TWI395655B - Microstructure forming device and method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Microstructure forming device and method thereof

The present invention relates to a microstructure forming apparatus and method thereof, and more particularly to a technical field in which a microstructure can be accurately and precisely formed on a substrate.

In recent years, as the demand for LCD screens or LCD TVs has greatly increased, the demand for the production and manufacturing technology of light guide panels has increased. Generally, in order to improve the light guiding efficiency of the light guide plate and reduce the production cost, the light guide plate is formed by using an injection method to form a microstructure on the light guide plate.

However, when the microstructure is formed by the injection method, it is limited by the molding technique, and when the microstructure is smaller (less than 0.8 μm), the injection yield is drastically lowered. In addition, when the size of the light guide plate is larger, the light guide plate is deformed and bent by the gravity, so that the precision of the microstructure on the light guide plate is insufficient, and the light guide plate cannot exert the effect of ideal homogenization.

In addition, there are also attempts in the industry to fabricate microstructures using the method of Hot Embossing. Micro-thermal embossing is an important micro-structure replication molding technology in the field of MEMS manufacturing. It uses the microstructure on the electroformed nickel stencil to be copied to the embossed label to be finished to complete the high precision and high quality MEMS. Finished product manufacturing.

The conventional micro-hot stamping technique is to heat and pressurize by a platen structure. The pressure plate itself has a heating and cooling function, which is also called a hot plate. After the heater or the heating pipe in the pressure plate is heated, the whole heat plate is heated, and then the heat is transferred to the mold and the plastic on the pressure plate. In order to achieve a softening temperature of the plastic, the imprint can be performed. In the cooling phase, the cold fluid is introduced through the cooling pipe in the pressure plate, and the entire pressure plate is cooled first to cool the object to be embossed. The heating and cooling method of the plate-type hot plate requires heating and cooling the whole heat plate, and each cycle is about It takes tens of minutes to several hours to process, and the process is time consuming and wastes energy.

In addition, when the hot stamping method performs hot stamping, the embossing force is small near the edge of the platen due to the large embossing force in the middle of the platen. Therefore, in the implementation of the micro-thermal imprinting method, Silicone Rubber is usually used as a mold cushioning pad to make the mold and the object to be imprinted closely adhere to each other to alleviate the influence of uneven pressure and uniformity. . However, the silicone sheet is easily stretched and deformed, and is limited by the stretch property of the solid material itself, and the stamping force cannot reach an ideal uniform distribution state. In the filling stage, uneven distribution of the embossing force leads to uneven shrinkage of the plastic, which seriously affects the size of the finished microstructure after replication.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microstructure forming apparatus and method thereof for solving the problems of conventional molding microstructure inhomogeneous molding or forming time being too slow.

According to the purpose of the present invention, a microstructure forming apparatus is provided, comprising a driving module, a template and a heating module. The driving module has a body and a film body, and the body and the film body define an accommodating space. The template has a microstructure and the microstructure is disposed on one side of the template. The heating module heats a substrate. Wherein, when the substrate is heated to a plastic state by the heating module, a fluid is filled into the accommodating space to drive the film body to move, so that the film body drives the stencil imprinting substrate to form the microstructure onto the substrate.

According to another object of the present invention, a microstructure forming method is proposed comprising the following steps. First, a heating device and a template are provided, the template having a microstructure. Next, a substrate is heated to heat the substrate to a moldable state. Then, the driving module has an accommodating space and a film body, and the accommodating space communicates with the film body. Then, a gas is filled into the accommodating space to drive the film body to drive the template to move. Finally, the microstructure is embossed to the substrate.

According to the present invention, the microstructure forming apparatus and the method thereof can be filled with a fluid to drive the film body to expand outward to uniformly and precisely drive the movement of the template, so that the microstructure is uniformly imprinted on the light guide plate, and Achieve fast and uniform molding.

