CN112007826A

CN112007826A - Coating device

Info

Publication number: CN112007826A
Application number: CN202010469567.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阵场成行; 松本龙儿
Original assignee: Sharp Corp
Current assignee: Sharp Corp
Priority date: 2019-05-29
Filing date: 2020-05-28
Publication date: 2020-12-01

Abstract

The invention provides a coating device (10) comprising: a placement unit (11) for placing a plate-like object to be coated (30); a film material coating section (12) for coating a film material (31) on a plate surface (30A) of the object (30) placed on the placement section (11) in a coating direction; a cleaning unit (21) which is disposed upstream in the coating direction with respect to the film material coating unit (12) and which removes foreign matter on the plate surface (30A) of the object (30) to be coated by moving together with the film material coating unit (12) with respect to the placement unit (11); the film material coating section (12) and the cleaning section (21) are integrally provided, and are moved in the coating direction relative to the mounting section (11) by a movement driving section (17).

Description

Coating device

Technical area

The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating a film material on a plate-like object to be coated.

Background

For example, liquid crystal panels are used in which various types of layers are laminated on a transparent substrate made of glass or the like. These layers are formed in a pattern by a so-called photolithography method in which a resist solution is applied to a substrate and exposed to light. That is, thin films constituting various layers are sequentially laminated in a predetermined pattern on a transparent substrate while the transparent substrate is transported among various apparatuses such as a film forming apparatus, a resist coating apparatus, and an exposure apparatus.

Among them, a coating apparatus for coating a resist solution (hereinafter, referred to as a coating solution) has a stage (stage) for holding a substrate as a coating object by suction; and a coating section for discharging the coating liquid onto the substrate and moving the substrate while discharging the coating liquid from the coating section, thereby forming a coating film having a predetermined thickness on the substrate (coating step). Before such a coating step, a step of removing foreign matter on the substrate (foreign matter removal step) is performed.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2003-131026

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

However, in the formation of a pattern on the liquid crystal substrate, there is a problem that a pattern defect of a film remains in a part where the pattern is not required. The reason for such a pattern failure is thought to be caused by the inclusion of foreign matter (dust) on the substrate when the resist solution is applied. That is, it is conceivable that the foreign matter on the substrate is temporarily removed by the foreign matter removal process performed before the coating process, but thereafter, new foreign matter is reattached to the substrate before the coating process is performed.

Such foreign matter is often generated by a driving unit or the like that operates dynamically. For example, it is conceivable that a driving unit for moving a cleaning device for removing foreign matter on a substrate over the substrate is a source for generating new foreign matter. Further, when the foreign substance removal step and the coating step are separately performed, the coating step cannot be performed during the foreign substance removal step, that is, during the driving of the cleaning device, and thus the production efficiency is not good.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a coating apparatus in which foreign matter is less likely to be caught and which is excellent in production efficiency.

Means for solving the problems

(1) One embodiment of the present invention is a coating apparatus, including: a placement unit for placing a plate-like object to be coated; a film material coating section for coating a film material on a plate surface of the object to be coated placed on the placement section in a coating direction; a cleaning unit that is disposed upstream in the coating direction with respect to the film material coating unit and that removes foreign matter on the plate surface of the object to be coated by moving together with the film material coating unit with respect to the placement unit; wherein the film material coating section and the cleaning section are integrally provided, and are moved in the coating direction with respect to the mounting section by a movement driving section.

(2) In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the above (1), the cleaning unit includes: a gas injection unit that injects a gas toward the object to be coated; and a gas suction unit provided downstream of the gas ejection unit in the coating direction to suck the gas.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, a coating apparatus in which foreign matter is less likely to be caught and which is excellent in production efficiency can be obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a resist coating apparatus according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

An embodiment is described with reference to fig. 1. The coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is used, for example, when manufacturing a substrate 30 constituting a liquid crystal panel, and coats a resist solution 31 while cleaning the substrate 30 in a state where foreign matter such as fine dust and shavings adhere to the surface.

In the following description, the right side of fig. 1 is the upstream side in the coating direction, and the left side of fig. 1 is the downstream side in the coating direction. In the coating apparatus 10, the substrate 30 is held by suction on the mounting table 11 in a horizontal state in which the coating surface 30A faces upward. The substrate 30 is a rectangular plate, and has a longitudinal direction aligned with the application direction (referred to as X direction) and a transverse direction aligned with the direction orthogonal to the application direction (referred to as width direction and Y direction hereinafter). The thickness direction of the substrate is defined as the Z direction.

First, the substrate 30 will be briefly described. The substrates 30 (an example of an object to be coated) constitute a liquid crystal panel, and a liquid crystal layer containing liquid crystal molecules, which are substances whose optical characteristics change with application of an electric field, is sandwiched between a pair of the substrates 30, whereby a liquid crystal panel having a known configuration can be manufactured. One of the pair of substrates 30 is a CF substrate, and the other is an array substrate. Both the CF substrate and the array substrate are formed by laminating various films on the inner surface side of a glass substrate.

