TWI471277B - Scribe device - Google Patents

Description

Scratch line device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a scoring line device, and more particularly to a scoring line device for forming a plurality of scribe lines on a substrate of a brittle material as a workpiece.

For example, in the case of dividing a glass substrate, a blade of a tool such as a cutter wheel is pressure-bonded to the glass substrate, and the blade is moved along a line to be scored, thereby forming a score line. Next, a predetermined force is applied to the glass substrate along the score line, and the glass substrate is divided.

For the division of the glass substrate as described above, for example, the scribe line device shown in Patent Document 1 is used. The device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is, for example, a device for dividing an LCD substrate to which two glass substrates are bonded, and the device includes two scribe heads and a holding and transporting means. The two scribing heads are provided to face each other up and down in order to respectively scribe the surface and the back surface of the substrate. Further, the transport means is to transport the substrate between the two scribing heads.

In the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, there are cases where a scribe line is formed at the same position of the upper and lower glass substrates, and a scribe line is formed at different positions of the upper and lower glass substrates.

In the case where the scribe line is formed at the same position on the upper and lower glass substrates, the scribing head to which the cutter wheel is attached is pressed to each of the two glass substrates from above and below, and a scribe line is formed.

On the other hand, scribes at different positions on the upper and lower glass substrates In the case of a wire, a bridge having a scribing head attached thereto is moved, and a scribe line is formed at different positions on the surface and the back surface of the substrate by the upper and lower scribing heads.

Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a substrate dividing method for the purpose of shortening the processing time. Here, when a plurality of unit substrates are cut out from the mother substrate, the scribing head is moved in a stroke so as not to interrupt the pressing of the cutter wheel to the substrate.

[Previous Technical Literature] (Patent Literature)

Patent Document 1: WO 02/057192 A1

Patent Document 2: WO 2005/113212 A1

In the conventional scribe line device shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the moving direction of the scribe head is changed, it is necessary to smoothly follow the changed moving direction of the cutter wheel. Therefore, the jig to which the cutter wheel is mounted is supported to be rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the substrate with respect to the jig holding member.

On the other hand, especially in the case where the cross section divided by the scribe line is exposed as a cross section of the product, it is necessary to avoid the bending of the processed scribe line. In order to avoid bending of the score line, it is preferable that the rotation of the jig to which the cutter wheel is mounted is restricted.

An object of the present invention is to provide a scoring line device which can form a score line using an appropriate scribing head according to the type of scribing.

The scribe line device according to the first aspect of the invention is a device for forming a plurality of scribe lines on a brittle material substrate as a workpiece, and includes a first scribe line and a first scribe line formed on a brittle material substrate. a first scribe line unit; and a second scribe line unit having a second scribe line and forming a second scribe line on the brittle material substrate. The first scribing head has a first jig holding member and a first jig that can be attached to a cutter at the tip end and that is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the first jig holding member. The second scribing head has a second jig holding member and a second jig that can be attached to the tip end and that is restricted in rotation about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the second jig holding member.

Here, when the scribe line is formed by changing the moving direction of the scribe head, the first jig to which the cutter is attached can be smoothly formed following the operation of the first scribe head by using the first scribe line unit. Scribing. Further, in the case of forming a straight scribe line, by using the second scribe line, the rotation of the second jig to which the cutter is attached is restricted, and the scribe line in which the bending is suppressed can be formed.

In the device according to the first aspect of the invention, the first scribe line unit and the second scribe line unit further include a posture changing means for changing the posture of the brittle material substrate.

For example, in the case where the brittle material substrate forms the scribe lines in the x direction and the y direction orthogonal to each other, after the scribe line in the x direction is formed by the first scribe line unit, the brittle material substrate is placed in the posture changing means. Rotate 90 degrees on the table surface. Next, a scribe line in the y direction is formed in the second scribe line unit. Therefore, the processing can be performed efficiently.

In the apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the invention, the first scribing unit further includes a third surface that is disposed opposite to the first scribing head via the processed brittle material substrate. Dash head. Further, the third scribing head has a third jig holding member and a third jig that can be attached to the tip end and that is restricted in rotation about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the third jig holding member; The brittle material substrate forms a third scribe line.

Here, in the first scribe line unit, scribe lines can be formed on both surfaces of the substrate. At this time, the scribe line whose direction of movement of the scribe head is changed can be smoothly formed on one surface of the substrate, and a straight scribe line whose curvature is suppressed can be formed on the other surface of the substrate.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the apparatus of the first aspect of the invention, the second scribe line unit further includes: a fourth scribe line disposed opposite to the second scribe line via the processed brittle material substrate; head. Further, the fourth scribing head has a fourth jig holding member and a fourth jig that can be attached to the tip end and that is restricted in rotation about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the fourth jig holding member; The brittle material substrate forms a fourth scribe line.

