JP2676278B2 - Gap control method in glass substrate exposure apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gap control method for setting a gap between a mask and a glass substrate in a glass substrate exposure apparatus for printing a wiring pattern formed on the mask on the glass substrate, and particularly to a large size. The present invention relates to a gap control method capable of preventing unexpected contact with a mask even with a glass substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 2, a glass substrate exposure apparatus supports a mask 1 on which a wiring pattern is formed by a mask base 2, and below the mask 1, a glass substrate 3 is placed on an upper surface of a chuck 4. While holding it, the chuck 4 is raised to align the upper surface of the glass substrate 3 and the lower surface of the mask 1 with a predetermined gap g, and light for exposure is emitted from above the mask 1. Irradiate the mask 1
The wiring pattern formed on the glass substrate 3 is printed on the glass substrate 3. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 5
Reference numerals a, 5b, and 5c denote tilt mechanisms for adjusting the inclination of the chuck 4, and reference numeral 6 denotes a support member that supports the tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c and ascends and descends.

In such a glass substrate exposure apparatus, to set the gap g between the mask 1 and the glass substrate 3 to a predetermined value (this gap is called "proximity gap"), the glass substrate is used. When viewed from above the mask 1 with the alignment optical system 3 of FIG. 3, first, the lower surface of the mask 1 is focused. Now, assume that the glass substrate 3 is set with a gap g of, for example, 40 μm opened from the lower surface of the mask 1. Next, the mask 1 is focused at a position of 40 μm from the lower surface. In this state,
The upper surface of the glass substrate 3 is irradiated with a stripe pattern for parallelization, and the chuck 4 is raised by the three tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c. Then, while adjusting the amount of rise of the three tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c while adjusting the stripe pattern so that the stripe pattern looks correct, the glass substrate 3 is made parallel to the mask 1 and the gap g is reduced. For example 40μ
It was set to m.

[0004]

However, in the conventional gap control method as described above, the final parallel surface of the glass substrate 3 is suddenly set at an appropriate position on the lower surface of the mask 1. Since the entire glass substrate 3 was raised with the position as a target and the gap g was set to a predetermined value, the glass substrate 3 has a large size (for example, 400 mm × 4).
In the case of (00 mm), the peripheral edge of the glass substrate 3 may abruptly collide with the lower surface of the mask 1 while being raised and parallelized. That is, the three tilt mechanisms 5a to
As for the ascending by 5c, the amount of lifting is large at the start point, and if the glass substrate 3 is inclined, the upper end of the inclination of the large-sized glass substrate 3 before the stripe pattern for parallelization becomes clearly visible. The part may collide with the lower surface of the mask 1. Then, the resist or the base material of the glass substrate 3 adheres to the lower surface of the mask 1, and these are piled up to become dusts after being repeated several times.
It is difficult to set a small gap g of μm,
Then, it drops onto the upper surface of another glass substrate 3 that has been conveyed and becomes a foreign substance.

Therefore, the present invention provides a gap control method in a glass substrate exposure apparatus capable of preventing such a problem even when a glass substrate of a large size is inadvertently contacted with a mask. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a gap control method in a glass substrate exposure apparatus according to the present invention supports a mask on which a wiring pattern is formed with a mask base, and below the mask. While holding the glass substrate on the chuck, the chuck is raised to align the upper surface of the glass substrate and the lower surface of the mask with a predetermined gap, and expose light from above the mask. In a glass substrate exposure apparatus for irradiating and baking the wiring pattern formed on the mask on the glass substrate, a surface for approximate alignment is set at a position lower than the predetermined gap to be set from the lower surface of the mask, and first, Raise the glass substrate to this surface for approximate alignment, and then raise the entire glass substrate by the above-mentioned approximate alignment interval. By aligning fine spacing between the mask and the glass substrate in this position is to set a predetermined gap in two stages.

[0007]

According to the gap control method thus constructed, the rough alignment surface is set at a position lower than the predetermined gap to be set between the lower surface of the mask and the upper surface of the glass substrate, and this surface is first set. On the other hand, the glass substrate is raised to roughly align it, and then the glass substrate is further raised to perform fine alignment, thereby setting a predetermined gap in two steps. As a result, the glass substrate is made substantially parallel to the mask in the rough alignment step, and then fine alignment is performed to set a predetermined gap, so that unexpected contact with the mask can be prevented.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a gap control method in a glass substrate exposure apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a glass substrate exposure apparatus to which the gap control method of the present invention is applied.

First, the glass substrate exposure apparatus is constructed as shown in FIG. 2, and in the figure, the chuck 4 holds a large (for example, about 400 mm × 400 mm) glass substrate 3 on its upper surface. Thus, for example, three tilt mechanisms 5 provided on the upper surface of the support member 6 that can be raised and lowered.
The inclination is adjusted by a, 5b and 5c. Then, on the upper surface of the chuck 4, for example, a large glass substrate 3 that constitutes a circuit board of an electronic circuit is held by vacuum suction or the like.

