TWI386762B - Apparatus for and method of exposure patterns - Google Patents

Description

Exposure device and graphic forming method

The present invention relates to a device and a pattern forming method for directly exposing an object to be exposed having a functional pattern, wherein a predetermined functional pattern is formed on the object to be exposed, and a predetermined reference position is detected by the image pickup device. The reference position is used as a reference to control the light beam to scan, which can improve the alignment accuracy of the functional pattern and reduce the exposure equipment cost and the image forming method.

The conventional exposure apparatus uses a reticle pattern formed on a glass substrate as a reticle to transfer the reticle pattern onto the exposure body by exposure transfer, using equipment such as a stepper, microlens projection and proximity. Exposure machine, etc. However, in these conventional exposure apparatuses, when the multi-layer pattern is exposed, the alignment accuracy between the layers is greatly problematic. In particular, the large reticle used in the production of TFTs and color filters for large LCDs greatly increases the cost of the reticle because the size of the reticle pattern is required to be very high. Moreover, in order to achieve the required alignment accuracy, the functional graphics of the lower layer must be aligned with the mask pattern. If it is a large mask, the alignment will cause a big problem.

In addition to the use of a reticle, it is also possible to use an electron beam or a laser to directly scan and expose the exposed object based on the CAD file. The exposure apparatus must have a laser light source, convert the laser light generated by the laser light source into an exposure optical system for repeatedly scanning, and a device for transmitting the exposure body, and control the emission state of the laser light source by using CAD data to generate The scanning is repeated, and at the same time, the exposed body is vertically moved with respect to the scanning direction of the laser beam, and a pattern of planar CAD data is formed on the exposed body (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-144415).

However, such a direct scanning type exposure apparatus has a high image precision requirement for CAD data, and thus, like an exposure apparatus using a mask, when performing a multi-layer pattern process, there are also different exposure apparatuses, and functions. The problem of insufficient accuracy of the graphic alignment. A high-precision exposure apparatus is also required for this problem, so the cost of the exposure apparatus is also high.

Moreover, the alignment between the underlying functional graphics and the CAD graphics may be problematic if not designed in advance, as with other exposure devices that use the reticle.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an exposure apparatus and a pattern forming method which can improve the alignment accuracy of a functional pattern while reducing the cost of an exposure apparatus.

In order to achieve the object, the exposure optical system of the exposure apparatus of the present invention directly scans the functional pattern on the exposed object by using a light beam directly on the reference functional pattern formed on the object to be exposed. Exposure equipment. Further, in the moving direction of the object to be exposed, the front side of the beam scanning position is an imaging position, and an imaging device that previously forms a functional pattern image as an exposure position reference on the object to be exposed; and an illumination reference functional image are provided. An illuminating device that captures an image by the imaging device; and detects an image of the reference functional pattern captured by the imaging device, and controls the optical system control device for starting and stopping the beam irradiation with the reference position as a reference.

According to the above configuration, the illumination device illuminates the object to be exposed, and a functional pattern as a reference is formed in advance, and the image of the functional pattern is captured by the imaging device, and the reference functional image is captured by the optical system control device. The image of the predetermined reference position on the upper side controls the start and stop of the beam irradiation of the reciprocal scanning with the reference position as a reference. Therefore, it is possible to improve the alignment accuracy of the reference functional pattern formed in advance on the object to be exposed and the predetermined functional pattern. When stacking multiple layers of functional graphics, the alignment accuracy of the functional graphics of each layer can also be improved. When a plurality of exposure apparatuses are used to form a laminated pattern, it is possible to eliminate the problem that the alignment accuracy is deteriorated due to the difference in accuracy between exposure apparatuses, and to suppress an increase in the cost of the exposure apparatus.

In the above-described optical system control device, the binary functional processing is performed by using the reference functional pattern captured by the imaging device, and the image data corresponding to the preset reference position is compared, and the same portion of the two data is detected. The optical system control device performs binary processing by the reference functional graphic image captured by the imaging device, and compares the image data corresponding to the predetermined reference position to detect a portion where the two data are identical. Achieve high-speed instant detection of the reference position.

The light receiving elements in the above imaging device are arranged in a row. The light-receiving elements arranged in a line form a one-dimensional image data of the reference functional pattern by the image pickup device. In this way, it is possible to suppress an increase in cost of the image pickup apparatus and to increase the processing speed of the data.

The above illumination device is located on the back side of the object to be exposed. Therefore, the illumination device can be illuminated by the back side of the object to be exposed. In this way, it is possible to increase the contrast of the captured images and improve the image capturing accuracy of the image data. Achieve high precision exposure requirements.

In the above-described exposure optical system, two polarizing elements having polarization axes perpendicular to each other are disposed apart from each other, and a voltage is applied between the two polarizing elements to change the polarization direction of the polarized light as an electro-optical modulator of the optical switch. It is located on the optical axis of the beam. The irradiation start and stop of the light beam can be controlled by the applied voltage on the electro-optical modulator disposed between the two polarizing elements disposed apart from each other by the polarizing axes being perpendicular to each other. And achieve high-speed switching action of beam irradiation and stop, and improve the formation accuracy of the exposure pattern.

