Patent Application
20110095062
The present invention relates to a breaking apparatus and a breaking method for dividing a brittle material substrate on which a scribe line is created. Brittle materials substrates include those made of glass, ceramic (low temperature sintered ceramics and high temperature sintered ceramics), a semiconductor material, such as silicon, and sapphire. In addition, substrates to be divided include single substrates and bonded substrates where two substrates are bonded together.
a) and 10(b) are diagrams showing an example of a conventional dividing method for a glass substrate. First, a substrate is placed on the table of a scribing apparatus and a scribe line S is created on a first surface, along which the substrate is to be divided, using a cutter wheel (
In the first step, the substrate is generally scribed mechanically; that is, by rolling a cutter wheel over the substrate, or by using the stress caused by the difference in temperature when the substrate is irradiated with a laser and then cooled.
In the second step, a breaking bar is pressed against the substrate or a roller rolled along the created scribe line, and an impact or bending moment applied in order to break the substrate.
In recent years, glass substrates for flat panels have been becoming thinner, harder and lighter in weight. Therefore, the surface along which substrates are divided is easy to break, because the substrate is thin, and the substrate easily chips when the substrate is broken after a scribe line is created. When the substrate is thick (for example 1 mm or more), for example with conventional glass substrates, it is necessary to apply a large load using the breaking bar at the time of breaking, and thus, the substrate easily chips.
It is generally desirable to divide a substrate with as small a load as possible in order to prevent chipping and improve the quality of the product. In order to make this possible, it is necessary for the vertical crack created along the scribe line in the scribing step to be deep.
Different methods for deepening the scribe line have been proposed.
One is for mechanically creating a deep crack using a heavily serrated cutter wheel that can bite deeply into the substrate (see Patent Document 1).
Another is for deepening a crack by rolling a serrated cutter wheel over the substrate while vibrating the scribing head to which the cutter wheel is attached up and down using a vibration actuator (see Patent Document 2).
Still another is for deepening a crack along the scribe line by applying ultrasonic energy along a scribe line on the surface of a glass substrate opposite to the side on which the scribe line is created during the breaking step after creating a scribe line instead of creating a deep crack in the scribing process (see Patent Document 3). In this method, the crack cannot be deepened if the scribe line is not sufficiently deep to begin with (approximately 5% of the thickness of the substrate).
The glass substrate will be required to be divided with higher quality in the future. The method for scribing a substrate with a serrated cutter wheel in Patent Document 1 and the method for scribing a substrate while vibrating a serrated cutter wheel in Patent Document 2 allow for deeper cracks than with conventional cutter wheels, and therefore are effective for reducing the load required for breaking the substrate. However, it would be more preferable for the required load to be even smaller. The method for breaking a substrate by applying ultrasonic energy in Patent Document 3 does not work unless the crack is sufficiently deep to begin with.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a breaking apparatus and breaking method for creating a deeper crack with a smaller breaking load by improving the breaking step.
In order to achieve the above described object, the present invention provides the following technical means. That is to say, the breaking apparatus according to the present invention has: a table on which a brittle material substrate is placed; a roller head for supporting a freely rotatable roller which makes contact with the substrate and has a vibration actuator for vibrating the roller in the direction in which the roller is pressed against the substrate; and a moving mechanism for moving the roller head over a surface of the substrate.
In addition, in accordance with the breaking method for dividing a brittle material substrate according to the present invention, a scribe line is created on a first surface, according to which a roller is rolled along the scribe line but on a second surface that is on the opposite side from the first surface while pressed against the substrate, and thus the substrate is divided along the scribe line, and the roller is vibrated in the direction in which the roller is pressed against the substrate.
In the breaking apparatus according to the present invention, a brittle material substrate is placed on a table. At this time, the first surface of the substrate on which a scribe line is created makes contact with the table surface. Then, a roller is pressed against the substrate with a desired breaking load and rolled over it along the scribe line but on the other side, which is the second surface of the substrate. At this time, the roller is vibrated in the direction in which it is pressed against the substrate (that is to say, the direction of the thickness of the substrate). As a result, the crack deepens, because of the vibration, even with a small breaking load, as compared to the case where the roller is rolled over the substrate without being vibrated, and thus, the substrate is easy to break. Even substrates that are too thick to break without a large load can be broken with a small load when the roller is vibrated.
a) and 10(b) are diagrams showing a conventional method for dividing a general glass substrate.
In the following, the breaking apparatus and breaking method of the present invention are described in detail in reference to the drawings.
The Y axis driving mechanism 13 is formed of a Y stage 15 for supporting the table 12 with the table rotating mechanism 14 in between, a linear motor 16 for driving the Y stage 15 in the direction Y, and a linear guide 17 for guiding the Y stage 15 in the direction Y.
The table rotating mechanism 14 is attached on top of the Y stage 15 so that the table 12 can be rotated in a horizontal plane by means of a motor (not shown).
