KR20050102322A - Thin film forming system having particle remover and detector - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a thin film molding apparatus having a foreign material removal and detection function used to form a thin film on an upper portion of a flat panel display or the like by using a thin film molding machine such as a coating liquid ejecting apparatus or a film attaching apparatus.

Such a thin film molding apparatus includes: a foreign material remover for removing foreign substances by suctioning foreign substances present on one surface of the substrate; A foreign material detector disposed on one side of the foreign material remover and configured to sense whether a foreign material exists on one surface of the substrate; It is installed on one side of the foreign matter detector includes a thin film molding machine for forming a thin film or a liquid film on the substrate.

Therefore, by removing foreign substances that may be present on the substrate and at the same time whether the foreign substances have been completely removed, by providing a technology for forming a coating layer of the thin film on the substrate to reduce the damage of expensive thin film molding machine that can be caused by the foreign matter, There is an effect that can significantly reduce the defective rate of the substrate.

Description

Thin film forming system having particle remover and detector

The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus having a foreign material removal and detection function, and more particularly, to form a thin film or a liquid film on an upper portion of a flat panel display using a coating liquid discharge device or a film attachment device. The present invention relates to a thin film molding apparatus having a foreign material removal and detection function capable of performing a task of forming a thin film or a liquid film while removing dust or foreign substances and at the same time confirming that the foreign substances have been removed.

In general, a thin film molding apparatus forms a thin film or a liquid film on a substrate by using a coating liquid ejecting apparatus or a film attaching apparatus, and the foreign matter which may exist on the substrate on the side in which the coating liquid ejecting apparatus or the film attaching apparatus is transported. The foreign matter remover is disposed to remove the. In the thin film molding apparatus, a thin film or a liquid film is formed by a thin film molding machine on a substrate from which foreign materials have been removed through a foreign material remover. In this case, when foreign materials not removed by the foreign material remover remain on the substrate, the expensive thin film molding machine is damaged. In addition, there is a problem that can cause a defect of the substrate.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, the object of the present invention is to remove the foreign matter that may be present on the substrate and at the same time to check whether the removal of foreign matter is made and to form a thin film or liquid film on the substrate, The present invention provides a thin film forming apparatus with a foreign material removal and detection function that prevents damage to an expensive thin film molding machine and improves substrate quality.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a thin film forming apparatus for forming a film or a liquid film on a substrate, the foreign material remover for removing the foreign substances by sucking the foreign substances present on one surface of the substrate; A foreign material detector disposed on one side of the foreign material remover and configured to sense whether a foreign material exists on one surface of the substrate; It is provided on one side of the foreign matter detector provides a thin film molding apparatus having a foreign material removal and detection function including a thin film molding machine to form a thin film or a liquid film on the substrate.

Such a thin film forming apparatus sucks and removes foreign substances that may be present on the upper surface of the substrate as the substrate is transferred, and checks whether the foreign substances have been completely removed, and then removes the foreign substances on the substrate. A thin film coating or a liquid film is formed on the substrate.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing a part of the substrate in the transport direction of FIG. 1. FIG. A thin film forming apparatus (hereinafter also referred to as a thin film forming apparatus) having a foreign material removal and detection function disposed on one surface (upper portion) is shown.

The thin film molding apparatus may include a foreign material remover 30 that removes foreign matters that may exist on the substrate G, a foreign material detector 100 installed adjacent to the foreign material remover 30 and inspecting the presence of foreign matters, and the Is disposed on one side of the foreign matter detector 100 includes a thin film molding machine 200 for coating a thin film on the substrate (G), or applying a liquid film.

In FIG. 1, the solid arrow indicates the direction in which the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention is moved. The foreign material remover 30, the foreign material detector 100, and the thin film molding machine 200 may be sequentially disposed according to the traveling direction (solid arrow) of the substrate G.

The foreign material remover 30 includes an adsorption means capable of adsorbing the foreign material by vacuum together with a path for supplying high-pressure air, and offsets the static electricity of the foreign material present on the substrate G to facilitate separation. It may include an ionizer 31. That is, the foreign material remover 30 is also disposed to have a right angle or a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the transfer direction of the substrate (G) as shown in Figure 1 by the ionizer 31 installed in the high-pressure air path (also called foreign matter particles (P, particles) To remove the static electricity that may be present, and to remove the foreign material from which the static electricity has been removed by vacuum means to remove it from the substrate (G).

The ionizer 31 is to solve the problem that the foreign matter does not fall off the substrate (G) well by static electricity, a conventional one can be used.

The foreign material remover 30 described above is not limited to a structure for removing foreign matter by vacuum suction, and any material may be used as long as it can remove foreign matter present on the substrate G.

