WO2011053093A2

WO2011053093A2 - Printing plate for liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof, method for printing using same, and method for manufacturing replication master mold and printing plate using same

Info

Publication number: WO2011053093A2
Application number: PCT/KR2010/007662
Authority: WO
Inventors: 박재석; 이용인; 구찬규; 홍범선; 강현욱
Original assignee: 엘지이노텍 주식회사
Priority date: 2009-11-02
Filing date: 2010-11-02
Publication date: 2011-05-05
Also published as: WO2011053093A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a printing plate for printing a resist pattern in the manufacturing of a liquid crystal display. The method comprises the steps of: forming a photosensitive pattern of a printing plate pattern on a photomask, forming a seed layer on the photomask, and forming a printing plate on the seed layer via electroforming. Alternatively, a printing plate pattern is formed on a transparent substrate by dry etching while using a metal pattern as a mask on the transparent substrate. According to the present invention, manufacturing costs may be largely reduced in the process of manufacturing a printing plate for a liquid crystal display. Particularly, it is possible to increase the efficiency in the embodiment of fine patterns, and resolution and replication properties of the fine patterns.

Description

Printing plate for liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof, manufacturing method for replica master mold and replica printing plate using same

The present invention relates to a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing method thereof.

In a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device, a device such as a thin film transistor is provided in each pixel to drive the flat panel display device. However, in a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device, the PR pattern forming process is an important process that greatly affects the performance of the manufactured device. Accordingly, researches to improve the performance of devices have been recently conducted. In particular, various attempts have been made to improve the performance of devices by forming fine metal patterns. Until now, the most common PR pattern forming process is to apply photoresist (PR), which is a photosensitive material, and to expose and develop the photoresist using a mask. In the case of the formed electrical element, since the photoresist process must be performed separately to form each pattern, the manufacturing cost increases, which is undesirable. Therefore, in recent years, a method of forming a PR pattern using a printing method has been proposed.

Referring to FIG. 1, the printing method of the photoresist according to the above-described printing method may include a second transparent material which is a printed object directly on the first transparent insulating substrate 110 on which a printing pattern P 1 is formed and used as a printing plate. Without transferring the photoresist pattern P2 onto the insulating substrate 120, the photoresist pattern P2 is once transferred to the blanket 100, which is a surface of which is made of silicon rubber or the like, and serves as a medium. The photoresist pattern P2 is transferred again using the insulating substrate 120 as a transfer target.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, (a) depositing a metal film 111 on the first transparent insulating substrate 110, and (b) photoresist 112 to pattern the metal film 111. ), (C) etching the metal film 111 through wet etching, (d) stripping the photoresist 112, (e) first transparent insulating substrate 110 Etching to form the print pattern (P1), (f) etching and removing the metal film 111.

However, since the wet etching used in the above-described manufacturing process has an isotropic etching characteristic showing a uniform etching characteristic regardless of the crystal plane direction, the minimum line width (CD; The loss of critical dimension is large, which makes it difficult to manufacture a precise printed plate having a fine pattern. That is, as shown in FIG. 2C, the printing pattern P 1 on the first transparent insulation substrate 110 is ideally formed to have an accurate width of a1. However, when the printing plate is manufactured through wet etching, As shown in (e) of FIG. 2, a loss by a2 occurs on both sides.

Specifically, in the case of conventional wet etching, the left and right loss widths a2 increase in accordance with the etching depth in accordance with the characteristics of the isotropic etching, so that as shown in FIG. When the depth b1 is set to "1", there is a limit that the upper width b2 can be formed at a ratio of at least "2". That is, it encounters the limit which can be made only in the range of b1: b2 = (1 or less): 2.

This is because the printing pattern P 1 etched on the printing plate has a narrower width and a deeper depth, and a greater ratio of depth and width results in better printing characteristics. However, in the conventional wet etching method, the width becomes wider as the depth is deeper. Therefore, it is disadvantageous to manufacture a printing plate having a fine pattern, which results in a problem that it is difficult to improve pattern resolution and transfer characteristics.

In addition, to solve this problem, as shown in Figure 1c, (a) in the method of using a dry etching to form a dry etching material film 210 on a transparent substrate, a support film is formed on the lower portion of the transparent substrate. Thereafter, a photoresist is applied on the dry etching material layer 210 and patterned.

