Roller-type depressing device, imprinting device, and roller-type depressing method

• US 10,421,218 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2015
• Issued: 09/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCIVAX Corporation
• Original Assignee: SCIVAX Corporation
• Inventors: Kawaguchi, Hirosuke, Taniguchi, Yutaka, Saito, Yukimasa, Sugiyama, Masaki, Matono, Daisuke, Tanaka, Satoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Khare, Atul P.
• Application Number:
  US14/891,429
• Publication Number:
  US 20170072620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,574 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 2043/3613 applying pressure locally
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 2059/023 Microembossing
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 43/361 with pressing members independently movable of the parts for opening or closing the mould, e.g. movable pistons transfer moulding B29C45/02; injection-compression moulding B29C45/561
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 43/3697 comprising rollers or belts cooperating with non-rotating mould parts
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 59/002 Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 59/02 by mechanical means, e.g. pressing B29C59/007 takes precedence; embossing expanded porous articles B29C44/5627
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 59/022 characterised by the disposition or the configuration, e.g. dimensions, of the embossments or the shaping tools therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 59/04 using rollers or endless belts
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/027 Making masks on semiconductor bodies for further photolithographic processing not provided for in group H01L21/18 or H01L21/34 photographic masks or originals per se G03F1/00; registration or positioning of photographic masks or originals G03F9/00; photographic cameras G03B; control of position G05D3/00

Abstract

A roller-type depressing device, an imprinting device, and a roller-type depressing method which are capable of suppressing an uneven elastic deformation of a main roller, and which are also capable of depressing an object uniformly. A roller-type depressing device depresses an object, and includes a main roller having at least a surface formed of an elastic material, and depressing the object, a roller moving unit moving the main roller relative to the object, a pressure adjusting unit adjusting pressure applied to the object by the main roller, a pressure receiving stage receiving the pressure from the main roller via the object, an intermediate roller having at least a surface formed of a material with a larger elastic modulus than the elastic material, and supporting the main roller, and, a backup roller formed shorter in an axial direction than the main roller and the intermediate roller, and supporting the intermediate roller.

Claims

1. A roller-type depressing device to depress an object in a pressure adjusting room, the device comprising:

a main roller which has at least a surface formed of an elastic material, and which depresses the object;

a pressure adjusting plate that supports the main roller;

a roller moving unit that moves the main roller relative to the object in the pressure adjusting room, wherein the roller moving unit is provided on the pressure adjusting plate;

a pressure receiving stage that receives the depressing pressure from the main roller via the object;

a pressure adjusting unit that holds the pressure adjusting plate in such a way that force produced by a pressure difference in fluid applied to both faces of the pressure adjusting plate acts on the main roller, wherein the pressure adjusting room is defined by a pressure adjusting plate holder of the pressure adjusting unit that holds the pressure adjusting plate so as to apply force to the main roller, a first of the both faces of the pressure adjusting plate, and either the object or the pressure receiving stage, wherein a pressure adjuster adjusts the pressure difference in fluid applied to both faces of the pressure adjusting plate, and wherein a second of the both faces of the pressure adjusting plate is exterior to each of the pressure adjusting unit and the pressure adjusting room;

an intermediate roller which has at least a surface formed of a material that has a larger elastic modulus than the elastic material, and which is disposed adjacent to and supports the main roller; and

a backup roller, the backup roller having a shorter axial length than each of the main roller and the intermediate roller, and the backup roller being disposed adjacent to and supporting the intermediate roller, wherein the intermediate roller is disposed between the main roller and the backup roller.

2. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate roller is one of a plurality of intermediate rollers, wherein each of the intermediate rollers is disposed on a circumference of the main roller.

3. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 2, wherein the backup roller is one of a plurality of backup rollers, each of the backup rollers being disposed on a circumference of one of the intermediate rollers.

4. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 3, wherein backup rollers of the plurality of backup rollers are disposed at an equal angle on both sides of two separate planes that respectively interconnect a rotation center of the main roller with a rotation center of a respective one of the intermediate rollers.

5. The roller-type depressing device according claim 2, wherein each of the intermediate rollers is formed of a metal or ceramics.

6. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 1, wherein the backup roller is one of a plurality of backup rollers, each of the backup rollers being disposed on a circumference of the intermediate roller.

7. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 6, wherein backup rollers of the plurality of backup rollers are disposed at both sides of a plane that interconnects a rotation center of the main roller with a rotation center of the intermediate roller at an equal angle.

8. The roller-type depressing device according claim 1, wherein the intermediate roller is formed of a metal or ceramics.

9. The roller-type depressing device according claim 1, wherein the intermediate roller is longer in an axial direction than the main roller.

10. The roller-type depressing device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure adjusting plate holder is constructed from the pressure adjusting plate, a first frame enclosing the pressure adjusting room, and a movable second frame against which the first frame closes so as to seal the pressure adjusting room, the second frame being supported by constant fluid pressure so that when the pressure adjusting room is closed and sealed by the first and second frames, the pressure adjusting plate, together with the first frame, is freely movable relative to the pressure receiving stage by way of the force produced by the pressure difference.

11. An imprinting device comprising the roller-type depressing device according to claim 1.