JP2001174721A - Plotter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a plotter which is short in pattern forming time and high in cell positioning precision and can accurately plot oblique line graphics. SOLUTION: The plotter is provided with a light source 5 which emits a light beam, a scanner 2 which scans the light beam, and a condenser lens 3 provided between a substrate 4 irradiated with the light beam and the scanner and irradiates the substrate 4 with the light beam by scanning of the scanner to plot a pattern of a prescribed character, graphics, a symbol, or the like, and a DMD(digital micro mirror device) 1 which is provided between the light source and the scanner and consists of plural independently inclined micro mirrors, a picture switching means which switches pictures reflected from the DMD, and a picture moving means which moves pictures from the DMD are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser drawing apparatus for marking a date, a serial number, a bar code, a two-dimensional code, etc. on a metal product, a silicon wafer or a resin product by a laser beam, and a photoresist coated thereon. The present invention relates to an exposure / drawing apparatus which does not require much accuracy, such as circuit formation on a printed circuit board and barcode / two-dimensional code formation on a photoresist-coated substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following method has been proposed as a drawing apparatus. A first conventional example is a laser drawing apparatus shown in FIG. 21 (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-8643). This device uses a laser beam LB emitted from a light source 5 that emits a laser beam.
Is incident on the scanner 2 including the X-axis scanner motor 212 and the mirror 211 and the Y-axis scanner motor 222 and the mirror 221, and a predetermined character, figure, or symbol pattern is formed on the substrate 4 through the condenser lens 3. It is to draw. Such a laser drawing apparatus transmits a command from the system controller 6 to the laser controller 61.
To the motor driver 62, and the laser controller sends the laser power PW to the light source 5 and turns on the laser to the optical switch
The motor driver 62 sends the currents Ix and Iy to the scanner motors 212 and 222, respectively. Characters, figures or symbols
For example, as shown in the enlarged view, 2
Laser power P beforehand to draw a dimensional code figure
W, ON / OFF command of laser to optical switch, current I
A program for controlling x and Iy is created, executed, and drawn. At the time of writing, the laser beam LB is scanned for each cell of the two-dimensional code. Usually, one cell of the two-dimensional code has a size corresponding to the laser beam diameter and is formed by one irradiation of the laser beam. A second conventional example is an exposure apparatus shown in FIG. 22 (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-112579). The exposure apparatus includes a light source 7 that emits ultraviolet light, a digital micromirror device 1 (hereinafter, referred to as a DMD), a light absorber 8 that absorbs light reflected on the DMD, an optical system 9, and a photoresist fixed to a support 11. It comprises an XY table 10 for moving the substrate 4 for application. In the exposure, pattern data of a figure or the like formed by CAD is input to the DMD 1 as an electric signal, and a plurality of micromirrors of the DMD 1 tilt according to the input pattern data. When light from the light source 7 is incident on the plurality of micromirrors, an image similar to a figure formed by the tilted micromirrors is exposed on the photoresist-coated substrate 4 through the optical system 9. The XY stage is operated to move the photoresist-coated substrate 4 to the next position, and the same operation is repeated to expose the resist one after another, so-called sequential exposure.

[0003]