A plurality of TFTs (Thin Film transistors) as switching elements and pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix on a display substrate, and gate lines and source lines in a lattice shape are arranged so as to surround the TFTs and the pixel electrodes. Further, a common electrode is provided below the pixel electrode via an insulating layer.

On the other hand, the CF substrate is provided with a color filter in which colored portions of three colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) are repeatedly arranged in a matrix. The color filter has colored portions (pixels) separated from each other by a light-shielding portion (black matrix), and the light-shielding portion prevents color mixing in which the light of the colors transmitted through the colored portions are mixed with each other. In addition, in the CF substrate, columnar PS (photo spacers) for sandwiching liquid crystal are arranged at a predetermined density in the light shielding portion while maintaining the gap of the array substrate at a predetermined interval.

The CF layer and the TFT layer are formed by a known photolithography method. That is, thin films constituting a CF layer and a TFT layer are sequentially laminated on a glass substrate in a predetermined order while the glass substrate is conveyed between a film forming apparatus used in a photolithography method and each apparatus such as a resist coating apparatus and an exposure apparatus.

The coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment shows an example of a resist coating apparatus 10 for coating a resist solution 31 among the various apparatuses described above. As shown in fig. 1, the resist coating apparatus 10 includes: a mounting table 11 (an example of a mounting portion) for holding the substrate 30 by suction; a coating unit 12 (an example of a film material coating section) which is disposed above the mounting table 11 and coats a resist solution 31 (an example of a film material) on a surface (a coating surface 30A) of the substrate 30 mounted on the mounting table 11; the cleaning head 21 (an example of a cleaning unit) is similarly disposed above the mounting table 11, and removes foreign matter on the surface of the substrate 30.

The coating unit 12 includes a coating nozzle 13 and discharges the resist liquid 31 to the coating surface 30A of the substrate 30. The coating nozzle 13 includes a slit-shaped discharge portion 14, and the discharge portion 14 extends in the width direction of the substrate 30 and has substantially the same size as the width of the substrate 30. Further, a plate-like guard bar 15 extending in the width direction of the substrate 30 is provided on the upstream side (right side in fig. 1) of the application nozzle 13 to avoid the collision between the application nozzle 13 and the foreign matter on the substrate 30. The guard bar 15 is provided so that the tip thereof is slightly closer to the substrate 30 than the tip (discharge portion 14) of the application nozzle 13.

In the coating unit 12, a substrate thickness measuring device 16 for measuring the thickness of the substrate 30 by a sensor is provided on the upstream side of the protective rod 15. The substrate thickness measuring device 16 measures the thickness of the substrate 30 before the application of the resist solution 31, and based on the measured value, the discharge amount of the resist solution 31 from the application nozzle 13 can be adjusted.

The coating unit 12 is connected to a movement driving unit 17 for moving the coating unit 12 in a coating direction (right direction in fig. 1) with respect to the mounting table 11. That is, the coating of the resist liquid 31 is performed by moving the coating unit 12 in the horizontal direction (coating direction, X direction) while discharging the resist liquid 31 to the substrate 30. In the present embodiment, the treatment of forming the coating film of the resist solution 31 is performed by applying the coating film from side to side of the substrate 30 at a time.

In the resist coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the cleaning head 21 is provided upstream of the coating unit 12 (on the right side in fig. 1). The cleaning head 21 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a pair of air vents extending in the width direction of the substrate 30 and arranged in the application direction (X-axis direction) are formed in a surface facing the substrate 30. The vent on the upstream side in the coating direction is an air jet port (an example of a gas jetting unit) 23 that jets high-pressure air sent from an air compressed blower (air compressed blower) toward the substrate 30, and the vent on the downstream side in the coating direction is an air suction port 24 (an example of a gas suction unit) that sucks air by a suction blower. The distance between the cleaning head 21 and the surface (application surface 30A) of the substrate 30 is set to be approximately 3mm, and cover (hood)

portions

23A, 24A widened toward the substrate 30 are attached to the respective air vents. The foreign matter adhering to the surface of the substrate 30 is sucked into the air ejected from the air ejection port 23 and then sucked and removed by the air suction port 24.

The cleaning head 21 is provided integrally with the coating unit 12. That is, the cleaning head 21 moves with respect to the mounting table 11 (substrate 30) in a state of being integrated with the coating unit 12 by the movement driving unit 17 connected to the coating unit 12, and cleans the entire surface (coating surface 30A) of the substrate 30 to remove foreign matter on the substrate 30 before coating with the resist solution 31 from the coating nozzle 13. In other words, the resist solution 31 is applied to the substrate 30 immediately after the foreign matter is removed.