The foreign material detector 100 forms a line shape having a plurality of optical particle sensors 103 having a rectangular pillar shape at regular intervals and having a right angle or a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the direction in which the substrate G travels. The foreign matter detector 100 having such a line shape is for efficiently removing foreign matter that may exist in the entire area of the substrate G while the substrate G is transferred. The optical particle sensor 103 irradiates white light having an even distribution of wavelengths (spectrums), and separates and irradiates a focal point for each wavelength in a depth direction and irradiated light on the surface of the substrate G or a foreign particle ( And a portion for receiving the light reflected by P) and a portion for analyzing the wavelength (spectrum) of the received light to determine the presence of foreign matter particles (P).

The structure and principle of the optical particle sensor 103 constituting the foreign matter detector 100 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

The optical particle sensor 103 is a light irradiation means 120 for irradiating light, a light focusing means 140 for focusing the light irradiated from the light irradiation means 120 to the substrate (G), the light focusing means The beam splitter 160 may reflect the light focused at 140, and the detection unit 180 may detect the wavelength of the light reflected by the beam splitter 160. In addition, the detecting unit 180 senses the sensitivity of the detected light, calculates a difference value, and transmits the sensed value to the controller C that calculates a position generated by the difference in focal length according to the wavelength. Has

The light irradiating means 120 may include a light source LS provided to a case (not shown), a lens assembly 121 collecting light emitted from the light source LS, and light collected from the lens assembly 121 at a predetermined length. The light passing member 123 to pass through the slit 123a, and the first filter 125 to have a suitable wavelength distribution (spectrum) of the light passing through the light passing member 123.

The light source LS may emit white light, and a conventional one may be used. The light passing member 123 is disposed at an image forming point position of the lens assembly 121, and is preferably disposed at a position through which the light of the light source LS can effectively pass through the slit 123a. In particular, the slit 123a provided to the light passing member 123 may be formed of an elongated long hole to have a vertical or constant inclination with respect to the traveling direction of the substrate G. The first filter 125 cuts light of unnecessary wavelengths, reduces noise, and blocks and filters heat that may be irradiated onto the substrate G.

The light converging means 140 may be made of a lens assembly in which a focal length may vary depending on the wavelength due to chromatic aberration. The light converging means 140 is a focal point A of the first wavelength at which the focal point is formed at the depth of the upper end of the substrate G or the workpiece. In fact, the light converging means 140 is divided into one wavelength for convenience. And the focus of the remaining wavelengths (B, in fact, the distribution of the wavelengths is continuous, and is divided into wavelengths for convenience).

The light focusing unit 140 may be a zone plate or a panel lens.

On the other hand, the beam splitter 160 is disposed between the light irradiation means 120 and the light focusing means 140 to pass the light of the light source LS, and passes through the light focusing means 140 to the substrate (G) serves to reflect the light of the wavelength reflected by the detection means 180 side.

The detection means 180 is another light passing member 181 having a slit through which the light is passed through the direction change by the beam splitter 160, the light passing through the light passing member 181 to collect Another lens splitter 183, another beam splitter 185 for splitting the light passing through the lens assembly 183 into two positions by passing or reflecting light at a predetermined angle according to the respective wavelengths. The second filter 187 in the light irradiation means 120 to pass the appropriate wavelength distribution in the light passing through 185, the second from the light reflected by the beam splitter 185 provided to the detection means 180 A third filter 189 in the light irradiation means 120 passing through a suitable wavelength distribution different from the filter 187, and first and second sensing light passing through the second and third filters 187 and 189; Image pickup devices 191 and 193 may be included.

The light passing member 181 provided to the detecting unit 180 may pass the light having the most focused wavelength among the wavelengths of the light reflected by the beam splitter 160 at the greatest intensity.

In addition, the lens assembly 183 provided to the detecting means 180 collects light and serves to pass or reflect a specific wavelength in the beam splitter 185 provided to the detecting means 180.

The controller C calculates the sensitivity of the two wavelengths (spectrum) detected by the substrate G using a set algorithm, and analyzes the calculated result to determine whether foreign matter particles P exist on the surface of the substrate G. And the position of the foreign matter particle (P).

The controller (C) is provided with a display means to display information on the foreign matter particles (P) detected, that is, the presence or absence of the foreign matter particles (P) and information on the thickness and size of the foreign matter particles (P).

In the memory unit (not shown) of the controller C, the first and second image pickup devices 191 and 193 may be formed as shown in FIG. 5 according to the size and thickness of the foreign matter particles P present on the surface of the substrate G. Reference data obtained by learning a sensitivity of two detected wavelengths is stored as a value of a one-dimensional curve that is linearized as shown in FIG. 6.