However, in the first example, when drawing a two-dimensional code as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 21, the laser beam LB is scanned for each cell of the two-dimensional code. It is necessary to repeat the operations of starting and stopping the scanner 2 and irradiating and stopping the laser beam LB by the number of cells. For example, for a two-dimensional code of 20 × 20 cells, about 400 operations must be repeated. Usually, the time required for starting and stopping the scanner motor per cell is about 5 ms, and the time required for laser beam irradiation is about 0.5 ms for a YAG laser. Therefore, the time for forming a two-dimensional code of 20 × 20 cells is
Most of the time was spent in operating the scanner, thereby increasing the code formation time. Also, the start and stop time of the scanner is allocated for 2 ms,
When a laser beam is irradiated, the positioning accuracy of the cell deteriorates, and in the worst case, the code cannot be read. On the other hand, in the second example, since the pattern resolution depends on the pixel resolution of the DMD, when the printed board is exposed, the boundary between the exposed part and the non-exposed part becomes linear in the same direction as the arrangement of the micro mirrors of the DMD. However, the oblique pattern is shown in FIG.
As described above, there is a problem that the boundary between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion becomes uneven. Further, the micro mirror of the DMD has a gap of about 1 μm between adjacent micro mirrors, and this gap does not contribute to exposure. Therefore, the unexposed gap becomes wider in proportion to the enlargement ratio of the enlarged projection, and in the worst case, a lattice pattern is formed inside the exposed and formed pattern. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a drawing apparatus which has a short pattern formation time, has a good positioning accuracy for a two-dimensional code cell, and can draw a hatched figure accurately.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a light source for emitting a light beam, a scanner for scanning the light beam, and a substrate irradiated with the light beam. (4) and a condensing lens (3) provided between the scanner (2), and irradiates the light beam on the substrate (4) by scanning of the scanner to emit predetermined characters, figures or In a drawing apparatus for drawing a pattern such as a symbol,
A DMD (digital micromirror device) (1) comprising a plurality of independently tilting micromirrors provided between the light source (5) and the scanner (2), and an image reflected from the DMD (1) is switched. Image switching means and the DMD
An image moving means for moving the image of (1) is provided. The image switching means includes a DMD driver (63) for driving the DMD (1) and a DMD controller (6c) for controlling the DMD driver, and the image moving means includes the scanner (2) and the scanner (6). 2) and a scanner controller (6b) for controlling the scanner driver. Further, between the light source (5) and the DMD (1), or the DMD (1)
An adjustment lens (12) for adjusting the size of the image on an optical axis between the laser scanner (2) and the adjustment lens (1);
Adjustment lens moving means (32) for moving 2) parallel to the optical axis may be provided, and the adjustment lens (12) may be any one of an expansion lens, a reduction lens, and a collimator lens. Further, the substrate (4) may be a metal, an organic substance, a glass of metal thin film deposited, or a substrate coated with a photoresist. Further, the light source (5) is He-Cd laser, Ar laser, or an excimer laser, or the nonlinear optical crystal and YAG laser, semiconductor laser, YVO ₄ laser, the wavelength of the harmonic components by combining YLF laser or a fiber laser A laser emitting a beam may be used. Further, the light source (5) may be a mercury lamp emitting ultraviolet rays.

A light source (5) for emitting a light beam, a moving table (23) for supporting and fixing a substrate (4) to be irradiated with the light beam and moving it to an arbitrary position, and a light source (5) A DMD (digital micromirror device) (1) comprising a plurality of independently tilting micromirrors provided between the DMD and a substrate (4) irradiated with the light beam; A condenser lens (3), which reflects the light beam on the DMD (1), irradiates the substrate (4) with an image of the minute mirror tilt, and forms a pattern such as a character, a figure or a symbol. In the drawing apparatus for drawing, an image switching means for switching an image reflected from the DMD (1) and an image moving means for moving an image of the DMD (1) are provided. The moving table comprises a four-axis XYZθ table, and the image moving means comprises a table driver for driving the XYZθ table.
And a table controller (6d) for controlling the table driver, wherein the image switching means is the DMD (1)
And a DMD controller (6c) for controlling the DMD driver.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a two-dimensional code marking exposure apparatus showing a drawing apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a DMD (digital micromirror device) having a plurality of micromirrors, 2 is a scanner composed of an X-axis scanner mirror 211 and a scanner motor 212, and a Y-axis scanner mirror 221 and a scanner motor 222, and 3 is Fθ. The condenser lens 4 is a substrate such as a metal, organic or metal thin film-deposited glass substrate, or a printed substrate coated with a photoresist. 5 is YAG laser, carbon dioxide laser,
It is a light source such as a He-Cd laser or an Ar laser.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a system controller.
a, scanner controller 6b, DMD controller 6
c, and sends command signals to the scanner driver 62, the laser driver 61, and the DMD driver 63. Reference numeral 8 denotes an optical absorber that absorbs a laser beam that does not contribute to exposure of the micromirror, 12 denotes a collimator lens, 13 denotes a reflection mirror installed for convenience, and 14 denotes a host computer that sends data contents of a two-dimensional code.

