CN115729051A - Drawing device and drawing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a drawing device and a drawing method. A drawing device (1) is provided with a drawing head (41), a 1 st stage (21 a) and a 2 nd stage (21 b), and a 1 st distance measurement sensor (5). A sensor element (51) of a 1 st distance measurement sensor (5) acquires a distance to a measurement position on a substrate (9) held by one stage while a pattern is being drawn on the substrate (9) held by the other stage. The drawing head (41) includes a 2 nd ranging sensor that acquires a distance to a measurement position on a substrate (9) on which drawing of a pattern is being performed. A focus control unit of the control unit (10) controls the focus position of light emitted from the drawing head (41) using information acquired from the substrate (9) by the 1 st distance measuring sensor (5) before drawing a pattern and information acquired from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor during drawing of a pattern on the substrate (9).

Description

Drawing device and drawing method

Reference to related applications

The present application claims the benefit of priority from japanese patent application JP2021-137767, filed on 26/8/2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a technique for drawing a pattern on a substrate by irradiating light to the substrate.

Background

Conventionally, a pattern is drawn by irradiating a semiconductor substrate, a print substrate, a glass substrate for an organic EL display device or a liquid crystal display device, or the like (hereinafter, the layer of a photosensitive material is referred to as a "substrate" inclusive) having a layer of a photosensitive material on a surface thereof with light. The drawing device sequentially carries out loading of a substrate, alignment of the substrate, drawing of the substrate, and unloading of the substrate.

In recent years, in order to improve the throughput of a drawing apparatus (the number of substrates to be processed per unit time), it has been proposed to provide two substrate holding units and one drawing head in 1 drawing apparatus, and to perform substrate replacement and alignment processing on one substrate holding unit while drawing on a substrate on the other substrate holding unit.

For example, in a step-and-scan type projection exposure apparatus of international publication No. 2003/010802, in the process of performing exposure on a wafer on a stage that is one substrate holding unit, wafer replacement, measurement for alignment, and waiting until the end of exposure are performed on the other stage (see fig. 4).

Further, JP-a 2014-197125 discloses an autofocus mechanism in which a detector for detecting a separation distance between an optical head and a substrate is provided in the optical head and a focus position of drawing light is adjusted in accordance with the separation distance in a drawing device for drawing a pattern by irradiating light to the substrate. In addition, the following techniques are disclosed: a variation in separation distance in the drawing area is acquired in advance before drawing using a detector of an optical head according to different drawing areas, and autofocus control is performed at the time of drawing based on the variation in separation distance.

In many drawing apparatuses, an autofocus function is provided in a drawing head to perform drawing with high accuracy on the surface of a substrate. By the autofocus function, the position in the height direction of an image formed by light emitted from the drawing head is accurately aligned with the position in the height direction of the surface of the substrate. However, since the distance measuring sensor necessary for the auto-focus is provided in the drawing head, necessary measurement associated with the auto-focus is performed after the substrate is disposed below the drawing head. Therefore, there is a time when drawing is not performed regardless of whether the substrate is disposed below the drawing head. As a result, throughput cannot be sufficiently improved regardless of whether two substrate holding portions are provided.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to improve the throughput in a drawing device with a 1 st substrate holding part and a 2 nd substrate holding part.

The present invention is directed to a drawing device that draws a pattern on a substrate by irradiating light to the substrate. The drawing device is provided with: a drawing head that emits the modulated light; a 1 st substrate holding part for holding a 1 st substrate; a 2 nd substrate holding part for holding the 2 nd substrate; a moving mechanism that moves the drawing head relative to the 1 st substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit using light emitted from the drawing head, and moves the drawing head relative to the 2 nd substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit using light emitted from the drawing head; a 1 st distance measuring sensor that faces the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit to obtain a distance to a measurement position on the 1 st substrate during a period in which a pattern is drawn on the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, and that faces the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit to obtain a distance to a measurement position on the 2 nd substrate during a period in which a pattern is drawn on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit; and a focus control unit that performs control to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of a surface of a substrate on which a pattern is to be drawn, in a process of drawing the pattern. The drawing head includes: a 2 nd distance measuring sensor that acquires a distance to a measurement position on the substrate at which the pattern is being drawn; and a focus changing unit that changes a focus position of the light emitted from the drawing head, wherein the focus control unit controls the focus changing unit using information acquired from the substrate by the 1 st ranging sensor before drawing the pattern and information acquired from the 2 nd ranging sensor during drawing the pattern on the substrate.

According to the present invention, throughput can be improved in a drawing apparatus having a 1 st substrate holding section and a 2 nd substrate holding section.

Preferably, the 1 st distance measuring sensor has a measurement accuracy lower than that of the 2 nd distance measuring sensor.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, before the drawing head starts drawing a pattern on the substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit or the 2 nd substrate holding unit, the focus control unit makes a focus position of the light emitted from the drawing head approach a position in a height direction of the surface of the substrate at the time of starting drawing, using the information acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor.

Preferably, the 1 st ranging sensor positions measurement positions at a plurality of distances to a plurality of positions in the vicinity of the drawing start position on the substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit or the 2 nd substrate holding unit and acquires the plurality of positions, and the focus control unit uses a most frequent distance of the plurality of distances as the distance between the 1 st ranging sensor and the substrate.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the 1 st distance measuring sensor includes a sensor element in which an absolute position is fixed above the 1 st substrate holding portion, and a sensor element in which an absolute position is fixed above the 2 nd substrate holding portion.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the rendering device further includes: an alignment camera which faces the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit and images an alignment mark on the 1 st substrate while drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, and which faces the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit and images an alignment mark on the 2 nd substrate while drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit; a camera position switching unit that switches a relative position of the alignment camera with respect to the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit between a position facing the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit and a position facing the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, and switches a relative position of the 1 st distance measuring sensor with respect to the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit together with the alignment camera between a position facing the 1 st substrate and a position facing the 2 nd substrate by the camera position switching unit.

In still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the 1 st ranging sensor is a diffuse reflection type, the focus control unit includes a correction unit that corrects a distance from the 1 st ranging sensor to a measurement position on the substrate, the distance being acquired by the 1 st ranging sensor, and the correction unit corrects the distance based on a material forming a surface of the substrate and a material in the vicinity thereof.

The present invention is also directed to a drawing method of drawing a pattern on a substrate by irradiating light to the substrate. The drawing method includes: a) A step of holding the 1 st substrate by the 1 st substrate holding section; b) A step of acquiring a distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor and a measurement position on the 1 st substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor facing the 1 st substrate; c) Drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate by emitting the modulated light from a drawing head toward the 1 st substrate and relatively moving the drawing head with respect to the 1 st substrate holding section; d) A step of holding the 2 nd substrate by the 2 nd substrate holding part during the step c); e) A step of acquiring a distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor and a measurement position on the 2 nd substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor facing the 2 nd substrate while the step c) is being performed; f) A step of emitting the modulated light from the drawing head toward the 2 nd substrate and relatively moving the drawing head with respect to the 2 nd substrate holding portion to draw a pattern on the 2 nd substrate after the step c) and the step e); and g) repeating the steps a) to f), wherein the steps a) and b) are performed with respect to a next 1 st substrate while the step f) is being performed, and the step c) is performed with respect to the next 1 st substrate after the step f) and the step b) performed with respect to the next 1 st substrate. The drawing head includes a 2 nd ranging sensor that acquires a distance to a measurement position on a substrate at which drawing of a pattern is being performed. In the step c), focus control is performed to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of the surface of the 1 st substrate using information acquired from the 1 st substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor in the step b) and information acquired from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor in a process of drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate, and focus control is performed to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of the surface of the 2 nd substrate by the 2 nd distance measuring sensor in the step f) using information acquired from the 2 nd substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor in the step e) and information acquired from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor in a process of drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate.

The above and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a drawing apparatus according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the control unit and its periphery.

Fig. 4A is a diagram showing a flow of the operation of the drawing apparatus.

Fig. 4B is a diagram showing a flow of the operation of the drawing apparatus.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing the positions of the 1 st stage and the 2 nd stage.

Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining a case where the drawing is performed with respect to a substrate.

Fig. 12 is a plan view showing another example of the structure associated with the imaging unit and the 1 st distance measuring sensor.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the correction unit and its periphery.

Wherein the reference numerals are as follows:

1 drawing device

2 moving mechanism

5 st 1 distance measuring sensor

9 base plate (1 st base plate, 2 nd base plate)

12 correcting part

21a stage 1 (1 st substrate holding part)

21b 2 nd stage (2 nd substrate holding part)

31 alignment camera

32 camera position switching part

41 drawing head

51 sensor element

113 focus control unit

412 nd 2 distance measuring sensor

413 focus changing part

S11 to S16, S21 to S26

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a drawing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The drawing device 1 is a device that draws a pattern on a substrate 9 by irradiating light to the substrate 9. The drawing device 1 is a two-stage direct drawing device that performs drawing of a pattern by irradiating substantially beam-shaped light after spatial modulation onto a substrate 9 having a photosensitive material layer on the surface thereof and scanning the irradiation region of the light on the substrate 9. In fig. 1, three directions orthogonal to each other are shown by arrows as the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction. In the example shown in fig. 1, the X direction and the Y direction are horizontal directions perpendicular to each other, and the Z direction is a vertical direction. The same applies to other figures.

The substrate 9 is, for example, a plate-like member having a substantially rectangular shape in plan view. The substrate 9 is, for example, a printed circuit substrate in a manufacturing process. In the surface on the (+ Z) side of the substrate 9 (hereinafter also referred to as "upper surface 91"), a resist film formed of a photosensitive material is provided on the copper layer. In the drawing device 1, a circuit pattern is drawn (i.e., formed) on the resist film of the substrate 9. The type, shape, and the like of the substrate 9 may be variously changed.