A mask base 2 is provided above the chuck 4. The mask base 2 supports a large-sized (for example, 400 mm × 400 mm or more) mask 1 on its upper surface, and is formed in, for example, a rectangular shape. A cutout window 7 having a shape is formed. Then, on the upper surface of the mask base 2, a large-sized mask 1 having a wiring pattern to be printed on the glass substrate 3 is supported with its outer peripheral edge placed on the edge portion of the cutout window 7.

Next, a gap control method in such a glass substrate exposure apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. Now, the predetermined gap g to be set between the lower surface of the mask 1 and the upper surface of the glass substrate 3 is, for example, 40 μm, and the position of the glass substrate 3 at that time is shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG.
In this state, the actual glass substrate 3 is still below, as shown by the solid line in FIG. Then, when viewed from above the mask 1, the optical system for aligning the glass substrate 3 first focuses on the lower surface of the mask 1. here,
A rough alignment surface 8 is set at a position lower than the predetermined gap g to be set, for example, d = 60 μm lower than the lower surface of the mask 1, as indicated by a chain line. At this time, it is desirable that g + d = 100 μm. Then, the focus of the alignment optical system is adjusted to the rough alignment surface 8 at the position of g + d = 100 μm on the lower surface side of the mask 1.

Next, in this state, the upper surface of the glass substrate 3 is irradiated with a stripe pattern for parallelization, and the chuck 4 is raised by the three tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c as shown by an arrow A, and the rough alignment is performed. The upper surface of the glass substrate 3 is aligned with the working surface 8. At this time, the glass substrate 3 is made substantially parallel by adjusting the stripe patterns so that the stripe patterns look correct while adjusting the rising amounts of the three tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c.

Next, the focus of the alignment optical system is adjusted to a predetermined gap position of g = 40 μm on the lower surface side of the mask 1. That is, the focus is returned by 60 μm. Then, the chucks 4 are further raised as indicated by the arrow B by the operation of the tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c, and the entire glass substrate 3 is raised at a stroke by the approximate alignment interval d = 60 μm. Thereafter, the stripe pattern for parallelization is irradiated on the upper surface of the glass substrate 3 at this position, and the three tilt mechanisms 5a to 5c are finely adjusted so that the stripe pattern looks correct. As a result, the gap between the mask 1 and the glass substrate 3 is finely adjusted, and the predetermined gap g
Set correctly to and parallel alignment is completed. That is, the predetermined gap g can be set by the two-step operation.

[0014]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
A surface 8 for rough alignment is set at a position lower than a predetermined gap g to be set between the lower surface of the mask 1 and the upper surface of the glass substrate 3, and the glass substrate 3 is first attached to the surface 8.
Is raised to make a rough alignment, and then the glass substrate 3 is further raised to make a fine alignment, whereby a predetermined gap g can be set in two steps. This allows
Since the glass substrate 3 is made substantially parallel to the mask 1 in the rough alignment step, and then fine alignment is performed to set a predetermined gap g, even if the glass substrate 3 has a large size, the glass substrate 3 is inadvertently contacted with the mask 1. Can be prevented. Therefore, the resist or the base material of the glass substrate 3 is prevented from adhering to the lower surface of the mask 1 or being accumulated as dust, and the predetermined gap (proximity gap) g can be set correctly. Further, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from dropping on the upper surface of the other glass substrate 3 and improve the product yield.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a gap control method in a glass substrate exposure apparatus according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a glass substrate exposure apparatus to which the gap control method of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Mask, 2 ... Mask base, 3 ... Glass substrate,
4 ... Chuck, 5a-5c ... Tilt mechanism, 6 ... Support member, 7 ... Notch window, 8 ... General matching surface, g ... Predetermined gap.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mask on which a wiring pattern is formed is supported by a mask base, and a glass substrate is placed on and held by a chuck below the mask, and the chuck is raised to raise the upper surface of the glass substrate and the lower surface of the mask. In the glass substrate exposure apparatus, which aligns with a predetermined gap between the mask and the substrate, irradiates light for exposure from above the mask to burn the wiring pattern formed on the mask on the glass substrate, A surface for rough alignment is set to a position lower than the predetermined gap to be set from the lower surface of the glass substrate, and the glass substrate is first raised to roughly align with this surface, and then the glass is aligned by the distance for the rough alignment. By raising the entire substrate and finely adjusting the distance between the mask and the glass substrate at this position, a predetermined gap can be set in two steps. And a gap control method in a glass substrate exposure apparatus.