JP3452038B2 - Apparatus and method for attaching conductive film - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conductive film sticking apparatus and a sticking method for sticking a conductive film to a display panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a driver IC for a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel, a TAB (Tape Automa) has been used.
Electronic parts manufactured by the ted bonding method are widely used. As a method of adhering the driver and the display panel, a method of using a tape-shaped and anisotropic conductive film is known. This conductive film is formed of an epoxy-based synthetic resin mixed with conductive metal particles, but has adhesiveness so that it can be attached to a display panel, and thus adheres to the separator on the upper surface. Supplied in condition. Then, the conductive film is attached to the display panel while being attached to the separator, and then the separator is peeled off.

[0003]

Conventionally, after the conductive film was attached to a display panel, an operator visually inspected whether or not the attached state was good. However, the quality was visually determined. However, there is a problem that the inspection time and the labor required for the inspection become enormous.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sticking device and a sticking method of a conductive film, which can accurately inspect a stuck state of a conductive film stuck to a display panel in a short time. To do.

[0005]

A conductive film sticking device of the present invention is designed to peel a separator from a conductive film stuck to a display panel after sticking a conductive film having a separator stuck to a display panel. The conductive film sticking device according to claim 1, further comprising an inspection means for optically observing at least the peeling start position of the separator of the conductive film stuck to the display panel to judge whether the stuck state of the conductive film is good or bad. It is a thing.

The conductive film attaching method of the present invention comprises the steps of positioning the display panel, attaching the conductive film having the separator attached to the positioned display panel, and separating the attached conductive film from the separator. And a step of optically observing at least the peeling start position of the separator of the conductive film adhered to the display panel to inspect the adhered state of the conductive film.

With the above structure, it is possible to automatically perform the step of attaching the conductive film to the display panel, the step of peeling the separator from the conductive film, and the step of determining the quality of the attached state of the conductive film.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conductive film sticking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the positioning means for positioning the display panel 1 will be described. In FIG. 1, 2 is a base, 3 is an X table driven by an X motor 4, 5 is a Y table driven by a Y motor 6, and 7 is a θ for rotating a holder 8 holding the display panel 1 in a θ direction. It's a table. That is, when the X motor 4, the Y motor 6, and the θ table 7 are driven, the display panel 1 can be moved in the XYθ directions with respect to the conductive film supplying means, the sticking means, the peeling means, and the recognizing means, which will be described later. Reference numeral 9 is a top plate arranged above the base 1.

Next, the conductive film supplying means will be described. 1
0 is a first support plate that is vertically fixed to the top plate 9 in the X direction, 11 is pivotally supported on the upper part of the first support plate 10, and separators 101 and 102 are attached as shown in the left side of FIG. Is a supply reel in which the conductive film 100 (tape shape) is wound, and the tape-shaped conductive film 100 is wound in a state of a three-layer structure in which the upper and lower sides of the conductive film 100 are sandwiched by the separators 101 and 102. As will be described with reference to FIG. 2 as well, the conductive film 100 is guided by the guide rollers 12 and 13, passes through the sensor 14 that detects when the conductive film 100 is out of stock, and the fixed block 15 provided on the first support plate 10. 2, the lower separator 102 is peeled off, the lower separator 102 goes around the fixed block 15 and changes its direction by 180 °, is guided by the guide roller 17, and is wound by the take-up reel 18. .
Further, 19 is a cylinder fixed to the first support plate 10, and the lower end portion of the rod 19a thereof has an upper separator 10
1 and the conductive film 100 and the lower separator 102 are pressed onto the upper surface of the fixed block 15 facing each other.
It is linked to 0. 21 is moved in the X direction by moving means (not shown), and the upper and lower separators 101 are moved by the sandwiching claws 22.
And a leading end of the conductive film 100 is chucked and pulled out by a predetermined length. 23 is moved in the Z direction and pulled out
1 is a pair of cutting blades for cutting the upper separator 101 and the conductive film 100 pulled out by 1 at a fixed position. Therefore, according to this conductive film supply means, the conductive film 1 having a predetermined length is formed.
00 can be supplied to the attaching means described below with the upper separator 101 attached.