The drawing device 1 includes a 1 st conveyance mechanism 2a, a 2 nd conveyance mechanism 2b, an imaging unit 3, a pattern drawing unit 4, a frame 7, and a control unit 10. The control unit 10 controls the 1 st conveyance mechanism 2a, the 2 nd conveyance mechanism 2b, the imaging unit 3, the pattern drawing unit 4, and the like.

The frame 7 is a main body base to which the respective components of the drawing device 1 are attached. The frame 7 includes a substantially rectangular base 71, and a 1 st door frame portion 72 and a 2 nd door frame portion 73 that straddle the base 71. The 2 nd gantry part 73 is disposed close to the (+ Y) side of the 1 st gantry part 72. In the following description, the 1 st door frame part 72 and the 2 nd door frame part 73 are also collectively referred to as "door frame part 74". The 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b are attached to the base 71. The 1 st door frame portion 72 supports the imaging portion 3. The 2 nd door frame portion 73 supports the pattern drawing portion 4. The frame 7 is mounted on a pedestal not shown.

The 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b are mechanisms for holding and moving the substrate 9 below (i.e., (-Z) side) the imaging unit 3 and the pattern drawing unit 4, respectively. The 2 nd conveying mechanism 2b is disposed adjacent to the (+ X) side of the 1 st conveying mechanism 2a. The 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b have substantially the same configuration.

The 1 st transport mechanism 2a includes a 1 st stage 21a and a 1 st moving mechanism 22a. The 1 st stage 21a is a 1 st substrate holding portion of a substantially flat plate shape that holds the substrate 9 in a substantially horizontal state from below. The 1 st stage 21a is, for example, a vacuum chuck that sucks and holds the lower surface of the substrate 9. The 1 st stage 21a may have a structure other than the vacuum chuck. The upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 placed on the 1 st stage 21a is substantially perpendicular to the Z direction (i.e., the vertical direction) and substantially parallel to the X direction and the Y direction.

The 1 st moving mechanism 22a is a 1 st stage moving mechanism that relatively moves the 1 st stage 21a in a substantially horizontal direction (i.e., a direction substantially parallel to the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9) with respect to the imaging unit 3 and the pattern drawing unit 4. The 1 st moving mechanism 22a linearly moves the 1 st stage 21a supported on the guide rail 221a in the Y direction along the guide rail 221a below the imaging unit 3 and the pattern drawing unit 4. Thereby, the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a moves in the Y direction. In the following description, the Y direction is also referred to as a "substrate moving direction" or a "main scanning direction". The driving source of the 1 st moving mechanism 22a is, for example, a linear servo motor or a mechanism in which a motor is attached to a ball screw. The structure of the 1 st moving mechanism 22a may be variously changed.

The 2 nd transport mechanism 2b includes a 2 nd stage 21b and a 2 nd movement mechanism 22b. The 2 nd stage 21b is a 2 nd substrate holding portion having a substantially flat plate shape that holds the substrate 9 in a substantially horizontal state from below. The 2 nd stage 21b is disposed adjacent to a side (i.e., (+ X) side) of the 1 st stage 21a. The upper surface of the 2 nd stage 21b is located at substantially the same height as the upper surface of the 1 st stage 21a in the vertical direction (i.e., the Z direction). The 2 nd stage 21b is, for example, a vacuum chuck that sucks and holds the lower surface of the substrate 9. The 2 nd stage 21b may have a structure other than the vacuum chuck. The upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 placed on the 2 nd stage 21b is substantially perpendicular to the Z direction and substantially parallel to the X direction and the Y direction. The upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b and the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a are located at substantially the same height in the vertical direction (i.e., at substantially the same position in the Z direction).

The 2 nd moving mechanism 22b is a 2 nd stage moving mechanism that moves the 2 nd stage 21b relative to the imaging unit 3 and the pattern drawing unit 4 in a substantially horizontal direction (i.e., a direction substantially parallel to the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9). The 2 nd moving mechanism 22b linearly moves the 2 nd stage 21b supported on the guide rail 221b in the Y direction (i.e., the substrate moving direction) along the guide rail 221b below the imaging unit 3 and the pattern drawing unit 4. Thereby, the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b moves in the Y direction. The movement direction in which the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b moves the 2 nd stage 21b is substantially parallel to the movement direction in which the 1 st movement mechanism 22a moves the 1 st stage 21a. The driving source of the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b is, for example, a linear servo motor or a mechanism in which a motor is attached to a ball screw. The structure of the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b may be variously modified.

The 1 st moving mechanism 22a and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b are arranged in a direction intersecting the substrate moving direction (i.e., Y direction). In the example shown in fig. 1, the 1 st moving mechanism 22a and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b are arranged in the X direction. The 2 nd moving mechanism 22b is adjacent to the side of the 1 st moving mechanism 22a on the (+ X) side. The 1 st moving mechanism 22a and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b are located at substantially the same height in the vertical direction.

The 1 st movement mechanism 22a and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b are supported from below by a base 71 of the frame 7. The 1 st moving mechanism 22a and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b extend from the (+ Y) side toward the (-Y) side of the 2 nd gantry part 73, pass below the pattern drawing part 4 supported by the 2 nd gantry part 73 and below the imaging part 3 supported by the 1 st gantry part 72, and protrude from the 1 st gantry part 72 toward the (-Y) side. The 1 st door frame portion 72 is located at substantially the same position in the Y direction as the center portions in the Y direction of the 1 st movement mechanism 22a and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b.

In the drawing device 1, the substrate 9 is carried in and out with respect to the 1 st stage 21a in a state where the 1 st stage 21a is located on the (-Y) side with respect to the 1 st gate portion 72. Further, the substrate 9 is carried in and out with respect to the 2 nd stage 21b in a state where the 2 nd stage 21b is located on the (-Y) side with respect to the 1 st gate portion 72.

In this manner, the 1 st and 2 nd door frame portions 72 and 73 are provided astride the 1 st and 2 nd conveying mechanisms 2a and 2b. The 1 st door frame portion 72 includes two column portions extending in the Z direction and a beam portion connecting upper end portions of the two column portions on both sides of the 1 st conveying mechanism 2a and the 2 nd conveying mechanism 2b in the X direction. The beam extends in the X direction above the 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b. The two pillar portions of the 1 st door frame portion 72 are connected to the base 71 at the (-Z) side end portions. The 2 nd gantry portion 73 includes two column portions extending in the Z direction and a beam portion connecting upper end portions of the two column portions on both sides of the 1 st conveying mechanism 2a and the 2 nd conveying mechanism 2b in the X direction. The beam extends in the X direction above the 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b. The two column portions of the 2 nd door frame portion 73 are connected to the base 71 at (-Z) -side end portions.

The imaging unit 3 includes a plurality of (two in the example shown in fig. 1) alignment cameras 31 and a camera position switching unit 32. The alignment cameras 31 are arranged in the X direction and movably attached to the beam portion of the 1 st door frame portion 72. The camera position switching section 32 is attached to the beam section, and moves the plurality of alignment cameras 31 in the X direction along the beam section. The drive source of the camera position switching unit 32 is, for example, a linear servo motor or a mechanism in which a motor is attached to a ball screw. In the example shown in fig. 1, the interval in the X direction between the two alignment cameras 31 can be changed. In addition, the number of the alignment cameras 31 in the imaging unit 3 may be 1, or 3 or more.

Each alignment camera 31 is a camera provided with an imaging sensor and an optical system, which are not shown. Each alignment camera 31 is, for example, an area camera that acquires a two-dimensional image. The imaging sensor includes, for example, a plurality of elements such as CCDs (Charge Coupled devices) arranged in a matrix. In each alignment camera 31, the reflected light of the illumination light introduced from the light source, not shown, to the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 is introduced to the image sensor via the optical system. The image sensor receives the reflected light from the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9, and acquires an image of a substantially rectangular image pickup area. As the Light source, various Light sources such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) can be used. In addition, each alignment camera 31 may be a linear camera or other type of camera.

In the drawing apparatus 1, the plurality of alignment cameras 31 are moved by the camera position switching unit 32 between the 1 st imaging position above the 1 st transport mechanism 2a and the 2 nd imaging position above the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b. The 1 st imaging position is a position at which the alignment camera 31 is opposed to the 1 st stage 21a and the 1 st substrate 9 at the time of imaging. The 2 nd imaging position is a position at which the alignment camera 31 is opposed to the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd substrate 9 at the time of imaging. In fig. 1, a plurality of alignment cameras 31 are located at the 1 st imaging position. The plurality of alignment cameras 31 take images of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a at the 1 st imaging position. In addition, the plurality of alignment cameras 31 take images of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21b at the 2 nd imaging position.

The pattern drawing unit 4 includes a plurality of (6 in the example shown in fig. 1) drawing heads 41 and a drawing head moving mechanism 42. The plurality of drawing heads 41 are arranged in the X direction and movably attached to the beam portion of the 2 nd gantry 73. The drawing head moving mechanism 42 is attached to the beam portion, and integrally moves the plurality of drawing heads 41 in the X direction along the beam portion. The driving source of the drawing head moving mechanism 42 is, for example, a linear servo motor or a mechanism in which a motor is attached to a ball screw. The number of the drawing heads 41 may be 1 or more for the pattern drawing unit 4.

