KR20090002890A - Apparatus for etching substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate etching device is provided to improve the etching speed, and uniformly performing the substrate etching process. A slit is formed on a substrated(1). A jet tray(12) sprays the etchant filled in inside through slit. The etchant storage tank(17) stores etchant. A supply tube(15) supplies the etchant stored in the etchant storage tank to the jet tray. The return duct(16) collects the etchant streaming down to the lower part of the jet tray to the etchant storage tank after etching substrate. A filter(18) installed at the return duct removes the sludge included in the etchant. The concentration measuring unit(40) which is installed at the etchant storage tank and measures the concentration of the etching solution substrate.

Description

Substrate Etching Equipment {APPARATUS FOR ETCHING SUBSTRATE}

The present invention relates to a substrate etching apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate etching apparatus capable of uniformly etching a substrate by spraying the etching liquid on the substrate in a blade-like stream through the slit of the jet plate.

Recently, with the development of various portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, and notebook computers, there is an increasing 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), and VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display). Liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) are in the spotlight for reasons of implementation.

Since the liquid crystal display device is particularly used in portable electronic devices, it is possible to improve the portability of the electronic device only by reducing its size and weight. Moreover, in recent years, as the liquid crystal display device having a large area is manufactured, the weight of the liquid crystal display device is increased, and there are many problems in the fabrication, installation, management, and transportation of the liquid crystal display device.

There may be various ways to reduce the size or weight of the liquid crystal display, but there are limitations in reducing the essential components of the liquid crystal display in terms of its structure and current technology. Moreover, since these essential components are small in weight, it has been very difficult to reduce their size or weight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a substrate etching apparatus capable of reducing the weight of a liquid crystal display device by etching a substrate or a liquid crystal panel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate etching apparatus capable of etching the substrate uniformly and quickly by forming a slit in the jet plate and ejecting the etchant in the form of a blade to the substrate and simultaneously moving the substrate or the jet plate.

In order to achieve the above object, the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention is disposed perpendicular to the ground and disposed so that at least one surface thereof is adjacent to the substrate, a plurality of spray plates filled with an etching liquid therein, and one side surface on the spray plate. Is formed along the other side is composed of at least one slit for etching the substrate by spraying the etchant to the substrate in a stream jet method.

The substrate is disposed between two jet plates, and both surfaces thereof are etched by an etchant. The substrate includes a bonded glass mother substrate, a glass mother substrate, and a bonded display panel.

When the length of the jet plate is smaller than the length of the substrate, one or more jet plates are provided to eject the etchant while moving the jet plate or the substrate.

In the present invention, the weight of the liquid crystal display device can be greatly reduced by etching the substrate and the liquid crystal panel to a predetermined thickness. In addition, in the present invention, by forming a slit of a predetermined length in the injection plate to eject a jet-like injection liquid through the slit to etch the substrate to enable uniform etching and to improve the etching speed. In addition, since the substrate is etched through a relatively large slit compared to the injection of the etchant by the nozzle, it is possible not only to use a filter of low cost but also to widen the choice of the etchant.

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

In general, there are many factors that determine the weight of the liquid crystal display device, among which the substrate made of glass is the heaviest of the other components of the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, in order to reduce the weight of the liquid crystal display device, it is most efficient to reduce the weight of the glass substrate.

Typically, the glass substrate is etched by an etchant such as HF. In other words, the glass substrate is placed in a container filled with an etchant and the surface of the glass substrate is etched by the etchant. However, in this method, the substrate is not uniformly etched due to the imperfection of the substrate itself, and furthermore, impurities generated in the etching process adhere to the substrate, resulting in a rough surface of the substrate. Moreover, the use of excessive etchant increases costs and causes environmental pollution.

In order to solve this problem, an etching solution may be applied to the substrate while the substrate is loaded on the conveyor to move the substrate, but in this case, the etching liquid remains on a part of the substrate surface loaded on the conveyor. The substrate is excessively etched, which causes a problem that the substrate is etched unevenly as a whole.

In the present invention, in order to solve this problem, it is possible to uniformly etch the entire substrate by disposing the substrate in a direction perpendicular to the ground and then spraying the etching solution on both sides of the substrate, the substrate etching apparatus of FIG. The basic concept is shown.

