KR20110077246A - Method of apparatus removing edge bead for a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and method for removing an edge bead of a substrate are provided to increase a detergency of an edge bead on the substrate. CONSTITUTION: An edge bead removing device of a substrate includes as follows. A stage(210) has a substrate. A drug solution nozzle(221) sprays a drug solution on the stage. A drug solution nozzle supporting unit(225) supports the drug nozzle. A light source unit(230) examines the light on the stage and has a drug solution nozzle supporting unit. The drug solution and the light is respectively sprayed and examines to an up-and-down/internal-and-external side of the edge unit of the substrate.

Description

Apparatus and method for removing edge bead of substrate

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing edge beads generated during a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display. will be.

In line with the recent information age, the display field for displaying a large amount of data by various electrical signals in a visual image has also been rapidly developed. In response, a flat panel display device having advantages of light weight, thinness, and low power consumption has been developed. As a display device (FPD), a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display device (PDP), a field emission display device (FED), an electroluminescence display device (Electro) luminescence display device (ELD) has been introduced to quickly replace the existing cathode ray tube (CRT).

On the other hand, a general flat panel display panel manufacturing process includes a substrate manufacturing process for obtaining the first and second substrates, and a cell for bonding the two substrates together with a unique fluorescent or polarizing material layer therebetween to complete the flat panel display panel. It can be divided into processes.

In addition, these substrate manufacturing processes and cell processes are generally performed on first and second large area substrates in which a plurality of cell regions are divided by positions in order to reduce the process or improve the yield.

Accordingly, in the substrate manufacturing process, thin film deposition, photo-lithography, etching, etc. are repeated several times for each of the first and second large area substrates. Implement a transistor or the like.

At this time, in the cell process, a seal pattern for bonding is formed on each of the cell regions of the first or second large area substrate, and then the two substrates are faced to each other with a unique polarizing material layer therebetween. A plurality of flat panel display panels are obtained by cutting each cell region.

In the photolithography process, a photoresist (hereinafter referred to as PR) is applied onto a substrate on which a thin film is deposited, and then a mask formed with a pattern of a desired shape is faced to expose and develop ( By developing, a PR pattern having the same shape as that of the mask is formed.

At this time, the PR is uniformly coated on the substrate, and after the PR is dropped on the substrate, the PR is applied to the substrate through a spin coating method and a slit nozzle to spin the substrate at high speed. There is a slit coating method that scans and applies in one direction while discharging.

Here, the spin coating method has an advantage of coating the PR on a substrate with a uniform thickness.

However, this spin coating method has a problem in that an edge bead is formed to push PR or ink from the edge of the substrate in the application process by the high speed rotation.

1 is a diagram conceptually showing a state in which an edge bead is formed.

As shown, the RGB pixel PR 10 supplied to the upper surface of the substrate S equipped with a black matrix (not shown) is a fluid having fluidity, so the substrate S is rotated at a high speed so that the substrate It is pushed to the periphery of (S) and eventually receives a force to move away from the substrate (S) at the edge.

Here, the surface tension is applied between the surface of the substrate S and the PR 10 to counter the centrifugal force. Accordingly, the PR 10 is continuously stacked at the edge of the substrate S, thereby causing the edge portion of the substrate S to swell, thereby forming an edge bead 30.

On the other hand, when the edge bead 30 comes into contact with a substrate cassette (not shown) during the process, the edge bead 30 is damaged and acts as a contaminant in a subsequent process. For example, in the rubbing process, particles may cause scratches.

Therefore, after the PR 10 coating process is completed, an edge bead removal process (EBR) to remove the edge beads 30 is performed, and then a subsequent process is performed. That is, when the coating of the PR 10 is completed, the chemical liquid is injected to the edge portion of the substrate S to melt the edge beads 30, and the mixed liquid of the dissolved edge beads 30 and the chemical liquid is discharged through the exhaust port. This EBR process is performed by a separate EBR equipment (not shown) after the coating process is completed.

However, the EBR process is not precisely controlled due to the injection pressure of the chemical liquid injected from the EBR nozzle (not shown) of the EBR equipment (not shown), causing various types of defects in the substrate (S).

That is, when the injection pressure of the chemical liquid is large, the EBR device (not shown) may remove the edge bead 30 having a large area, but is an example of a region in which a pattern (not shown) on the substrate S is formed. The chemical liquid penetrates into the area where the RGB pixel PR 10 formed in the display area on S) and the black matrix pattern (not shown) are formed, thereby causing a problem of light leakage.

