the other hand, the substrate inversion apparatus of the present invention can be applied to both the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process adopting the vacuum injection method and the liquid crystal drop method. However, in the substrate inversion device of the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process of the vacuum injection method, the substrates separated by individual panel units are reversed, whereas in the substrate inversion device of the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process of the liquid crystal drop method, a plurality of panels are formed. Inversion is performed in units of the original substrate. However, this difference is only a difference in the object to be reversed, the configuration and operation of the actual substrate inversion device will be the same. Therefore, the substrate disclosed in the following description will include both the unit panel substrate in the vacuum injection method and the original plate in the liquid crystal dropping method.

Hereinafter, a substrate inversion apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6 is a view showing a substrate inversion apparatus of the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the substrate inversion apparatus is rotated 180 ° with an input robot 132 for inputting the substrate 103 from the process line after the previous process, for example, the TFT process and the color filter process, are completed. Inverter 120 for inverting the substrate 103, and the output robot 134 for transferring the inverted substrate 103 to the next process line.

The inverter 120 is formed on the main body 122 and the upper and lower surfaces of the main body 122 and the first substrate loading portion 120a on which the substrate 103 transferred from the previous process line by the input robot 132 is placed. ) And a plurality of first suction holes formed in the second substrate loading part 120b, the first substrate loading part 120a, and the second substrate loading part 120b, respectively, to fix the substrate 103 by pressure. 126a) and the second suction hole 126b and the first suction hole 126a and the second suction hole 126b, respectively, to maintain the vacuum state as the vacuum pump not shown in the drawing operates. First and second exhaust ports 124a and 124b for fixing the substrate 103 through the suction holes 126a and the second suction holes 126b, and the rotating shaft 128 for rotating the inverter 120. It consists of. In addition, although not shown in the drawings, a separate device for fixing the substrate 103 loaded on the first substrate loading part 120a and the second substrate loading part 120b may be installed. Of course, the substrate 103 is firmly fixed to the first substrate loading part 120a and the second substrate loading part 120b by the first suction hole 126a and the second suction hole 126b. It may be fixed by a mechanical fixing means. In this case, the first and second suction holes 126a and 126b and the clamp may be simultaneously applied to fix the substrate 103.

In the substrate inverting apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, since two substrate loading portions 123a and 123b are formed on both sides of the inverter 120, that is, the upper and lower surfaces, the substrate loading portions 123a and 123b are fixed. Continuous reversal of the substrate 103 is possible.

7 (a) to 7 (d) show a substrate inversion method using the substrate inversion apparatus according to the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the first substrate 103a, which has been completed in the previous process line, is input by the input robot 132, the first substrate 103a is the inverter 120. Is aligned with the first substrate loading part 123a and loaded. At this time, since the vacuum pump, which is not shown, is operated, the first exhaust port 124a is in a vacuum state, and thus the first substrate 103a is formed through the first suction port 126a connected to the first exhaust port 124a. 1 is fixed to the substrate loading portion 123a.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7B, the inverter 120 is rotated 180 ° about the rotation axis 128. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7C, since the air is supplied to the first exhaust port 124a of the rotated inverter 120 to have a normal pressure, the first substrate fixed to the first substrate loading part 123a is provided. It is transferred to the next process via the output robot 134 in the inverted state (103a). At the same time, the second substrate 103b is input and loaded by the input robot 132 into the second substrate loading part 123b of the inverter 120 facing upward. In this case, like the first substrate loading part 123b, the second substrate 103b is fixed to the second substrate loading part 123b by the second exhaust port 124b and the second suction hole 126b.

At this time, unloading of the first substrate 103a and loading of the second substrate 103b from the inverter 120 occur at about the same time. Of course, some time difference may occur in the speed difference between the process before and after the inversion process. However, this parallax is very small compared to the total inversion process time, so that the substrate inversion apparatus of the present invention inverts the substrate substantially continuously and transfers it to the subsequent process.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), the inverter 120 is rotated again (ie, reversed) and restored to its original position. At this time, the second substrate 103b inverted by the inverter 120 is loaded on the output robot 134 and loaded by the second substrate 103b in the next process, and at the same time, the second substrate 103b of the inverter 120 is The substrate input through the input robot 132 is loaded into the first substrate loading unit 123a.