Therefore, the object to be exposed is obliquely arranged in a moving direction parallel to the direction in which the reference functional pattern is arranged with respect to the scanning trajectory of the scanning beam of the object to be exposed. Accordingly, the object to be exposed is disposed obliquely with respect to the moving direction, and the scanning trajectory of the light beam is parallel to the direction in which the reference functional patterns are arranged. Therefore, the exposure pattern can be accurately formed without deviating from the start exposure position and the exposure end position of the reference functional pattern arrangement direction.

The pattern forming method according to the present invention is a pattern forming method in which an exposure optical system uses a light beam to perform relative scanning on an object to be exposed and directly exposes the object to be exposed, and the illumination device is used to illuminate the object to be exposed in advance. Forming a functional pattern as a reference for the exposure position, capturing an image of the reference functional pattern by the imaging device in front of the beam scanning position in the direction of the object to be exposed, and using the optical system control device to capture the reference function by the imaging device The image of the sexual figure is detected, and a preset reference position is detected, and the reference position is used as a reference to control the start or stop of the beam irradiation, and the predetermined functional pattern is exposed at the predetermined position.

According to this method, the image pickup device captures the image of the reference functional pattern in the forward direction of the light beam scanning position in the transport direction of the object to be exposed, and detects the functional graphic image captured by the image pickup device by using the optical system control device. The preset reference position is used to control the light beam start or stop as the reference, and the exposure of the other functional patterns is performed at the position corresponding to the functional pattern. Therefore, the alignment accuracy of the predetermined functional pattern is improved by using the functional pattern formed as a reference in advance on the object to be exposed. Therefore, even when a stack of a plurality of functional patterns is formed, the alignment accuracy between the functional patterns of the respective layers can be improved. Therefore, when a plurality of exposure apparatuses are used to form a stacked pattern, the problem that the accuracy of the alignment of the functional pattern is deteriorated due to the difference in precision between the exposure apparatuses can be solved, and the cost of the exposure apparatus can be reduced.

In the above-described reference position detecting method using the optical system control device, the image capturing device captures the image of the reference functional pattern, performs binary processing, and compares the image data corresponding to the preset reference position to detect two data. Consistent part. According to this, the optical system control device performs binary processing on the reference functional graphic image captured by the imaging device, and compares the image data corresponding to the preset reference position, and detects the same portion of the two data as the reference position. . Therefore, the purpose of quickly detecting the reference position at a high speed can be achieved.

Further, the imaging device is such that the light receiving elements are arranged in a single row. Therefore, the light-receiving elements arranged in a single row can capture one-dimensional image data of the reference functional pattern by the image pickup device. Thereby, it is possible to suppress an increase in cost of the image pickup apparatus while increasing the processing speed of the data.

Moreover, the illumination device is located on the back side of the object to be exposed. Since the illumination device is illuminated by the back side of the object to be exposed. Therefore, the contrast of captured images and the accuracy of the image data can be improved, and the purpose of high-precision exposure can be achieved.

Further, on the optical axis of the exposure optical system, two polarizing elements in which the polarization axes are vertically separated from each other and an electric optical modulator in which a voltage is applied between the two polarizing elements to change the direction of the polarization of the light as an optical switch are provided. Therefore, a voltage can be applied to the electrical optical modulator to control beam illumination and stop. Therefore, it is possible to switch the irradiation and stopping of the light beam at a high speed, and to improve the forming precision of the exposure pattern.

Therefore, the object to be exposed is a beam scanning trajectory scanned with respect to the object to be exposed, and can be arranged obliquely with the moving direction of the parallel reference functional pattern arrangement direction. Therefore, the moving direction of the object to be exposed is inclined, and the scanning trajectory of the light beam can be parallel to the direction in which the reference functional patterns are arranged. Thus, when the alignment direction of the reference functional pattern is exposed to the start and end positions, the correct exposure pattern can still be formed.

Fig. 1 is a conceptual view showing a first embodiment of the exposure apparatus of the present invention. The exposure apparatus 1 is directly exposed on an object to be exposed to form a functional pattern, and includes a laser light source 2, an exposure optical system 3, a transfer device 4, an image pickup device 5, a backlight illumination device 6 as an illumination device, and an optical device. System control device 7. The above functional graphics are structural graphics necessary for the function of the product, for example, a pixel pattern of a black matrix of a color filter, and a filter pattern of red, blue, and green colors, if it is a semiconductor component, for example, a wiring pattern and various electrode patterns. Wait. Hereinafter, a glass substrate of a color filter will be described as an example.

The laser source 2 is used to emit a light beam, for example, a high-power solid-state laser light source that generates 355 nm ultraviolet light and has an output power of 4 W or more.