Etching of such glass substrate is usually performed on the bonded mother substrate. In order to improve the efficiency in manufacturing flat panel display devices such as liquid crystal display devices, the necessary components such as thin film transistors and color filters are formed on two mutually opposing mother substrates, and these mother substrates are bonded together and cut into unit panels. Each display panel is formed. The etching of the substrate of the present invention mainly consists of the united mother substrate unit before cutting into the unit panel. As such, the reason for etching the substrate by the bonded mother substrate is as follows.

When etching the substrate, the degree of etching is limited. If the substrate is overetched and its thickness becomes too thin, the substrate may be damaged during the manufacturing process of the display device. Therefore, the glass substrate of the mother substrate unit was limited in the etching. However, when two substrates are bonded to each other (or in the case of bonded glass panels), even if the substrate is etched in a larger amount than the mother substrate, the resistance against impact is increased by the two bonded substrates. The larger amount can be etched to further reduce the weight when the display panel is manufactured.

However, the object to be etched by the etching apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the bonded mother substrate as described above, but the unit mother substrate, the processed substrate, and the separated unit panel may all be etched objects.

Thus, the term substrate to be used hereinafter will be used only to include all bonded mother substrates, glass mother substrates, processed substrates, and separate unit panels.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate etching apparatus 10 according to the present invention is disposed at substantially constant intervals substantially perpendicular to the ground so that the substrate 1 is disposed therebetween, and a slit is formed to fill the etching liquid filled therein. An injection pipe 12 for injecting through the slit, an etchant storage tank 17 in which the etchant is stored, a supply pipe 15 for supplying an etchant stored in the etchant storage tank 17 to the jet plate 12, and the After the substrate 1 is etched, a recovery pipe 16 for recovering the etching liquid flowing down to the lower part of the jet plate 12 to the etching liquid storage tank 17 and the recovery pipe 16 are installed on the substrate 1 Filter 18 to remove the sludge contained in the etchant by filtering the etchant recovered into the etchant storage tank 17 after etching), and the etchant that is installed in the etchant storage tank 17 to etch the substrate 1 Consists of a concentration meter 40 for measuring the concentration.

The etchant supplied into the injection plate 12 is injected onto the surface of the substrate 1 by the slits formed in the injection plate 12 to etch the substrate 1. At this time, since the substrate 1 is positioned between the slits for injecting the etchant, the etchant injected from the slits of the ejection plate 12 disposed on both sides of the substrate 1 reaches both sides of the substrate 1. Both sides of the substrate 1 are etched.

The slits formed in the jet plate 12 are formed to a predetermined length, and the shape of these slits is shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the slit 13 is formed along the first side of the jetting plate 12 perpendicular to the ground. At this time, the length w1 of the second side of the jetting plate 12 forming a horizontal direction with the ground is formed to be smaller than the length of the first side of the substrate 1 to be etched, and the length of the first side of the jetting plate 12 is l1. Is formed larger than the length of the first side of the substrate 1. In addition, the length l2 of the slit 13 is formed to be substantially equal to the length of the first side of the substrate 1.

The etchant supplied from the etchant storage tank 17 to the jet plate 12 through the supply pipe 15 is ejected through the slit 13. In this case, although not shown in the drawing, a pressure is applied to the jet plate 12 by air pressure, and the etchant is ejected to the substrate 1 in a stream jet type like a blade shape. Therefore, in order to make the etching liquid ejected from the slit 13 act on the entire substrate 1, it is preferable to make the length 1 of the slit 13 equal to or greater than the length of the first side of the substrate 1. will be. Of course, the length l 2 of the slit 13 may be smaller than the length of the first side of the substrate 1 by adjusting the ejection angle of the etchant through the slit 13.

In the etching apparatus 10 configured as described above, the substrate 1 is etched by uniformly ejecting the etchant on the substrate 1 disposed perpendicular to the ground. As such, since the etching liquid injected to the substrate 1 flows downward by gravity due to the vertical arrangement of the substrate 1, the etching liquid does not remain on the substrate 1 and the etching liquid remains in a specific region. This excessive etching can be prevented.

3A and 3B are views illustrating etching the substrate 1 by the etching apparatus 10 having the jet plate 12 having the above-described structure. Referring to this, FIGS. It will be described in detail how to etch.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the substrate 1 is disposed in the etching apparatus 10 having the plurality of spray plates 12, the etching liquid of the etching liquid storage tank 17 is supplied to the spray plate through the supply pipe 15. 12 is supplied to the substrate 1 through the slit 13. In this case, the plurality of jet plates 12 are formed to face each other, and a plurality of substrates 1 are disposed between the plurality of jet plates 12 facing each other.