(b) Thereafter, dry etching is performed to etch the dry etching material film, and as shown in (c), the photoresist (PR) except for the dry etching material film 210 is removed on the substrate to remove the printed pattern. Implemented by way of forming.

That is, the problem of the minimum line width in the conventional wet etching has been attempted to solve this problem by forming a dry etching material film separately, and then forming a transfer material film, but this method is a process of forming a dry etching material film. Expensive cost is generated in the equipment of the expensive vacuum equipment used in the dry etching process, and the manufacturing cost is further increased because the printing plate must be manufactured separately. In addition, when the target of the printing plate is used for the color filter, wet etching is possible because the pitch is 20 µm or more, but the pitch is less than 20 µm in the case of isotropic etching, and 5 µm / 5 µm for the TFT. In the case of an isotropic etching of the pitch of the impossible implementation is a disadvantage.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to form a photosensitive pattern using photolithography, to enable the production of a printing plate through electroplating, to increase the efficiency of the implementation of the fine pattern In addition, the present invention provides a manufacturing process capable of improving the resolution and transfer characteristics of a pattern and significantly reducing the manufacturing cost of a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device.

Yet another object of the present invention is to dry-etch a glass substrate directly using a metal pattern as an etch mask, thereby implementing a fine pattern, thereby improving the resolution, and increasing the ratio of the depth and width of the fine pattern to improve transfer characteristics. It can be, and to provide a manufacturing process that can reduce the manufacturing cost of the printing plate.

The solution of the technical problem according to the object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of the implementation of the fine pattern, and to improve the resolution and transfer characteristics of the pattern by using the method of patterning through photolithography and electroplating or dry etching.

According to the present invention, a photosensitive pattern is formed using photolithography, and a printing plate can be manufactured by electroplating, thereby increasing the efficiency of realizing fine patterns, improving the resolution and transfer characteristics of the pattern, and a liquid crystal display device. There is an effect that can implement a manufacturing process that can significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of the printing plate for.

In particular, the manufacturing process according to the present invention is very easy to implement a fine pattern compared to the manufacturing process using a conventional wet etching or dry etching process, it is effective to improve the transfer characteristics of the pattern by increasing the ratio of depth and width have.

In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention, by directly dry etching the glass substrate using the metal pattern as an etching mask, to implement a fine pattern, thereby improving the resolution, and increase the ratio of the depth and width of the fine pattern transfer The characteristics can be improved, and the printing plate manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In particular, according to another embodiment of the present invention, by dry etching the glass substrate itself to remove the conventional transfer material film coating process can reduce the printing plate manufacturing cost, as well as the printing plate due to the dry etching of the glass substrate itself By having the same surface characteristics as that of the transparent insulating substrate of the liquid crystal display device, the photoresist may have a selectivity to be adhered well, thereby achieving excellent transfer characteristics.

1 to 3 is a view showing a manufacturing method of a printing plate according to the prior art.

4 and 5 show a manufacturing process flow chart and process diagram of the printing plate according to the present invention.

6 and 7 illustrate a manufacturing process and a printing plate replication process of the master mold for the replication process of the printing plate according to the present invention.

8 and 9 illustrate a manufacturing process flow chart and process diagram of a printing plate according to another embodiment of the present invention.

According to the present invention, in the manufacture of a printing plate of a resist used in a liquid crystal display device, a photosensitive pattern is formed on a photomask, and through this, electroplating is used to efficiently manufacture a printing plate and a replica thereof, thereby implementing a fine pattern, and The point is to make it possible to improve the resolution and transfer characteristics.

The manufacturing process of the printing plate according to the present invention is largely the first step of forming a photosensitive pattern of the printing plate pattern on the photomask, the second step of forming a seed layer on the photomask, and the printing plate by electroplating on the seed layer It includes three steps to form.

In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention, in manufacturing a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device, the glass substrate itself is dry-etched to have the same surface characteristics as that of the transparent insulating substrate of a liquid crystal display device generally used. It is possible to provide an efficient manufacturing process while manufacturing a printing plate having a selectivity with excellent transfer characteristics that are well adhered.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the configuration and operation according to the present invention. In the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same components are given the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and duplicate description thereof will be omitted. Terms such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

1. First embodiment

4 and 5, this schematically shows a manufacturing flowchart and process diagram of the printing plate according to the present invention.

