JP4718097B2 - Method for producing molded product having fine pattern on surface - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for producing a molded product in which a fine pattern with irregularities is formed on the surface of a substrate such as glass, such as a microfluidic chip.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a member for microfluidic chips and micromachines used in the chemical and medical fields, the surface of a glass plate with a side of about several tens of μm to several tens of mm, and the fineness due to unevenness with a height (depth) of several tens of nm to several hundreds of μm Products with a unique pattern are used.
[0003]
One method for producing such products is glass pressing. In press molding of glass, a molding material is placed between a pair of molds, the mold and the molding material are heated to soften the molding material, and then a press load is applied between the molds to form the mold surface. Transfer the molding pattern to the surface of the molding material.
[0004]
In general, cemented carbide, ceramics, and the like are used as a material for a mold for glass molding. When a material having a high softening point such as quartz glass is molded, glassy carbon is used as a mold material. Glassy carbon has high temperature strength and is excellent in releasability from glass. When a fine molding pattern is formed on the surface of a glassy carbon mold, the mold surface is finished to a certain shape by machining and then etched by photolithography used in the semiconductor manufacturing process. it can.
[0005]
When a glassy carbon mold is used, the mechanical strength is relatively low. Therefore, when the mold is repeatedly used, the mold surface is damaged by wear or breakage in a relatively small number of times. Therefore, there is a problem that the running cost associated with the replacement of the mold is high, and as a result, the manufacturing cost of the molded product is high.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems in producing a molded product in which a fine pattern due to unevenness is formed on the surface of a substrate such as glass, and the object of the present invention is such molding. An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method capable of reducing the manufacturing cost of a product.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The production method of the present invention comprises:
In a method for producing a molded product having a fine pattern on the surface by placing a molding material between a pair of molds, heating the mold and the molding material, and press molding the molding material using the mold.
By contacting one or both sides of the molding material, stacking a thin plate-like plate material on which a molding pattern is formed on the contact surface with the molding material, and pressing the molding material between the pair of molds together with the plate material, The molding pattern is transferred to the surface of the molding material.
[0008]
According to the method of the present invention, since a fine molding pattern is formed on the surface of the thin plate-shaped plate material, when the molding pattern is damaged due to repeated molding, only the plate material needs to be replaced. . Therefore, the mold body can be used for a long time without replacement. In addition, since a fine molding pattern is formed on the surface of the thin plate-shaped plate material, the processing is easier than the case where a fine molding pattern is formed on the surface of the mold body, and the cost required for the processing is reduced. Low. As a result, the running cost when manufacturing a molded product having a fine pattern can be kept low.
[0009]
For example, the pair of molds has a flat mold surface, and the thin plate material is a flat plate in which a molding pattern is formed on a contact surface with a molding material.
[0010]
For example, a fine molding pattern can be formed on the surface of the thin plate material by etching.
[0011]
In that case, preferably, first, an original plate having a plurality of fine molding patterns arranged on the surface thereof is manufactured by etching, and then the original plate is cut into each molding pattern to obtain the thin plate-shaped plate material.
[0012]
In addition, when shape | molding quartz glass, Preferably, the plate material made from glassy carbon is used as the said plate-shaped plate material.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows an example of a manufacturing method according to the present invention. Both the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2 have a planar mold surface. A thin plate-like plate material 4 is held on the lower mold 2, and a glass molding material 3 is set thereon. A fine molding pattern is formed on the upper surface of the plate material 4 by unevenness. After the upper mold 1, the lower mold 2, the plate material 4 and the molding material 3 are heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the glass transition point to soften the molding material 3, a press load is applied between the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2. As a result, the molding pattern formed on the upper surface of the plate material 4 is transferred to the lower surface of the molding material 3.
[0014]
When the molding material 3 is quartz glass, a glassy carbon thin plate can be used as the plate material 4. For example, the molding conditions for producing an electrophoresis chip (30 mm × 10 mm × 1 mm) made of quartz glass are molding temperature: 1350 to 1450 ° C., pressing force: 1 to 5 N, and pressing time: about 30 to 120 seconds.
[0015]
