Roller mold

Abstract

To provide a roller mold which can improve the production efficiency by saving a post-process for removing a pattern which corresponds to an inspection mark from a print body, and also can improve the inspection efficiency.SOLUTION: A roller mold 1 is a cylindrical or columnar rotating body 10 configured to rotate around a predetermined axis; and a fine pattern 20 formed in the surface of the rotating body 10. A pattern displacement 30 of the fine pattern 20 is formed in the surface of the rotating body 10, and the pattern displacement 30 has an invisible size.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a roller mold. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, techniques for forming a fine periodic structure (pattern) on the surface of a given substrate have been proposed and put to practical use. In such fine pattern forming techniques, development of a roller-shaped mold (hereinafter referred to as a "roller mold") capable of continuously transferring a fine pattern onto a rotating flexible substrate has been underway.

[0003] In recent years, a technique has been proposed in which a mask with an array of openings with a predetermined pattern is placed close to the surface of a roller mold coated with a resist for electron beam exposure, and an electron beam is irradiated onto the mask surface while the roller mold is continuously rotated, the resist is exposed by the electron beam that passes through the mask, and this is developed and etched to form projections and recesses for forming a pattern on the roller mold surface (see Patent Document 1). It is said that the adoption of this technique makes it possible to manufacture roller molds easily and at low cost. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2013-12682 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, roller molds are generally provided with inspection marks that function for alignment and the like. However, patterns corresponding to such inspection marks are also formed on printed matter and transfer films produced using roller molds, so in the past, a process (post-process) was required to remove the patterns corresponding to such inspection marks from the printed matter, etc., resulting in a problem of reduced work efficiency. In addition, conventional inspection marks are placed in positions different from the main pattern group, so they can be difficult to detect during crucial inspections.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide a roller mold that can improve production efficiency by eliminating the subsequent process of removing a pattern corresponding to an inspection mark from a printed body, etc., and can also improve inspection efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the roller mold according to the present invention comprises a cylindrical or columnar rotating body configured to rotate around a predetermined axis, and a fine pattern formed on the surface of the rotating body, and a pattern misalignment of the fine pattern is formed on the surface of the rotating body, the pattern misalignment having an invisible size. The pattern misalignment may be formed periodically in the circumferential direction of the rotating body. Furthermore, the length of the pattern misalignment in the circumferential and axial directions of the rotating body may be set to 1 μm or more and 100 μm or less. Furthermore, the interval of the pattern misalignment in the circumferential direction of the rotating body may be set to 500 μm or more and 10 mm or less.

[0008] When this configuration is adopted, a pattern misalignment of a fine pattern is formed on the surface of the rotating body constituting the roller mold, and since this pattern misalignment has an invisible size, the pattern misalignment can function as an invisible inspection mark. Since the pattern misalignment functioning as an invisible inspection mark in this way is not recognized even in the printed body or transfer film produced using the roller mold, it does not need to be removed in a later process, which can contribute to improving production efficiency. Furthermore, since the pattern misalignment is invisible, it can be placed in a position suitable for inspection (for example, the center of the roller mold), which can also contribute to improving inspection efficiency.

[0009] In the roller mold according to the present invention, the length of the pattern misalignment in the circumferential direction of the rotating body can be changed along the axial direction of the rotating body.

[0010] When such a configuration is adopted, the length of the pattern shift in the circumferential direction of the rotating body is changed along the axial direction of the rotating body, which has the advantage that interference fringes are less likely to occur.

[0011] In the roller mold according to the present invention, the position of the pattern misalignment in the circumferential direction of the rotating body can be made substantially constant regardless of the position in the axial direction of the rotating body. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a roller mold that can improve production efficiency by eliminating the subsequent process of removing a pattern corresponding to an inspection mark from a printed body, etc., and can also improve inspection efficiency. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a roller mold according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a partial development view of a fine pattern of a roller mold according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3]3 is a partial enlarged plan view (in part III) of a pattern misalignment included in the fine pattern of the roller mold shown in FIG. 2. FIG. [Figure 4] 4 is an enlarged plan view of a portion IV of the pattern misalignment shown in FIG. 3. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments are merely preferred application examples, and the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to these.

[0015] First, the configuration of a roller mold 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. As shown in Figure 1, the roller mold 1 includes a rotating body 10 and a fine pattern 20 formed on the surface of the rotating body 10. As shown in Figures 2 to 4, a pattern misalignment 30 of the fine pattern 20 is formed on the surface of the rotating body 10, and this pattern misalignment 30 has an invisible size as described below.

[0016] The rotor 10 is made of a metal material or the like and is formed into a cylindrical or columnar shape, and is configured to rotate around a predetermined axis. The diameter and axial length of the rotor 10 can be set appropriately depending on the application, etc. In this embodiment, the rotor 10 is configured so that the diameter and circumferential length change along the axial direction.

[0017] When forming the fine pattern 20 and pattern shift 30 on the surface of the rotating body 10, the following steps can be taken: sequentially forming a silicon layer and a silicon oxide layer on the surface of the rotating body 10, applying a resist onto the silicon oxide layer, exposing the resist to an electron beam that has passed through openings in a specified mask to form a concave-convex pattern, developing the resist, and sequentially dry etching the silicon oxide layer and silicon layer.