Next, the operation will be described. In the two-dimensional code formed by exposure, first, code data including date, product number and the like and code formation position data are sent from the host computer 14 to the system controller 6, and a code figure is formed by a two-dimensional code encoder inside the system controller. You. The image of the formed code figure is
The DMD driver 63 sends the monochrome VGA signal to the DMD driver 63 as a monochrome VGA signal.
The tilt of each micro mirror of D1 is controlled. Next, the system controller 6 sends a position command signal to the scanner driver 62 via the D / A converter, and the scanner driver 62 sends the scanner motors 212 and 2 to a predetermined rotation angle.
The drive currents Ix and Iy are supplied so that the motor 22 rotates.
After each of the scanner motors 212 and 222 stops at a predetermined rotation angle, the system controller 6 sends a laser emission command to the laser controller 61, and a laser power current or voltage PW is sent from the laser controller 61 in advance, and the laser controller 61 enters an oscillating state. The light source 5 emits a laser beam according to the optical switch operation command AOM. The emitted laser beam passes through the collimator lens 12 and becomes substantially parallel light, which is applied to the DMD 1.
The laser beam applied to the non-tilted micromirror is reflected and the laser energy is absorbed by the optical absorber 8.

The laser beam applied to the tilted micro mirror of the DMD 1 is reflected and further reflected by the reflection mirror 13.
After being reflected above, it enters the scanner 2. At this time, the cross section of the laser beam entering the scanner is already a two-dimensional code figure, is reflected by the scanner mirrors 211 and 221 rotated at a predetermined angle inside the scanner, and the photoresist is applied through the Fθ condenser lens. The light is applied to the printed circuit board 4. With this operation, a two-dimensional code figure formed by the system controller 6 is exposed and drawn on the printed circuit board. Further, if laser emission is stopped by an AOM switch and the same operation is performed, a similar or different two-dimensional code can be formed at another position on the printed circuit board. Exposure is performed on one DMD screen, an image is moved by one screen by a scanner, and by repeating this, a large figure or the like can be drawn.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a two-dimensional code marking exposure apparatus showing a drawing apparatus. 1 have the same functions as those in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 23 denotes a moving table for holding and fixing the substrate 4 and moving it to an arbitrary position, and comprises an X-axis table 231, a Y-axis table 232, a θ table 233, and a substrate chuck (not shown). Reference numeral 6 denotes a system controller, which includes a table controller 6d, a laser controller 6a, a DMD controller 6c, and others, and sends a command signal to a table driver 64, a laser driver 61, and a DMD driver 63.
The table driver 64 drives the XYθ table.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the graphic data of the DXF file is sent from the host computer 14 to the system controller 6, and the graphic data of the DXF file is converted into laser drawing data by the file converter inside the system controller 6. The converted laser drawing data is converted to a monochrome VGA signal by DMD.
The DMD is sent to the driver 63, and the DMD driver 63 converts the DMD 1 into a figure corresponding to a monochrome VGA signal.
Tilt and control each micromirror. Next, the system controller sends a position command signal to the tail driver 64 of XYθ via the D / A converter,
1, currents Ix, Iy, and Iθ are supplied so that the Y table 232 and the θ table 233 are driven to predetermined positions. After each of the tables 231, 232, and 233 stops at a predetermined position, the system controller 6 sends a laser emission command to the laser controller 6a, and the laser power current or voltage PW is transmitted from the laser controller 6a in advance.
Is sent to enable oscillation.