Restoration of the inverter 120 may be achieved by rotating 180 ° in the opposite direction to the initial rotation or by continuing to rotate 180 ° in the same direction. By repeating the rotation and restoration of the inverter 120, the substrates 103a and 103b of the liquid crystal display device manufacturing process line are inverted continuously.

As described above, in the substrate inversion apparatus of the present invention, since the substrate loading portions 123a and 123b for fixing the substrates 103a and 103b are formed on both sides of the inverter 120, the substrate loading portions 123a, The loading and unloading of the substrate into 123b) takes place at about the same time.

In the conventional substrate inversion apparatus, the substrate is inverted through the process of substrate loading → 180 ° rotation → substrate unloading → restore (180 ° rotation) → substrate loading. That is, the inverter inverts one substrate every 360 degrees of rotation. On the other hand, in the substrate inverting apparatus of the present invention, the substrate is reversed through the process of substrate loading → 180 ° rotation → substrate unloading (substrate loading) → restore (180 ° rotation) → substrate loading (substrate unloading). In other words, the inverter inverts one substrate every time it rotates 180 ° and inverts two substrates when it rotates 360 °.

Assuming that one substrate is inputted, inverted, and then outputted, one cycle of the conventional substrate inverter is 360 ° rotation of the inverter and one cycle of the substrate inverter according to the present invention is 180 °. Rotation. In the conventional substrate inversion apparatus, the input substrate waits while the inverter is restored (that is, while rotating 180 °), whereas in the substrate inversion apparatus of the present invention, the substrate can be inverted continuously without such a waiting time. It becomes possible. In particular, the substrate inversion apparatus of the present invention inverts the continuous substrate without any waiting time by synchronizing the first cycle (the inversion cycle of the first substrate 103a) and the second cycle (the inversion cycle of the second column 103b). This becomes possible.

In the above description, the liquid crystal display device has been described as an example of the display device, but the substrate inverting device of the present invention is not limited to the liquid crystal display device. For example, it may be usefully used for flat panel display devices such as PDPs and various kinds of electronic devices.

As described above, the present invention forms a substrate loading portion capable of adsorbing a substrate on the upper and lower surfaces of the inverter, thereby substantially simultaneously loading and inverting unloading of the substrate to be reversed. Therefore, since the next substrate does not need to wait until after reversing one substrate and restoring it again, a rapid process becomes possible and as a result, the efficiency of the manufacturing process is improved.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a general liquid crystal display device.

2 is a flowchart showing a conventional method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

3 is a view showing the structure of a conventional substrate inversion apparatus.

4 (a) to 4 (c) show the operation of the conventional substrate inversion apparatus.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device by a liquid crystal dropping method.

6 is a view showing the structure of a substrate inversion apparatus according to the present invention.

7 (a) to 7 (d) are views showing the operation of the substrate inversion apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on main parts of drawing

103a and 103b: substrate 120: inverter

123a, 123b: substrate loading part 124a, 124b: exhaust port

126a, 126b: suction port 132: input robot

134: output robot

Claims (10)

Input robot to input board: An inverter loaded on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate input through the input robot and inverting the substrate by rotating about a rotation axis; And And an output robot in which a substrate is unloaded from the first substrate loading portion and the second substrate loading portion of the inverter. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inverter is selected from the group consisting of: main body; First and second substrate loading parts formed on upper and lower surfaces of the main body and loaded with a substrate; And And a fixing means formed on the main body to fix the substrate loaded on the first substrate loading portion and the second substrate loading portion. The method of claim 2, wherein the fixing means, An adsorption hole formed in the first substrate loading part and the second substrate loading part; And And an exhaust port connected to the adsorption port to vacuum the inside of the adsorption port. 3. The substrate inverting device according to claim 2, wherein the fixing means comprises a clamp. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the loading of the substrate into the first substrate loading portion and the unloading of the substrate from the second substrate loading portion are performed substantially simultaneously. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a panel unit substrate. 2. The substrate inverting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a disc having a plurality of panel regions. Input means and output means through which a substrate is input and output; And And an inverter that rotates about a rotation axis to invert the substrate, and outputs the inverted substrate by an output means and simultaneously inputs the substrate by the input means. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the inversion of the substrate is performed by an inversion cycle in which 180 degrees are rotated. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the continuous inversion cycles are synchronized.