Each drawing head 41 includes a light source, an optical system, and a spatial light modulator, which are not shown in the drawings. As the spatial Light modulator, various devices such as a DMD (Digital Micro Mirror Device) or a GLV (Grating Light Valve) (registered trademark of silicon optical bench (sonywell, ca)) can be used. As the light source, various light sources such as an LD (Laser Diode) can be used. The plurality of drawing heads 41 have substantially the same configuration.

In the drawing apparatus 1, the plurality of drawing heads 41 are moved by the drawing head moving mechanism 42 between a 1 st drawing position above the 1 st transport mechanism 2a and a 2 nd drawing position above the 2 nd transport mechanism 2b. The 1 st drawing position is a position at which the drawing head 41 faces the 1 st stage 21a and the 1 st substrate 9 at the time of drawing. The 2 nd drawing position is a position at which the drawing head 41 faces the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd substrate 9 at the time of drawing. In fig. 1, a plurality of drawing heads 41 are located at the 2 nd drawing position. The plurality of drawing heads 41 draw a pattern on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a at the 1 st drawing position. Further, the plurality of drawing heads 41 draw a pattern on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21b at the 2 nd drawing position. When drawing a pattern on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a, the drawing head 41 is also moved stepwise in the X direction by the drawing head moving mechanism 42. Similarly, when drawing a pattern on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21b, the drawing head 41 is also moved stepwise in the X direction by the drawing head moving mechanism 42.

The 1 st drawing position and the 2 nd drawing position are located at substantially the same positions in the Y direction as the center portions of the 1 st movement mechanism 22a and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b in the Y direction. The 1 st and 2 nd imaging positions are also located at substantially the same positions in the Y direction as the center portions of the 1 st and 2 nd moving mechanisms 22a and 22b in the Y direction. In other words, the plurality of drawing heads 41 of the pattern drawing unit 4 and the plurality of alignment cameras 31 of the imaging unit 3 are located at substantially the same positions in the Y direction as the center portions in the Y direction of the 1 st movement mechanism 22a and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b.

When drawing a pattern at the 1 st drawing position, modulated (i.e., spatially modulated) light is irradiated from the plurality of drawing heads 41 of the pattern drawing unit 4 toward the substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a below. Then, in parallel with the irradiation of the light, the substrate 9 is horizontally moved from the (+ Y) side to the (-Y) direction of the pattern drawing section 4 (i.e., the substrate moving direction) by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a. Thereby, the irradiation area of the light from the plurality of drawing heads 41 performs main scanning in the (+ Y) direction with respect to the substrate 9, and drawing of a pattern (for example, a circuit pattern) with respect to the substrate 9 is performed. The 1 st moving mechanism 22a is a scanning mechanism that moves the irradiation region of light from each drawing head 41 in the Y direction on the substrate 9.

When one main scan is finished, the drawing head 41 is moved (i.e., sub-scanned) in steps in the (+ X) direction by a predetermined distance by the drawing head moving mechanism 42, and the substrate 9 is moved in the (+ Y) direction. That is, the substrate 9 is horizontally moved in the (+ Y) direction by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a in parallel with the irradiation of the light from the drawing head 41. Thus, the irradiation regions of the light from the plurality of drawing heads 41 are relatively subjected to main scanning in the (-Y) direction on the substrate 9, and the pattern is drawn on the substrate 9. Thereafter, in the present embodiment, the drawing head 41 is moved stepwise by a predetermined distance in the (+ X) direction, and a pattern is drawn based on the main scanning of the irradiation region in the (+ Y) direction. In this manner, in the drawing device 1, drawing with respect to the substrate 9 is performed by the multi-path method of repeating the movement of the 1 st stage 21a in the Y direction and the step movement in the X direction. Drawing of the pattern at the drawing position 2 is the same as drawing of the pattern at the drawing position 1 described above, except that the 1 st stage 21a and the 1 st moving mechanism 22a are changed to the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b.

The drawing with respect to the substrate 9 may be performed in a so-called one pass (one pus) manner. Specifically, in the case of the 1 st stage 21a, the 1 st stage 21a is relatively moved in the Y direction with respect to the plurality of drawing heads 41 by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a, and the irradiation area of the light from the plurality of drawing heads 41 is scanned only once in the Y direction on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9. Thereby, the drawing with respect to the substrate 9 is ended. The same applies to the 2 nd stage 21b.

The number of times of main scanning when drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 may be 1, 2, or 3, or may be 4 or more. In the case where the main scanning is performed a plurality of times, it is preferable that the movement of the substrate 9 is performed alternately in the (+ Y) direction and the (-Y) direction, and the drawing head 41 is moved stepwise in the (+ X) direction with respect to the substrate 9 while switching the movement direction. Of course, the step movement of the drawing head 41 may also be in the (-X) direction.

As described above, in the drawing apparatus 1, the drawing head 41 is moved relative to the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a during drawing by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a and the drawing head moving mechanism 42. However, in the case of performing the single pass operation, the 1 st moving mechanism 22a is a mechanism for moving the drawing head 41 relative to the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a during drawing. Similarly, in the drawing apparatus 1, a mechanism for relatively moving the drawing head 41 with respect to the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b at the time of drawing by the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b and the drawing head moving mechanism 42 is configured. In the case of performing the one-way operation, the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b is a mechanism for moving the drawing head 41 relative to the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b at the time of drawing.

The drawing head moving mechanism 42 also serves as a head position switching unit that switches the position of the drawing head 41 between a position facing the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a and a position facing the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b. The head position switching unit does not need to be also the drawing head moving mechanism 42, and for example, a moving mechanism for switching the position of the drawing head 41 between a position facing the 1 st stage 21a and a position facing the 2 nd stage 21b may be provided, and a mechanism for moving the drawing head 41 in steps in the X direction may be provided in the moving mechanism. That is, a mechanism for relatively moving the drawing head 41 with respect to the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a during drawing, a mechanism for relatively moving the drawing head 41 with respect to the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b during drawing, and a mechanism (head position switching unit) for relatively moving the drawing head 41 with respect to the 1 st stage 21a and the 2 nd stage 21b between a position facing the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a and a position facing the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b may be provided in the drawing device 1 in various forms.

In the following description, these mechanisms are collectively referred to as "moving mechanism 2". In the case of the drawing apparatus 1 of fig. 1, the moving mechanism 2 includes a 1 st moving mechanism 22a, a 2 nd moving mechanism 22b, and a drawing head moving mechanism 42. The moving mechanism 2 moves the drawing head 41 relative to the 1 st stage 21a while drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a (1 st substrate holding portion) with light emitted from the drawing head 41, and moves the drawing head 41 relative to the 2 nd stage 21b while drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b (2 nd substrate holding portion) with light emitted from the drawing head 41.

The drawing device 1 further includes a 1 st distance measuring sensor 5. The 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is disposed on the (-Y) side of the beam portion of the 1 st door frame portion 72. The 1 st ranging sensor 5 includes a plurality of sensor elements 51. The plurality of sensor elements 51 are arranged in the X direction. The number of sensor elements 51 is, in principle, 2 times the number of drawing heads 41. The sensor elements 51, the number of which is basically the same as that of the drawing heads 41, are arranged above the 1 st stage 21a, and the sensor elements 51, the number of which is basically the same as that of the drawing heads 41, are arranged above the 2 nd stage 21b. In the example of fig. 1, the number of drawing heads 41 is 6, and the number of sensor elements 51 is 12. Above the 1 st stage 21a, the pitch of the sensor elements 51 (i.e., the interval between the centers of the sensor elements 51 in the X direction) is the same as the pitch of the drawing head 41 (i.e., the interval between the centers of the drawing head 41 in the X direction). Above the 2 nd stage 21b, the pitch of the sensor elements 51 is also the same as the pitch of the drawing head 41.

Each sensor element 51 acquires the distance between the substrates 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a or the 2 nd stage 21b positioned below. Specifically, the distance between the measurement position on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 and the specific portion of the sensor element 51 located above the measurement position is acquired by the measurement. The position in the height direction of the sensor element 51 is obtained by measurement in advance, and the position in the height direction of the measurement position can be obtained from the position in the height direction of the sensor element 51 and the obtained distance. Therefore, the measurement of the distance between the sensor element 51 and the measurement position substantially acquires the position in the height direction of the measurement position. More specifically, the output value from the sensor element 51 is converted into a position in the height direction of the measurement position by a focus control unit 113 of the control unit 10, which will be described later. The conversion uses, for example, a 1 st order function. The measurement position is basically a position directly below the sensor element 51, but may be a substantially lower position, and is not limited to being directly below.

Each sensor element 51 adopts a diffuse reflection system. Specifically, the substrate 9 is irradiated with laser light from the sensor element 51 through a light projecting lens, and diffuse reflected light from the substrate 9 is received by a light receiving Position detection sensor (e.g., a PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor)) through a light receiving lens, thereby detecting a light receiving Position. Then, the distance between the sensor element 51 and the measurement position on the substrate 9 is obtained from the light receiving position. The diffuse reflection type sensor is easy to handle and low in cost, but has relatively low measurement accuracy. The wavelength of the light emitted from the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 may be any wavelength as long as it does not affect the photosensitive material forming the surface (i.e., the upper surface 91) of the substrate 9. The light source of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is preferably a visible light or infrared light semiconductor laser, and more preferably a visible light semiconductor laser.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the computer 100 included in the control unit 10. The computer 100 is a normal computer including a processor 101, a memory 102, an input/output unit 103, and a bus 104. The bus 104 is a signal circuit that connects the processor 101, the memory 102, and the input/output unit 103. The memory 102 stores programs and various information. The Memory 102 is, for example, a RAM (Ramdom Access Memory) or a fixed disk drive. The processor 101 executes various processes (for example, numerical calculation and image processing) using the memory 102 and the like in accordance with a program and the like stored in the memory 102. The input/output unit 103 includes a keyboard 105 and a mouse 106 for receiving input from an operator, and a display 107 for displaying output from the processor 101. The control unit 10 may be a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), a circuit board, or the like, or may be a combination of these and one or more computers.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the control unit 10 and the functional configuration of the periphery thereof, both of which are realized by the computer 100. The control unit 10 includes an imaging control unit 111, a position detection unit 112, a focus control unit 113, a rendering control unit 114, and a storage unit 115. The storage section 115 is mainly realized by the memory 102. The storage unit 115 stores data of a predetermined pattern drawn on the substrate 9 (i.e., drawing data) and other information.