The laser light source 2 has an exposure optical system 3 in front of the light beam output direction. The exposure optical system 3 performs reciprocal scanning on the glass substrate 8 by laser light, and starts from the front in the direction in which the laser light is emitted, in order, the optical switch 9, the optical deflecting device 10, the first reflecting mirror 11, the polygon mirror 12, and the fθ lens. 13 and the second mirror 14.

The optical switch 9 can switch between the laser light irradiation and the stop, as in the first and second polarizing elements 15A and 15B in Fig. 2, and the polarizing elements 15A and 15B are arranged to be perpendicular to each other with the polarization axis p being perpendicular to each other (as shown in the figure, the polarizing element) The polarization axis p of 15A is set to the vertical direction, and the polarization axis p of the polarization element 15B is set to the horizontal direction. The electro-optical modulator 16 is provided between the first and second polarizing elements 15A and 15B. When a voltage is applied to the electro-optical modulator 16, the polarized surface of the polarized light (linearly polarized light) is rotated at a high speed of several nsec. For example, when a voltage of 0 is applied, the first polarizing element 15A as shown in (a) can selectively transmit linearly polarized light of the vertical polarizing surface, and directly passes through the electro-optical modulator 16 to reach the second polarizing element 15B. Since the polarization plane of the second polarizing element 15B is in the horizontal direction, the linearly polarized light having the vertical polarizing surface cannot penetrate, and the laser light is in the stopped irradiation state. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. (b), when a voltage is applied to the electro-optical modulator 16, the polarized surface of the linearly polarized light incident on the electro-optical modulator 16 is rotated by 90 degrees, and the linearly polarized light of the original vertical polarized surface is When the electro-optical modulator 16 is emitted, it becomes a linearly polarized light of a horizontally polarized surface, and penetrates the second polarizing element 15B. Therefore, the laser light becomes an illuminating state.

The optical deflecting device 10 adjusts and adjusts the correct scanning position of the laser light when the vertical scanning direction of the laser light is shifted (the moving direction of the glass substrate 8 is as indicated by the arrow A direction in the first drawing), for example, an acousto-optic element (AO element). .

The first mirror 11 is a plane mirror device that changes the direction of the laser beam passing through the light deflecting device 10 to the polygon mirror 12. The polygon mirror 12 is a device for reciprocating scanning of laser light, for example, eight mirrors are provided on the side of the regular octagonal columnar rotating body. The laser light reflected by one of the mirrors is scanned in one dimension with the rotation of the polygon mirror 12, and when turned to the next mirror surface, the irradiation position of the laser light instantaneously returns to the original position, again with the multifaceted The rotation of the mirror 12 starts scanning in one dimension.

The fθ lens 13 is a device that makes the scanning speed of the laser light equal to the speed of the glass substrate 8, and the focal position is approximately the same as the mirror position of the polygon mirror 12. The second mirror 14 is a plane mirror that reflects the laser light passing through the fθ lens 13 and directly enters the surface of the glass substrate 8. At the same time, in the vicinity of the exit surface of the fθ lens 13, the position where the laser light starts scanning has a line sensor 17 perpendicular to the scanning direction, and the amount of deviation between the predetermined scanning position and the actual scanning position of the laser light is detected, and the laser light is detected at the same time. The time of the scan. In addition to the fθ lens 13, the line sensor 17 can also detect the scanning start point of the laser light, for example, on the stage 18 of the transport glass substrate to be described later.

The conveyor 4 is provided below the second mirror 14. The transport device 4 is such that the glass substrate 8 is placed on the platform 18, and the platform 18 is transported in a direction of vertical laser scanning at a predetermined speed using, for example, a transport roller 19 having a rotationally driven transport drive portion 20, For example, a motor.

The arrow A above the transport device 4 indicates the transport direction, and the imaging device 5 is provided in front of the above-described laser light scanning position. The imaging device 5 is configured to capture a black matrix pixel on a glass substrate 8 in which a functional pattern as a reference exposure position is formed in advance, and the light receiving elements are arranged in a line, for example, a line CCD. As shown in FIG. 3, the distance D between the imaging position E of the imaging device 5 and the laser scanning position F is set to an integral multiple (n times) of the arrangement pitch P of the pixels 22 of the black matrix 21. Therefore, when the glass substrate 8 is transferred, when the center of the pixel 22 coincides with the scanning position of the laser light, the laser light starts scanning, and thus the scanning timing can be made uniform. Moreover, the smaller the distance D described above, the better. In this way, the movement error of the glass substrate 8 can be reduced, and the laser light can be used to determine the correct scanning position by the pixel 22. The imaging device 5 in Fig. 1 is provided in three sets. If the scanning range of the laser light is smaller than the image processing range of one imaging device 5, one imaging device 5 may be used. When the scanning range is larger than the image processing range of one imaging device 5, it is preferable to provide a plurality of imaging devices 5.

Below the conveyor 4, there is a backlight illumination device 6. The backlight illumination device 6 can be, for example, a surface light source for illuminating the pixels 22 so that the imaging device 5 can capture images.

