KR100865767B1 - Board Slimming Device and Board Slimming Method - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate slimming apparatus and a method thereof are provided to prevent extension of an error by dimples or dents caused by bubbles on a substrate and improve substrate quality by preventing mechanical stresses on the substrate to be etched. A support plate(104) supports a substrate(112) to be etched. A chamber(102) receives the support plate. A supply nozzle(116) supplies chemical for etching to the substrate to be etched. According as the support plate is slantingly disposed, the substrate supported by the support plate is slantlingy disposed. The chemical etches the substrate as flowing down along the slant surface of the substrate. The supply nozzle comprises the followings. A storage chamber stores the chemical. A flowing plate guides the chemical so as to flow by gravity. One or more shoulder parts are protruded on the surface of the flowing plate.

Description

  Device slimming device and method for slimming board {Device for slimming of plate and method for slimming of plate}

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of a conventional glass substrate slimming device.

2 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of a substrate slimming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic enlarged side cross-sectional view of the supply nozzle of FIG. 2.

Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view of the substrate support plate of the substrate slimming device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of slimming a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: substrate slimming device 102: chamber

104: support plate 106: inner space

108: protrusion 110: rotating shaft

112: substrate 114: fixing part

116: supply nozzle 170: outlet

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for slimming a substrate, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for slimming a glass substrate by tilting the glass substrate in an inclined manner so that a chemical liquid for etching is flowed on an inclined substrate.

 In general, a backlight for a display or a glass substrate used for a display needs to be thinly processed in order to make the display itself lighter and thinner. In particular, when processing a glass substrate used in a mobile phone, for example, the total thickness of the initial cell phone model is about 45mm, the weight and about 1.3Kg in size and weight conditions, the total thickness is about 6.9mm and thickness At about 63g, glass substrate slim technology continues to be developed. Recently, the thinnest liquid crystal display (LCD) has a thickness of 0.82 mm in glass substrate, and is accelerating ultra-light weight and ultra-slim by attaching an anti-shock sheet directly on the LCD glass.

In this regard, there are various ways to slim the glass substrate through etching. Dipping method of dipping a plurality of glass substrates in a bath vertically and etching, and spraying the chemical liquid for etching at a predetermined injection pressure by using a plurality of spray nozzles on both sides of the vertically mounted glass substrate There is a spray method for etching, or a top-down glass thin method for etching by pouring a chemical liquid for etching on both sides of a vertically standing substrate so as to flow from the upper side of the substrate.

1 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a dipping method for etching a glass substrate.

In the technique of FIG. 1, HF of a concentration mixed through an expensive mixing system is used as a chemical liquid for etching a glass substrate. At the lower end of the HF etching bath 1, a bubble plate 50 for ejecting high purity nitrogen gas or clean dry air and a punching plate 60 for ejecting the generated bubbles between the glass substrates are provided. 30 is covered and sealed using the water pocket 40 to eliminate the gap of the lid (30). The ultra-pure water 41 is accumulated in the water pocket 40, thereby preventing the toxic HF gas from dissipating to the outside.

The bubble plate 50 and the punching plate 60 are also installed at the lower end of a quick dump rinse (QDR) bath (not shown) to generate nitrogen gas even in the process of washing the glass substrate. In the ultrapure water washing process performed in the QDR bath, the nitrogen gas is also flushed out. The etching process of the glass substrate in the HF etching bath 1 is supplied with the HF solution of which concentration is adjusted from the HF supply tank inside the HF etching bath 1, and the glass substrate is supplied to the HF etching bath 1 filled with the HF solution. After the charged cassette is put in, nitrogen gas is diverged from the lower bubble plate 50 and the punching plate 60.

The cleaning process in the QDR bath sprays ultrapure water through a shower device installed inside the bath to clean the etched foreign matter and HF solution adhering to the glass surface. Even within the QDR bath, nitrogen gas is diverted from the bubble plate 50 and the punching plate 60 installed at the bottom thereof during the washing process to assist the washing.