In addition, the controller (C) provides the corresponding information to the coating liquid ejecting device, which is a peripheral device which is interlocked, or the thin film forming device, which is interlocked when the presence of the foreign matter particles (P) is detected on the surface of the substrate (G), It is possible to carry out an appropriate correspondence according to the presence of particles P.

The controller C includes a differential amplifier and an A / D conversion means, and the differential or differential sensitivity of the two wavelengths detected by the first and second image pickup devices 191 and 193 in the detection means 180 using a differential amplifier. By extracting the sensitivity between the two wavelengths as a one-dimensional function by calculating the difference, converts the extracted function value to a digital signal through the A / D conversion means, and extract the depth of the wavelength by applying to the reference data of Figure 6, The presence of the foreign matter particles P and the location of the foreign matter particles P are detected.

Hereinafter, an operation of detecting whether foreign matter particles P are present on the surface of the work object G through the foreign matter detector 100 applicable to the present invention will be described in detail as follows.

The light source LS in the light irradiation means 120 of the plurality of optical particle sensors 103 constituting the foreign matter detection apparatus 100 according to the present invention generates white light and is aligned on the screen. Investigate.

The white light generated by the light source LS is focused by the lens assembly 121, passes through the slot 123a of the light passing member 123, and then passes through the first filter 124.

At this time, the first filter 125 filters the white light of the light source LS to pass through only the light having an appropriate wavelength distribution (spectrum) and irradiates the light focusing unit 140.

The light converging means 140 has a narrow line width (spectrum) of the focus A at a fixed first position of the substrate G with respect to the wavelength distribution (spectrum) due to chromatic aberration using a lens assembly. The remaining wavelengths (spectrum) cause the focal points B to be at a depth except for the first position on the substrate G.

As described above, light of the wavelength focused on the surface of the substrate G and the surface of the foreign matter particle P and the light of the remaining wavelengths except for the light of the various wavelengths irradiated to focus on the substrate G are reflected. The traveling direction is switched by the beam splitter 160 and irradiated to the detection means 180 side.

At this time, the light passing member 181 in the detection means 180 is the wavelength that was most focused on the surface of the substrate (G) and the surface of the foreign matter particle (P) of the light irradiated by being turned by the beam splitter 160 Pass the light with only the strongest intensity to focus through the lens assembly 183, and then pass the light reflected through the beam splitter 185 according to the wavelength or reflected at a predetermined angle to separate into two.

As described above, one light among the lights separated by the beam splitter 185 in the detecting unit 180 has an appropriate intensity by the transmittance characteristic according to the wavelength of the second filter 187 so that the first imaging device 191 ) Is transmitted to the controller C, and the other light has a transmittance characteristic according to a different wavelength to have a proper intensity by the transmittance characteristic of the third filter 189 different from the second filter 187. It is input to the imaging device 193 and transmitted to the controller C.

The controller C detects the intensities of the two lights from the substrate G input from the first image pickup device 191 and the second image pickup device 193, and then differentiates them using an internal differential amplifier. (B = S2 / S1) or difference calculation (B = S2-S1) to extract the sensitivity between two wavelengths as a one-dimensional function.

Thereafter, the extracted function value is converted into a digital signal through the A / D conversion means, and applied to the reference data of FIG. 5 to extract the corresponding wavelength, and from this, the wavelength of the light irradiated from the light irradiation means 120. By extracting the depth information for, the presence of foreign matter particles P on the surface of the substrate G and the location of the foreign matter particles P are searched.

When a wavelength corresponding to a depth other than the allowable error range of the surface of the substrate G is detected by the light irradiation means 120, it is recognized that foreign matter particles P0 are present on the surface of the work object G.

Therefore, the controller C extracts the difference obtained by differentiating or differentially calculating the intensity signals of the two lights detected as described above as a linear function and compares the difference with the reference data of FIG. 6 stored in the memory means. It is possible to detect whether the foreign matter particles (P) is present in the), its size and thickness.

Information on the presence or absence of foreign matter particles (P) on the surface of the work object (G) extracted as described above is displayed through the display means, the presence of foreign matter particles (P) is detected on the surface of the substrate (G) In this case, the corresponding information is provided to the thin film molding machine 200, which is a phosphor coating liquid ejecting device or a film attaching device, which is a peripheral device to be interlocked, so that a proper response according to the presence of foreign matter particles P can be performed.

On the other hand, the thin film forming machine 200 may be used a conventional coating liquid ejecting device or film attachment device that can coat a film on the substrate (G) or form a liquid film.