The optical system control device 7 is connected to the laser light source 2, the optical switch 9, the optical deflecting device 10, the polygon mirror 12, the line sensor 17, the transmitting device 4, and the imaging device 5. The optical system control device 7 has an imaging device 5 for detecting a preset reference position on the graphic image of the camera pixel 22, and controlling the start or stop of the laser light source 2 with the reference position as a reference, and at the same time, according to the line sensor The output of 17 controls the applied voltage of the light deflecting device 10, changes the direction in which the laser light is emitted, controls the rotational speed of the polygon mirror 12, and maintains the scanning speed at which the laser light is fixed, and controls the glass substrate 8 to be a predetermined transfer by the transport device 4. speed. Therefore, the light source driving portion 23 for starting the laser light source 2, the optical switch controller 24 for controlling the start and stop of the laser light irradiation, and the light deflecting device driving portion 25A for controlling the laser light deviation vector by the light deflecting device 10 are provided. The polygon mirror driving portion 25B that controls the driving polygon mirror 12, the transfer controller 26 that controls the conveying speed of the conveying device 4, the backlight controller 27 that controls the backlighting device 6 to turn on and off, and the image captured by the image capturing device 5 The A/D conversion unit 28 that performs the A/D conversion determines the image processing portion 29 of the laser light irradiation start and stop positions based on the A/D converted image data, and the laser light irradiation from the processing of the image processing portion 29 is started. The memory portion 30 of the position (hereinafter referred to as the start exposure position) and the irradiation stop position (hereinafter referred to as the end exposure position), the lookup table for storing the start exposure position and the end exposure position, and the like are read by the memory portion 30. The data of the start exposure position and the end exposure position are based on the modulation data processing section 31 of the modulation data of the ON/OFF of the optical switch 9, and the control section 32 for controlling the operation of the overall apparatus.

4 and 5 are structural block diagrams of the image processing section 29. As shown in Fig. 4, the image processing portion 29 has, for example, three ring-shaped buffer memories 33A, 33B, 33C connected in parallel, and the ring-shaped buffer memories 33A, 33B, 33C are connected in parallel by, for example, three. The linear buffer memories 34A, 34B, and 34C are connected to the comparison circuit 35 for outputting the binary threshold value and the comparative gray scale data, and the nine linear buffer memories 34A, 34B, and 34C are connected. The output data is compared with the image data lookup table (LUT for starting the exposure position) of the first reference position at which the exposure position is determined by the memory portion 30 of Fig. 1, and when the two data are identical, the output starts the exposure position. The output data of the start exposure position determination circuit 36 and the nine linear buffer memories 34A, 34B, and 34C of the determination result are equivalent to the second reference position at which the exposure position is determined by the memory portion 30 as shown in FIG. The lookup table of the image data (the end exposure position is LUT) is compared, and when the two pieces of data match, the end exposure position judging circuit 37 that ends the judgment result of the exposure position is output.

As shown in Fig. 5, the image processing unit 29 has a result of inputting the start exposure position determination result, the image data of the number of times corresponding to the first reference position, the output circuit 38A, the output of the counter circuit 38A, and Fig. 1 When the exposure start pixel number obtained by the memory portion 30 is compared with the two values, the exposure start signal is output to the comparison circuit 39A of the modulation data processing portion 31 as shown in FIG. 1, and the end exposure position determination result is input. The counting circuit 38B of the number of times of the image data corresponding to the second reference position, the output of the counting circuit 38B and the exposure end pixel number obtained by the memory portion 30 as shown in Fig. 1 are compared with two values. In the case of coincidence, as shown in FIG. 1, the exposure end signal is output to the comparison circuit 39B of the modulation data processing section 31, and based on the output of the counting circuit 38A, the front pixel count circuit 40 of the previous number of pixels is calculated. When the output of the prime counting circuit 40 and the exposure pixel number obtained by the memory portion 30 as shown in FIG. 1 are compared with each other, as shown in FIG. 1, the output pixel sequence designation signal is output. The comparison circuit 41 of the data processing section 31 is modulated. Among them, the counting circuits 38A and 38B start the reading operation based on the imaging device 5, and reset based on the reading start signal. The front pixel count circuit 40 is reset according to the end of the predetermined exposure pattern and the exposure pattern end signal.

Next, the operation and pattern forming method of the first embodiment of the configuration will be described. First, the exposure device 1 activates the power source to drive the optical system control device 7. The laser source 2 is activated to emit laser light. At the same time, the polygon mirror 12 begins to rotate and the laser light begins to scan. However, at this time, the optical switch 9 is in an OFF state, so that the laser light cannot be irradiated.