The substrate 10 is etched as the etchant is injected onto the substrate 1. At this time, since the jet plate 12 is disposed on both sides of the substrate 1, both surfaces of the substrate 1 are etched by the injection of the etchant.

As shown in FIG. 3A, one jet plate 12 is disposed on both sides of the substrate 1 with respect to one substrate 1. At this time, since the length w2 of the second side in the horizontal direction of the jet plate 12 is smaller than the length of the second side of the substrate, in order to spray the etchant over the entire substrate 1, As shown in 3a, it must move along the width direction of the substrate 1. That is, the etching liquid is sprayed on the substrate 1 through the slit 13 while moving or reciprocating along the longitudinal direction of the second side of the substrate 1 while facing the substrate 1 of the jetting plate 12. .

At this time, since the etchant is ejected like a blade through the entire slit 13 and the jet plate 12 moves in one direction, the etchant is scanned over the entire substrate 1 to provide a uniform etchant throughout the substrate 1. Injection is possible.

The etchant sprayed onto the substrate 1 to etch the substrate 1 is collected under the etching apparatus 10, and then recovered to the etching liquid storage tank 17 through the recovery pipe 16 to be used for subsequent etching. do. On the other hand, various types of sludge such as pieces of glass or molten glass material are generated in the etchant that etched the substrate 1. Therefore, when the etching liquid containing such sludge is used, the etching efficiency is lowered, so that efficient etching cannot be performed, and the etching liquid containing the sludge is supplied to the etching liquid storage tank 17 after removing the sludge by the filter 18. will be.

As the etchant, a mixture of HF and phosphoric acid / nitric acid / sulfuric acid / NH ₄ F, or a mixture of NH ₄ F / NF ₄ F ₂ H and a surfactant is used. At this time, the etching rate for etching the substrate 1 is determined by the concentration of the mixture as described above. Therefore, in order to etch the substrate 1 to the desired thickness, the concentration of the mixture must be adjusted.

Meanwhile, as the substrate 1 is etched, the etchant used for etching is supplied to the etchant storage tank 17 through the recovery pipe 16. However, the etchant recovered in the etchant storage tank 17 etches the substrate in combination with the substrate, so that the concentration of the mixture decreases as the etching proceeds. Therefore, since the concentration of the etchant contained in the etchant storage tank 17 decreases over time and the etching rate of the substrate 1 is lowered, the substrate 1 is not etched to a predetermined thickness.

The etchant supply unit 19 is provided to solve this problem. The etchant supply unit 19 stores a mixture of HF and phosphoric acid / nitric acid / sulfuric acid / NH ₄ F or a mixture of NH ₄ F / NF ₄ F ₂ H and a surfactant. By supplying the mixture to the etchant storage tank 17 so that the etchant in the etchant storage tank 17 always maintains the set concentration. At this time, the concentration of the etchant in the etchant storage tank 17 is adjusted based on the concentration value measured by the concentration measuring instrument (40). That is, when the concentration of the etchant in the etchant storage tank 17 is lower than the set concentration, the etchant is supplied from the etchant supply unit 19 to the etchant storage tank 17 to maintain the etchant at all times.

Meanwhile, a nozzle may be formed in the jet plate 12 for spraying the etchant instead of the slit 13. That is, the substrate 1 may be etched by forming a nozzle having a small injection hole in the injection plate 12 and spraying the etching liquid to a predetermined region through the nozzle. However, forming a slit 13 in a predetermined length (for example, substantially the same as the length of the substrate) on the jetting plate 12 and streamjet spraying the etching liquid forms a nozzle to spray spray the etching liquid in a predetermined area. Even more preferred, the reason for this is as follows.

First, the stream jet injection of the etchant through the slit 13 can uniformly etch the substrate as compared to the spray spray of the etchant through the nozzle. When spraying the etching liquid onto the substrate 1 using the nozzle, the etching liquid is sprayed in a circular shape through the injection hole of the nozzle having a small diameter. That is, the etching liquid is injected into the circular spraying region of the substrate 1 through the nozzles formed over the entire spraying plate 12. Therefore, in order to etch the substrate by the etching solution is injected to the entire substrate 1, the injection regions must overlap with the adjacent injection regions. The overlap of the injection regions causes a large amount of etching liquid to act on the overlapping regions. ) Even etching is not possible throughout. On the other hand, in the case of using the slit 13 as in the present invention, since the jet plate 12 is moved while stream-jet spraying the etching liquid in the form of a blade through the slit 13 substantially the same as the length of the substrate 1, the substrate (1) Etching liquid is uniformly sprayed on the whole, and uniform etching of the board | substrate 1 is attained.