The imaging control section 111, the position detection section 112, the focus control section 113, and the rendering control section 114 are mainly realized by the processor 101. The imaging control unit 111 controls the imaging unit 3, the 1 st movement mechanism 22a, and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b to acquire the mark (which may be a part of the pattern) on the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 provided on the 1 st stage 21a and the 2 nd stage 21b by the alignment camera 31. The image is transmitted to the storage unit 115 and stored.

The position detecting section 112 detects the position of the substrate 9 (including distortion of the substrate 9) using the image. The drawing control unit 114 controls the moving mechanism 2 and the pattern drawing unit 4 to apply light to the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a or the 2 nd stage 21b to draw a pattern. At this time, the drawn pattern is corrected and drawn using the position of the substrate 9 detected by the position detection unit 112.

Each drawing head 41 of the pattern drawing unit 4 includes the light source, the optical system, and the light modulation element 411 as described above. Further, the light source may be provided integrally with the drawing head 41, or may be provided separately from the drawing head 41. When the light source is separated from the drawing head 41, light from the light source is introduced into the drawing head 41 via an optical system having an optical fiber or the like.

As shown in fig. 3, the drawing head 41 further includes a 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 and a focus changing section 413. The 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 acquires the distance between the measurement positions on the substrate 9 at which the drawing of the pattern is being performed. As the measurement position, a drawing position is selected or a position that can be set to the same height as the drawing position, and the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 substantially measures the distance between the drawing head 41 and the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9. To be precise, the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 acquires the distance between the drawing position of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 and a position which is fixed with respect to the drawing head 41 and which is directly above the drawing position. However, the distance acquired by the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 does not need to be the distance between the drawing head 41 and the position immediately below the drawing head or the distance between the drawing position and the position immediately above the drawing head, and may be a distance in the height direction between predetermined positions that can be regarded as these distances. That is, the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 can acquire the distance in the height direction between the position shifted from the drawing position of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 and the drawing head 41.

The position in the height direction of the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 (or the drawing head 41) is obtained by measurement in advance, and the position in the height direction of the measurement position can be obtained from the position in the height direction of the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 and the obtained distance. Therefore, the measurement of the distance between the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 and the measurement position substantially acquires the position in the height direction of the measurement position.

The 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 performs measurement with higher accuracy than the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5. The 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 irradiates an inclined light (for example, a laser beam) to the surface of the substrate 9 and detects the light receiving position of the regular reflection light of the light by a high-precision light receiving element. The 2 nd ranging sensor 412 acquires the distance between the drawing head 41 and the substrate 9 based on the light receiving position. As the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412, for example, a sensor described in the already described JP 2014-197125 publication can be used.

The focus changing unit 413 changes the position in the Z direction (i.e., the position in the height direction, hereinafter also referred to as the "focus position") of an image formed by the light emitted from the drawing head 41. The focus changing unit 413 includes, for example, a focus lens included in the optical system of the drawing head 41, and a driving unit that moves the focus lens along the optical axis. One or two or more focusing lenses may be provided. By moving the position of the focus lens along the optical axis by the driving unit, the position in the height direction of the image formed by the light emitted from the drawing head 41 is changed.

The focus control unit 113 performs control of matching the focus position of an image formed by the light emitted from the drawing head 41 with the position of the surface of the substrate 9 in the Z direction at the drawing position during the drawing process, using the information from each sensor element 51 of the 1 st ranging sensor 5 and the information from the 2 nd ranging sensor 412. That is, although the position of the drawing position on the substrate 9 in the Z direction slightly varies in the vertical direction as the drawing position moves in the main scanning direction, the focus control unit 113 changes the position of the image formed by the light emitted from the drawing head 41 in the Z direction in accordance with the variation. In addition, a case where the focus control unit 113 uses the information from the 1 st ranging sensor 5 will be described later.

As described above, each sensor element 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 has lower accuracy and lower cost than the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412. This can suppress an increase in the manufacturing cost of the drawing device 1. When the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is configured by the plurality of sensor elements 51, it is possible to suppress an increase in the manufacturing cost of the drawing device 1. In particular, as in the drawing apparatus 1 of fig. 1, when the sensor elements 51 are provided in an amount 2 times as many as the number of the drawing heads 41, the effect of suppressing an increase in the manufacturing cost of the drawing apparatus 1 is remarkable.

Next, a flow of drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 by the drawing apparatus 1 shown in fig. 1 will be described. In the drawing device 1, the substrate 9 is carried in on one of the 1 st stage 21a and the 2 nd stage 21b and alignment (that is, positioning) and the like are performed while drawing is performed with respect to the substrate 9 held on the other stage. When the drawing with respect to the substrate 9 held on the one stage is completed, the drawing with respect to the substrate 9 held on the other stage is started. While drawing is being performed on the substrate 9 on the other stage, the drawn substrate 9 is carried out from one stage, and a new substrate 9 is carried into the one stage and subjected to processing such as alignment.

Fig. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating an example of a flow of rendering processing in the rendering apparatus 1. Steps S11 to S16 on the left side in fig. 4A and 4B show a flow of the drawing process to draw on the substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a, and steps S21 to S26 on the right side in fig. 4A and 4B show a flow of the drawing process to draw on the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21B. In addition, steps located at the same position in the up-down direction in fig. 4A and 4B are performed in parallel. Specifically, steps S11 to S15 and step S26 are performed in parallel. Step S16 and steps S21 to S25 are performed in parallel. In fig. 4A and 4B, the description of the operation of the substrate 9 first carried into the drawing device 1 and the operation of the substrate 9 finally carried out are omitted.

Fig. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a state where a pattern is drawn with respect to the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21B of the 2 nd transport mechanism 2B. Fig. 5 to 10 are conceptual views showing schematic positions in the Y direction of the 1 st stage 21a and the 2 nd stage 21b in the drawing apparatus 1 in the drawing process. In fig. 5 to 10, the 1 st stage 21a, the 1 st moving mechanism 22a, the 2 nd stage 21b, and the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b are drawn by solid lines, and the alignment camera 31, the arrangement of the drawing head 41, and the arrangement of the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 are drawn by broken lines.

In the following description, the position of the 1 st stage 21a in the Y direction, where the 1 st stage 21a and the alignment camera 31 and/or the drawing head 41 overlap in the up-down direction, is referred to as a "processing position", the position where the 1 st stage 21a and the portion on the (-Y) side of the 1 st movement mechanism 22a overlap in the up-down direction is referred to as a "carry-out/carry-in position", and the position where the 1 st stage 21a and the portion on the (+ Y) side of the 1 st movement mechanism 22a overlap in the up-down direction is referred to as a "standby position". In addition, regarding the position of the 2 nd stage 21b in the Y direction, the position where the 2 nd stage 21b overlaps with the alignment camera 31 and/or the drawing head 41 in the up-down direction is also referred to as a "processing position", the position where the (-Y) side portion of the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b overlaps in the up-down direction is referred to as a "carry-in/out position", and the position where the (+ Y) side portion of the 2 nd stage 21 and the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b overlaps in the up-down direction is referred to as a "standby position". Note that, the processing position may indicate a predetermined range (i.e., a region to be processed) in the Y direction in which the alignment camera 31 captures the image of the substrate 9 and the drawing head 41 draws a pattern, instead of indicating 1 point in the Y direction.

In the drawing apparatus 1, as shown in fig. 5, in a state where the 2 nd stage 21b is located at the processing position and the drawing head 41 is located at the 2 nd drawing position, drawing of a pattern by the drawing head 41 is performed with respect to the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21b (step S26). Hereinafter, the substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b or the predetermined substrate 9 to be held is referred to as a "2 nd substrate 9". The "2 nd substrate" is not a second substrate, but merely a substrate related to the 2 nd stage 21b. In step S26, the pattern drawing unit 4, the 2 nd movement mechanism 22b, and the drawing head movement mechanism 42 are controlled by the drawing control unit 114 (see fig. 3), whereby a pattern is drawn on the substrate 9 moved in the (+ Y) direction or the (-Y) direction at the processing position.

In parallel with step S26, the drawn substrate 9 is carried out from the 1 st stage 21a located at the carrying in and out position, and a new substrate 9 is carried in and held on the 1 st stage 21a (steps S11 and S12). Hereinafter, the substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a or the predetermined substrate 9 held by the substrate is referred to as a "1 st substrate 9". The "1 st substrate" is not the first substrate, but merely a substrate related to the 1 st stage 21a. The substrate is simply referred to as a "substrate" unless the 1 st substrate and the 2 nd substrate described later are distinguished from each other.

Next, the 1 st stage 21a is moved in the (+ Y) direction by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a, and positioned at the processing position as shown in fig. 6. In the state shown in fig. 6, the 2 nd stage 21b is still at the processing position, and drawing is performed with respect to the substrate 9 on the 2 nd stage 21b. The alignment camera 31 is positioned at a 1 st imaging position facing the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a (1 st substrate holding unit) by a camera position switching unit 32. Further, the interval of the alignment cameras 31 is adjusted in advance corresponding to the size of the 1 st substrate 9.

