JP7553152B2 - Circuit Board Assembly Equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a substrate assembly device and substrate assembly method for manufacturing liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, etc., by bonding substrates together in a vacuum.

As an example of technology relating to a substrate assembly apparatus that bonds substrates in a vacuum, Patent Document 1 discloses a substrate assembly apparatus that efficiently removes gas from between the upper and lower substrates by moving the upper substrate up and down during a vacuum drawing process to change the separation distance between the upper and lower substrates.
Moreover, Patent Document 2 proposes a workpiece bonding apparatus in which an antistatic means is provided on the table.
Patent Document 3 discloses a vacuum bonding device in which multiple convex and concave portions are formed on the surfaces of the first and second holding members that come into contact with the non-bonding surfaces of the workpiece in order to reduce distortion due to adiabatic compression and temperature changes of the table, and by improving exhaust during pressure reduction (vacuum drawing), the effect on the workpiece of temperature changes due to adiabatic expansion or adiabatic compression in a small space is suppressed.

Furthermore, Patent Document 4 discloses a substrate assembly device in which concaves and convexes or grooves are formed on the sheet surface to alleviate the problem of lower substrate misalignment caused by residual air expansion on the lower table side under reduced pressure.
Patent Document 5 discloses a substrate assembly device that can perform bonding with high accuracy without misalignment in a peeling pin up/down mechanism or an adhesive pad up/down mechanism.

JP 2017-80868 A Patent No. 5654155 Patent No. 6255546 JP 2003-283185 A JP 2005-134687 A

However, in recent years, the size of glass substrates to be bonded in a vacuum has been increasing, and in the assembly devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, there are concerns that the air remaining in the table grooves during vacuuming may be exhausted at high speed, generating static electricity or causing bending of the glass substrate.

In addition, in the assembly devices disclosed in Patent Documents 4 and 5, there is a concern that bending may occur during the board lifting operation due to increased speed.

Therefore, the present invention provides a substrate assembly device and substrate assembly method that can reduce substrate deflection.

In order to solve the above problem, a substrate assembly apparatus according to the present invention is a substrate assembly apparatus which holds one substrate on a lower table and holds the other substrate on an upper table facing the one substrate, and bonds the substrates together in a vacuum chamber using an adhesive provided on one of the substrates, the substrate assembly apparatus comprising an embossed sheet made of an elastic body having a plurality of convex portions and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other and attached with an adhesive to the surface of the lower table which holds the substrate, a first lifter which is arranged loosely and a second lifter which is arranged densely, the first lifter extending in a plane parallel to an upper surface of the lower table, the second lifter being capable of penetrating the lower table, the substrate being raised a predetermined amount by the second lifter, and the substrate being further raised by the first lifter, the lower table being provided with a through hole through which the second lifter can pass, and when the substrate is raised a predetermined amount by the second lifter, a purge gas or atmosphere enters the back surface of the substrate from a gap between the inner surface of the through hole and the outer surface of the second lifter.

The substrate assembly apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the lower table is provided with an electrostatic adsorption mechanism for holding the substrate on the lower table .

The substrate assembly apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the lower table is provided with an adhesive pin mechanism for holding the substrate on the lower table .

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a substrate assembling apparatus and a substrate assembling method capable of reducing bending of a glass substrate.
Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate assembly apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 2 is an explanatory diagram of a guide mechanism constituting the board assembly apparatus shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an adhesive pin mechanism. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an elastic body on the surface of the upper table and the lower table shown in FIG. 3. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the board assembly apparatus shown in FIG. 1 . 11A and 11B are schematic diagrams of a substrate assembly apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, showing a top view and a side view of a lower table. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of a board assembly apparatus according to a second embodiment. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the lower glass substrate is lifted by a predetermined amount by the second lifter shown in FIG. 6. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the lower glass substrate is lifted by a predetermined amount by the first lifter shown in FIG. 6.