Second, the etching of the substrate by the stream jet injection of the etching liquid through the slit 13 may improve the etching speed than the etching of the substrate by the spray injection of the etching liquid through the nozzle. The etching of the substrate by the spray injection through the nozzle is sprayed through the nozzle of the small diameter, so the amount of the etchant applied to the substrate is small and the pressure is low. However, in the etching apparatus according to the present invention, the substrate 1 is etched by streamjet injection of the etchant by the slit 13 having a relatively wider width than the nozzle, so that the amount of the etchant acting on the substrate is relatively high and the pressure is increased. This is high. Therefore, it is possible to etch the substrate at a much faster rate than spraying the etchant through the slit 13 than the etching of the substrate by the etchant injected through the nozzle.

Third, the etching of the substrate by the stream jet injection of the etching liquid through the slit 13 can prevent the etching failure due to the blockage of the slit compared to the etching of the substrate by the spray injection of the etching liquid through the nozzle. In the case of using the nozzle, when the etchant contains impurities or sludge due to the small diameter of the nozzle, the nozzle is clogged and spraying of the etchant is impossible. On the other hand, when the slit is used as in the present invention, since the width of the slit from which the etchant is ejected is much larger than that of the nozzle, the slit can be prevented from being blocked by impurities or sludge.

Fourth, the etching of the substrate by the stream jet injection of the etching liquid through the slit 13 can reduce the cost than the etching of the substrate by the spray injection of the etching liquid through the nozzle. As shown in FIG. 1, the etchant used for etching is filtered by the filter 18 and then stored and reused in the etchant storage tank 17. The etching liquid used for etching generates sludge in which the substrate is melted. The filter 18 must filter this sludge dissolved in the etchant to supply a relatively clean etchant back to the etchant storage tank 17. However, in the case of using the nozzle, since the nozzle injection port is fine, in order to prevent the nozzle from being clogged during the injection of the etchant, the sludge of the very small size must be filtered when the etchant is filtered by the filter. Must be used On the other hand, in the case of spraying the etching liquid using a wide slit 13 as in the present invention, the amount of sludge that can be allowed in the etching liquid is relatively large, so even if a relatively low-cost filter is used to the degree that the etching liquid is desired. You will be able to filter.

Fifth, the etching of the substrate by the stream jet injection of the etching liquid through the slit 13 has a wider choice of etching liquids that can be used than the etching of the substrate by spray injection of the etching liquid through the nozzle. Since the nozzle has a very small nozzle, the sludge is non-sticky and small in size when the etchant etches the substrate so that the etchant can be reused. On the other hand, the etching liquid is different in the characteristics and size of the sludge generated by the type. Therefore, in the case of using the nozzle, since the injection hole is fine, only the etching liquid which generates no sludge but only small sludge can be used, so the selection is small. On the other hand, in the present invention, since the width of the slit 13 is large, the etchant can be reused even when the sludge is sticky and the size is relatively large, so that various kinds of etchant can be used. In particular, while the etching characteristics are good and inexpensive, but the sludge generated is sticking, and the size of the HF is large, the HF cannot be used in an etching apparatus using a nozzle, but it can be usefully used in the present invention. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to use various kinds of etchant, it is possible to use an inexpensive and efficient etchant can reduce the cost and speed up the process.

As described above, in the present invention, the slit 13 is formed on the jetting plate 12 to spray the jetting liquid such as a blade on the substrate 1 by the stream jet method, thereby providing a uniform, fast and inexpensive substrate 1. Etching is possible.

On the other hand, the present invention does not etch the substrate 1 by only one jet plate 12 facing each other, as shown in Figure 3a. When only one jet plate 12 having one slit 13 is used, when etching the substrate 1 having a large area, the etchant is moved from one side of the substrate 1 of the jet plate 12 to the other side. Since it must be ejected, the etching rate is reduced.

In order to prevent such a decrease in the etching speed, as shown in FIG. 3B, the slit 13 may be formed and a plurality of spray plates 12 may be provided to face each other. In this case, the plurality of jetting plates 12 are installed to be spaced apart from each other along the longitudinal direction of the second side of the substrate, and each jetting plate 12 ejects the etchant while moving only by the distances of each of the substrates 1. The etching solution can be uniformly applied to the whole. That is, since the moving distance and the moving time of the injection plate 12 are shorter than that of the etching apparatus having the structure shown in FIG. 3A, the etching of the substrate 1 can be performed quickly.