When the 1 st stage 21a is at the processing position, the 1 st stage 21a is moved in the (+ Y) direction at a predetermined speed by controlling the 1 st moving mechanism 22a by the imaging control unit 111 (see fig. 3). The control of the alignment camera 31 by the imaging control unit 111 captures an image at the moment when an alignment mark (not shown) on the 1 st substrate 9 is positioned below the alignment camera 31, and transmits the acquired image to the position detection unit 112. The movement of the 1 st stage 21a may be stopped during imaging. Images are taken of the alignment marks on the 1 st substrate 9. The pattern matching based on the reference image is performed on the image by the position detection unit 112. The pattern matching is performed, for example, by a well-known pattern matching method (for example, geometric shape pattern matching or normalized cross-correlation retrieval, etc.). Thereby, the position of the alignment mark in the image is obtained, and the position of the 1 st substrate 9 with respect to the 1 st stage 21a is detected (step S13). Hereinafter, the information on the position of the substrate 9 acquired by the position detecting unit 112 is referred to as "alignment information".

The position of the 1 st substrate 9 detected by the position detecting unit 112 includes information indicating coordinates in the X direction and the Y direction with respect to the 1 st substrate 9 of the 1 st stage 21a as a substrate holding unit, the orientation (i.e., rotational position) of the 1 st substrate 9, and deformation due to distortion and the like of the 1 st substrate 9. The information indicating the deformation of the 1 st substrate 9 is information such as the shape of the 1 st substrate 9 being deformed, and the position of the drawing area on the 1 st substrate 9. The position detection unit 112 corrects the drawing data for the 1 st substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a based on the detected alignment information (i.e., alignment processing). When the 1 st moving mechanism 22a has a function of rotating the 1 st stage 21a about an axis oriented in the Z direction, the 1 st substrate 9 may be rotated based on the alignment information. The above description of the alignment with respect to the 1 st substrate 9 is also the same in the processing with respect to the 2 nd substrate 9 described later.

When the portion on the (-Y) side of the 1 st substrate 9 passes under the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5, the outputs from the 6 sensor elements 51 on the 1 st stage 21a side are recorded in the storage unit 115 of the control unit 10. That is, the distance between the sensor element 51 and the upper surface 91 of the 1 st substrate 9 is repeatedly output from each sensor element 51 and recorded in the storage unit 115 of the control unit 10. The distance between the sensor element 51 and the upper surface 91 of the 1 st substrate 9 corresponds to the position in the height direction of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 in the measurement position by the sensor element 51. Therefore, according to the above measurement, the variation in position in the direction of the height of the upper surface 91 of the 1 st substrate 9 in the moving range of the measurement position is acquired. Hereinafter, the position in the height direction of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9 at the measurement position or the drawing position is also referred to as a "surface height position". The focus control unit 113 obtains the highest frequency value from the surface height position of the 1 st substrate 9 at a plurality of measurement positions obtained from the information acquired by the sensor elements 51 (step S14). Hereinafter, the highest frequency value is referred to as "prefocusing information". The pre-focusing information is acquired in the same number as the number of the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5.

The substrate 9 has a through hole, a step, or the like, and should not be a measurement position of the height of the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9. By adopting the highest frequency values of the plurality of surface height positions of the 1 st substrate 9 acquired by the respective sensor elements 51 as the positions in the height direction of the upper surface 91 of the 1 st substrate 9, accurate surface height positions represented by the plurality of surface height positions can be obtained. The "highest frequency value" is obtained by dividing the position in the height direction into a plurality of small ranges, classifying the plurality of surface height positions obtained by each sensor element 51 as belonging to each small range, and adopting the central value of the small range to which the largest number of surface height positions belong as the accurate surface height position represented by the plurality of measurement positions.

The movement range of the measurement position of each sensor element 51 on the substrate 9 coincides with the trajectory of the movement of the drawing position when one of the drawing heads 41 starts drawing in the subsequent step. That is, the position in the X direction of each sensor element 51 coincides with the position in the X direction at the start of drawing by one of the drawing heads 41 at the time of subsequent drawing. Therefore, the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 (to be precise, the sensor elements 51 on the 1 st substrate 9 side) are positioned at a plurality of positions (arranged in the main scanning direction) near the drawing start position on the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a as the 1 st substrate holding portion and a plurality of distances up to the plurality of positions are acquired. Then, the focus control unit 113 uses the most frequent distance among the acquired distances as the distance between each sensor element 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 and the 1 st substrate 9. As described above, the distance between each sensor element 51 and the 1 st substrate 9 is substantially pre-focusing information indicating the height position of the surface of the substrate 9 at the drawing position at the drawing start time.

When the acquisition of the alignment information and the pre-focusing information from the 1 st substrate 9 is completed during the pattern drawing of the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b (2 nd substrate holding unit), the 1 st stage 21a is further moved in the (+ Y) direction by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a to be positioned at the standby position as shown in fig. 7 (step S15). In the state shown in fig. 7, the 2 nd stage 21b is still at the processing position (to be precise, a position having a certain range for drawing), and drawing is performed with respect to the 2 nd substrate 9. The 1 st stage 21a waits at a standby position until drawing on the 2 nd substrate 9 is completed.

When the drawing (step S26) on the 2 nd substrate 9 is completed, the 2 nd stage 21b is moved in the (-Y) direction by the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b, and the 2 nd stage 21b is positioned at the carry-in/carry-out position as shown in fig. 8. In parallel with this operation, the 1 st stage 21a is moved in the (-Y) direction by the 1 st moving mechanism 22a and positioned at the processing position. The alignment camera 31 also moves from the 1 st imaging position to the 2 nd imaging position opposed to (to be precise, opposed to) the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd stage 21b (the 2 nd substrate holding portion) and the drawing head 41 moves from the 2 nd drawing position to the 1 st drawing position. Then, based on the drawing data after the alignment processing and the like, the drawing control unit 114 controls the pattern drawing unit 4 and the 1 st moving mechanism 22a to draw a pattern on the 1 st substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a moved in the Y direction at the processing position (step S16).

Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining a case where the drawing is performed with respect to the 1 st substrate 9. The same applies to the drawing of the 2 nd substrate 9. Therefore, in the following description of fig. 11, the 1 st substrate 9 and the 2 nd substrate 9 are collectively referred to as "substrates 9" without distinction. The 6 drawing heads 41 are shown by broken lines in fig. 11. The 18 regions 8 elongated in the Y direction drawn on the substrate 9 respectively indicate regions where one drawing head 41 draws when the substrate 9 moves in the Y direction. When a DMD is used as the light modulation element 411 of the drawing head 41 and a rectangular image of the DMD is obliquely projected onto the substrate 9, the plurality of regions 8 are overlapped with each other slightly in the X direction.

The arrow 81 shown by a thick solid line indicates the first movement of the drawing position of the plurality of drawing heads 41. That is, it is shown that the drawing position is relatively moved to the (+ Y) direction on the substrate 9 by moving the substrate 9 to the (-Y) direction. When the drawing position is moved to the end on the (+ Y) side of the area 8, the drawing head 41 is moved stepwise in the (+ X) direction by the drawing head moving mechanism 42, whereby the drawing position is moved stepwise in the (+ X) direction on the substrate 9. Then, by moving the substrate 9 in the (+ Y) direction, the drawing position is moved in the (-Y) direction as indicated by an arrow 82 with a broken line, and drawing is performed on the second region 8. When the drawing position is moved to the end portion on the (-Y) side of the second area 8, the drawing head 41 is moved stepwise in the (+ X) direction by the drawing head moving mechanism 42, whereby the drawing position is moved stepwise in the (+ X) direction on the substrate 9. Then, the substrate 9 is moved in the (-Y) direction, and the drawing position is moved in the (+ Y) direction as indicated by a broken-line arrow 83, thereby drawing the region 8 for the third time.

In the case of the example of fig. 11, the drawing head 41 reciprocates once and a half in the Y direction with respect to the substrate 9, and thereby the drawing is ended. As described above, the number of the drawing heads 41 and the width of the area 8 may be variously changed. Preferably, the number of drawing heads 41 is 2 or more. The drawing may be ended by moving the drawing head 41 relative to the substrate 9 only once in the Y direction, that is, in the main scanning direction, or may be ended by moving the head twice or more in the main scanning direction. When the 1 st substrate 9 is expressed in a normal manner, the modulated light is emitted from the drawing head 41 toward the 1 st substrate 9, and the drawing head 41 is moved relative to the 1 st stage 21a (1 st substrate holding section), whereby a pattern is drawn on the 1 st substrate 9. The same applies to the case of the 2 nd substrate 9, except that the 1 st stage 21a is replaced with a 2 nd stage 21b (2 nd substrate holding portion).

When the movement in the main scanning direction is odd-numbered until the end of drawing, the standby position is preferably opposite to the drawing head 41 at the carry-in/carry-out position so that the position of the substrate 9 at the time of drawing end is close to the carry-in/carry-out position. Conversely, when the movement in the main scanning direction is an even number of times until the end of drawing, the standby position and the carrying-in/out position are preferably located on the same side with respect to the drawing head 41 so that the position of the substrate 9 at the time of drawing end is close to the carrying-in/out position.