FIG. 2 shows another example of the manufacturing method according to the present invention. In this example, a thin plate-shaped plate material 5 is set on the molding material 3. On the lower surface of the plate material 5, a fine molding pattern is formed by unevenness. In this case, the molding pattern is transferred to the upper surface of the molding material 3.
[0016]
FIG. 3 shows another example of the manufacturing method according to the present invention. In this example, thin plate-like plate materials 6 and 7 are set above and below the molding material 3, respectively. On the lower surface of the plate material 6 and the upper surface of the plate material 7, fine molding patterns are formed by unevenness. In this way, the molding pattern can be transferred to the upper and lower surfaces of the molding material 3.
[0017]
Next, an example of a method for producing a thin plate material will be described. If the height (depth) of the fine pattern due to the transferred irregularities is about 100 μm, it is sufficient that the thickness of the plate material is about several hundreds of μm. In such a case, photolithography used in the semiconductor manufacturing process can be applied to form the molding pattern. By performing etching by photolithography, a large number of the same pattern can be formed on one wafer at a time. In addition, a plurality of wafers (for example, 25 pieces per lot) can be continuously processed under the same conditions. Therefore, by dividing the wafer thus processed into a thin plate-shaped plate material, a large number of plate materials can be produced at low cost.
[0018]
FIG. 4 shows an example of such a wafer. In this example, the wafer 8 is a 4-inch wafer made of glassy carbon, and 16 patterns 9 (30 mm × 10 mm × 1 mm) for electrophoresis chips are arranged on the surface thereof. The pattern 9 for the electrophoresis chip is formed by coating a photoresist on the wafer 8, exposing and developing, and then performing dry etching. After the pattern 9 is formed, dicing is performed to divide into 16 plate materials.
[0019]
According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the running cost associated with mold damage, that is, replacement of the plate material. Therefore, when manufacturing a molded product having a fine pattern formed by unevenness, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced.
[0020]
Note that glassy carbon is preferably used as the material of the thin plate-shaped plate material. However, other materials may be used as long as they have no fusion with glass, have high temperature strength and hardness, and can be applied with photolithography.
[0021]
As the material of the upper and lower molds 1 and 2, it is required that the portion that is in close contact with the glass has no fusion with the glass and has high-temperature strength, but the portion that does not directly contact the glass is high-temperature strength As long as it has. Examples of such a material include cemented carbide and molybdenum.
[0022]
In addition to the optical glass and quartz glass, ceramics (ZnS, sapphire, ruby, etc.) can be formed using the above method.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
According to the method of the present invention, a fine pattern with irregularities can be formed with high precision on the surface of a substrate such as glass. Further, when the molding pattern is damaged as the molding is repeated, only the thin plate-shaped plate material needs to be replaced, and the die body can be used for a long time without replacement. Further, since a fine molding pattern is formed on the surface of the thin plate-shaped plate material, the processing is easier than the case where the molding pattern is formed on the surface of the main body of the mold, and the cost required for the processing is low. As a result, the running cost when manufacturing a molded product having a fine pattern on the surface can be kept low.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an example of a manufacturing method according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing another example of the manufacturing method according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view showing another example of the manufacturing method according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a method for producing a thin plate-like plate material used in the production method according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... Upper mold,
2 ... Lower mold,
3 ... Molding material,
4, 5, 6, 7 ... plate material,
8 ... wafer,
9: Molding pattern.

Claims (2)

In a method for producing a molded product having a fine pattern on the surface by placing a molding material between a pair of molds, heating the mold and the molding material, and press molding the molding material using the mold.
A pair of thin plate-shaped plate materials made of flat plates with a molding pattern formed on the contact surface with the molding material in contact with one or both surfaces of the molding material, and the molding material together with the plate material having a planar mold surface Transferring the molding pattern to the surface of the molding material by pressing between the molds ;
The plate material is obtained by cutting an original plate in which a plurality of molding patterns are arranged on the surface by etching, for each molding pattern,
A method for producing a molded product having a fine pattern on its surface. The method for producing a molded product having a fine pattern on a surface according to claim 1 , wherein the molding material is made of quartz glass, and the thin plate-shaped plate material is made of glassy carbon.

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