The manufacturing process of the first step may be implemented in the following process.

Specifically, first, a photomask in which a specific pattern is formed on the transparent substrate is prepared in step S1. The specific pattern of the photomask is a structure having a light shielding pattern 20 made of a light blocking material such as Cr or a transflective material on the transparent substrate 10.

Next, in operation S 2, a photosensitive material is coated on the photomask, and a photosensitive pattern is realized through an exposure phenomenon. Specifically, the photoresist 30 is coated on the photomask (step S21), and the photoresist 30 is exposed to form a photosensitive pattern. In this case, in the exposure process, it is preferable to perform the back exposure L using the light shielding pattern 20 as a mask (step S22). When the development is performed after the back exposure, a photosensitive pattern 30 having a structure in which a photosensitive material is stacked is formed on the light shielding pattern 20 on the photomask as shown in step S23.

Thereafter, in step S 3, the seed layer 40 is deposited on the photosensitive pattern and the photomask (step S 31). Then, electroplating is performed on the region where the seed layer 40 is formed (step 32). The seed layer is a metal seed layer of the metal material of Cr, Au, Ti, Ta, Pt, Ni, Cu, Al, Zn, Fe, Co, W, etc. are all applicable, but one to five of the above metals It can also be deposited in combination.

The method for depositing the metal seed layer is different depending on the components of the seed metal to be deposited and the components of the substrate, but physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods such as sputtering or evaporating Uniform deposition is possible. In an embodiment of the present invention, the use of a Cu layer will be described as an example.

The electroplating may be Au, Ni, Cu, Al, Zn, Fe, Co, W, Sn, P, etc., in particular, mechanical properties and chemical stability, such as ease of plating and the strength, hardness, elasticity of the plating film Plating can be performed using this excellent Ni, Ni-W, or Ni-Co component. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to implement the printing plate 50 by performing Ni-electroplating.

After the electroplating is performed, the above-described photosensitive pattern and photomask are removed, the seed layer is removed (step S 41), and the back polishing process of the separated printing plate 50 may be performed (step S 42). In addition, the transfer material film 60 may be coated on a region where the pattern of the printing plate 50 is formed. As the transfer material layer 60, a material of Si-base having good transfer characteristics may be used. For example, materials such as a-Si, SiN _x , and SiO _x may be used. Of course, the material of Si-base may be applied in addition to the above.

In particular, it is preferable that the depth T ₁ of the pattern of the printing plate manufactured by the above-described manufacturing process is implemented to be greater than or equal to the height of the pattern of the photomask.

2. Second Embodiment

6 and 7 are schematic process diagrams showing a process of manufacturing a replica printing plate using the printing plate manufactured by the first embodiment.

Specifically, a passivation film 70 is formed on the upper surface of the manufactured printing plate 50 (P 1 step), and the master mold 80 is first implemented through electroplating on the upper surface of the passivation film (P 2 step). ). After the electroplating is completed, by separating the above-described printing plate 50 can form a master mold 80 (P 3 step).

Thereafter, a passivation layer 81 is again formed on the upper surface of the master mold 80 (step Q 1), and a replica printing plate 90 is implemented by performing pre-plating on the passivation layer (step Q 2). .

Thereafter, the replica printing plate 90 may be separated from the master mold 80 to produce a replica printing plate. Such a replica printing plate 90 has a very simple process and a micropattern is realized, and an advantage of producing a mass-produced product having an improved resolution is realized.

Another printing plate or replica printing plate in the above-described manufacturing process is formed in the same structure, it can be implemented in the following configuration.

That is, referring to the replica printing plate of step Q3 of FIG. 7, the printing plate according to the present invention includes at least one or more of a printing plate body 91 having a predetermined depth d1 and width d2 formed on an upper surface of the printing plate body. It consists of a printing plate pattern 92. In particular, the ratio of the depth d1 and the width d2 of the printing plate pattern 92 according to the present invention may be implemented in the range of d1: d2 = (1.5 to 6): 1. The printing plate body and the printing plate pattern may be any one of Au, Ni, Cu, Al, Zn, Fe, Co, W, Sn, P, or a combination of two or more thereof. Particularly, the ease of plating and the strength of the plating film, As described above, the mechanical properties such as hardness, elasticity, and the like, and the chemical stability of Ni, Ni, and Ni are excellent.