However, in the case of such a dipping method, it is not possible to differentiate and etch the glass substrate by minute thickness. That is, the etching error is not accurate. In addition, there is a problem in that the treatment of sludge and white powder generated during etching and the impurity adheres to the glass substrate has a high defect rate. In addition, a large amount of pure water is required, and the reuse rate of chemical liquids is low, and a large amount of bubble generators are essential, which causes excessive stress on the glass substrate which is extremely thin during or after etching, thereby adversely affecting the quality of the glass substrate after etching. There is a problem going crazy.

In addition, in the case of the spray method, there is a problem that a strong stress is transmitted to the substrate by striking the chemical liquid to the substrate and spraying, and the strong mobility of the vertically intersecting nozzle prevents stirring between the new chemical liquid and various salts which are by-products after the oxidation reaction. There is a problem in that the separation is difficult to cause a very poor regeneration rate of the chemical liquid.

In the case of the top-down glass thin method, as the thickness of the substrate fixed to the jig supporting the substrate is changed, fluctuations due to the flow of chemicals on both sides are severe, resulting in poor thickness uniformity after etching, and due to the changed thickness during substrate etching, Optimum gap between glass substrates is changed, which requires real-time nozzle gap adjustment for accurate chemical injection.Etching is performed by chemicals flowing on the substrate, so depending on the sealing state on the substrate or the presence of excess sealant There is a concern of serious performance deterioration, and the chemical reaction of the chemical liquid flowing on the vertical substrate occurs during instantaneous fluid movement, resulting in a very slow etching speed, there is a problem that there is no way to control this.

The substrate slimming apparatus and the substrate slimming method of the present invention are to solve the above problems, and have the object of the following invention.

First, to provide a substrate slimming apparatus and method that can control precise substrate thickness etching.

Second, to provide a substrate slimming device and method that does not apply a mechanical stress to the substrate to be etched.

Third, to provide a substrate slimming apparatus and method that can increase the recovery reuse rate of the chemical liquid for etching.

Fourth, the present invention provides a substrate slimming apparatus and method which eliminates the difference in etching thickness at a fixing portion holding a substrate.

Fifth, the present invention provides a substrate slimming apparatus and method which does not need to readjust a gap between a nozzle and a substrate during etching of the substrate.

Sixth, the present invention provides a substrate slimming apparatus and method capable of minimizing a change error in the amount of a chemical liquid etching a substrate to the substrate.

Seventh, to provide a function of real-time wrong thickness etching of both sides of the substrate.

In order to achieve the above object, a substrate slimming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the support plate for supporting the substrate to be etched; A chamber accommodating the support plate; And a supply nozzle for flowing the chemical liquid for etching in the substrate to be etched, wherein the support plate is inclined so that the substrate supported on the support plate is also inclined. In addition, the slope can be changed automatically by the user.

Here, the substrate is a glass substrate.

In addition, the support plate has a rotating shaft.

In addition, the inclined angle of the support plate is adjusted by rotating about the rotation shaft.

The substrate slimming device further includes a fixing portion between the substrate and the support plate to fix the substrate to the support plate.

The supply nozzle includes a storage chamber for storing the chemical liquid, a flow plate for guiding the chemical liquid to flow by gravity, and one or more shoulder portions protruding on the surface of the flow plate.

Here, the surface of the flow plate is formed to be inclined.

The supply nozzle is disposed above the substrate so that the chemical liquid flows along the inclined surface from the upper end of the substrate.

On the other hand, the substrate slimming method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the inclination angle setting step of tilting the substrate to be etched inclined; And a chemical liquid flow step of flowing the chemical liquid for vision to the substrate.

Here, the chemical liquid flows along the inclined surface of the substrate from the upper end of the substrate.

A support plate for supporting the substrate is provided, and the inclination angle of the substrate is set by rotating the support plate about the rotation axis.

The chemical liquid flows to the surface of the substrate in a steady state flow.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing a substrate slimming device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The substrate slimming apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a support plate 104 for supporting a substrate 112 made of glass to be etched, a chamber 102 for receiving the support plate 104, and the substrate to be etched. 112 is provided with a supply nozzle 116 for flowing the chemical liquid for etching.