In this specification, a glass substrate is taken as an example of the substrates to be bonded in a vacuum, but the substrates to be bonded are not limited to a glass substrate.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a substrate assembly apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the substrate assembly apparatus 1 includes a base 15 and an upper frame 5 as rigid support members, and an upper chamber 7 and a lower chamber 8 inside the base 15 and the upper frame 5. The upper frame 5 is configured to move vertically relative to the base 15 via a ball screw receiving portion 2c provided on the upper frame 5 by rotating a ball screw 2b of a Z-axis drive motor 2a constituting a Z-axis drive mechanism 2 provided on the base 15 side. Four guide mechanisms 3 for the upper frame 5 to move vertically are provided.
Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the guide mechanism constituting the board assembly apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the guide mechanism 3. As shown in Fig. 2, two linear guides 3a are provided on a beam 17 fixed to the frame 15 side, and a linear moving section 3b is provided on a beam 18 fixed to the upper frame 5 side. As shown in Fig. 2, one guide surface is combined with the other guide surface so as to be perpendicular to it.

Returning to FIG. 1, a plurality of lower shafts 12 for supporting the lower table 10 are attached above the stand 15. Each lower shaft 12 protrudes into the lower chamber 8 via a vacuum seal (not shown) to maintain airtightness with the lower chamber 8. Furthermore, an XYθ movement unit 13 configured to be independently movable in the X, Y, and θ directions is attached between each lower shaft 12 and the lower table 10. The XYθ movement unit 13 may be configured as a mechanism using a ball bearing or the like that is fixed in the vertical direction and freely movable in the horizontal direction. A plurality of lower table horizontal drive mechanisms (not shown) are provided outside the lower chamber 8 in the horizontal direction (X and Y directions) of the lower table 10, and the XYθ direction positioning can be performed by pushing the side surface of the lower table (thickness direction of the lower table) with an axis provided in the drive mechanism.
Furthermore, the lower chamber 8 and the upper chamber 7 are configured to be separable, and a seal ring (not shown) is provided at the connection between them, which combines the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 and prevents air leakage when the inside is evacuated.

A load cell 4 is provided at each connection between the upper frame 5 and the Z-axis drive mechanism 2. The upper chamber 7 is attached inside the upper frame 5. The upper chamber 7 is suspended from the upper frame 5 by a support shaft 6c and a bracket 7b, and the upper chamber 7 can be separated from the lower chamber 8 by moving the upper frame 5 up and down. In addition, the upper frame 5 is provided with multiple upper shafts 6 toward the inside of the upper chamber 7 to support the upper table 9. The upper shafts 6 and the upper chamber 7 are connected by a vacuum seal to keep the chamber airtight. Furthermore, the upper table 9 is fixed to the upper shafts 6, and the force when the glass substrate is pressed can be detected by the load cell 4. The Z-axis drive mechanism 2 is capable of moving the upper chamber 7 and the upper table 9 up and down, and therefore a support shaft 6c for the upper chamber 7 provided on the upper frame 5 and a support shaft (upper shaft 6) for the upper table 9 provided on the upper frame 5 are provided separately. Therefore, the support shaft 6c of the upper chamber 7 is configured to have some play so that when the upper chamber 7 is combined with the lower chamber 8, a force that moves downward from the upper chamber 7 to the lower chamber 8 is not applied. That is, a bracket 7b of a predetermined height is attached to the top of the upper chamber 7, and the flange part of the tip of the support shaft 6c of the upper chamber 7 is made to abut inside the bracket 7b. When the upper chamber 7 is lifted, the flange part of the support shaft 6c comes into contact with (abuts on) this bracket 7b, and the upper chamber 7 and the upper table 9 can move upward together. That is, when the upper shaft 6 is raised and the upper table 9 is moved upward a predetermined amount in the upper chamber 7, the flange part of the support shaft 6c abuts on the bracket 7b, and when it is further raised, the upper table 9 and the upper chamber 7 move upward together. Also, the upper chamber 7 and the upper table 9 move together until the upper chamber 7 moves downward and becomes integrated with the lower chamber 8, and after the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 become integrated, the upper table 9 can move independently toward the lower table 10.

