JP2001035816A - Glass board cutting method and cutting apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve yield and reduce manufacturing costs by making it unnecessary the cleaning of glass boards after a breaking step. SOLUTION: When a large plate 1 formed by combining two glass boards 2 and 2 is cut into a plurality of cells 3 in a cell forming step during a liquid crystal display manufacturing step, the method of cutting glass boards includes the step of cutting the boards 2 and 2 along scribe lines 4 by irradiating mus 5 of the lines 4, which are formed in the surface of each board 2 in advance, with a laser beam.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of cutting a glass substrate when a plurality of cells are cut out from a large plate formed by combining two glass substrates in a cell manufacturing step of a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, and the cell cutting method. The present invention relates to a glass substrate cutting apparatus for performing the following.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a plurality of cells are cut out from a large plate (cell substrate) formed by combining two glass substrates in a cell manufacturing process in a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, a scribe line ( A kerf is formed, the glass substrate is mechanically pressed by a cutting device, and the glass substrate is forcibly pressed along the scribe line by the pressing force to perform cutting (break).

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional glass substrate cutting method, since the breaking is performed by using a mechanical pressing force, glass powder is generated at the time of the breaking and scatters, and the glass after cutting is broken. Reattach to the glass substrate. For this reason, after the break step, it is necessary to perform cleaning again, and the step is complicated.

Further, since the glass substrate is broken by a mechanical pressing force, a transparent electrode film, an alignment film, a liquid crystal switching circuit terminal, etc. formed on the surface of the glass substrate are damaged, yield is greatly reduced, and product cost is reduced. It was also a factor that became higher.

[0005] The present invention has been proposed in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a glass substrate cutting method and a glass substrate cutting apparatus that do not require cleaning after a break step, and that can improve yield and reduce product cost.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to a cell forming process in a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, in which a large plate formed by combining two glass substrates is used. In a glass substrate cutting method for cutting out a single cell, a laser beam is applied to a mu of a scribe line formed in advance on the surface of the glass substrate, and the glass substrate is cut along the scribe line.

The invention according to claim 2 is a glass substrate cutting apparatus for cutting a plurality of cells from a large plate formed by combining two glass substrates in a cell manufacturing step in a liquid crystal display manufacturing process. A moving table on which a large plate is placed, a head unit for irradiating a glass substrate on the moving table with laser light emitted from a laser oscillator via a laser head, and one of the moving table and the head unit Alternatively, by moving both, a laser head is positioned at a mu of a scribe line formed in advance on the surface of the glass substrate, and a control unit that irradiates the mu with laser light is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the second aspect of the invention, the head section includes a scribe head for forming a scribe line together with the laser head. It is characterized by.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the second aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes a scribe line based on a positioning mark on a glass substrate captured by a CCD camera. Is recognized.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a glass substrate cutting method according to the present invention. In FIG. 1A, a large plate (cell substrate) 1
Is constituted by combining two glass substrates 2 and 2 and sandwiching a spacer and a sealing material (not shown) therebetween. In the cell manufacturing process, a plurality of sheets (here, Four (3) cells 3 are cut out, and then liquid crystal is injected into the internal space of each cell 3 to be finally assembled as a liquid crystal display. Note that a transparent electrode film and an alignment film are formed on the glass substrate 2 corresponding to each of the cells 3, and when the glass substrates 2 are combined, they face each other.

In order to cut out the cells 3 from the large plate 1, first, a V-shaped narrow groove-shaped scribe line 4 is cut into the glass substrate 2 with a diamond cutter or a super steel cutter (not shown). In the glass of the scribe line 4, a very small crack (mu) 5 as shown in FIG.
Are formed in the thickness (depth) direction of the glass substrate 2.
Next, the laser head 9 is aimed at the mu 5,
The laser beam from the laser oscillation device 6 is irradiated via the laser head 9. At this time, the mu 5 absorbs the energy of the laser beam due to the ablation effect, the interatomic bond or intermolecular bond is cut off, and the bond breaking action is performed in the depth direction of the glass substrate 2 and in the scribe line 4. It propagates instantaneously in the length direction. The glass substrate 2 is broken as shown in FIG. 1C by performing the laser beam irradiation at one location of the scribe line 4 or at a plurality of locations as needed.

Next, a glass substrate cutting apparatus for cutting cells based on the method of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration example of the glass substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof. In these figures, the glass substrate cutting apparatus 10 includes a base 1
1, a moving table 12 is provided at substantially the center of the base 11, and a row of support bases 13 a and 13 b fixed to both sides of the base 11.