Here, it is possible to form a scribe line of a straight line whose curvature is suppressed in the front and back of the substrate, and it is possible to effectively form a scribe line of stable quality.

As described above, the present invention can form a score line using a suitable scribing head according to the type of underline.

Hereinafter, scribing when dividing the mother substrate for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel The trace device is described as an example.

[workpiece]

First, the workpiece to be processed will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the mother substrate MG for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel is attached to two substrates G1 and G2 (see FIG. 2) in which a pattern P of a plurality of unit display panels (unit substrates) is formed. Combined to form. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a first substrate (also referred to as a CF side substrate) G1 in which a plurality of color filters are formed, and a second substrate on which a plurality of TFTs and terminal regions are formed are formed. (also referred to as a TFT substrate) The G2 is sandwiched and sealed with a liquid crystal sealing material. Here, the terminal region T of the second substrate G2 (in the enlarged view of FIG. 1 , a part of the terminal is shown by a virtual line) is a region where the signal line is connected between the internal TFT and the external device, and therefore it is necessary to The final stage of the segmentation is exposed to the outside.

On the other hand, unlike the sealing material in which the liquid crystal is sealed between the two substrates G1 and G2, the outer sealing member 1 is further provided on the outer peripheral edge portion of the mother substrate MG. The outer seal 1 is a seal for adhering the two substrates G1 and G2 so as not to scatter the debris generated when the mother substrate MG is divided.

When the mother substrate MG is scored in the x direction, as shown in Fig. 1, the electrode terminal 2 formed on the lower TFT substrate G2 must be exposed. In addition, in the first figure, the solid line S1 is a score line formed by the upper cutter, and the broken line S2 is a score line formed by the lower cutter. Therefore, there is a need for a score line which makes the position of the scribe line S1 of the CF substrate G1 and the scribe line S2 of the TFT substrate G2 slightly different from the terminal size. However, even in the case where the scribe lines are staggered, from the end of the mother substrate MG to the outside At the inner end of the seal 1, the upper and lower scribe lines S1, S2 must still be aligned to scribe. As shown in Fig. 2 (a) and (b), it is assumed that the outer sealing member 1 is not aligned with the upper and lower scribe lines S1, S2 from the end portion of the mother substrate MG to the outer seal member 1. It will remain between the two substrates G1 and G2. As a result, in the portion where the external seal 1 remains, the CF substrate G1 and the TFT substrate G2 are still in contact with each other, and the terminal portion cannot be exposed. Therefore, as described above, at the inner end from the end of the mother substrate MG to the outer seal 1, the upper and lower scribe lines S1, S2 must be aligned to scribe, and then the upper and lower scribe lines S1. S2 staggered. Further, Fig. 2(b) is an A-direction view of the figure (a).

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper and lower scribe lines S3 and S4 when the scribe line is scribed in the y direction are the cross-sections of the finished product of the unit substrate P from the starting point of the scribe line. Therefore, in order to control the division surface, Deterioration of quality must avoid bending at the score line.

[The overall composition of the scribe line device]

The scribe line device of the present embodiment is a device for forming the scribe lines S1 to S4 on the workpiece as described above, and dividing into a plurality of unit substrates P, and the overall configuration is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 is a schematic plan view showing the entire display device, and Fig. 5 is a front view showing a part of the schematic display device.

As shown in FIG. 4, the scribe line device 10 mainly includes a first scribe line unit 11, two second scribe line units 12, and a substrate posture changing device 13. Further, a transport mechanism (not shown) for transporting the substrate between the devices is provided. The standby table 15 is provided on the upstream side in the transport direction of the first scribing unit 11. Moreover, the upstream side of the conveyance direction of the substrate posture changing device 13 and The stages 16 and 17 for posture change are provided on the downstream side. Further, in this embodiment, two rows of processing lines are disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction of the substrate posture changing device 13, but one line of processing lines may be disposed. In the case of processing a production line in one line, a second scribing unit 12 is provided.

The first scribe line unit 11 is a scribe line in the x direction with respect to the mother substrate MG that has been carried in. Further, the second scribe line unit 12 is a scribe line in the y direction for the substrate on which the scribe line and the division process in the x direction are performed.

