Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
  • B41J2/435—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of radiation to a printing material or impression-transfer material
  • B41J2/44—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of radiation to a printing material or impression-transfer material using single radiation source per colour, e.g. lighting beams or shutter arrangements
  • B41J2/445—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of radiation to a printing material or impression-transfer material using single radiation source per colour, e.g. lighting beams or shutter arrangements using liquid crystals
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
  • B41J2/435—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of radiation to a printing material or impression-transfer material
  • B41J2/465—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of radiation to a printing material or impression-transfer material using masks, e.g. light-switching masks
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B26/00—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements
  • G02B26/08—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light
  • G02B26/0816—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light by means of one or more reflecting elements
  • G02B26/0833—Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light using movable or deformable optical elements for controlling the direction of light by means of one or more reflecting elements the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/20—Exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/2051—Exposure without an original mask, e.g. using a programmed deflection of a point source, by scanning, by drawing with a light beam, using an addressed light or corpuscular source
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/20—Exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/2051—Exposure without an original mask, e.g. using a programmed deflection of a point source, by scanning, by drawing with a light beam, using an addressed light or corpuscular source
  • G03F7/2057—Exposure without an original mask, e.g. using a programmed deflection of a point source, by scanning, by drawing with a light beam, using an addressed light or corpuscular source using an addressed light valve, e.g. a liquid crystal device
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/70216—Mask projection systems
  • G03F7/70283—Mask effects on the imaging process
  • G03F7/70291—Addressable masks, e.g. spatial light modulators [SLMs], digital micro-mirror devices [DMDs] or liquid crystal display [LCD] patterning devices
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/70216—Mask projection systems
  • G03F7/70358—Scanning exposure, i.e. relative movement of patterned beam and workpiece during imaging
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/70691—Handling of masks or workpieces
  • G03F7/70791—Large workpieces, e.g. glass substrates for flat panel displays or solar panels
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
  • H04N1/0402—Scanning different formats; Scanning with different densities of dots per unit length, e.g. different numbers of dots per inch (dpi); Conversion of scanning standards
  • H04N1/0408—Different densities of dots per unit length
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
  • H04N1/04—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa
  • H04N1/10—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using flat picture-bearing surfaces
  • H04N1/1008—Scanning arrangements, i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versa using flat picture-bearing surfaces with sub-scanning by translatory movement of the picture-bearing surface

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a drawing apparatus and a drawing method for performing drawing by relatively moving a drawing head having a plurality of drawing elements in a scanning direction of a drawing surface and controlling the drawing elements according to drawing data.
• the DMD is a mirror device in which a number of micromirrors that change the angle of the reflecting surface in response to a control signal are two-dimensionally arranged on a semiconductor substrate such as silicon, and the exposure head equipped with this DMD is placed on the exposure surface. The image can be quickly recorded on the exposure surface by moving in the scanning direction along the line.
• each DMD in which micromirrors are arranged in a lattice shape is arranged to be inclined with respect to the scanning direction.
• the exposure ranges of adjacent DMDs are set to overlap so that the connected parts of DMDs complement each other.
• the ink is directed toward the drawing surface.
• DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
• An object of the present invention is to provide a drawing apparatus capable of extremely easily avoiding the occurrence of uneven drawing due to the setting state of the drawing head, the scanning state with respect to the drawing surface, and the like, and capable of drawing an image with high accuracy. It is to provide a drawing method.
• the drawing surface is divided into a plurality of areas, and the number of drawing points drawn in each area is different between the areas, or given to each area.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an exposure apparatus that is an embodiment of a drawing apparatus of the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a scanner of the exposure apparatus in FIG.
• FIG. 3A is a plan view showing an exposed region formed on an exposed surface of a photosensitive material.
• FIG. 3B is a plan view showing an arrangement of exposure areas by each exposure head.
• FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an exposure head of the exposure apparatus of FIG.
• FIG. 5A is a top view showing a detailed configuration of the exposure head of the exposure apparatus in FIG. 1.
• Fig 5 is a top view showing a detailed configuration of the exposure head of the exposure apparatus in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 2B is a side view showing a detailed configuration of the exposure head of the exposure apparatus of FIG.
• FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view showing the structure of the DMD of the exposure apparatus of FIG.
• FIG. 7A is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the DMD in the on state.
• FIG. 7B is a perspective view for explaining the operation in the OFF state.
• FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a fiber array light source.
• FIG. 9 is a front view showing an arrangement of light emitting points in a laser emission part of a fiber array light source.
• FIG. 10 is a control circuit block diagram of the exposure apparatus shown in FIG.
• FIG. 11 is a process flowchart in the exposure apparatus shown in FIG.
• FIG. 12 is a top view showing a positional relationship between an exposure area by one DMD and a corresponding slit.
• FIG. 13 is a top view for explaining a method for measuring the position of a light spot on an exposure surface using a slit.
• FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the linear beam trajectory by DMD and the total area set in the photosensitive material.
• FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure point histogram obtained from the relationship shown in FIG.
• FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of mask data set to make the exposure point histogram shown in FIG. 15 uniform.
• FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of mask data set to make the exposure point histogram shown in FIG. 15 uniform.
• FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the beam trajectory in a meandering state by DMD and the total area set for the photosensitive material.
• FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure point histogram obtained from the relationship shown in FIG.
• FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure point histogram obtained from the relationship shown in FIG.
• FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure point histogram obtained from the relationship shown in FIG.
• FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure point histogram obtained from the relationship shown in FIG.
• FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of mask data set to make the exposure point histograms shown in FIGS. 19 to 22 uniform.
• FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram of mask data set to make the exposure point histograms shown in FIGS. 19 to 22 uniform.
• FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between raster image data and micromirrors constituting a DMD.
• FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram of mirror data.
• FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram of frame data.
• FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram of masking processing for frame data.
• the exposure apparatus 10 includes a flat plate-like moving stage 14 that holds and holds a substrate on which a sheet-like photosensitive material 12 is adhered to the surface.
• the Two guides 20 extending along the moving direction of the stage are installed on the upper surface of the thick plate-shaped installation base 18 supported by the four legs 16.
• the moving stage 14 is arranged so as to face its longitudinal direction force S stage moving direction, and is supported by a guide 20 so as to be reciprocally movable.
• the exposure apparatus 10 is provided with a stage driving device (not shown) for driving the moving stage 14 along the guide 20.
• a gate-shaped gate 22 is provided at the center of the installation table 18 so as to straddle the moving path of the moving stage 14. Each of the ends of the gate 22 is fixed to both side surfaces of the installation base 18.
• a scanner 24 is provided on one side of the gate 22, and a plurality of (for example, two) CCD cameras 26 for detecting the position of the photosensitive material 12 with respect to the installation table 18 are provided on the other side.
• the scanner 24 and the CCD camera 26 are respectively attached to the gate 22 and fixedly arranged above the moving path of the moving stage 14.
• the scanner 24 and the CCD camera 26 are connected to a control circuit described later.
• an X direction and a Y direction orthogonal to each other are defined in a plane parallel to the surface of the moving stage 14 as shown in FIG.
• the edge of the upstream side of the moving stage 14 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "upstream side") is formed in a " ⁇ " shape that opens by force in the -X direction.
• Ten slits 28 are formed at regular intervals. Each slit 28 also has a force with a slit 28a located on the upstream side and a slit 28b located on the downstream side.
• the slit 28a and the slit 28b are orthogonal to each other, and the slit 28a has an angle of 145 degrees and the slit 28b has an angle of +45 degrees with respect to the X direction.
• a single-cell type photodetector which will be described later, is incorporated at a position below each slit 28 in the moving stage 14.
• the scanner 24 includes ten exposure heads 30 arranged in a substantially matrix of 2 rows and 5 columns.
• the array in the nth column of the mth row The individual exposure heads 30 are indicated as exposure heads 30.
• Each exposure head 30 is attached to the scanner 24 so that the element array direction of an internal digital 'micromirror' device (DMD) 36 described later forms a predetermined set inclination angle ⁇ with the arrow X direction. It has been. Therefore, the exposure area 32 by each exposure head 30 is a rectangular area inclined with respect to the scanning direction. As the moving stage 14 moves, a strip-shaped exposed region 34 is formed on the photosensitive material 12 for each exposure head 30. In the following description, the exposure area 32 by the individual exposure heads 30 arranged in the m-th row and the n-th column is referred to as an exposure area 32.