In this case, the transfer material film may be coated on the surface of the printing plate pattern, the transfer material film may be a material of Si-base, for example, materials such as a-Si, SiN _x , SiO _x may be used. May be as described above.

The manufacturing process of the printing plate according to the present invention is easy to implement a fine pattern by solving the problem of the loss of the minimum line width occurred in the conventional wet etching process, in particular, by increasing the ratio of the depth and width of the fine pattern, the transfer characteristics of the pattern It will be possible to improve. In addition, it is possible to duplicate the printing plate in a very easy process, the manufacturing process is simplified, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost there is an advantage.

3. Third embodiment

8 and 9, which show a manufacturing process flow chart and process diagram of a printing plate according to another embodiment according to the present invention, respectively.

That is, in the first embodiment described above, the method of applying photolithography and electroplating, in the second embodiment, a method of forming a replica printing plate using the first embodiment, and in the third embodiment, photolithography is used. It implements a process of forming a printing plate by applying dry etching directly to a transparent substrate.

In the manufacturing process of the printing plate according to the present invention, first, the metal pattern layer 20 is formed on the transparent substrate 10 (step S1).

The metal pattern layer may be formed using various methods such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), evaporation, and electroplating.

The metal pattern layer may be made of a material such as Cr, Cu, Ni, Mo, amorphous silicon (a-Si), poly-Si to serve as a mask for dry etching, in one embodiment of the present invention It is preferable to form the layer formed by the.

Subsequently, in step S 2, a photoresist is applied to the upper surface of the metal pattern layer 20 (step S 21), and then exposed and developed and patterned (step S 22). The metal pattern layer 20 is etched to form a metal pattern (step S23). The etching process of the metal pattern layer may be implemented by a dry or wet etching method.

After that, the photoresist pattern is preferably removed (step S3).

Then, dry etching is performed on the transparent substrate itself using the above-described metal pattern as a mask pattern (step S4).

The dry etching described above uses the ICP-RIE mode, and the gas used may be implemented using C ₄ F ₈ and O ₂ . As such, when the dry etching is performed on the transparent substrate itself, the etched printed plate pattern may be implemented such that the ratio of the width d3 to the etched depth d1 is in the range of d1: d3 = (0.5 to 6): 1. Do. That is, in the conventional wet etching, the ratio of depth can only be formed at a ratio of 1 or less to the width, and in the present invention, a ratio of depth to depth can be formed at a ratio of 0.5 or more.

Specifically, the pattern of the printing plate embodied by the present invention is able to implement a range of (0.5 ~ 6): the ratio of the width (d2) to the etched depth (d1), which is the conventional wet etching described above Etching depth and left and right loss width due to isotropic etching generated at the same time occurs to overcome the limitation of the difficulty of realizing the minimum line width, the width of the printed pattern etched on the printing plate can be formed narrow and deep. In other words, the printing plate pattern according to the present invention can be achieved excellent printing characteristics by remarkably increasing the ratio of depth and width.

Thereafter, the remaining metal pattern is etched and removed to complete the printing plate (S 5 step).

The manufacturing method of the printing plate according to the present invention is easier to implement a fine pattern than the conventional wet etching method, and the advantage of improving the transfer characteristics by increasing the ratio of the etched depth and width. In particular, it is possible to easily form the implementation of the printing plate pattern of 20㎛ or less that was difficult to implement in the prior art.

In particular, the dry etching of the conventional transparent substrate itself is performed, so that the printing plate has the same surface characteristics as that of the transparent insulating substrate of the liquid crystal display device, so that the adhesion ratio of the photoresist can be realized to have a very good selection ratio. .

In the detailed description of the invention as described above, specific embodiments have been described. However, many modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. The technical spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments of the present invention, but should be determined not only by the claims, but also by those equivalent to the claims.

