WO2011111136A1 - Foreign body polishing method and foreign body polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosed foreign body polishing method involves creating information for capturing and correcting defects in the (work) surface of an array substrate (W), selecting a large foreign body (A) larger than a prescribed size from said information, partitioning the region containing the selected large foreign body (A) into multiple polishing areas (a), pressing against each polishing area (a) a polishing head for polishing until said polishing areas reach a prescribed height (h), and automatically moving to the next polishing area (a) for successive polishing and height measurements. Thus, even given large foreign bodies, polishing and correction are performed reliably and product quality is improved.

Description

Foreign matter polishing method and foreign matter polishing apparatus

The present invention relates to a foreign matter polishing method and a foreign matter polishing apparatus for polishing and correcting foreign matter on a workpiece surface.

In a color liquid crystal display device that has been widely used conventionally, liquid crystal is sealed between two glass substrates, a color filter substrate and an array substrate. A transparent electrode film is formed on the color filter element of the color filter substrate. When the color filter substrate is manufactured, various fibers generated from clothing, etc. on the substrate surface, skin tissues such as operators, metal pieces, glass When a foreign substance such as a piece adheres, a protrusion-like defect is formed. When such a projecting defect occurs, the defect comes into contact with the counter electrode, resulting in a defect that an image is not formed at that portion. For this reason, for example, as in Patent Document 1, in the color filter manufacturing process, the shape and address of the protruding defect are detected by a defect inspection apparatus, and the protruding defect is corrected or removed in the correcting process. Yes.

JP 2008-290166 A

However, in the conventional foreign matter polishing method, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, in a large foreign matter A such as a fiber, a region a in which the height can be measured with a height measuring device extends only to a part of the large foreign matter A. First, when the height in the measurement result in the region a is equal to or less than the predetermined height h, it is determined that the polishing correction has been performed and the polishing is finished. For this reason, a portion of the large foreign matter A that has not been polished remains, and there has been a problem that a foreign matter defect occurs despite polishing correction.

On the other hand, it is not efficient to perform polishing while manually measuring the height of a region where large foreign matter A is present, and there is also a problem that it depends on the individual ability of the operator.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to improve the quality of a product by reliably polishing and correcting even a large foreign matter.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, an area having large foreign matters is divided into a plurality of polishing areas.

Specifically, in the first invention, the polishing tape is fed from the supply reel, and while being wound by the take-up reel, the polishing tape between the supply reel and the take-up reel is pressed by the polishing head to The object is a foreign matter polishing method in which foreign matter is polished and corrected.

And the said foreign material grinding | polishing method is the following.
Defect capturing step for capturing defects on the workpiece surface and creating information for correction;
A large foreign matter selection step of selecting a large foreign matter larger than a predetermined size from the information,
A polishing area dividing step of dividing the region with the selected large foreign matter into a plurality of polishing areas;
A polishing step of polishing until the divided height is less than or equal to a predetermined height in each of the divided polishing areas;
After completion of polishing in each of the above polishing areas, an area moving step of automatically moving to the next polishing area,
And a height measuring step for measuring the height of the large foreign matter when polishing is completed in all the polishing areas.

According to the above configuration, in the case of a large foreign object, the polishing correction is not completed with only one polishing, the region with the large foreign object is divided into a plurality of polishing areas, and the height after polishing the plurality of divided polishing areas. Since the measurement is performed to detect whether the polishing has been performed accurately, the entire large foreign matter is surely corrected without being leaked.

In the second invention, in the first invention,
The polishing area is set to a range equal to or narrower than the area that can be measured at one time in the height measurement step.

According to the above configuration, since the height of the entire area can be reliably measured in each polishing area, polishing leakage of the entire large foreign matter is reliably prevented.

In the third invention, in the first or second invention,
When the large foreign matter is selected in the large foreign matter selection step, an alarm is issued,
In the polishing area dividing step, the polishing area is set manually.

According to the above configuration, the operator can manually set the polishing area without overlooking the large foreign matter by alerting the alarm, so that the large foreign matter is surely corrected.

In the fourth invention, in the third invention,
When manually setting the polishing area dividing step, the large foreign matter and the area that can be measured at a time in the height measuring step are displayed on the screen.

According to the above configuration, a plurality of polishing areas are set in advance while confirming on the screen so that the height measurable area is not interrupted, and after the setting, the polishing and height measurement are performed collectively. There is no polishing omission as in the case of confirming whether polishing is completed each time a part of the large foreign matter is polished, and the large foreign matter is more reliably and easily polished.