• DMD digital 'micromirror' device
• each of the nodes 30 is arranged with a predetermined interval (natural number times the long side of the exposure area 32, twice in this embodiment) in the arrangement direction. Therefore, the exposure area 32 in the first row and the exposure
• each exposure head 30 is substantially coincident with the positions of the ten slits 28 described above. Further, the size of each slit 28 is set to sufficiently cover the width of the exposure area 32 by the corresponding exposure head 30.
• each of the exposure heads 30 serves as a spatial light modulation element that modulates incident light for each exposure area 32 in accordance with image data. It is equipped with DMD36 manufactured by INSTRUMENT. Based on the input image data, the DMD 36 controls the angle of the reflection surface of each micromirror.
• a laser in which the emission end portion (light emission point) of the optical fiber is arranged in a line along the direction that coincides with the long side direction of the exposure area 32.
• a fiber array light source 38 having an emission part, a lens system 40 for correcting the laser light emitted from the fiber array light source 38 and condensing it on the DMD 36, and reflecting the laser light transmitted through the lens system 40 toward the DMD 36
• the mirrors 42 to be used are arranged in this order.
• the lens system 40 is schematically shown.
• the lens system 40 is emitted from the fiber array light source 38 as shown in detail in FIGS. 5A and 5B.
• It consists of a condensing lens 48 that collects light on the DMD 36.
• a lens system 50 that forms an image of the laser light reflected by the DMD 36 on the exposure surface of the photosensitive material 12 is disposed.
• the lens system 50 includes two lenses 52 and 54 arranged so that the DMD 36 and the exposure surface of the photosensitive material 12 have a conjugate relationship.
• the laser light emitted from the fiber array light source 38 is substantially magnified five times, and then the light from each micromirror on the DMD 36 is reduced by the lens system 50 described above. It is set to be reduced to 5 ⁇ m!
• a pair of wedge-shaped prisms 53a and 53b are disposed.
• One wedge-shaped prism 53b is configured to be displaceable in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser beam with respect to the other wedge-shaped prism 53a by a piezo element 55.
• the focal position of the laser beam with respect to the photosensitive material 12 can be adjusted by changing the relative positional relationship between the wedge-shaped prisms 53a and 53b by the piezo element 55.
• the DMD 36 is a mirror device in which a large number of micromirrors 58 constituting a drawing element are arranged in a lattice pattern on an SRAM cell (memory cell) 56.
• Each micromirror 58 is supported by a column, and a highly reflective material such as aluminum is deposited on the surface thereof.
• the reflectance of each micromirror 58 is 90% or more, and the arrangement pitch thereof is 13. in both the vertical direction and the horizontal direction.
• the SRAM cell 56 is a CMOS of a silicon gate manufactured on a normal semiconductor memory manufacturing line via a support including a hinge and a yoke, and is configured monolithically (integrated) as a whole.
• each micromirror 58 supported by the column is diagonally connected. Is tilted to ⁇ ⁇ degrees (for example, ⁇ 10 degrees) with respect to the substrate side on which DMD 36 is disposed.
• FIG. 7 (b) shows a state where the micromirror 58 is in an on state and tilted to + ⁇ degrees
• FIG. 7 (b) shows a state in which the micromirror 58 is in an off state—tilt to ⁇ degrees. Therefore, by controlling the tilt of the micromirror 58 in each pixel of the DMD 36 as shown in FIG.
• FIG. 6 shows an example of a state in which a part of the DMD 36 is enlarged and each micromirror 58 is controlled to + ⁇ degrees or ⁇ degrees.
• the fiber array light source 38 includes a plurality of (for example, 14) laser modules 60, and one end of the multimode optical fiber 62 is coupled to each laser module 60.
• a multimode optical fiber 64 having a cladding diameter smaller than that of the multimode optical fiber 62 is coupled to the other end of the multimode optical fiber 62.
• the end of the multimode optical fiber 64 opposite to the multimode optical fiber 62 is aligned along the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, and the two are arranged in two rows to form a laser.
• An emission part 66 is constructed.
