JP2002333843A - Substrate bonding method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an apparatus for bonding two substrates with high accuracy like a display panel. An upper platen height and a tilting position are adjusted to a constant height with respect to a distance between the platens at the time of bonding by using platen distance detecting sensors 8 and 10 and platen tilt actuators 9 and 11. At this position, the lower platen moving unit 1 is operated, and the cameras 2 and 7 position the upper substrate 4 and the lower substrate 5 in the horizontal direction. Can be performed. Therefore, the marks on the upper and lower substrates can be recognized with high accuracy, and since the gap is small, the displacement due to a mechanical error due to the lowering operation of the upper platen is small, and the bonding can be performed with high accuracy. it can.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bonding apparatus for bonding two substrates, such as a display panel, with high accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows the structure of a conventional laminating apparatus, in which a lower platen for sucking a lower substrate, an upper platen for sucking an upper substrate, and a lower platen for moving the lower platen horizontally. And a camera for detecting the positions of the upper substrate and the lower substrate.

[0003] With the above configuration, the upper surface plate is first lowered to a position where there is a gap between the upper surface plate and the lower surface plate. At that position, the camera recognizes the reference marks on the upper substrate and the lower substrate, and operates the lower platen moving unit so that the reference marks match. The upper platen is lowered again while the reference mark is within a certain range. Again, with the upper and lower substrates in contact,
The reference mark is recognized by the camera, and the lower platen moving part is operated to perform high-precision positioning.

However, if the mark on the upper substrate and the mark on the lower substrate are recognized in a state where there is a gap, the mark position cannot be accurately recognized due to the problem of the depth of focus. Also,
If the gap is large, a displacement occurs due to a mechanical error in the lowering operation of the upper stool. Further, even if the gap is to be minimized, the parallelism between the upper and lower substrates cannot be maintained, and the camera cannot accurately recognize the gap. Further, at the stage of contact, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform an accurate matching operation due to a frictional force between the substrates.

[0005]

In a display panel, it is required to bond substrates with high accuracy in order to improve panel quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to minimize the gap between substrates and perform bonding with high accuracy.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a lower platen for sucking a lower substrate, an upper platen for sucking an upper substrate, and a lower platen for moving the lower platen horizontally. Unit, a camera that detects the position of the upper board and the lower board, an upper board tilt actuator that moves the upper and lower boards up and down, and a platen distance detection sensor that detects the distance between the upper board and the lower board. Consisting of, the platen distance detection sensor and the platen tilt actuator, while holding the platen at the time of bonding while moving the upper platen,
The lower platen moving unit is operated based on the information recognized by the camera, and the upper substrate and the lower substrate are positioned in the horizontal direction. As a result, since the positioning operation can be performed with the gap between the substrates being minimized, the focus of mark recognition on the upper and lower substrates can be set within the range of the depth of focus, and recognition can be performed with high accuracy. Also, because the gap is small,
The deviation due to mechanical errors is small due to the lowering operation of the upper surface plate,
The purpose is to perform bonding with high accuracy.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention relates to a lower platen for sucking a lower substrate, an upper platen for sucking an upper substrate, a lower platen moving section for moving the lower platen in a horizontal direction, and a position of the upper substrate and the lower substrate. A camera that detects the distance between the upper and lower stool, and a sensor that detects the distance between the upper and lower stool. With the tilt actuator, adjust the height of the upper platen and the tilt position to a certain height with respect to the distance between the platens at the time of bonding, operate the lower platen moving part at that position,
The camera positions the upper substrate and the lower substrate in the horizontal direction. Accordingly, since the positioning operation is performed with the gap between the substrates being minimized, the focus of mark recognition of the upper and lower substrates can be set within the range of the depth of focus, and recognition can be performed with high accuracy. In addition, since the gap is small, the displacement due to a mechanical error in the lowering operation of the upper platen is small, and bonding can be performed with high accuracy.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows the structure of a bonding apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes a lower platen for sucking a lower substrate 5, 3 an upper platen for sucking an upper substrate 4, 1 a lower platen moving unit for moving the lower platen 6 in a horizontal direction, and 2,7. Is a camera that detects two fiducial marks at the upper substrate and lower substrate positions,
Reference numerals 9 and 11 denote platen-tilt actuators that move up and down and tilt the upper platen. The upper platen height and the tilt position are adjusted to a certain height with respect to the platen distance at the time of bonding by the platen distance detecting sensors 8 and 10 and the platen tilt actuators 9 and 11. At this position, the lower platen moving section 1 is operated, and the cameras 2 and 7 position the upper substrate 4 and the lower substrate 5 in the horizontal direction. Thus, the positioning operation is performed with the gap between the substrates being minimized.

In the above description, two sensors for detecting the distance between the base plates and two base plate tilt actuators are used. However, most of the substrates use three or four sensors and actuators, respectively. Adjust the tilt of the plane.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the positioning operation is performed with the gap between the substrates being minimized, the focus of the mark recognition on the upper and lower substrates can be set within the range of the depth of focus. Recognition can be performed with high accuracy. Further, since the gap is small, the displacement due to a mechanical error in the lowering operation of the upper platen is small, and the bonding can be performed with high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural view of a conventional bonding apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lower surface plate moving part 2 Camera 1 3 Upper surface plate 4 Upper substrate 5 Lower substrate 6 Lower surface plate 7 Camera 2 8 Distance detection sensor between surface plates 1 9 Actuator between surface plates 1 10 Distance detection sensor between surface plates 2 11 Surface plate Clearance actuator 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] In a substrate bonding apparatus for bonding two substrates, a lower platen for sucking a lower substrate, an upper platen for sucking an upper substrate, and a lower platen moving unit for horizontally moving the lower platen. , Consisting of a camera that detects the position of the upper board and the lower board, an upper board tilt actuator that moves up and down and up and down the upper board, and a platen distance detection sensor that detects the distance between the upper board and the lower board. A substrate bonding apparatus, comprising: 2. A bonding method using the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface plate at the time of bonding is performed while the upper surface plate is being moved by the base plate distance detecting sensor and the surface plate swing actuator. A substrate bonding method, characterized in that the lower platen moving section is operated based on the information recognized by the camera while maintaining the distance between the upper and lower substrates, thereby positioning the upper substrate and the lower substrate in the horizontal direction.