In the fifth invention, in the first or second invention,
The polishing area dividing step is automatically performed by image processing.

According to the above configuration, since a region with large foreign matters can be divided into a plurality of polishing areas by image processing, a series of operations are automatically performed. For this reason, it is not necessary for the operator to approach the polishing apparatus, thereby preventing generation of new dust such as fibers.

In a sixth invention, in any one of the first to fifth inventions,
The polishing step and the area moving step after the polishing area dividing step are automatically performed over the entire area where the large foreign matter is present.

According to the above configuration, once the polishing area is divided, each polishing area is automatically and sequentially polished thereafter, so that polishing is not forgotten and the operation is easy.

In a seventh invention, in any one of the first to sixth inventions,
The workpiece is a display panel substrate,
The large foreign matter is a fiber.

According to the above configuration, since the fibers on the display panel substrate are surely polished and corrected, the quality is remarkably improved in the display device in which the quality is likely to be deteriorated due to the foreign matter.

In an eighth invention, a work stage on which a work is placed;
A supply reel wound with abrasive tape;
A take-up reel for winding the polishing tape;
A polishing head disposed between the supply reel and the take-up reel and pressing the polishing tape against the workpiece;
A moving device for moving the polishing head to an arbitrary position on the workpiece surface;
The present invention is intended for a foreign matter polishing apparatus including a height measuring device that measures the height of foreign matter on the workpiece.

And the said foreign material grinding | polishing apparatus is
A defect capturing mechanism for capturing defects on the workpiece surface and creating information for correction;
A large foreign object larger than a predetermined size is selected from the information, the polishing head is automatically moved by the moving device to each polishing area divided by the area where the large foreign object is present, and the polishing is sequentially performed. And a control device for measuring the height by the height measuring device.

According to the above configuration, even in the case of a large foreign matter, the polishing correction is not completed by only one polishing, and the control means divides the region with the large foreign matter into a plurality of polishing areas, and each divided polishing area Therefore, the entire large foreign matter is reliably polished and corrected without any leakage.

In the ninth invention, in the eighth invention,
The height measuring device has a lens that can image only a region narrower than the polishing area.

According to the above configuration, in order to accurately measure the height of the foreign matter, there are many cases of high magnification, so the range in which the height can be measured is narrower than the polishing area, so it is determined that the entire large foreign matter has been polished. Although it is easy, in the present invention, the large foreign matter is divided into a plurality of polishing areas and then all the polishing areas are polished, so that there is no polishing omission.

As described above, according to the present invention, by dividing a region having a large foreign substance into a plurality of polishing areas and polishing each polishing area to confirm whether the height is equal to or less than a predetermined height, Even if it is a foreign substance, it can be reliably polished and corrected to improve the quality of the product.

It is the schematic explaining a mode that the grinding | polishing area of a large sized foreign material is set with the foreign material polishing apparatus of this embodiment, (a) is a top view, (b) is the Ib-Ib sectional view taken on the line of (a). It is a perspective view which shows the outline of a foreign material grinding | polishing apparatus. It is a front view which expands and shows a polishing tape cassette. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of the correction process periphery in the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device. It is a flowchart which shows the foreign material grinding | polishing method concerning embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining a mode that a large foreign material is grind | polished with the conventional foreign material grinding | polishing apparatus, (a) is a top view, (b) is the VIb-VIb sectional view taken on the line of (a).

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a foreign substance polishing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The foreign substance polishing apparatus 1 includes a base portion 2 having a frame structure, for example, and a flat surface on which a workpiece is placed on the upper surface of the base portion 2. A work stage 3 is provided. For example, in this embodiment, the workpiece is the array substrate W after the polyimide resin film is formed. A plurality of through holes (not shown) are provided in the work stage 3, and the work is adsorbed onto the work stage 3 by sucking air from the through holes.

On the work stage 3, there is provided a moving device 5 that supports the head body 4 so as to be movable in the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction. The moving device 5 moves along the Y direction along a pair of rail portions 5a arranged along the Y direction on the opposite side surfaces of the base portion 2, and moves the head body 4 along the X direction and the Z direction. A gantry portion 5b that is movably supported in a direction and a plurality of motors (not shown) are provided, and the head body 4 can be moved to an arbitrary position on the work stage 3.