Next, the attaching means will be described. Reference numeral 30 is a base table provided on the top plate 9, 32 is an X table moved in the X direction by an X motor 31 provided on the base table 30, and 34 is a Y table moved in the Y direction by a Y motor 33 provided on the X table 32. , An inverted L-shaped Y table, and 36 is a lifting block that is lifted in the Z direction by a Z motor 35 provided downward on the Y table 34,
A θ motor 39 is fixed downward on an upper part of the elevating block 36, and a lower end of a rod 37 axially attached to an output shaft of the elevating block 36 is in contact with an upper separator 101 and is connected to an adsorption head 38 that adsorbs a conductive film 100. There is. This θ motor 39
Is for rotating the suction head 38 in the horizontal direction,
As shown in FIG. 2, a suction hole 38a is formed on the lower surface of the suction head 38, and the suction hole 38a communicates with suction means (not shown). Therefore, the lead-out portion 21 of the conductive film supply means allows the upper separator 101 and the conductive film 100 to be connected.
The X motor 31, Y motor 33, Z motor 3
5 to drive the suction head 38 to the upper separator 101.
Position, the suction means is driven to suck the upper separator 101 (see the solid line on the left side of FIG. 2), and the cutting is performed by the cutting edge 23 of the conductive film supplying means. The separator 101 and the conductive film 100 can be supplied. Next, as shown by the broken line in FIG.
The Y-motor 33, the Z-motor 35, and the θ-motor 39 are driven to supply the upper separator 10 to the suction head 38.
1 and the conductive film 100 are transferred to the display panel 1. Further, in FIG. 1, a horizontal sub-support plate 41 is fixed to a second support plate 40 fixed to the top plate 9, and a pressure bonding head 44 for temporarily pressure-bonding the transferred conductive film 100 (right side in FIG. 2). (See also the solid line) is connected to the lower end portion of the downward rod 43 of the cylinder 42 which is fixed downward to the sub-support plate 41. Inside the crimping head 44, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
4a is connected to a power supply means (not shown). Therefore, the conductive film 100 transferred to the display panel 1 is temporarily pressure-bonded by the pressure bonding head 44, so that the conductive film 100 can have sufficient adhesive force.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, a peeling means for peeling the upper separator 101 from the conductive film 100 stuck to the display panel 1 by the sticking means to expose the conductive film 100 to the outside. explain. 50 is a supply reel mounted on the upper part of the second support plate 40, around which the adhesive tape 51 is wound, and 53 is an adhesive tape 5 which is fed from the supply reel 50 in the direction of arrow N2 and folded back by the pressing roller 52.
A take-up reel for winding 1 is a cylinder 54 fixed downward to the sub-support plate 41, and its rod 55 is connected to an upper portion of a plate 56 which rotatably supports the pressing roller 52. Therefore, the X tape 4, the Y motor 6, and the θ table 7 are driven so that the pressing roller 52 is located above the upper separator 101 to be peeled off, and the cylinder 54 is driven to make an adhesive tape circumferentially contacting the pressing roller 52. 3, the upper separator 101, that is, the display panel 1 is pressed against the pressing roller 52 in the X direction while feeding the adhesive tape 51 from the supply reel 50 to the take-up reel 53 as shown in FIG. The upper separator 101 can be peeled off by moving to. Note that the adhesive force between the upper separator 101 and the adhesive tape 51 is greater than the adhesive force between the conductive film 100 and the upper separator 101, and the conductive film is greater than the adhesive force between the separator 101 and the adhesive tape 51. Since the adhesive force between 100 and the display panel 1 is large, the upper separator 1
Only 01 is attached to the adhesive tape 51 and collected on the take-up reel 53 side, and the conductive film 100 is kept attached to the display panel 1.

Next, the recognition means will be described. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 60 denotes a camera mounted downward on the auxiliary support plate 41, and 61 denotes a control box having a built-in light source. Here, as will be described later, the camera 60 recognizes the position of the display panel 1 held by the holder 8 by observing the positioning mark 1a, and the conductive film 100 attached to the display panel 1. It also has the function of inspecting the attachment state. Of course, a camera or the like may be provided for each of these functions, but it is more cost effective to have one camera also perform these functions, as in the present embodiment.

Here, in the example of FIG. 1, the above-mentioned conductive film supply means, sticking means, and peeling means are all arranged so as to operate in the X direction. On the other hand, in many cases, the conductive film 100 is usually attached to the display panel 1 not only in the X direction but also in the Y direction. In such a case, the θ motor 7 is driven to rotate the display panel 1 by 90 ° or 270 °. Of course, various modifications may be made such that the first support plate 10 is arranged in the X direction and the second support plate 40 is arranged in the Y direction.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the sticking apparatus of this embodiment. Reference numeral 63 is a recognition unit, which performs pattern matching processing on the image data obtained by the camera 60 and outputs the result. 70 is a ROM for storing the control program according to the flowcharts of FIGS.
Reference numeral 71 denotes a CPU that executes the program of the ROM 70 and controls each element of FIG. 4, and plays a role as an inspection unit that determines whether the adhered state of the conductive film 100 is good or bad. Reference numeral 72 denotes a RAM provided with areas for storing various kinds of data such as an area for storing inspection data shown in FIG. 11 and an area for storing data relating to a pasting position, and 73 is used for displaying an error display and operation status to the user. A CRT 74 is a keyboard for the user to input necessary information. Further, the above-mentioned conductive film attaching means A, attaching means B, peeling means C, and positioning means D are respectively a supply controller E, an attaching controller F, a peeling controller G, which are connected to a bus line.
It is controlled by the position controller H.