Here, the support plate 104 is disposed to be inclined, so that the substrate 112 supported by the support plate 104 is also inclined eventually. That is, in order to arrange | position the board | substrate 112 inclinedly, the support plate 104 which supports a board | substrate is set to incline.

The support plate 104 supporting the substrate 112 may be in various forms as long as it can support the substrate 112 and at the same time tilt the substrate. According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 of the present invention, the support plate 104 for supporting the substrate 112 is disposed on the rear surface of the substrate 112 side by side with the substrate.

In addition, a fixing part 114 is mounted between the substrate 112 and the support plate 104 to support the substrate on the back surface of the substrate 112. The fixing part 114 is disposed to be connected to each other between the back surface of the substrate 112 and the support plate 104, thereby fixing the substrate 112 so as not to be separated from the support plate 104.

On the other hand, the support plate 104 has a rotation shaft 110, the specific portion of the support plate 104 for receiving the rotation shaft 110 is projected by a predetermined height from the rear surface of the support plate 104 It may be formed in the form of the projection 108.

If the thickness of the support plate 104 is thick enough to accommodate the pivot shaft 110, the pivot shaft is formed by forming a through hole in the side surface of the support plate 104 without the protrusion 108 needing to protrude. can do.

The rotation shaft 110 is preferably disposed at the center of the longitudinal direction of the support plate 104. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the rotation shaft 110 has a position in consideration of the load of the support plate 104 itself or the load distribution when the substrate 112 is mounted and fixed to the support plate 104. Can be determined.

2 is a side cross-sectional view, and thus, it is not clearly shown in which part of the substrate slimming device the pivot shaft for rotating the support plate 104 is supported. The pivot shaft 110 is disposed inside the etching chamber 106 to receive the support plate 104 and to perform an etching operation, and may be rotatably connected to and supported on a side surface of the chamber 102. Optionally, a separate pivot support member may be provided in the etching chamber 106 inside the chamber 102 so that the pivot shaft 110 may be supported by the pivot support member.

On the other hand, the inclined upper end side of the substrate 112 is provided with a supply nozzle 116 for flowing a chemical component, for example, HF to etch the substrate.

The supply nozzle 116 does not spray the chemical liquid onto the surface of the substrate 112 in a spray method, but pours the chemical liquid onto the surface of the substrate by gravity. At this time, according to the inclination of the substrate, the flow rate of the chemical liquid on the surface of the substrate 112 is changed. If the inclination of the substrate is set to be close to vertical, the flow rate of the chemical liquid is faster, and if the inclination of the substrate is set to be close to the horizontal, the flow rate of the chemical liquid is slow.

Meanwhile, the chemical liquid that is supplied to the surface of the substrate 112 from the supply nozzle 116 and flows is supplied in a steady state flow.

Here, at least as much frictional force as the slope of the substrate 112 affects the flow characteristics of the chemical liquid supplied to the steady state flow. Therefore, the flow rate of the flowing chemical liquid is reduced by this frictional force, so that the stochastic time between the substrate and the chemical liquid becomes much longer than when the chemical liquid flows vertically as in the general bottom-line glass thin method. Etching proceeds faster and more uniform etch rates can be achieved.

Although not shown in the drawings, when the substrate 112 to be etched is fixedly mounted on both sides of the support plate 104, both sides etching and cross-section etching are selectively enabled by the rotation of the rotation shaft 110. It becomes possible.

On the other hand, if the inclination angle of the substrate 112 is changed, it should be changed to the position of the supply nozzle 116. This is because, when the inclination angle of the substrate changes, the horizontal position and the vertical position of the upper end of the substrate change. Therefore, first, the inclination angle setting operation of the substrate is performed first, and then the position of the supply nozzle 116 is determined in accordance with the position of the upper end of the moved substrate. Once the inclination angle of the substrate is determined so that the position of the supply nozzle is determined, there is no need to change the position of the supply nozzle again in the etching process. The reason for this is that the discharge portion from which the chemical liquid of the supply nozzle flows is inclined to meet the upper end of the substrate so that no gap is generated during etching.