The head body 4 includes a polishing cassette 7 shown in FIG. The polishing cassette 7 has a shape similar to that of a normal audio tape, and includes a supply reel 9 around which the polishing tape 8 is wound, and a take-up reel 10 around which the polishing tape 8 is wound. The supply reel 9 and the take-up reel 10 are driven by a motor (not shown) provided in the head body 4, and a pair of guide rollers 11 for guiding the polishing tape 8 is provided between the reels 9 and 10. And a polishing head 12 that is disposed between the pair of guide rollers 11 and presses the polishing tape 8 against the workpiece. The polishing tape 8 is composed of a weakly sticky surface layer in which polishing powder made of fine particles is charged.

As shown in FIG. 2, the foreign material polishing apparatus 1 includes a control device 14 at an arbitrary position of the base unit 2, and the control device 14 is connected to a main server 15 (not shown). The main server 15 stores defect information for defect correction such as defect size and position on the workpiece surface, which is supplemented by a defect capturing mechanism 16 provided in an apparatus different from the foreign substance polishing apparatus 1 in the previous process. Yes. The configuration of the defect capturing mechanism 16 is not particularly limited, and it is only necessary that the surface of the workpiece can be scanned by a well-known imaging unit. Note that the defect capturing mechanism 16 cannot accurately measure the height of the workpiece surface.

In the vicinity of the polishing cassette 7 of the head body 4, a height measuring mechanism 17 for measuring the height of the foreign matter on the workpiece surface is provided. Although not shown in detail, the height measuring mechanism 17 includes a known digital micromirror device. This digital micromirror device is a kind of display element in which a large number of micro mirror surfaces (micromirrors) (not shown) are arranged in a plane. The so-called confocal method is used to increase the foreign matter at each coordinate at a magnification of about 50 times. It is configured to be able to specify the distribution of thickness. In the present embodiment, the area that can be measured at once by the height measuring mechanism 17 is, for example, a square having a side of 210 to 250 μm. On the other hand, the area where the polishing tape 12 can be pressed down by the polishing head 12 and cut at once is, for example, about 400 μm in diameter. The height measuring mechanism 17 is disposed so as to be movable together with the polishing head 12 at a position shifted laterally with respect to the polishing head 12 in the head body 4. Then, the control device 14 performs polishing by moving the polishing head 12 to a foreign material that needs to be corrected by the moving device 5 based on the defect information stored in the main server 15, and the height measuring mechanism 17. Is moved to measure the height of the foreign matter after polishing.

As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 1, the region where the large foreign matter A is present is configured to be divided into a plurality of polishing areas a. One polishing area a is an area that is equal to or narrower than the area in which the height can be measured at once by the height measuring mechanism 17.

-Foreign object polishing method-
Next, a foreign matter polishing method according to the present embodiment will be described. The work is the array substrate W after the polyimide resin film is formed.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, in the defect capturing step of step S01, defects are captured on the array substrate W after the polyimide resin film is formed by the defect capturing mechanism 16. As a result, the position and size of the foreign matter that needs to be corrected on the array substrate W are supplemented and stored in the main server 15. At this stage, the height is not accurately captured.

Next, in step S02, it is determined whether foreign matter polishing is necessary for the entire array substrate W based on defect information (foreign matter position, size, etc.). If there is no defect or only a defect that does not need to be polished, the process proceeds to step S03 and proceeds to the accepted product cassette storage process. In step S04, a color filter substrate (not shown) is placed on a normal production line. And pasted together. On the other hand, if there is a defect that needs to be polished, in step S05, the process proceeds to the cassette housing process for correction. Therefore, the defective array substrate W is stored in a cassette heading for the correction process, and is put into the correction process in step S06.

In the correction process shown in FIG. 5, the automatic mode is basically set. First, in step S10, the control device 14 acquires defect information from the main server 15 (defect capturing step).

Next, in the large foreign matter selection process in step S11, foreign matters that need to be corrected are classified based on the defect information. At this time, in particular, when the foreign matter is larger than a predetermined size, for example, 200 μm, which is a criterion slightly smaller than the measurement region (210 to 250 μm) of the height measuring mechanism 17, it is recognized as a large foreign matter A, and step S20 Proceed to On the other hand, when the size is smaller than the predetermined size, the polishing correction can be normally performed by one polishing, so the process proceeds to step S12, and the height measuring mechanism 17 is centered at the center of the foreign matter.

Next, in step S13, the center height of the foreign object is accurately measured.