On the contrary, when the injection pressure of the chemical liquid is low, the edge bead 30 is not completely removed, and when it comes into contact with a substrate cassette (not shown) during the process, it is damaged and acts as a contaminant in a subsequent process.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention to provide an EBR equipment that can increase the cleaning power of the edge bead on the substrate.

In order to achieve the object as described above, the present invention comprises a stage on which the substrate is seated; A chemical liquid nozzle for injecting the chemical liquid onto the stage; A chemical liquid nozzle support unit for supporting the chemical liquid nozzle; And a light source unit provided to the chemical liquid nozzle support unit and irradiating light onto the stage, wherein the chemical liquid and the light are respectively sprayed and irradiated onto upper and lower outer surfaces of the edge portion of the substrate. do.

In this case, the light source unit is an ultraviolet (UV) LED that emits ultraviolet (UV) light, and the stage is smaller than the size of the substrate.

In addition, one side of the chemical liquid nozzle is further provided with a gas nozzle for injecting a gas, the gas is a dry gas containing a high pressure clean dried air (nitrogen) or nitrogen.

Here, the stage is rotated, the chemical liquid nozzle support portion is reciprocating sliding along the edge of the substrate.

In addition, the present invention comprises the steps of removing a portion of the edge bead of the edge portion by spraying a chemical solution to the substrate on which the edge bead of the positive photoresist material is formed at the edge; Irradiating the edge portion to provide a method for removing the edge bead of the substrate comprising the step of removing the remaining edge beads.

Here, the chemical liquid is sprayed, and a dry body including high pressure clean dried air or nitrogen is sprayed, and the light is ultraviolet (UV) light.

As described above, through the EBR apparatus having a chemical liquid nozzle to which the chemical liquid is injected and a light source unit for irradiating light according to the present invention, after first removing a portion of the edge bead through the chemical liquid, and then secondly irradiated with light By removing the debris edge beads, there is an effect that the edge beads on the substrate can be removed very precisely, thereby preventing the problem of light leakage phenomenon and the like.

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

2 is a flow chart sequentially illustrating a photolithography process of a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, the photolithography process according to the present invention can be largely divided into coating (St20) and exposure (St50), development (St60), edge bead removal (St30, St60) and baking, in particular, baking is prebaking It is divided into (St10), soft baking (St40), hard baking (St70).

First, the first step St10 is pre-baking, in which residual moisture on the substrate on which the thin film is to be deposited is removed. Through this, the adhesion between the PR and the substrate which is subsequently applied on the substrate is improved.

The second step (St20) is a step of applying PR on the substrate. The PR is applied onto the substrate by a spin coating method in which the PR is dropped by dropping the PR on the substrate and rotating the substrate at a high speed. Coating to uniform thickness.

That is, since the PR for RGB pixels supplied to the upper surface of the substrate provided with the black matrix is a fluid having fluidity, the substrate is pushed to the periphery of the substrate by centrifugal force as the substrate rotates at a high speed, and is coated on the substrate with a uniform thickness. .

Here, the spin coating method has an advantage of coating the PR on a substrate with a uniform thickness.

Next, in the third step St30, after the photoresist is applied, a chemical liquid is sprayed on the edge of the substrate to perform an edge blade remove (EBR) process to remove edge beads.

In more detail, in the process of coating the PR for RGB pixels on the substrate through the spin coating method in the above-described second step (St20), a surface tension is applied between the surface of the substrate and the PR to counter the centrifugal force. As a result, PR continues to accumulate at the edge of the substrate.

Thus, the edge portion of the substrate is swollen to form an edge bead. This edge bead will act as a contaminant in a subsequent process, thereby proceeding with its removal process.

EBR process for removing the edge bead is primarily carried out through the EBR device, the EBR device of the present invention consists of a chemical liquid nozzle for injecting the chemical liquid and a light source unit for irradiating light.

Here, the edge beads are partially removed primarily through the chemical liquid.

Next, the fourth step St40 is a soft-baking step, in which a volatile component such as solvent contained in PR is primarily volatilized.

The softbaking step is performed in-line in the air through a substrate heating apparatus such as a hot plate.