As shown in Fig. 5, each of the scribing units 11 and 12 is provided with a pair of scribing heads SH facing each other with the substrate interposed therebetween (only the scissor wheel constituting the scribing head is shown in Fig. 5). In addition, the details of the scribing head SH will be described later. In the present apparatus, by using the upper and lower scribing heads SH, the scribe lines are simultaneously formed on the upper and lower substrates, so that it is not necessary to perform a break step as a separate step to divide the substrate. Fig. 5(a) is a view schematically showing a scribing process, and Fig. 5(b) is a view showing a divided substrate. With such a device configuration, there is no need for an inversion step for forming a score line in the surface of the substrate, and a step of breaking after forming the score line.

[scribe head]

In the present device, two scribing heads are provided in each of the first and second scribing units 11 and 12. The configuration of each scribing head is as described later, and although the jig to which the cutter wheel is attached is free to rotate or the rotation of the jig is restricted, the other configurations are the same. Hereinafter, the basic configuration of the scribing head will be described based on Figs. 6 to 8 .

The scribing head 20 is used to form the scribe lines S1 to S4 on the mother substrate MG, and can be guided along the guide bars 11a and 12a provided in the scribing line device 10 (refer to Figure 4) Moving in the horizontal direction. The scribing head 20 includes a base member 21 in which a mechanism (not shown) such as a motor assembly or a ball screw is disposed, and a pressing motor 22 mounted on the upper portion of the base member 21 a clamp holding member 23; and a king pin assembly 25 having a clamp 24.

<Jig holding member>

As shown in FIG. 7, the jig holding member 23 has a cylindrical member 28, a collar 29 inserted into the inner surface of the cylindrical member 28, and a head cover 30. The cylindrical member 28 is supported below the base member 21. The top cover 30 has a through hole at a central portion and is fixed to a lower end of the cylindrical member 28.

<fixture>

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the jig 24 is provided as one of the constituent members of the center pin assembly 25. That is, the center pin assembly 25 has the jig 24, the upper and lower bearings 32, 33, the spacer 34, the bearing cap 35, and the support member 36.

The jig 24 has a rod portion 24a extending in the vertical direction and a cutter holding portion 24b provided at the front end of the rod portion 24a. A coupling 40 is attached to the upper end of the rod portion 24a through the bolt 41. The coupler 40 is connectable to a motor assembly for rotation provided inside the base member 21, and the clamp 24 can be rotated within a predetermined angular range. As shown in Fig. 7, the cutter holding portion 24b is formed in a side view, and the front end portion is formed in a triangular shape. Further, as shown in Fig. 8, a slit 24c having a predetermined length is formed from the lower end portion of the cutter holding portion 24b. At the lower end of the slit 24c A cutter wheel 42 is mounted.

As shown in Fig. 7, the mounting center C1 of the cutter wheel 42 is offset from the center C2 of the rod portion 24a of the jig 24 by a distance δ as viewed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the scribing head. With this offset δ, when the moving direction of the scribing head 20 is changed, the jig 24 is rotated. Further, as shown in Fig. 8, the center of the cutter wheel 42 coincides with the center of the rod portion 24a of the jig 24 as viewed in the direction along the moving direction of the scribing head 20.

The upper and lower bearings 32 and 33 are rotatably supported by the clamp 24 with respect to the clamp support member 23. The spacer 34 is disposed between the upper and lower bearings 32, 33, the upper end abuts against the inner ring of the upper bearing 32, and the lower end abuts against the inner ring of the lower bearing 33.

The bearing cap 35 is a substantially cylindrical member and has a fixing portion 35a and a dust seal portion 35b. The fixing portion 35a is fixed to the lower end portion of the rod portion 24a so as not to be relatively rotatable. Further, a rotation restricting hole 35c penetrating in the radial direction is formed in a substantially intermediate portion in the lower direction of the fixing portion 35a. The dust seal portion 35b has an annular lip portion that extends outward in the radial direction from the lower end portion of the fixing portion 35a and protrudes upward.

The support member 36 is a cylindrical member disposed on the outer peripheral portion of the bearing cap 35. The outer peripheral surface of the support member 36 is pressed into the inner peripheral surface of the top cover 30 of the jig holding member 23. Further, a gap is provided between the inner circumferential surface of the support member 36 and the outer circumferential surface of the bearing cap 35. Further, the top cover 30 is provided with a pin 43 penetrating in the radial direction of the top cover 30. The front end of the plug 43 is pressed against the circumferential groove 36a formed on the outer peripheral surface of the support member 36 by the screw member 44. Thereby, the support member 36 can be prevented from falling from the top cover 30. also, A gap is provided between the inner circumferential surface of the support member 36 and the outer circumferential surface of the bearing cap 35.