Next, the glass substrate 8 is placed on the stage 18 of the conveyor 4. Since the conveying device 4 conveys the glass substrate 8 at a constant speed, as shown in Fig. 6, the scanning trajectory (arrow B) of the laser light is inclined with respect to the moving direction (arrow A) of the stage 18. When the glass substrate 8 is arranged in parallel with the above-described moving direction (arrow A), the exposure position as shown in (a) is deviated between the scanning start pixel 22a and the scanning end pixel 22b of the black matrix 21. At this time, as shown in (b), when the glass substrate 8 is disposed obliquely with respect to the transport direction (arrow A direction), the arrangement direction of the pixels 22 and the scanning trajectory (arrow B) of the laser light can be made uniform. However, in actuality, the scanning speed of the laser light is much faster than the conveying speed of the glass substrate 8, and therefore the amount of deviation is small. When the glass substrate 8 is arranged in the parallel moving direction, the deviation can be measured by the image data of the image pickup device 5, and then the amount of deviation is compensated by the light deflecting device 10 of the exposure optical system 3. Therefore, the following description does not consider the case where deviation occurs.

Then, the transport driving portion 20 drives the platform 18 to move in the direction of the arrow A of the first figure. At this time, the transport driving section 20 is controlled by the optical system control means 7, and the transfer controller 26 maintains the fixed speed.

When the black matrix 21 formed on the glass substrate 8 reaches the imaging position of the imaging device 5, the imaging device 5 starts imaging, and detects the start exposure position and the end exposure position based on the captured black matrix 21 image data. Hereinafter, the pattern forming method will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 7.

In step S1, the pixel 22 image of the black matrix 21 is first captured by the imaging device 5. The captured image data is sent to the three ring-shaped buffer memories 33A, 33B, and 33C of the image processing portion 29 shown in Fig. 4 for processing. Then, the latest three pieces of data are output from the respective ring type buffer memories 33A, 33B, and 33C. At this time, for example, the ring type outputs two previous data from the buffer memory 33A, the ring type buffer memory 33B outputs a previous data, and the ring type buffer memory 33C outputs the latest data. Each of these data is arranged on the same clock (time axis) based on the images of the three linear buffer memories 34A, 34B, 34C, for example, 3X3 CCD pixels. The result is the image obtained in Fig. 8(a). The image is digitized to a value of 3X3 corresponding to the image (b). These digitized images are located on the same-clock, and are compared with the critical value by the comparison circuit 35 to become a binary value. For example, when the threshold value is "45", the image of the same figure (a) becomes the binary of the same figure (c).

Next, in step S2, the reference position at which the exposure starts and the exposure ends is detected. The detection of the reference position is performed by the start exposure position judging circuit 36 comparing the binary material and the start exposure position LUT data of the first picture memory portion 30.

For example, when the first reference position at which the exposure position is started is specified, as shown in Fig. 9(a), when the upper left corner of the pixel 22 of the black matrix 21 is set, the LUT at the start of exposure is as in the figure (b), and the LUT data at which the exposure starts is displayed. It becomes "000011011". Comparing the binary data and the data of the exposure start LUT "000011011", when the two data match, it is judged that the image data captured by the image pickup device 5 is the first reference position, and the start position position judgment circuit 36 outputs the start position. critical result. As shown in Fig. 10, when the pixels 22 are six in parallel, the upper left corner of each pixel 22 is the first reference position.

Based on the above judgment result, the counting circuit 38A of Fig. 5 calculates the number of times mentioned above. Then, the number of calculations is compared with the exposure start pixel number obtained by the memory portion 30 of the first picture and the comparison circuit 39A. When the two values coincide, the output start signal is changed to the modulation data processing portion 31 of the first picture. . At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, the upper left corner of a pixel on the scanning direction of the laser beam ₂₂₁ and the second four pixels ₂₂₄ should be set at five pairs of the first reference position of the first reference position, the imaging apparatus The line CCD pixel address, such as "1000", "4000" is stored to the optical switch controller 24.

On the other hand, the binary data is compared with the data of the LUT for the end exposure position obtained by the memory portion 30 by the end exposure position judging circuit 37. For example, when the second reference position specifying the end exposure position is set to the upper right corner of the pixel 22 of the black matrix 21 of Fig. 11(a), the LUT for ending the exposure position is as shown in Fig. (b), and the LUT for the exposure position is ended. The information becomes "110110000". The binary data and the end exposure position are compared with the data "110110000" of the LUT. When the two data match, it is judged that the image data captured by the image pickup device 5 is the reference position at which the exposure ends, and the end of the end exposure position determination circuit 37 is ended. The judgment result of the position. As described above, when the pixels 22 in Fig. 10 are six in parallel, the upper right corner of each pixel 22 is the second reference position.

According to the result of the judgment, the counting circuit 38B counts the number of times as shown in Fig. 5. Then, the number of calculations is compared with the comparison end circuit 39B obtained by the memory portion 30 in Fig. 1. When the two values coincide, the exposure end signal is output to the modulation data processing portion 31 as shown in Fig. 1. At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, the first pixel 22 _{1 in the} scanning direction of the laser light and the upper right corner of the fourth pixel 22 ₄ are set to the second reference position, and the imaging device 5 corresponds to the second reference position. The line CCD pixel addresses, such as "1900" and "4000", are stored in the optical switch controller 24. When the reference position at which the exposure position is started and the end of the exposure position is detected, the process proceeds to step S3.