As described above, in this embodiment, the upper table 9 and the lower table 10 are positioned away from the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8. Therefore, although the chamber deforms when the pressure inside the chamber is reduced, this deformation is not transmitted to the upper table 9 and the lower table 10, and the glass substrate can be held horizontally.

The upper table 9 is provided with an elastic plate 11 made of iron. An elastic body 11a is provided on the entire surface of the elastic plate 11 that contacts the glass substrate. The elastic plate 11 is fixed by the magnetic force of multiple magnets embedded in the upper table 9 and screw fastening, and is configured to be replaceable. Here, the upper table 9 is made of, for example, an aluminum alloy, and although omitted in FIG. 1, the lower table 10 is also provided with an elastic plate 11 made of iron, and an elastic body 11b is provided on the entire surface of the elastic plate 11 that contacts the glass substrate. In this embodiment, the elastic plate 11 and elastic body 11a are provided on the upper table 9, and the elastic plate 11 and elastic body 11b are provided on the lower table 10, but this is not necessarily limited to this. In other words, the elastic plate and elastic body may be provided on only one of the upper table 9 or the lower table 10.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the adhesive pin mechanism. As shown in Figure 3, an adhesive pin drive mechanism 14 that can operate independently of the upper table 9 is installed on the upper chamber 7 or the upper frame 5. This adhesive pin drive mechanism 14 is composed of a vertical drive motor 14a, an adhesive pin plate 14b to which a plurality of adhesive pins 14c are attached, and an adhesive pin vertical mechanism 14d. The adhesive pin plate 14b and the adhesive pins 14c have a vacuum suction mechanism, and an adhesive sheet 14e is attached to the tip of the adhesive pin 14c. In addition, the adhesive pin 14c has a structure that can be removed from the adhesive pin plate 14b (it is made freely attachable and detachable by a screw mechanism), and is replaceable. Inside the adhesive pin plate 14b, a negative pressure chamber that supplies negative pressure and a negative pressure flow path (not shown) provided in the center of the adhesive pin 14c are connected from the negative pressure chamber, so that negative pressure can be supplied to the opening provided at the tip of the adhesive pin 14c. An adhesive sheet 14e is provided at the tip of the adhesive pin 14c except for the opening. In addition, the adhesive pin up/down mechanism 14d, which moves the adhesive pin plate 14b up and down, is connected to the upper chamber 7 by a bellows-shaped elastic body, which makes it possible to maintain a vacuum state.

4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the elastic body (11a, 11b) on the surface of the upper table 9 and the lower table 10 shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the elastic body 11b on the surface of the lower table 10, and the upper part of the vertical cross-sectional view is structured so that the rear surface of the glass substrate can abut against it. Therefore, strictly speaking, the vertical cross-sectional view of the elastic body 11a on the surface of the upper table 9 is inverted upside down in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is also an enlarged view to show an example of the cross-sectional shape and dimensions of an elastic body having convex and concave portions. As shown in FIG. 4, the elastic body 11b on the surface of the lower table 10 has a plurality of convex and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other. The height of the convex portions is, for example, 25 μm, and the pitch of the convex portions (pitch along the width direction of the lower table 10) is about 500 μm.
The length of the convex portion along the width direction of the lower table 10 is about 460 μm, and the length of the concave portion along the width direction of the lower table 10 is about 40 μm. Although not shown, the elastic body (11a, 11b) having a plurality of convex portions and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other in this way has a plurality of convex portions arranged in a square lattice shape, a triangular lattice shape, or a houndstooth lattice shape when viewed from above. On the other hand, as described above, the size of the glass substrate to be bonded in a vacuum has increased in recent years, and the dimensions of the glass substrate are, for example, 3 m x 3 m. Therefore, the ratio of the width of the elastic body 11a and/or the elastic body 11b (the width along the width direction of the upper table 9 and/or the lower table 10) to the width of the upper table 9 and/or the lower table 10 that holds such a glass substrate is 10 ^-6 to 10 ^-4 .
This makes it possible to prevent a large flow rate of air from occurring when the air remaining in the recesses (grooves) of the elastic body 11a and/or the elastic body 11b during evacuation is exhausted. In other words, a plurality of thin exhaust passages are formed on the surface of the elastic body 11a and/or the elastic body 11b, making it possible to disperse the exhaust of the air remaining in the recesses (grooves). As a result, it becomes possible to contribute to the production of displays without color unevenness by reducing the occurrence of unevenness due to frictional charging with the substrate, preventing the occurrence of unevenness due to temperature drop caused by rapid adiabatic expansion, and improving the accuracy of substrate lamination, in order to produce large, thin, and fine patterns in the production of next-generation high-definition displays.