• the laser emitting portion 66 constituted by the end portion of the multimode optical fiber 64 is sandwiched and fixed between two support plates 68 having a flat surface.
• a transparent protective plate such as glass be disposed on the light emitting end face of the multimode optical fiber 64 for protection.
• the light exit end face of the multi-mode optical fiber 64 has a high light density and is likely to collect dust and easily deteriorate.However, the protective plate as described above prevents the dust from adhering to the end face. Can be delayed.
• FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the principal components centering on the control circuit 70 of the exposure apparatus 10.
• the CAD device 72 creates a two-dimensional image for exposure recording on the photosensitive material 12 as vector data.
• a raster image processor server (RIP server) 74 converts the vector data supplied from the CAD device 72 into raster image data which is bitmap data, compresses the data as necessary, and supplies it to the exposure device 10.
• the control circuit 70 includes an image data storage unit 76 that stores raster image data supplied from the RIP server 74, and a micromirror 58 that forms a raster image data force DMD 36 read from the image data storage unit 76.
• Mirror data creation unit 78 that creates mirror data, which is time series data for each time
• frame data creation unit 80 that creates frame data from the mirror data according to the array of micromirrors 58 that make up DMD 36, and setting status of DMD 36
• the mask data creation unit 82 (drawing point number calculation unit) that creates mask data for setting a part of the micromirror 58 constituting the DMD 36 to the non-driven state according to the conveyance state of the photosensitive material 12, etc., and masking with the mask data
• the DMD 36 is driven according to the frame data, and an exposure head 30 for exposing and recording a desired two-dimensional image on the photosensitive material 12 is provided.
• control circuit 70 includes a mirror arrangement information acquisition unit 84 (drawing point position calculation unit) that acquires arrangement information of each micromirror 58 of the DMD 36 with respect to the installation table 18, and a photosensitive unit installed on the moving stage 14.
• Alignment information acquisition unit 86 for acquiring alignment information such as the arrangement of material 12, the meandering state of photosensitive material 12 caused by conveyance in the arrow Y direction, deformation of photosensitive material 12 due to compression, expansion, etc., and mirror arrangement information and alignment information
• a beam trajectory information creating unit 88 for creating beam trajectory information by the laser beam B that forms each exposure point on the photosensitive material 12.
• the laser light B that has passed through the slit 28 formed in the moving stage 14 is detected by the photodetector 90, and the positional force of the moving stage 14 at that time can also be obtained.
• the alignment information can be obtained by imaging the photosensitive material 12 using the CCD camera 26 or imaging the alignment mark formed on the substrate on which the photosensitive material 12 is adhered.
• the mirror data creation unit 78 creates the image data force mirror data stored in the image data storage unit 76 in accordance with the beam trajectory information created by the beam trajectory information creation unit 88.
• the mask data creating unit 82 obtains the scanning position information of the photosensitive material 12 detected by the encoder 92 by the scanning position information obtaining unit 94, and the beam created by the scanning position information and the beam trajectory information creating unit 88. follow the trajectory information and create mask data.
• the mask data creation unit 82 (drawing energy calculation unit) detects the light amount of the laser beam B from each micromirror 58 constituting the DMD 36 by the light amount detector 95 (drawing energy acquisition unit), and based on the light amount. Therefore, it is also possible to create mask data.
• the mask data created by the mask data creation unit 82 is stored in the mask data storage unit 96 as mask data for each area described later. Also, the mask data storage unit 96 The stored mask data is selected by the mask data selection unit 98 according to the scanning position information from the scanning position information acquisition unit 94 and supplied to the masking processing unit 99. The masking processing unit 99 performs a masking process on the frame data supplied from the frame data creation unit 80 using the mask data supplied from the mask data selection unit 98 and supplies the mask data to the exposure head 30.
• the exposure apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is basically configured as described above. Next, the operation and effect thereof will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.
• the substrate on which the photosensitive material 12 is adhered is set at a predetermined position on the moving stage 14 (step Sl).
• the photosensitive material 12 is imaged by the CCD camera 26, and alignment information is acquired by the alignment information acquisition unit 86 (step S2).