Step S3 is to detect the exposure position in the moving direction of the glass substrate 8. As shown in FIG. 3, the distance D between the laser scanning position F and the imaging position E of the imaging device 5 is an integral multiple (n times) of the arrangement pitch P of the moving direction of the pixel 22, by calculating the laser light. The scan period allows you to estimate the exposure position. For example, in Fig. 12, the distance D between the laser scanning position and the imaging position of the imaging device 5 is three times the arrangement pitch P of the pixel 22, and in step S2, the first and second corners of the corner of the pixel 22 are detected. After the reference position (refer to the same figure (a)), the moving glass substrate 8 moves the center line of the pixel sequence to the imaging position of the imaging device 5 (refer to the reference (b)) and the scanning start timing of the laser light. Assuming that the scanning period T of the laser light, the conveying speed of the glass substrate 8 can be controlled by moving one pitch of the same pixel 22 of the laser photo period T. Therefore, at the next 1T, the pixel 22 moves to the position as shown in the figure (c). After 2T, the pixel 22 moves to the position shown in the figure (d). After 3T, as shown in the diagram (e), the column center line of the pixel 22 reaches the scanning position of the laser light. Thereby the exposure position is detected.

Next, step S4 is to adjust the exposure position during laser light scanning. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, the adjustment of the exposure position is performed by the line sensor 17 on the fθ lens 13, and the scanning position (pixel address) of the current laser light is detected and compared with the predetermined reference pixel address. The amount of deviation is controlled by the light deflecting device 10 so that the scanning position of the laser light coincides with the reference pixel address (reference scanning position).

Next, step S5 starts exposure. The exposure starts with the ON timing of the optical switch 9 being controlled by the optical switch controller 24. At this time, when the optical switch 9 is in the ON state, the laser light is scanned, the scanning start time of the laser light is detected by the line sensor 17, and the optical switch 9 is immediately turned off. At this time, the time t ₁ of the laser light from the scanning start time to the start of the exposure position is read by the modulation data processing portion 31, for example, the pixel address "1000" of the imaging device 5 corresponding to the exposure start position of FIG. And the operation is performed by the control section 32. At this time, the scanning time t _{0 of the} laser light from the scanning start time to the pixel address "1" of the image pickup device 5 is calculated in advance, and when the scanning speed of the laser light is synchronized with the clock CLK of the line CCD of the image pickup device 5, The calculation result of the number of clocks up to the pixel address "1000" makes it possible to easily obtain the scan start time t ₁ from t ₁ = t ₀ + 1000 CLK. Thus, after the scan start time t ₁ of a laser beam, the optical switch 9 starts playing open exposure.

Next, step S6 is to detect the end exposure position. As described above, the exposure end time t ₂ at the end of the exposure position such as the pixel address "1900" can be obtained by t ₂ = t0 + 1900 CLK. Therefore, the exposure is ended by turning off the optical switch 9 after the scanning start time of the laser light passes t ₂ .

Next, step S7 is to determine whether or not the laser light is scanned. If it is judged as "NO", the process returns to step S2 to repeat the above operation. Then, in step S2, for example, the second exposure start position "4000" and the second end exposure position "4900" are detected, and after step S4 is completed, the process proceeds to step S5, and the pixel address "4000" is also started as described above. Exposure, the exposure ends when the pixel address is "4900".

If the determination in step S7 is "YES", the process returns to step S1, and the detection operation of the new exposure position is performed. By repeating the above operation, an exposure pattern is formed in a desired area.

As shown in Fig. 5, if the exposure pixel number is specified, for example, "L ₁ , L ₄ ...", after exposing the first column of pixels L ₁ as shown in Fig. 14, the first column can be skipped. In column 2 and column 3, the column 4 of the pixel column L ₄ is directly exposed. Therefore, exposure can be performed for regions corresponding to red, blue, and green, respectively. If there is no pixel number, it is best to set the number of skips.

According to the exposure apparatus and the pattern forming method of the first embodiment, the image of the black matrix 21 pixel 22 previously formed on the glass substrate 8 is captured by the image pickup device 5, and the preset reference position on the image of the captured pixel 22 is detected. The exposure of the laser light is started or stopped by using the reference position as a reference, so that the exposure accuracy of the pixel 22 can be improved.

Since the pixel 22 forms an exposure pattern according to a predetermined reference position, it is possible to solve the problem that the accuracy of the functional pattern is deteriorated due to the difference in precision between different exposure devices. Moreover, it is also possible to ensure the requirement of achieving high alignment accuracy when a plurality of exposure apparatuses 1 are used to form a laminated pattern. Therefore, the cost of the exposure apparatus 1 can be reduced.

Further, since the imaging device 5 reads the predetermined reference position on the pixel 22 and performs the exposure and the exposure stop operation based on the reference position, the problem of alignment between the pixel 22 and the exposure pattern is not considered in advance. Exposure becomes easier.

The CAD data of the exposure pattern can be reduced as long as it has the lowest amount of exposure pattern of the reference position set as the reference in the pixel 22, so that the capacity of the CAD data memory portion can be reduced. Therefore, in addition to reducing the cost of the device, the processing speed of the data can also be improved.