In this embodiment, the elastic plate 11 and the elastic body 11a are provided on the upper table 9, and the elastic plate 11 and the elastic body 11b are provided on the lower table 10, or the elastic plate and the elastic body are provided on only one of the upper table 9 and the lower table 10, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an embossed sheet having a plurality of convex portions and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other as described above may be attached to the surface of the upper table 9 made of aluminum alloy that holds the glass substrate by adhesive. Here, the embossed sheet is formed into a wave shape by embossing a sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for example. Similarly, an embossed sheet having a plurality of convex portions and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other as described above may be attached to the surface of the lower table 10 made of aluminum alloy that holds the glass substrate by adhesive. Alternatively, an embossed sheet may be attached to only one of the upper table 9 and the lower table 10 by adhesive.
In this way, by using an embossed sheet having multiple convex and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other, it is possible to obtain the board assembly apparatus 1 of this embodiment by simply attaching the above-mentioned embossed sheet with adhesive to the upper table and/or lower table that constitutes an existing board assembly apparatus.

Next, a description will be given of the operation of the board assembly apparatus 1. Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation flow of the board assembly apparatus 1 shown in Fig. 1 .
As shown in FIG. 5, in step S11, the upper glass substrate with the bonding surface facing the lower table 10 is carried in to the lower surface of the upper table 9 by using a robot hand (not shown). A plurality of suction support nozzles (not shown) and an adhesive pin driving mechanism 14 (FIG. 3) (not shown) are lowered from the upper table 9, and the upper glass substrate is first sucked to the tip of the suction support nozzle (not shown). Then, the suction support nozzle is raised until the tip of the suction support nozzle is at the adhesive pin surface position, and negative pressure is supplied to the adhesive pin suction and suction hole (not shown) provided in the adhesive pin 14c (FIG. 3) to hold the upper glass substrate on the adhesive sheet 14e surface. In this embodiment, the suction support nozzle is used separately from the adhesive pin mechanism, but this is not limited to this, and a configuration in which the suction support nozzle is not provided and only the adhesive pin 14c is used for suction, suction, and adhesive holding may be used. With the upper glass substrate held on the adhesive sheet 14e provided at the tip of the adhesive pin 14c, the adhesive pin 14c is raised to bring the upper glass substrate into contact with and hold it on the elastic body 11a surface of the elastic body plate 11 attached to the upper table 9.

In step S12, adhesive (sealant) is applied in a ring shape to the surface of the lower glass substrate, and the lower glass substrate, on which an appropriate amount of liquid crystal has been dropped in the area surrounded by the adhesive, is carried to the position of the lower table 10 by a robot hand and placed on the support pins. Note that instead of applying the adhesive to the lower glass substrate, it may be applied to the upper glass substrate, or it may be applied to both the upper and lower glass substrates.