The moving table 12 can be moved in the X direction in the figure by a servo mechanism that converts the rotational movement of the servo motor 14 into a linear movement via a ball screw and a nut.

Guide rails 15a, 15b are protruded from the support bases 13a, 13b.
The moving bodies 16a and 16b slide on the lower end side of the moving body 5b, and can freely move along the guide rails 15a and 15b. A head driving unit 17 is provided between the moving bodies 16a and 16b. The head drive unit 17 has a servo motor 18 and a ball screw 19,
A head portion 20 is disposed on the ball screw 19 via a nut (not shown). The head portion 20 is driven by a servo mechanism including a servo motor 18, a ball screw 19 and a nut in accordance with the rotation of the servo motor 18. It can be moved in any direction.

A servomotor 21 is also provided at one end of the row of support bases 13a, and the moving body 16a is moved by a servo mechanism using the servomotor 21 as a driving source, similarly to the moving table 12. It is movable in the middle X direction. When the moving body 16a moves in the X direction, the head driving unit 17 and another moving body 16b move integrally, and as a result, the head unit 20 is moved by the servomotor 21.
Can be moved in the X direction.

The head section 20 is optically connected to a laser oscillation device (not shown), and has a laser head 22 at the lower end thereof. The light is emitted from the head 22. In addition, the head section 20 includes:
A scribe head 23 is provided on the lower end side while maintaining a fixed positional relationship with the laser head 22. The scribe head 23 has a diamond cutter at its tip for drawing a scribe line 4 on the surface of the glass substrate 2.
It is normally housed in the head unit 20 and protrudes a small distance downward by a predetermined pressing mechanism only at the time of scribing.

A CCD camera 25 is fixed to the base 11 via a machine frame (not shown), and the CCD camera 25 can image a predetermined area from above.

The three servo motors 1
4, 18, 18, the head unit 20 and the laser oscillation device are all connected to the control device 3 via a cable (not shown).
0, the control device 30 receives various sensor signals indicating rotation angle data and the like from each part, executes a predetermined numerical control program, and executes the moving table 12 and the head unit 20.
Control the operation of. Further, the CCD camera 25 is connected to an image processing device 31, which is connected to a control device 30.

The procedure for breaking the glass substrate 2 in the glass substrate cutting apparatus 10 having the above configuration is as follows. First, the large plate 1 is set at a predetermined position on the moving table 12. A reference mark 26 for positioning is formed at one corner of the glass substrate 2 of the large printing plate 1. When the setting of the large printing plate 1 is completed, the CCD camera 25 captures an image of the reference mark 26 in the field of view. ,
The image data is output to the image processing device 31. The image processing device 31 obtains an accurate position of the glass substrate 2 based on the image data, and stores the position data in the control device 3.
Output to 0.

The control unit 30 recognizes the position of the glass substrate 2 with high accuracy based on the position data sent from the image processing unit 31, and controls one or both of the moving table 12 and the head unit 20. By moving, the scribe head 23 is made to wait at the start position of the scribe line 4. Subsequently, the head unit 20 is instructed to project the scribe head 23 downward to press the diamond cutter against the glass substrate 2, and the scribe line is formed on the glass substrate 2 by a predetermined scribing operation using the diamond cutter. I do.

When the formation of the scribe line 4 is completed,
The head unit 20 is instructed to store the scribe head 23, and then the laser head 22 is set at a predetermined position on the scribe line 4 so as to aim at the mu 5, and wait at that position. Then, it instructs the laser oscillation device to emit laser light, and irradiates the laser light to the mu 5 via the laser head 22. This laser beam irradiation is performed on one scribe line 4 at one location or at multiple locations as needed. With such a procedure, the glass substrate 2 can be broken along the scribe lines 4.

The breaking of the glass substrate 2 is performed on each of the scribe lines 4 and the upper and lower glass substrates, whereby a plurality of (here, four) cells 3 are cut out.

As described above, in the embodiment according to the present invention, since the break of the glass substrate 2 is performed by irradiating the laser beam, no glass powder is generated at the time of the break. Therefore, cleaning after the break step can be made unnecessary.

Further, since the break caused by the laser beam irradiation is performed by a bond breaking action for breaking an interatomic bond or an intermolecular bond without using external mechanical force, the transparent electrode formed on the surface of the glass substrate is used. The break can be performed without damaging the film, the alignment film, the liquid crystal switching circuit terminals, and the like. Therefore, the yield can be significantly improved, and in combination with the fact that the above-described cleaning step is not required, it is possible to contribute to a significant reduction in product cost.