• the alignment information is obtained by, for example, reading the alignment mark formed on the edge portion of the photosensitive material 12 or the substrate on which the photosensitive material 12 is pasted with the CCD camera 26 and scanning the position via the encoder 92. It can be obtained as position information of the edge portion or alignment mark with respect to the scanning position of the photosensitive material 12 acquired by the information acquisition unit 94.
• the alignment information includes meandering information obtained when the moving stage 14 that conveys the photosensitive material 12 meanders and moves relative to the installation base 18.
• step S3 After the slit 28 formed in the moving stage 14 is moved to the lower part of the scanner 24, the DMD 36 constituting each exposure head 30 is controlled, and the laser beam B is transmitted through the micromirror 58 of each DMD 36.
• the mirror arrangement information with respect to the installation base 18 of each micromirror 58 is acquired (step S3).
• a method for acquiring the mirror arrangement information of each micromirror 58 using the slit 28 and the photodetector 90 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.
• a light spot by the micromirror 58 in the m-th row and the n-th column in the exposure area 32 is denoted as P (m, n).
• FIG. 12 shows the positions of the exposure areas 32 and 32 of the two DMDs 36 and the corresponding slits 28. It is the top view which showed the relationship. As described above, the size of the slit 28 is sufficiently large to cover the width of the exposure area 32.
• FIG. 13 shows an example of detecting the position of the light spot P (256, 512) in the exposure area 32 as an example.
• the moving stage 14 is slowly moved to relatively move the slit 28 along the Y-axis direction, so that the light spot P (256, 512) is on the upstream side.
• the slit 28 is positioned at an arbitrary position between the slit 28a and the downstream slit 28b. Let the coordinates of the intersection of the slit 28a and the slit 28b at this time be (XO, YO).
• the value of the coordinates (XO, YO) is determined by the scanning position information acquisition unit 94 via the encoder 92, for example, the moving distance of the moving stage 14 to the position indicated by the drive signal given to the moving stage 14. And the known X position force of the slit 28 is also determined and recorded.
• the moving stage 14 is moved, and the slit 28 is relatively moved to the right in FIG. 13 along the Y axis. Then, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 13, when the light at the light spot P (256, 512) passes through the left slit 28b and is detected by the photodetector 90, the moving stage 14 is stopped. The coordinates of the intersection of the slit 28a and the slit 28b at this time are recorded as (XO, Y1).
• the moving stage 14 is moved in the opposite direction, and the slit 28 is moved relative to the left in FIG. 13 along the Y axis. Then, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 13, when the light at the light spot P (256, 512) passes through the right slit 28a and is detected by the photodetector 90, the moving stage 14 is stopped. The coordinates of the intersection of the slit 28a and the slit 28b at this time are recorded as (XO, Y2).
• the mirror arrangement information which is the coordinates of the light spot P (m, n) formed by each micromirror 58 of the DMD 36 constituting all the exposure heads 30 is acquired in the same manner.
• each light spot P (m , n) scans photosensitive material 12 and records a two-dimensional image by exposure
• the beam trajectory information for the photosensitive material 12 at the time of making is created (step S4).
• the beam trajectory information includes the deviation of the installation position of the photosensitive material 12 with respect to the moving stage 14 that can also obtain the alignment information power, the meandering state of the moving stage 14 with respect to the installation base 18, the deformation due to expansion and contraction of the photosensitive material 12, and the mirror arrangement information power.
• Information such as positional deviation of the obtained micromirror 58 is included.
• the exposure surface of the photosensitive material 12 is divided into a plurality of areas, and an aggregation area for calculating the exposure point histogram is set (step S 5).
• FIG. 14 shows a case where the beam locus information does not include the meandering information of the moving stage 14 and the beam locus 100 of each micromirror 58 with respect to the photosensitive material 12 is set to a straight line.
• the tabulated areas A1 to A10 indicated by “n” and “tching” are set as rectangular regions having a predetermined area divided in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the photosensitive material 12.
• the mask data creation unit 82 Based on the beam trajectory information created by the beam trajectory information creation unit 88, the mask data creation unit 82 creates a light spot P (m, n) on the beam trajectory 100 corresponding to each of the total areas A1 to A10. The number is calculated as an exposure point histogram (step S6).