In addition, an X stage 21 and an X axis driving mechanism 22 for moving it in the direction X are provided on top of the base 11. The X axis driving mechanism 22 is formed of a guide 24 which extends over the table 12 and supports 23 for supporting the guide. The guide 24 is provided with a linear motor (not shown) for driving the X stage 21 in the direction X and a linear guide 25 for guiding the X stage 21 in the direction X.
Next, the X stage 21 is described.
The X stage 21 is provided with a base plate 31 that is guided by the linear guide 25 and a Z axis driving mechanism 33 for moving a roller 32 in the direction Z on top of a base plate 31.
The Z axis driving mechanism 33 is formed of a Z stage 34, a ball screw mechanism 35 for driving the Z stage 34 in the direction Z, and a linear guide 36 for guiding the Z stage 34 in the direction Z.
A load applying cylinder 37, which is a pressure applying mechanism for pressing the roller 32 against the substrate G, is attached to the Z stage 34, and a roller head 40 is attached to the rod 37a of the load applying cylinder 37 with a vibration actuator 38 in between. An air cylinder, a servomotor or a voice coil motor can be used for the load applying cylinder 37.
In the load applying cylinder 37, the height of the roller 32 can be adjusted by means of the Z axis driving mechanism 33, and after that the load for pressing the roller 32 against the substrate G adjusted.
The vibration actuator 38 vibrates the roller 32 up and down with a preset amplitude and frequency.
The lower end of the holder 42 forks, so that the rotational axis of the roller 32 can be supported, and thus the roller 32 is supported in such a manner as to be freely rotatable.
Here, a piezoelectric element may be used as the vibrating element for the vibration actuator 38 instead of the super-magnetostrictive element 51.
Here, in the case where a cell substrate made of two substrates G1 and G2 that are bonded together is divided, as shown in
The breaking apparatus 10 is controlled by a computer (not shown); thus, the X axis driving mechanism 22, the Y axis driving mechanism 13, the Z axis driving mechanism 33 and the table rotating mechanism 14, as well as other parts, are operated by the computer.
Next, the breaking method using the breaking apparatus 10 according to one embodiment is described in reference to
The method for creating a scribe line is not particularly limited. For example, the substrate may be locally heated through irradiation with a laser and then locally cooled, so that the substrate is scribed due to the residual stress (see Japanese Patent No. 3027768), or the substrate may be mechanically scribed by rolling a cutter wheel over the surface.
In the latter process, the cutter wheel may have a normal, non-serrated edge, or be serrated so as to bite into the substrate more deeply, as in Patent Document 1.
In the breaking apparatus 10, a substrate G is placed on top of the table 12 with the scribe line S making contact with the table 12 (rubber sheet 12a). Then, the substrate is positioned using the alignment mark on the substrate, by operating the X axis driving mechanism 22, the Y axis driving mechanism 13 and the table rotating mechanism 14, so that the end of the line along which the substrate is to be broken is positioned directly beneath the roller 32.
Next, the roller head 40 is lowered by driving the Z axis driving mechanism 33, so that the roller 32 makes contact with the substrate G. The load applying cylinder 37 is operated, so that the roller 32 presses the substrate G with a desired breaking load. Concretely, the breaking load is adjusted within a range of 1 N to 50 N.
Next, the vibration actuator 38 is operated, so that the roller 32 vibrates with a desired amplitude and frequency. Concretely, the amplitude is within a range of 1 μm to 20 μm and the frequency within a range of 1 kHz to 10 kHz during the operation.
The X axis driving mechanism 22 is operated in this state, so that the roller head 40 moves at a desired speed. Concretely, the speed is set to an appropriate value within a range of 10 mm/sec to 1000 mm/sec (usually 50 mm/sec to 500 mm/sec), and the roller moves along at this speed while being pressed against the substrate.
During the above described operation, the roller 32 is pressed against the substrate along the scribe line S but on the rear side while being vibrated, and as a result, the crack deepens, so that the substrate can be broken with a smaller load.
Even substrates that are too thick to break unless a large load is applied to deepen the crack can be broken with a small load.
In addition, the surface along which the substrate is divided has barely any chips, because the substrate is broken with a small load, and thus, the quality of the product is high.
In addition to the breaking load applied to the roller and the speed of the roller, the amplitude and frequency of vibration can also be set as parameters for adjustment in accordance with the thickness and material of the substrate to be broken, and thus there is more freedom of adjustment.
Though typical embodiments of the present invention are described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these, and may be modified, as long as the object can be achieved and the scope is not deviated from.
In addition, though the surface of the roller through which the substrate is pressed is flat in the direction of the rotational axis, it may be curved with the center of the roller protruding from the left and right ends (downward protruding curve), so that it becomes easier to bend the substrate.
In addition, though the amplitude and frequency of vibration are constant when breaking the substrate in the above described embodiment, the amplitude may be different for each point along the breaking line. For example, the amplitude of vibration may be greater at the end from which breaking starts, where the roller head is immobile, so that the crack deepens and smaller as the roller head starts moving, so that the substrate can be broken with less damage (the crack runs through the substrate even with a smaller vibration).
The breaking method according to the present invention can be used for breaking substrates made of a brittle material, such as glass along a scribe line.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-244336 | Oct 2009 | JP | national |