Although not shown in the drawings, the plurality of substrates may be arranged in parallel or vertically, and the chemical liquid may be inclined by using a supply nozzle having a size and a structure capable of covering all of the plurality of substrates.

On the other hand, the fixing part 114 for fixing the substrate 112 to the support plate 104 is disposed on the back surface of the inclined substrate 112 is separated from the chemical liquid flowing through the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the fixing part 114 is to stably support the glass substrate in a state that is not contaminated by the chemical liquid.

Referring to FIG. 2, the fixing part 114 fixes the substrate 112 to the support plate in the form of a pin. However, the shape of the fixing portion is not necessarily limited thereto, and various structures capable of firmly fixing the substrate to the supporting plate may be considered.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the supply nozzle shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 3, the supply nozzle 116 is a storage chamber 120 for temporarily storing a chemical liquid, and a buffer chamber disposed at a lower end of the storage chamber 120 to temporarily receive a predetermined amount of chemical liquid ( And a body 122 having a 130. A lower portion of the main body 122, that is, a portion connected to the buffer chamber 130 disposed below the storage compartment 120, is perpendicular to the first guide portion 124 and the first guide portion inclined in a funnel shape. A cylindrical second guide portion 126 is formed to extend. The buffer chamber 130 is formed by the second guide portion 126 and the bottom plate 128 formed on the bottom surface thereof. On the other hand, the flow plate 132 is formed to be inclined in at least one direction of the left and right sides of the bottom plate to guide the flow of the chemical liquid. The flow plate 132 extends integrally connected with the bottom plate 128.

The bottom surface of the buffer chamber 130 is formed by the bottom plate 128, the bottom plate is connected to the main body 122 to one side. On the other hand, the other side of the bottom plate 128 is a structure that is open in the inclined direction of the flow plate 132.

At this time, the surface of the flow plate 132 is formed with at least one shoulder portion 134, 136, 138 protruding upward by a predetermined height. The shoulder portion 134 disposed closest to the bottom plate 128 forms a buffer chamber 130 together with the bottom plate 128.

The flow path of the chemical liquid in the supply nozzle of the above structure is shown by the arrow in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, the chemical liquid of the storage chamber 120 is introduced into the buffer chamber 130 along which the bottom plate 128 intersects the lower side along the first guide portion 124 and the second guide portion 126. In this case, the buffer chamber 130 is closed except for the direction in which the flow plate 132 is formed, and the shoulder portion 134 protrudes to a predetermined height in the direction in which the flow plate 132 is formed. Formed.

Therefore, the chemical liquid does not overflow beyond the shoulder until the chemical liquid is filled by the protruding height of the shoulder portion 134. Once the chemical liquid is filled in the buffer chamber 130 by a predetermined amount and overflows beyond the shoulder portion 134, the overflowed chemical liquid is filled by a predetermined amount in the space formed by the next shoulder portion 136 and the shoulder portion 136 It is filled until it overflows. In this way, the next shoulder 138 is also filled and overflowed. Therefore, the chemical liquid does not flow along the surface of the flow plate 132 which is inclined directly from the storage chamber 120, but flows through the buffer space over multiple stages. Therefore, even if the end portion of the supply nozzle is narrowed, the phenomenon that the flow velocity is accelerated is prevented and the chemical liquid is uniformly supplied.

The chemical liquid used in the present invention preferably uses 28% to 50% HF.

In FIG. 3, the flow plate 136 is illustrated as being formed only to the left side of the bottom plate 128. However, the flow plate 136 may be formed in a plurality of directions so as to enable left jetting and / or right jetting.

On the other hand, Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a modified embodiment of the fixing part 114 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, a support plate 104 ′ is disposed on the rear surface of the substrate 112, and the support plate is rotated so that the substrate 112 is inclined by rotation, and further, the inclination angle can be controlled. A coaxial 110 'is provided, and a protrusion 108' is formed in the support plate 104 'to secure sufficient space of the pivot.

Here, in fixing the substrate 112 to the support plate 104 ', a bracket-like type that is commonly fitted to both ends of the support plate 104' and both ends of the substrate so that the substrate does not slide down from the support plate. Fixing unit 170 may be used.