• the number of light spots P (m, n) plotted in each of the total areas A1 to A10 includes the beam trajectory 100, the recording speed of the image by the laser light B guided from the micromirror 58 to the photosensitive material 12, and Depends on the moving speed of photosensitive material 12 in the direction of travel.
• FIG. 15 shows an example of the calculated number of exposure points for each of the total areas A1 to A10.
• the beam trajectory 100 by both micromirrors 58 passes through the same total area A1 to A10, so the number of exposure points increases.
• DMD-1 and DMD-2 are used so that the number of exposure points in each of the total areas A1 to A10 is the same, or the difference in the number of exposure points between the respective total areas A1 to A10 is reduced.
• Mask data for setting the specific micromirrors 58 constituting the non-drawing state is created (step S7).
• the number of exposure points in the total area A4 is 1, and the exposure point in the total area A5.
• the non-drawing micromirror 58 may be set so that the number of light spots is reduced by 2, the number of exposure points in the total area A6 is decreased by 3, and the number of exposure points in the total area A7 is decreased by 2.
• the positions of the mirror numbers ml to m20 of the micromirrors 58 constituting each DMD-1 and DMD-2 are defined as shown in FIG. 14, DMD-1 and DMD are shown in FIGS.
• Mask data 104A and 106A are generated in which the micromirror 58 set to the non-drawing state of “2” is “0” and the micromirror 58 force “l” is driven according to the drawing data.
• the concept of the micromirror 58 set in the non-drawing state by these mask data 104A and 106A is illustrated in FIG.
• FIG. 18 shows a case where the beam locus information includes meandering information of the moving stage 14 and the beam locus 102 of each micromirror 58 with respect to the photosensitive material 12 is set to meander.
• DMD-1 and DMD-2 are different in the position of photosensitive material 12 in the scanning direction. Therefore, DMD-1 scans photosensitive material 12, and DMD-2 scans photosensitive material 12. The position differs in the scanning direction.
• the exposure surface of the photosensitive material 12 is divided into a plurality of areas A to D in the scanning direction, and in each of the areas A to D, the total areas A1 to A10 and B1 to B10 are respectively perpendicular to the scanning direction.
• C1 to C10, D1 to D10 step S5
• the light spots P on the beam trajectory 102 corresponding to each of the total areas A1 to A10 and B1 to B10, C1 to C10 and D1 to D10 (m, The number of n) is calculated as an exposure point histogram (step S6).
• FIGS. 19 to 22 show examples of the calculated number of exposure points in each of the total areas A1 to A10, B1 to: B10, C1 to C10, and D1 to D10.
• the number of exposure points includes the effect of fluctuations in the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material 12.
• mask data 108A to 108D and 110A to 110D are created for each of the areas A to D.
• the meandering beam locus 102 is created as vector data, and the change in the direction of the vector data is large.
• the division width of the region with respect to the scanning direction is set small, and the change in the direction of the vector data is small.
• the division width of the region with respect to the scanning direction may be set according to the change in the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material 12.
• the mask data created as described above is stored in the mask data storage unit 96 (step S8).
• the moving stage 14 is moved to the CCD camera 26 side, and the main exposure by the scanner 24 is started.
• the CAD device 72 creates a two-dimensional image to be exposed and recorded on the photosensitive material 12 as vector data and supplies it to the RIP server 74.
• the RIP server 74 converts the supplied vector data into raster image data that is bitmap data.
• the raster image data is compressed as necessary, transmitted to the control circuit 70 of the exposure apparatus 10, and stored in the image data storage unit 76.
• FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of raster image data stored in the image data storage unit 76.
• raster image data in an uncompressed state is shown for easy explanation.
• the range of the raster image data is a hatched range, and the number “2” image is included in the range.
• Circled numbers 1 to 8 indicate the arrangement of eight micromirrors 58 constituting the DMD 36 for raster image data.
• the image data storage unit 76 stores raster image data in a state where the address continuous direction is the same as the scanning direction of each micromirror 58 indicated by an arrow.
• the mirror data creation unit 78 reads the raster image data from the image data storage unit 76 according to the address continuous direction (step S9), and raster image data according to the beam trajectory information supplied from the beam trajectory information creation unit 88.