Fig. 15 is a conceptual diagram showing an important part of the second embodiment of the exposure apparatus of the present invention. The exposure apparatus of the second embodiment has a laser light source 2 and a guiding light source 42 that emits other wavelengths, for example, 550 nm or more, and can guide light, and has a mirror 43 in front of the guiding light source 42 and in front of the laser light. Between the optical switch 9 and the optical deflecting device 10 on the optical axis of the laser beam, a half mirror 44 is provided to allow the guiding light to collide with the laser light to be emitted on the same-optical axis. Therefore, the laser light is scanned together with the guided light. The laser light is controlled ON by the optical switch 9. OFF, but the state in which the light is kept ON during the operation state (illumination state).

When the exposure operation is performed in the configuration of the second embodiment, first, the time when the guided light passes through the line sensor 17 is detected as the scan start time. Next, with the scan start time as a reference, after a predetermined time elapses, the optical switch 9 is turned on by the optical switch controller 24 to emit laser light, and the glass substrate 8 is irradiated to start exposure. Next, from the scan start time, after a predetermined time elapses, the optical switch 9 is turned off to stop emitting the laser light, and the exposure is ended. At this time, the guiding light is maintained in the irradiation state, and since the guiding light is long-wavelength red light or infrared light, the photoresist coated on the glass substrate 8 is not exposed.

In addition to the same effects as those of the first embodiment, the second embodiment does not need to perform unnecessary exposure in order to detect the scan start time as in the first embodiment, and directly exposes the light at a predetermined position.

As shown in Fig. 16, the control of the transport speed of the glass substrate 8 while controlling the exposure start time t ₃ , t ₅ ... and the exposure end time t ₄ with the predetermined reference position as the reference on the pixel 22 can be formed as The exposure of the complex graphics shown in the figure.

The illumination device in the embodiment can be either back illumination or scatter illumination.

The exposure apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a large substrate such as a color filter of a liquid crystal display, and is also applicable to an exposure apparatus such as a semiconductor.

Exposure equipment. . . 1

Laser source. . . 2

Exposure optical system. . . 3

Conveyor. . . 4

Camera device. . . 5

Backlight illumination device. . . 6

Optical system control device. . . 7

glass substrate. . . 8

light switch. . . 9

Light deflection device. . . 10

1st mirror. . . 11

Polygon mirror. . . 12

Fθ lens. . . 13

2nd mirror. . . 14

The first polarizing element. . . 15A

The second polarizing element. . . 15B

Electrical optical modulator. . . 16

Line sensor. . . 17

platform. . . 18

Transfer wheel. . . 19

Transfer drive part. . . 20

Black matrix. . . twenty one

Picture. . . twenty two

Scanning starts with pixels. . . 22a

Scanning ends the pixels. . . 22b

The first pixel. . . 22 ₁

The 4th pixel. . . 22 ₄

Light source drive part. . . twenty three

Optical switch controller. . . twenty four

Light deflection device drive part. . . 25A

Polygon mirror drive part. . . 25B

Transfer controller. . . 26

Backlight controller. . . 27

A / D conversion department. . . 28

Image processing part. . . 29

Memory part. . . 30

Modulation data processing part. . . 31

Control part. . . 32

Ring buffer memory. . . 33A, 33B, 33C

Linear buffer memory. . . 34A, 34B, 34C

Comparison circuit. . . 35

Start exposure position judgment circuit. . . 36

End exposure position judgment circuit. . . 37

Counting circuit. . . 38A

Counting circuit. . . 38B

Comparison circuit. . . 39A

Comparison circuit. . . 39B

Front pixel count circuit. . . 40

Comparison circuit. . . 41

Guide the light source. . . 42

Reflector. . . 43

Half mirror. . . 44

Fig. 1 is a conceptual view showing a first embodiment of the exposure apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view showing the structure and operation of the optical switch.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the scanning position of the laser light and the imaging position of the imaging device.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of the first half of the image processing system.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of the processing system in the second half of the image processing section.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the black matrix moving in the scanning direction of the vertical laser light and the scanning track of the laser light.

Figure 7 is a sequential flow chart of the pattern forming method of the present invention.

Figure 8 is a diagram showing the binary state of the output of the ring buffer memory.

Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram of an image of the start exposure position and a lookup table preset on the black matrix pixel.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the preset reference position on the black matrix pixel and the pixel relationship of the image pickup device.

Figure 11 is an explanatory diagram of an image of the end exposure position and a lookup table preset on the black matrix pixel.

Fig. 12 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state in which the pixel exposure position is detected in the glass substrate transport direction.

Fig. 13 is a state explanatory diagram for correcting the scanning position of the laser light.

Fig. 14 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure state of skipping a black matrix pixel column.

Fig. 15 is a conceptual diagram showing an important part of the second embodiment of the exposure apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a complicated shape exposure pattern is formed with reference to a reference position preset on a black matrix pixel.