Next, in step S14, it is determined whether the foreign object height is a predetermined 3 μm or less. If it is 3 μm or less, the polishing correction for the foreign matter is not necessary, and the process jumps to step S18. If it is larger than 3 μm, polishing correction is necessary, so that the process proceeds to step S15, where the polishing head 12 is centered on the center of the foreign matter, and polishing correction is performed. When correcting the polishing, polishing is performed up to a predetermined height h (for example, 3 μm) so as not to damage the surface of the workpiece.

Next, in step S16, the height measuring mechanism 17 measures the center height of the foreign object again.

Next, in step S17, it is determined whether the foreign object height is a predetermined 3 μm or less. If it is 3 μm or less, the polishing for the foreign matter is finished, and the process proceeds to step S18. When larger than 3 micrometers, since grinding | polishing is not fully performed, it returns to step S15 and grinding | polishing is repeated.

On the other hand, in step S20, an alarm (not shown) such as a buzzer is sounded to notify the operator that the large foreign object A exists (alarm process). At this time, the automatic mode is switched to the manual mode. The alerting by the alarm reliably prevents the large foreign matter A from being overlooked.

Next, in step S21, an operator who notices the alarm manually measures whether the height of the large foreign matter A is 3 μm or less. If the height is measured at at least one location of the large foreign matter A and it is confirmed that the entire large foreign matter A has a height of 3 μm or less, there is no need for polishing, and the process jumps to step S18. When there is a portion higher than 3 μm, the large foreign matter A needs to be polished, and the process proceeds to the polishing area dividing step after step S23.

In the polishing area dividing step in step S23, the operator divides an area where the large foreign matter A is present by specifying a plurality of polishing areas a. The polishing area a is, for example, an area where the height measurement mechanism 17 can measure the height at a time, and is a square having a side of 200 μm. As a result, the height of the entire area can be reliably measured in each polishing area a, so that polishing leakage in the entire large foreign matter A is reliably prevented. Although not shown in detail, when dividing in the polishing area a, the operator follows the large foreign matter A in order from one end of the large foreign matter A that is a fiber to the other end while visually checking the monitor screen. Then, the center point of the polishing area a is clicked using a mouse, a plurality of polishing areas a are made continuous, and the large foreign matter A is covered with the plurality of polishing areas a. Note that not only the polishing area a but also a region that can be polished at once by the polishing head 12 larger than that may be displayed in another color or the like. Then, the center point of the polishing area a is set so that the polishing areas a are at least continuous.

Next, in step S24, the polishing process is started. In this polishing step, the polishing head 12 may be automatically moved to one end portion of the large foreign material A by the moving device 5, for example.

Next, in step S25, the polishing head 12 is automatically lowered, and the polishing correction is performed so that the large foreign matter A reaches the predetermined height h in the polishing area a.

Next, in step S26, the polishing head 12 is automatically raised to finish the polishing.

Next, the process proceeds to an area moving process. In step S27, it is determined whether or not there is an unpolished polishing area a. If there is, the process proceeds to step S24, where the process moves to the next polishing area a and polishing correction is sequentially repeated. Is called. In the present embodiment, when the polishing correction in the polishing area a on the other end is completed, the process proceeds to step S28 and the height is measured manually. At this time, for example, the operator performs height measurement in at least one polishing area a to check whether the height is equal to or less than a predetermined height h.

Next, when it is confirmed that the large foreign matter A has been polished, the polishing correction of the large foreign matter is finished (polishing end step), and the process proceeds to step S29.

In step S29, the manual mode is restored to the automatic mode, and the process proceeds to step S18.

In step S18, it is determined whether there is an uncorrected defect based on the defect information. If there is an uncorrected defect, the process returns to step S11 to select another foreign object, and the subsequent steps are repeated. On the other hand, if there are no uncorrected defects, it is determined that the polishing correction for the array substrate W has been completed, and the process is put into the bonding process in step S04 in step S30.

As described above, even in the case of the large foreign matter A, the polishing correction is not completed by a single polishing, and the polishing is accurately performed by performing the height measurement after polishing and correcting all the divided polishing areas a. Therefore, the large foreign matter A is reliably polished and corrected, and the array substrate W does not flow to the next step without being sufficiently polished.

In addition, since a plurality of polishing areas a are set in advance while confirming on the screen, and polishing is performed for each area after the setting, whether or not the polishing is completed every time a part of the large foreign matter A is polished. Large foreign matter is polished more reliably and easily than manually checking.

Therefore, even a liquid crystal display device that is easily affected by large foreign matter A such as fibers can be reliably polished and corrected to improve the quality of the product.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention may be configured as follows with respect to the above embodiment.