The light source 5 emits a laser beam in response to an optical switch operation command AOM. The emitted laser beam passes through the collimator lens 12 and is applied to the DMD 1 as substantially parallel light. The laser beam applied to the non-tilt micromirror of the DMD 1 has a laser energy not shown by an optical absorber (not shown). Absorbed. Further, the laser beam applied to the tilted micro mirror of the DMD 1 is reflected, further reflected on the reflection mirror 13, and then enters the condenser lens 3 of Fθ. The cross section of the laser beam entering the condenser lens 3 is already a predetermined figure, and is irradiated through the condenser lens 3 onto the printed circuit board 4 coated with the photoresist. By this operation, a figure formed by the system controller 6 is exposed and drawn on the substrate 4. Further, by stopping the laser emission by the AOM switch and performing the same operation, a similar or different figure can be formed at another position on the printed circuit board. When this is exposed on the entire substrate 4, one drawing figure can be drawn.

[0012]

Embodiment 1 (Embodiment 1) In this embodiment, the results of using the drawing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. On the substrate 4,
A chrome-deposited glass coated with a positive type photoresist of about 0.8 μm is used.
m, an oscillation output of 100 mW, and a 20 × 20 cell two-dimensional data code were produced using a He-Cd laser emitting a single-mode laser beam. The diameter of the laser beam was 8 mm at a position passing through the collimator lens 12. On the DMD 1, 10 cells each in vertical and horizontal directions, a total of 100 micromirrors, form one cell of a two-dimensional code.
× 200, 20 by a total of 40,000 micromirrors
A × 20 cell, a 3.4 mm square two-dimensional code was used to form a DMD1 graphic image. The laser beam of the two-dimensional code imaged by the DMD 1 passes through the scanner 2 and is condensed by the condensing lens 3 of Fθ, and the two-dimensional code having a size of （(the chromium The substrate 4 is exposed to light. Laser beam irradiation time (exposure time)
Can produce a sufficiently recognizable two-dimensional code after development in about 0.3 seconds or more, and overexposed in 1 second or more.

FIG. 3 is a time chart of the exposure process of the present invention. The system controller 6 has a communication time 24 for receiving a code content command from the host computer 14, a two-dimensional code encoding time 25,
A time 26 for sending an encoded data image to D1, a time 27 for sending a position command to a scanner driver, a time 28 for sending a laser emission command to a laser optical switch (AOM), an OFF command to the AOM, a home return command for the scanner motor, The time 29 for sending the DMD image OFF command is required. In the example embodiment, the communication times are command communication 24 for about 60 ms, 25 for about 200 ms, 26 for 33 ms, 27 for 10 ms, 28 for 5 ms and 29 for 1 ms.
It was 0 ms. Command communication 24 and 25, 25 and 2
6, and between 26 and 27 are each 2 ms, the positioning time of the scanner mirror is 15 ms, and the exposure time is 3 ms.
00m seconds, the interval between command communication 29 and 24 is 20
m seconds.

That is, in the drawing apparatus according to the present invention, 20
It took 644 msec to form a two-dimensional code of × 20 cells. This is significantly shorter than the drawing time of the drawing apparatus disclosed in the first conventional example. FIG. 4 shows the same device as the first embodiment using the device of the first conventional example.
It is a time chart at the time of forming a dimension code. In the exposure process of the disclosed drawing apparatus, the system controller 6 communicates 24 for receiving a code content command from the host computer 14, two-dimensional code encoding time 25, and sends a cell position command to the scanner driver. 30, a time 28 for sending a laser emission command to the AOM, and a time 31 for sending a laser emission stop command to the AOM and a position command of the second, third,... In a conventional drawing apparatus, 24 is about 60 msec, 25 is about 200 msec, 3
0 is 10 ms, 24 and 25 and 25 and 30 are 2 ms each, positioning time is 15 ms × number of cells, exposure time is 3 ms × total number of cells. It takes 20 × 20 cells to form a two-dimensional code. In this case, it was necessary to expose 400 cells by using a two-dimensional code, and it took 367 ms for drawing. Also, for about 3000 ms of this time, the scanner 2
Was operating. Further, if the positioning time of the scanner 2 is to be reduced by the conventional method, the scanner motor does not follow the rapid acceleration / deceleration of rotation, and the cell is moved to a position different from the worst normal position with the occurrence of damped vibration at the stop position. Was sometimes drawn. According to the present invention, the drawing time can be reduced to about 1/5 as compared with the related art, and the effect that the scanner can be operated only once during the drawing of the two-dimensional code, so that the two-dimensional code having a precise cell position can be formed. is there.