Exposure equipment. . . 1

Laser source. . . 2

Exposure optical system. . . 3

Conveyor. . . 4

Camera device. . . 5

Backlight illumination device. . . 6

Optical system control device. . . 7

glass substrate. . . 8

light switch. . . 9

Light deflection device. . . 10

1st mirror. . . 11

Polygon mirror. . . 12

Fθ lens. . . 13

2nd mirror. . . 14

Line sensor. . . 17

platform. . . 18

Transfer wheel. . . 19

Transfer drive part. . . 20

Light source drive part. . . twenty three

Optical switch controller. . . twenty four

Light deflection device drive part. . . 25A

Polygon mirror drive part. . . 25B

Transfer controller. . . 26

Backlight controller. . . 27

A / D conversion department. . . 28

Image processing part. . . 29

Memory part. . . 30

Modulation data processing part. . . 31

Control part. . . 32

Claims (14)

An exposure optical system that directly scans an object to be exposed at a constant speed in a certain direction while scanning a light beam in a direction slightly perpendicular to a direction in which the object to be exposed is conveyed, and directly performs exposure on the object to be exposed An exposure apparatus for functional pattern exposure, comprising: an imaging position in front of a beam scanning position in a conveying direction of the object to be exposed, and an imaging device that preliminarily forms a functional pattern image as a reference on an exposure position of the exposure body; The reference functional graphic allows the imaging device to capture the illumination device; at the position where the light beam starts to scan, a linear sensor perpendicular to the scanning direction is provided to detect the time when the beam scanning starts; and the reference of the imaging device is detected. a reference position at which the exposure start and end are preset on the functional pattern, and the time when the light beam passes through the line sensor is used as a reference, and the time at which the light beam passes through the respective reference positions is used as a reference. An optical system control device that controls the start and stop of beam illumination. The exposure apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical system control device detects the reference position, performs binary processing on the reference functional graphic image captured by the imaging device, and obtains image data corresponding to the preset reference position. Compare and find out the two parts of the same data. The exposure apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light receiving elements of the image pickup device are arranged in a row. An exposure apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the illumination device is located on the back side of the object to be exposed. An exposure apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the exposure optical system has an electro-optic modulation that can apply a voltage and change a polarized polarized surface as an optical switch between two polarization axes being vertically separated from each other. And the optical switch is located on the optical axis of the beam. The exposure apparatus of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the beam scanning trajectory scanned with respect to the object to be exposed is relatively inclined with respect to the moving direction of the arrangement direction of the parallel reference functional patterns. An exposure apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the exposure optical system is configured to scan by directing the guide light longer than the wavelength of the light beam on the same optical axis as the light beam, and the control The mechanism detects the time when the guiding light passes through the line type sensor, and controls the start and end of the irradiation of the light beam based on the time when the scanning of the beam starts, based on the time when the scanning starts. An exposure optical system that scans an object to be exposed at a constant speed in a certain direction while scanning the object to be exposed in a direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the object to be exposed, on the object to be exposed, A method of directly forming a graphic pattern of a functional graphic, which is: Illuminating the object to be exposed by the illumination device to form an exposure position reference functional pattern in advance; capturing an image of the reference functional pattern by the imaging device in front of the beam scanning position in the direction in which the object is to be exposed; where the beam starts scanning a linear sensor perpendicular to the scanning direction is provided to detect the time when the beam scanning starts; and the optical system control device is used to capture the reference position of the preset start and end of the exposure on the reference functional graphic by using the optical device control device; The light beam passes through the linear sensor as a reference, and the time when the light beam passes through the respective reference positions is used as a reference; and the time after the operation is used as a reference to control the start and stop of the light beam irradiation, and the predetermined functionality is exposed at a predetermined position. The graphic is its characteristic. The method for forming a pattern according to claim 8 wherein the method of detecting the reference position by the optical system control device performs binary processing on the reference functional graphic image captured by the imaging device, which is equivalent to the preset reference position. Comparing the image data, the consistent part of the two data was detected. The pattern forming method of claim 8, wherein the light receiving elements of the image pickup device are arranged in a single row. A pattern forming method according to claim 8, wherein the illuminating device is located on the back side of the object to be exposed. The method for forming a pattern according to claim 8, wherein the optical axis of the exposure optical system has polarization axes perpendicular to each other, and two polarizing elements are disposed separately, and a voltage can be applied between the two polarizing elements. The polarized polarized surface is changed as an electrical optical modulator of the optical switch. A pattern forming method according to claim 8, 9 or 10, wherein the beam scanning trajectory scanned with respect to the object to be exposed is relatively inclined with respect to the moving direction of the arrangement direction of the parallel reference functional patterns. The pattern forming method of claim 8, wherein the exposure optical system emits light by superimposing the guiding light longer than the wavelength of the light beam on the same optical axis and overlapping the scanning light. And detecting, by the optical system control means, the time when the guiding light passes through the line type sensor, and controlling the start and end of the irradiation of the light beam as a reference to the start time of the scanning of the light beam.