Next, the support pin is retracted toward the lower table 10 until its tip is on the table surface or inside the table surface, and negative pressure is supplied to the suction holes in the lower table 10 to hold it in place. The lower table 10 is provided with an electrostatic suction mechanism so that the glass substrate can be held in place even when the chamber is in a vacuum state. The lower table 10 may also be configured with an adhesive pin mechanism, similar to the upper table 9. In this case, the travel distance of the adhesive pin can be set to be smaller than that of the upper table 9.

In step S13, after the upper and lower glass substrates are held by the adhesive pins 14c and the lower table 10, respectively, the Z-axis drive mechanism 2 is operated to lower the upper frame 5, the upper chamber 7, and the upper table 9, and the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 are combined via a seal ring to form a vacuum chamber. In synchronization with this operation, the adhesive pin drive mechanism 14 is also lowered using the vertical drive motor 14a and the adhesive pin vertical mechanism 14d so that the positional relationship with the upper table 9 does not change. At this time, the gap between the opposing surfaces of the upper substrate held by the upper table 9 and the lower substrate held by the lower table 10 is kept at about several millimeters, and the upper substrate and the lower substrate are not in contact with each other. Thereafter, the air in the vacuum chamber is exhausted from an exhaust port provided on the lower chamber 8 side (not shown) to reduce the pressure inside the vacuum chamber. When the vacuum chamber is in a reduced pressure state for bonding, a camera (not shown) with a deep focal depth provided on the lower unit side is used to determine the amount of deviation between the positioning marks provided in advance on the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate. However, when the focal depth of the camera is shallow, a mechanism for moving the camera up and down is provided to first recognize the positioning mark on the upper glass substrate, then the camera is moved downward to recognize the positioning mark on the lower glass substrate, and the amount of misalignment between the positioning marks on the upper and lower glass substrates is obtained. Then, the XYθ movement unit 13 is driven to move the lower table 10, thereby correcting the misalignment in the XYθ directions between the upper and lower substrates.
This positioning operation can also be performed during the depressurization process for lamination.
In step S14, when the alignment of the upper and lower substrates is completed, the Z-axis drive mechanism 2 is operated to move the upper table 9 via the frame 5, and the adhesive pin drive mechanism 14 is moved toward the lower table 10 in synchronization with the movement, so that the upper and lower glass substrates come into contact with each other. With the upper and lower glass substrates in contact with each other, the amount of deviation of the positioning marks on the upper and lower glass substrates is checked again, and if there is deviation, the positioning operation is performed again. When the checking and positioning operation are completed, only the upper table 9 is further lowered, and pressure is applied and the upper glass substrate is released from the adhesive pins 14c. When the substrate is pressed, the elastic body 11a on the elastic plate 11 attached to the upper table 9 is deformed, so that the entire substrate can be uniformly pressed. Note that the glass substrates held on both tables may become misaligned when pressed, so it is better to observe the positioning marks from time to time and correct the position deviation.

In step 15, when the upper and lower glass substrates are pressed together and bonding is complete, a purge gas is introduced into the vacuum chamber from a purge gas blowing mechanism (not shown). At this time, air is also introduced to return the pressure to atmospheric pressure. By returning the pressure to atmospheric pressure, a further pressing force acts on the glass substrate, and it is pressurized to the specified thickness. In this state, a UV irradiation mechanism (not shown) is operated to harden the adhesive in multiple places to temporarily bond them together, completing the bonding of the liquid crystal substrates.

In the above operation, the adhesive pins 14c hold the substrates until the upper and lower glass substrates come into contact with the adhesive (sealing agent) applied to one of the glass substrates, and the adhesive pins 14c are not moved downward any further than this, and the adhesive pins 14c are peeled off from the substrate surface by moving only the upper table 9 downward. At this time, by moving the adhesive pins 14c in the opposite direction to the movement direction of the glass substrate, the adhesive pins 14c can be reliably peeled off from the substrate surface.
When applying pressure to the substrate, the adhesive pins are also moved toward the lower table 10 at the same time, and after the pressure is released and atmospheric pressure is restored, the table is kept in the same state as when pressure was applied, and the adhesive pin drive mechanism 14 is raised in this state to detach the adhesive pins from the substrate. At this time, the adhesive pins can be easily peeled off from the substrate surface by raising the adhesive pins while feeding positive gas or clean air into the suction/adsorption holes at the tips of the adhesive pins.