The present invention is most suitable for drawing a two-dimensional code on a product such as a liquid crystal panel which is mass-produced and has a very short marking tact time on a production line.
Further, it is more effective for drawing a bar code or the like with an extremely long laser beam scanning distance. In this embodiment, the time required to form a barcode by connecting three images is about 2.3 seconds, but the conventional example requires 15 seconds or more. In other words, the larger the figure to be drawn,
The effect of the present invention increases. In this embodiment, the light source 5
While using He-Cd laser, Ar laser or excimer laser, or the nonlinear optical crystal and a YAG laser, emits a semiconductor laser, YVO ₄ laser, a laser beam of a wavelength of the harmonic components by combining YLF laser or a fiber laser A light source may be used. That is, as long as the light source can expose the photoresist, the light source is not particularly limited, and a mercury lamp that emits ultraviolet light may be used. In addition, YAG laser, Y
VO ₄ laser, YLF laser and fiber laser
It contains a rare earth element. Further, in the present embodiment, a two-dimensional code is a drawing target, but a character, a symbol, or a figure can also be drawn.

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, a collimator movable in the optical axis direction on an optical axis between a laser light source and a DMD as shown in FIG. It is an example of a drawing device in which a lens is arranged. In the drawing apparatus in which the collimator lens of FIG. 1 does not operate, the shapes of the laser beams immediately below the condenser lens 3 of Fθ and in the peripheral portion are different as shown in FIG. The shape of the laser beam is close to a perfect circle immediately below the Fθ condenser lens, but becomes elliptical in the periphery. FIG. 7 shows the roundness of the laser beam shape at the drawing position on the substrate. Note that a drawing position of 0 cm on the substrate indicates on the optical axis. As can be seen from FIG. 7, when the drawing position is away from the optical axis, the roundness of the laser beam shape deteriorates by up to about 10%. Therefore, the drawn image in the drawing apparatus of FIG. 1 may be distorted. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 32 denotes an X-axis slider, which enables the collimator lens 12 to move in a direction parallel to the optical axis. Therefore, the diameter of the laser beam passing through the collimator lens 12 can be changed. Also,
By attaching the slider 32 to the motor and the ball bearing on the X-axis slider, the collimator lens can be moved to an arbitrary position. Further, the rotation angle of the scanner mirror is detected by a rotation angle detector provided in the scanner motor, and the spot diameter of the laser beam is further improved by moving the X-axis slider 32 to a predetermined position according to the rotation angle of the scanner mirror. Is done. FIG. 8 shows the roundness of the laser beam shape at the drawing position on the substrate. The roundness of the laser beam is about 40 to 50% as compared with the case of the first embodiment.
Improved.

In this embodiment, the laser beam is foreseen by the rotation angle detector of the scan motor, that is, indirectly detected. However, as shown in FIG. Install the transmission mirror 33 and 9
If the laser beam reflected by the 0% transmission mirror 33 is detected by a two-dimensional image sensor 35 such as a CCD through the condenser lens 3, the beam position can be directly detected. FIG.
In the case of using the drawing apparatus, the time chart of the drawing process is as shown in FIG.
ON / OFF command 3 to AOM before ON command 28 to
6 is emitted, and the laser is emitted for 1 to 3 msec. At this time, since the scanner mirror is already positioned at the position to be exposed, a specific position on the two-dimensional image sensor 35 is irradiated with the laser beam. After the laser beam irradiation position is specified on the two-dimensional image sensor 35, if the collimator lens 12 shown in FIG. 5 is moved to a predetermined position by the slider 32, it corresponds to the ellipticity of the second embodiment shown in FIG. A laser beam shape can be obtained.