When the initial rendering to the region 8 is started, the pre-focus information acquired in step S14 is used. In the drawing apparatus 1, very precise drawing is performed. Therefore, a slight shift in the height direction from the drawing position on the surface of the substrate 9, that is, a position in the height direction from the surface height position and the position in the height direction at which the image of the light from the drawing head 41 is formed (hereinafter, referred to as "image height position") is not allowed. While the drawing is continuously performed, the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 of the drawing head 41 measures the surface height position, and the focus control unit 113 of the control unit 10 controls the focus changing unit 413 of the drawing head 41 based on the measurement result. That is, the focus lens in the drawing head 41 is minutely moved along the optical axis. Thereby, even if the drawing position is moved in parallel with the substrate 9, the surface height position in the drawing position accurately coincides with the image height position. However, at the start time point of the drawing, there is no information with high reliability from the 2 nd ranging sensor 412, and therefore, there is a possibility that the actual surface height position is greatly deviated from the image height position before the control. In particular, when the substrate 9 is warped, the surface height position and the image height position may be greatly displaced at the end of the substrate 9. Since there is a limit to the speed of changing the image height position, when the surface height position and the image height position are greatly displaced, it takes time to align the surface height position and the image height position, and a problem arises that the surface height position and the image height position cannot be aligned for a period after the start of drawing.

Then, in the drawing apparatus 1, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is provided, and the position in the height direction of the surface of the substrate 9 at the drawing position at the drawing start time, that is, the surface height position at the drawing start time is acquired in advance as pre-focusing information before the drawing start, and the surface height position is brought close to the image height position before the drawing start time, thereby realizing the autofocus control immediately and promptly after the drawing start. Specifically, the pre-focusing information obtained by each sensor element 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 (i.e., the distance between each sensor element 51 and the substrate 9) is converted into the distance between the corresponding drawing head 41 and the substrate 9, and is used for the autofocus control at the drawing start time. The distance between the acquisition drawing head 41 and the substrate 9 by the conversion is substantially the same as the surface height position in the acquisition drawing start position. In addition, the surface height position from when the drawing of one area 8 is ended to when the drawing of the next area 8 is started can use the surface height position obtained from the 2 nd ranging sensor 412 at the end of the drawing of the previous area 8.

By providing the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5, the operation of measuring the surface height position in the drawing start position using the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 of the drawing head 41 before the drawing start cannot be performed. Assuming that the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is not provided, it is necessary to scan the drawing head 41 by a certain distance in the main scanning direction with respect to the substrate 9 before drawing is started, and the surface height position in the drawing start position is acquired using the output from the 2 nd ranging sensor 412. In contrast, in the drawing apparatus 1, the drawing can be started immediately after the drawing head 41 is positioned at the drawing start position using the information from the 1 st ranging sensor 5, and the throughput of the drawing apparatus 1 can be improved.

In the drawing apparatus 1, as shown in fig. 4B, in parallel with drawing of the 1 st substrate 9 on the 1 st stage 21a (step S16), the drawn 2 nd substrate 9 is carried out from the 2 nd stage 21B located at the carrying-in and carrying-out position, and a new 2 nd substrate 9 is carried in and held on the 2 nd stage 21B (steps S21, S22). Next, the 2 nd stage 21b is moved in the (+ Y) direction by the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b, and alignment information of the 2 nd substrate 9 is acquired by the control of the imaging control unit 111 in the same manner as in steps S13 and S14, and the pre-focusing information is acquired almost in parallel with this (steps S23 and S24). These operations are the same as the operations after replacing the 1 st substrate 9 with the 2 nd substrate 9, replacing the 1 st stage 21a with the 2 nd stage 21b, replacing the 1 st moving mechanism 22a with the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b, and replacing the 1 st imaging position with the 2 nd imaging position in the above description of the 1 st substrate 9.

That is, the 2 nd substrate 9 is moved to the processing position as shown in fig. 9 by the control of the imaging control unit 111, the 2 nd substrate 9 is moved in the (+ Y) direction, and imaging is performed at the moment when the alignment mark is positioned below the alignment camera 31, and the alignment information of the 2 nd substrate 9 is acquired by the position detection unit 112 (step S23). Then, correction (i.e., alignment processing) of the drawing data for the 2 nd substrate 9 is performed.

When the (-Y) side portion of the 2 nd substrate 9 passes below the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5, the outputs from the 6 sensor elements 51 on the 2 nd stage 21b side are recorded in the storage unit 115. The focus control unit 113 obtains a maximum frequency value as pre-focus information from a plurality of values (surface height positions) of the position in the height direction of the upper surface 91 of the 2 nd substrate 9 obtained from the information acquired by the sensor elements 51 (step S24). The prefocusing information indicates a position (surface height position) in the height direction of the upper surface 91 of the 2 nd substrate 9 in the corresponding drawing position at the start of drawing.

When the acquisition of the alignment information and the pre-focus information from the 2 nd substrate 9 is completed during the pattern drawing of the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st stage 21a (1 st substrate holding unit), the 2 nd stage 21b is further moved in the (+ Y) direction by the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b to be positioned at the standby position as shown in fig. 10 (step S25). In the state shown in fig. 10, drawing is performed with respect to the 1 st substrate 9. The 2 nd stage 21b waits at the standby position until the drawing with respect to the 1 st substrate 9 is completed.

When the drawing with respect to the 1 st substrate 9 is finished, the drawing head 41 moves to the 2 nd drawing position, and the alignment camera 31 moves to the 1 st imaging position. As described with reference to fig. 4A, drawing on the 2 nd substrate 9 is started (step S26), and in the process of drawing on the 2 nd substrate 9, carrying out of the 1 st substrate 9 and carrying in of the next 1 st substrate 9 (steps S11, S12) and acquisition of alignment information and pre-focus information about the 1 st substrate 9 are performed (steps S13, S14), and the 1 st substrate 9 is positioned at the standby position (step S15).

When drawing to the 2 nd substrate 9 is started, the quick start of autofocus control is realized using the prefocusing information acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 in step S24. This operation is the same as in the case of the 1 st substrate 9. By providing the 1 st ranging sensor 5, there is no need to measure the surface height position at the drawing start position by using the 2 nd ranging sensor 412 of the drawing head 41 before the drawing is started. As a result, drawing can be started immediately after the drawing head 41 is positioned at the 2 nd drawing position, and the throughput of the drawing apparatus 1 can be improved.

Fig. 12 is a plan view showing another example of the structure associated with the imaging unit 3 and the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 of the drawing device 1. Fig. 12 shows a structure provided in the 1 st door frame portion 72, and other structures of the drawing device 1 are the same as those of fig. 1.

A beam portion of the 1 st door frame portion 72 in fig. 12 is provided with a camera position switching portion 32 extending in the X direction. The camera position switching unit 32 moves the camera base 33 in the X direction as indicated by an arrow 34. Two alignment cameras 31 are provided on the camera base 33. An alignment camera 31 is attached to the camera base 33 via a camera position adjusting unit 35. The camera position adjusting unit 35 moves relative to the camera base 33 in the X direction to align the camera 31. The camera position adjustment unit 35 may employ various mechanisms, for example, a linear servo motor or a mechanism in which a motor is attached to a ball screw.

The interval between the two alignment cameras 31 is changed by the camera position adjustment section 35. Further, the camera position switching unit 32 switches the positions of the two alignment cameras 31 between a 1 st imaging position facing the 1 st stage 21a and the 1 st substrate 9 (specifically, facing the 1 st moving mechanism 22 a) and a 2 nd imaging position facing the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd substrate 9 (specifically, facing the 2 nd moving mechanism 22 b). Note that, although the explanation of fig. 1 is simplified, the camera base 33 and the camera position adjustment unit 35 are also provided in the drawing device 1 of fig. 1. The camera base 33 may be regarded as a part of the camera position switching unit 32. In the case where the number of alignment cameras 31 is one, the camera position adjustment section 35 is not provided. When the number of the alignment cameras 31 is 3 or more, the camera position adjusting unit 35 may be provided in each of all the alignment cameras 31 except for one alignment camera 31. Further, even if the number of alignment cameras 31 is 2 or more, the positions of all the alignment cameras 31 can be fixed with respect to the camera base 33.

In fig. 12, unlike the case of fig. 1, the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is fixed to the camera base 33. In the example of fig. 12, the 6 sensor elements 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 are fixed to the camera base 33. Preferably, the intervals in the X direction of the sensor elements 51, that is, the pitches in the X direction are the same as the pitches in the X direction of the drawing head 41. Of course, the pitch of the sensor elements 51 in the X direction may be different from the pitch of the drawing head 41 in the X direction. The number of sensor elements 51 is preferably the same as the number of drawing heads 41, and may be different. The number of the sensor elements 51 is preferably 2 or more, but may be 1.

The operation of the drawing apparatus 1 having the structure shown in fig. 12 is the same as the operation described with reference to fig. 4A and 4B, except that the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 moves in the X direction together with the alignment camera 31. That is, while the pattern is being drawn on the 2 nd substrate 9 (step S26), the 1 st substrate 9 is carried in and out (steps S11 and S12), and the alignment information and the pre-focusing information are acquired (steps S13 and S14), and the 1 st substrate 9 is on standby at the standby position until the pattern is drawn on the 2 nd substrate 9 (step S15). Then, when drawing of the pattern to the 2 nd substrate 9 is completed, the drawing head 41 moves from the 2 nd drawing position to the 1 st drawing position, and at the same time, the alignment camera 31 moves from the 1 st imaging position to the 2 nd imaging position. Thus, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 also moves from a position facing the 1 st moving mechanism 22a (a position facing the 1 st stage 21a and the 1 st substrate 9 during measurement) to a position facing the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b (a position facing the 2 nd stage 21b and the 2 nd substrate 9 during measurement).