On the other hand, when the substrate 1 is etched using the spray plate 12 as described above (including when one or more spray plates are installed), the spray plate 12 is fixed and the substrate 1 moves so that the substrate ( 1) The etching solution may be evenly sprayed all over.

4 is a view showing another structure of the slit 113 formed in the jet plate 112 of the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the slits 113 may not be integrally formed with the jet plate 112 but may be formed in a plurality of states with a predetermined distance. Even in this case, the etching liquid is ejected through the plurality of slits 113 over the entire longitudinal direction of the first side of the substrate, and the jet plate 112 moves along the longitudinal direction of the first side of the substrate. One etchant can be ejected. Meanwhile, although only a structure in which three slits 113 are disposed up and down in one jet plate 112 is disclosed in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to such a structure, but two slits 113 are disposed up and down. It is also possible to arrange the structure and the structure in which four or more slits 113 are arranged. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3B, in order to improve the efficiency of substrate etching, the jet plate 112 having such a structure is provided with a plurality of jet plates 112 spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. Alternatively, the substrate may be etched by ejecting the etchant while moving the substrate.

FIG. 5A is a view showing another structure of the jet plate 212 of the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a view showing that the etching liquid is ejected onto the substrate 201 by the jet plate 212 having the above structure. to be. As shown in FIG. 5A, in this structure, one side length w2 of the jet plate 112 is formed to be similar to the length of the second side of the corresponding substrate, and a plurality of slits 213 are formed in the jet plate 212. do. As such, since the size of the jet plate 212 is similar to the size of the substrate 201 to be etched, the jet plate 212 does not move or corresponds to a very small distance (for example, a distance between the slits 213). Even if only a distance) is moved, the etching liquid can be evenly sprayed on the entire substrate 201, so that the etching of the substrate 201 can be performed more quickly.

It is preferable that the etching of the substrate as described above mainly consists of bonded glass mother substrate units. In general, a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device is used by bonding two glass substrates together, and thus the strength thereof is higher than that of one glass substrate. Therefore, since it is possible to manufacture a thinner than when using one glass substrate, it is possible to significantly reduce the weight of the glass substrate. Of course, the etching of the substrate may be made of individual glass mother substrate units.

In the above description of the present invention, the specific substrate used for the liquid crystal display device has been described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the specific substrate, but the glass mother substrate, the bonded glass mother substrate, the processed glass substrate, and the unit panel bonded together. It can be used to etch it.

In addition, the present invention may be applied to various flat panel display device manufacturing methods such as various PDPs, FEDs, VFDs, OLEDs, etc., as well as liquid crystal display devices.

1 is a view showing the structure of a substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the jet plate of the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention.

3A and 3B illustrate etching a substrate by an etching apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing another structure of the jet plate of the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention.

5A and 5B are views illustrating another structure of the substrate etching apparatus according to the present invention and etching the substrate using the substrate etching apparatus.

Claims (15)

A plurality of jet plates disposed perpendicular to the ground to be at least one surface adjacent to the substrate, and filled with an etching solution therein; And And at least one slit formed on one side of the jet plate along the other side to etch the substrate by injecting the etchant into the substrate by a stream jet method.  The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the etching apparatus further comprises an etching liquid storage tank configured to supply an etching liquid to the jet plate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is disposed between two jet plates so that both surfaces thereof are etched by an etchant. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a bonded glass mother substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a glass mother substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a bonded display panel. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein a length of the first side of the jet plate is substantially the same as a length of the first side of the substrate, and a length of the second side of the jet plate is smaller than a length of the second side of the substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 7, wherein one slit is formed in the jet plate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 7, wherein the jetting plate is disposed in a plurality along the longitudinal direction of the second side of the substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lengths of the first and second sides of the jet plate are substantially the same as the lengths of the first and second sides of the substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 10, wherein a plurality of slits are formed in the jet plate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 7 or 10, wherein the jet plate ejects the etching liquid while moving along the longitudinal direction of the second side of the substrate. The substrate etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the slit sprays an etchant to the substrate in the form of a blade. The method of claim 1, An etchant storage tank for supplying an etchant to the jet plate; And Substrate etching apparatus further comprises a concentration meter for measuring the concentration of the etchant storage tank. The method of claim 14, A recovery tube for recovering the etching liquid obtained by etching the substrate to an etching liquid storage tank; And Substrate etching apparatus further comprises a filter for filtering the etchant recovered through the recovery pipe.

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