In addition to the method of indirectly detecting the position of the laser beam from the rotation angle of the scanner motor as described above,
It is possible to improve the laser beam shape by moving the collimator lens by direct detection using a two-dimensional image sensor. If the two-dimensional image sensor detects the position of the figure to be drawn and grasps the distortion rate of the figure in advance, the D
It is also possible to draw by correcting the distortion of the figure of the MD image. In this embodiment, a collimator lens is used, but it is apparent that an expansion lens and a reduction lens may be used. Further, in this embodiment, the X slider for moving the collimator lens is arranged between the laser light source and the DMD.
You may arrange with a slider.

(Embodiment 3) This embodiment shows a solution to the phenomenon that the oblique boundary line between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion does not become a straight line as shown in FIG. For example, when a figure having a shape as shown in FIG. 11 is exposed, in the drawing apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, a pattern formed by exposure drawing is as shown in FIG. This is due to the fact that the micromirrors of the DMD 1 are square, so that a figure with a resolution smaller than the length of one side of the square cannot be drawn in principle. Therefore, the oblique straight line between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion has an uneven shape reflecting the planar shape of the micro mirror. FIG.
FIG. 13 schematically shows the tilting state of the DMD micromirror when drawing such a figure, and it is clear from FIG. 13 that it is difficult to make the oblique lines straight. Thus, in this embodiment, when the optical switch AOM of the laser is turned on, the graphic image to be exposed is moved by a scanner mirror by a distance corresponding to one or less rows of micro mirrors of the DMD 1 or a plurality of rows or less. is there. This is shown in FIG. FIG. 14 schematically shows an exposure state of a substrate surface on which a pattern is drawn, in which a projected figure formed by a DMD is repeatedly moved in the direction of an arrow by one or less rows of micro mirrors. As a result, in the drawn figure, the unevenness of the oblique boundary between the exposed part and the non-exposed part becomes smooth as shown in FIG. This is because the boundary between the exposed portion and the unexposed portion becomes unclear by repeatedly moving the micromirror in the direction of the arrow for one row or less.

Next, a specific operation method of the scanner mirror will be described. In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16A, a scanner motor current is supplied from the scanner driver 62 to the scanner motors 212 and 222 according to a command from the system controller 6, and when the scanner mirror reaches a predetermined position, the scanner motor 212 and 222 are servo-locked by the scanner motor current IR. As a result, the rotation angles of the scanner mirrors 211 and 221 stop at the command point. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (1), a modulation current of 100 Hz and an amplitude IF is applied to the scanner motor current to be servo-locked. As a result, the rotation angle of the scanner mirror becomes 10
It emits 0 Hz vibration. Therefore, the drawn figure repeatedly moves on the substrate surface as shown in FIG. That is, the values of A and B at the oblique boundary between the exposed part and the non-exposed part shown in FIG. In this example, the dependence of the values of A and B at the oblique boundary between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion on the substrate on the modulation amplitude distance was further examined. FIG. 18 shows the result. When the scanner mirror was not vibrated, the values of A and B were slightly less than 16 μm, and the values of A and B gradually decreased as the modulation amplitude distance increased. At a modulation amplitude distance of 4 μm, the values of A and B became 10 μm or less, and the linearity of the oblique boundary between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion was improved.
As described above, in the present invention, a boundary line with good linearity can be obtained by vibrating the scanner mirror. Further, when the drawing apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 performs the magnified exposure, the drawing figure becomes unexposed at the portion corresponding to the boundary of the micro mirror as shown in FIG. 19, and a lattice pattern remains in the exposed figure. There was a problem. If exposure is performed while oscillating the figure of the present embodiment with respect to such enlarged exposure, there is also an effect that the unexposed portion is eliminated and a desired figure can be drawn.

