Method of manufacturing member with concave portions, member with concave portions, lens substrate, transmission type screen and rear projection

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a member with concave portions includes preparing a base material, forming a mask formation film on the base material, forming a number of openings in the mask formation film by laser irradiation treatments using a branching filter, and etching the base material to form the concave portions in the base material. The branching filter branches laser light into first laser beams and second laser beams. Each of irradiation regions of the mask formation film sequentially is subjected to the laser irradiation treatment, so that first openings are formed by the first laser beams and second openings are formed by the second laser beams. Each of the irradiation regions has portions where no opening is formed by the first beams of the laser irradiation treatment for the irradiation region while openings will be formed by the second laser beams in one or more of the subsequent laser irradiation treatments. In the base material, concave portions for examination use are formed using some of the openings formed by the second laser beams used in the laser irradiation treatments for the specified irradiation regions.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a vertical section view schematically showing a member with concave portions in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing a member with concave portions according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical section view illustrating steps of manufacturing the member with concave portions in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view schematically showing a configuration of a laser processing apparatus used in forming openings and a situation that a laser irradiation treatment is being performed.

FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing a branching filter used in an opening forming step (a laser irradiation treatment) in a method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with a first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating an arrangement of openings formed in a mask formation film each time a laser irradiation treatment is carried out in the method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view schematically showing a member with concave portions according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view schematically showing a branching filter used in an opening forming step (a laser irradiation treatment) in a method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating an arrangement of openings formed in a mask formation film each time a laser irradiation treatment is carried out in the method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 14 is a plan view schematically showing a member with concave portions according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a plan view schematically showing a branching filter used in an opening forming step (a laser irradiation treatment) in a method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with a third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a plan view illustrating an arrangement of openings formed in a mask formation film each time a laser irradiation treatment is carried out in the method of manufacturing a member with concave portions in accordance with the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 18 is a plan view illustrating different situations that openings are sequentially formed on a group-by-group basis in the mask formation film by repeatedly performing the laser irradiation treatment.

FIG. 19 is a vertical section view schematically illustrating one example of a method of manufacturing a microlens substrate.

FIG. 20 is a vertical section view schematically illustrating one example of a method of manufacturing a microlens substrate.

FIG. 21 is a schematic vertical section view illustrating one preferred embodiment of the transmission type screen in accordance with the present invention, which incorporates the microlens substrate (lens substrate).

FIG. 22 is a view schematically illustrating a configuration of the rear projection in accordance with the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a member with concave portions having a number of concave portions, comprising: preparing a base material;forming a mask formation film on the base material;forming a number of openings in the mask formation film by means of laser processing using a branching filter to obtain a mask, the branching filter having a number of light transmission portions for branching laser light which has been emitted from a laser light source into a plurality of laser beams, the light transmission portions including first light transmission portions arranged in a predetermined region for producing first laser beams and second light transmission portions arranged out of the predetermined region for producing second laser beams; andetching the base material on which the mask has been formed to form the concave portions in the base material;wherein the mask formation film has a plurality of irradiation regions each having a predetermined size, and the laser processing is carried out by performing a laser irradiation treatment with the laser beams branched by the branching filter for each of the plurality of irradiation regions sequentially in a predetermined order to form the openings in the irradiation regions, in which the openings formed by the laser irradiation treatment for each of the irradiation regions including first openings which are formed inside the irradiation region by the first laser beams and second openings which are formed out of the irradiation region by the second laser beams, wherein the first light transmission portions and the second light transmission portions of the branching filter are arranged so that each of the irradiation regions has portions where no opening is formed by the first beams of the laser irradiation treatment for the irradiation region while openings will be formed in the portions of the irradiation region by the second laser beams in one or more of the subsequent laser irradiation treatments, whereby when the laser irradiation treatments have been carried out for all the irradiation regions and then the etching process is completed, a number of concave portions are formed in the base material so that the base material can have an effective area in which the concave portions are formed in a regularly arranged manner and an ineffective area which is positioned out of the effective area and in which concave portions for examination use are formed using some of the openings formed by the second laser beams used in the laser irradiation treatments for the specified irradiation regions.

2. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portions of the irradiation region are provided on locations in the irradiation region where openings will be formed by the second laser beams in one or more of the subsequent laser irradiation treatments.

3. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 2, wherein in each of the laser irradiation treatments on or after the second laser irradiation treatment, the portions of the irradiation region are also provided on locations in the irradiation region where the openings have already been formed by the second laser beams in one or more of the preceding laser irradiation treatments.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concave portions for examination use are formed so as to be spaced apart from other concave portions in the ineffective area of the base material.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the laser irradiation treatments are carried out by relatively moving the base material to the laser light source and the branching filter in a X-direction and a Y-direction orthogonal to the X-direction so that the plurality of irradiation regions are also moved in the same manner, wherein in the branching filter the second light transmission portions arranged at positions spaced apart from the first light transmission portions in the predetermined region in the X-direction and Y-direction.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the each of the concave portions formed in the effective area has a flattened ellipse shape when viewed from a top of the surface of the base material where the concave portions are formed.

7. A member with concave portions which is manufactured using the manufacturing method defined by claim 1.

8. A lens substrate manufactured using the member with concave portions defined by claim 7

9. The leans substrate as claimed in claim 8, wherein the lens substrate is a microlens substrate.

10. A transmission screen provided with the microlens substrate defined by claim 8.

11. A rear projection provided with the transmission screen defined by claim 10.