According to the present invention, the foreign material remover 30, the foreign material detector 100, and the thin film molding machine 200 are vacuumed in the foreign material which may exist on the substrate G in the foreign material remover 30 when the foreign material remover 30 is moved in the solid arrow direction. By adsorption. At this time, the foreign matter may be present in the foreign matter by the ionizer 31 generating air by being sucked by a high pressure vacuum located at the rear side after being separated from the substrate by air supplied at high pressure and installed on the air supply path of the present invention. As the static electricity is canceled, the adsorption work is performed by the vacuum path. Subsequently, the foreign material detector 100 moving along the foreign material remover 30 detects whether there is a foreign material that has not yet been removed by the above-described principle. Then, the thin film molding machine 200 is moved to the substrate G from which the foreign matters are removed by the foreign material remover 30, and the coating of the film (shown in FIG. 3) or the liquid film (see FIGS. 1 and 2) according to the working process. Shown in the figure).

If foreign matters are detected on the substrate G by the foreign material detector 100 in this process, the foreign material remover 30 is moved to the position where the foreign material exists by the control of the controller C and then removed again. It is possible to prevent the production of the defective substrate (G) due to the foreign matter present in the substrate (G) by allowing the operation or by stopping the coating or liquid film forming operation of the film to separate the foreign matter through a separate operation. The thin film molding apparatus having a foreign material removal and detection function according to the present invention can protect an expensive thin film molding machine that may be damaged by foreign materials by checking whether the foreign material exists even after the foreign material existing on the substrate G has already been removed. will be.

As described above, the present invention sequentially removes the foreign substances that may exist on the substrate by sequentially placing the foreign material remover, the foreign material detector, and the thin film molding machine on the basis of the direction in which the substrate is transported, and examines whether the foreign substances have been completely removed. Providing a technology of forming a coating layer of the can reduce the damage of expensive thin film molding machine that can occur due to foreign matter, there is an effect that can significantly reduce the defective rate of the substrate.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a thin film forming apparatus for explaining an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the cut portion A-A of FIG. 1.

3 is a view for explaining another application example of the present invention.

4 to 6 are configuration diagrams and graphs for explaining the configuration and operation principle of the sensor that can be applied to the present invention.

Claims (7)

In a thin film forming apparatus for forming a film or a liquid film on a substrate, A foreign material remover disposed on one surface of the substrate and configured to remove foreign substances by suctioning foreign substances present on one surface of the substrate; A foreign material detector disposed on one side of the foreign material remover and configured to sense whether a foreign material exists on one surface of the substrate; A thin film molding machine installed at one side of the foreign material detector to form a thin film or a liquid film on the substrate; Thin film forming apparatus with a foreign material removal and detection function comprising a. The thin film molding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the foreign material remover, the foreign material detector, and the thin film molding machine are sequentially disposed in accordance with a traveling direction of the substrate. The foreign material remover of claim 1, wherein Foreign substance removal means for sucking and removing foreign substances present on the substrate by air supply and vacuum; An ionizer for removing static electricity of foreign matter present on the substrate to be adsorbed by the vacuum means; Thin film forming apparatus with a foreign material removal and detection function further comprising. The foreign material detector of claim 1, wherein A plurality of optical particle sensors are disposed in a line shape to detect the presence of foreign substances by having different focal lengths according to the wavelength of light reflected by the light reflected on the substrate and the foreign substances disposed on the substrate. Thin film forming apparatus with foreign material removal and detection function with constant angle The method of claim 4, wherein the optical particle sensor Light source; A first filter separating the light emitted from the light source into two groups of wavelengths; A lens group for allowing light passing through the first filter to have different focal lengths due to chromatic aberration; A beam splitter disposed between the first filter and the lens group and configured to allow light having the wavelengths of the two groups to pass therethrough, and to change and reflect an angle of light reflected by the substrate and the foreign matter present on the upper surface of the substrate; Second and third filters passing through the light reflected by the beam splitter; Two imaging devices each sensing two groups of wavelengths passing through the second and third filters; A controller configured to calculate a sensitivity difference of light having two groups of wavelengths detected by the image pickup device, and determine whether there is a foreign matter according to the difference in wavelength; Thin film forming apparatus with a foreign material removal and detection function further comprising. 6. The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein second and third filters are disposed in front of the image pickup device such that wavelengths of different bands are formed on the image pickup device. The foreign substance according to claim 5, wherein a light passing member is provided between the light source and the first filter, wherein the light passing member is provided with a slit at a right angle or a constant angle with respect to a traveling direction of the substrate so that light emitted from the light source can pass therethrough. Thin film forming equipment with removal and detection functions.