The present invention can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost in the manufacturing process of the printing plate for the liquid crystal display device, in particular, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the implementation of the fine pattern, and to improve the resolution and transfer characteristics of the fine pattern.

Claims

Printed plate main body;

And at least one printing plate pattern formed at a predetermined depth d1 and a width d2 of the protruding pattern formed on the upper surface of the printing plate body.

The ratio of the depth (d1) and the width (d2) of the protruding pattern is a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device implemented in the range of d1: d2 = (1.5 ~ 6): 1.
The method according to claim 1,

The printing plate for a liquid crystal display device is coated with a transfer material film on the surface of the printing plate pattern.
The method according to claim 2,

The transfer material film is a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device made of any one material selected from a-Si, SiNx, SiOx.
The method according to claim 3,

The material constituting the printing plate is a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device using any one or a combination of two or more components selected from Au, Ni, Cu, Al, Zn, Fe, Co, W, Sn, P.
Printed plate main body;

And at least one printing plate pattern formed at a predetermined depth d1 and a width d3 of the concave pattern formed on the upper surface of the printing plate body.

And a ratio of the depth d1 and the width d3 of the error pattern is in a range of d1: d3 = (0.5 to 6): 1.
The method according to claim 5,

The depth d1 and the width d3 of the concave pattern is 1 to 20㎛ printed plate for a liquid crystal display device.
The method according to claim 6,

The printing plate body is a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device is a transparent substrate.
Forming a photosensitive pattern of a printing plate pattern on the photomask;

Forming a seed layer on the photomask;

Forming a printing plate on the seed layer through electroplating;

Printing plate manufacturing method for a liquid crystal display device comprising a.
The method according to claim 8,

The first step,

a 1) applying a photoresist on a photomask having a specific pattern;

a 2) forming a photosensitive pattern by performing back exposure and development through the photomask;

Method of manufacturing a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device comprising a.
The method according to claim 9,

The second step,

Forming the seed layer by depositing a thin film of any one material selected from Cr, Au, Ti, Ta, Pt, Ni, Cu, Al, Zn, Fe, Co, and W or a combination thereof. Print plate manufacturing method.
The method according to claim 9,

The third step,

b 1) performing pre-plating on the seed layer;

b 2) removing the photomask comprising a seed layer;

b 3) polishing the back of the printing plate;

A printing plate manufacturing method for a liquid crystal display device comprising a.
The method according to claim 11,

And b 4) forming a transfer material film on the pattern forming portion of the printing plate.
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12,

And a depth of the printed plate pattern is greater than or equal to the pattern height of the photomask.
In the method of forming a master mold for reproduction using a printing plate manufactured by any one of the claims 8 to 12,

Forming a passivation layer on a printing plate of the liquid crystal display;

Performing pre-plating on the protective layer;

Removing the printing plate to form a master mold;

Method of manufacturing a master mold for reproduction using a printing plate comprising a.
In the method for manufacturing a replica printing plate using the replica master mold prepared according to claim 14,

Forming a protective layer on the master mold;

After performing electroplating on the protective layer, separating the master mold to form a duplicated printing plate;

Method of manufacturing a replica printing plate comprising a.
Forming a metal pattern on the transparent substrate;

Forming a printed plate pattern by dry etching the transparent substrate using the metal pattern as a mask;

Printing plate manufacturing method for a liquid crystal display device comprising a.
The method according to claim 16,

The metal pattern is a printing plate manufacturing method for a liquid crystal display device made of any one of Cr, Cu, Ni, Mo, a-Si, poly-Si.
The method according to claim 16 or 17,

Formation of the metal pattern,

Forming a metal pattern layer on the transparent substrate;

Applying a photosensitive material on the metal pattern layer and patterning the same through an exposure phenomenon;

Etching the metal pattern layer to form a metal pattern and removing a photosensitive material;

Method of manufacturing a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device comprising a.
The method according to claim 18,

The printing plate pattern formed by dry etching the transparent substrate using the metal pattern as a mask,

A method of manufacturing a printing plate for a liquid crystal display device, wherein the ratio of the depth d1 and the width d3 of the printing plate pattern is in a range of d1: d2 = (0.5 to 6): 1.
The method according to claim 18,

And removing a metal pattern after the dry etching of the transparent substrate.