That is, in the above embodiment, the workpiece is the array substrate W after forming the polyimide resin film in the liquid crystal display device, but is not limited thereto, and may be the array substrate W before forming the polyimide resin film, or a color filter substrate. But you can. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to plasma display substrates other than liquid crystal display devices.

In the above embodiment, the polishing area dividing step is performed manually, but may be performed automatically by image processing. For example, an image obtained by image processing is divided into a plurality of polishing areas a according to a predetermined law. If the large foreign matter is long and thin like a fiber, the polishing area a is divided from one end to the other end. If the foreign matter is large in width, it is zigzag from one corner to the opposite corner on the diagonal. Or may be divided spirally from one corner to the center. According to this configuration, an area with large foreign matter can be divided into a plurality of polishing areas by image processing, and a series of operations are automatically performed. For this reason, it is not necessary for the operator to approach the polishing apparatus, and thereby no new dust is generated, so that the quality of the product can be further improved.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the height measurement is performed after polishing and correcting all of the divided plurality of polishing areas a. However, the height measurement mechanism 17 automatically increases the height immediately after polishing each polishing area a. The height may be automatically measured, and when the height falls below a predetermined height, the next polishing area a may be automatically advanced.

In addition, the above embodiment is an essentially preferable example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, its application, and use.

As described above, the present invention is useful for a foreign substance polishing method and a foreign substance polishing apparatus for polishing and correcting large foreign substances such as fibers adhering to the surface of a workpiece such as a glass substrate used in a liquid crystal display device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Foreign material polishing apparatus 8 Polishing tape 9 Supply reel 10 Take-up reel 11 Guide roller 12 Polishing head 14 Control apparatus 16 Defect capture mechanism 17 Height measurement mechanism

Claims (9)

A foreign matter polishing method in which a polishing tape is fed out from a supply reel and while being wound up by a take-up reel, the polishing tape between the supply reel and the take-up reel is pressed by a polishing head to polish and correct foreign matter on the workpiece surface. There,
Defect capturing step for capturing defects on the workpiece surface and creating information for correction;
A large foreign matter selection step of selecting a large foreign matter larger than a predetermined size from the information,
A polishing area dividing step of dividing the region with the selected large foreign matter into a plurality of polishing areas;
A polishing step of polishing until the divided height is less than or equal to a predetermined height in each of the divided polishing areas;
After completion of polishing in each of the above polishing areas, an area moving step of automatically moving to the next polishing area,
A foreign matter polishing method comprising: a height measuring step of measuring the height of the large foreign matter when polishing is completed in all the polishing areas. The foreign matter polishing method according to claim 1,
A foreign matter polishing method, characterized in that the polishing area is set to a range equal to or narrower than an area that can be measured at a time in the height measurement step. In the foreign substance grinding method according to claim 1 or 2,
When the large foreign matter is selected in the large foreign matter selection step, an alarm is issued,
In the polishing area dividing step, the polishing area is manually set. In the foreign matter grinding | polishing method of Claim 3,
A foreign matter polishing method, wherein when the polishing area dividing step is manually set, the large foreign matter and an area that can be measured at a time in the height measuring step are displayed on a screen. In the foreign substance grinding method according to claim 1 or 2,
A foreign matter polishing method, wherein the polishing area dividing step is automatically performed by image processing. In the foreign matter grinding method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A foreign matter polishing method, wherein the polishing step and the area moving step after the polishing area dividing step are automatically performed over the entire region having the large foreign matter. In the foreign matter grinding method according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The workpiece is a display panel substrate,
The foreign matter polishing method, wherein the large foreign matter is a fiber. A work stage on which the work is placed;
A supply reel wound with abrasive tape;
A take-up reel for winding the polishing tape;
A polishing head disposed between the supply reel and the take-up reel and pressing the polishing tape against the workpiece;
A moving device for moving the polishing head to an arbitrary position on the workpiece surface;
A foreign matter polishing apparatus comprising a height measuring device for measuring the height of foreign matter on the workpiece,
A defect capturing mechanism for capturing defects on the workpiece surface and creating information for correction;
A large foreign object larger than a predetermined size is selected from the information, the polishing head is automatically moved by the moving device to each polishing area divided by the area where the large foreign object is present, and the polishing is sequentially performed. A foreign matter polishing apparatus comprising: a control device that measures the height with a height measuring device. The foreign matter polishing apparatus according to claim 8,
The foreign object polishing apparatus, wherein the height measuring device includes a lens capable of imaging only an area narrower than the polishing area.

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