• the drawing data obtained by tracing in time series for exposure is created as mirror data (step S10).
• FIG. 26 shows that the photosensitive material 12 does not meander, and the beam locus by each micromirror 58 is straight.
• FIG. 26 shows mirror data created from the raster image data shown in FIG. 25, which is assumed to be a line.
• the frame represents a set of mirror data supplied to the micromirrors 58 constituting one DMD 36 substantially simultaneously.
• Mirror data is created by tracing the corresponding raster image data according to the beam trajectory information, for example, the beam trajectory 102 shown in FIG.
• the mirror data is supplied to each micromirror 58 constituting the DMD 36 and converted into frame data that is exposed and recorded substantially simultaneously (step Sl l).
• the frame data can be easily created by transposing the rows and columns of the mirror data, for example, as shown in FIGS.
• Frame data created is supplied to the masking processor 99, the masking processing is performed in accordance with the mask data selected by the mask data selector 98 (step S12) 0
• FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram when masking processing of DMD-1 frame data is performed using the mask data 104A shown in FIG. 16 created based on the exposure score histogram shown in FIG. In this case, masked frame data is created as a logical product of the mask data 104A and the frame data. DMD-2 frame data is created in the same way.
• the photosensitive material 12 acquired by the scanning position information acquisition unit 94 is detected.
• mask data corresponding to each region A to D is selected from the mask data storage unit 96 by the mask data selection unit 98 and supplied to the masking processing unit 99, and the masking process for the frame data is performed on each region. Switched according to A to D.
• the micromirror 58 of the DMD 36 constituting each exposure head 30 is controlled to be turned on / off by the frame data subjected to the masking process, and the laser beam B is emitted from the photosensitive material. 12 is irradiated and the image is recorded (Step SI 3).
• the number of exposure points is the same in each of the divided total areas A1 to A1 0 (FIG. 14) of the photosensitive material 12 or in each of the total areas A1 to A10, B1 to B10, C1 to C10, and D1 to D10 (FIG. 18). Or set so that the difference in the number of exposure points between each aggregation area A1 to A10 or between each aggregation area A1 to A10, B1 to: B10, C1 to C10, and D1 to D10 is small.
• the mask data is set so that the number of exposure points in the total areas A1 to A10 is the same, or the difference in the number of exposure points between the total areas A1 to A10 is reduced.
• the force that is being created Make the mask data so that the exposure amount is the same or the difference in exposure amount is small.
• the light amount of laser light B guided to the photosensitive material 12 from each micromirror 58 constituting the DMD 36 is detected in advance by the light amount detector 95, and the laser light B guided to the total areas A1 to A10.
• Set the micromirror 58 in the non-drawing state so that the total amount of light is the same between the total areas A1 to A10, or so that the total difference between the total areas A1 to A10 is small.
• the DMD that modulates the light beam for each pixel is used as the pixel array.
• the light modulation element such as a liquid crystal array other than the DMD or the light source array is used.
• LD array organic EL array, etc.
• the operation mode of the above embodiment may be a mode in which exposure is continuously performed while constantly moving the exposure head, or the position of each movement destination while the exposure head is moved stepwise.
• the exposure head may be stationary to perform the exposure operation.
• the present invention is not limited to the exposure apparatus and the exposure method, but can be applied to, for example, an ink jet printer or an inkjet printing method.
• the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, these embodiments are merely illustrative, and the technical scope of the present invention should be defined only by the claims. Needless to say.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
• Sustainable Development (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)
• Ink Jet (AREA)
• Printers Or Recording Devices Using Electromagnetic And Radiation Means (AREA)
• Facsimile Heads (AREA)
• Laser Beam Printer (AREA)
• Projection-Type Copiers In General (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=38522385

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (3)

Citations (2)

• 2006
  • 2006-03-22 JP JP2006078516A patent/JP4348345B2/ja active Active
• 2007
  • 2007-03-12 WO PCT/JP2007/054862 patent/WO2007108353A1/ja active Application Filing
  • 2007-03-20 TW TW096109428A patent/TW200744864A/zh unknown
• 2008
  • 2008-08-28 KR KR1020087021121A patent/KR101343906B1/ko active IP Right Grant

Patent Citations (2)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events