[0018] In this embodiment, the pattern shift 30 is formed by the following method. If the circumferential length (perimeter) at a specific axial position of the rotor 10 is L, and the circumferential length (element length) of each pattern formed on this circumference is Ph, then the total number of patterns formed on the circumference (number of shots) n is expressed as L / Ph. Here, since the number of shots n is always an integer, the value nPh obtained by multiplying the number of shots n by the element length Ph does not match the circumferential length L of the rotor 10. That is, there is always an excess length ΔL expressed by the following formula (1). ΔL=L-nPh (1) By dividing this excess length ΔL by the number of shots n, the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment is calculated using the following formula (2) and allocated to each pattern. As a result, pattern misalignment 30 of length ΔPh is formed periodically in the circumferential direction of the rotating body 10. ΔPh=ΔL / n=(L-nPh) / n (2) The relationship between the number of shots n of the pattern 20, the element length Ph, the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment, and the circumferential length L of the rotor 10 is expressed by the following formula (3). n×(Ph+ΔPh)=L (3)

[0019] In this embodiment, the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 is set to 1 μm or more and 100 μm or less, and the length of the pattern misalignment 30 in the axial direction of the rotor 10 is set to 1 μm or more and 100 μm or less. That is, the pattern misalignment 30 in this embodiment has a size that cannot be confirmed by visual inspection. Also, in this embodiment, the interval of the pattern misalignment 30 in the circumferential direction of the rotor 10 (i.e., the element length Ph) is set to 500 μm or more and 10 mm or less.

[0020] In this embodiment, the rotor 10 is configured so that the diameter and circumferential length change along the axial direction, and therefore the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 changes along the axial direction of the rotor 10. That is, when the axial positions of the rotor 10 are different, the circumferential length L at those positions is different, and therefore, as is clear from formula (2), the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 at those positions is also different.

[0021] In the roller mold 1 according to the embodiment described above, a pattern misalignment 30 of the fine pattern 20 is formed on the surface of the rotating body 10, and since this pattern misalignment 30 has an invisible size, the pattern misalignment 30 can function as an invisible inspection mark. Since the pattern misalignment 30 functioning as an invisible inspection mark in this manner is not recognized even in a printed body or a transfer film produced using the roller mold 1, it does not need to be removed in a later process, which can contribute to improving production efficiency. In addition, since the pattern misalignment 30 is invisible, it can be placed in a position suitable for inspection (for example, the center of the roller mold 1), which can also contribute to improving inspection efficiency.

[0022] Furthermore, in the roller mold 1 according to the embodiment described above, the length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 in the circumferential direction of the rotating body 10 is changed along the axial direction of the rotating body 10, which has the advantage that interference fringes are less likely to occur.

[0023] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0024] First, the rotating body 10 was manufactured using a metal material or the like, and the diameter and circumference were measured at five positions in the axial direction ("1" to "5" in Table 1, which will be described later). As shown in Table 1, the diameter D and circumference L at each of the positions "1" to "5" were all different. Next, at each of the positions "1" to "5", a fine pattern 20 was formed with a different element length (circumferential length per pattern) Ph as shown in Table 1. At this time, at each of the positions "1" to "5", the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern shift 30 was calculated based on the circumferential length L of the rotating body 10, the element length Ph, and the number of shots n using the above-mentioned formula (2) (see Table 1), and the pattern shift 30 having this length ΔPh was formed at each of the positions "1" to "5". Through the above-mentioned process group, the roller mold 1 according to this embodiment was manufactured.

[0025] [Table 1]

[0026] In this embodiment, the pattern misalignment 30 has a circumferential length ΔPh of several μm to several tens of μm, and can function as an invisible inspection mark. As a result, it is possible to omit a process (post-process) of removing the inspection mark from a printed body or the like produced using the roller mold 1. In this embodiment, the length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 in the circumferential direction of the rotating body 10 is changed along the axial direction of the rotating body 10, so that interference fringes are unlikely to occur.

[0027] In the above embodiment, an example has been shown in which the circumferential length ΔPh of the pattern misalignment 30 is changed along the axial direction of the rotating body 10 by adopting a rotating body 10 configured so that the diameter and circumference change along the axial direction. However, it is also possible to adopt an extremely precisely configured rotating body 10 whose diameter and circumference do not change along the axial direction, so that the position of the pattern misalignment 30 in the circumferential direction of the rotating body 10 is approximately constant regardless of the position of the rotating body 10 in the axial direction.

[0028] The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and even if a person skilled in the art appropriately modifies the design of the embodiments, the embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention as long as it has the characteristics of the present invention. In other words, the elements of the above-mentioned embodiments and their arrangement, materials, conditions, shapes, sizes, etc. are not limited to those exemplified, and can be appropriately modified. In addition, the elements of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined to the extent technically possible, and the combination of these elements is also included in the scope of the present invention as long as it has the characteristics of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0029] The present invention is useful in providing a roller mold that can improve production efficiency by eliminating the subsequent process of removing a pattern corresponding to an inspection mark from a printed body, etc., and can also improve inspection efficiency. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1...Roller mold 10...Rotating body 20...Fine pattern 30…Pattern shift

Claims

1. A roller mold comprising a cylindrical or columnar rotating body configured to rotate around a predetermined axis and a fine pattern formed on a surface of the rotating body, a pattern misalignment of the fine pattern is formed on the surface of the rotating body, The pattern misalignment has an invisible size.

2. The roller mold according to claim 1 , wherein the pattern misalignment is formed periodically in a circumferential direction of the rotating body.

3. The roller mold of claim 2 , wherein a length of the pattern misalignment in a circumferential direction of the rotating body varies along an axial direction of the rotating body.

4. 4. The roller mold according to claim 3, wherein an interval of the pattern misalignment in the circumferential direction of the rotating body is 500 μm or more and 10 mm or less.

5. The roller mold of claim 1 , wherein a position of the pattern misalignment in a circumferential direction of the rotating body is substantially constant regardless of a position in an axial direction of the rotating body.

6. 2. The roller mold according to claim 1, wherein a length of the pattern misalignment in a circumferential direction of the rotating body is 1 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

7. The roller mold according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the pattern misalignment in the axial direction of the rotating body is 1 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

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