The resist coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment has the above configuration, and the operation and effect will be described below. The resist coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment includes: a mounting table 11 on which a plate-like substrate 30 is mounted; a coating unit 12 for coating the resist solution 31 on the coating surface 30A of the substrate 30 mounted on the mounting table 11 in a coating direction (in the X direction); a cleaning head 21 which is disposed upstream in the coating direction with respect to the coating unit 12, is movable with respect to the mounting table 11 together with the coating unit 12, and removes foreign matter on the coating surface 30A of the substrate 30; the coating unit 12 and the cleaning head 21 are integrally provided, and are moved in the coating direction relative to the mounting table 11 by a moving section 17.

According to the above configuration, since the substrate 30 is cleaned before the resist solution 31 is applied, the possibility of foreign matter remaining on the substrate 30 when the resist solution 31 is applied is low, and a pattern defect due to the foreign matter being caught up can be suppressed. Therefore, the yield is improved. In addition, originally provided cleaning equipment or the like for removing foreign matter is not required, and space can be saved. In the resist coating apparatus 10 of the cleaning head integrated type as in the present embodiment, since the original resist coating apparatus is only enlarged in the cleaning head 21 portion, it is not necessary to provide a new space.

Further, since the coating unit 12 and the cleaning head 21 are configured to move relative to the mounting table 11 by one movement driving unit 17, the apparatus can be configured more easily while suppressing the generation of dust as compared with a configuration in which movement driving units are provided separately.

Further, if cleaning is performed by the cleaning device alone before the application of the resist solution 31, the application of the resist solution 31 is not performed during the cleaning process, and a loss occurs in the processing time. In addition, a new foreign matter may be generated during cleaning by a movement driving unit provided in the cleaning device. In the integrated apparatus of the present embodiment, since the cleaning head 21 and the coating unit 12 are moved simultaneously by one movement driving unit 17, the resist solution 31 can be coated while removing foreign matters, and thus, the processing time is not lost. Therefore, the production efficiency is good.

In addition, in the resist coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the cleaning head 21 includes: an air injection port 23 for injecting a gas toward the substrate 30; the air suction port 24 is provided on the downstream side in the coating direction from the air ejection port 23, and sucks air. With this configuration, the foreign matter caught in the air ejection port 23 on the upstream side can be removed by the air suction port 24 on the downstream side. Therefore, foreign substances on the substrate 30 can be effectively removed.

In view of this, according to the present embodiment, the resist coating apparatus 10 in which foreign matter is less likely to be entangled and which is excellent in productivity is obtained.

< other embodiments >

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings, and for example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

(1) The mode of the cleaning portion is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and any mode may be used as long as it does not affect the surface of the object to be coated, such as a roller or a brush.

(2) Further, the cleaning head 21 may be provided with only an air suction port, for example, to remove foreign matter by suction alone, but it is preferable to use air jet in combination to remove fine foreign matter effectively.

(3) In the above embodiment, the ejection port 23 is provided on the upstream side of the cleaning head 21, and the suction port 24 is provided on the downstream side, but the reverse configuration may be adopted in which the air suction port is provided on the upstream side of the cleaning head, and the air ejection port is provided on the downstream side.

(4) In the above embodiment, the movement driving unit 17 is provided on the coating unit 12 side, but the movement driving unit 17 may be provided on the cleaning head 21 side. In short, the coating unit 12 and the cleaning head 21 may be moved simultaneously by one movement driving unit 17.

(5) The technique of the present invention can be applied to all foreign matters adhering to the object to be coated, without being limited to the foreign matters removed by the driving unit.

(6) In the above embodiment, the example of applying the resist solution 31 to the liquid crystal substrate 30 is shown, but the object to be applied and the film material are not limited to the above embodiment, and the technique of the present invention can be applied to various kinds of coating materials and objects to be applied, such as a semiconductor substrate, a display substrate for plasma display, a glass substrate for photomask, and the like.

(7) In the above embodiment, the coating unit 12 and the cleaning head 21 are configured to move simultaneously, but the coating unit 12 and the cleaning head 21 may be configured to be fixed and the mounting table 11 (substrate 30) may be configured to move.

Description of the reference numerals

10 resist coating apparatus (coating apparatus), 11 mounting table (mounting section), 12 coating unit (film material coating section), 13 coating nozzle (film material coating section), 17 moving drive section, 21 cleaning head (cleaning section), 23 air jet port (gas jet section), 24 air suction port (gas suction section), 30 substrate (object to be coated), 30A coating surface, 31 resist liquid (film material), and X coating direction

Claims

1. A coating apparatus, comprising:

a placement unit for placing a plate-like object to be coated;

a film material coating section for coating a film material on a plate surface of the object to be coated placed on the placement section in a coating direction;

a cleaning unit that is disposed upstream in the coating direction with respect to the film material coating unit and that removes foreign matter on the plate surface of the object to be coated by moving together with the film material coating unit with respect to the placement unit; wherein

The film material coating portion and the cleaning portion are integrally provided, and are moved in the coating direction relative to the mounting portion by a movement driving portion.

2. Coating device according to claim 1,

the cleaning portion includes: a gas injection unit that injects a gas toward the object to be coated; and a gas suction unit provided downstream of the gas ejection unit in the coating direction to suck the gas.