Thereafter, while the pattern is being drawn on the 1 st substrate 9 (step S16), the 2 nd substrate 9 is carried in and out (steps S21 and S22), and the alignment information and the pre-focusing information are acquired (steps S23 and S24), and the 2 nd substrate 9 is on standby at the standby position until the drawing of the pattern on the 1 st substrate 9 is completed (step S25). When the drawing of the pattern to the 1 st substrate 9 is completed, the drawing head 41 moves from the 1 st drawing position to the 2 nd drawing position, and at the same time, the alignment camera 31 moves from the 2 nd imaging position to the 1 st imaging position. Thereby, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 also moves from the position facing the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b to the position facing the 1 st moving mechanism 22a. When drawing is started on the 1 st substrate 9 and the 2 nd substrate 9, the pre-focus information acquired in advance is used as described above. This can improve the throughput of the rendering apparatus 1.

The 1 st ranging sensor 5 shown in fig. 1 or 12 (when the 1 st ranging sensor 5 includes a plurality of sensor elements 51, each sensor element 51 (the same applies hereinafter)) is not limited to a sensor of a diffuse reflection type. For example, a regular reflection mode or other modes may be employed within the applicable range. On the other hand, when the transmittance of light to be measured with respect to a measurement object is high, there is a disadvantage that the measurement cannot be performed in the same manner as when the transmittance is low. Therefore, when the transmittance of the light for measurement with respect to the measurement object is high, as shown in fig. 13, the focus control unit 113 of the drawing device 1 is provided with a correction unit 12 that corrects the distance from (each sensor element 51 of) the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 to the measurement position on the substrate 9. That is, the measured surface height position is corrected. In the case of the above embodiment, the correcting unit 12 corrects the pre-focusing information. In fig. 13, only the focus control unit 113 and the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 are shown, and other components are not shown.

The correction is preferably performed when the transmittance of the material forming the surface of the substrate 9 and its vicinity with respect to the wavelength of the light emitted from the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is 50% or more, preferably 60% or more, and more preferably 70% or more. Such a material forming the surface of the substrate 9 and the vicinity thereof is blue plate glass formed with a resist film or a dry film (for example, polyethylene terephthalate) formed with a resist film. A protective film may further be present over the resist film. The materials to be modified are not limited to these materials. The wavelength of the light emitted from the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 may be a wavelength that does not affect the photosensitive material forming the upper surface 91 of the substrate 9. Preferably visible or infrared light with a wavelength above 600 nm. For example, the wavelength is 660nm.

When the correction by the correction unit 12 is necessary, for example, a function indicating the relationship between the output from the 1 st ranging sensor and the distance (or a function indicating the relationship between the output and the surface height position) is obtained by a correction operation in advance, and the correction unit 12 substitutes the output from the 1 st ranging sensor 5 into the function to obtain the distance between the 1 st ranging sensor 5 and the substrate 9. The function is preferably a 1 st order function. By providing the correction unit 12, even when the material forming the surface of the substrate 9 has a transmittance with respect to the light used for measurement, the diffusion sensor can be used as the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5.

The drawing apparatus 1 can be variously modified.

The drawing head 41 may emit linear light that extends in a direction intersecting the main scanning direction and is spatially modulated into one-dimensional light, instead of emitting spatially modulated light in two dimensions. The drawing head 41 may emit light in a spot shape and modulate the light while scanning the light in a direction intersecting the main scanning. The drawing head 41 can be of various forms that emit modulated light.

The substrate holding unit for holding the substrate 9 is not limited to the stage-like structure of the 1 st stage 21a or the 2 nd stage 21b. Various forms can be adopted as the 1 st substrate holding portion for holding the 1 st substrate 9 and the 2 nd substrate holding portion for holding the 2 nd substrate 9. For example, the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit may hold the outer edge portion of the substrate 9 by a claw-like structure, or may hold the center of the lower surface of the substrate 9 by suction.

The moving mechanism 2 is not limited to the mechanism shown in the above embodiment. The moving mechanism 2 moves relative to the 1 st substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern with the light emitted from the drawing head 41 toward the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding unit, and moves the drawing head 41 relative to the 2 nd substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern with the light emitted from the drawing head 41 toward the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit. Therefore, it is preferable that the movement of the 1 st substrate 9 at the time of drawing on the 1 st substrate 9 and the movement of the 2 nd substrate 9 at the time of measurement with respect to the 2 nd substrate 9 are independently performed, and therefore, the moving mechanism 2 preferably includes a 1 st substrate moving mechanism (different from the 1 st moving mechanism 22a described above and in a broad concept) for horizontally moving the 1 st substrate 9 with respect to the drawing head 41 and the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5, and a 2 nd substrate moving mechanism (different from the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b described above and in a broad concept) for horizontally moving the 2 nd substrate 9 with respect to the drawing head 41 and the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 independently from the 1 st substrate moving mechanism.

Further, in the drawing process, it is preferable that the position of the drawing head 41 is fixed as much as possible and the misalignment between the drawing head 41 and the 1 st substrate 9 and the 2 nd substrate 9 can be suppressed to the minimum, and therefore, as shown in fig. 1, the 1 st substrate moving mechanism preferably includes the 1 st moving mechanism 22a that linearly moves the 1 st substrate 9 in the main scanning direction, and the 2 nd substrate moving mechanism preferably includes the 2 nd moving mechanism 22b that linearly moves the 2 nd substrate 9 in the main scanning direction.

In the example of fig. 1, the position of the substrate 9 is described as any one of the "carry-in/carry-out position", the "processing position", and the "standby position", but the "carry-in/carry-out position" and the "standby position" may be the same position, for example. Further, the "carrying-in/out position" and the "processing position" may overlap each other by the structure of the robot that carries in and out the substrate 9. In this case, the substrate 9 may be moved only within the movement range during drawing.

In the example of fig. 1, the drawing head 41 is switched between a position facing the 1 st substrate holding part and a position facing the 2 nd substrate holding part by a drawing head moving mechanism 42 that moves the drawing head 41 in the X direction. Therefore, the moving mechanism 2 conceptually includes a head position switching section that switches the drawing head 41 between a position facing the 1 st substrate holding section and a position facing the 2 nd substrate holding section. The head position switching unit may be provided separately from a mechanism for moving the drawing head in the X direction during drawing. Therefore, the moving mechanism 2 includes a 1 st substrate moving mechanism, a 2 nd substrate moving mechanism, and a head position switching section.

The 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is opposed to the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding unit to obtain a distance to a measurement position on the 1 st substrate 9 while drawing a pattern to the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, and is opposed to the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit to obtain a distance to a measurement position on the 2 nd substrate 9 while drawing a pattern to the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding unit. In order to realize this operation, in fig. 1, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 includes a sensor element 51 in which an absolute position is fixed above the 1 st substrate holding portion, and a sensor element 51 in which an absolute position is fixed above the 2 nd substrate holding portion. Here, the "absolute position" refers to a position with respect to a space (i.e., a room) of the drawing device 1 in which the frame 7 is provided. The absolute position of sensor element 51 may be achieved by fixing sensor element 51 to a portion other than door frame portion 74.

By fixing the absolute position of the sensor element 51, the error in the distance acquired by the sensor element 51 can be suppressed to a small value, and autofocus control can be easily used. In the case where the absolute position of the sensor element 51 is fixed, the number of the sensor elements 51 is larger than that in the case of fig. 12, but since the sensor element 51 is an inexpensive sensor, the device manufacturing cost does not greatly increase.

The number of the sensor elements 51 whose absolute positions are fixed above the 1 st substrate holding portion (the 1 st stage 21a in fig. 1) may be 1, or 2 or more. The number of sensor elements 51 whose absolute positions are fixed above the 2 nd substrate holding unit (the 2 nd stage 21b in fig. 1) may be 1, or 2 or more. In the example of fig. 1, the minimum number of sensor elements 51 is 2.

When the number of the sensor elements 51 facing each other at the same time as the single substrate 9 is 2 or more, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 acquires the distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 and the measurement position on the substrate 9 is the distance between each sensor element 51 and the corresponding measurement position on the substrate 9. When the number of the sensor elements 51 facing one substrate 9 is 1, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 acquires the distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 and the measurement position on the substrate 9 is the distance between the one sensor element 51 and the corresponding measurement position on the substrate 9.

In the case of the example of fig. 12, the relative positions of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 with respect to the 1 st substrate holding portion as the 1 st stage 21a and the 2 nd substrate holding portion as the 2 nd stage 21b are switched between a position facing the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding portion and a position facing the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd substrate holding portion by the camera position switching portion 32 together with the alignment camera 31. In this case, the minimum value of the number of sensor elements 51 of the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is 1. The 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 may be fixed to a portion other than the camera base 33 as long as it moves together with the alignment camera 31. The camera position switching unit 32 may have various configurations as long as the relative position of the alignment camera 31 with respect to the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit is switched between a position facing the 1 st substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding unit and a position facing the 2 nd substrate 9 held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit.

In the above-described drawing apparatus 1, the focus control section 113 achieves that the auto-focus control is performed immediately when the drawing head 41 is disposed at the 1 st or 2 nd drawing position and the drawing of the pattern is started by bringing the focus position (image height position) of the drawing head 41 close to the position (surface height position) of the surface of the substrate 9 in advance by using the pre-focus information acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5. However, the information acquired by the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is not limited to the pre-focus information acquired in the above-described manner.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the surface height position at the position where the first main scanning is started is acquired, but the surface height positions at the positions where all the main scanning in the (+ Y) direction and the (-Y) direction is started may be acquired. Further, it is possible to acquire the variation of the surface height position over the entire length of all the main scans with the 1 st ranging sensor 5 in advance, and use this information when drawing a pattern with the 2 nd ranging sensor 412. For example, a position where an error in the autofocus control by the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 is likely to occur at each main scanning may be detected in advance by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 for preventing a control error at the time of drawing. In either case, the measurement by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 is performed in the above steps S14 and S24. As described above, the focus control unit 113 can control the focus changing unit 413 in various ways using information acquired from the substrate 9 by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 before drawing a pattern and information acquired from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor 412 during drawing a pattern on the substrate 9.

