Method for manufacturing touch screen panels using a dry etching apparatus

• US 9,552,122 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2015
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Song, Bong-Sub, Ku, Soung-Chang
• Primary Examiner(s): Norton, Nadine
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dahimene, Mahmoud
• Application Number:
  US14/793,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20150340205A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/3346 Selectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32091 the radio frequency energy being capacitively coupled to the plasma

Abstract

A dry etching apparatus for performing dry etching in manufacture of a set of touch screen panels on a mother substrate, including a chamber, an upper electrode in the chamber at an upper portion thereof, the upper electrode configured to apply a high-frequency power source (RF) to the interior of the chamber, a lower electrode in the chamber at a lower portion thereof, the lower electrode configured to apply the high-frequency power source to the interior of the chamber, a gas injection port configured to inject a compound mixture gas into the chamber, an exhaust port configured to exhaust a reactive gas produced in the interior of the chamber, and a shadow mask disposed above a location on the lower electrode for the mother substrate for the touch screen panels, the shadow mask having a plurality of exposure windows respectively corresponding to a plurality of exposure portions to be formed.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing touch screen panels using a dry etching apparatus, the method comprising:

forming patterns on a mother substrate for manufacturing a plurality of touch screen panels, the patterns including sensing cells and interconnections;

depositing SiO₂ on the mother substrate having the patterns formed thereon;

loading the mother substrate having the SiO₂ deposited thereon into a dry etching apparatus; and

performing a dry etching process in which SiO₂ deposited in the depositing of the SiO₂ is removed using the dry etching apparatus, the dry etching apparatus having a shadow mask in which exposure windows are formed respectively corresponding to exposure portions of touch screen panels on the mother substrate, wherein the shadow mask is between one of a pair of electrodes and a surface to support the mother substrate and is spaced from the support surface by a distance greater than a thickness of the mother substrate so as not to contact either of the mother substrate or the support surface, the pair of electrodes to generate an electric field during the dry etching process; and

performing a scribing process with respect to the mother substrate after the dry etching process, the scribing process dividing the mother substrate into individual touch screen panels.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the forming of the patterns includes a first ITO patterning process, a metal line patterning process, an organic insulating film patterning process, and a second ITO patterning process.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the SiO₂ is deposited on the mother substrate using a CVD method.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the exposure portions are formed at one side of each of the touch screen panels on the mother substrate so as to allow connection of the interconnections to an external device, and

the SiO₂ deposited in the depositing of the SiO₂ is removed from the exposure portions through the dry etching process.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the SiO₂ deposited on the mother substrate has a hardness of 9H or higher.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method does not include an inorganic insulating film process performed after a second indium tin oxide patterning process.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the dry etching process is performed while skipping a photo process after depositing the SiO₂ using the CVD method.