Next, the fifth step St50 is an alignment and exposure step of the substrate and the mask, and aligns the substrate and the mask where the soft baking process is completed to the correct alignment position. Subsequently, light is emitted from the light source and an exposure step of transferring the pattern of the mask to the substrate is performed.

The sixth step (St60) is a developing and secondary edge bead removing step, by selectively removing any part of the PR according to the chemical change characteristics of the exposed part and the other part of the PR of the substrate using a predetermined developer solution. A PR pattern having the same shape as that of the mask is constituted.

Next, the edge bead is secondarily removed by irradiating light to the edge beads partially removed at the third step St30 through the light source unit of the EBR apparatus on the edge of the substrate.

At this time, the edge bead is completely removed.

The seventh step (St70) is a hard-baking step. In order to completely remove volatile components such as residual solvent in the PR pattern, a predetermined temperature is applied to the entire substrate. This ensures densification and uniformity of the PR pattern.

As described above, the substrate on which the photolithography process is completed is exposed to a selected portion of the thin film by the PR pattern, and the target thin film pattern is removed by removing the exposed portion of the thin film through an etching step (St80), which is a subsequent step, and cleaning the residual PR. You get

In the process of removing the edge bead of the edge of the substrate of the third step (St30) and the sixth step (St60) described above, the conventional chemical liquid injection pressure was not precisely controlled, causing various types of defects in the substrate, The present invention is to prevent the above problems occur through the EBR device equipped with the EBR nozzle and the light source unit at the same time.

That is, the EBR device of the present invention prevents problems such as light leakage phenomenon while removing edge beads on the substrate with high precision.

3 is a view schematically showing an EBR device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, the EBR device 200 includes a chemical liquid unit 220 and a light source unit 230, and the chemical liquid unit 220 and the light source unit 230 transmit and receive data through a control unit (not shown). It has a structure to do it.

In this case, the chemical liquid unit 220 and the light source unit 230 may be configured separately, or may constitute one EBR device 200 in which the chemical liquid unit 220 and the light source unit 230 are combined. In addition, the EBR device 200 may be attached to the PR 100 coating device (not shown) in the track device (not shown).

Hereinafter, the chemical liquid unit 220 and the light source unit 230 will be described as an example of the EBR device 200 of the combined form.

The EBR apparatus 200 includes a stage 210 on which a substrate S having an edge bead 300 is formed at an edge portion thereof, and a chemical liquid unit 220 for discharging the chemical liquid onto the substrate S.

The EBR device 200 includes a stage 210 on which the substrate S is placed, and a rotation shaft 211 that supports the stage 210 and connects with a rotating means for rotating the stage 210. When the substrate S is raised on the stage 210, the substrate S is rotated through the rotating shaft 211 of the stage 210 to provide the centrifugal force to the substrate S.

Here, the edge bead 300 is a PR (100) material, a photosensitive polymer material in which crosslinking occurs when light is irradiated, so that insolubilization or solubilization occurs. In other words, the edge bead 300 is a hydrophobic organic material. It will change the solubility. PR is generally composed of a mixture of a resin made of a polymer, a photosensitive generator, and other additives. In this embodiment, it is applied to the case where the positive PR 100 is coated, in which case the irradiated portion of the positive PR 100 is in a state in which it can be dissolved by the developer.

The PR 100 is coated on the substrate S by a spin coating method, which is a second step (St20) of the photolithography process mentioned above, after the film formation process, that is, the deposition process, is performed. At the edge of the bead is formed.

Here, the size of the stage 210 is preferably smaller than that of the substrate S. This is to expose the upper and lower outer surfaces of the edge portion of the substrate S on which the edge beads 300 are formed.

In addition, a chemical solution unit 220 is provided to surround edges of the upper and lower outer surfaces of the substrate S. The chemical solution unit 220 includes a chemical liquid nozzle 221 for injecting the chemical liquid and a chemical liquid sprayed from the chemical liquid nozzle 221. It consists of a gas nozzle 223 for controlling the injection angle, the chemical liquid nozzle 221 and the chemical liquid nozzle support portion 225 for supporting the gas nozzle 223.

Here, the chemical liquid nozzle 221 is provided so that the chemical liquid is injected toward the edge of the substrate (S), the gas nozzle 223 is a high pressure clean dried air (dry dried air) or nitrogen, such as a spraying chemical liquid nozzle The 221 and the gas nozzle 223 are disposed above and below both edges of the substrate S to clean the upper and lower portions of the edge portion of the substrate S.

