JPH0511270A - Mask pattern formation method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Forming a mask pattern capable of forming a mask material layer for forming a thin film pattern by printing and preventing deterioration of patterning accuracy due to peeling of the mask material layer or penetration of an etching solution. Providing a way. In a mask pattern forming method for forming a resist pattern on a substrate to be processed 15 on which a thin film 15a to be patterned is formed, a resist 12 having a desired pattern is transferred to a printing roller 16 and then the resist 12 is formed on the resist 12. The resist 14 is transferred onto the thin film 15a, and the laminated resists 12 and 14 transferred onto the roller 16 are printed on the thin film 15a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mask pattern forming method used in a method for manufacturing an active matrix type liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a mask pattern forming method using a printing technique.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electroluminescence, plasma,
A display device such as a liquid crystal can have a thin display portion, and there is an increasing demand for use as a display device such as office equipment and computers, or a special display device. Among these, the liquid crystal display device using a switching element matrix array of thin film transistors and thin film diodes,
Since the display quality is high and the power consumption is low, its development is being actively conducted.

In a liquid crystal display device, a method of forming a desired resist pattern by a photolithography technique is used in a step of forming a switching element and a pixel electrode. Sputtering method, chemical vapor deposition method (CV
Patterning of a thin film formed by a method such as the D method) includes steps of resist application, exposure, development, etching, and resist stripping. The outline is shown in FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 4A, a substrate 51
After forming the thin film 52 to be patterned on the entire upper surface,
A resist 53 is applied as shown in (b). Then
As shown in FIG. 4C, a photomask 54 having a desired pattern is arranged on the resist 53, and the resist 53 is irradiated with light from above the mask 54 to selectively expose the resist. Subsequently, when the exposed resist 53 is developed,
A resist pattern is formed as shown in FIG. After that, the thin film 52 is formed using the resist pattern as a mask.
Is selectively etched, and then the resist 53 is removed.

In order to form a switching element matrix array of thin film transistors, many thin film forming steps and photolithography steps are required. If such a large number of manufacturing steps are used, the yield and throughput will decrease and the cost will increase. In other words, if the process can be simplified without lowering the accuracy, the yield and throughput will increase and the cost will decrease. Generally, the total yield in manufacturing is determined by the product of each process. Therefore, in order to increase the overall yield, it is necessary to increase the yield of each process or reduce the number of processes.

As described above, the thin film patterning process includes resist coating, exposure, development, etching and resist stripping. The more processes there are, the more the yield decreases. To reduce this, there is a method of substituting resist coating, exposure, and development by printing technology. However, when the relief printing technique is used to print the resist, the printed resist is thinner than when the resist is applied. Therefore, during the etching process, there is a problem in that the resist is peeled off or the etching liquid permeates into the resist, which deteriorates the patterning accuracy.

[0007]

As described above, conventionally, when the relief printing technique is used for forming the resist pattern, the resist to be printed becomes thinner than the resist coating, and the resist is peeled off or etched during the etching process. There is a problem that the patterning accuracy deteriorates because the liquid permeates. Further, the above problem is not limited to the case where the resist as the photosensitizer is used, but it can be said when the mask material layer as the etching resistant layer is formed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to form a mask material layer for forming a thin film pattern by printing, and to remove or etch the mask material layer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for forming a mask pattern, which can prevent the patterning accuracy from being lowered due to the penetration of liquid.

[0009]

The essence of the present invention is to increase the thickness of the mask material layer by forming the mask material layer formed by printing into a laminated structure.

That is, the present invention is a method of forming a mask material layer pattern on a substrate to be processed, wherein at least two mask material layers are transferred to a printing roller, and then the desired pattern is transferred to the roller. In this method, the transferred mask material layer is printed on the substrate to be treated.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a mask material layer such as a resist formed on a roller is printed on a substrate to be processed to form a mask pattern. It can be simplified. Specifically, the three steps of resist coating, exposure, and development in photolithography are completed by one step of resist printing in the present invention. Moreover, since the mask material layer has a laminated structure and its thickness is large, it is possible to prevent the patterning accuracy from being lowered due to peeling of the mask material layer or permeation of the etching solution.

[0012]

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a resist pattern forming step according to the method of the first embodiment of the present invention. First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a resist 1 which is an upper layer when printed is formed on a relief plate 11 which is a base of a resist pattern.
Apply 2. Then, by rolling the roller 16 on the relief printing plate 11, the resist 12 is transferred onto the surface of the roller 16.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), letterpress 1
A resist 14 which is a lower layer when printed is applied to the relief plate 13 having the same pattern as 1. Then, the resist 12 on the surface of the roller 16 on the relief plate 13 and the resist 1 on the relief plate 13
By rolling the roller 16 so that the pattern of 4 is matched, the resist 14 is transferred onto the surface of the roller 16 (accurately on the resist 12). Here, it is desirable that the resist 14 has good adhesion to a thin film described later.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, the roller 16 is rolled on the substrate 15 on which the thin film 15a to be patterned is formed, and the laminated resists 12 and 14 transferred to the roller 16 are transferred to the thin film 15a. Print on top. In this way, a laminated resist pattern is formed on the thin film 15a. Here, instead of rolling the roller 16, the roller 1
The letterpress plates 11 and 13 and the substrate 15 may be moved in one direction while rotating 6.