Further, by moving the DMD image by one pixel, the same effect as in the present embodiment can be obtained. FIG. 20 schematically shows the drawing process. In the figure, 10
1, 102, 103 and 104 are micro mirrors on the DMD, and 401 is a substrate 4 when the micro mirror 102 is tilted.
Reference numeral 402 denotes an exposure area on the substrate 4 when the micromirror 103 is tilted. When the micro mirrors 102 and 103 are alternately moved at a high speed as shown in the figure, 401 and 402 are inevitably exposed during the process of tilting the micro mirror. That is, when the graphic in FIG. 19 is alternately moved by one image row, the unexposed portion corresponding to the gap between the micro mirrors can be eliminated. In this embodiment, the figure is moved by oscillating the scanner mirror. However, an XY stage or a piezoelectric element may be attached to the table supporting the substrate to oscillate the figure. The figure may be moved by a laser beam scanning mechanism such as a polygon mirror. It is also effective for the drawing apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, one pixel row is alternately and repeatedly moved. However, in the case where pixels of n or more pixels are taken as one unit depending on the figure, the same effect can be obtained by moving more than n rows (n Is an integer of 2 or more). In this embodiment,
The drawing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 was implemented, but the drawing table shown in FIG.
It is apparent that the same effect can be obtained by moving the image formed by the above micromirrors by one or more pixel rows. Note that the drawing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to exposure using ultraviolet light for exposing a photoresist,
If a micro mirror, a scanner mirror, a reflection mirror, a lens and the like are appropriately selected, a laser light source that emits infrared rays such as a carbon dioxide laser or a YAG laser can be used as the laser light source. This allows for resin, paper, metal materials,
Alternatively, marking on a metal thin-film-deposited glass substrate becomes possible. Further, the drawing apparatus of the present invention can also be used for drawing a barcode.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a digital micromirror device consisting of a plurality of independently tilting micromirrors is placed between the laser light source and the laser scanner, and the laser beam is reflected on the digital micromirror device for drawing, the time required to form a two-dimensional code is reduced. This has the effect of reducing the length and improving the cell positioning accuracy. In addition, there is an effect that the boundary between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion becomes linear with respect to the oblique pattern, and a grid pattern corresponding to the gap between the micro mirrors of the DMD is not formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first drawing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a second drawing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart of an exposure process using the drawing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a time chart of an exposure process using a conventional drawing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a drawing apparatus used in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a laser beam shape by the drawing apparatus used in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a roundness of a laser beam shape at a drawing position on a substrate by the drawing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a roundness of a laser beam shape at a drawing position on a substrate by the drawing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a drawing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which can detect a position of a laser beam.

10 is a time chart of an exposure process using the drawing apparatus shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a figure shape to be formed in a third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of FIG. 11 formed by a conventional technique.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of FIG. 11 formed by tilting a micro mirror on a DMD.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an exposure state of a substrate surface on which a pattern is drawn.

FIG. 15 is a view showing a figure shape formed by the exposure method shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a time chart showing a scanner rotation angle and a scanner motor current (according to the first and third embodiments) of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating distances A and B between oblique boundary figures between an exposed portion to be exposed and drawn and a non-exposed portion.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the dependence of distances A and B of the formed oblique line figures on the modulation amplitude distance on the substrate by the scanner.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a figure drawn by enlarged exposure.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an exposure process according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a schematic view showing a drawing apparatus provided with a conventional scanner.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram showing a drawing apparatus provided with a conventional DMD.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a drawing figure formed by a drawing apparatus having a conventional DMD.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: DMD (digital micromirror device) 101 to 104: micro mirror 2: scanner 211: X-axis scanner mirror 212: X-axis scanner motor 221: Y-axis scanner mirror 222: Y-axis scanner motor 3: condensing lens 4: substrate 401, 402: Exposure area 5, 7: Light source 6: System controller 6a: Laser controller 6b: Scanner controller 6c: DMD controller 6d: Table controller 61: Laser driver 62: Scanner driver 63: DMD driver 64: Table driver 8: Light Absorber 9: Optical system 10: Moving table 11: XY table 12: Collimator lens 13: Reflection mirror 14: Host computer 33: 90% transmission mirror 34: Condensing lens 35: Two-dimensional image sensor