At this time, the chemical liquid nozzle 221 is preferably directed to the edge direction in order to push the mixture of the edge bead 300 and the chemical liquid dissolved toward the edge of the substrate (S).

On the other hand, when the substrate S is a circular substrate rather than a circular substrate, for example, a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display device, the reciprocation of the chemical liquid nozzle 221 and the chemical liquid nozzle support unit 225 rather than the rotation of the substrate S by the rotating shaft 211. It is more preferable to remove the edge bead 300 on the substrate S by the movement.

The chemical liquid nozzle support unit 225 of the chemical liquid unit 220 has a catch cup form for discharging the edge bead 300 dissolved by the chemical liquid injected from the chemical liquid nozzle 221 to the outside.

At this time, although not shown, the EBR device 200 includes a driving unit and a control unit including a motor for driving the chemical liquid nozzle support unit 225 separately from the outside, and a chemical liquid storage unit for storing the chemical liquid, and a chemical liquid nozzle 221. ) Is connected through the chemical storage unit and the chemical liquid supply passage, and receives the chemical liquid.

At this time, although not shown in the drawings, the chemical liquid storage unit may be provided with at least one canister for storing the chemical liquid, and a pressure feeding means such as a syringe pump for supplying the chemical liquid of the chemical liquid storage unit to the chemical liquid nozzle 221 is provided. Can be.

And, the chemical liquid supply path may be used as a connector for delivering the chemical liquid supplied from the chemical storage unit to the chemical liquid nozzle 221.

In particular, the EBR device 200 of the present invention is characterized in that it further comprises a light source unit 230 on one side of the chemical liquid nozzle (221). By performing edge exposure of the substrate S through the light source unit 230, the remaining edge beads 300 may be removed.

Here, the light source unit 230 is a device capable of exposing the edge bead 300 of the PR (100) material, using the principle of the exposure apparatus as it is, the light source unit 230 is a lamp-based exposure according to the type of light source The apparatus is classified into a laser exposure apparatus and an EUV exposure apparatus. In this embodiment, the edge bead 300 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays through an ultraviolet (UV) LED emitting ultraviolet (UV) light. Allow it to dissolve and be removed.

The light source unit 230 is formed of an ultraviolet (UV) LED, which is a light source for selectively exposing only the edge region of the substrate S, and is mounted on the chemical liquid nozzle support 225.

The light source unit 230 may be positioned in the standby area and installed in a configuration close to the edge of the substrate S in a step in which edge exposure of the substrate S is performed. Therefore, it may have a structure that is located outside the chemical liquid nozzle support 225 and moves on the substrate (S).

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the removal of the remaining edge beads 230 using the light source unit 230 is described as proceeding in the sixth step St60 of the photolithography process in which the PR 100 is exposed and developed. The edge bead 300 exposure process through the unit 230 is performed in the edge blade remove (EBR) process of the third step (St30) of the photolithography process, the edge bead 300 by the chemical liquid through the chemical liquid nozzle 221 It is also possible to proceed after some dissolution.

4 is a flowchart of an edge bead removal method according to the present invention, and with reference to FIG. 3, an edge bead removal method according to the present invention will be described.

5A to 5C are cross-sectional views schematically illustrating the appearance of edge beads on a substrate.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first step St110 positions the substrate S coated with the PR 100 onto the stage (210 in FIG. 3) of the EBR apparatus (200 in FIG. 3).

Here, the size of the substrate S is larger than that of the stage (210 in FIG. 3), and the edge portion B of the substrate S is exposed to the outside of the stage (210 in FIG. 3).

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5A, the PR 100 is coated over the entire area of the substrate S, and the edge bead 300 is formed on the edge portion B. As shown in FIG.

Next, the second step (St120) is sprayed with the chemical liquid on the upper and lower portions of the substrate S through the chemical liquid nozzle (221 of FIG. 3) of the EBR apparatus (200 of FIG. Remove it.

At this time, while spraying the chemical liquid through the chemical liquid nozzle (221 of Figure 3) and at the same time to spray a dry gas such as high pressure clean dried air (clean dried air) or nitrogen through the gas nozzle (223 of Figure 3), the gas nozzle ( The injection angle of the chemical liquid sprayed through the chemical liquid nozzle 221 of FIG. 3 is adjusted through the dry body sprayed through 223 of FIG. 3.