In step S16, the bonded substrates are removed from the vacuum chamber using a robot hand (not shown).

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a substrate assembling apparatus and a substrate assembling method capable of reducing the bending of a glass substrate.
Furthermore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to contribute to the production of displays without color unevenness in response to the larger, thinner, and finer patterns required for the production of next-generation high-definition displays by reducing the occurrence of unevenness due to frictional electrification with the substrate, preventing the occurrence of unevenness due to a temperature drop caused by rapid adiabatic expansion, and improving the precision of substrate lamination.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a board assembly device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, showing a top view and a side view of the lower table. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in that it includes a first lifter 21 that is arranged loosely and a second lifter 22 that is arranged tightly and can penetrate the lower table 10. In the following, components similar to those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions that overlap with the first embodiment will be omitted.

Figure 6 shows a top view and a side view of the lower table 10 constituting the board assembly device 1 of this embodiment. As shown in the top view, the board assembly device 1 of this embodiment has a first lifter 21 that is rod-shaped and extends in one direction, and as shown in the side view, a second lifter 22 that is arranged in a through hole 23 provided in the lower table 10 and can move up and down. For convenience of explanation, Figure 6 shows a case where there are two first lifters 21 and 24 second lifters 22, but the number of first lifters 21 and second lifters 22 is not limited to this. However, as shown in Figure 6, the arrangement density of the first lifters 21 is sparse, and the arrangement density of the second lifters 22 is dense. In other words, if the first lifters 21 are arranged sparsely and the second lifters 22 are arranged densely, the number of first lifters 21 and second lifters 22 may be set appropriately.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation flow of the board assembly apparatus of this embodiment.
Steps S21 to S25 in FIG. 7 are similar to steps S11 to S15 shown in FIG. 5 in the above-mentioned first embodiment, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted here.

In step S27, the second lifter 22 rises a predetermined amount, and the bonded substrate is protruded from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 by a predetermined amount, so that the bonded substrate is raised from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10. Here, FIG. 8 shows a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state in which the lower glass substrate 16 is raised a predetermined amount by the second lifter 22 shown in FIG. 6. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 8 shows the state in which the lower glass substrate 16 is raised a predetermined amount, but this means the substrate after bonding. As shown in FIG. 8, the pitch P1 of the second lifter 22 (the pitch along the width direction of the lower table 10) is, for example, 80 mm to 100 mm, the diameter D1 of the second lifter 22 is, for example, 5 mm, and the hole diameter of the through hole 23 is, for example, 8 mm. In addition, the lift amount h1 of the second lifter 22 from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 is, for example, 1 mm to 3 mm. The second lifter 22 is formed of, for example, a resin such as PEEK (polyetheretherketone), and the tip that contacts the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16 is curved with a predetermined radius of curvature, which prevents damage or scratches on the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16. The purge gas or air introduced by the purge gas blow mechanism passes through the gap between the inner surface of the through hole 23 and the outer surface of the second lifter 22 and is blown onto the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 8. In other words, the purge gas or air enters the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16 from the gap between the inner surface of the through hole 23 and the outer surface of the second lifter 22.

Returning to FIG. 7, in step S27, the first lifter 21 rises a predetermined amount to further separate the lower glass substrate 16 from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10. Here, FIG. 9 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the state in which the lower glass substrate 16 has been raised a predetermined amount by the first lifter 21 shown in FIG. 6. As in FIG. 8, for the sake of convenience, FIG. 9 also shows the state in which the lower glass substrate 16 has been raised a predetermined amount, but this means the substrate after bonding. As shown in FIG. 9, the pitch P2 of the first lifter 21 (the pitch along the width direction of the lower table 10) is, for example, 200 mm to 250 mm, and the lift amount h2 of the first lifter 21 from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 is, for example, 100 to 200 mm. Therefore, the lift amount h2 of the first lifter 21 from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 is approximately 33 to 200 times the lift amount h1 of the second lifter 22 from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10.