Since the head section 20 is provided with the scribe head 23 together with the laser head 22,
The scribing process and the breaking process can be performed continuously and automatically, so that no human intervention is required, and the time from scribing to breaking can be shortened.
This can contribute to a significant reduction in product cost.

Further, the scribing step and the breaking step are performed in one step.
Can be automatically performed continuously by one device, so that it is possible to flexibly cope with an increase in the size of the large plate 1, and therefore,
It can sufficiently cope with the production of a large liquid crystal display for a wall-mounted television in the future.

Further, the scribing step and the breaking step are performed in a clean room, but since these steps can be performed continuously by one unit, the space in the clean room, which requires high equipment cost, can be reduced. This can contribute to space saving and cost reduction.

Further, since the position of the glass substrate 2 is obtained with high accuracy using the CCD camera 25, the break can be performed with high accuracy, and the break quality can be improved.

In the above description, the scribing head 23 is provided on the head unit 20 together with the laser head 22. However, only the laser head 22 is provided on the head unit 20, and the large plate 1 on which scribing has been completed is moved. It may be configured to be set on the table 12.

Although the laser oscillation device is provided outside the head section 20, a small device may be provided inside.

[0033]

Since the present invention has the above-described configuration,
The following effects can be obtained.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the breaking of the glass substrate is performed by irradiating a laser beam, so that no glass powder is generated at the time of the breaking. Cleaning after the breaking step can be made unnecessary.

Further, since the break due to the laser beam irradiation is performed not by external mechanical force but by a bond breaking action for breaking interatomic bonds or intermolecular bonds, a transparent electrode formed on the surface of the glass substrate is used. The break can be performed without damaging the film, the alignment film, the liquid crystal switching circuit terminals, and the like. Therefore, the yield can be significantly improved, and in combination with the fact that the above-described cleaning step is not required, it is possible to contribute to a significant reduction in product cost.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the scribing step and the breaking step can be automatically performed continuously and automatically since the head section is provided with the scribing head together with the laser head. In addition, the time from scribe to break can be shortened, and from this point, it is also possible to contribute to a significant reduction in product cost.

The scribing step and the breaking step are performed in one step.
Since it can be automatically performed continuously by one device, it is possible to flexibly cope with an increase in the size of a large plate, and therefore to sufficiently cope with the production of a large liquid crystal display for a wall-mounted television in the future.

Further, the scribing step and the breaking step are performed in a clean room.
Since it can be performed continuously on a table, the space in a clean room where equipment costs are high can be reduced, and therefore,
This can contribute to space saving and cost reduction.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the position of the glass substrate is obtained with high accuracy using the CCD camera, so that the break can be performed with high accuracy and the break quality can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a glass substrate cutting method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration example of a glass substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a schematic configuration example of a glass substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 Large plate 2 Glass substrate 3 Cell 4 Scribe line 5 Mu 6 Laser oscillator 9 Laser head 10 Glass substrate cutting device 11 Base 12 Moving table 13a Support 13b Support 14 Servo motor 15a Guide rail 15b Guide Rail 16a Moving body 16b Moving body 17 Head driving unit 18 Servo motor 19 Ball screw 20 Head unit 21 Servo motor 22 Laser head 23 Scribe head 25 CCD camera 26 Reference mark 30 Control device 31 Image processing device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A glass substrate cutting method for cutting a plurality of cells from a large plate combining two glass substrates in a cell manufacturing process in a liquid crystal display manufacturing process. A glass substrate cutting method, comprising irradiating a laser beam to a scribe line mu and cutting the glass substrate along the scribe line. 2. A glass substrate cutting apparatus for cutting a plurality of cells from a large plate combining two glass substrates in a cell manufacturing step in a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, comprising: a moving table on which the large plate is placed; A glass substrate on the moving table, a head unit that irradiates a laser beam emitted from a laser oscillation device via a laser head, and moving one or both of the moving table and the head unit to obtain glass. A glass substrate cutting apparatus, comprising: a control unit that positions a laser head at a mu of a scribe line formed in advance on a substrate surface and irradiates the mu with laser light. 3. The glass substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the head unit includes a scribe head for forming a scribe line together with the laser head. 4. The glass substrate cutting device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit recognizes a mu position of a scribe line based on a positioning mark on the glass substrate captured by a CCD camera.