On the other hand, when the substrate S is a glass substrate of the liquid crystal display device, the chemical liquid nozzle support part 225 of FIG. 3 does not rotate the stage (210 of FIG. 3) and the longitudinal direction B of the substrate S does not rotate. It is preferable to spray the chemical liquid to the edge portion (B) of the substrate (S) while sliding reciprocating along.

In this case, the chemical liquid sprayed through the chemical liquid nozzle 221 of FIG. 3 is not sprayed to the boundary between the region A in which the pattern of the substrate S is formed and the edge portion B in which the edge bead 300 is formed. It is done. This is an example of the region A in which the pattern on the substrate S is formed by the chemical liquid injection pressure, which is difficult to precisely control. For example, the chemical liquid penetrates to the region in which the color filter or the black matrix pattern (not shown) on the substrate S is formed. It is to prevent.

FIG. 5B is a view schematically illustrating a region A on which a pattern is formed on the substrate S and an edge portion B on which an edge bead 300 is formed. As illustrated, the chemical liquid nozzle 221 of FIG. 3 is illustrated. The chemical liquid sprayed through is not sprayed to the boundary between the region A on which the pattern of the substrate S is formed and the edge portion B on which the edge bead 300 is formed, so that the pattern region A and the edge bead 300 are formed. The edge bead 300 remains on the boundary of the edge (B) is formed.

Next, in a third step St130, light is emitted from the light source (not shown) to the substrate S from which the edge bead 300 is first removed, thereby transferring the pattern of the mask (not shown) to the substrate S. FIG. The exposure process is performed.

Then, ultraviolet rays are irradiated onto and under the substrate S through the light source unit 230 of the EBR apparatus 200 of FIG. 3 on the substrate S on which the exposure process is performed in the fourth step St140. do.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 5C, residues remaining on the boundary between the region A where the pattern of the substrate S is not removed in the second step St120 and the edge B where the edge bead 300 is formed are formed. The edge bead 300 is completely removed.

As described above, the present invention provides a spin coating method through an EBR apparatus (200 of FIG. 3) having a chemical liquid nozzle (221 of FIG. 3) and a light source unit (230 of FIG. 3) for irradiating light. By removing the edge bead 230 generated in the process of coating the PR (100) on the substrate (S) through the second time, the light leakage phenomenon at the same time to remove the edge bead 230 on the substrate (S) very precisely It is possible to prevent the problem from occurring.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 is a view conceptually showing a state in which edge beads are formed.

2 is a flow chart showing in sequence the photolithography process of the substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view schematically showing an EBR device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flow chart of an edge bead removal method in accordance with the present invention.

5A-5C are cross-sectional views schematically illustrating the appearance of edge beads on a substrate.

Claims (10)

A stage on which the substrate is seated; A chemical liquid nozzle for injecting the chemical liquid onto the stage; A chemical liquid nozzle support unit for supporting the chemical liquid nozzle; The light source unit is provided in the chemical nozzle support unit and irradiates light onto the stage. And the chemical liquid and the light are sprayed and irradiated onto upper and lower outer surfaces of the edge portion of the substrate, respectively. The method of claim 1, And the light source unit is an ultraviolet (UV) LED emitting ultraviolet (UV) light. The method of claim 1, And said stage is less than the size of said substrate. The method of claim 1, One side of the chemical liquid nozzle is the edge bead removal device of the substrate which is further provided with a gas nozzle for injecting gas. The method of claim 4, wherein The gas is a device for removing the edge bead of a dry chain substrate containing high pressure clean dried air or nitrogen. The method of claim 1, The stage is the edge bead removal device of the rotating substrate. The method of claim 1, And the chemical liquid nozzle support part slides reciprocally along an edge of the substrate. Spraying a chemical solution on a substrate having edge beads of positive photoresist material formed at an edge thereof to remove a portion of the edge beads; Irradiating the edge with light to remove residual edge beads Edge bead removal method of the substrate comprising a. The method of claim 8, At the same time as the injection of the chemical liquid, the edge bead removal method of the substrate for injecting a dry body containing a high-pressure clean dried air or nitrogen. The method of claim 8, And the light is ultraviolet (UV) light.

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