In this way, in the above-mentioned step S26, in the initial stage where the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16 constituting the substrate after bonding is separated from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10, the purge gas or the atmosphere enters the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16 from the gap between the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 23 and the outer peripheral surface of the second lifter 22. At this time, the negative pressure between the back surface of the lower glass substrate 16 and the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 is released through the through hole 23, making it possible to prevent the substrate after bonding from bending due to the negative pressure. Then, in the above-mentioned step S27, the lower glass substrate 16 is further separated from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 by the first lifter 21, so that the substrate after bonding can be preferably further separated from the holding surface (surface) of the lower table 10 while preventing the substrate from bending after bonding. As a result, it is possible to prevent unevenness caused by bending of the glass substrate, contributing to the production of displays without color unevenness in response to the larger, thinner, and finer patterns required for the production of next-generation high-definition displays, thereby improving quality, improving yields, reducing costs, and improving productivity.

Returning to FIG. 7, in step S28, the bonded substrates, which have been separated from the holding surface (front surface) of the lower table 10 by the first lifter 21, are handed over to a robot hand (not shown), which then transports them out of the vacuum chamber.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a substrate assembling apparatus and a substrate assembling method capable of reducing the bending of a glass substrate.
Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the occurrence of unevenness due to bending of the glass substrate can be prevented, and this contributes to the production of displays without color unevenness in response to the larger, thinner, and finer patterning required for the production of next-generation high-definition displays, thereby making it possible to improve quality, improve yield, reduce costs, and improve productivity.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but includes various modifications.
For example, the above-mentioned embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the configurations described. Also, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment.

1... Substrate assembly device 2... Z-axis drive mechanism 2a... Z-axis drive motor 2b... Ball screw 2c... Ball screw receiving portion 3... Guide mechanism 3a... Linear guide 3b... Linear moving portion 4... Load cell 5... Upper frame 6... Upper shaft 7... Upper chamber 7b... Bracket 8... Lower chamber 9... Upper table 10... Lower table 11... Elastic plate 11a, 11b... Elastic body 12... Lower shaft 13... XYθ moving unit 14... Adhesive pin drive mechanism 14a... Up and down drive motor 14b... Adhesive pin plate 14c... Adhesive pin 14d... Adhesive pin up and down mechanism 14e... Adhesive sheet 15... Frame 16... Lower glass substrate 17, 18... Beam 21... First lifter 22... Second lifter 23... Through hole

Claims (3)

A substrate assembly apparatus that holds one substrate on a lower table, holds the other substrate on an upper table so as to face the one substrate, and bonds the substrates together in a vacuum chamber using an adhesive provided on one of the substrates,
an embossed sheet made of an elastic body having a plurality of convex and concave portions arranged adjacent to each other, the embossed sheet being attached with an adhesive to a surface of the lower table that holds the substrate;
The lifter has a first lifter that is roughly arranged and a second lifter that is closely arranged,
the first lifter extends in a plane parallel to an upper surface of the lower table,
the second lifter is capable of penetrating the lower table, and after the second lifter lifts the substrate by a predetermined amount, the first lifter further lifts the substrate;
The lower table has a through hole through which the second lifter can pass, and when the second lifter lifts the substrate a predetermined amount, purge gas or atmosphere enters the back surface of the substrate through a gap between the inner surface of the through hole and the outer surface of the second lifter. 2. The substrate assembly apparatus according to claim 1,
A substrate assembly apparatus comprising: a lower table provided with an electrostatic adsorption mechanism for holding the substrate on the lower table. 2. The substrate assembly apparatus according to claim 1,
A substrate assembly apparatus, comprising: a lower table provided with an adhesive pin mechanism for holding the substrate on the lower table.

Images