At a substantially intermediate portion in the lower direction of the support member 36, a screw hole penetrating in the radial direction is formed at a position corresponding to the hole 35c of the bearing cap 35. A screw member 45 is attached to the screw hole. The front end of the screw member 45 is extended into the hole 35c of the bearing cap 35. Further, the inner diameter of the hole 35c is larger than the outer diameter of the screw member 45, and the bearing cap 35 and the jig 24 are rotatable relative to the support member 36 by an angle corresponding to the difference in the diameters.

An annular groove is formed in the lower end surface of the support member 36. An end portion of the bearing cap 35 is inserted into the annular groove. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the processed piece due to the processing from entering the bearings 32, 33.

<fixing rotation of the fixture>

As apparent from the above description, by attaching the screw member 45 to the support member 36 and inserting the front end of the screw member 45 into the rotation restricting hole 35c of the bearing cover 35, the bearing cover 35 with respect to the support member 36 can be restricted. Rotate. That is, the rotation of the jig 24 relative to the axis of the jig holding member 23 about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece can be restricted. Further, as described above, the inner diameter of the hole 35c is formed to be larger than the outer diameter of the screw member 45 with a gap formed therebetween, so that the jig 24 is rotatable relative to the support member 36 up to the gap size. Angle (preferably below 5°). Hereinafter, the scribe head of the set in this manner is referred to as a "fixed head".

On the other hand, by removing the screw member 45 from the support member 36, the bearing cap 35 can freely rotate relative to the support member 36. That is, with respect to the clamp holding member 23, the clamp 24 can be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece. By rotation. Hereinafter, the scribing head of the apparatus in this manner is referred to as a "rotating head".

[Processing action]

Here, the processing operation when the mother substrate for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel is divided as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described. In this case, the device fixing head is used as a scribing head above the first scribing unit 11, and the rotating head is set as the lower scribing head. Further, a fixed head is provided for each of the scribing heads above and below the second scribing unit 12.

First, the mother substrate MG is carried into the standby table 15 by the transport mechanism. The carried-in mother substrate MG is transported to a table on which the first scribing unit 11 is provided. Here, the mother substrate MG is scribed in the x direction. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 1, the score line S1 is formed by the upper fixed head, and the score line S2 is formed by the lower rotary head. Thereby, the electrode terminal 2 formed on the lower TFT substrate G2 is exposed. Here, since the scribe lines S1 and S2 are simultaneously formed by the upper and lower scribe lines, it is not necessary to perform the breaking step in particular, and the mother substrate MG is divided along the scribe lines S1 and S2 in the x direction.

In the above processing, as shown by the broken line S2 in Fig. 1, the lower rotary head changes direction while moving, but since the clamp 24 is freely rotated with respect to the clamp holding member 23, the clamp 24 is smoothly rotated. And on the one hand, follow the scoring line S2. Further, since the upper fixing head is restricted by the rotation of the jig 24 with respect to the jig holding member 23, the bending of the formed score line 1 can be suppressed. Therefore, deterioration of the cutting quality of the product can be suppressed.

The substrate that has been divided in the x direction by the first scribing unit 11 is transported to the substrate posture changing device 13 . The substrate posture changing device 13 is a base The posture of the plate is rotated by 90 degrees in the horizontal plane, and is transported to a table on which the second scribing unit 12 is provided.

Next, the second scribing unit 12 performs scribing in the y direction. Thereby, the mother substrate MG is divided into the unit substrates P. Here, in the same manner as described above, the scribe lines S3 and S4 can be simultaneously formed by the upper and lower scribe lines, and the unit substrate P can be divided without providing the breaking step.

In the second scribing unit 12, the upper and lower scribe lines S3 and S4 are formed by upper and lower fixed heads, respectively. Here, the cross section of the finished product of the unit substrate P is obtained from the starting point of the scribe lines S3 and S4. However, since the scribe lines S3 and S4 are formed by the fixed head, generation of the scribe lines S3 and S4 can be suppressed. bending.

[feature]

(1) Among the processing steps in which the moving direction of the scribing head must be changed, it is a rotating head in which the device holder is freely rotatable. In the case where it is not necessary to change the moving direction of the scribing head, especially in the case where the scribing line becomes a cross section of the product, it is a fixing head in which the rotation of the device jig is restricted. Therefore, it can be processed by using an appropriate scribing head according to the type of the scribing line.

(2) By attaching or detaching the screw member, the scribing head can be replaced with a fixed type and a rotary type, and the two types of scribing heads can be constructed at low cost.

[Other Embodiments]

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

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a mother substrate for dividing a liquid crystal display panel, but the same can be applied to other brittle materials. The plate is formed with a score line.

In the above embodiment, the case where the upper and lower scribing heads are provided in each scribing unit has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to a device in which the scribing head is provided only in one of the upper and lower sides.

The configuration for restricting the rotation of the jig with respect to the jig holding member is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above embodiment, the screw member is inserted into the through hole, but a bolt may be used instead of the screw member.

1‧‧‧External seals

10‧‧‧Scratch line device

11‧‧‧1st line unit

11a, 12a‧‧‧ Guide

12‧‧‧2nd line unit

13‧‧‧Substrate posture changing device

15‧‧‧Standing workbench

16, 17‧‧‧ Workbench

20, SH‧‧‧ scribing head

21‧‧‧Base member

22‧‧‧Pushing motor

23‧‧‧Clamp holding member

24‧‧‧Clamp

24a‧‧‧ pole

24b‧‧‧Cutter Maintenance Department

24c‧‧‧ slitting

25‧‧‧Center pin assembly

28‧‧‧Cylinder components

29‧‧‧Sleeve

30‧‧‧Top cover

32‧‧‧Upper bearing

33‧‧‧ Lower bearing

34‧‧‧ spacers

35‧‧‧ bearing cap

35a‧‧‧Fixed Department

35b‧‧‧Dust seal

35c‧‧‧Rotation restriction hole

36‧‧‧Support components

40‧‧‧Connector

41‧‧‧ bolt

42‧‧‧Cutter wheel

43‧‧‧Latch

45‧‧‧screw components

G1‧‧‧1st substrate

G2‧‧‧2nd substrate

MG‧‧ mother substrate

P‧‧‧unit substrate

S1, S2, S3, S4‧‧

T‧‧‧Terminal area

δ‧‧‧Offset

Fig. 1 is a view showing an example of a substrate processed by a scribe line device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view showing the scribe line of the scribe line device.

Fig. 3 is a view showing an example of a substrate processed by the scribe line device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic plan view of the scribe line device.

Fig. 5 is a schematic front view of the above-described scoring device.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the scribing head.

Figure 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of the scribing head.

Figure 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of the center pin assembly.

24‧‧‧Clamp

24a‧‧‧ pole

24b‧‧‧Cutter Maintenance Department

24c‧‧‧ slitting

25‧‧‧Center pin assembly

32‧‧‧Upper bearing

33‧‧‧ Lower bearing

34‧‧‧ spacers

35‧‧‧ bearing cap

35a‧‧‧Fixed Department

35b‧‧‧Dust seal

35c‧‧‧Rotation restriction hole

36‧‧‧Support components

40‧‧‧Connector

41‧‧‧ bolt

42‧‧‧Cutter wheel

45‧‧‧screw components

Claims (4)

A scoring device for forming a plurality of scribe lines on a brittle material substrate as a workpiece, comprising: a first scribing unit having a first scribing head; Forming a first scribe line on the brittle material substrate; the first scribe head has a first jig holding member and a cutter attached to the tip end, and is supported to be perpendicular to the workpiece surface with respect to the first jig holding member The first jig that is freely rotatable about the shaft; and the second scribing unit has a second scribing head for forming a second scribe line on the brittle material substrate; the second scribing head has a second jig holding The member and the second jig capable of attaching the cutter to the tip end and being restricted in rotation about the axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the second jig holding member. The scribe line device according to claim 1, wherein the first scribe line unit and the second scribe line unit are provided with a posture changing means for changing a posture of the brittle material substrate. . The scribe line device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first scribe line unit has a first scribe line facing the first scribe line via the processed brittle material substrate a third scribing head disposed, the third scribing head having: a third jig holding member; and a cutter attachable to the tip end, and being rotated about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the third jig holding member The third fixture is limited; and a third scribe line is formed on the brittle material substrate. Such as the scratch line device described in claim 1 of the patent scope, wherein The second scribing unit further includes: a fourth scribing head disposed to face the second scribing head via the processed brittle material substrate, wherein the fourth scribing head has a fourth jig holding member; And a fourth jig capable of mounting a cutter at the front end and being restricted in rotation about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece with respect to the fourth jig holding member; and forming a fourth score line on the brittle material substrate.