In this case, the bracket-shaped fixing part 170 is formed of a material that does not react to the chemical liquid.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method of slimming a substrate using the substrate slimming apparatus having the structure described above.

Referring to FIG. 5, after the step S1 of installing the substrate on the support plate, the substrate is subjected to the step S2 of UV irradiation. In the UV irradiation step, the irradiated UV is a wavelength of 200nm to 600nm, preferably UV irradiated in a stepping mode with a UV lamp of 20W or more. The glass substrate before etching is hydrophobic, and the pure contact angle is shown to be 7 degrees or more. When the UV is irradiated for 10 seconds or more, the surface properties of the glass substrate are changed to hydrophilicity of 7 degrees or less. Thus, organic contamination that may be present on the surface whose surface properties are changed in this way is eliminated.

Meanwhile, preliminary wetting is performed through a step S3 of forming a water film primarily through a pure discharge nozzle, which is an auxiliary nozzle, on the glass substrate converted to a hydrophilic surface, and then moving the substrate to a chamber for etching. do.

After the inclination angle of the substrate is determined through the step S4 of setting the inclination angle of the substrate in the chamber for etching, a step S5 is performed in which the chemical liquid flows through the supply nozzle as described above. After the chemical liquid flows and the etching operation is performed on the substrate, the chemical liquid flows through the second step of forming the water film again (S6) in the process of moving to the chamber for cleaning, and finally, the cleaning step (S7) is performed. .

Through this process, in etching the glass substrate, the substrate is inclined to be inclined so that the chemical liquid flows in a steady state, and the substrate can be slimmed down to a desired thickness of the substrate.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

According to the substrate slimming apparatus and the substrate slimming method according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above steps, the following effects can be obtained.

First, precise substrate thickness etching can be controlled, and the phenomenon of error in dimples or dents caused by air bubbles in the substrate is prevented.

Second, mechanical stress is not applied to the substrate to be etched, thereby increasing the quality of the substrate.

Third, it is possible to increase the recovery reuse rate of the chemical solution for etching, in particular the reuse rate is increased to more than 95%.

Fourth, it is possible to eliminate the difference in etching thickness at the fixing portion holding the substrate.

Fifth, it is not necessary to readjust the gap between the nozzle and the substrate during the etching of the substrate, thereby increasing the working efficiency.

Sixth, it is possible to minimize the variation error of the amount of the chemical liquid to etch the substrate flows to the substrate.

Seventh, the chemical liquid before etching and the chemical liquid after etching can be prevented from mixing with each other.

Eighth, double-sided etching is possible by simple angle conversion as well as single-sided etching.

Ninth, operation is simplified since the need for a subsequent polishing process is minimized.

Tenth, compared to the top-down glass etching method, it is possible to prevent the substrate from shaking or moving during the etching.

Claims (13)

delete delete delete delete delete A support plate for supporting the substrate to be etched; A chamber accommodating the support plate; And a supply nozzle for supplying a chemical liquid for etching to the substrate to be etched. The support plate is disposed to be inclined so that the substrate supported on the support plate is also inclined, and the chemical liquid etches the substrate while flowing down the inclined surface of the substrate, The supply nozzle includes a storage chamber for storing the chemical liquid, a flow plate for guiding the chemical liquid to flow by gravity, and at least one shoulder portion protruding on the surface of the flow plate. The method of claim 6, And the surface of the flow plate is inclined. The method of claim 6, And the supply nozzle is disposed above the substrate, and the chemical liquid flows along an inclined surface from an upper end of the substrate. delete delete delete delete An inclination angle setting step of tilting the substrate to be etched inclined by tilting a support plate supporting the substrate to be etched; A chemical liquid flow step of flowing the chemical liquid for etching on the substrate, In order to cause the chemical liquid to flow to the surface of the substrate in a steady state flow (steady state flow), the supply nozzle for supplying the chemical liquid is a storage chamber for storing the chemical liquid, a flow plate for guiding the chemical liquid flow by gravity; And at least one shoulder projecting on the surface of the flow plate.

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