Next, the flow of the sticking method using the sticking apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows an outline of this flow. First, the camera 6
At 0, the positioning marks 1a provided at the two corners of the display panel 1 are recognized and the position of the display panel 1 is confirmed (step 1). FIG. 9 shows an example of sticking to the display panel 1. In this example, P1 to P16 are sticking positions, and sticking is performed in the order of numbers in the directions of arrows M1, M2, and M3.
In addition, between the sticking positions P6 to P7 and the sticking positions P10 to P1
Although the sticking direction changes by 90 ° between 1 and 1, the θ table 7 is driven to move the sticking directions M1, M2 and M3 to the X direction in FIG. 1 as described above. Correspond by matching. Next, the sticking means B is driven to perform the sticking operation shown in FIG.
1 and the conductive film 100 are sequentially attached to the attachment positions P1, P2, ... (Step 2). Next, the peeling means C is driven, and the upper separator 101 is peeled off and attached to the adhesive tape 51 by the peeling operation shown in FIG.
Collect in 3 (Step 3). Then, the peeled state of the separator 101 and the adhered state of the conductive film 100 are inspected as described later (step 4). If there is no defective portion (step 5), the process ends, and if there is, a retry operation is performed (step 6).

Next, pattern matching, which is the core of the inspection process of FIG. 6, will be described with reference to FIG. First, when an image is captured by the camera 60, the inspection objects that enter the visual field S include the electrodes 1b of the display panel 1 (a plurality of electrodes are arranged in parallel at a narrow pitch), the upper separator 101, and the conductive film 100. is there. Here, the electrode 1b is observed as blackish in the image of the camera 60, and the separator 101 is normally observed as whitish because it does not pass light. In addition, the conductive film 10
0 is semi-transparent and exhibits an intermediate state between the electrode 1b and the separator 101.

Now, FIG. 8B shows a state in which the conductive film 100 is satisfactorily adhered and the upper separator 101 is cleanly peeled off, and an image as shown in FIG. can get. That is, when only the conductive film 100 is attached on the electrode 1b, the image of the electrode 1b looks blurry.

Next, FIG. 8D shows the upper separator 10
8 (e) is an image at that time. That is, the white image of the separator 101 occupies most of the visual field S, and the appearance is very whitish as compared with FIG. 8C.

Further, FIG. 8 (f) shows a state where the conductive film 100 itself cannot be attached, and FIG. 8 (g) is an image at that time. That is, the blackish image of the electrode 1b clearly appears in the entire visual field S.

Therefore, the electrode 1b as shown in FIG.
When the pattern when the image is clearly displayed is adopted as the master pattern and the matching rate is obtained for the inspection patterns of FIGS. 8C, 8E, and 8G, the maximum is obtained in FIG. A minimum value is obtained in (e), and an intermediate value between them is obtained in FIG. 8 (c). Therefore, in the present embodiment, the upper limit value (for example, 90%) and the lower limit value (for example, 55) of the matching rate are set.
%) Is set, a matching rate of less than or equal to the lower limit value is determined to be a peeling failure of the separator 101, and a matching rate of more than or equal to the upper limit value is determined to be a defective adhesion of the conductive film 100, and the middle of these is applied. It is decided to be good.

In FIGS. 8B, 8D, and 8F, the arrow indicates the peeling direction of the separator 101, but the visual field S is set near the peeling start position of the electrode 1b. Empirically, a sticking defect or a peeling defect is likely to occur in the vicinity of the peeling start position, and thus, the determination can be accurately performed in a short time. If there is a margin in the processing time, the matching rate may be obtained for a plurality of locations or the entire area where the electrode group 1b is provided, and the average thereof may be taken. Further, as the above determination method, as shown in FIG.
It suffices to be able to discriminate between (d) and (f), and in addition to the example shown, the height is measured using a sensor with a limited wavelength of light to be detected or a laser irradiator, and the display panel is displayed. Various changes can be made, for example, by making a determination as small (poor attachment of the conductive film 100), medium (good), or high (poor peeling of the separator 101) depending on the height from the upper surface of 1.

Next, the inspection processing by the determination method of FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG. First, referring to the position of the positioning mark 1a obtained in step 1 of FIG. 5, the positioning means D is driven to adjust the vicinity of the peeling start position among the attachment positions of the inspection target to the visual field S of the camera 60 ( Step 41), capturing an image (inspection pattern) (Step 4)
2). Then, the recognition unit 63 causes the master pattern (see FIG.
Pattern matching is performed for (a)) and the inspection pattern (step 43), and the matching rate for this inspection pattern is calculated. Then, the CPU 71 obtains the inspection data of the good adhesion state, the poor peeling, or the poor adhesion of this inspection pattern by the determination method described in the description of FIG. 8, and writes it in a predetermined area in the RAM 72. (Steps 44 to 49). Then, the above process is repeated until the inspections for all the sticking positions are completed (step 5).
0).

FIG. 10 shows an example of the result of performing the attaching and peeling operations as shown in FIG. Here, the sticking position P5
In (broken line), a sticking error of the conductive film 100 occurs,
At the attachment positions P8 and P15 (shaded lines), the separator 101
It is assumed that the peeling error of 1 has occurred. In this case, when the inspection process of FIG. 6 is performed, the inspection data shown in FIG. 11 is obtained. In this way, if there is a sticking defect or a peeling defect,
The retry operation is performed. That is, first, the retry number counter i is set to 1 (step 61), and the sticking position where the defect occurs is extracted from the inspection data (step 62). If there is a sticking failure, the sticking means B is driven again to carry out the sticking again (step 63), and if there is a peeling defect portion or a re-sticking portion, the peeling means C is driven again to perform peeling again. Perform (step 64). Here, in the example of FIG. 10, the sticking position P5
For, the re-adhesion and the re-peeling were performed, and the attachment position P8,
At P15, only re-peeling is performed. Then, the inspection process shown in FIG. 6 is performed (step 65), the inspection data is again referred to whether there is a defective portion (step 66), and the retry operation is ended when there is no defective portion. On the other hand, if the defective portion remains, the number-of-times counter i is incremented (step 67) and the above process is performed again. However, the number of times i is limited to four times (step 6
8). This is because the display panel 1 is vulnerable to static electricity due to friction and is easily damaged, so that the sticking means B and the peeling means C do not come into excessive contact with the display panel 1. If the number of times i becomes 5 or more, the CPU 71
Displays an error on the CRT 73 and stops the device.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, at least the separation start position of the separator of the conductive film adhered to the display panel is optically observed to inspect the adhered state of the conductive film. Therefore, the quality of the adhered state of the conductive film can be automatically determined. In particular, since the sticking failure of the conductive film is likely to occur in the vicinity of the peeling start position of the separator, according to the present invention, the sticking failure of the conductive film can be accurately determined.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conductive film attaching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view of the conductive film attaching apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the conductive film attaching apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conductive film sticking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a conductive film attaching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a conductive film attaching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a conductive film attaching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8A is an exemplary diagram of a master pattern used in the conductive film bonding apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8B is a display panel of the conductive film bonding apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. (C) An exemplary view of an inspection pattern of the conductive film sticking apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention (d) Plane of a display panel of the conductive film sticking apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG. (E) An exemplary view of an inspection pattern of the conductive film bonding apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention (f) A plan view of a display panel of the conductive film bonding apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention ( g) An exemplary view of an inspection pattern of the conductive film attaching apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of inspection data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Display panel 71 CPU A conductive film supply means B sticking means C peeling means D Positioning means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G02F 1/1345 G02F 1/1345 (56) References JP-A-5-53130 (JP, A) JP-A-4-254398 (JP , A) JP-A-3-78880 (JP, A) JP-A-2-293721 (JP, A) JP-A-2-291910 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB) Name) G09F 9/00 352 G09F 9/00 338 G09F 9/00 348 G01N 21/84 G02F 1/13 101 G02F 1/1345

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sticking device for a conductive film, comprising: sticking a conductive film having a separator attached thereto to a display panel, and then peeling the separator from the conductive film stuck to the display panel. A sticking device for a conductive film, comprising an inspection means for optically observing at least a peeling start position of a separator of the stuck conductive film to judge whether or not the stuck state of the conductive film is good. 2. A step of positioning the display panel, a step of attaching a conductive film having a separator attached to the positioned display panel, a step of peeling the separator from the attached conductive film, and a step of attaching the conductive panel to the display panel. A step of optically observing at least a separation start position of the separator of the attached conductive film to inspect whether or not the attached state of the conductive film is good.