Surface treating solution for fine processing of glass base plate having a plurality of components

Abstract

A surface treatment solution for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients is used for the construction of liquid crystal-based or organic electroluminescence-based flat panel display devices without invoking crystal precipitation and/or increasing surface roughness. An etching solution of the invention contains, in addition to hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ammonium fluoride (NH 4 F), at least one acid whose dissociation constant is larger than that of HF. The concentration of the acid in the solution can advantageously be adjusted to maximize the etching rate.

1 . (canceled)  
   
   
       2 . A surface treatment solution for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which contains as a uniform mixture, in addition to hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ammonium fluoride (NH 4 F), at least one acid whose dissociation constant is larger than that of HF such that, if the solution is applied to a heated silicon oxide film having a certain thickness, and the etching rate f(x) [Å/min] is plotted as a function of the concentration x [mol/kg] of the acid in the solution, and it is found that f(x) takes a maximum f(x 1 ) when x=x 1 , the concentration x of the acid in the solution is adjusted to be x>x 1 .  
   
   
       3 . A surfaue treatment solution tor tinely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which contains as a uniform mixture, in addition to HF and NH 4 F, at least one acid whose dissociation constant is larger than that of HF such that, if the solution is applied to a heated silicon oxide film having a certain thickness, and the etching rate f(x) [Å/min] is plotted as a function of the concentration x (mol/kg] of the acid in the solution, and it is found that f(x) takes a maximum f(x 1 ) when x=x 1  and a minimum f(x 2 ) when x=x 2  (x 1 <x 2 ), the concentration x of the acid in the solution is adjusted to be in the range:  
         x   2 −( x   2   −x   1 )/2 <x<x   2 +( x   2   −x   1 )/2.  
   
   
       4 . A surface treatment solution as described in  claim 2  or  3  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which contains as a uniform mixture, in addition to HF and NH 4 F, at least one inorganic acid either monovalent or multivalent whose dissociation constant is larger than that of HF.  
   
   
       5 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  4  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients wherein the acid whose dissociation constant is larger than that of HF is one or more chosen from the group comprising HCl, HBr, HNO 3 , and H 2 SO 4 .  
   
   
       6 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  5  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which further contains a surfactant at 0.0001 to 1 wt %.  
   
   
       7 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  6  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients, particularly a glass substrate containing, in addition to silicates or its main ingredient, one or more elements chosen from the group comprising Al, Ba, Ca, Mg, Sb, Sr and Zr.  
   
   
       8 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  7  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients, particularly a glass substrate used for the construction of a flat panel display device.  
   
   
       9 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  8  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which contains HF at 25 mol/kg or lower.  
   
   
       10 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  9  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients which contains NH 4 F at 0.001 to 11 mol/kg.  
   
   
       11 . A surface treatment solution as described in any one of  claims 2  to  10  for finely processing a glass substrate containing multiple ingredients wherein: 
 if etching is performed at an appropriate temperature using an acid-added etching solution with the concentration x [mol/kg] of acid being varied, and it is found that crystal precipitation remains inhibited as long as x is below x 3  or the maximum effective concentration, the concentration x of acid in the solution is adjusted to be x<x 3 .