As described above, according to the method of this embodiment, the resist pattern is formed by printing, so that it is necessary to form the resist pattern by the conventional photolithography technique as shown in FIGS.
The three steps of coating, exposure, and development shown in FIG.
It is possible to reduce it to one step as shown in FIG. In addition, since the resist has two layers, the resist is not peeled off and the etching solution does not soak in, and the decrease in pattern accuracy, which is a problem of the printing technique, is small. The steps other than the resist printing are exactly the same as those using the photolithography technique, and there is no inconvenience such as introducing another step or changing the step. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to shorten the manufacturing process of various semiconductor devices, for example, active matrix type liquid crystal display devices, and it is possible to improve the manufacturing yield and significantly reduce the cost.

Further, by providing the two layers of resists 12 and 14 with independent functions, the pattern accuracy can be further improved. For example, when the upper layer resist 12 has a high etching resistance and the lower layer resist 14 has a good adhesiveness, a resist pattern having a good adhesiveness and an excellent etching resistance can be formed. If a cleaning blade 17 is provided as shown in FIG. 1C, the resists 12 and 14 can be peeled off from the roller 16 more reliably.

FIG. 2 is a process sectional view for explaining a second embodiment method of the present invention. In this example, first,
As shown in FIG. 2A, a resist 22 which is a lower layer when printed is applied to a surface plate 21. Then, the relief roller 26 on which the plate 25 which is the basis of the resist pattern is formed
Is rolled on the surface plate 21 to transfer the resist 22 onto the roller 26.

Next, as shown in FIG.
Then, a resist 24 which becomes an upper layer when printed is applied. Then, by rolling the relief roller 26 on the surface plate 23, the resist 24 is transferred onto the roller 26.
As a result, the resists 24, 2 are formed on the surface of the roller 26.
Two laminated patterns are formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the relief roller 26 is rolled on the substrate 17 on which the thin film 27a to be patterned is formed, and the laminated resists 22 and 24 transferred to the roller 26 are thinned. Print on 27a. In this way, a laminated resist pattern is formed on the thin film 27a.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a resist printing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Printing surface plate 31
Anilox roller 33 and doctor roller 34 for resist 32 which is an upper layer when printed, and anilox roller 3 for resist 35 which is a lower layer when printed
6 and a doctor roller 37, a letterpress roller 38 having a letterpress having a predetermined pattern attached (or a plate cylinder having a given pattern), and a resist supply device 39 are arranged, and the respective rollers 33, 34, 36, 37, 38 are arranged. The two-layer resist is printed on the thin film 41 on the substrate 40 by rotating in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

Specifically, the resist 32 is applied to the entire surface of the anilox roller 33, and the doctor roller 34 is used.
Is controlled to a constant film thickness. And letterpress roller 3
8 is selectively transferred. The resist 34 is applied to the entire surface of the anilox roller 33, and the doctor roller 37
Is controlled to a constant film thickness. And letterpress roller 3
8 is transferred onto the resist 32 transferred onto the resist 32. And
The resists 32 and 34 laminated on the roller 38 are the thin film 4
Printed on 1. In this way, a laminated resist pattern is formed on the thin film 41.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the embodiment, the resist has two layers, but it can be applied to a resist having three or more layers. The material of the resist may be the same or different for each layer. It is also possible to obtain the same effect as the two resist layers by transferring the one layer resist to the roller and then changing the quality of the surface resist by exposing it to plasma.

Although the resist is used as the mask material layer in the embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the resist, and any material that functions as a mask when etching a thin film to be patterned may be used. ..
In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the mask material layer is formed by printing and the mask material layer has a laminated structure, patterning accuracy due to peeling of the mask material layer or penetration of the etching solution Can be prevented, which can contribute to yield improvement, cost reduction, and patterning accuracy improvement due to the simplification of the process.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a mask pattern forming step according to a method of a first embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a process sectional view for explaining a method according to a second embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a resist printing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a process cross-sectional view for explaining a problem of the conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 13 ... Letterpress, 12, 14 ... Resist, 15 ... Substrate, 15a ... Thin film, 16 ... Roller, 17 ... Cleaning blade, 21,23 ... Surface plate, 22, 24 ... Resist, 25 ... Plate, 26 ... Letterpress roller, 27 ... Substrate to be processed, 27a ... Thin film, 31 ... Printing platen, 32, 35 ... Resist, 33, 36 ... Anilox roller, 34, 37 ... Doctor roller, 38 ... Letterpress roller, 39 ... Resist supply device.

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A step of transferring at least two mask material layers to a desired pattern on a printing roller, and a step of printing the mask material layer transferred to the roller on a substrate to be processed. A method of forming a mask pattern, comprising: