JP4640568B2 - Method of creating a rectangular unit cell of a two-dimensional code by a laser exposure apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a creation method for forming a rectangular unit cell constituting a two-dimensional code by a laser exposure apparatus, and an aperture angle adjusting device for an aperture used when the creation method is performed.

  As is well known, the two-dimensional code 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is formed by arranging rectangular unit cells 2 according to the code configuration of the data code.

  And when marking this square unit cell on a target object with a laser exposure apparatus, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2, after expanding the laser beam 4 output from the laser generator 3 with the expander lens 5, the circular hole is formed. After being squeezed through the aperture 6 provided, the light is reflected twice by the galvano scanner mirror 7 to change the direction of the light beam from the side to the bottom, incident on the f · θ lens 8, and then the laser beam squeezed by the f · θ lens 8 Is moved to the exposure surface of the object 9, and the galvano scanner mirror 7 is moved so that a spot 4 ″ of a circular laser beam 4 ′ having a diameter approximately half the length of one side of the unit cell size is shown in FIG. As shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, the unit cell 2 ′ having a pseudo-rectangular shape is formed as shown in FIG.

However, since the pseudo-rectangular unit cell 2 ′ is formed by the circular laser beam 4 ′ as described above, the object 9 is compared with the target square as shown in FIG. As shown by the arrow, an unirradiated part is created, so when a reader device reads a two-dimensional code composed of unit cells created by a conventional method, it depends on the illumination conditions that illuminate the reader device and the two-dimensional code. In some cases, 2D codes could not be read.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-160078

  Therefore, the present invention uses a method for creating a rectangular unit cell having a high reading accuracy and a method for producing the same when the rectangular unit cell constituting the two-dimensional code is created by an exposure apparatus using a laser beam. It is an object of the present invention to provide an aperture mounting angle adjusting device for creating a unit cell that is simple in structure and easy to use.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. The first invention is that a rectangular unit cell is formed on a target object by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror. When marking two-dimensional codes arranged side by side according to the code configuration, an aperture provided with a square through-hole is exposed behind the expander lens due to the inclination of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side. provided by inclining the reference angle for correcting the deflection of the pattern, there is to form a square unit cell laser beam spot moves irradiated to fill the unit cell marking portion through the aperture, the through hole is a square, the spot size of the laser light at the exposure plane, length of one side than the unit cell size A two-dimensional code creating a square unit cell, characterized in that a 1/2 or more made such square hole size.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the case of marking a two-dimensional code formed by arranging rectangular unit cells in parallel according to the code configuration of a data code on a target by a laser exposure device that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror An aperture with a square through hole is provided behind the expander lens at an angle that is offset from the reference by an angle that corrects the deflection of the exposure pattern due to the tilt of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side. Through which the laser beam is moved and irradiated so that the spot fills the unit cell marking part to form a square unit cell, and when the through hole is rectangular , one of the spot sizes of the laser beam on the exposure surface The length of the side is less than the length of one side of the unit cell size, and the size is 1/2 or more. The length of the sides is a method of creating a square unit cell of 2-dimensional code, characterized in that a rectangular through hole in which not more than its length.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the case of marking a two-dimensional code formed by arranging rectangular unit cells side by side in accordance with the code configuration of a data code on a target by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror An aperture having a square through-hole is provided behind the expander lens so that it is tilted from the reference by an angle that corrects the deflection of the exposure pattern caused by the tilt of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side. A rectangular unit cell is formed by moving and irradiating a laser beam spot through the aperture so as to fill the unit cell marking part. When the through- hole is a rhombus, the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is the unit cell. square two-dimensional code, characterized in that the holes of the smaller diamond-shaped than the marking portion It is how to create a place cell.

  Note that the laser beam spot moving method in the present invention is such that the laser beam spot fills the unit cell marking portion, for example, according to the cross-sectional shape of the laser beam irradiated to the object, the Z shape, the U shape, It shall be moved in a letter shape.

The fourth invention relates to an aperture mounting angle adjusting device for creating a unit cell that has a simple structure and is easy to use for carrying out the present invention. Laser exposure using a galvano scanner mirror to move and irradiate laser light When marking a two-dimensional code in which rectangular unit cells are arranged side by side in accordance with the code structure of the data code on the object, a laser beam is incident on the rear side of the expander lens. A mounting angle adjusting device for an aperture for creating a unit cell for tilting from a reference by an angle for correcting deflection of an exposure pattern caused by tilt of a rotation axis of a galvano scanner mirror on the side, wherein a pin hole is formed in the aperture. A vertically long hole for mounting is provided, and the pin hole is engaged with a pin provided on the slide plate, and the mounting is performed. For making a unit cell, characterized in that the aperture is fixed to the slide plate with a screw penetrating a vertically long hole, and the slide plate is fixed to the aperture base with a screw penetrating a horizontal oblong hole for mounting provided on the slide plate. It is an attachment angle adjusting device of an aperture.

  In a laser exposure device that drives a galvano scanner mirror and moves a laser beam spot on the object to perform marking, when an attempt is made to mark a rectangular unit cell, it is common knowledge that the exposure surface is located behind the expander lens. It is conceivable that a square unit cell is marked by providing an aperture provided with a through hole in which the spot size of the laser beam is equal to the size of one side of a unit cell. However, in that case, due to the diffraction phenomenon of light, the marked unit cell has a large R at the four corners, and is likely to cause a reading error.

  In the first to third inventions, since the cross section of the laser beam is smaller than that in the above case, the four corners R of the marked unit cell are reduced, so that a two-dimensional code with few reading errors can be marked.

  Further, it is possible to solve the problem that the unit cell is inclined and marked due to the structure of the galvano scanner mirror.

  Here, in order to facilitate understanding, the above-described problem caused by the structure of the galvano scanner mirror will be described.

  FIG. 4 shows a projection state of a laser beam spot when an aperture 6 ′ provided without tilting the square through hole 6a is provided perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser beam. The light is deflected and the exposure pattern is projected with an inclination of θ ° with respect to the Y axis on the object.

  This inclination angle θ ° is equal to the mounting angle θ ° of the rotating shaft of the galvano scanner mirror 7Y on the laser light incident side, and is usually around 20 °.

  Therefore, the shape of the marked pseudo-rectangular unit cell is as shown in FIG. 5 (a), and protrudes or is insufficient from the reference dimension of the unit cell as shown in FIG. 5 (b). The two-dimensional code is, for example, as shown in FIG.

  The first and second inventions have been made to remedy this problem. As shown in FIG. 6 (a), an aperture 6 ″ provided by inclining a square through hole 6a by θ ° is used. According to this method, the laser beam spot is not inclined with respect to the Y-axis on the object as shown in the figure, and the pseudo-rectangle that is within the reference dimension as shown in FIG. A unit cell is formed, and a high-quality unit cell, that is, a high-quality two-dimensional code, can be realized.Since the inclination angle θ ° varies depending on the structure of the galvano scanner mirror, the mounting angle of the aperture can be easily adjusted with an adjustment screw, etc. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is proposed an aperture mounting adjusting device having a simple configuration.

In the first and second inventions, the apertures in the aperture are square or rectangular, but when using a laser exposure device that uses a galvano scanner mirror, a practical pseudo-rectangular unit cell is created as a diamond. This is what makes the third invention.

  FIG. 7 (a) shows the shape of an aperture provided with a diamond-shaped through-hole, the inclination angle θ ° of the rotation axis of the incident-side galvano scanner mirror, and the angle formed by the side of the diamond-shaped through-hole with the vertical axis (diagonal diagonal) FIG. 7B shows the relationship with η °, and FIG. 7B shows the shape of the exposure pattern on the exposure surface. In the third invention using an aperture having a diamond-shaped through hole, one side of the diamond-shaped exposure pattern deflected by the galvano scanner mirror is transparent so that it is parallel to the reference (X axis) as shown in FIG. The holes are inclined.

  However, when the rhomboid shape of the through hole is set so that the angle η ° coincides with the inclination angle θ ° of the rotation axis of the incident side galvano scanner mirror, it is not necessary to incline the rhomboid through hole. That is, in the third invention, the position of the through hole is inclined from the reference by an angle for correcting the deflection of the exposure pattern in accordance with the shape of the through hole.

  Of course, in the third aspect of the invention, the diamond-shaped through-hole has a smaller spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface than the unit cell marking part, and at the same time, the unit cell marking part is painted as shown in FIG. A laser beam spot is moved and irradiated so as to be crushed.

  According to this exposure method, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), the size of the reference unit cell (square) can be made as much as possible, and marking a high-quality two-dimensional code practically free from reading errors. can do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to create a rectangular unit cell with higher reading accuracy than the conventional method.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a laser exposure apparatus of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to marking of a two-dimensional code using a laser exposure apparatus using a galvano scanner mirror. Is an expander lens, 6 ″ is an aperture provided with two square through holes 6a and 6b having different sizes as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, 7 is a galvano scanner mirror, and 8 is an f · θ lens.

  The aperture 6 ″ is fixed to the aperture base 61 via a slide plate 62, and two large and small square through holes 6a and 6b are previously provided by inclining by the inclination angle θ ° of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror 7Y. It has been.

  The aperture 6 ″ is provided with vertically long mounting holes 64 on both sides of a pin hole 63 provided in the center as shown in FIG. 10, and the slide plate 62 is engaged with the pin hole 63. There are provided a pin 65, screw holes 66, 66 having a diameter narrower than the width of the mounting vertical holes 64, 64, and mounting horizontal holes 67, 67. Further, a slide plate 62 is attached to the aperture base 61. There are provided screw holes 68, 68, 68 for mounting and mounting holes 69, 69 for mounting the aperture base 61 to the laser exposure apparatus. The aperture 6 ″ is on the slide plate 62, and the slide plate 62 is on the aperture base 61. Each is fixed with two screws 70. The pin 65 may be provided on the aperture 6 ″ side, and the pin hole 63 that engages with the pin 65 may be provided on the slide plate 62 side.

  Since the aperture 6 ″ is configured as described above, the aperture 6 ″ can be moved and adjusted in the lateral direction within the range of the horizontally long mounting holes 67, 67 provided in the slide base 67, and has two large and small rectangular through holes. The mounting angle of 6a, 6b can be finely adjusted.

  Accordingly, the laser beam 41 output from the laser generator 3 is enlarged by the expander lens 5 and then passes through an aperture 6 "provided with a square through hole so that the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is a square unit. A quadrilateral smaller than the cell size, that is, a beam having a size such that the length of one side is equal to or shorter than the length of one side of the unit cell size and is a square of 1/2 or more, and the galvano scanner mirror 7, f · θ The object 8 is narrowed down to a square smaller than the size of the unit cell by the lens 8 and irradiated onto the object 9, and as shown in FIG. The unit cell is marked in a square shape as shown in FIG.

  The marked pseudo-rectangular unit cell is a high-quality unit cell with high reading accuracy, although slightly unirradiated portions are formed at the four corners as compared with the target square.

  The shape of the aperture through hole is basically a square, but may be a rectangle or a rhombus as described above. In the case of a rectangle, the length of one side is set to a size such that the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is less than or equal to one side of the unit cell size, and 1/2 or more, and the length of the other side is It shall be below that length.

  In order to create a rectangular unit cell, the aperture hole size is such that the length of one side of the square is 82% of the beam diameter represented by 1 / e2 of the incident laser light beam after passing through the expander lens. Although the effect comes out from a shorter length, it is preferable to make the length about 50 to 70% practically.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of the aperture 6 ′ ″ in the case where the through hole is a diamond shape. The only difference is the shape of the through hole, and the other parts are structurally different from those shown in FIGS. Is the same.

Diagram showing an example of a two-dimensional code Schematic which shows the structure of the laser exposure apparatus using the conventional galvanometer scanner mirror. Explanatory drawing of the conventional method in the case of forming a unit cell with a laser beam. Explanatory drawing which shows the structure and effect | action of a galvano scanner mirror. Explanatory drawing which shows the formation state of the unit cell and two-dimensional code at the time of implementing 1st invention with the laser exposure apparatus using a galvano scanner mirror. Explanatory drawing which shows the formation state of the unit cell and two-dimensional code at the time of implementing 3rd invention with the laser exposure apparatus using a galvano scanner mirror. Explanatory drawing which shows the formation state of the unit cell and two-dimensional code at the time of implementing 4th invention with the laser exposure apparatus using a galvano scanner mirror. Schematic which shows the structure of the laser exposure apparatus used for Example 1 of this invention. The perspective view of the aperture used for Example 1 of this invention. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a unit cell created according to the first embodiment. The perspective view of the aperture used for Example 2 of this invention.

3 Laser Generator 5 Expander Lens 6 Aperture 7 Galvano Scanner Mirror 8 f / θ Lens 9 Object

Claims (4)

When marking a two-dimensional code in which rectangular unit cells are arranged side by side in accordance with the code configuration of the data code by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror , an aperture provided at the rear of the expander lens, provided with an inclination from only the reference angle for correcting the deflection of the exposure pattern to be attributed to the inclination of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror of the laser beam incidence side, the laser beam passed through the aperture When a spot is formed by moving and irradiating the unit cell marking portion so as to fill a square unit cell, and the through hole is a square, the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is 1 unit cell size. less than the length of the sides, to characterized in that the 1/2 or more made such square hole size How to create a square unit cell of 2-dimensional code. When marking a two-dimensional code in which rectangular unit cells are arranged side by side in accordance with the code configuration of the data code by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror , The provided aperture is tilted behind the expander lens by an angle that corrects the deflection of the exposure pattern due to the tilt of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side, and the laser beam spot passes through the aperture. The unit cell marking portion is moved and irradiated to form a square unit cell, and when the through hole is rectangular, the length of one side of the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is the unit. The size of one side of the cell size should be less than or equal to 1/2 or more, and the length of the other side should be 2-dimensional code how to create a square unit cell, characterized in that the length follows the rectangular hole of. When marking a two-dimensional code in which rectangular unit cells are arranged side by side in accordance with the code configuration of the data code by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror , The provided aperture is tilted behind the expander lens by an angle that corrects the deflection of the exposure pattern due to the tilt of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side, and the laser beam spot passes through the aperture. The unit cell marking part is moved and irradiated so as to fill and form a square unit cell, and when the through hole is a rhombus, the spot size of the laser beam on the exposure surface is smaller than the unit cell marking part. creating square unit cell of 2-dimensional code, characterized in that the hole Law. When marking a two-dimensional code in which rectangular unit cells are arranged side by side in accordance with the code configuration of the data code by a laser exposure apparatus that moves and irradiates laser light using a galvano scanner mirror, Attaching the aperture for creating the unit cell to tilt the provided aperture behind the expander lens by an angle that corrects the deflection of the exposure pattern due to the tilt of the rotation axis of the galvano scanner mirror on the laser beam incident side An angle adjusting device, wherein a vertical hole for mounting is provided on the aperture with a pin hole interposed therebetween, and the pin hole is engaged with a pin provided on a slide plate, and the aperture is formed by a screw penetrating the vertical hole for mounting. Is fixed to the slide plate, and the slide plate is screwed through the mounting oblong hole provided in the slide plate. Mounting angle adjusting device of the unit cell for creating apertures, characterized in that fixed to percha base.

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