The focus control unit 113 uses the information from the 1 st ranging sensor 5 and the information from the 2 nd ranging sensor 412, thereby acquiring the information from the 1 st ranging sensor 5 from the substrate 9 held by the other substrate holding unit in advance in the process of drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 held by the one substrate holding unit, and using the information acquired by the 1 st ranging sensor when drawing a pattern on the substrate held by the other substrate holding unit, it is possible to efficiently perform focus control at the time of drawing a pattern, and it is possible to improve throughput.

In the above embodiment, the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5 measures the distance in the vicinity of the drawing start position, and the highest frequency value of the distance between the sensor element 51 and the substrate 9 is acquired as the pre-focusing information. Even with this information, the focus control unit 113 can bring the focus position (image height position) of the light emitted from the drawing head 41 close to the surface height position of the substrate 9 at the time of starting drawing, using the information acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor 5, before the drawing head 41 starts drawing a pattern on the substrate 9 held by the 1 st substrate holding unit or the 2 nd substrate holding unit.

In the case of the example of fig. 1, it is preferable that the number of the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is 2 times the number of the drawing heads 41. Thereby, the distance between the drawing head 41 and the substrate 9 at the position where the drawing head 41 starts drawing can be acquired. In the case of the example of fig. 12, it is preferable that the number of the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is the same as the number of the drawing heads 41. However, the number of the sensor elements 51 of the 1 st ranging sensor 5 is not limited to the above example. When the measurement position of the sensor element 51 does not coincide with the drawing start position of the drawing head 41, the distance (or the surface height position) between the drawing head 41 and the substrate 9 at the drawing start position of each drawing head 41 can be acquired by, for example, linearly interpolating the measurement values of the plurality of sensor elements 51.

In the drawing device 1, the 1 st transport mechanism 2a may further include one or more of a moving mechanism that moves the 1 st substrate holding unit (the 1 st stage 21 a) in the X direction, a rotating mechanism that rotates the 1 st substrate holding unit about a rotation axis extending in the Z direction, and an elevating mechanism that moves the 1 st substrate holding unit in the Z direction. As the moving mechanism and the lifting mechanism, for example, a linear servo motor can be used. In addition, as the rotation mechanism, for example, a servomotor can be used. The structures of the moving mechanism, the rotating mechanism, and the lifting mechanism may be variously changed. The 2 nd conveying mechanism 2b is also the same as the 1 st conveying mechanism 2a.

In the drawing device 1, the number of the substrate holding portions may be 3 or more. In this case, it is preferable that the number of 1 or more drawing heads 41 (hereinafter, referred to as "drawing head group") used simultaneously when drawing on the same substrate 9 is smaller than the number of substrate holding portions (and 1 or more), the number of 1 or more alignment cameras 31 (hereinafter, referred to as "camera group") used simultaneously when imaging on the same substrate 9 is also smaller than the number of substrate holding portions (and 1 or more), and the number of 1 st distance measurement sensors 5 (that is, 1 or more sensor elements 51 used simultaneously when measuring on the same substrate 9) is also smaller than the number of substrate holding portions (and 1 or more). The process performed by each substrate holding portion is the same as the process performed by the 1 st substrate holding portion and the 2 nd substrate holding portion described above.

According to the above configuration, during the period in which one substrate 9 is drawn by the drawing head groups having the number smaller than the number of substrate holding portions, the camera groups having the number smaller than the number of substrate holding portions, and the 1 st ranging sensors 5 having the number smaller than the number of substrate holding portions, the alignment information of the other substrates 9 and the information from the 1 st ranging sensors 5 can be acquired, and the throughput can be improved. In general, since it takes time to perform a drawing operation of a pattern, the number of drawing head groups is preferably 1 smaller than the number of substrate holding portions.

The substrate 9 is not necessarily limited to a printed circuit board. The drawing device 1 may be used for drawing a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for a solar cell panel, or the like.

The configurations in the above-described embodiment and the modifications may be appropriately combined as long as they are not contradictory to each other.

The present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, but the above description is illustrative and not restrictive. Therefore, various modifications and forms can be realized without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. A drawing device that draws a pattern on a substrate by irradiating the substrate with light, the drawing device comprising:

a drawing head that emits the modulated light;

a 1 st substrate holding part for holding a 1 st substrate;

a 2 nd substrate holding part for holding the 2 nd substrate;

a moving mechanism that moves the drawing head relative to the 1 st substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit using light emitted from the drawing head, and moves the drawing head relative to the 2 nd substrate holding unit while drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit using light emitted from the drawing head;

a 1 st distance measuring sensor which, while drawing a pattern on a 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, acquires a distance to a measurement position on the 1 st substrate by facing the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit, and which, while drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit, acquires a distance to a measurement position on the 2 nd substrate by facing the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit; and

a focus control unit that performs control to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of a surface of a substrate on which a pattern is to be drawn in a process of drawing the pattern,

the drawing head includes:

a 2 nd distance measuring sensor for acquiring a distance to a measurement position on the substrate on which the pattern is being drawn; and

a focus changing unit that changes a focus position of the light emitted from the drawing head,

the focus control unit controls the focus changing unit using information acquired from the substrate by the 1 st ranging sensor before drawing the pattern and information acquired from the 2 nd ranging sensor during drawing the pattern on the substrate.

2. The rendering apparatus according to claim 1,

the 1 st distance measuring sensor has a measurement accuracy lower than that of the 2 nd distance measuring sensor.

3. The rendering apparatus according to claim 1,

before the drawing head starts drawing a pattern on the substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit or the 2 nd substrate holding unit, the focus control unit causes the focus position of the light emitted from the drawing head to approach a position in the height direction of the surface of the substrate at the time of starting drawing, using the information acquired by the 1 st distance measuring sensor.

4. The rendering apparatus according to claim 3,

the 1 st ranging sensor positions measurement positions at a plurality of positions near a drawing start position on the substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit or the 2 nd substrate holding unit and a plurality of distances to the plurality of positions, and the focus control unit uses a distance having a highest frequency among the plurality of distances as a distance between the 1 st ranging sensor and the substrate.

5. The rendering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the 1 st distance measuring sensor includes a sensor element having an absolute position fixed above the 1 st substrate holding portion, and a sensor element having an absolute position fixed above the 2 nd substrate holding portion.

6. The rendering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

further provided with:

an alignment camera which faces the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit and images an alignment mark on the 1 st substrate while drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit, and which faces the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit and images an alignment mark on the 2 nd substrate while drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit;

a camera position switching unit that switches a relative position of the alignment camera with respect to the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit between a position facing the 1 st substrate held by the 1 st substrate holding unit and a position facing the 2 nd substrate held by the 2 nd substrate holding unit,

the camera position switching unit switches the relative position of the 1 st distance measuring sensor with respect to the 1 st substrate holding unit and the 2 nd substrate holding unit between a position facing the 1 st substrate and a position facing the 2 nd substrate together with the alignment camera.

7. The rendering apparatus according to claim 1,

the 1 st ranging sensor is in a diffuse reflection mode,

the focus control unit includes a correction unit for correcting the distance from the 1 st ranging sensor to the measurement position on the substrate, the distance being acquired by the 1 st ranging sensor,

the correcting section corrects the distance in accordance with a material forming the surface of the substrate and its vicinity.

8. A drawing method for drawing a pattern on a substrate by irradiating the substrate with light, the drawing method comprising:

a) A step of holding the 1 st substrate by the 1 st substrate holding unit;

b) A step of acquiring a distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor and a measurement position on the 1 st substrate by using the 1 st distance measuring sensor facing the 1 st substrate;

c) Drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate by emitting the modulated light from a drawing head toward the 1 st substrate and relatively moving the drawing head with respect to the 1 st substrate holding section;

d) A step of holding the 2 nd substrate by the 2 nd substrate holding part during the step c);

e) A step of acquiring a distance between the 1 st distance measuring sensor and a measurement position on the 2 nd substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor facing the 2 nd substrate while the step c) is being performed;

f) A step of drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate by emitting the modulated light from the drawing head toward the 2 nd substrate and relatively moving the drawing head with respect to the 2 nd substrate holding portion after the steps c) and e); and

g) Repeating the steps a) to f),

while the step f) is being performed, the steps a) and b) are performed with respect to the next 1 st substrate, and after the step f) and the step b) performed with respect to the next 1 st substrate, the step c) is performed with respect to the next 1 st substrate,

the drawing head includes a 2 nd ranging sensor that acquires a distance to a measurement position on a substrate at which drawing of a pattern is being performed,

in the step c), focus control is performed to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of the surface of the 1 st substrate, using information obtained from the 1 st substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor in the step b) and information obtained from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor in a process of drawing a pattern on the 1 st substrate,

in the f) step, focus control is performed to align a focus position of light emitted from the drawing head with a position in a height direction of a surface of the 2 nd substrate, using information acquired from the 2 nd substrate by the 1 st distance measuring sensor in the e) step and information acquired from the 2 nd distance measuring sensor in a process of drawing a pattern on the 2 nd substrate.

Images