11‧‧‧Drive Module

110‧‧‧ body

111‧‧‧ accommodating space

112‧‧‧membrane body

113‧‧‧ thermostat

12‧‧‧ Template

121,161‧‧‧Microstructure

13‧‧‧ frame

131‧‧‧ Holes

14‧‧‧heating module

15‧‧‧ fluid

16‧‧‧Light guide

S11~S18‧‧‧Step process

1 is a first schematic view of a microstructure forming apparatus of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a second schematic view of the microstructure forming apparatus of the present invention, illustrating that the substrate is softened to a plastic state by a heating device; The third schematic view of the microstructure forming apparatus of the present invention is to explain that the template imprinting microstructure is pushed onto the substrate by expanding the expanded film body by filling the fluid into the accommodating space; FIG. 4 is the present invention. The fourth schematic diagram of the microstructure forming apparatus is characterized in that a gas is blown from the tunnel of the frame to assist in separating the substrate and the film body; and FIG. 5 is a fifth schematic view of the microstructure forming apparatus of the present invention, which illustrates the substrate borrowing The embossed microstructure is formed; and the sixth diagram is a flow chart of the steps of the microstructure forming method of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , which are respectively a first schematic diagram, a second schematic diagram and a third schematic diagram of the microstructure forming apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, the microstructure forming device comprises two driving modules 11 , two templates 12 , two frames 13 and two heating modules 14 .

The driving module 11 has a body 110, a film body 112 and a plurality of thermostats 113. The membrane body 112 can be an Elastic body made of a material such as silicone rubber, and defines an accommodating space 111 with the body 110, which is a pressure chamber, and the membrane body 112 can be expanded by pressure. External expansion, and after the pressure is released, it can return to the original position due to the elastic restoring force. The thermostats 113 are spaced apart from the drive module 11 to maintain the operating temperature of the fluid 15 and the substrate. In this embodiment, the substrate may be implemented by the light guide plate 16, but is not limited thereto.

The template 12 can be fabricated by precision electroforming, and the template 12 has a microstructure 121 on one side thereof, and the microstructure 121 can be imprinted in a transfer-copy manner. The frame 13 can be a vacuum frame and disposed between the driving modules 11 and has a plurality of holes 131 for clamping the light guide plate 16 . Among them, the tunnel 131 A gas is blown from the outside to the light guide plate 16 and the template 12. The heating modules 14 are respectively disposed on both sides of the light guide plate 16 for heating the light guide plate 16. When the microstructure 121 is embossed on the light guide plate 16, the light guide plate 16 is first heated by the heating module 14, so that the light guide plate 16 is softened to a plastic state.

Then, the driving modules 11 are respectively pressed on both sides of the light guide plate 16 to bring the template 12 into contact with the light guide plate 16. Then, the air in the frame 13 is pulled out to form a pressure difference between the light guide plate structure forming device and the outside, so that the light guide plate 16 and the driving module 11 are in close contact due to the airtight principle. Then, the high pressure fluid 15 is filled into the accommodating space 111. Since the accommodating space 111 communicates with the film body 112, the film body 112 is externally expanded by the pressure of the fluid 15 to push the template 12 to be displaced toward the light guide plate 16. Next, the displaced template 12 imprints the microstructures 121 onto the light guide plate 16 to form a microstructure 161 on both sides of the light guide plate 16 respectively. Since the fluid 15 filled in the accommodating space 111 can maintain the equal pressure in all directions to maintain the accommodating space 111 in the pressure equalizing state, the film body 112 is evenly pressed to accurately push the displacement of the template 12, so that the template 12 is slightly The structure 121 can be accurately formed and replicated on the light guide plate 16. In addition, when the frame 13 and the driving module 11 are imprinted on the light guide plate 16, since the two are held at a fixed position, a limited space can be formed therein to limit the deformation amount of the film body 112, and the film body 112 can be prevented from being Cracked when pressurized.

Please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , which are respectively a fourth schematic diagram and a fifth schematic diagram of the microstructure of the present invention. Then, the fluid in the accommodating space 111 is removed and released, so that the film body 112 is pushed by the high-pressure external force and can be moved and reset by the elastic restoring force. Finally, a gas flow is blown to the tunnel of the frame 13, and a gas is blown between the mold body 112 and the light guide plate 16 to assist the separation of the film body 112 and the light guide plate 16.

Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a microstructure forming method of the present invention, comprising the following steps: Step S11: providing a heating device and a template, the template has a microstructure; Step S12: heating a substrate to base the substrate The material is heated to a plastic state; step S13: the substrate has a housing space and a driving module, and the driving module has a receiving space and a film body, and the receiving space is in communication with the film body; Step S14: extracting the air in the frame to close the substrate and the film body of the driving module; Step S15: filling a high-pressure fluid to the accommodating space to drive the film body to move the template; Step S16: embossing the microstructure To the substrate, the substrate is shaped into the microstructure; step S17: removing the fluid in the accommodating space to release the pressure of the accommodating space to reset the film body; and step S18: blowing a gas to the hole of the frame to The auxiliary substrate and the template are separated from each other.

Wherein, in the above microstructure forming method, the fluid may be implemented by water, oil, air or nitrogen, and the heating module may be implemented by a far infrared device, a high frequency device, a halogen lamp or a hot air device, and the substrate may be implemented by a light guide plate, but Not limited to this.

In summary, the micro-structure forming apparatus and the method of the present invention have the effect of uniformly filling the template by filling the fluid to the accommodating space, so that the microstructure can be accurately and precisely formed on the light guide plate, so that the processing precision is good. The rate can be better than the conventional injection molding method.

Another effect of the microstructure forming apparatus and method of the present invention is that the microstructure can be quickly formed by setting a thermostat to maintain the operating temperature of the fluid and the light guide plate, avoiding replacement of the light guide plate or filling.

The above is intended to be illustrative only and not limiting. Any equivalent modifications or alterations to the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included in the scope of the appended claims.

11‧‧‧Drive Module

110‧‧‧ body

111‧‧‧ accommodating space

112‧‧‧membrane body

113‧‧‧ thermostat

12‧‧‧ Template

121‧‧‧Microstructure

13‧‧‧ frame

131‧‧‧ Holes

16‧‧‧Light guide

Claims (10)

A microstructure forming apparatus comprising: a driving module having a body and a film body, the body and the film system defining an accommodating space; a template having a microstructure, the microstructure being disposed on the template And a heating module for heating a substrate; wherein when the substrate is heated to a plastic state by the heating module, a fluid is filled into the accommodating space to drive the film body to move The film body drives the template to imprint the substrate to form the microstructure onto the substrate; wherein the microstructure forming device further has a frame, the frame system is in close contact with the film body and the substrate. And the frame body further has a hole for guiding a gas to the substrate and the template. The microstructure forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driving module further comprises a plurality of thermostats, wherein the plurality of thermostats maintain the operating temperature of the fluid and the substrate. The microstructure forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flow system is water, oil, air or nitrogen. The microstructure forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating module is a far infrared ray device, a high frequency device, a halogen lamp or a hot air device. The microstructure forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate is formed by embossing the microstructure to form a light guide plate. A microstructure forming method comprising the steps of: providing a heating device and a template, the template having a microstructure; heating a substrate to heat the light guide plate to a moldable state; and sealing the substrate by a frame And a driving module, the driving module has a receiving space and a film body; filling a high-pressure fluid to the receiving space to drive the film body to move the template; and imprinting the microstructure to the substrate After the microstructure is embossed to the light guide plate, a gas is blown to the hole of the frame to assist the light guide plate and the template to be separated from each other. The microstructure forming method of claim 6, wherein the light guide plate and the driving module are adhered by pulling air from the frame. The microstructure forming method of claim 6, wherein a plurality of thermostats are disposed in the driving module to maintain an operating temperature of the fluid and the light guide plate. The microstructure forming method of claim 6, wherein the flow system is water, oil, air or nitrogen. The microstructure forming method according to claim 6, wherein the heating module is a far infrared device, a high frequency device, a halogen lamp or a hot air device.