Claims (14)

[Claims] A light source for emitting a light beam; a scanner for scanning the light beam; and a substrate provided with the light beam and provided between the scanner and the scanner. A condensing lens (3), and irradiating the light beam onto the substrate (4) by scanning of the scanner to draw a pattern such as a predetermined character, figure or symbol. DMD (digital micromirror device) (1) comprising a plurality of independently tilting micromirrors provided between the scanner (2) and the scanner (2); and image switching means for switching an image reflected from the DMD (1). , The DMD
(1) A drawing apparatus, comprising: an image moving unit for moving an image. 2. The image switching means comprises a DMD driver (63) for driving the DMD (1) and a DMD controller (6c) for controlling the DMD driver. 2. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a scanner driver (62) for driving the scanner (2) and a scanner controller (6b) for controlling the scanner driver. 3. An adjustment for adjusting the size of the image on an optical axis between the light source (5) and the DMD (1) or between the DMD (1) and the laser scanner (2). A lens (12),
3. An adjusting lens moving means (32) for moving the adjusting lens (12) in parallel with the optical axis.
The drawing apparatus described in the above. 4. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting lens is one of an expansion lens, a reduction lens, and a collimator lens. 5. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said substrate (4) is made of a metal, an organic substance, or a thin metal film deposited glass or a photoresist applied. 6. The light source (5) includes a He—Cd laser, an Ar laser, an excimer laser, a nonlinear optical crystal and a YAG laser, a semiconductor laser, a YVO ₄ laser, and an YL laser.
The drawing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the drawing apparatus is a laser that emits a beam having a wavelength of a harmonic component when combined with an F laser or a fiber laser. 7. The drawing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light source comprises a mercury lamp emitting ultraviolet rays. 8. A light source (5) for emitting a light beam, a moving table (23) for supporting and fixing a substrate (4) to be irradiated with the light beam and moving the substrate to an arbitrary position, and a light source (5). DMD (digital micromirror device) comprising a plurality of independently tilting micromirrors provided between the moving table and the moving table
(1), the substrate (4) to be irradiated with the light beam and the DM
And a condenser lens (3) provided between the substrate (4) and the micromirror. Alternatively, in a drawing apparatus for drawing a pattern such as a symbol, image switching means for switching an image reflected from the DMD (1) and image moving means for moving the image of the DMD (1) are provided. Drawing device. 9. The moving table comprises a four-axis XYZθ table, and the image moving means comprises a table driver (64) for driving the XYZθ table and a table controller (6d) for controlling the table driver. 9. The drawing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image switching means comprises a DMD driver (63) for driving the DMD (1) and a DMD controller (6c) for controlling the DMD driver. 10. An adjusting lens for adjusting the size of the image on an optical axis between the laser light source (5) and the DMD (1).
An adjusting lens moving means (32) for moving the adjusting lens (12) in parallel with the optical axis.
Or the drawing apparatus according to 9. 11. The drawing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the adjustment lens is one of an expansion lens, a reduction lens, and a collimator lens. 12. The drawing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said substrate (4) is made of a metal, an organic substance, or a metal thin film-deposited glass or a photoresist. 13. The light source (5) is a He—Cd laser, Ar
Laser or excimer laser, or nonlinear optical crystal and YAG laser, semiconductor laser, YVO ₄ laser, Y
The drawing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the drawing apparatus is a laser that emits a beam having a wavelength of a harmonic component when combined with an LF laser or a fiber laser. 14. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said light source comprises a mercury lamp emitting ultraviolet light.